Friday, March 29, 2013

Thailand Recap 1/4/13 - 1/14/13; 2/24/13 - 3/21/13

Recap of Thailand:

Time in country:  37 days (10 days in January for diving, then majority of time Feb.- March)
Money spent: approximately $1600 USD each
Currency:  Baht
Conversion Rate: 30 Baht to 1 USD

Food:
First off, Thailand is a place with many different, delicious dishes.  Overall, we agreed that the country has the best food.....perhaps in the WORLD (at least from where we've been)!

Noodles and rice are everywhere and are usually in some type of fried dish.  It should be mentioned that in Thailand fried doesn't mean battered and deep fried, it simply means cooked in a wok with hot oil.  There were thin glass noodles,  a thicker rice noodle  like what's in Pad Thai, and wide, fat noodles like in Pad See Ew.  Then, mixed with veggies and/or meat.



Curries are popular as well and are made from pastes which are ground down herbs, spices, peppers, etc with a mortar and pestle.  The paste is usually mixed with coconut milk, veggies, and meat in combinations depending on which dish is being cooked.  There's red curry, massaman (yellow) curry, panang (peanut) curry, and green curry.  The curries have different levels of spice depending on the peppers used in the paste.



There are also various soups, the most abundant and most obvious to us was the Tom Yum soup.  Traditionally very spicy and made with shrimp.  There was also coconut milk soup (not spicy), and plenty of other soups to choose from. 



If you've read any of our Thailand posts you'd have heard about the infamous banana pancakes (also called rotee in certain areas).  These are basically a crepe-like dough slapped around on a metal surface, filled with bananas (or sometimes mangoes or even egg if you want), and topped with various choices of toppings- chocolate (our favorite), honey, cinnamon, peanut butter, nutella, vanilla, etc.  Delicious.



As in the Philippines and other countries, fruit shakes are abundant and available on every street corner.  Great afternoon snacks :-).



Another drink we liked in Thailand was the Thai tea.  It's red tea, condensed milk, and sugar.  Yup, you guessed it, not healthy.  But, a nice treat every so often.




Places Visited (in order):  Koh Tao, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, Phuket, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Koh Samui




Random Thoughts:
In just about every city that had sewers and trash sitting out on the streets there were rats.  Matt jumped and screeched like a small child any time we'd see a rat, or any time Kristin would mess with him and tell him there was a rat!  They were pretty gross.

If you ever wanted a custom tailored suit, shirt, dress, etc;  just take a stroll down the street in any touristy Thailand area.  There were an abundant amount of tailor shops, usually run by Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese, Burmese, etc, where you could get custom made clothing for pretty cheap prices.  


Every town, no matter how big or small, has a Buddhist Temple, known as a Wat.  They are very detailed, ornate, and interesting to walk around.  The dominant religion in Thailand, 95% of the population, is Buddhism.


Tourism is HUGE in Thailand.  At times, it was a little too much with all the tourists, but it's understandable given that the country has so many great things to offer.  Luckily, there's pretty good infrastructure to accommodate all the tourists.

If you don't pass by a restaurant/bar, custom tailor, or tourist agency, then most likely you're passing by a massage place.  They are ALL over and offer great massages for cheap prices.  Foot massages for $7/hour or an oil massage or Thai massage for $10/hour.  Great addition to any vacation.


The national symbol of Thailand is the elephant.  It has become a symbol of fortune, and is widely used for decorative purposes.


Another tid-bit we learned is that before a movie at the movie theaters the national anthem is played with a quick video and everyone stands while it's being played.  The national anthem is also played in the morning and in the evening at the bus and train stations and again everyone stops what they're doing and stands while it's played.

Thailand has an extensive train system connecting most of the country.  This is a fairly comfortable and affordable way to travel around different parts of the country given how huge it is.  A 12 hour overnight train ticket for a sleeper train costs roughly $30 or so. 



Koh Samui 3/18/13 - 3/19/13

Before moving on to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, we had one more stop in Thailand for Matt to see a friend, Marc, from Lake Jackson.  He and his wife, who lived in California, left in December on their own year long travels and were on Koh Samui.  We all tried to meet up in the Philippines, but it didn't work out.  Fortunately, they were close by (in relative terms) and Koh Samui was on our way north!

We went back to being travelers and deciding things on the fly to make our way over to the island via bus, ferry, and cab.  Koh Samui is Thailand's third largest island and has plenty of white sand beaches, coral, and warm water.  Over a million tourists head there each year, thus, it has been built up over the years and set up to accommodate a broad range of travelers.  For us, it had a nice feel thanks to delicious food, a pretty beach front, and friends.


Our first night we met up with Marc and his wife, Janie, for dinner and then headed to a fire show on the beach with the rest of the group.  Marc and Janie had three friends visiting from home.  It was an early night for everyone as we were all exhausted and they had to wake up for a long day of diving/snorkeling.



We stuck around for a day to explore Samui.  In reality it ended up being more of an exploration down the street and along the shops for Kristin ;-).  We also relaxed our weary bodies with some massages, and gave ourselves some time to enjoy the beach as well.


During the day, we actually won $1,000..... or an iphone 5, or an ipad 2, or a 4 night stay at a new resort running the promotion.  Two guys handed us a free sweepstakes card to open and surprise, surprise, we won something ;-).  We knew it was "too good to be true", especially once they started on the bit about taking a cab to the new resort to hear a 90 minute spiel and have drinks.  Lucky for us we met NONE of the criteria (must be:  married, 30 - 65, staying in a place over 1,000 baht a night, and have a full time job (backpacker doesn't count?)) and used it to our advantage to walk away.

Yet, from our sweepstakes experience, we did walk away with a new friend, Simon.  He was a friendly Kiwi/Aussie that overheard our situation and was willing to help us get away from the sales pitch.  Thus, after meeting up with Simon for dinner, the three of us met up with the rest of the group once they all returned from their big adventure at sea.  It was a relaxed and enjoyable night with some drinks at the pink VW bus bar.



There were lots of activities to do in Koh Samui; however, we used the day and a half to be social and hang out with new friends.  After Samui it was time to head north to Laos via train with a stopover in Bangkok.

Ao Nang (Krabi) 3/14/13 - 3/17/13

We were in full force with 6 people traveling together (Dad, Mom, Matt, Kristin, Brian, and Karen), but we had a seamless transition from the ferry from Koh Lanta to Krabi to a van that took us straight to one of the nicest hotels around, Anyavee Tubkaek Beach Resort (on Tubkaek beach, north of Ao Nang).  Random tidbit- this beach was actually used to film the Hangover 2's wedding scene.  Dad way out did himself; the place was quite spectacular and nicer than anything we imagined we'd be able to stay in on this trip.  Our rooms even had pool access via our patios!  It also worked out that the hotel was directly next to Kristin's other brother, Mike, and his girlfriend Viviane.  We  hung out with them in Rio, and were excited when we heard they also booked a trip to Thailand for the family vacay : )!!! And then there were eight.



After a relaxing day on the beach, kayaking, reading, swimming in the pool (it was pretty hard not to relax at such a beautiful place), we met up with Mike and Viviane for beers while watching the sunset, then on to dinner with the whole family.






The next day was our big adventure day, and Mike had arranged a private speed boat for just the 8 of us to tour Phi Phi Don island and the surrounding areas.  It was awesome being able to have our own boat because we started earlier than all of the group tours which meant we were able to avoid most of the crowds.  Plus, we could leave one spot and go to the next whenever we wanted.  It took us to snorkeling spots, swimming areas, great beaches, lagoons, and allowed us to see some of the great limestone formations that pop out of nowhere and form islands.  This area of the world provided incredible scenery and views, and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire day.
















After a full day in the sun, we got to watch an incredible sunset on the beach and then share another dinner in Ao Nang town with the family.  Afterwards, Mike, Viviane, Karen, and Brian got tickets to see a traditional Muay Thai fight (we had already seen one in Koh Tao, so we went back with the parents).







Unfortunately we all had to say good-bye to Brian the next morning, but we were so glad and thankful Dad arranged for him to come out, even for a short time, and see us.


We didn't let the sad feeling last long though, because we had another private speed boat booked for the day to do the "4 islands" this time.  More sun, beaches, swimming, fun with family, snorkeling, and beautiful sights.











Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the next day the 7 of us took a shuttle van 3 hours back to Phuket (where everyone flew out from).  Krisitn and Matt had a hotel room for everyone to store their bags while we killed time waiting for everyone to take cabs to the airport.  Mike and V flew out around 10pm, but Dad, Mom, and Karen not until 2 am.  After searching out something to eat for lunch, we went to a local market for some last minute just in case shopping, a then Mike, Viviane, Karen, and Mom had their last bit of vacation Thai massages.  Everyone packed up and took showers before their 20-30 hour journeys back home.  It was sad to say bye to everyone, but at least we knew it wouldn't be too long before we see them again.  We had the most amazing time with ALL of Kristin's family for the week and were so grateful for her Dad planning and making this family vacation happen.  They were more than generous in taking care of us for the week and we appreciate everything so much!!