The Road Home

I am in full rejection mode of the fact that I'll be back in the states (and the winter) today. Last night Michael and I made a list of things to be excited about to help with the heartache. 

Pro tip: when you're wrapping up the trip of a lifetime, it's ok to eat ice cream for breakfast to distract from reality. 

See you all stateside!

You Clean Up Nice - Tailoring in Bangkok

We followed the "must do" advice and got some tailoring done in Bangkok. 

Michael got two shirts and a blazer, I got two blazers. They weren't particularly cheap - almost $200 a blazer, but the wool tweed is super beautiful and the fit is spot-on. 

We went to a place near Silom Road called Excelsior Tailors. It's a family-owned shop that's been there for more than 40 years. They made the process fun and easy, and turned it all around in 36h without a rush fee. High recommend if you're looking for a good spot. 

Michael quickly went from "is this too fancy?" to "please take all my measurements so I can order all my clothes from you in the future." See face below which appropriately demonstrates the transition. 

Happy birthday, Buddha!

For he's a jolly good fellow, indeed. We found out about the event because I tried to buy a tiny elephant off the street, which was apparently supposed to be a birthday gift for Buddha. 

300 baht later, I got the elephant, but we also had to go to his birthday party bearing his preferred gifts, incense and marigolds.

My party favor was this gold leaf they schmeared on my forehead for luck. 

Happy birthday to you, Buddha! 🎉🍰🌼

Here's my new phone background.

You can use it too if you want.

Taken just before boarding the boat that wrenched us away from our tiny paradise. 

On to Bangkok!

The Secret to a Successful Beach Vacation

Two words: food poisoning. 

Michael went a little hard on the green curry at the end of our first day in Railay so we were obliged to take it way easy the rest of the trip. 

And guess what? It was incredible.

Once he got through the GI complications (shout out to our super nice bathroom at Railay Great View), it was a deliciously relaxing and pleasant vacation. 

Here's what we learned:

1. Sunset is an event worth scheduling your day around. 

2. Monkeys are the raccoons of Thailand. 

Super cute; full of trash

3. Phranang Beach is the best of the best. If you google image Railay you'll certainly get results of Phranang. So do that because they're all better than the pictures I took. 

4. The best food is also there. These sweet little boats that come over from Ao Nang and park on the beach all day. 

The pad Thai from the second-to-last boat is literally the best I've had in Thailand or elsewhere. See below for gratuitous demonstration. We got it twice. 

5. A pleasant hotel is worth the effort/investment. Much of our time was spent oh-so-happily on our peaceful and beautiful balcony. 

6. Doing nothing is a quite something. We lived like glamour queens for three days and I wouldn't change a bit of it. 

More than once we asked each other "what do you want to do now?" And the answer always came back as "...this."

If that isn't nice, what is?

Better Late Than Never: A Broad-Stroke Recap of Phu Quoc

Frankly we didn't love Phu Quoc. Our hotel was a dump and it turns out Kevin and I aren't great at "slowing down" and "relaxing."

But now that I've been gone for two weeks I can admit that at least we took some great pictures, so here they all are at once.  

At first we were v excited about being tan and lazy and fabulous. It was short-lived, but appropriately weird looking. 

Here's a shot of Kevin getting a jump start on doing what he does best: buying stuff he doesn't need. 

Upon realizing how much we hated our hotel, we went to the night market to indulge in our favorite vices: ice cream for me and more buying stuff for Kevin. 

The next morning we had a renewed sense of spirit because we remembered that Vietnamese coffee exists. PRAISE. 

Then we did some exploring and I found some stuff to climb. Always a crowd pleaser. 

JK Kevin hated it, but I talked him into it anyway. 

Then I found more climbable stuff which I ran at gleefully 

and Kevin hated it even more. 

But then he decided ok fine it looks like fun and he was right. 

Then Kevin threw caution and doctor's orders to the wind by ignoring his allergy and drinking the first of many coconuts.

That night we found out our hotel has kayaks (#tinyvictory) and took them for a sunset spin. 

 

Which turned into a full-blown photo shoot. 

Especially once we started doing yoga on the floating dock. 

Aka taking pictures of each other actively falling down

Then Kevin realized his childhood dream of recreating Ariel's epic hair flip. I provided the soundtrack. 

All in all, we had some fun but this picture is mostly a lie. Plus I lost those sunglasses which is certainly anyone's fault but my own. 

At least we looked good. Ready for more adventures in Cambodia!

Railay: Update/Upgrade

After one night at the glamorous luxury resort (read: terror nightmare dump) called Railay Viewpoint, we've decided to move hotels.

Things we hoped to find in our next destination:

1. Soap in bathrooms

2. Sheets or blankets on bed

3. Hot water

And if we're getting really greedy, air conditioning.

Thanks to Michael for his accurate demonstration of how we slept last night. 

Yes, that blanket is also a towel. 2-in-1!

This morning we got up earlier than is reasonable for people on a beach vacation, and hiked it down to a place called Railay Great View to inquire about a room. 

After a good amount of confusion and effort (one booking, one cancelled booking, several rearranged rooms and a lot of Thai-to-charades-to-English translation), we are in a dreamscape. 

We have soap and hot(ish) water!

We have sheets AND a blanket!

And, living up to its name, we have a hilltop and ocean view balcony which we may never leave. 

Four thumbs way way up.