October 2018 · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

October 31, 2018

Days 113 – 116: Kuala Lumpur, Expectations Exceeded

Kuala. Lumpur. What a great city!

Whenever Rich and I stay in AirBNB’s, one of the questions we answer during our AirBNB closing review process is whether the place met, failed to meet, or surpassed our expectations. This question seems sort of tricky to me because is it insulting to say a place only met expectations if my expectations of it were set pretty high going in?

With Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I will admit that my expectations were not high at all.

When we meet other couples who travel a lot, Rich inevitably asks them about what place they did not like. Two separate couples named Kuala Lumpur. And then our experience in Penang, Malaysia had been pretty average, probably because a.) we were coming off a long stretch in beautiful Thailand, and b.) we were feeling under the weather. All that to say, I expected our time in KL to be mostly fine.

Boy, was I wrong about Kuala Lumpur. We had an incredible time, and I am excited to share about all we experienced.

Day 113: Easy Travel to Kuala Lumpur + Our Important Meeting

Travel from Penang to Kuala Lumpur was super easy because it was a domestic flight within Malaysia and because the Kuala Lumpur airport was amazing.

We took a Grab (SE Asia’s UBER) to the airport in Penang, enjoyed an airport lounge breakfast there, and then took an afternoon flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Once we landed in Kuala Lumpur, we headed to the landside airport lounge there to get lunch. Rich and I decided to use our lounge time to have our Kuala Lumpur meeting. Yes, with each other.

Please feel free to roll your eyes here, but scheduling meetings with each other to plan out our time in each city has been a game changer for us. It gives Rich and me a dedicated time and space to talk about the things we want to see and do in each new location, and then we put everything on a calendar to block it all out. The Together Teacher would be so proud!

Having our meeting at the Kuala Lumpur lounge worked great, because who doesn’t like a meeting with coffee and food?!?

Calendar for KL — Our KL Calendar, Together Leader Style

The Kuala Lumpur airport is NOT close to Kuala Lumpur; it’s a good hour outside the city. We put it into Grab, and the price was really high. After a little googling, we learned that the “economy” taxi was about half the price. Done!

By the time, we arrived at our AirBNB, a gorgeous apartment in a high rise building, it was late afternoon, and Rich and I were both pretty beat. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that for dinner, we ordered delivery McDonald’s! Taste of home, perhaps?

McDonald’s in the romantic lighting of our AirBNB in Kuala Lumpur.

Day 114: Visiting the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur

If you follow travel accounts on Instagram (like ours!), you have seen the famous colorful steps of the Batu Caves. Inside the Batu Caves complex, there are a series of famous Hindu shrines carved into the side of a large limestone hill, all located about 12 kilometers outside of Kuala Lumpur. The 272 stairs leading up to the cave have been painted in a bright rainbow pattern creating a really fun spot to take pictures.

Also, there are monkeys. Lots of them. While we were researching, we watched a video where a monkey at the Batu Caves jumped on a girl’s head and back. And then scratched her. And then she had to go to the hospital to get the scratch checked out. Because monkey rabies.

Still, we had to see it.

The Batu Caves were beautiful. There were definitely devious monkeys walking around with the people, looking to steal things, but there was also the most beautiful gold statue of Lord Murugan, a Hindu deity, as well as the amazing steps.

We had a great time posing for pictures, watching out for monkeys, and taking in the gorgeous surroundings.

Rich and I took the subway back into town and ate a fabulous local restaurant in the heart of the business district. We were surrounded by professionals on their lunch break, and there was something so totally refreshing about not being in a tourist destination. For a minute, Rich and I both even felt envious of the professionals with their jobs, routines, and dress up clothes!

Back to the Apartment and Dinner Out

We headed back to the AirBNB to spend some time at the pool. We went up to the 45th floor and while the views were insane– the KL skyline is striking– the pool was a little lame, and there were no lounge chairs. Weird. We only stayed about an hour.

For dinner, we headed to an Indian restaurant Rich found on TripAdvisor. We sat down, we ordered, everything looked delicious, and then from Rich’s view into the kitchen, he saw a rat. Not a mouse. A rat.

We really do not like to cause a fuss, ever, but we couldn’t stay and eat there. We paid for our drinks and headed back to our apartment building to eat at a local restaurant on the ground floor. The food was outstanding, cheaper, and rat-free.

Day 115: Seeing the City and the Petronas Towers

An Important Apartment Discovery

Remember, what you just read about the disappointing pool on the top floor? Well, the next morning, we got up to go to the gym, and discovered that on the 6th floor of the apartment building, there was an unbelievable, massive infinity pool complete with cabanas and chairs. Glorious!

In addition, the gym was like no other apartment gym I have ever seen. There was one room for treadmills and elliptical machines, one room for weights, and one huge yoga studio. Gyms have been few and far between on our trip, and this was a true treat! I did an Aaptiv treadmill workout, lifted a bit, and then did abs in the yoga room.

Lunch + EcoPark + Petronas Towers

We were hungry post-workout so we ate lunch back at the restaurant where we had dinner. So cheap! So good! If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

We then walked to the EcoPark. The EcoPark is literally a tropical rain forest in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. Everything was so green and lush, and our favorite part was the Canopy Walk. The Canopy Walk is a 200 meter high suspended bridge which allows you to look down on the forest below and look out on the city skyline. The park and walk are free, and we really enjoyed being in nature, in the middle of a city.

The Menara Kuala Lumpur: another famous KL landmark

Rich on the suspension bridge in the EcoPark

I am in a rainforest and also in a huge city. Mindblowing.

We then walked towards the Petronas Towers, but got a little turned around, so this was a high step count day (16,000+ for Amanda and 20,000+ for Rich, even though I was on the treadmill longer) for us.

We finally arrived at KLCC Park, another beautiful green park in the shadow of the Petronas Towers. If you are not familiar with the Petronas Towers, they are huge twin skyscrapers, built in 1994, that were the tallest towers in the world until 2004.

The towers are the most prominent feature of the Kuala Lumpur skyline, and views of them pop up from wherever you are in the city. You can pay to take a tour to the top, but we opted out of that expensive experience.

They are so tall, it’s hard to get them all in the shot. There were vendors selling wide view lenses you could attach to your cell phone to get the best selfie shot!

From the park, we headed to the nearby mall KLCC Suria. Some of the clothing in our backpacks needed some refreshing, and we were hoping H&M would come through. It was a wash though, and our feet were tired! We ate Subway (yes, same Subway) in the mall food court and headed home in a Grab.

Day 116: Walking on Sunshine in Kuala Lumpur

We woke up to unbelievably sunny skies. We have found that checking the weather in Southeast Asia does not prove particularly helpful. On the weekly forecast, every day shows up as storm clouds, and then it rains for about one hour during the day and stops.

So sunshine was fabulous! We headed back to our baller apartment gym, and then decided we would spend some time in a cabana by the pool. Maybe we would even get one of the epic Kuala Lumpur infinity pool shots with Rich staring off into the skyline.

We put our swimsuits on, grabbed a book, and headed to the swanky pool on the sixth floor. Rich takes off his t-shirt, walks toward the water, and is immediately approached by the guard.

“Excuse me, sir, you cannot be here.”

I start cracking up in my head, because I think my former high school administrator husband is getting busted for having on swim trunks that are too short. I imagine that he will go back upstairs, put on his longer Nike workout shorts, come back down, and our morning at the pool will resume. Nope.

So Malaysia is a Muslim country. We still don’t totally have this figured out, but apparently men can only swim in tight swimming pants or shorts (imagine Michael Phelps in the last Olympics). Women can swim in any sort of swimsuit. The guard walked Rich to this sign, it became clear that he had no article of clothing in his backpack that would pass code, and our pool plan was foiled.

Last note here: Rich and I have both googled and googled about male swimwear in Malaysia and have found ZERO information or guidance on this phenomenon, besides a review at the place we stayed in Penang– where we didn’t try to swim– in which a man references not having the correct Malaysian swim wear.

Actually, this is the last note here: A male Speedo bikini swimsuit would have been acceptable. Rich did ask the guard about how a tiny, tight swimsuit would be more modest than his swim trunks, but the poor guard was just the messenger. Swim day cancelled.

If looks could kill…Rich was not pleased about the change of plans.

Instead, we did some blogging/planning work, and then ate lunch at a different restaurant below our building, a delicious Jamaican (yep, you read that right) coffee shop called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. My order was an incredible grain bowl with pumpkin and a fried egg, and it was one of my very favorite meals of the whole trip. I asked Rich if we could come back for dinner!

Seeing More Green in Kuala Lumpur

We walked in the opposite direction from the day before to Merdeka Square, which translates to Independence Square. The square is outside the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, a beautiful office building constructed under British rule, and in 1957, the Malaysian flag was raised for the first time in the square.

The area reminded me a lot of the National Mall in Washington, DC or the area outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was clear that it was a historic and significant spot. It was also a great place to take pictures in the bright sunshine!

Once we finished with pictures and sightseeing, we decided to check out one more Kuala Lumpur mall to see if we might have better luck finding a few replacement items. We hit up the Pavilion, another huge mall in Kuala Lumpur, but couldn’t find what we wanted and grew weary quickly.

We headed back to our apartment, where we ate dinner at Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

Closing Thoughts on Kuala Lumpur

We realized in KL that a common denominator of places we really like is the ability to settle in and not feel like tourists. Yes, we obviously did all of the touristy things listed below, but we also had lunch inconspicuously surrounded by professionals downtown, went to a great gym in our building, worked and blogged, and visited two shopping malls.

Kuala Lumpur has to be the most modern city we have visited on our trip, and at the same time, is probably also the most conservative. You hear the Muslim Call to Prayer five times a day, they have swim trunk rules, drinking alcohol is frowned upon (and too expensive for us to afford while we were there!), many women choose to cover themselves, etc.

All in all, we thought it was a really interesting place to visit and felt very welcoming at the same time. Every Grab driver we had in KL and in Penang felt a lot of pride in Malaysia and seemed optimistic about the country’s future. With the amount of major construction we saw as well as the number of high end luxury stores, it seems that they have every reason to believe Malaysia is a country making advances on the world stage.

October 27, 2018

Days 110 – 112: Pretty Penang, Malaysia

After a nice, long twenty day stretch in Thailand, we packed our bags and headed to pretty Penang, Malaysia!

Day 110: Travel from Koh Samui, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia

I do not know if this will be as shocking to you as it was to us, but the airport in Koh Samui was OUTDOORS. As in the area where the ticket counters were was covered, but it was not fully enclosed. Additionally, to get to the terminals, you walk down a street, not a hallway.

On our way to Penang — The outdoor terminal in Koh Samui

My mom shared that the airport in Hawaii is like this so maybe this fact does not surprise you, but it sure surprised us, in the very best way. We thought the airport was beautiful.

Maybe our excitement about this reflects that we have been traveling for more than 100 days. We spend a lot of time in airports.

So on day 110, we flew from Koh Samui to Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Penang. Whew!

Rich and I had an amazing airport lounge in Bangkok, which was a treat. We thought we would get an airport lounge in Kuala Lumpur. We did not, which was disappointing. BUT we learned that we could visit airport lounges upon arrival into a country which meant that we were able to eat a free dinner in a lounge when we landed in Penang. This was a win for day 110 AND for many days moving forward– food is a major cost for us, and we will take all the free meals we can get.

Upon checking in to the AirBNB, this time in another high rise condo, we went almost immediately to bed…

Day 111: Football, Food, and Street Art

Because the University of Georgia took on the LSU Tigers in the biggest football game of the season so far at 3:30 PM in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and 3:30 AM in Penang, Malaysia. Previously undefeated UGA lost and looked terrible doing it.

Once the game ended at 7:30 AM, we went back to sleep.

Eating Malaysian Food in Penang

When we woke up a few hours later, we were hungry. Rich has a favorite Malaysian restaurant back in Philly, named Penang Restaurant because of course, and one of his favorite items on the menu is the roti canai. For the uninitiated (which I was before meeting Rich), roti canai is an Indian pancake that is doughy and melts in your mouth and comes with a delicious red sauce. I should be a food critic.

We got showered and ready, found the top rated restaurant for roti canai, hopped in our Grab, and found out the restaurant is closed. Apparently in Malaysia, you can only get roti canai for breakfast. In America, we always ate it for dinner!

No worries though. If there is one thing people in Malaysia appreciate, it is food. Our AirBNB was pretty sparse (only one roll of toilet paper was provided), but it came with a thick binder of recommended restaurants. When we arrived at the roti canai restaurant 30 minutes before closing time to discover that it had already closed, our driver made a recommendation of where we should eat and what we should order. Then he drove us the extra ten minutes there for no additional charge.

He nailed it! The food was delicious, and the restaurant was filled with travelers from all over the world.

Lunch in Penang — Eating is serious business in Penang.

Street Art in Penang

In 2008, UNESCO named George Town in Penang a world heritage site. In 1786, the East India Company had founded Penang as a trading center. Because Penang was a hub of economic activity, settlers from India and China as well as across Europe landed in Penang bringing their rich cultures with them. Today, a mosque stands on one block and a Hindu temple stands on the next, and the food is one big mashup of the best flavors from India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. The neighborhood is incredibly diverse.

In 2012, the George Town Festival commissioned artist Ernest Zacharevic to create an open air gallery for visitors to the UNESCO heritage site. Zacharevic created eight murals which incorporate paintings with actual objects such as chairs, bicycles, and motorbikes. Since 2012, other artists have added their own murals to walls throughout the area.

After our big lunch, we headed out to find as many murals as we could. They really blend in to the surroundings, and typing in “children on bicycle” in GoogleMaps didn’t work too well for us. Locating all of the murals turned into a sort of hunt for buried treasure!

We did pretty well though and enjoyed walking around the neighborhood. The art is awesome, the tourists who were lined up to take pictures were patient with each other, and we had a fun time figuring out the shots we wanted to take.

Enjoy the gallery below!

Day 112: Visiting the Kek Lok Si and More Food in Penang

I’m sad to report that we still did not make it out of the house in time to enjoy roti canai for breakfast! Rich and I both got a bit of a cold upon arriving in Penang, and we needed some extra sleep.

Kek Lok Si

Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and it sits high on a hill overlooking Penang. The threat of heavy rain loomed for the duration of our visit, but thankfully, it held off, and we were able to wander through the pretty gardens and temples.

The large, prominent pagoda at Kek Lok Si features Chinese, Burmese, and Thai architectural designs, which really captures the spirit of Penang quite nicely.

The Pagoda with Chinese, Thai, and Burmese design

We took a funicular (!!!) to the top of the hill, where a giant bronze statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, stands overlooking the city. Near her statue are small statues representing each Chinese birth year so we took pictures with our respective animals: a horse for Rich (fine) and a rat for Amanda (terrible).

One small thing I really appreciated at Kek Lok Si that I had not seen at any others were the wishing trees. The temple sold “wishes” on small ribbons that included things like successful career and being together forever. I was struck by how universal all of our wishes are! Across the globe, people wish for joy and peace and health for themselves and the people they love.

Lunch Time!

Rich picked out a place for lunch back in George Town, but when we got in the Grab, our very talkative Chinese Grab driver insisted that we go somewhere “better” instead. So she took us to her favorite Malay restaurant and talked the whole 25 minutes on the ride there.

Things we learned from/opinions of the driver:

Malaysia has had a very corrupt government for several generations but major changes have been made in the past two years that should lead to less state corruption and more regulation.
Malays are very confused by American politics (“The loud rich man and the wife lady were the two very best people you have to interview for your prime minister?”)
According to our driver, the Chinese do not like the Muslims in Malaysia (remember: Malaysia is a Muslim country) but they are fine with the Indians.

Let’s be kind, and say she was a character. I’ll also say she picked out a great restaurant for lunch, and we ate well!

Final Thoughts on Penang, Malaysia

We loved the street art in Penang, we got incredible, flavorful meals in Georgetown, and it was great to be in a large city with modern conveniences.

We were a bit run down during our time here so we didn’t get in quite as much as we had hoped (read: roti canai). That wasn’t Penang’s fault, and at the same time, it wasn’t really ours either– sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re dealt, and we can’t feel great every day of this marathon journey.

Penang was an incredibly easy city to navigate though, and the people were friendly and welcoming. If you are visiting Southeast Asia, we would definitely encourage you to keep Malaysia on your list.

On to Kuala Lumpur…

October 24, 2018

Days 106 – 109: Koh Samui, Ultimate Chill

Sawasdee! Koh Samui was our last stop in Thailand, and let’s just say that our time here was relaxed. Relax with us for a few minutes, and read about what life on this Thai island is like– or at least, what it was like for us for our four days there.

Day 106: Travel to Koh Samui from Krabi

Koh Samui is an island so our travel from Krabi was by bus, then ferry, then taxi to reach our Koh Samui AirBNB.

The ferry travel reminded me a lot of our time hopping between islands in Croatia, which seems like three years ago and was actually just in July!

Rich getting on Koh Samui ferry — Boarding the ferry for Koh Samui.

Our Koh Samui AirBNB

Our AirBNB in Koh Samui was this adorable glass house. We took lots of video– you can see it in our Thailand Insta stories— but weren’t smart enough to take photos of the house.

Our favorite part of the AirBNB was not the gorgeous styling or the big porch or the $40/night affordable price tag. Nope. It was that the generous host provided snacks on snacks on snacks on snacks. We are talking cereal, chips, instant noodles, cokes, coffee, cookies, crackers– do we sound like budget backpackers yet? Ha! We were in heaven!

Italian for Lunch + A Private Pool

Once we checked in, we ate lunch at the most amazing Italian restaurant. Yes, you read that right. Italian. In Thailand.

A gentleman from Rome owns and runs The Food Lab , and he made us delicious roast pork sandwiches. As a Philadelphia native with an Italian grandmother, Rich has a serious love of roast pork, and this hit the spot. Watch out DiNic’s— you have some competition!

Food Lab in Koh Samui — Rich with his roast pork sandwich at Food Lab

Because everyone obviously wants to put on a swimsuit immediately after eating a roast pork sandwich, we headed to the pool for a few hours after lunch. Our AirBNB was about 100 yards from a cute little hotel. For a charge of about $3/person, we were able to pay to use the pool. No one else was there so $6 bought us our own private oasis!

private pool in Koh Samui — Private pool day!

Day 107: Work, The Grandpa Rock, and Rich Receives Cheers

We decided to use a quiet island to get as caught up as possible on blogging and planning.

The biggest pro of working from our sweet AirBNB: An American drip coffee pot! I do not want to attempt to calculate the number of Nescafe coffee packets we have consumed in the last 100+ days. I carry them in my backpack, in my purse, they fall out as we go through security. Don’t get me wrong– we need them to get an inexpensive caffeine fix. Still, having actual coffee while we worked greatly enhanced productivity.

The biggest con of working from our AirBNB: We had to pay for electricity separately, which included aircon. We didn’t want to accidentally run up a huge bill by running aircon all day so we tried to get by during the day with just fans and ocean breezes. It was sweaty. This was a mistake.

Visiting Hin Ta and Hin Yai Rocks

The Hin Ta and Hin Yai, which translates to Grandpa and Grandma, rocks are one of the most famous landmarks in Koh Samui, Thailand.

I like to keep the blog g-rated and family friendly, keeping in mind that my mom and stepdad are two of our most devoted readers, so I’m struggling a bit for the words to describe this unique rock formation.

I’ll include a few pictures below, share that the rocks are 100% naturally formed, and note that we were quite surprised, particularly by grandpa rock, when we arrived. Once you see Hin Ta, there is no unseeing him.

Oops

For dinner, we walked to Emporio, a different Italian restaurant, also owned and run by a Roman chef, across the street from the Food Lab. We ate unbelievably well-prepared carbonara, enjoying a wonderful meal together.

Sicily? Nope. Koh Samui. Totally authentic and delicious carbonara.

A quick explanation: when we were in Cambodia, we transitioned from using our American wallets to using a small coin purse to keep up with our money as we hardly ever are able to use credit cards and we often have a lot of bills and coins to keep track of at any given moment. Elephant patterns are ubiquitous across southeast Asia, so clearly our coin purse is decorated with an elephant design. As a result, we just call this coin purse “the elephant.” We almost always leave our other wallets in the safe at home.

It came time to pay at Emporio, we opened the elephant, and we didn’t have as much Thai currency as we thought we did with us. We also didn’t have an ATM card, just a credit card. And of course, Emporio didn’t take credit cards.

We didn’t have money to pay our bill.

For those of you that know us outside of our lives as travelers, you know that this is one of the least Team Mitchell things we have ever done. We are super conscientious, super organized, super type-A. I guess in Koh Samui, we were just super relaxed!

So the only course of action was to go home, get a debit card to tap the ATM, and get more Thai bahts.

My Koh Samui Hero

Home, of course, was a mile and a half away. Rich did not love the idea of leaving me sitting by myself in a not-very-crowded restaurant in Thailand for long and the place was going to close soon so he decided that this predicament required that he run home while I stayed behind.

What I should also mention about Koh Samui Thailand is that, umm, it’s a little less conservative than other parts of Thailand we visited (see: pictures of the most popular landmark above). There are many older ex-pats with younger Thai women, you see much more revealing clothing, and there are bars with names like “The Sexy Sex Bar.” Seriously.

So my handsome husband started running down the main street through this relaxed beach town, and the women working at the Sexy Sex Bar started cheering. And then the women at the massage parlors started clapping and shouting encouragement too. Then the ex-pats a few beers in started urging on their mate too. To hear Rich tell it, running the mile to our apartment was like running the last mile of a marathon. A very spirited marathon. With no other runners.

My handsome, sweaty American husband returned with the money a bit sheepishly about 25 minutes later. Rich received considerably less attention and fewer cheers (read: no cheers) walking back home with me!

Day 108: Crystal Bay at Silver Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand

About Koh Samui

More context: Koh Samui is a beautiful island, full of glamorous world class resorts: the Ritz, the W, etc. There is a plethora of restaurants, boutiques, and spas, which clearly have the economy to support them during busy season.

We were not there during the busy season, and Koh Samui felt like a luxurious ghost town. Beautiful, but a bit creepy. Rich made a comment that it felt like everyone there was running away from something instead of running to something. We liked Koh Samui, but that description felt right to me too.

Crystal Bay

Still, Thai beaches live up to every wonderful description they receive. We walked about 45 minutes to get to the Crystal Bay at Silver Beach and found clear water, mountains, tall rocks, and soft sand. We had a great afternoon reading, sleeping, taking pictures, and being together.

Day 108: Football, Work, Pool

We enjoyed our last day in Koh Samui which looked like:

Getting up at 1:00 AM to watch the defending world champion Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New York Giants 43-13. Go Birds!
Going back to sleep, clearly.
Waking up much later and working most of the day.
Heading back to the hotel pool to lounge in the late afternoon.

Rich and I had had enough Italian (ha!) so we tried a vegan place nearby for dinner, and it was amazing.

Final Thoughts on Koh Samui

Spending twelve straight days at the Thai beaches of Phuket, Krabi, and Koh Samui was a true treat. We left with a complete understanding of why so many people move to Thailand for a slower, more relaxed life, full of beauty and rest.

Twenty total days in Thailand was just right for us. Koh Samui provided an incredible opportunity for us to rest and work, allowing us to get caught up on blogging and planning. At the same time, by the end, we were pretty ready to explore somewhere else and visit cities where tourism is not the main industry. We wanted to blend back in in a crowd.

On to Malaysia!

October 17, 2018October 24, 2018

Days 102 – 105: Kicking Back in Krabi, Thailand

Like Phuket, Krabi is a beach in Thailand. So since our action in Krabi was a bit limited, I would like to start this post with something that has been on my mind a lot since we have been in Thailand.

In the fall of 2009, I moved to Washington, DC to start graduate school. I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, went to college at the University of Georgia, and then taught high school for three years in Arkansas and Georgia. The south is where I am from and what I knew.

A dear friend who is a few years older than me gently pushed me to apply to graduate schools outside of the south. Not because the south is bad or because I could never go back but just to get a little perspective and to try living somewhere else to see how it fit.

In my first month in DC, I went out to dinner with grad school friends at a Thai restaurant. I had eaten Chinese food occasionally growing up and sushi in college, but I had never eaten Thai. What does it taste like? What should I order? Will I like it?

The answers: Delicious, anything, and yes.

More likely than not, the friends I ate Thai with for the very first time in DC circa 2009. Also: what am I wearing?

I share this because as I write, I have now spent over twenty days in Thailand. Less than ten years ago, I had not lived outside of the southeastern United States, and I had never tasted Thai food.

Life is long. The world is big. Given time and opportunity, people develop and change and grow in incredibly unexpected ways. There is no way that twenty five year old me ever could have imagined that thirty four year old me would love eating Thai food in Thailand and would travel to as many countries as we are going to visit this year. Thinking about that fills me with awe and gratitude as well as curiosity about what more the future may hold. Be patient. Give yourself and other people a chance. Possibilities are boundless.

Day 102: Goodbye, Phuket! Hello, Krabi!

Travel from Phuket to Krabi was the easiest. A van picked just me and Rich up at our hotel in Phuket, and three hours later, the driver dropped us at our hotel in Krabi. Amazing.

We spent the afternoon tackling a little work and planning out our next few days. We found a fabulous restaurant, Ton Ma Yom Thai Food Restaurant, for dinner and crashed hard.

Day 103: Work Out, Pool, Work

One of the advantages of staying in a hotel versus an AirBNB is having a gym. As we shared in our last thirty day post, our physical activity is WAY down in Asia, so we enjoyed a chance to get in a workout.

Another advantage of staying in a hotel, which may be at odds with the last advantage, is having breakfast provided. We went straight from the gym to the buffet, eliciting a few looks for being so sweaty, and enjoyed being able to eat as much as we want. These days we are not so much counting calories as counting bahts (the Thai currency) as food can eat (ha!) away at our budget quickly.

From breakfast, we showered and then headed to the pool for a couple of hours. Neither Phuket or Krabi had bookstores so I had been without any pool or beach reading for days. I decided to download a podcast to fill the void, and I landed on Slow Burn Season 1 which details how Watergate unfolded. I’m a nerd, but I thought the whole season was fascinating.

We got a bit of work done in the hotel in the afternoon and then walked on the beach in Krabi to get some pictures before heading back to Ton Ma Yom Thai Food Restaurant for our second night of delicious Thai dinner.

It started to rain when we left the hotel so our pictures have a slight melancholic feel with the boats and the rain. Still, the landscape was really beautiful and watching the boats return from the islands was neat too.

Is there anything more relaxing than being by the water?

Rainy Krabi — Ao Nang is pretty even in the rain.

Day 104: College Football + Visit to Railay Beach

Go Dawgs!

The University of Georgia’s homecoming football game against the Vanderbilt Commodores was played at 7:30 PM in Athens, Georgia which meant a 6:30 AM start time for Thailand’s truest Dawg fans (me and Rich).

This was glorious! Instead of waking up at 1:00 AM or 3:30 AM, we we able to wake up at a time that humans are intended to wake up. We sipped our coffee, we ate buffet breakfast at halftime, and the Dawgs won. Brilliant.

Coffee + Morning Football = Winning. What 2018 Homecoming looked like for me. Go Dawgs!

Getting to RailAy Beach

We stayed in Ao Nang in Krabi. To reach the other nearby beautiful beaches, you take a quick 15 minute boat ride through the Andaman Sea. Rich and I had heard wonderful things about the beach at Railay Bay and decided to take a boat there for an easy day trip.

I had never been in a boat quite like the boat we took to Railay Beach. First, to board it, you wade about 3 feet into the water from the beach, and climb up a small ladder to climb in. That was new.

The boats are all wooden, and all look like they could probably lose a plank or two at any minute. I was giggling to myself that when we took the cruise across the Halong Bay in Vietnam every time we got on the small, sleek boats for an excursion, the crew insisted on everyone wearing life jackets at all times.

However, I had to look pretty hard to even locate life jackets on these boats in Krabi. I eventually found them, up front by the captain, neatly packed away out of reach. The captain didn’t exactly do a safety demonstration for us before jetting out across the sea! Thailand: not so big on regulation.

But I obviously arrived safely enough since I am here to write today. Being on the water was really pretty– Rich said the ride was one of his favorite moments of the whole time we were in Thailand!

Boat selfie. I’m looking a little incredulous before we arrived safely.

Beach Day!

So we arrived, and Railay was, of course, beautiful. It felt like being in a Corona commercial.

One quick difference between Rich and me in terms of our beach going preferences: I could stay at the beach all day, without moving, and be the happiest. Rich needs a little action. “Okay,” he begins, “I think we apply the sunscreen. Then we lay for 30 minutes. Next we get in the water. After that we come back and towel off and eat our snack. Then we lay for 10 minutes, then…” You get the picture.

I should also add that the sun was HOT. In about 5 minutes of laying, we were both as sweaty as we have ever been in our entire lives. We are soaked, the towels are soaked, the sand under the towels is soaked. Puddles of sweat. You get the picture.

So we did a little bit of lounging, followed by some picture taking, followed by some splashing in the water, followed by some sand art, and then we retreated to the town for a nice, cold drink. We were on the beach itself for maybe an hour.

Railay Beach in Krabi — So blue and clear! This. Beach.

Railay Bay

Railay Bay is super chill as evidenced by every bar being named after or dedicated to Bob Marley. We wandered around, got a mango smoothie, and then found seats with a killer view of the sea to enjoy one iced cold beer. Heaven.

Then we waded back into the ocean, climbed in a rickety boat, and headed across the sea back to town.

I can think of no better spot for a beer.

We, of course, ate dinner with our friends at Ton Ma Yom Thai Food Restaurant for the third night in a row.

Day 105: NFL + Thai Massages

The Birds Lose.

The Philadelphia Eagles were not kind enough to start their game against the Minnesota Vikings at a normal hour in Thailand, so we were up at 3:25 AM to watch more football. They were also not kind enough to win. Watching your team lose before 8:00 AM is not the way to start your day!

We went to breakfast to eat away our sorrows and then went back to sleep. Rich and I love football and are passionate fans, but trying to watch all of the football we want to watch has really done a doozie on our sleep schedules. We can’t give football up, but I think we are both going to feel a little relieved– and a little healthier!– when the season is over. When we were working in the States, we loved college football on Saturdays and NFL on Sundays. Now it is brutal.

Thai Massages Are the Best Massages

If we made one mistake in Thailand, it might be that we only got one Thai massage. After our post-game nap, it was rainy so we spent most of the day working from our hotel room. In the late afternoon, we headed out for a glorious Thai massage at Massage Corner in Ao Nang.

Only getting one massage was a mistake because the massage was both wonderful and cheap. Of the 10+ massages I have had in my life, the massage I had in Krabi was a.) the best and b.) only 250 Thai Baht which translates to $7.69 USD. For one full hour.

Rich and I both felt gloriously zen when we left. A Thai vacation with ten straight days of massages could easily be in our future.

Closing Thoughts on Krabi

It is funny to me that the area is called Krabi because if we were anything in the four days we were there, crabby was not it.

Krabi was one of the easiest places to relax I have ever been. If conflict and overcoming challenges make for an exciting blog post, well, this one is probably on the boring side. We were total beach bums.

Several years after I tried Thai food for the first time, my best friend from high school, Alexis, visited Thailand. I thought she was super brave and adventurous to travel across the world.

I’m not saying now that she wasn’t, but I am saying that if you are reading this thinking that Thailand and/or Asia are outside of your travel comfort zone, I really think you could do it too! Imagine: great food, affordability, beaches, massages, paradise, etc.

Sometimes a nudge to step past your comfort zone pushes you way farther than you could have ever imagined. Consider this my paying that nudge forward. Trust me, after the best massage of your life, you’ll thank me.

October 11, 2018October 12, 2018

Days 98 – 101: Oh Phuket, Thailand

Ah, Thailand beaches. Great for our tans and our moods, maybe not so great for content for the blog. But hey, Phuket, let’s go.

Day 98: Travel from Bangkok to Phuket

As you can imagine, the trail from Bangkok to Phuket is well traveled. We hopped in our Grab (Uber’s SE Asia cousin), and the driver said, “Let me guess: you are headed to Phuket.”

Getting to the Airport

Our Grab ride to the Don Muang airport had us grabbing for a reason anyone would want to live in a city with so much traffic. What is a twenty minute drive on paper took us well over an hour. We had also stayed up until 4:00 AM watching the Philadelphia Eagles lose to the Tennessee Titans and then had to be back up by 5:30 AM to pack and catch a cab. Eeek.

We Heart Airport Lounges

Rich and I got to return to one of our favorite lounges in Bangkok, our airport BFF, to work on our THIRD thirty day post, in the same booth where we wrote our second thirty day post. What beautiful, unplanned symmetry! Also, unlimited free coffee.

Then we almost missed our flight when it got delayed, according to the display board, and then moved back up to its regular time according to a hard-to-understand PA announcement. I thought I heard them say Phuket the first time (Rich: “I didn’t hear it.”), and then Rich and I both definitely heard them say it the second time, followed by “final call.” We sprinted out of the lounge and to the gate to be greeted by a long line of other people who still needed to board.

The flight to Phuket was really stunning as we landed over green islands and deep blue water. From the airport, we took about a thirty minute long shuttle to our hotel and got checked in.

We stayed at the Grand Sunset Hotel, and as advertised, its pool had killer sunset views as well as a free sunset cocktail with free freshly popped popcorn. It’s the small things. Settling in at the pool felt just right.

sunset cocktail in Phuket — Enjoying my sunset cocktail. It’s orange. Like the sunset. Super clever.

Day 99: We Went to the Pool

Umm, it rained in the morning so Rich and I did some work, and then we went to the pool. Then it rained some more so we had a “meeting” where we calendar-ed out how we were going to spend our days in Phuket, and then we showered and went back to the pool for our sunset cocktail. Then we walked out to the beach for a minute and on to dinner.

Let’s just swing by the ocean for a minute on the way to dinner.

A note about Phuket: there are a lot of Russians. Most of the signs for restaurants were translated into English, and they were ALL translated into Russian. In almost all of the other areas of Southeast Asia we have visited, there have been many Asian tourists and many Australian backpackers. In Phuket, we just saw Russians. It struck us as interesting, so I thought I would share.

Day 100: We Tried to Visit Big Buddha, Failed, and Got Epic Sunset Pictures

About PHuket

I have done a terrible job describing Phuket. Most importantly, it’s beautiful. We stayed across the street from a large wide beach with tan colored sand. The water is super blue, and there are huge white waves that roll in. It is exactly what you want a beach to look like.

Secondly, Phuket is surrounded by rolling, incredibly lush, green hills. I think if you planted a seed in Phuket today, you would have a giant blooming plant next week, that’s how fertile the environment is. The green of the hills is just as majestic as the blue of the sea.

Trying to Visit Big Buddha

At the top of one of these green hills is a huge Buddha that you could see from the roof of our hotel. Since I knew we would mostly spend our time in Phuket by water not exercising and not seeing sights, I thought hiking to it would be a good plan. We could see it, take some pictures, get some exercise, and enjoy the hike together.

I came across a blog with step-by-step directions of how to easily hike to Big Buddha. Awesome. The directions included everything except an address of the starting point. Maybe you see where this is going.

Long story long, we got up early, put on workout clothes (long running tights for me so I would be fully covered to go in the temple), walked the twenty five minutes in 85+ degree tropical heat to where we thought the starting point would be…and the starting point wasn’t there.

I’ll speed things up: we walked around looking some more, got very, very cross with one another, and sulkily walked home (Amanda) having not found the trail or seen the Big Buddha.

We did some apologies, and then we went to the pool.

getting lost in Phuket — One large hill we walked up on our way not to the big Buddha.

I’m probably going to have to write about this epic fail on the blog so let me take this terrible selfie.

Taking Epic Sunset Pictures

We lucked into an incredible sunset that night and were able to take really just the best sunset pictures we could have imagined.

It was fortuitous because it was DAY ONE HUNDRED of our trip, and we could do a whole big, beautiful Instagram spread of this gorgeous sunset, looking just the happiest.

As I type, we received 598 LIKES on Instagram on this post. That is clearly the most likes we have ever received, and obviously means one day we might be internet famous.

And the funniest part is that we were as annoyed with/frustrated at/bothered by each other that day as we have been since we left the United States. We are fine now, but getting lost looking for Big Buddha was not a high point of our marriage.

So, enjoy these beautiful pictures, and remember: social media is not real.

Rich examines his bicep. He does this at least once every day. Yep. Still there.

Same sunset, from the roof of our hotel.

Day 101: It Rained

Sometimes a rainy day at the beach is okay! Here’s how we spent the day:

We walked to breakfast and home before it rained.
I blogged.
Rich finished reading Crazy Rich Asians and started China Rich Girlfriend. The man is obsessed. He thinks author Kevin Kwan is his best friend and that all of the main characters are people we actually know. We have big plans to go see the Crazy Rich Asians movie in Singapore where the books are set– we will keep you posted.
Rich and I took a nap.
We ran out in the rain to get dinner and then ran back home (somewhere along our travels Rich lost his rain jacket).

As I’m sure you can surmise, Phuket was really low key. No temples. No tours. Just beach and pool with a sprinkling of rain.

The only picture I took on our rainy day. Coffee + Yogurt.

What we loved about Phuket:

The amazing beach
Our hotel. They did a great job of providing small treats that really helped budget travelers like us. They served free, GOOD coffee from 3-4 PM, provided a yummy sunrise cocktail and popcorn from 6:00 – 6:30 PM, and offered ice cream from 8- 10 PM. The pool was also really fantastic.
Phuket was pretty walkable, and our hotel was centrally located.
Karon Beach, where we stayed, was family friendly. No wild backpacker parties (you know you are old when this falls in the loved section).

What we didn’t like/felt meh about in Phuket:

Phuket is a town that seems like maybe it peaked about 10 years ago. Restaurants are a bit dated/cheesy, and unless you eat street food, are definitely overpriced.
Coffee in the morning was really hard to come by. The earliest any of the coffee shops near us opened was 10 AM– although they then stayed open until at least 10 PM.
The signage was really bad. Big Buddha is a major attraction. Would it kill you to have a sign?
We couldn’t find a bookstore. I am out of books to read. You are a beach town. How does a beach town not have a bookstore? Unfathomable.

If you want hip and modern, go to Chiang Mai. If you just want to sit in the sand and look at beautiful sunsets, well, Phuket. You’ll be glad you did.