Sunday, November 30, 2003
Another beautiful day in paradise. Today we took a boat around the two Phi Phi islands and saw some amazing beaches. The photos won't do it justice! Hopefully I'll be able to get them up soon.
Anyway, we stopped to do some snorkeling and swimming. Then we headed over to Monkey Beach, where you can feed monkeys right out of your hand! It was great fun. At one point I had 3 monkeys sitting around me (not including Carol - hee hee) and a baby one on my lap.
After that we returned to the hotel and lounged by the pool. Then lunch, followed by massages on the beach (yes, again). Right now we are working out the details of the next leg of our trip. Tomorrow we will take a ferry to Phuket, another island, for 3 days.
Well, must run - have a facial at 9. This is such fun!
XOXO Bethany
Anyway, we stopped to do some snorkeling and swimming. Then we headed over to Monkey Beach, where you can feed monkeys right out of your hand! It was great fun. At one point I had 3 monkeys sitting around me (not including Carol - hee hee) and a baby one on my lap.
After that we returned to the hotel and lounged by the pool. Then lunch, followed by massages on the beach (yes, again). Right now we are working out the details of the next leg of our trip. Tomorrow we will take a ferry to Phuket, another island, for 3 days.
Well, must run - have a facial at 9. This is such fun!
XOXO Bethany
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Happy Thanksgiving weekend from Koh Phi Phi! We are on an island in the south of Thailand. It was like "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" getting here on Wednesday - first the cab to the airport, 1.5 hour flight to Krabi, car ride to the ferry port, 2 hours on a boat, et voila...paradise.
This is the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. It's a tourist haven, but it's gorgeous. White sand, warm turquoise water, and little tiki huts and bungalows everywhere. I can't get over how it looks the same in person as it does in books and movies. Plus, you know you're on a tropical island paradise when you hear a noise outside your bungalow and it turns out to have been a coconut dropping from the neighboring palm tree. Aaaah.
Carol and I spent Thanksgiving shopping in Ton Sai village and sunning (ahem, burning)ourselves on the beach. We splurged and went all-out for a holiday meal - Carol had prawns baked in a whole pineapple, and I went for the grilled lobster. I think that came to $30, including drinks and an appetizer as well....The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. We hit Carlito's Bar, where we danced a bit and sat on patio furniture on the sand. Mostly, however, we drank rum punch out of buckets. Oh yes, buckets - like the kind you take to the beach when you're a kid. Not good. But handy later in the evening...
Yesterday was particularly strenuous - massages here are cheap, so I had 3 - 2+ hours' worth for ...750 baht - just less than $20. It was right on the beach, in the lovely shade, accompanied by the sound of waves lapping up onto the shore. Seriously, this place is heaven.
Carol and I were particularly adventurous today. We both happened to wake up at the crack of dawn, so we took advantage of the cooler temperature to do the 45 minute walk to the viewpoint. It was more of a hike than I had expected, but it was worth it. You can see both of the major bays from the top. And at that hour of the morning, we were the only ones there. Then, instead of going back down the way we came, we followed a trail up and over the other side of the hill. It was even more of a trek, but we landed on a desolate beach...well, desolate in that we were the only tourists there. Fortunately we were able to hop a taxi boat around the island to the main village!
Tomorrow we are taking a boat around the island. I am particularly excited to see monkeys at this one particular beach! I tried uploading pictures the other night, but DSL hasn't come to the islands just yet. I'll try again now and will send another blog if successful. Otherwise I'll wait until next week when we're on a bigger island.
Hope you are having a wonderful, long weekend!
Bethany
This is the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. It's a tourist haven, but it's gorgeous. White sand, warm turquoise water, and little tiki huts and bungalows everywhere. I can't get over how it looks the same in person as it does in books and movies. Plus, you know you're on a tropical island paradise when you hear a noise outside your bungalow and it turns out to have been a coconut dropping from the neighboring palm tree. Aaaah.
Carol and I spent Thanksgiving shopping in Ton Sai village and sunning (ahem, burning)ourselves on the beach. We splurged and went all-out for a holiday meal - Carol had prawns baked in a whole pineapple, and I went for the grilled lobster. I think that came to $30, including drinks and an appetizer as well....The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. We hit Carlito's Bar, where we danced a bit and sat on patio furniture on the sand. Mostly, however, we drank rum punch out of buckets. Oh yes, buckets - like the kind you take to the beach when you're a kid. Not good. But handy later in the evening...
Yesterday was particularly strenuous - massages here are cheap, so I had 3 - 2+ hours' worth for ...750 baht - just less than $20. It was right on the beach, in the lovely shade, accompanied by the sound of waves lapping up onto the shore. Seriously, this place is heaven.
Carol and I were particularly adventurous today. We both happened to wake up at the crack of dawn, so we took advantage of the cooler temperature to do the 45 minute walk to the viewpoint. It was more of a hike than I had expected, but it was worth it. You can see both of the major bays from the top. And at that hour of the morning, we were the only ones there. Then, instead of going back down the way we came, we followed a trail up and over the other side of the hill. It was even more of a trek, but we landed on a desolate beach...well, desolate in that we were the only tourists there. Fortunately we were able to hop a taxi boat around the island to the main village!
Tomorrow we are taking a boat around the island. I am particularly excited to see monkeys at this one particular beach! I tried uploading pictures the other night, but DSL hasn't come to the islands just yet. I'll try again now and will send another blog if successful. Otherwise I'll wait until next week when we're on a bigger island.
Hope you are having a wonderful, long weekend!
Bethany
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
HELLO FROM THAILAND! We got here without incident (except that the airline didn't have record of Carol's ticket, but that was resolved quickly). The flights were long but we chatted, read, ate, and snoozed our way around the globe.
Yesterday we hit the Skytrain and wandered around the Siam Center area of Bangkok...I am embarrassed to say we spent most of our time in shopping malls! But it was cool to play native and mooch through shops & grocery stores. They're big on this skin whitening stuff - clearly we didn't buy any! We stopped for lunch and checked out a large outdoor market (again, eating our way through). Then we treated ourself to a movie, "Uptown Girls" - 2 very nice seats, popcorn, and two sodas, for a grand total of $7. We froze in the theater's air conditioning, so to warm up we joined the crowds at the beer festival across the street. Two pitchers of Carlsberg, grilled sea bass (for 5 bucks, I might add!), and some prawn chip-things later, we were singing along with the dj's selections - "I'm too sexy", "Have I told you lately that I love you?", and "Lady Marmalade"...fortunately we spared the people of Bangkok further insult by hopping in a cab and going back to the hotel around 10.
Right now we are at the airport waiting to board the flight to Krabi. We'll have a couple hours there before the ferry boat takes us to Ko Phi Phi and we start living the island life! I hope to upload the pics I've taken so far once we are settled in. By then I should have some of the white beach and turquoise water. In the meantime, hope all is well back home! XOXO
Yesterday we hit the Skytrain and wandered around the Siam Center area of Bangkok...I am embarrassed to say we spent most of our time in shopping malls! But it was cool to play native and mooch through shops & grocery stores. They're big on this skin whitening stuff - clearly we didn't buy any! We stopped for lunch and checked out a large outdoor market (again, eating our way through). Then we treated ourself to a movie, "Uptown Girls" - 2 very nice seats, popcorn, and two sodas, for a grand total of $7. We froze in the theater's air conditioning, so to warm up we joined the crowds at the beer festival across the street. Two pitchers of Carlsberg, grilled sea bass (for 5 bucks, I might add!), and some prawn chip-things later, we were singing along with the dj's selections - "I'm too sexy", "Have I told you lately that I love you?", and "Lady Marmalade"...fortunately we spared the people of Bangkok further insult by hopping in a cab and going back to the hotel around 10.
Right now we are at the airport waiting to board the flight to Krabi. We'll have a couple hours there before the ferry boat takes us to Ko Phi Phi and we start living the island life! I hope to upload the pics I've taken so far once we are settled in. By then I should have some of the white beach and turquoise water. In the meantime, hope all is well back home! XOXO
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Packed and ready to go! We need to be at the airport around 10:50. Just have to do a couple last minute things before we hit the road.
We'll arrive in Bangkok at 11:50pm Monday night, which is 9 am Monday morning Seattle time. Monday & Tuesday nights we'll be at the Riverfront Residence, phone # +66 2 682 7888.
Okay, I'm off. Have a great couple of days! XOXO
We'll arrive in Bangkok at 11:50pm Monday night, which is 9 am Monday morning Seattle time. Monday & Tuesday nights we'll be at the Riverfront Residence, phone # +66 2 682 7888.
Okay, I'm off. Have a great couple of days! XOXO
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Four days until we leave for THAILAND! Not that we're excited at all...I know the islands are more developed than they appeared in "The Beach", but still, check out where we're staying for 5 nights - stunning!
Monday, November 17, 2003
Hi!
Thanks to modern technology, I hope to keep you up-to-date with my travels in Thailand while still on the road! I have created this web log (or “blog” – which sounds like a stomach virus). Not sure how often I’ll get to update it, but I’ll shoot for every few days!
XOXO Bethany, your uber-geeky friend/daughter/sister/girlfriend
Thanks to modern technology, I hope to keep you up-to-date with my travels in Thailand while still on the road! I have created this web log (or “blog” – which sounds like a stomach virus). Not sure how often I’ll get to update it, but I’ll shoot for every few days!
XOXO Bethany, your uber-geeky friend/daughter/sister/girlfriend
