My Thai Weekend

The BF and I took a little weekend trip to Thailand last weekend. We went to Patong Beach, on the west coast of southern Thailand, on the island of Phuket. It was lovely and beachy.

The busy street adjacent to the beach. See the shops
selling all kinds of things.

Beautiful soft white sand and warm water. The beach is on a little cove, so the water was shallow, with gentle waves. Very good for just splashing around; not so much for bodysurfing. Also, since the island is on the west coast of Thailand, the cove we were swimming in is actually part of the Indian Ocean. I'd never been in the Indian Ocean before! 

They have McDonald's in Phuket.
We didn't eat there. 

The main street by the beach was busy and kinda touristy, with restaurants (including McDonalds and Starbucks) and shops selling everything from knock-off purses, to flip flops, sarongs, luggage, t-shirts, aloe vera and miniature sculptures. I bought a tiny silver elephant to go with my tiny silver alpaca from Peru and a tiny silver water buffalo I bought in Cambodia. (Apparently I now collect tiny silver animals from foreign countries.) I also bought some knock-off purses, flip flops and t-shirts; The BF bought a backpack and almost bought some luggage. So, yeah.

The beach beds and a merchant offering robes
or something. 

On the beach itself, there were people walking up and down the beach selling all kinds of things: some merchants had coolers of water, beer and soda; some sold silk robes, some sold sarongs and dresses, some sold sunscreen or aloe (cut fresh from the plant, not the kind in a bottle). They even had people selling sunglasses and bikinis. For $3 you could rent a "beach bed" (a lounge chair with a cushion on it) and a beach umbrella. And the guy who rented us the chairs came by every hour or so to brush the sand off our chairs and adjust our umbrella. 

It kinda reminded me of the busy part of Myrtle Beach, by the boardwalk, for all the weird touristy shops and the concentration of rednecks. There were no confederate flag bikinis, but plenty of mullets and dudes in Harley Davidson or Jack Daniels tank tops. Only instead of bad Southern accents, they had Australian accents. We kinda came to the conclusion that Thailand (or at least Phuket) is like Australia's Mexico: cheap flight to an exotic and warm place, with cheap booze, cheap pills and cheap thrills. And lots of things that are illegal back home.

The busy streets at night.
More shops selling more things
and people advertising all
kinds of entertainment.

Very colorful side street lined
with bars and clubs.

Speaking of cheap thrills....it seemed like there was plenty of opportunity for that too. While wandering through town after dinner one night, we were presented with fliers advertising all kinds of adult entertainment. The bars and clubs along the main drag had women in costumes dancing on stages (and in cages) within plain view of the street. We opted not to partake of any of that nonsense, but saw enough to confirm that the things you hear about Thailand might be true.

By the pool at the hotel. It was
 multiple levels, very nice. Infinity
edges from one level to the next. Kids mostly stayed in the lower
level, adults in the upper level. 

It rained one afternoon on the beach.
So we scampered across the street
to the  shelter of a Mexican
 restaurant for nachos and
margaritas. This was the
view of the rain
from our dry seats.

After a lovely weekend of beach time, sun, sand, swimming and delicious food (including authentic, REAL pad thai), we headed back to Singapore. It's only about a 2-hour flight, so it made for a totally doable weekend getaway. I'd like to go back to Thailand for another weekend and maybe check out Bangkok. Or Krabi....I hear good things about its beaches.....
  

We ate authentic Thai food at a lovely outdoor restaurant
that had a live band performing. Any band that can
pull off better-than-decent renditions of both Adele AND
Pink Floyd, is a winner in my book.

Cambodia: the hotel

So, Cambodia pretty much rocked.

Our "villa" in Cambodia.

The bathroom in the villa.

We had a great time. The country is very poor and still reeling from the effects of war, conflict, land mines and a terrorist political regime. But in Siem Reap, redemption is beginning, thanks to tourists like me. The town has some 8000 hotel beds, for hosting Americans, Europeans, Asians, etc. for conferences, events and general tourism. But in the rainy season (which is now) many of those beds are empty. Therefore, we got a good deal on a swanky, resorty hotel.

See the bridge going to the island with the pool bar?

Our villa was the size of a nice townhouse and was separated into 4 suites. We were on the second floor, in a suite that was bigger than The BF's studio apt in Seattle. We had a balcony overlooking the pool, which had a bar on a little island in the middle of the pool. It was not a swim-up bar, like we had at the hotel in Indonesia, but I mean, I guess it was ok.

The balcony overlooking the pool.

We had a breakfast buffet every morning that offered fresh fruit: watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, grapefruit and dragonfruit. (the fruit was all cleaned and sliced and peeled, so we were safe to eat it). In true, multi-cultural fashion, the buffet also had cereal, croissants, pork fried rice, steamed vegetables in oyster sauce, made-to-order omelettes, pad thai and bacon. Because Cambodia was run by France for so many years, the baked goods in Cambodia are pretty delicious. I think I had pain au chocolat and/or croissants every morning. Also, baguettes. Sliced, toasted, with some kind of blue cheese. Delicious.

Cambodia is mostly a Buddhist country, but at different points in history has been mostly Hindu, so there's plenty of that influence as well. As far as I know, the only dietary aspect of these religions is that Hindus don't eat beef. (Many Hindus believe cows are a special gift from the gods and therefore eating beef would be sacrilegious). Therefore, the breakfast buffet served bacon. And it was very good bacon, IMHO. Just the right amount of crunch, with enough grease still on it to require wiping your hands after every bite...but not so much grease that it's running down your arm. Mmm...yeah....

What made this doubly awesome was that the week prior, we were in Indonesia. A country which recognizes six official religions, but the majority of its residents (90%) claim to be Muslim. Muslims don't eat pork. Therefore, the breakfast buffet at the resort in Indonesia, which was otherwise lovely, boasting some bodacious croissants and downright problematic butter (srsly....I may or may not have eaten it by itself), served only turkey bacon. Turkey. Bacon.

Have you ever had turkey bacon? I mean, why are they even allowed to call it bacon?! As a breakfast meat, it's a fine option, but it is NOT bacon. They should have to call it something else entirely, as calling it "turkey bacon" is like lying. It's basically false advertising. If I were a pig, I'd be offended. 

But beyond the bacon on the buffet, there were several other aspects of this hotel that were just fantastic:
- Beer from the mini bar was CHEAPER than in the hotel bar, at just $3 a can.
- Incredible service from EVERYONE, from the driver and hostess who picked us up at the airport, to the pool bar dude who ran from the bar to my table in the rain, to bring me a beer.
- $15 massage. One hour, with an incredibly strong-handed tiny little Cambodian woman. $15.
- Air conditioning
 

All in all, it was an excellent spot to stay during our visit to Cambodia.

Caution: Rhino Crossing Next 30 km

That is what is posted on the sign on the side of the road in Indonesia.

 

Watch out for rhinos. Also, komodo dragons.

 

Indonesia is an island nation scattered across the South China Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean, and is home to wildlife like rhinos and various lizards, as well as the proboscis monkey and orangutan. It's also home to many interesting plant species, including the coffee bean. If you've ever seen the Sumatra blend at Starbucks, it's referencing the island of Sumatra, part of Indonesia, whence the coffee comes. Indonesia is actually the fourth largest producer of coffee. (I tell you all this because it's stuff I recently learned. Before a couple of weeks ago, I'm not sure I could have picked Indonesia out of a line-up, much less a map.)

 

So this past weekend, The BF and I ventured over to Indonesia. One of the Indonesian islands is accessible by ferry from Singapore (about an hour ride), so we hopped on over. The island was pretty resorty, with beaches and pools and golf courses, but it was also very jungley. The road from the ferry terminal to our hotel ACTUALLY had a sign that said watch for rhinos.

 

The highlights of the weekend in Indonesia:

• The pool. Srsly, it was gorge. Or maybe I've just lived in Seattle too long and have developed a new appreciation for a nice pool, but infinity edges, varying depths, comfortable chairs, towel service, palm trees and mango margaritas adds up to "lovely pool" in my book.
• The coffee. I mean, what would you expect from the country where coffee was invented. Or you know, is harvested. It is good and thick and strong and even with a strong splash of milk, it's not pale. Delicious. And it always came served with a tiny baby spoon for stirring. How cute!
• The butter. Yeah....it was that good. I found myself eating extra croissants just to have a vehicle for the butter.
• The service. The hotel staff were super friendly and helpful and accomodating. And in every restaurant, the servers were very proper. They brought out new silverware for each course, bringing proper silverware in quantities rarely seen in the US. For example, I'd learned in etiquette training (or somewhere) about the existence of such things as a fish knife and a shrimp fork as well as the difference between a butter knife and a dinner knife. But never had I encountered all of them, as needed, in the course of one meal. It was very interesting. Also, made me glad to have remembered my etiquette training from the University of Southern Charm and my mother/grandmother/Aunt Big Cat.
• The people. Traveling internationally exposes you to a variety of cultures and people. Also, fashion. I saw male speedos, women in burkas and everything in between.

And there were a few lowlights:

• The visa process. When entering Indonesia from Singapore, by ferry, with a US passport, you can get a "visa on arrival" for your visit. If you are in the country 7 days, your visa is US$10. While waiting in line to get our visa (using the US dollars I had to track down in Singapore) one of the ferry terminal guards tells us to get in another line, that we'll go much faster in another line if we pay for our visa in Singapore dollars instead of US dollars. We follow him to the visa processing station, then hand him our passports. Dude then disappears. With our passports. I mean, he came back, but for a minute there I was nervous. If you cant trust a customs agent IN UNIFORM, who can you trust. We got our visas, passports stamped, no problem. And much faster, as promised. But we're pretty sure dude was working the system, figuring out a way to take advantage of the exchange rates or something by processing us at a separate station. Oh well.
• The butter. It was so good, I found myself eating extra croissants just to have a vehicle for the butter. That's right, I said EXTRA croissants. Plural. Talk about unneeded caloric intake.
• The people. In addition to the interesting and charming folks we encountered, we also saw some people being a little too touchy feely in the pool, one guy who would NOT stop throwing his girlfriend in the pool (despite her shrieking every time) and a kid who was WAY too old to be running around the pool deck naked.

All in all, it was a great little trip and I'm glad we popped over to Indonesia for the weekend.

What happens in Vegas...

...is clearly not staying in Vegas.

But it really doesn't need to, because we didn't do anything wild or crazy.

I went to Las Vegas for the very first time last week, and met my friend MommaDoc there and basically our days went like this:

• Wake up sans alarm clock
• Head to buffet (location of buffet depends on the day)
• Eat lots of deliciousness (one day I had a french toast sandwich, shrimp cocktail and flank steak sandwich, followed by vanilla ice cream with Butterfinger crumbs for brunch...it was awesome)
• Sit at pool
• Order freezy slushy drinks at pool bar
• Float in lazy river (where we used 3-foot beverage glasses as paddles to direct our innertubes)
• Order refills of freezy slushy drinks from friendly pool waitress ladies
  
• Eat (the best) burgers and fries (in the world) at In-N-Out Burger
• Change into "fancy clothes"
  
• Shake our money-makers at dance club
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour
• Lather, rinse, repeat

Maybe that's not what most people do in Vegas. But as I told the blackjack dealer: "I have casinos in Seattle...I don't have pools...or sunshine...so whatevs."

MommaDoc and I had a fantastic vacation and thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Having just finished med school, MommaDoc earned a vacay...I was just grateful she wanted to spend it with me! In fact, I'd do it again tomorrow. We got to visit with each other (awesome) and even came in under budget (awesome). Overall, my first trip to Vegas was a success.

Now let's see how long the "tan"* lasts.

*It was hard work getting from translucent to color, so while I'm not sure I qualify as "tan", I'll still claim it.