Thailand...the land of smiles...Part 2

And so, the trip continues...

Day Three: The Great Adventure!

This was the day of crazy random adventure in Phuket!

After skyping with family in the morning, we were picked up for our elephant trek.  First we got to meet the baby elephant.

Andy and the baby elephant - very cute, but also very hairy and smelly.

At the place, there was a sign saying that the mahout (elephant guide) was not allowed to get off the elephant for our safety but once we were out of sight and in the forest, our mahout climbed off the elephant and told me to give him my camera so he could take pics of us.  He also told us not to tell the boss that he was doing this and suggested we could give him a tip afterwards.  It would be our little secret.  We were a little nervous, but it sure did make the trek more exciting.  Then a few more minutes (and many pictures) later, he told me to untie the seatbelt and go ahead and climb onto the elephant's neck.  Well, I thought, why not? It's not like this little seatbelt is doing much...

So, I got to ride around on the elephants neck while the mahout played photographer.  Andy got his turn as well, and when we got close to the end of the trail, the mahout climbed back on and and we all pretended like this was the way it had always been.  Quite exciting to ride on an elephant without any kind of harness!

Then it was back to the hotel, where we did a little research and decided to catch a local bus to Phuket Town for lunch.

The Local Bus

First of all, I thought the bus would take half an hour....but it ended up taking 1.5 hours!  By then we were starving and we quickly found a place and sat down to eat....and were served lunch by a lady boy.  By now, my mind has been trained to question whether every woman I see is actually a woman or a lady boy.

 Steamed crab with curry in an interesting clay plate...little pods of goodness.

Steamed crab, squid, and more pad thai - oh and can't forget the awesome pineapple juice!

After a little shopping (and bargaining), we decided to catch another bus to Chalong Bay where we heard there was good, cheap seafood.  Keep in mind that we have no idea where the restaurant is or what stop we had to get off at.   The way the local bus works, you ring the driver when you want to get off, he'll stop anywhere on the route.  This time, the local bus was basically a pick up with a roof and the bus driver was nice enough to told us where to get off.  After walking along the beach, we found the restaurant we were looking for at the end of the beach....but we couldn't get there because there was a river in front of us...  We were standing there, puzzled when a group of locals partying in their little shack/hut motioned for us to cut through their shack to get to the road that would take us to the restaurant.  I hesitatingly walked through with Andy behind me...(looking back, it was probably not the best thing to do).  Luckily we got through without any harm...although Andy's price of passage was a love tap on the bum by some random lady (Andy later said he was too scared to acknowledge it).  Before we could safely get to the restaurant, we had one more obstacle

I call this the Indiana Jones bridge since we've been playing alot of Lego Indian Jones on the Wii lately.  I swear I thought one of these planks was going to fall out once we stepped on it (like in the game).  But, we made it across safely. Note, I took the pic after I had made it across so you can see the locals' hut in the background.  Definitely a bit shady...

So we get to the restaurant, but it's only 5 pm and we just had lunch at 2.  We asked a waitress for a massage parlor recommendation nearby, but she says there aren't any good ones close by.  So she calls her friend who is a taxi driver and arranges for him to take us to the massage place and back for dinner, then take us home to our hotel.  So we basically agreed to and climb into a taxi with a stranger.  We end up having great massages for $15 per person - we got a private room with wonderful scents, soft music, and these Thai massueses stretching and pulling us this way and that.  It was awesome.  Afterwards, it was back to Kan Eang for dinner where we had crab and steamed fish.  So delicious!

More Tom Yam soup....with fried shrimp and seaweed in the background.  Sorry, I ate half the soup before I remembered to take a picture...

Steamed fish in coconut milk.

My personal favorite - Black pepper crab - I love black pepper!

Finally, after a big meal, we headed home and zonked out...amazingly safe after a day of crazy adventure.

Day Four

Once again we got up early (sleeping in was not an option on this vacation) and set out for a trip to Phi Phi Island.  Once again, we got on a speedboat with our Thai tour guide, Bob.  First we went to Monkey Beach, did a little snorkeling and then went to shore to check out the monkeys.

 Monkey trying to drink some pepsi.

Then, we headed to Maya Bay, where the movie The Beach with Leo Dicaprio was shot.  Very beautiful, but too many people for me.

Some rocks on our way out - look how clear the water is!

After lunch, we head out to Khai island where we did more snorkeling.  This was our first time snorkeling (technically my second, but my first time all I saw was sand).  It's amazing!  Even half blind (since I don't have contacts)  it was amazing to be swimming amongst the tropical fish.  We even got nibbled on by a few daring fish.  I think we're hooked on snorkeling now....It's just a truly magical feeling to be underwater staring at brightly colored fish within your hand's grasp.  I was reminded of the wonder and beauty of God's creation.  

After a fun day, we headed home, and ate one more dinner on the beach before hitting the sack and catching a flight back home the next morning.

So many times in Thailand, while gazing at the beautiful beaches, sunset, lifeforms, I was filled with a sense of awe and wonder.   It's just so beautiful out here, and even more so, I can't believe I am out here!  I never imagined I would be living in Southeast Asia and exploring all these places.  God has definitely blessed us alot!

Thailand...the land of fun...Part 1

We're back in Singapore after a busy but very fun trip to Phuket, Thailand.  I must say, it was a good choice for our first trip out of Singapore and my first experience acting as travel agent.  With all of my free time, I did all the planning and Andy just footed the bill.  I think this is the beginning of my role as personal travel planner for the Sokolik family.

Day One

On Christmas Eve, we woke up early to get to the airport for our 8:30 flight.  Since all flights out of Singapore are international, you have to get there 2 hours early instead of the standard 1 hour for US domestic flights.  After a 1.5 hour flight, we touched down in Phuket.  Phuket has many beaches and we decided to stay at Kata beach, which was supposed to be a little quieter (although I thought it was quite packed). We checked into our hotel - the Kata Palm Resort, which was about a 5 minute walk to the beach.

The beautiful hotel lobby

Our nice Thai style room

Then, we walked over to the beach and lunched at a casual restaurant on the beach.  We had front row seats to the beautiful scenery....and the masses of sunbathing lobsters on the beach.  It was definitely peak season in Phuket!

My Tom Yam soup with a view of the beach. It was so good and SO spicy!

Best Pad Thai. Ever.

Afterwards, we walked around town, checking out and bargaining for some tour options for the next few days.  We spent some time lounging by the hotel pool (which I failed to get pictures of).  Then we headed out to book our tours and then out to the beach to catch the sunset.  Unfortunately, we just missed the sun setting, but it was still beautiful and peaceful.  Twilight is my favorite time of the day not just because it's beautiful, but it's when I enjoy the outdoors without fear of the sun!  Fortunately for us, it's when the beach gets nice and quiet, too.

Even though we missed the sunset, still got some beautiful pics.

That night, we headed back to the hotel for the compulsory Christmas Eve Gala dinner.  When I was looking for hotels, I found that most of them had a money-making scheme where they require you to attend their Christmas/New Years Eve dinners if you are staying that night.  So, I was forced to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a mediocre dinner with cheesy entertainment.  It was definitely interesting...between the strange food displays and cheesy Christmas music...

Me enjoying my tasty healthy mango smoothie.

A lady doing some Thai fruit carving...it's alot of time to spend on something that's just going to rot away...

A Christmas watermelon!  (and other carved fruits)

We did get to see some traditional dancing and drum performances that were pretty interesting.  Here are the traditional dancers, sharing a stage with Santa and the snowman...

You may have wondered about the title of my post...Thailand, the land of fun.  It's from this song that the dancers danced to called "Welcome to Thailand".  It was just a really funny song.  To get a feel for what we got to watch check out this link, although I think these dancers were better than ours...

We ended up leaving the festivities early because we're getting old and lame and because we had an early start to look forward to the next day.

Day Two - Merry Christmas - we're in Thailand!

We woke up early to be picked up for the tour of Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island where the Man With the Golden Gun was filmed.  It was a bit of a harrying ride, with sights such as this:

Yes, that's a pickup full of people in front of us, and they're passing around a baby.....Hmmm I don't think this would fly in the states.

Somehow we ended up booking a tour that was full of Russians.  They even had a Russian translator on board.  I unfortunately forgot to bring an extra battery on the trip and was down to one bar, so I took pictures sparingly on the first part of the trip.  Luckily, my battery lasted the whole day!

We stopped at Panyee Island, which was a Muslim Village on stilts.  There we did a little shopping (I, of course, bought some fabric).  Saw a woman with a monkey....but as "she" got nearer, realized it was a man - Thailand is famous for their lady boys.  Then had lunch at a restaurant by the water.

Panyee Village

Next, we headed out to James Bond Island

Unfortunately, since I was not the photographer, the top of the rock got cut off...

Then we got back on the boat and went to Hong Island for some canoeing around to look at the rock formations.

Inside one of the Hongs - which are basically like open air caves

Finally, we spend some time relaxing at Naka Island where we had the beach to ourselves for a little while before other boats arrived....So beautiful!  As I was floating in the crystal clear waters, I kept thinking to myself, "I can't believe it's Christmas and I'm swimming in the beautiful Thai ocean!"

We made it safely back to land.  Andy without one incident of sea sickness - which is quite an accomplishment.   This time we made an effort to get to the beach during the sunset.

Santa shaved his beard and decided to vacation in Thailand.

Some long tail boats floating in the sunset.

For dinner, we found a little restaurant called Thai Kitchen.  We had an amazing meal for a total of US $13 - so cheap!

Shrimp and Basil

Chicken Curry

Green Papaya Salad

And the best part? Harry Potter was eating at the table next to us!

Tired from our excursion we headed back to the hotel.  But not before seeing this:

That would be an Elvis impersonator...on Christmas....in Thailand.  Doesn't get much more bizarre than this...

I'll squeeze the rest of our trip into another post....this one is already way too long!

Merry Christmas!

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from the beautiful island of Phuket!  Here was the view of the sunset we just missed last night....

This year, I actually got around to doing a Christmas card.  It took being half way around the world to get me to do one.  

Oh and nothing says Christmas quite like this lovely food display at the hotel's Christmas Eve Gala dinner....

Merry Christ Mas everyone!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas....

White sand that is....The other day, Andy and I went for a walk in the park and saw a dad pulling around his son in a sled.....in the sand pit.  It was pretty funny!

Tomorrow we leave for Phuket!  I'm so excited to be going on vacation.  I think it's the first real vacation we've taken this year....we were saving up vacation for a trip to Taiwan this year, but that got scrapped due to our big move.  Don't worry, we're still heading to Taiwan, but not till Chinese New Year.  

Anyway, I've been trying my best to make it Christmas-y around here, but having a bit of trouble succeeding. Besides blasting the Christmas music non-stop, I've pulled out the big guns - my Frosty mug!

I think it mostly doesn't feel like Christmas because there are no family get togethers to look forward to.  Although, with modern technology, I suppose we could just video-place ourselves at all the Christmas celebrations.  *sigh* I miss my family! 

I've been busy in the sewing room this week, whipping up a couple of cute items to take on my trip. 

This one was so easy to make.  I bought this fabric that was already pre-smocked and just sewed the two raw edges together to make a tube dress.  Then, for some extra security, I sewed on two straps I made out of the extra fabric.  So easy!  Anyone who can sew a (semi) straight line can make this!

For this skirt, I used my fabulous IKEA fabric.  It's basically a two-tiered simple skirt with an elastic waist. It's so comfortable - I'm all about elastic and comfort.  Perhaps I will make a few more and work on a tutorial if there are any people interested in giving it a try for themselves!

And, because I was bored....I had a little self-photoshoot:

Excited to be wearing these on the beach, but even more excited to spend quality time with Andy!

Hitting the Sewing Room

Well I'm hitting the sewing room today - I say it like one would say "I'm hitting the gym today"...It's been too long!  I think I haven't sewn in over 3 months - that's a quarter of a year!  Crazy.

But, I've got to finish up a couple of bib and booties sets (do I even remember how to make them??)  And, I went shopping this week at a couple of fabric stores and couldn't resist buying.

Believe it or not, I picked up the two fabrics on the right at ikea.  They have a pretty decent selection of fabrics at good prices.  I bought the two on the left at a local fabric store to make a couple of cute beachy dresses for our trip to Phuket.  Since we won't be with family for Christmas this year, I decided to give us something to look forward to by booking a trip to Phuket.  So excited!  Hopefully the dresses will turn out ok...The blue one is pretty straightforward - it'll just be a smocked cover-up dress.  But, for the crazy floral, I have a vision of a loose airy dress...but I'm not sure how well I can execute it, or if it will even look good.  We'll see...being in the tropics has inspired me to make some crazy fabric choices!  

Ok, better stop putzing around....time to turn up the Christmas music and hit the sewing room!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

Well sorta.  As much as it can here in the tropics I suppose.

Andy helped me put up the mini Christmas trees last week.  We listened to my wonderful collection of Christmas CDs while wearing shorts and blasting the a/c.

A friend of mine just returned from the states and brought me some cute Christmas napkins!

Picked up a hook and hung my Christmas wreath on the door.

Stopped at the Yule Market to listen to some caroling, browse the stalls, and eat some lunch.

And....dragged Andy around town looking for a photo op for our Christmas e-card...

It sure was hot wearing those hats! 

But, my favorite part was going to church this weekend and listening to their special Christmas concert.  Even though it was completely packed in the church and we were stuck standing for the entire service....it was nice to listen to the music and be reminded of why I celebrate this holiday.  It's not just about being merry, putting up the Christmas decorations, getting together with family, and giving presents.  It's about God giving us the gift of his son, Jesus Christ!