Thailand

Hello there, long time no post! We got back from our vacation yesterday and we're gradually getting back into the routine of things here in Suwon. Our 8 days away were fantastic, and definately an experience we'll always remember! Neither Mel or I had ever travelled outside of Canada/the US (besides Korea), and actually this was our first real 'adult' vacation without our parents lol. It would have been hard to believe a year ago that we could have gone on (or even afford) a trip like this, which made it that much more special. So without further ado, let me tell you about our trip...

We took our suitcases to work on Friday (the 9th) and ran to the nearest cab directly after class. I'm not kidding, we ran. With giddy smiles. We took the bus from Suwon to Incheon airport and caught our plane just in time. When we got to Bangkok it was 12am and we had a 6 hour stopover so we got some supper (immediately noticing that the menu in Thailand looked much more appetizing than your typical Korean menu) and tried to get some sleep.

We had a quick one hour flight to Phuket, and were met at the airport by a guy from our hotel who drove us the rest of the way. First impressions of Thailand: cows and chickens roaming freely, huts, mexican-style housing, coca-cola ads everywhere, palm trees, heat, and a lot of outdoor watering holes. We saw our room, took a walk around the nearby surroundings and then crashed in bed for a few hours. It was a long trip! We later went to the beach, where there were a lot of boobies and leathery Europeans. It was weird to be surrounded by so many caucasian people who didn't speak English.

We got really sunburned! We had hidden ourselves under an umbrella and applied lots of sunscreen, but we were still fried. We tried to stay away form the beach for a few days after that. What is there to do if you're not at the beach? Well, we had fun shopping! There was a Carrefour nearby, which is a Wal-Mart like store that sold all kinds of recognizable yummy food and goods we hadn't had access to in a long time. They had Lays chips! Lays!!! And there was also a Dairy Queen, which is not in Korea, and I enjoyed an awesome Moolate.

Besides shopping, we also had a chance to spend an evening at Simon Caberet, which is a "ladyboy" caberet show featuring Thailand's best transvestites singing and dancing. There were A LOT of trannies in Phuket... it got to the point that we would be sitting at a restaraunt and guessing the true genders of the people walking by. Enjoy not one, but 2 videos from the caberet. It was awesome! The lady in the second video gave a big kiss to the guy next to us.

Going out to eat or have drinks were our favorites things to do, not only because the food was delicious and really cheap (we're talking $2-3 for a main course) but also because most all of the restaraunts had no walls. This is possible because Phuket hardly gets any rain, especially during the main tourist season. And since the weather ranged between 30-35 degrees every day we were there, it was too nice to eat inside.

These vehicles are called Tuk Tuks, and they are pretty much the main method of transportation (besides motorbike). As you walk down the street you are constantly barraged by not only street vendors trying to sell you a hat, sunglasses or an Armani suit, but also these tuk tuk drivers trying to solicit business by yelling "tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk". All prices are negotiable too. It is just assumed that the first price any vendor quotes you is a joke. I bought a hat and asked how much, she said 550 baht ($19). I countered with 200 baht ($6), she agreed to 250 ($8). So it went from a $19 hat to an $8 hat just like that. The tuk tuk fares were also negotiable. We got pretty good at bargaining by the end of the week.

We also had the chance to take in an Elvis tribute show, starring a German guy with a thick accent. We particularly enjoyed "Wiwa Las Wegas". I like to attend an Elvis tribute show at least once a year.

We also went on a Safari tour about 3 1/2 hours away in Phangna. The only issue is that nobody mentioned that it was a 3 1/2 hour drive, so 7 hours round trip made for an exceptionally long day. We travelled with 2 other couples who were overtly pissed, though we tried to conceal our pissyness lol. When the tour got going it was really fun. We rode an elephant for about an hour through the jungle, which was really beautiful. The trees, caves and landscape were just like nothing we'd ever seen before. Our guide rode on the elephant's head bareback and we rested our bare feet on his prickly back. We named him Stampy, and Stampy kept stopping to eat trees, occasionally wandering into thick brush to eat the tree of his choosing. Stampy was awesome.

We also got to go canoeing, where the sights were even more awesome. We passed some amazng mountains and trees, saw locals fishing in the water, and some wild snakes and toads in the trees.

We spent the rest of our week enjoying ourselves at our hotel pool, reading a book at the beach, shopping and taking baths. Yes, we had access to a bathtub for the first time in 6 months!! Not that I take a lot of baths, but it was cool to shower with a shower curtain. I'd actually forgotten about shower curtains. We flew back overnight on Saturday with much heavier suitcases (full of Lays chips, good food, gifts and english magazines) and we were back in Suwon around 10am Sunday. We slept all freaking day and had rough sleeps last night. That being said, I should probably go to sleep! Judging from today's classes, we've got some smart kids at the school so it should be a smooth week. I plan on making a post of just photos from the trip, so watch for that one soon.

Later!