Honeymoon Phase 3 Video - Thailand and Laos

Here's the video for Thailand and Laos.  Tania did the bulk of the work, but we finessed the timing and captions together.  Enjoy!

PS  Click on the 4-arrow icon next to the VIMEO logo to expand the video to full screen.  Then push the ESC to exit full screen.


Honeymoon Phase 3 - Thailand & Laos from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Days 56-59 Sunday – Thursday January 3-7, 2010 Koh Lanta, Thailand

Highlights

-       - Massaman Curry!!!!!!  Man the king has good taste!

-       - Snorkeling was fun, but discovering Morakot cave inside the heart of an island was icing on the cake!

-       - If you’re looking for crazy backpacker fun, head somewhere else (i.e. Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Pha Ngan).  This place has luckily evaded that doom.

The Nothing Else To Do While Tania Gets Another Massage Version

Let’s start by saying that Koh Lanta was our favorite of the Thai islands, but as you can tell from the video of our overnight ferry from Koh Tao, getting there was the antithesis of our love for Lanta.  Along with the ferry, we had to battle our way through a taxi ride from the ferry terminal in Surat Thani, a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi, then a packed mini-bus drive to Lanta.  Yet all of that chaos was forgotten when we arrived onto Lanta.

Eight years ago when I was traveling through Europe, I randomly met a Brit named Emma in a sandwich shop, and we spent a day touring Valencia, Spain, before she left town.  Somehow through the magic of email, blogging, and Facebook, we’ve stayed in touch through the years.  When we learned that she was now living on Lanta teaching scuba diving, Tania and I decided to skip over the touristy Phuket and Koh Phi Phi and spend our time on the west coast on Lanta.  And boy are we glad we did. 

Emma was kind enough to find a hotel for us to stay at, the NT Lanta Resort, which had just opened a few months prior, meaning our bungalow was brand new with all of the amenities a weary traveler could desire; AC, hot water, satellite TV, fridge, and most importantly, new and clean furnishings.

Emma also introduced us to the best restaurants in Long Beach, the nicest stretch of beaches that hadn’t already been trampled by tourists.  We fell in love with the king’s favorite dish, Massaman curry.  It’s a peanuty curry served with potatoes and onions, and basically the greatest thing your pallet can swim in.  We also ate delicious seafood and rice dishes over meals with her friends Claire (don’t call her a life coach), Magnus (www.tapper.com), and the rest of her scuba friends.  We even got to partake in trivia night with all of the expats at Bar Racuda (get the play on words?).  We got third place, out of about 10 teams, basically because Tania doesn’t know as much about Lord of the Rings as she thought she did.  She let all of her D&D friends down on that one.

Aside from eating the delicious food, Tania obviously got a beach-side oil massage (I think she is in the midst of setting the world record for most massages in a month’s time), we scootered around the island, down to Old town, walked along the picturesque beach, and boated around to 4 islands for an incredible day of snorkeling.  Our new gear came in handy to see stunning coral swarming with schools of brightly colored fish.  Getting to wade in the water as the fish swim around you as if you’re part of their clan has quickly become one of our favorite things to do, which we’ll greatly miss once we head up north to Chiang Mai.

The highlight of the snorkeling trip was when we visited Morakot cave inside of Koh Muk, which requires a 10 minute swim through a pitch black tunnel that eventually leads to a hidden beach in the heart of the island.  Once inside the cave on and standing on the beach, you can spend an hour notching your head back and gazing the perimeter of the walls that stand around you, reaching hundreds of feet above with a lining of lush shrubbery and plant life.  Stunning, absolutely stunning.

We were sad to leave Koh Lanta because after the resort feel of Kohs Samui, Pha Ngan, and Tao, we really started to get into the groove of quieter island life that Lanta provided over the others.  Yet, we had a flight to catch out of Phuket, so we hopped a high class ferry through Koh Phi Phi so we could stay the night in Phuket before our early morning flight on Friday.  

 

Days 42-43 Thursday – Friday December 17-18, 2009 Bangkok

Goodbye China!  Hello Thailand!!!!!!!

Highlights

- Taxis from the airport into town should never be over 400 baht.  Even if you're in one of the supposedly trustworthy metered taxis.  Especially the one we were in.  Jerk.
- For the guys, forget about what you think about capri-looking pants, buy a pair of Diesel rip-offs for $2 and put them on before temple hunting in Bangkok.  You have to cover your knees and elbows, and it's waaaay too hot to wear pants/jeans in that heat.
- Khao San may be a popular backpacker area, but it's a little too backpackery for our tastes.  We'll leave the Chang shirt and fake ID buying up to the shadows of who we were 12 years ago that fill the area.
- Mexican restaurants in Thailand can be just as fun as those in Mexico, live band and tequila permitting.

The "Norah Jones Long Day Is Over and time to relax" version

Bangkok was more of a pit stop for us.  Other than needing to see the requisite temples and palaces, and to experience backpacker life to the Nth degree, we were more or less spending time there after China so we could catch an easy flight to the southern Thai islands.

Our stay at Villa Chi Chi was nice because it had a pool and decent accommodations, that is once the air conditioner kicked in after 90 minutes and you didn’t feel like you’d pass out of heat exhaustion in the room.

The food was amazing (definitely visit Hemlock - an incredible restaurant near Khao San) and it was nice to spend a little time amongst the globe trekking crowd, yet we were ready to get out of the big city after 2 quick days in the city.

Highlights of what we saw were the Grand Palace and a Mexican food joint that Tania found downtown.

The Grand Palace is as immaculate and approachable as any monument that we've come across.  The gold exterior shimmers off of the beating sun (it was winter yet still hotter than a Miami summer day) and the outlining buildings (the Bureau of the Royal Household, the Royal Institute of Thailand, and the Office of the Private Secretary to the King) are a blanket of impeccably designed pieces of art that beg for a whole memory stick (or roll of film for those that are still into that - Dad) of pictures to be taken of them.  And inside the Wat Phra Kaew sits the Emerald Buddha, which is exactly as the name implies, and may be unassuming upon first glimpse, but after hearing its story and sitting on the stone floor gazing up at it for a few minutes, you'll understand why Buddhists travel across the globe to sit at its altar.

 

 

Every season, this Buddha is dressed in a wardrobe to match that season, and placed back up on its altar, which sits about 20 feet above ground.  No photos are allowed while inside the Wat, and an insistent little Thai dude walks around making sure this rule isn't broken.  (I found out firsthand)  The statue is so little sitting way up there, but little glimmers off of it so perfectly that its green skin reflects through the seasonal garb making it seem so unassuming, yet so powerful.  Even though we aren't followers of Buddhism, we were still captivated sitting on the stone floor below the statue.  Pretty cool.


That night, Tania found a Mexican restaurant downtown that sounded like it would quench our taste for food that resembled what we love from home (LA) and from where we had our wedding (Puerto Vallarta).  After a cab ride through rush hour traffic that would make LA bow, we made it to the hotel in which the hotel resided and took a seat at a booth next to the stage.  A stage for what we didn't know, but we started munching on chips and salsa like it was no one's business as soon as it was placed on our table.  

Then followed the margaritas.  

We were SHOCKED by the image on our margarita mug (after a few giggles)

Then the fajitas and enchiladas.  

Then the clapping to the live band on stage.

Then the long cab ride home.  It was a successful harking back to our favorite week, and to some of the best food on the planet.


And then it was off to Koh Samui to start our Thai island adventure.  Bye bye mainland city living!