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Phuket – Bond and hives

Filed under: Thailand, Uncategorized — Leave a comment
November 11, 2012

Z and I waved farewell to J’s plane from the pool this morning as he left for a quick sailing trip to Cairns, Australia.  (It may be a lot quicker if they don’t let him board his connecting flight in Singapore due to a slight visa stumble on our part)).  Thus, it is just me and Miss Z for the next 5 days so loads of opportunity for mother-daughter bonding (I see some manis and pedis in our future).

The last few days have been filled with beach, pool, beach, pool, work, further exploration of the island (went to Bang Tao Beach and Cape Panwa) and (most importantly for me!) steady progress on The Count of Monte Cristo (fabulous book, but one on which I’ve made frustratingly slow progress during this trip).   Am now at 85% on my Kindle!

A few nights ago we introduced Z to the world of Bond with Skyfall, at a Central Phuket cinema.  The Thai royal anthem played to a video montage of King Rama IX’s life before the film started and we stood along with the rest of the audience (failure to do so can result in criminal charges of lèse majesté)!  J informs me that the playing of “God Save the Queen” also used to be de rigueur before every movie in the UK–seemed strange to me initially, but it really is no different than our mandatory Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.  Some quick Wiki research informed me Rama IX is the world’s longest serving head of state (at 66 years 150+ days he has six years on QE II).   Z’s verdict of the movie: She likes the “spy who never dies”.

Other excitement for the week involved J erupting in a severe first case of hives two nights ago. Cause unknown. Primary suspect–shrimp.  Fortunately, Thai pharmacies here freely dispense predisone without a doctor’s prescription so we are hoping that does the trick.  And we thought we only had to worry about mozzies and jellyfish.

Finally, am thrilled that we don’t have to spend the next 10 months of world travel justifying a President Romney.

Some random photos from the past week:

Baby elephant on Bang Tao Beach

The Thais aim to please

Zara teaching her class

Thai sundresses

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Nai Yang Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Filed under: Thailand — Leave a comment
November 5, 2012

It has been 9 days now that we’ve called this delightful little corner of the world “home”.  I have to confess to having some misgivings regarding Phuket in the weeks leading up to our trip launch and that those didn’t fully abate while we were in Penang.  Jonathan and I had bandied about the idea of moving to Phuket in the early stages of our relationship (affectionally known as “BZ”) but in recent years I’d read how Phuket was becoming overly developed and seedy and it had me concerned, as had my failed attempts to find a house rental close to the beach that was less expensive than our SF mortgage!  Ultimately, however, I felt that J & I just had to visit this tropical island that had played such a part in our early discussion  about living abroad, so we purchased the one-way tickets without a long-term place to stay and booked a few nights at Dewa Resort in Nai Yang Beach. I became nervous about my choice when the passport control agent laughingly told us was the closest resort to the airport, as this conjured up images of SFO’s bleak airport hotels.  Fortunately, my fears were unfounded and the resort was perfect for our needs.  Long story short, it turned out that we could rent a large 1-bedroom suite from a private owner at the resort for the month of November and after a car trip around the island confirmed we preferred the vibe here up north, it was an easy decision. So now we have a lovely little place overlooking the resort pool with a bird’s eye view of the sea through the trees, across the street from a gorgeous and uncrowded beach and are within an easy five-minute walk to “downtown” Nai Yang Beach.

A Few Highlights 
Thai Halloween: As some of you guessed, the Thais don’t celebrate Halloween. Fortunately for us, our newfound traveling family friends, from http://www.edventureproject.com and http://www.worldschooladventures do (in style)!  We carved watermelon and some funky Thai vegetables, bobbed for apples in the pool and cobbled together some entertaining costumes (heavy on the pirate theme, with the exception of Mr Potter).  Definitely a very fun first Halloween outside of America!
  • Moped Adventures: I decided that 10 years was sufficiently long to banish the emotional scars inflicted from riding backseat on J’s moped in Bermuda. That, and the recognition that he values Z’s life more dearly than mine (or, as he explained it, feels more responsible for her–we can take that up another time).  So we rented a moped in town and did it Thai style–3 astride, with Z in the front, Jonathan in the driver’s seat and me holding up the rear (fortunately not having to hang on for dear life this time).  The first afternoon we headed north towards Mai Khao Beach for lunch, which we found almost nonexistent (not the beach, just the lunch in town)–we later learned that there is another part of town that is more developed.  With plans of lunch on hold, we stopped at a wat (temple) down a dirt road and had a lovely little ride through Casaurina-lined streets until we came across a herd of water buffalo and I immediately thought of Pamplona’s bulls. By that time we were shaky with hunger and a bit unsettled about finding ourselves on a busy main road with trucks barreling by at 60 MPH.

Moped outing

  • Bike Hike: Jonathan and I biked (the old-fashioned way) to Nai Thon Beach (the next beach south of us) one afternoon while Z hung out at the kids’ club.  As the extent of my bike riding over the past 5 years has been with Z, it quickly turned into a bike hike when we hit our first big hill at the peak of the day’s heat.  I was pretty convinced I was going to suffer from heat stroke but instead just got prickly rash from excessive sweating.  Lovely.
  • Similan Islands:  Yesterday we ventured further afield as part of a snorkeling trip to the Similan Islands, which comprise a national park of nine islands in the Andaman Sea.  We took a shuttle about an hour north to the mainland to the  Tap Lamu Pier, where it was an hour-long ride via speedboat to the Similan Islands.  Z and I loaded up on Dramamine pre-departure, so didn’t experience any queasiness, unlike one unlucky woman on our boat.   This was Z’s first official snorkeling trip and she was rewarded with a up close encounter with a sea turtle.  First it swam by her, then it touched her and by this evening it had pulled her along for a ride. 🙂  The soft white sand beaches were gorgeous and the islands were dotted with unusual rock formations.  The coral wasn’t in great shape in the areas we swam and snorkeled in, which was a bit depressing, but I read that the National Park service is making attempts to better preserve the environment of a couple of the famous dive sites.  Overall, it was a fantastic day’s outing, with friendly tour operators and a well-organized (if packed) excursion. We learned it’s possible to stay overnight in tents or bungalows on Koh Miang (Island #4) so perhaps next time!
  • Foot reflexology: $10/hour.  Need I say more?
  • Teaching Z to dive under waves.
  • Thai food: Cheap and delicious and even better if experienced when sitting on the beach, listening to the waves crash on shore and watching the sky get peppered with lightening bolts.  Sort of how like all food tastes better when camping.
  • Our first Phuket Indian restaurant: J somehow held out for nearly a week before we sampled the only Indian restaurant in Nai Yang Beach last night. After a very positive experience, I suspect it won’t be our last.
  • Family card games: Taught Z how to play War, but have nicknamed it the Afghanistan War because it wouldn’t end until Daddy got a bit creative in his card playing.

Playing cards

Random Observations 
  • Hordes of Russian tourists.  Menus are in Thai, English and Russian.  Some quick Google research revealed rumors about the Russian mafia controlling parts of Phuket.
  • Russian woman love to emulate Sport-Illustrated type cover shoots for their click-happy boyfriends/husbands by rolling around in the sand where the waves break on shore in skimpy suits in front of crowds of other tourists.  Have witnessed this enough times now to feel comfortable making this sweeping generalization.
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Selamat Tinggal Malaysia

Filed under: Malaysia, Uncategorized — 3 Comments
October 29, 2012

After nearly four weeks in Malaysia, we bid farewell to Penang a couple of days ago and had a quick two-night peak at Kuala Lumpur.

Highlights from the last couple of weeks:

-Tropical Spice Farm visit:  Enjoyed a scrumptious lunch on an outdoor terrace overlooking the sea while monkeys frolicked on the branches overhead.  Afterwards we toured the lush and mosquito-laden gardens on the site of a former rubber plantation.  Zara’s highlight was a real-life version of chutes and ladders.

-Suffolk House: Restored mansion of the former founder of Penang, Francis Light.   Not a popular stop on a tour of Penang’s must see sights (we were the only visitors during our tour), but Jonathan was intrigued by the promise of a colonial mansion. I was less confident that it would be entertaining to a 5-year old, but I was hoping it would offer a tasty snack as we had skipped lunch.  Both our hopes were satisfied.  The mansion tour was happily self-guided and an interesting look at Penang’s colonial styles (especially for the 2 1/2 Brits with me) and the proper (and filling) English Tea in the garden afterwards put grins on all of our faces.  Until the mosquitos hit with precision on all exposed body parts.

-Cameron Highlands: We waffled a bit on whether to make the 4+ hour car journey to the Cameron Highlands for just one night, as Z and I are prone to car sickness.   I finally booked a room at Hotel De La Ferns in Tanah Rata for Sunday night, and then we spent two days debating the best way to get there, as the prospect of being stuck on a bus with carsick child didn’t appeal (see below for why).  We ended up hiring a guide, Gary, an extremely chatty but affable Penangite of Chinese descent who was fluent in at least four languages.  We didn’t plan to hire a guide as we thought we were simply hiring a minibus driver to take us to the Highlands and back but, as I noted, Gary had a way with words.   It turned out to be a wise decision, as Z was struck by severe stomach cramps towards the end of our tour of the Boh Plantations.  Some kids get quiet, needy and cuddly when sick. Ours gets loud, dramatic and angry.  The anger tends to then spread like a contagion through the family as we all turn on each other trying to calm her down.  Fortunately, Gary proffered up a Chinese herbal concoction that seemed to do the trick within a couple of hours.  Still, that scuppered our dinner plans.  The next morning we hunted for Jim Thompson’s “Moonlight” bungalow, which proved to be surprisingly difficult to find and (once again) we were thankful for Gary’s resourcefulness.  Jim Thompson (in case you are as uninformed about him as I was) was an American business, former spy and successful silk trader who mysteriously disappeared in the Cameron Highlands in 1967 while staying at the Moonlight bungalow.  His disappearance has never been solved and has spawned many conspiracy theories due to the odd circumstances of his disappearance (including the murder of his 74-year old sister a few weeks after his disappearance).  Our visit ended at the most incongruously-located Starbucks I’ve visited to date in Tana Ratah.

Mary’s visit: We all thoroughly enjoyed playing host to Zara’s granny for the past two weeks.

Kuala Lumpur:  Our visit was far too short as there was so much on offer at this impressively modern and clean city.  The Petronus Towers were spectacular, especially at night.  We happily (but unintentionally) crashed the free appetizers and drinks offered for hotel guests (we were staying elsewhere) at the lounge of the 32nd floor of the Traders Hotel.  Zara enjoyed cooling off in the water park on the KLCC after our aquarium visit.

What I’ll miss most about Malaysia: The food, especially the roti canai.   I don’t think we experienced a single bad meal and several were superb (and incredibly cheap).

What Zara will miss most: Being “famous”.  She has quickly taken to having her photos taken with strangers wherever we go.

What I won’t miss:

Burqas.  I never got accustomed to the sight of the full burqa, worn by the Arab visitors who frequented the streets, restaurants and beaches of Batu Ferringhi.

Unexpected experiences:

At least 10 mall visits.  I despise America’s mall culture, but something about the air-conditioned interiors in the stifling heat and English bookstores proved very alluring as we made our frequent trips to top up our SIM data plans.

Getting far too inebriated with the owners of our apartment rental at Bora Bora beach bar as Jonathan kept pace with a former London cop who outweighed him by at last 50 pounds.

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