Fall Break, 2010 -Phuket Thailand

Our school has a week off for Fall Break every October. It is the time many expats here will choose to travel within Japan or to other parts of Asia. This year we decided to take the kids to Phuket, Thailand.  Some of you may remember, Matt took me there for our anniversary in 2008 as a ploy to make me fall in love with Asia and move. Obviously his plan worked (although Japan is NOT Phuket).

We decided to make this a very low key, relaxing vacation as Matt has been working crazy hours and the kids were more than ready for a break from school. So instead of doing a bunch of tours we mainly just explored the areas we were staying and did small activities like Go-Karts, kayaking, swimming, shopping and lots of eating.

We split the trip up and stayed in two different areas. The first was Patong Beach. This area is known for being very busy and full of nightlife, shopping and different types of restaurants.

Looking down one of the shopping alleys in Patong.

Me and my beautiful daughter at dinner.

The kids loved playing in the pool.

Patong Beach

Ronald McDonald thanks us for eating his ice cream

Can you tell Chris enjoyed a burger at the Hard Rock?

Many of the restaurants in this area have fresh seafood for you to select for dinner.

The guys had a need for speed while the girls shopped.

Gas anyone?

You cannot visit Patong without making a stop at the banana pancake cart

After a few days in Patong we wanted someplace a bit quieter and relaxing so we moved on to the new Westin in Siray Bay. It is located about 10 minutes from Phuket Town so it was easy to go into town at night on the shuttle for dinner and some shopping. The area was absolutely stunning and very relaxing.

View from the lobby

My kids

Some beach soccer

Don't we make a cute couple?

Matt's great find

Our whole family loves Thai food.

Our family

The girls were off to explore

An afternoon treat

I treasure each one of these vacations, not because it is a great way to keep my golden color, but it has hit Matt and I hard how short of a time we have left with all our kids at home. They grow up so quickly and the memories and experiences we can have with them now are priceless. I hope when they are our age they can look back at our time as a family with a smile on their face.

You can see many more pictures here. 

... And a Condom for All

The size of a man's penis will no longer be a secret if you are living in Thailand, with the launch of the Public Health Ministry's "Condom for All" campaign. A spike in the number of HIV cases in men has caused the government to take action on trying educate and help raise awareness on properly protecting oneself.

Under this program, a disposable paper measuring tape will tell guys which size condom will give them the best comfort and protection. The measuring tape records widths of between 49 and 56 millimetres - covering the "Thai penis size standard".


The thought process is if a man knows which condom size he should use, then he will be more inclined to use one because he will not have the issues caused when wearing a too small or too large condom. Not having a penis myself, I cannot say if this thought process is right or not

I am a bit unclear if the data learned will be collected. If so, and the measurement isn't being done under the watchful eye of someone, I wonder just how skewed the data gathered will be. We are talking penis size here, not the best diet pill one can find.

Having been to Thailand twice, I can understand the need for this program. While the country and culture are extremely beautiful (so far it has been my favorite place we have visited), the sex industry is incredibly sad. I can't help but giggle every time I read the tagline "A Condom for All". For some strange reason it makes me think of the ending of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Bangkok Floating Market :Damnoen Saduak

On the third day in Bangkok we went to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It was such a different experience. You get into banana boats and ride up and down the river to different sales stalls, as well as buy goods and food out of other boats. There was everything, such as hats, fans, food, decorator items and paintings. I swear people even had weird things like Colonix and muscle medicines. .

Emily took some video with her camera so I thought it would be fun to post rather than pictures. As you can tell Chris sure likes to shake his head no at everything people are selling. He is his dad's son.

Enjoy!

Bangkok Day 2 -Dream World & Night Market

Our second day we went to Dream World –– Thailand's version of Disney. It was about an hour drive away. The kids really enjoyed it, and okay, so did us adults.







The best part was Snow Town –– a village with real man-made snow and sledding.


That evening we went to the Saun Night Market –– an evening shopping center with 100s of stands. There was also a "food court", where we ate dinner. Matt says he loves Thai food so much that we needed weight loss pills after vacation.



As always, you can see lots of more pictures here. Up next? The floating market and elephant rides!

Taking a moment to remember 4 years ago

I remember sitting at my parents house on Christmas night '04 watching the shocking breaking news coming in from Asia. On Dec. 26, 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3 (the second largest ever recorded) had struck out in sea off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean and killing more than 225,000 people.

These tsunamis hit in eleven countries and inundated coastal communities with waves up to 100 feet high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, hitting Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand the hardest.

This past April Matt and I visited Phuket, Thailand, one of the areas hit hard in 2004. I remember standing looking down this street, unable to even fathom the devastation only 3.5 years earlier.


We visited a memorial, remembering those affected by this horrible tragedy.



Whole villages (similar to this one) were wiped out after waves flooded and destroyed the area.


After 2004, many areas placed tsunami warning systems and evacuation signs.




Below are a few pictures from online just days after the tsunami. Today take a few moments to remember the over 225,000 people who lost their lives and the thousands of others who lost their homes, loved ones or were otherwise affected.

Patong Beach & Thai Nightlife

The second half of our time in Thailand we stayed in Patong Beach. We wanted to experience two different areas of Phuket -- one well known for its quiet nature, and one more well known for its shopping, nightlife and overall touristy side. While I enjoyed Patong Beach, I definitely liked the quiet nature of Karon Beach better. Patong beach was amazing (I posted here about the beaches of Thailand) and is the longest beach, and probably one of the most beautiful, in Phuket.

We stayed at the Burasari Resort, about 3 or 4 blocks from the beach. This hotel was heavily damaged in the 2004 Tsunami, but it was quickly restored and today shows no lingering effects. Our room was amazing, with direct pool access straight off our patio.

Part of our room.
Matt hard at work on our patio, which lead straight into the pool.
View of our room from the other side of the pool.
View into the pool from our patio.

We spent alot of time just walking around Patong. Everywhere you looked there were stands selling clothes, electronics, jewelry, knockoffs, and lots of homemade items. If you wanted something, you could find it and buy it here. I was surprised at seeing things like Viagra and Phentermine without a prescription at the drugstore.

Booths at Patong Top Shopping Center. This place also had a ton of outdoor bars as well.

Food choices are endless. Subway, Starbucks, Burger King... they all can be found in Patong Beach. Pizza, seafood, Thai food and even steakhouses. People at carts sell fruits, juices and even pancakes.

My meal on the last night in Thailand. It was de-licious.

Me with my pineapple chicken and mai tai. And I wondered why I kept getting cold sores. I drank more juices and ate more fruit there than anytime in my life.

Matt trying coconut milk. We were surprised that it wasn't like milk we would think of. It was more a thick watery liquid. Matt wasn't a fan at all. Luckily I am allergic to coconut so I didn't try it.

Me with some awesome banana and nutella pancakes. I thought they would be more like crepes, but instead they were fried. You could opt to have it with or without an egg. I choose without as I just couldn't get into non-refrigerated eggs that were usually cooked runny.

Patong Beach was hit quite hard in the 2004 Tsunami. Many of the areas on Beach Road and even further hit were destroyed or damaged and have been rebuilt over the past 3 1/2 years. I have watched videos on youtube of the tsunami hitting Patong, Phi Phi Islands and other parts of Thailand, and it is so heart wrenching. It feels different when you have been there, when you have walked with these people, than just watching it all happen on tv. It was a very surreal experience standing in the exact same spot that people had lost their lives or loved ones.



One thing you will see all over not just Patong, but Thailand in general, are Spirit Houses. The purpose of the Spirit House is to provide an appealing shelter for the spirits, or celestial beings, who would otherwise reside in the heavens. Offerings will often be made at these to keep the spirits happy. We watched each morning food being taken to a spirit house at our hotel, as well as seeing these small houses all over with food and drinks.

One of the many spirit houses we saw.

The famous Bangala Road & exotic nightlife in Patong is quite a pull for people traveling here on vacation. Everywhere you look on this road are rows and rows of bars. During the day there are a few people seen around, but at night it is packed with wall to wall people. No tuk tuks, scooters or cars. Only people.


I need to stop here and explain, if I can, what the nightlife and bars are like here in comparison to someplace like the United States (or even the few places I have been in Venezuela or France).

Few of the places are similar to what we would find here. A small area with a bar section and stools and then tables and chairs. Many others are huge rooms or outside areas filled with "sections" of different bars. At these bars will be the actual bar and then stools.

Outside of the bars, on the street, or by each "section" will be bargirls trying to get people to sit at "their" bar. From what I understand the girl that "brought" the person/persons in will get paid. Sometimes the "bargirl" will be asked to escort around for the evening, whether it be to other bars, dinner or what have you. Other times the "bargirl" will be asked to escort for more than just dinner or whatever.

There is a sex industry, but we are asked not to judge what is seen there, it is more complicated than one thinks. Sometimes I just wanted to weep for these girls. But as Matt told me, they are all hoping that one day they will meet someone who will take them away from this kind of life. And we saw two on our plane on the way to Singapore that did.

The nightlife in Thailand is a completely different world than anywhere else I have been. And from what I understand, there are other countries, particularly a few Asian ones, that has similar nightlife. I pray that someday these girls lives do not need to be this way.

One neat part about the nightlife is everywhere you go you get to play -- Jenga, Connect Four or a neat dice and number game (which we bought and love to play).


While you sit people and even children will come up and try to sell you anything from food to fresh flowers to homemade items. I think I could have a whole garden with the number of flowers I bought off children while out at night. What can I say? I am a sucker.

One part of Patong (and other areas of Thailand) that I haven't addressed are the ladyboys. I have never, ever, seen anything quite like them, even when I went to an impersonator show in Las Vegas. The best was when Matt and I were talking about just how beautiful two ladies we saw walking were while we ate dinner one night, and later on we saw the same girls with the ladyboys. Okay let me rephrase that, they were ladyboys. I swear I have never seen such perfect female bodies before on some of these men. I would kill for some of their legs.

The last night in Thailand was quite interesting. We left right before the Songkran Festival, but that didn't stop people from getting started early. This most celebrated Thai festival starts April 13 and lasts between 3 and 10 days, depending on where you are in Thailand. The Thai people celebrate this festival with water and everyone gets soaking wet.

People getting crazy with pre-festival festivities. Yes that is water all over the street.

Make sure you check out the pictures of Matt and I getting caught in the water crossfire on my photo album. This is us after we tried to dry off a bit.

As always, I have posted many more pictures in my album. Lots more of Patong, people, the beach and even a sneak peek of the toilets. (And before anyone asks, yes our hotels had real toilets)

I have to admit this post is bittersweet. I love sharing details of our trip. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and sadly this is my last post on Thailand. Now don't fret yet. I still have to share our experiences in Singapore, but for now I have to say goodbye to Thailand. I am hoping that someday soon I will be able to go back. I love the people, the culture, and the beauty of the country. Don't get me wrong. It's not all exotic, but there is just something magical about Thailand.