Thailand and Malaysia
The week between going to Chengdu and Chongqing flew by and before we knew it, it was time for national holiday. This was our first long break since school started. We would get a week off and Rhys and I had planned a trip to Thailand and Malaysia.
Thailand had always been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember, and we’d finally be going. We had planned to spend one night in Bangkok, four nights in Phuket and three nights in Kuala lumpur. Our flight was to leave at some god awful time in the early morning on Saturday. We had scheduled a car to pick us up at 2am so we could be to the airport on time. So at 2am on Saturday we got picked up and by 3am were at the airport checking in for our flight.
We landed in Bangkok early in the morning and checked into our hotel. Bangkok was an experience all to itself. We spent the day exploring the city, checking out some of the malls, drinking Thai milk teas and waiting for night to fall.
When the sunset we took off on foot to a fabric night market not far from our hotel, or so we thought. We ended up walking for so long heading to the market. When we finally got there we were greeted with stalls upon stalls of fabrics and clothes. The market was a maze of vendors each selling clothes that were similar and yet slightly different. The market itself is the biggest fabric market in Bangkok and wandering through it, it definitely felt that way. Littered throughout the market were street food vendors selling the most delicious smelling food. We ate constantly, getting kabob sandwiches, soups, milk teas and curries. The food was the highlight of the busy market.
After the night market we explored Soi cowboy, a famous street that was featured in “the hangover 2.” It is famous for its bars, nightlife and being part of the red light district of Bangkok. It was bustling. Full of tourists and strippers. We wandered through at a leisurely pace taking in all the sights, excitement and the entire experience. I’d never been to a place that had so many strippers walking around trying to draw people into the bars. The whole time we were there we were wide eyed and just taking it all in. The street itself was short and narrow. It took a very short amount of time to walk from end to end. Even at our slow pace we finished walking the street in less than 20 mins.
We stopped at one bar for a drink and immediately were approached by a woman who very clearly was there to try to get us to buy more drinks. She spoke very little English so it was hard to communicate but we did understand when she asked us to buy her a drink. Her one drink turned into her asking us to buy her friend a drink. At which point we said no, paid our tab and left. The experience was one we were both glad to have but also one I was glad to leave.
The next day we were off to Phuket. The flight was short and we had a ride waiting for us when we arrived at the airport. We had about a 45 minute drive from the airport to where we were staying in Kata beach. The drive down was steady and I think I spent most of the time sleeping.
By the time we got to kata beach it was the afternoon, we checked into our resort and were taken to a room overlooking the pool on the fourth floor. We wandered out onto the balcony and found a hot tub placed there for ultimate relaxation. While we spent many hours on the balcony we never did end up using the hot tub lol.
We spent the first day exploring kata beach. We walked from our hotel to the main road in Kata and started walking. We explored shops, street vendors and most of all food. If I had to describe what we did most in Thailand I would say, we ate the most delicious food. There were so many options for food it seemed endless. Street vendors and food vendors at markets, add to that the restaurants that were scattered throughout the town and food quickly became the highlight of everywhere we went.
Kata beach itself is pretty small and very walkable. It’s a more quiet area of Phuket, but still had its fair share of tourists. Everywhere we went there were tourists from all over the world. It was more white people than we’d seen since we arrived in China lol.
Our second day in Phuket started slowly and leisurely. We went to breakfast then floated around in our hotel pool. Eventually finding ourselves at the pool side bar drinking pina coladas. As we sat in the water we savored our drinks until it was time to head back to the room to prepare for our boat island tour that afternoon.
We were picked up in the early afternoon and transported to the other side of the island to catch a boat to three different islands in the bay. Our first stop was to explore a cave on one of the islands. The cave during high tide is filled with water so it was our first stop as it was low tide. We put on hard hats and were given a flashlight to navigate the cave and off we went. The cave itself was not very long, but it was filled with wonderful rock formations. One of the walls glittered like it was filled with diamonds every time the light hit it. As we got closer to the exit the light broke the darkness and we emerged in the center of the island. We were greeted by three monkeys and mangrove trees. The center of the island was secluded and at first we were the only group of people there. We were told very specifically to stay away from the monkeys, still some people approached the monkeys to get pictures or to just get close to them. Rhys and I walked around the sand and tree filled center exploring the small area and taking it all in. Before long it was time to head back to the boat, so we again went back through the cave. Walking through ankle deep water until we reached the other side.
The next stop was James Bond island. The island hideout made famous in the man with the golden gun. When we got there we found vendors on the island selling all kinds of trinkets and souvenirs. Rhys and I took on views of the famous rock standing alone in the bay, watching as people took trick photos with their hand out as if they were holding the rock up. We ventured over the cliffs to the other side of the island and took in a spectacular view of the bay before we had to head back to the boat.
Our next stop was a canoe tour of one of the islands. We got off our boat and into canoes that were paddled for us. Rhys and I shared a canoe and were paddled around the bay of the island, we saw magnificent rock structures, we saw a small reptile that we were told was related to the alligator, we went into a cove that was called honeymoon cove because as you look up the trees form a heart shape overhead. Canoeing was definitely my favorite part. It felt luxurious to be paddled around this spectacular island just floating on the gentle water taking in the fabulous formations and beautiful water.
The tour then moved to a private dinner on an island that is inhabited by very few people. We arrived at the island and disembarked. We walked up the dock to one of the only restaurants on the island where we were served some of the most delicious Thai food. We were told the people on the island sailed there to build a fishing community, and build they did. While it was small the community was thriving off fishing and local tourism.
The final stop of the tour was to see the bioluminescent near the shoreline of one of the islands. We all got off the boat and standing knee deep in water were shown how to agitate the water so the bioluminescence started to glitter. We dipped our hands into the water and began stirring the water and in an instant the water started to glitter the most beautiful shade of blue. It was pure magic. Seeing the bioluminescence had been a dream of mine and now here we were playing in the water stirring it up and watching the water glitter and shine. It was an experience of a lifetime and one that was a true highlight of the tour.
The boat ride back was about forty five minutes in the pitch dark. Our boat crew had bright flashlights to light the way through the dark and back to the dock. The overall day was truly a wonderful experience.
The next day brought Rhys and I to Old town Phuket for a Thai cooking class at Blue elephant restaurant. The blue elephant is a Michelin restaurant with amazing Thai food. We got there and immediately ordered some Pima coladas while we waited for class to start. When it was time for class Rhys and I realized we would be the only two in class with the chef! A pleasant surprise to have a private cooking class with a top quality chef. We made jungle curry, prawns, eggplant salad, Tom kha soup and a dessert of taro in coconut milk. Each dish was carefully set aside until we were finished and then we went to the restaurant and dined on the amazing food we had made. Each dish burst with flavor and we got to take home all the recipes along with our aprons and some pre-packaged spice mixes so we could recreate it all at home.
When class was over we took some time to explore Old town, walking around the streets and taking in the sights. We stopped off at a restaurant for another Pina colada, we drank so many of these fresh coconut drinks, each one as or more delicious than the last. We watched the tourists from all over the world walk the streets of Old Town and take instagram photos. When we’d had our fill of Old Town we decided to catch a ride to Patong, the bustling nightclub filled town on the island.
We arrived in Patong around dinner time and were dropped off on the busiest street in Patong. We walked down the street and quickly found an offshoot that was bursting with homemade Thai food. We found a place to sit and eat and were told by the staff that the recipes were all his grandmothers. The menus were pasted all over the walls of the open market and the staff of the restaurant all approach you with the menus to try to entice you to come eat. And enticed we were. We again ate curries, mango sticky rice and a regular assortment of delicious Thai food. It seems everywhere we went we found delicious food from every vendor we tried, Patong was no different.
Our last full day in Thailand brought with it a spa filled day followed up with dinner at a Michelin restaurant called sizzle that overlooked the ocean, then we went to the famous Simon’s cabaret for a drag show then spent the evening wandering the streets of Patong.
The spa was truly a luxurious delight. We were picked up from our hotel and whisked off to the spa for a four hour long experience. The room we were in was pure serenity. It was a private room that included a bathroom and a balcony that overlooked the ocean. The treatments started with a full body scrub, then a two hour long Thai massage. We’d never had a Thai massage before, let alone a two hour long one! The massage was a relaxing combination of stretching and compression all over our body. I had remembered reading that Thai massage was sometimes called “lazy man’s yoga” and I’d have to agree. It felt like a full body stretch like I’d get in yoga coupled with the soothing compression of a massage. After the massage they did a full body wrap and then we ended the session with a soak in a bubbly milk bath. The entire experience was divine and felt like way more luxury than we had ever had. We left feeling restored, peaceful and perfectly serene.
The spa car took us back to our hotel with just enough time for some pinas at the bar before we caught our driver to take us back up the road to Patong for dinner at sizzle. Sizzle is known for its steak and seafood as well as its incredible views of the ocean. We had booked reservations close to sunset to watch the sunset over the ocean. We arrived and found the restaurant to be a rooftop restaurant and we were seated close to the edge of the roof for prime viewing of the sunset and ocean. We ordered the most ended Wagyu steak, and sweet succulent lobster and ended our meal with their biggest dessert option, which was an assortment of almost every dessert they had. It was brought out on the most magnificent display complete with dry ice so it looked like it was smoking. Every tasty morsel was melt in your mouth incredible and we felt so grateful to experience such an exquisite dining experience.
After dinner we grabbed a taxi and went off to see Simon’s cabaret, the famous drag show in Patong. We got to the venue with time to relax before the show and decided to enjoy the two free drinks we got with our tickets while we waited for the show to start.
When it was time to enter the theater we took our seats, I had specifically selected seats in the VIP section in hopes of the performers doing some audience participation and boy was I rewarded for that!! There was one time during the show that one of the performers came off the stage to dance with the audience and to my delight the performer chose Rhys to dance upon! The performer was dancing to Shania Twain's classic song “man I feel like a woman,” saw Rhys and came right up to him to dance in his lap. The audience cheered, clapped, laughed and I was in sheer delight. My cabaret dreams had come true and the main reason I had bought the seats turned out to be a slam dunk. I was thrilled. I’m pretty sure Rhys was mortified. The overall show was entertaining and delightful to attend. After the show the performers all lined up if you wanted to get pictures with them. Rhys and I decided to head back over to the Main Street in Patong for some after show drinks and entertainment.
Over on the Main Street Rhys and I found a bar and set up shop with more pinas. We spent the evening being approached by vendors to buy handmade bracelets that said vulgar things on them and people watching. The people watching on that street was like no other. Between the tourists and the strippers there was no lack of people and things to watch while we sipped our tropical drinks.
The next day we packed up for an afternoon flight to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to grab some food and relax before the flight. The flight was short and before we knew it we were landing in KL. Once we landed and found a cab to our hotel Rhys was starting to feel sick, he said his stomach hurt. So we scratched the plans we had for that night and stayed in the hotel. Turned out to be a good call because as it turned out, Rhys had food poisoning. I thought I was in the clear until I woke up in the wee morning hours with an overwhelming sense that I was going to throw up. I spent the rest of the night and the next day dealing with and recovering from the food poisoning. We both had gotten food poisoning from what we guessed was the food we ate at the airport. Luckily Rhys felt better the next day and was able to go on the food tour we had booked for that night. We had to cancel the tour to the Batu caves we had planned for the morning as there was no way I was going anywhere. I tried to go on the food tour, but was way too weak to make it through and ended up going back to the hotel with some charcoal our tour guide had gotten for me.
The next day found me feeling better, moving slowly, but no longer puking. Rhys and I decided to head out to the Batu caves to check them out. It was a bit of a dreary day, with light rain throughout the entire day. We got to the caves and were immediately struck by all the colors. The entry to the caves were full of spectacular colors, reds, pinks, orange, blue. They were awash in color. The first cave we went in was full of statues and life size figures that told the story of Rama. As we walked around the cave the story went more and more in depth all told through these spectacular life size figures. The cave held beautiful natural works as well, with one of the largest stalagmite formations that was still growing. You could see the water dripping on to the top building up the formation taller and taller.
The second cave was some 200 stairs up, and it took me quite a while to climb them. But the top was well worth it. The cave was magnificent. As we explored the cave we heard a man yelling for someone to get a bag. We looked and saw that he was trying to get a very long, thick snake under control. We watched as he grabbed it by the tail and tried to keep people away.
The cave itself was huge in size, with two layers to it. Each of the layers was a sight to behold. The ceilings of the cave soared overhead and even had a natural skylight. The cave was also home to a Hindu worship area. We spent a good hour exploring and taking in the cave before we traversed the stairs back down to ground level. When we came back down we caught a cab back to town.
Once we were back in town we went to the mall at the base of the Petronas towers. We had reservations to go up the towers at 6pm and needed to eat. We perused the places to eat and laughed when we saw a TGI Fridays. It was the first time we’d seen anything like that and we took the opportunity to grab some food there. We laughed as we sat down because this TGI Fridays seemed to have a Mexican theme to it, something we’d never experienced in the US. As we ate, the waiters would yell “welcome to Fridays!” Every time someone walked in, creating a chorus of welcome that went off pretty often.
After dinner we made our reservation for the towers and started our journey upwards. The trip had two stops, the first was at the bridge that connects the two towers. The bridge, I learned, is a double decker. One level for tourists and the other level for employees to use. We were allowed to be on the bridge for approximately 10 mins before the tour continued upward. We got to the next level and were as far up as we could go. You could see the entire city spread out below us. We were not the tallest building in the city, that’s the Marcada tower, but we did get a fantastic view of the buildings and the city far below us.
Our tour of the towers ended as the sun went down and as darkness fell over the city we jumped into a cab to take an hour ride to the resort world casino just north of the city. The resort world was huge and spectacular. The casino was not as grand as the ones in Macau, but for Malaysia it was pretty great. We wandered around the resort for quite a long while just looking for the casino. It is such a big resort it’s easy to get lost. We finally found it and as we tried to enter we’re told we needed to go out Rhys’ backpack into a locker. Rhys and I looked around at all the people entering the casino and saw so many people entering with duffles and large bags. We asked the security guard why we needed to put the backpack in a locker when so many others had large bags and almost immediately got asked “do you understand, no backpacks, do you understand?” This was repeated over and over until Rhys and I gave up and went to go find a locker.
I can’t remember if we won while we were there, we did play some slots and I think Rhys did win a few times, nothing big, but enough to keep playing and have fun. We played for a while before calling it a night and taking the hour long ride back to our hotel.
The next day it was time to wrap up our trip, and we headed to the airport. Airports are always so interesting. How they do check in, security, how the terminals are. There are similarities between airports but they are all also a a little different in their own unique way. This airport had very little seating and the way you entered onto the airplanes was the most unique I’ve been in. You first had to walk from the terminal to a gate holding area, then from there down the walkway to the airplane. The airport was small and pretty crowded. The limited seating made things difficult, especially with Rhys not not feeling great. We were about to fly and Rhys felt like he was going to throw up. We luckily still had some charcoal with us, which Rhys took to try to keep the vomit at bay.
The plane ride back was one of the worst plane rides I’ve ever been on. We were near the front and the entire time there was a never ending line for the bathroom. It didn’t matter if the seatbelt sign was on or not there was a line for the bathroom. There was non stop movement of people during the flight, it seemed like people would never just sit down and relax for the flight.
We finally landed in Guangzhou and topped off the awful flight with an awful DiDi ride. Rhys was still feeling sick and the DiDi was constantly slamming on the breaks. The jerking motion the entire 45 min ride back home was just constant breaking. By the time we got home we were so thankful to be done traveling. It was almost 11pm by then and we were both so tired. We both just crashed and slept very deeply.
