Phuket part II

So, we get to our hotel (Malisa villas) and it is about 2.30 am. We are exhausted ... yet they insist on the whole thai tradition of given you a drink and a wet towel at checkout along with flower necklaces..

Then they give us a tour of our villa.. Which was awesome. They were 1 bedroom small villa with a pool.. we loved it, especially since we did not love the area of thailand we were in (VERY touristy in the worst possible ways). The pool has a nice waterfall, and most the villas was mostly outdoor except for the bedroom which was indoor with AC, and the bathroom which was indoor/outdoor room (had walls and screens but no windows, so it was hot like outside)

see for yourselves...

We loved the place, but the food was quite bad (even the breakfast, which they came to cook in the kitchen every morning) . but it was still awesome!

Phuket Part I

After a relaxing morning at Siripanna hotel in Chiang Mai, I booked a 3 hours massage package at a local spa... That was a first for both of us. The great thing about it is that it was a well reviewed spa, they pick you up from your hotel (and drive you back), and it was 1/2 the price of the hotel spa for both of us. A good deal!

We loved it and were very relaxed. It worked out great too, since we had a late flight that night and needed to be out of the hotel by 2pm.

That night we flew from Chiang Mai to Phuket on a very late flight. We landed at 23:50 (or 11.50pm) and by the time we got our luggage, it was well past midnight.

Turns out, taxi were not available at that time (how convenient), so there was that sea of tourists, completely lost, flowing out of the airport, only to find a mess outside, with no taxi and people trying to not get scammed yet get to their hotel..

We ended up having to sign up with a minivan service (the first we passed by) that advertised pretty cheap prices. We finally found the van we were supposed to join and that is when I realized that while they asked with town we were going to, they did not ask what hotel to drop us off. At that point, I was fully expecting a full blown scam or being dropped in the middle of nowhere having to grab another cab once at the destination town.

oh well.. it is not like we had any choice.

It got even better when after driving for about 5-10 minutes, the van stopped at what seems like a brightely lit shop. At that point, I was fully expecting, a congratulations! you just got scammed, now if you really want to get to your hotel please pay an extra $100...

or.. another variation would be :Please come around in our shop and buy something or we won't let the van go. Though I thought (yes I still had some common sense at 1 am) it was unlikely they would try to force a tourist to shop that late at night..

Well turns out, these people were actually decent and all good. They get you in the van first to get out of the airport craziness, then you go to the office where everyone tells them where they stay so they can translate and create a route for your driver...

We drove for a good hour, stopping by several hotels (or what seemed to be nightclubs with rooms above) in very loud areas. We started wondering if Phuket was a right choice.

But, we were last on the list, and the area got quieter and a little nicer.

Only bad point: the driver left us at the end of the road after 1 hour drive, he did not deem necessary to actually get us to our hotel, so we had to lug our bags through the street at 2am at night.

But it was worth it, in the end :)

Chiang Mai Part II

The one thing we did do in Chiang Mai is a cooking class ! and sam even joined ! (that was an achievement on its own). Frankly it was one of the main reason i wanted to come to thailand and it made my trip. Though it made for an exhausting day especially given the heat.

We were in a small group (about 10 people), with 3 french, and some canadians and americans.

First we stopped at a market to discover the thai ingredient and a quick lesson plus shopping.

Then we got to choose 6 dishes each to make...!

I did:

the hot and creamy soup (pretty sure that was tom kha soup), Sam: coconut chicken soup

pad thai noodles, Sam: drunken noodles

Chicken with cashew nuts, Sam: fried holy basil with chicken

panang curry, Sam: green curry

spring rolls, Sam: papaya salad

mango and sticky rice dessert for both of us

'

Best of it was the Panang curry. It is my absolute favorite dish and now I know how to do it!

Pad thai was the best have had so far and the soup too.. I am sure the fresh ingredients are for something in this.

The drunken noodles and then stir fried veggies created some spectacular flames..(intended). I doubt we will do that at home , :)

Chiang Mai Part I

We left Bangkok early sunday morning (6.45am..I am so glad to be on "vacation"). and made our way to Chiang Mai. Interestingly enough, Chiang Mai is the second largest city but does not feel like it. We originally had plans to go to Patara elephant park, but we decided against it because we were not comfortable with the whole riding on an elephant and their wellbeing.

Even though Chiang mai is famous for its temples, we did not really feel like seeing more temples (charlotte made it clear it could get quite boring after a while..). So we enjoyed the hotel .. and unsucessfully tried to get me some custom linen pants made.. The tailor pick you up at the hotel and all but turns out when we got there, they were closed...that was some wasted time!

We loved the hotel (Siripanna) It was such a great deal, (super cheap) quiet, the pool had a great layout and the restaurant was good. We had a lunch buffet on our arrival which was great.

The pool had a fun layout because it was a loop around and island where all the lounge chairs/bar were. they had trees in the pool as well , so it was nice to actual swim in it since it was an entertaining swim around.

Bangkok part II

We had some decent meals at the Shangri-la hotel, though quite overpriced.. :)

Dinner was in a thai style house on the river, and we even got surprise thai dancers visiting us. (made me a little nervous as they can be quite creepy but it was nice to see )

we had some thai soup, a main and satay..

Something to consider: we left Kyoto and it was snowing.. it is now 30 degrees (or 85F) here in Bangkok.. quite the change ! (See last post in Kyoto where I am wearing my puffy coat..)

Note:sam did not take his camera at dinner so the photos are from his phone and not good...

Bangkok!

the public ferries , used kind of like buses on the river by locals and tourists alike.

So we made our way from kyoto to Osaka airport by bus (though it was a big adventure to buy ticket for this damn airport bus...) and finally arrived in Bangkok.

First night was just about getting to the hotel as it was already 9pm by the time we landed.

We got the obligatory tourist scam with the taxi (charging us extra for being a foreigner) but nothing bad. The hotel was great! (merci famille chérie :)...)

I was obsessed with the Mandarin Oriental but we could not )and did not want) afford it.. turns out our hotel way better. The restaurant and food was great, the pool was awesome and we were very happy with the location, right on the water. It basically allowed us to take the water ferries rather than cabs or the metro which was great.

Now, bangkok was our real first encounter with asian travel like we all think about it (different culture, approximate cleanlinness - at least to western standard- ..slight discomfort...etc.

Our first venture outside to find the boat pier was not the most succesful but we persevered and finally found it. It was an adventure on its own and a little scary at first but like most things once you get the hang of it, it is really fun and not scary at all. Traveling is indeed teaching me a lot about who I am , and who I can be.

Frankly, the pier areas were really dirty and so was the river, but the temples and other areas were fine. We did smell some "interesting smells" stemming from the dried fish open stalls/stores outside the temple (in 85 degrees weather, these were definitely smells we were not used to!)

We got a foot massage at the international school of thai massage for super cheap ($10), that was fun! (and everything was very clean there)

We went to see the wat po temple and then went back to the hotel to have a late lunch (it was 4pm by then) and enjoy the pool.

Kyoto day 3

On our last day in kyoto, we had little plans but we ended up sighseeing more than planned and I am glad we did.

We started the day with some work (we do need to work a bit) and then headed out to lunch to a shushi conveyor belt place. They are not famous for amazing sushi but they are cheap (137 yen per plate =$1.7 for 2 nigiri sushi or a small roll), they are fun and more importantly : no need to talk Japanese to pick up a plate from a belt! YEAH!

the place is called masushi and did not look that great when we came in.. A bunch of dried up weird sushi (like mushroom or clams on rice) and then some plates with photos on them..confusing!

Turns out they had a menu and to make sure you got what you wanted, they just took orders.. it was easier than planned, they had english and english phonetic under everything, and it was REALLY GOOD!

we had the best tuna and salmon sushi nigiri ever. But also the best cooked eel sushi (nothing like what you get in the us) It was great fun and we ended up paying about $25 for 14 plates and lunch for two. (that is about 30 pieces of nigiri sushi fyi.. :).)

Then we proceeded to grab some frozen hawaiian yogurt across the road (for the good bacteria ya know... ) and went to visit the golden pavillion... It is a pavillion that is litteraly made of gold, well at least the two top floors.. right on the water, in the traditional japanes way. It was amazing to see, especially since it is right in the city.

Kyoto and the wagyu/kobe beef

So after spending some time at one of the many shrine in Tokyo, we decided to head (by bus) to the Gion district of kyoto and aurahave dinner to one of the most amazing steak house in Kyoto.

Well I lacked a bit in my planning and forgot to take the address of the restaurant..

What that meant is that we walked around forever trying to find a/ a hotel to give us direction, b/ a sign of where it could be, c/ just out of despair..

I finally decided to go back to the metro station and try the station office with not much hope. They ended up being able to help us, they even had internet (again.. try that in Paris and see what happens lol!)

Turns out the restaurant was virtually right around the corner!

The restaurant was not the nicest but the beef was great. We ate a special type of beef called kobe and wagyu beef. The fat is marbled all over the beef and IT IS DELICIOUS>. sam was in love. :)

I loved it too, though I really felt it was way overpriced. But we had fun. I would love to try to cook one at home and we will look into that.

More kyoto..

A few thoughts from our second day in Kyoto. We are definitely happy with the hotel and its location. be There is all you need around so that is great.

Sam is getting pretty good ad just trying anything that seems a little strange and he is definitely leading the way as far as sighseeing/touring... while I just kind of follow. It is great to be able to be a follower for once :) especially ina foreign country where you don't speak or read the language!

We found green tea kit kat so he gave a try..

Then we asked for some rec on lunch places at the hotel and they directed us to the kyoto museum right around the corner. it was great, simple, awesome noodles and rice with... shrimp tempura (what else?). The ground floor of the museum was set up as a small old style shopping/restaurant area. that was cool too.

Then Sam got really bold and decided we should take the bus to the temple/shrine we wanted to see. and we did. and it was not that hard at all. Amazingly. (try taking the bus in Paris)..

Each stop had a sign with 3 circle representing the previous 3 stops to indicate where the next bus was and how soon it might be coming. that was pretty nice.

The shrine itself was pretty but the view and setting was great. Visiting our first buddhist temple was very interesting. Religion is taken very seriously and it looked like quite a few japanese were practicing buddhist. But it also was a strange shift from what I know.

The shrine had a lot of different area where could donate money to get fortune, buy lucky charms for a specific theme (conceptiong, marriage, love, safety etc..), and with the bright colours and gold everywhere, I have to say it felt a little bit like vegas. ie. it was very energetic.

Though that could also be because of all the school girls screaming everywhere..

On out way out we walked through some gardens where stones were covered with fabric ( i called them thongs but i am SURE that is not what they were). they were in little groups all over the hills.. we will have to find the meaning of that.