Koh Phi Phi

On the way to Koh Phi Phi from Phuket, we sat on the top floor
of the boat and soaked up the sun.

Cathy loved the sea breeze while approaching the Phi Phi archipelago.

Cathy's lunch. I suggested she got an Aussie steak because the steaks
in China are straight up god-awful. This one was juicy and flavorful!

We shared a beer for lunch because everyone around us was
drinking. It wasn't even noon.

The town on Koh Phi Phi Don was beautiful and relaxing.
Despite the heaps of people, it was still gorgeous.

The cave for harvesting bird nests for bird nest soup.

The Beach from The Beach - Maya Beach.

We went snorkeling and kayaking at various points around the archipelago.
Cathy got help from the captain of the ship, but she really needs to work on her
swimming before we go to Sabah, Malaysia which is next on our agenda for
National Week 2013. I swam through schools of small fish,
and even saw a few jellyfish and eels.

The sunset was picture-perfect, but it finished too quickly.

Leaving Koh Phi Phi Ley

Stopping for a drink on the way back to the hotel.

We hiked to a lookout point the next morning. What a stunning view!

A small crowd of people were staring at this cat while we
walked by it. I guess they were drunk or something...

The port where we left for Phuket. We went to Phuket Town to shop for
Thai food and drinks (we shared a mojito and apple martini) before heading back to Bangkok late that night.

Such a great view from the top! One of the nicest I've ever seen.
Not too many people travel up there either, which is surprising
for Koh Phi Phi!

That concludes my 5 week adventure for 2012! To recap, I went to Cathy's hometown for CNY, Seoul to visit my friend Sue and her boyfriend, and Thailand with my girlfriend. I realized in Jingzhou during Chinese New Year that no one can beat the Chinese when it comes to firework displays.  I also have come to view Seoul as my favorite city in all of Asia.  Finally, I fell in love with Thailand.  I liked it so much that I decided to go back alone a few months later...

Up next, my solo mission to Bangkok to learn Muay Thai!

A day at the beach

Our only full day in Phuket was spent on the beach. We were pooped out
and just needed some relaxation. We also wanted to go into the ocean.

This one was for my blog...oh wait, this IS my blog!

Patong Beach was filled with Aussie, Russian, and American tourists.

The guy who handed me this ad said:
"If you experience Muay Thai, you experience Thailand!"

Cathy looking for crabs in the sand.

Sunset off Patong Beach

Cathy and I had a photography competition
at sunset.

Snack vendors line the streets near Patong Beach

Chocolate banana milk crepe

Walking back to the hotel at night, we ran into a Hard Rock pool party.

Elephants!

The next day we did the tourist must-do...go see ELEPHANTS!

Elephant Nature Park is an elephant sanctuary for retired and rescued Thai elephants that have suffered some sort of abuse. One stepped on a land mine and was left for dead.  Another elephant's mom was killed, and became a starving orphan before being brought to the park.  A few of them were retired logging elephants who had oppressive masters.  Cathy and I chose this place over other elephant sanctuaries after some research back in Jingzhou about ethical treatment of animals at tourist spots.  If interested, here's a link (Elephant Nature Park).

Cathy and I with a senior. It had a pretty hard life before getting rescued.

Elephants eat large portions of fruit. This guy was a bit greedy for food.
 Cathy had to constantly feed him.

Another activity at ENP was elephant washing.

Learning about the abuse some of these elephants went through
was pretty saddening, but then one of them kisses you and
puts a giant smile on your face.

...and a whole lot of thick, stinky slobber.  I wonder if this guy
didn't like my breath as much as I didn't like his. The story behind
this guy is really sad.  He was found traumatized by serving in some
circus before getting purchased by ENP. I think he thought he was
still in the circus performing tricks.

Elephants like to put mud all over themselves.
Not sure why...maybe for sunblock?

A "family shot."  They aren't really related because they come from
various oppressive experiences, but elephants have different
personalities, and make family groups regardless. We saw a
male teenager getting blocked by his acting "grandma" because he
wanted to get with a female elephant of a different "family."
He tried to dart across the field to "get with her", but grannie
stopped him. He's probably feeling REALLY oppressed now!

We had a great time at Elephant Nature Park.  There was no riding of elephants there, but I'm okay with that.  The objective of the woman who set ENP was to allow people to see elephants in their most natural state, rather than being some sort of tourist ride.

Getting back to Chiang Mai around dinner, I brought Cathy to Burger King because she's never experienced that before.  Needless to say, she enjoyed it quite a bit.

The next day, our flight to Phuket would leave late.  We had one last full day in Chiang Mai.  There were a number of options of what to do.  We could have done zip-lining.  However, Cathy was pretty scared of that, so we ruled it out.  I could have taken a Muay Thai lesson, but Cathy would have been bored for 6 hours, so that one was tossed too.  Instead, we treated ourselves to a really nice spa, then went to a part of city near the university that had interesting back lanes (called soi in Thai).

This is about as far as I'll go for having matching outfits
with my gf. I know I'm Asian, but I'm still North American!

In front of the spa. They had a pond as an entrance.

I had Thai Burmese curry for lunch.

Cathy exploring a Chinese art-deco store in a really fashionable soi. 
Notice the Chairman behind the left door.

Cathy reading about Phuket in the Lonely Planet: Thailand in an outdoor cafe.

My strawberry smoothie

I have to say that this certainly won't be my last time in Chiang Mai...I absolutely loved it there.  It's relaxing and full of adventure as well.  Like everywhere I travel, there was not enough time to look around and do everything that I wanted to do.  C'est la vie! Cathy and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and that's all that mattered.

On a final note, we were late getting back to the hotel to pick up our bags to get to the airport.  We showed our tuk-tuk driver our flight tickets, and all he said was "there's not enough time!" He then went pedal to the metal on his vehicle and got us to the airport in 10 minutes.  That was the most heart-thumping tuk-tuk ride we ever had.  I seriously thought we were gonna tip over when he made turns, but he proved to be a good driver who knew the road.

Chiang Mai Day 2

On our second full day in Chiang Mai, Cathy and I rented some wheels to go around town a lot faster. Bikes are a great way to quickly see a lot of Chiang Mai.  We covered all of the Old City and all the way out to Chiang Mai University.

A terracotta garden that we randomly stumbled across.

We rode down small streets, which were a lot more interesting than bigger avenues.

For lunch, I had chicken stir fry with rice.

With fresh guava juice

...and a local salad

And fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce. The Chinese influence on this food was pretty clear to us.

Old City gates are well planted with a plethora of flowers.  We biked to the Hill Tribe Craft Center and Chiang Mai University.  Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures, but we had fun cycling around in some fresh air. In the early evening,  came back into the Old City for another round of Thai massage.

Unique banners on the way to another wat.

The wat had Buddhist sayings nailed all over the trees in a picnicking area.

Banana crisps at the Hill Tribe Center. They weren't sweet, but made a healthy and satisfying snack.

We went back to the market area in the evening in search for more deals and Western food. Cathy wanted to have some fun pictures taken once we stumbled across one of them photography studios made for dressing up.  A tall lady-boy put me into a prince's uniform.  I was hesitant at first, but once the kathoey handed me a sword, I got into the spirit of things.

The whole affair was pretty cheesy, I know.  But some of the pics were good, and we both had fun!

I think Cathy can easily pass off as Thai royalty...

My ritual travel Guinness at the Irish pub in the night market area

Dinner = Irish Lamb Stew!!  Not as good as my mom's, but it'll have to do until I go back home in July...