Dates: April 5th, 2019 to April 13th, 2019
Let’s start at the start. This trip was a schlep. We realized that it would be significantly cheaper to fly out of Vancouver than Seattle (as it went with our notion that life in Seattle would be the Portal to the Pacific that the engraved message on the Mount Baker Tunnel purports). So we got on the bus to Vancouver, stopped at MeeT and then flew out late at night. (For what it’s worth, the train or bus are so much easier in terms of the border crossing. You stop for a little while, but it pales in comparison to the hours of delay, especially on reentry into the US). We had a layover in Guangzhou and were so exhausted we needed to make use of a travelers’ hotel you could rent by the hour. Which sounds seedy, but it was really nice albeit a little humid. Ultimately, we eventually land in Phuket, but still need to get ride on a bus to a boat to get to Koh Yao Yai and our resort—Santhiya Resorts & Spas.
The views were beautiful and this was a wonderful time. The prices here were more expensive than Bangkok, but ultimately very affordable by prices typically found in the US (other than sunscreen. They charged a lot for this). We also had a lot of wonderful tropical drinks served in pineapples (not coconuts, which was disappointing). R really wanted to go to a nearby island, but I sort of hemmed and hawed to much about it and ultimately screwed that up. So… sorry and I love you?
We then went to Bangkok which is a wildly large city with a lot going on. We only really saw one corner of it, taking a tuk tuk or two around, but staying close to our hotel which was right across the river from the Wat Arun. We did take a bus to a night market, which was a little stressful as you need to communicate to an attendant on the bus where you’re going and they would change you accordingly, and neither R nor I spoke or understood any Thai. This is also where I point out this was the most out of our element we’d been in terms of language ever (close second would be Turkey).
I did really enjoy the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre. We headed there because the only entry in my book about coffee was there (Gallery Drip Coffee), which makes sense as Thailand’s relationship with coffee isn’t the same as Europeans and most of their sources of the drink are on roadside carts serving up iced coffee with condensed milk. But the museum had some nice shops and exhibits.
The temperatures were very hot, even in April, and our attempts to get out early were thwarted by the fact that little was open that early. But still we got a good view of the city that seemed to have different neighborhoods with all different feels.
Our trip back was the same as our trip there, with two differences. We’d planned a long layover in Vancouver because we liked the city, but were so exhausted and the weather was so cold and rainy that we just paid a lot of money to go to the top of the Harbour Centre (the fake space needle) and chilled until we got to the train and just slept (which, by the way, the view from the train is gorgeous. Highly recommend that ride). We then took the streetcar back to our apartment and slept.