PHUKET!

Lydia and I are here at the airport internet cafe, waiting for our flight. After 2 days of being in Phuket and hanging out on sunny beaches, we're off to Bangkok for some shopping, eating, and hopefully Thai boxing.

We stayed at a beachside resort here in Phuket and enjoyed what I imagine is the life of a rich person. We were constantly waited on by hotel staff, which is in stark constrast to the hostel hopping life we were living in Japan. Actually, being waited on was slightly uncomfortable since we aren't used to this treatment and it doesn't help that neither Lydia nor I have any suave tipping skills. We kind of just stand there, arms awkwardly stretched out with a bill in hand.

Funny enough, we got a lot of questions from tour guides and hotel staff about where we are from, most likely because we look kind of Thai yet speak perfect English. We used to just say, "Canada" but they always looked so unsatisfied that we modified our answer to, "Canada, but she was born in Hong Kong and I was born in the Philippines" which seemed more pleasing to them.

Anyway, some highlights:


A view of the beach at our resort


This is what you get when you visit a tropical island during monsoon season


Despite the clouds, Lydia and I managed to get tans...we're just that good


In response to a picture of me, my brother said I looked fat "healthy" so now I have resorted to doing crunches in the hotel room. Damn you, Luc, damn you.



You can't tell from the angle, but in that last picture, Lydia and I are actually sitting on top of an elephant. We may be smiling, but that was one hella scary ride.

The elephant riding was part of one awesomely tacky tour we joined that I can only describe as the poor man's Thai version of African Lion Safari. In the span of 3 hours and all within in a 1-km squared area, we watched an elepphant show, a monkey show, rode elephants, took an ox-cart ride, sat on an ox, watched a Thai cooking demonstartion, learned aboout rice farming, and watched three minutes of "Thai boxing" (two skinny teenagers laughing and play-fighting). Despite how kitschy that all sounds, it was actually really fun. There are a lot more pictures that we may or may not upload, depending on how lazy we are.

We also did a day tour of speedboating and snorkelling which was crazy fun, but alas, the pictures are still in our memory cards and I only have 5 minutes of internet left. So we'll save that for another day...