Day 7- Onto our next adventure

As much as we loved Koh Samui, G and I were ready to get up and see/experience Thailand. When we started talking about where we wanted to go on our honeymoon, we both agreed that it had to be a place that both of us had never been and offer both relaxation and some exploration. Thailand was just that. Koh Samui was a great place to relax, but we were ready to explore! Chiang Mai, here we come!! As mentioned before, the Koh Samui airport was completely outdoors and actually very pretty.

We flew Bangkok Airways again and had a layover in Bangkok where we enjoyed some noodles and fried rice. By this time, we fit right in.

We finally arrived in Chiang Mai. We prepaid for a metro (taxi) and when we got to where our metro was parked, there was a car parked behind it. G and I were confused/amazed that out of nowhere, 3 guys pop out and moved that car by pushing it. Apparently this is really normal. Our metro had a little trouble finding our hotel in the Old City, but we finally arrived at Baan Klang Wiang! I can't even began to describe how cute it was. It was a little boutique hotel with 10 rooms that all open to a central area with a plunge pool that is open to the outdoors.

We walked through the markets in the Old City area. G grabbed a beer (30 Baht=$1) for the walk and I decided on a red bull (10 baht=$0.33)

 
There were temples (Wat) literally everywhere inside the Old City and outside the moat that surrounds the Old City. We knew that we wanted to have a suit custom-made for G. We decided on Chiang Mai since we were going to be there for 4 full days and they would have plenty of time to make it. We took a tuk-tuk to a highly recommended tailor. After a little consultation, they talked me into making me a custom pair of pants. Day 1 of suit making: measurements, pick out fabric, cut fabric.

I had done a lot of reading in my tourist books about Chiang Mai and was aware of the night bazaare, but I clearly was not prepared for what we stumbled upon. Streets after streets with vendors, people, music, food, massages, you name it-they have it! We were planning on going to dinner later, but I was starving (per usual) so we took a quick seat to people watch and for me to scarf down my 4th plate of fried rice in less than 24 hours. *True Story*

They serve ice with their beer. Just found interesting. Yes, it's that hot over there! G and I strolled upon a booth with handmade ornaments so we did very little negotiating and scored Christmas ornaments for all of our families. The night bazaare offered literally everything including feet cleaning. G found this so repulsive. I actually thought about it thinking about all the dead skin those fish could eat off, but figured I would be too tickilish. I bought a lot of little trinket stuff at the bazaare and then had to buy a large 'North Face' bookbag to carry it all home in. G and I are now ready to go backpacking!

I loved these laterns! They were a great price. Wish I could have boxed them all up to bring home!

 

Then it was time for our foot massage. There was still a lot that I wanted to see so I didn't want the 1 hour foot massage for 150 baht ($5 folks), so G and I negotiated and each got a 30 minute foot massage for 160 baht ($2.70 for a 30 minute foot massage). Ah..Heaven!

We ended our evening at The Whole Earth restaurant. It was so delish and authentic with beautiful teak porches. We had to take our shoes off before entering (like a lot of places in Thailand) and I actually took a liking to eating barefoot. And yes, I ordered fried rice AGAIN! This time inside a pineapple.          Nom Nom Nom

One of the smartest things that hotels in Thailand do is hand out a card to each of it's guests upon check in that is mostly in Thai and any red truck or tuk-tuk could read it and know exactly where to take you. This was very helpful as G and I never could figure out exactly how to get back to our cute little off-the-beaten-track hotel. A ride back home from the about as far away as you could get in a tuk-tuk would at MOST be 100 baht (about $3.30). We had such a wonderful day and have fallen in love with Chiang Mai. Tomorrow starts our real adventures...

Day 6- Last Day in Koh Samui

We woke up again in Koh Samui with nothing to do besides lay by the pool. Tough day. We inquired about taking a boat over to another island, but we decided against it as we just wanted to relax and enjoy our last day by the pool. I enjoyed Pad Thai for breakfast along with 2 fried eggs. Yes, right before I put on a bathing suit. Idiotic, but ridiculously delicious. I actually got off my lazy keester and made my way to the gym to burn a few calories. It was so hot and steamy in Koh Samui. I have never sweated so much so you can only imagine how ridiculous it gets when you are working out. We constantly drank water. Probably close to 6 bottles during the day. After a dip in the pool, we walked to the Bophut Beach pier. Shiesta.

 That can’t be up to code. Julie? We just looked and didn’t walk on it. I wasn’t trying to have to use our temporary insurance policy. We mentally prepared ourselves for the bartering in the market and we went in to buy some of the junk they were selling. It was fun and we got some silly stuff to give away as surcees.

We later enjoyed happy hour on some pillows on the beach at the Cocunut bar. We watch the sun go down (we were on the East Coast so no sunsets for us) and watched some soccer on the big projector on the beach. Dinner was at Samui Spice and we were again at a table directly on the beach. G and I shared a local seafood platter and it was amazing. As we made our way back to the hotel, we popped into the Elephant Water bar for dessert.  Our hotel offers another happy hour at 9:30pm so we went back to the Chill Lounge trying to make it to 9:30 for a BOGO free wine. We were impatient and were trying our darndest to keep our eyes open so we just bought a glass to share and then turned in for the night. Thank you Koh Samui and Hansar for allowing me to relax for a couple of days. Doesn’t happen often.

Day 4 and 5 - Total Relaxation

I can’t think of a better feeling than waking up sans alarm clock, next to your husband, in Thailand, with a view of the ocean, at 9:30am. I was officially in ‘honeymoon mode’ and was ecstatic about my day in which the only thing on my agenda was laying by the pool with my iPad and ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ waiting on happy hour to start at 1:30. Yes, 1:30. Our package included breakfast so we made our way down to the ocean-side outdoor dining area and buckled down for what would be the most eclectic breakfast buffet you could imagine. There’s nothing like binging on breakfast food and then getting into your bathing suit. Yikes. But delicious.

The hotel offered yoga at 4:00pm so we decided that we would actually put that on our schedule. Well that was until we found the upstairs outdoor lounge area that served champagne. Yep, champagne trumped afternoon yoga. Imagine that.

G and I took a leisurely stroll down the beach. And by leisurely, I mean, it was quite the work-out to trudge through that sand. I frequent SC beaches. This is not a SC beach. It was deep and gave with every step. Within yards we were exhausted. So what do the Gillespie’s do next? Ah yes, stop for a beach cocktail at the Calm Beach Bar. We met some other honeymooners from New Castle, England and enjoyed trading stories.

 On our walk back, we strolled upon a local woman who is on the beach, toting her little charcoal poor-excuse for a grill selling spring rolls and grilled corn. A grilled piece of corn is one of my favorites. How did she know? Yall. It was amazing. If someone is looking for a new profession, please move to The Isle of Palms and start a grilled corn business on the beach. Please.

We headed to dinner in Fisherman’s Village. We stopped by and enjoyed a cocktail as the sun was going down. We found some fun swings at the bar closest to our hotel. We decided to buy a ‘balloon’ to light and send off. It was quite the process to get it good and ready and then finally let it go. We watched it for well over 10 minutes. It was pretty cool. We saw lots and lots of them being sold and sent afloat. They actually were very pretty. We had dinner at Starfish (recommendation from the hotel). We both got fish and were served the entire Red Snapper. Absolutely delish.

We went to bed and did a repeat of the day previous. Groundhog Day, if you will. I bought some fun earrings in the gift shop for me and mom. We decided after the previous day’s hard work that we deserved a beach couples massage. But this is not just any massage. It was a Thai Massage. First of all it was 250 baht per person for 1 hour. That is less than $8.50. Yes, thank you.  And we got beat up...in the best way possible. They use their hands, elbows, knees, anything that will dig deep into the tissue. They also pop every possible joint. The weirdest part was when she sat me up, told me to put my hands behind my head and then she used her entire body to whip me around in some awkward contorted positions. It was amazing. It really was. We woke up the next morning and could barely move. Rebecca, meet Thai massage (not to be confused with a ‘normal’ massage). I enjoyed corn again today, but made G get his own because it was so good that I didn’t want to share. We retreated to our wonderful beachfront porch and watched an amazing storm come through. It truly was beautiful. It didn’t last long, but it was aggressive.

We headed to Chewang Beach for dinner. A friend had recommended The Tree Tops at Anantara Lawana hotel. We took a cab over there about an hour before our reservation and had a glass of champagne at their beachfront bar. This hotel was absolutely beautiful and the view was marvelous. We walked over to the restaurant still not knowing what we were getting into. We climbed up this little walkway until we got to our private tree top table. I honestly think that they have used this experience on The Bachelor. And if they haven’t, they should. It was amazing. It was not only romantic, but the food was to-die-for. They did a salt presentation and we got to pick the different salts that we wanted to use. These were salts from all over the world. Who knew? We did a salt taste-testing and you really could tell a difference. This concept was completely new to me. And I loved it. The food reminded me of the food at Nobu. Small portions of the most delicious food you put in your mouth. We enjoyed multiple courses over a lovely bottle of wine. THE MOST PERFECT NIGHT!

Day 3- The 'real' honeymoon starts

After a not-so-good night of sleep for me (very unusual...must still be jet-lag), G and I worked out and had our amazing complimentary breakfast (more sushi again today) and we were ready. I was more than ready. We were on the way to the airport for our domestic flight to the island of Koh Samui (Sam-we). We flew on Bangkok Airways for our 1 hour and 5 minute flight (seemed like seconds compared to our previous flights). They were a great airline, kept everything simple, and served us a meal (yes, a meal on a 1 hour flight). I tell you this because this meal is the reason for the funniest thing that has happened so far on this trip. It included a small salad, sweet black bean something, and an entree consisting of sticky rice wrapped in a green leaf and chicken on the side. I wasn't hungry and thought the chicken looked fried so I just ate a couple bites of sticky rice. G was across the aisle from me and when I looked over, he was eating the sticky rice, leaf and all, like a baby burrito. Now this 'leaf' was not edible, wasn't meant to be eaten and that was quite obvious to everyone except G. I apparently caught him after bite 2 and the poor plastic leaf was in shreds and he looked very confused. (must insert picture, yes I pulled out my camera. It was that good) We laughed for about 20 minutes and by the end of the flight I was in tears. The flight attendant was as confused as G was about that leaf when she came and got his tray. Anyway, such a G moment.

We landed in Koh Samui and immediately fell I love. The airport was more of what we would think of as a private airport. It was all open air and we literally got off the plane and got our luggage within minutes as we were the only plane there. The airport was completely open to the outside and we were immediately introduced to Koh Samui's heat and humidity. Being from SC, this is comparable to a hot, muggy August day....but the beautiful landscape here makes you forget about the overwhelming humidity.We took a taxi to our hotel, Hansar Samui in Bophut Beach for 500 baht (about $17). The ride there reminded me of a cross between St. Kitts and Costa Rica. The economic levels of each outside of our respective resorts seem very similar. Our resort was more than welcoming the moment we stepped out of the taxi. Again, the lobby is completely open with no walls, just simple, and perfect. There is a library that contains some books and 2 Apple computers that sits adjacent to the lobby as well as the infinity pool, again just perfect. There is no way to describe this place besides beautiful. I have many pictures that I will insert later, but they don't do it justice. Our room is simply amazing. Everything is open with a tub in the middle of the room. We sprung for a beachfront room and are now very thankful that we did. We spent the afternoon by the pool and enjoyed the view, some cocktails, and each other.  We walked to a near-by beachfront bar called The Frog and Gecko Pub and enjoyed a glass of wine. After a bad night of sleep and a 'long' day by the pool, I found myself on our oversized bench/bed on our perfect porch and was asleep in minutes. G joined me and it was exactly what we needed before we headed to dinner. It's very interesting how this resort is situated. There is a little road/walkway that runs between the pool and the beach that connects all the resorts here to Fisherman's Village.We are the last resort before Fisherman's Village so dinner, shopping, convenience stores are just a 5 minute walk away. We went to dinner at Krua, which is a Thai Seafood restaurant situated directly on the beach. Our table was about 10 yards from the ocean and the only light we had was from tiki torches. I honestly felt like I was in a scene from The Bachelor. Corny, I know, but it was that amazing. I had the Grilled White Snapper served with veggies, pineapple, and sticky white rice. Nom nom nom. G ordered duck and I didn't even realize until later that I was so obsessed with mine that I didn't even try his. There were fireworks down the beach and there some locals selling a kite-looking object that is made of tissue paper that you light on fire and then send up in the air. You can watch the ball of fire for about 10 minutes and it really is beautiful. We didn't buy one, but we enjoyed the ones we saw.

I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world. G and I keep saying, 'can you believe we are married' or 'hey wifey' Still hasn't sunken in yet, but we are both having the times of our lives and we couldn't be more thankful for these experiences and the time we have to reflect on our past, present, and future. G did make me aware that he will have missed the majority of the NCAA basketball tournament and the final four (have fun Dad!!) will be played while we are en route home. Poor boy.

A few interesting observations about Thailand...

-most bathrooms require you to step down into them (leading to multiple trips into the bathroom by both me and G...providing cheap entertainment) -these said bathrooms also have a sprayer attached to the toilet. Very similar to the one beside most kitchen sinks. Haven't found the use for it yet, but I'm assuming it is only used when actually cleaning the bathroom/toilet???

-our hotel rooms have required that we put our room key in a slot situated on the wall immediately when you walk in. This allows the lights, air conditioner, etc to start working. A great concept really and doesn't waste all the energy when we are not in the room. 

Rebecca Long

Day 2-ish

Day 2

Well it is actually our first day on the ground. We arrived to our hotel room at The Dream Hotel a little after 1:00am last night. Since most international flights don't arrive into Bangkok until late at night, G and I decided we would go get a cocktail to celebrate finally being here. Unfortunately, the local bars were closed so we settled into our room and finally got to take showers. Still not overly tired, we found the mini bar which contained a bottle of Veure Cliquot (my favorite champagne) so we popped the bottle and toasted to the start of  our honeymoon. perfect.

We got up at 8:00am local time to work out. As most of y'all know, that is normal for G, but not so normal for me. After sitting on a plane for 27 hours and having meal after meal served without a single calorie being burned, I felt the need to find an elliptical and some free weights. We came back and ate a wonderful breakfast buffet including omellettes to sushi. Yes, sushi and it was amazing.  Then we started out on our 'we have no idea besides what Frommers said' journey. We took a taxi to a place where we thought was the pier we were supposed to go, paid the fare (which we both thought was fair, ironically) and later discovered we got 'scammed'. Either way, it was awesome. We took a boat, completely by ourselves, north on the Chao Phraya River. Yes, it is some nasty water and not all the sights were beautiful (see when I add pictures), but it was a great way to see Bangkok. We stopped and got to climb some steep, steep (did I say steep? Like I was scared to death) stairs at the Temple of Dawn. I had to rent a sarong to cover my knees as we viewed the amazing piece of art. Back on our boat, the next stop was the floating markets. Although they were not what Frommers pictured, it was cool enough that G and I bartered for some little trinkets for some of my co-workers (and 3 beers..2 for G and 1 for our captain...0 for this GF). 

We were let off of the river at a market which was the gateway to The Grand Palace. Interesting to say the least. (pictures to be added) I did want a snack and went with a bag full of fresh strawberries. Amazing. I want those to always be so readily available at home when I want snack. We, not thinking that we look THAT much like tourist, we're told by 3 ( yes, three) different people that The Grand Palace was closed today until 3 due to a ceremony and that we should take their 'nuk-nuk' to 'another' tour site. Thank goodness for my research and communication with bloggers that I knew that this was one of their scams. G later admits he fell for it as he had one foot in a 'nuk-nuk' to only have me throw a temper tantrum for him to get out. Just a bit later, we arrive at The Grand Palace by foot to find out its hours are 8:30-3:00. Those jerks were going to have G miss out (because I sure as hell wasn't going with them). It was awesome. See pictures when posted. The museum shop was even better as I got some very fun, unique surcees. 

We tried to head  back to the hotel via taxi, but it was more difficult to find one than we thought. While I fell in love with the museum store, it apparently poured down rain so everyone was leaving at the same time. Not only that, but the taxis we did find wanted to negotiate a price versus starting their meter. Thanks to Kate, a blogger from TX ( yes, my family would love her), who made it very clear NOT to get in a taxi before they start their meter, another temper tantrum ensues. And rightly so, and G is later thankful. 

Afternoon snack....fresh strawberries. yum!

I took the second shower of the day (don't remember the last time that happened, but I sweated like a fat pig in 90degree humid weather) and then we were ready for our big night on the town. We started with cocktails in our hotel's bar (the only attendees of the BOGO free cocktail) then headed to the rooftop of The Banyan Tree Hotel. It was awesome even though another storm came in preventing us from being on the top floor. We settled for outside, 3 floors down, with the exact same view. Dinner was later served at Baan Khanitha and was nothing short of amazing. We started with crispy rice and a spicy curry sauce. G got what would turn out to be the world's best Sea Bass and I got very good GF pad Thai. (yep, authentic pad thai is GF and that made me happy). The only thing that made tonight better was the wine bottle serving basket (see picture) and G and I finally (quasi emotionally) recapping the wedding. Perfect night. We are ready for relaxation in Koh Samui tomorrow. 

It was very windy on the rooftop...obviously.

I loved this wine basket/server