On the morning of January 7th we took the ferry from Macau to the Hong Kong airport. With comfortable assigned seats and ferry attendants that walk around and make sure you're OK, this was one of the nicest ferries we've ever been on. The only thing that bothered me a bit was that they told us to fasten our seat-belts. I've never been on a ferry that had seat-belts, let alone one that made sure people fastened them.
But the trip was smooth, and a few hours later we boarded our Cathay Airlines flight to Phuket. Cathay is one of the highest rated airlines in the world, and now I see why - wide seats with lots of legroom, nice flight attendants and free Haagen Dazs! Lenny was so excited!
After landing in Phuket we were picked up and taken to the lovely Nai Harn Hotel, about an hour from the airport. Our room was wonderful and had one of our best views ever.
After eating a good dinner at the hotel, we headed down the street for our first massage of many! Massage places are everywhere here. Nearly all of them are good, and the massages are usually around $10-12.
In the next few days, we swam, snorkeled, ate lots of good Thai food, got out on the water, and explored the small towns surrounding our hotel. Nai Harn Beach is said to be one of the top beaches in Thailand. It is truly lovely.
Besides cheap massages, Thailand also has cheap food. One night we had a taxi take us to a restaurant about a half an hour away called Eat. (Lenny wants to open a restaurant/monastary/bordello and call it Eat, Pray, Love!)
Upon arrival we were told that yes, we had a reservation but they didn't have any tables! As it turned out, the owner had taken our reservation but had neglected to tell the staff. But all was OK. They sat us at the bar and gave us free drinks and desserts to make up for their error.
After a week at Nai Harn we headed to our next destination in Thailand, Koh Lanta. A driver from our hotel in Koh Lanta (Lanaya) picked us up at Nai Harn. The four hour journey in their luxury van was wonderful and went by quickly.
After that we took a short boat trip in Layana's beautiful boat over to the hotel.
Our stay in Phuket had been so nice we wondered how we were going to beat it, but we actually liked Koh Lanta more! The beach was quieter and went on for miles, and while our room didn't have an ocean view it was still lovely. The only slight negative was the rooster next door, who woke us up every morning at 5 - unless the monk chanting prayers on a loud speaker at 4:30 got to us first!
Our first day in Koh Lanta we rented a car and that night we drove to a restaurant about a half an hour away. The food was good but the drive back was not fun. In addition to driving on the left, the roads were not great, they were poorly lighted, and there were many motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic! So I can't say I was disappointed when the next day our car wouldn't start. We called the car rental company and an hour or so later they told us they had fixed it, but when we tried again it still didn't start. And so we made the decision to not have a car and instead take tuk tuks. Yes!
In the week that followed we snorkeled, scuba dived, swam, walked on the beach, and yes, got a lot more massages!
Here we are on one of our snorkeling trips.
Although you can't tell by the photos, we saw lots of beautiful fish! Which got me wondering about the day to day life of the average fish.
Me: So do fish just spend their whole lives looking for food?
Lenny: No, most of the time they're in school.
And just in case you were wondering if we learned Thai while we were here, I'm proud to say we did. Well, at least we learned a few key words - nam (water), hong nam (toilet) and moo uan (fat pig). Moo Uan (pronounced moo wahn) was actually the name of a restaurant we went to. It has since become our pet name for each other, not because we are fat pigs but because it sounds so cute! Here I am with my moo uan celebrating our first anniversary on January 17th!
To see more photos and videos of our trip to Thailand click here.
Dec. 28th we left Aruba and headed to lovely Newark, NJ. With the wind chill, the temperature was minus 2; more than 80 degrees lower than Aruba! But somehow we survived and had a nice night at the Newark Airport Marriott.
The next morning my dear aunt, Ellie, joined us for a wonderful breakfast at a nearby diner. As always, she came bearing gifts: delicious chocolate mints and amazing peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's!
That afternoon we boarded our flight to Hong Kong. I had been dreading this flight since we booked it months before. How, I wondered, was I going to survive a 16 hour flight?! But, I actually did fine. I read, had a gin and tonic, watched a movie, drifted off a bit, and played 20 questions with Lenny. In the version we play, one of us thinks of a famous person and the other person has to guess who it is. By the end of the flight I can safely say we guessed every man in Hollywood who's been accused of sexual harassment!
I also ended up talking to the young woman sitting next to me. I'm not one to tell people about my writing, but if they happen to ask me what I do, I've been known to share a tid bit or two. As it turns out, I got my opportunity when she told me she was born in West Hartford, CT.
"My publisher is in West Hartford," I told her.
It took her a while, but a half an hour or so later she said, "What's your book about?"
We literally talked for the next two hours. She was fascinated! I suspect she was caught up in the excitement of the moment, but she actually said at one point, "I had always planned on having c-sections but now I'm going to have my babies unassisted!" Music to my ears.
The following day at 8pm, we arrived in Hong Kong. One of the first things I noticed (no offense to Lenny) was that Lenny and I were the fattest people at the airport. A week later I could honestly say we were the fattest people in both Hong Kong and Macau. Not to generalize, but Asians are fit!
The first thing we did after getting to our hotel was head to dinner. We have always liked to eat where the locals eat but the restaurant the concierge recommended made me rethink this practice. My first request for a glass of water was met with a simple, "No water." I could get tea or soda but no water. Tea it was.
Then we ordered. For some reason I decided against the chicken claws, pig intestines and jellyfish heads, and thinking it was a safe choice, I ordered chicken, rice and vegetables. Unfortunately, chicken is prepared differently in Hong Kong and I ended up crunching on chicken bones in nearly every bite. In the restaurants we dined at in the next few days, the dishes weren't quite as crunchy but they definitely had more bones than I'm used to. Lenny also noted that nowhere in China were we ever served a fortune cookie!
The next day we decided to explore the area. For the first two nights we stayed in a section of mainland Hong Kong called Tsim Sha Tsui or TST, which is a district in Kawloon. The area is known for its high end shops and low taxes. Many people from other parts of China come there to save 10-15% on the things they buy (according to a young couple that struck up a conversation with us at the Starbucks). On the days we were there it was wall-to-wall people, and almost all of them were Asian. We almost never shop when we're on vacation and this time was no different. But we had fun hanging out in the park and walking around the area, which also consisted of numerous small restaurants, local shops and pharmacies (some of which sold dried deer penis and various other interesting remedies).
That night was New Year's Eve. We had hoped to see the fireworks but didn't have a view from where we were, and were in bed before midnight anyway (as is our usual New Year's Eve practice). But they sounded wonderful!
The following morning I wanted to call my kids to wish them a happy new year in Colorado, where it was still New Year's Eve. I started with Michelle and was thrilled when she told me she was out to dinner with all of her siblings. She passed the phone around and I was able to talk to everyone! When I told Joy it was already 2018 where we were, she said, "Don't tell me what happens!"
The next few days are somewhat of a blur as I did not adjust well to the time change. Lenny, as usual, adjusted immediately. But we still had fun exploring the city.
On our third day in the city, we crossed Victoria Harbor and arrived at our next hotel on Hong Kong Island (across the street from beautiful Hong Kong Park). In the next few days, we visited a bird aviary, took the funicular to Victoria Peak, rode in a sampan (boat), took the Star Ferry and got a wonderful tour of the city on the hop on hop off bus. I always love the hop on hop offs! We were on the upper level of the bus which made it more fun.
On a side note, the public bathroom by the bus-stop (which I visited twice) was an experience in and of itself. Lovely piano music played during both visits -"People" from Funny Girl on my first visit, and "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera on my second. Somehow this felt a bit strange as I straddled the seatless toilet in the one stall out of five that actually HAD a toilet. The other four had holes in the ground.
Hong Kong is a beautiful city, with many elevations and interesting sky scrapers. There is also a lovely area called Repulse Bay. I wasn't able to get a photo as we drove by, so I borrowed this one off the internet.
After five nights in Hong Kong we headed to Macau, about an hour away by ferry. We had heard that Macau was essentially Vegas on steroids, and this was somewhat true, but there were also beautiful 15th century temples and quaint restaurants and shops in the old sections of town. Many of the restaurants serve Portuguese food, as Macau used to be a Portuguese territory.
One night we went to a Cirque du Soleil-like show called House of Dancing Water. It was spectacular! I told Lenny it was worth coming to Macau just to see the show. He said it was worth flying in from Newark! We also had a wonderful visit to the zoo where we were able to see pandas! I was somewhat concerned that they would be housed in small quarters or treated badly but the zoo was very nice and the handlers looked like they truly cared about the animals. They also had signs that told about each of the pandas. One was described as docile and another was said to crave affection. I can relate!
We actually had to wait over an hour to see the pandas in action, as they were sleeping when we got there. Here is a picture of Lenny waiting to see the pandas.
But eventually one of them woke up, walked around a bit and ate some bamboo. We also saw a red panda, that basically looks like a fox with a beautiful fluffy tail.
On January 7th we headed to the airport and left for our next destination, Phuket, Thailand.
To see more photos of Hong Kong and Macau click here.
