In case you don't know, that's Thai for hello. (For a woman anyway, if you're a guy you say Sawatdee Khrab).
So here I am in my room (which is set at a VERY comfortable 23 degrees, thank you air-con) in the Club Med Resort, Kata Beach, Phuket, Thailand. It is currently 9:20pm local time. Outside it's roughly about 27-28 degrees and quite humid.
I thought I'd start this blog as we have complimentary wi-fi in our room and I find it much easier to type than I do to sit there and write all this out in a physical hardcover book (which I was originally planning on doing, just for the record. Might still keep it for memento-type stuff).
Ok, so a recap of the the trip up till this point in time.
We flew out from Auckland airport at about 3:30pm yesterday. The flight left on time which is unusual, but rather nice. Once we were in the air, after the usual safety demonstrations and announcements from the pilot, we were told that we were 11.5 hours from Bangkok. What? Nearly 12 hours in the freaking air?? Are you kidding?? What I hadn't factored into my equation for calculating the flight time was the time differences in the itinerary. Our departure time was given in NZ local time, so I assumed the landing time was too. But no, the landing time was 9:30pm BANGKOK time. And since Bangkok is 6 hours behind NZ...
Yeah, looooong flight. But the cabin crew were awesome, keeping us topped up with cold drinks and three servings of food. Plus the in-flight entertainment was great. Each passenger had a personal screen and handset which they could use to watch a selection of movies, listen to music, and play games - some even against other passengers. So all in all it wasn't a bad flight, but even with getting up and stretching and moving around as best you could, it's a hell of a long time to be stuck in one place.
We wound up getting into Bangkok airport a little early, which wasn't too bad. Touched down about 9:10pm and were through customs and in the waiting lounge for our connecting flight to Phuket by 9:40pm. However after that long-as stint in the air, we really weren't looking forward to being crammed into a plane again, even if it was for only an hour. The really cool thing was that when we boarded, we were guided down a set of escalators and then out of the terminals and onto a BUS. Yep, didn't expect that one. We were then bused across the terminal to our plane. Funky huh? Oh and our bus driver nearly crashed. Great, in the country half an hour and already needing to collect on our travel insurance. That's gotta be some sort of record. Luckily though the crash was avoided and we were boarded and airborne in no time.
An hour later at about 11:55pm we touched down in Phuket. Baggage claim went without a hitch, which had been one of my fears because our luggage was being transferred direct from our main flight to our connecting flight without us having to check it in in Bangkok. And hey, that's generally where stuff gets screwed up. But nope, Carl's bag came through no problems and then a short while later so did mine. Awesome. Baggage sorted. Now to clear customs again...wait you're waving us straight through. Ok sweet as. Where's our ride?
Outside the terminal there were HEAPS of taxi services all pushing at you. But we had to politely decline as we made our way over to the Club Med greeter. Ok, two seats in a 10-seater transit...wait? What do you mean we're not on your list?? Awww shit. Here's hiccup number one. But a quick call to the resort and we're all sorted. Excellent. No dramas.
Into the van and I have to admit, after all that flying, it actually feels GOOD to be in a road-based transport again.
But that feeling lasted all of 10 minutes. See, I honestly could not comprehend ANY sort of road rules, or if they even exist. Our driver was tooting the horn a lot, doing 120kph in a 60kph zone...
Part of the transfer price was getting us to the resort in one piece right? Or did we have to pay extra for that?
Oi.
So at about 1:20am...ish we pull up outside the main reception at the resort. As we climb out, vision starting to blur from fatigue (and the various drugs I'd had to pop to help keep my nausea under control) garlands of fragrant flowers are draped around our necks by cheerfully smiling people. We're led into the main reception area and sat down on comfy couches as they check us in. As we inquire about our luggage we are cheerfully informed that it will be delivered up to our rooms shortly. Sweet. We are offered glasses of cool water and a delicious juice (or iced tea, I'm not sure what it ACTUALLY was, but it was delicious and wonderfully refreshing) as well as a cold towel to wipe our faces with. We are then told about some of the basic must-know details, like the towel card and room card and that sort of thing.
Keycards in hand we are then shown to our room by another of the smiling hosts. Keycard in door and omg we walk into this air-conditioned paradise that makes us just sigh in delight. The floor is polished wood, the walls done in whites and yellows...ah who cares lemme just show ya.
So here's Mokona with one of the garlands.
Carl and I on our little reading divan-type thing in the far corner of our room.
Shortly after we took those photos we crawled (and I mean CRAWLED) into bed and zonked out.
This morning we woke about 8:30am local time. After quickly sluicing off the travel ickiness, we headed to breakfast at the main restaurant. This is where I point out that ALL our meals and ALL our drinks are paid for as part of our package. As long as we're here at the resort during designated meal hours and bar hours of course. So all meals are buffet-style. And OMG what a selection. At breakfast there were at least 20 different types of bread, cereals, pancakes, waffles, french toast. And that's just part of the western selection. You can also choose from tradition Thai, Japanese or Chinese breakfast dishes. So there is NO lack of choices. Nom nom nom.
After breakfast, we went to an information meeting, which is basically an orientation to show us where important stuff is and some other useful stuff. After that we just wandered around the resort to get our bearings, talking to some of the Club Med staff. Like the guy who does the golfing lessons and the tennis coach and the yoga instructor...
They are all so seriously friendly. It is awesome. I can go up to reception at any time and ask a question and not be made to feel like it is a dumb question. And there is NO excuse for being bored here, because there is ALWAYS something happening.
After wandering the resort we headed down to the beach proper. Kata beach, for those who don't know, is a crescent of golden sand on the southwest edge of Phuket island. And it is beautiful. The water is crystal clear, the sand BAKES in the sun and reflects the heat and it's not uncommon for people to wander along the beach topless. Seriously. Saw no less than 3 ladies with their breasts bared to the world. Don't think I'm quite brave enough to do that, plus I hate swimming in the ocean cos you always get sand EVERYWHERE. Eww.
However I will make an exception to this rule as the resort does a snorkeling trip. And I SO want to go on that. If I can't convince Carl to join me on it, I'll go by myself and he can go and learn how to golf or something. Cos he really doesn't like swimming. But eh.
After our beach ambling, we headed in to lunch. Which of course was more of the same, buffet style foods from different cultures. Yum.
From lunch we went to the bar and just lazed by the pool, enjoying our colourful ice-cold drinks. Which was great cos at 1:30 they had bar games with some of the staff. Today's game was Scatergories. For anyone who hasn't played that before, you're given a list of categories. For example in today's game the categories were: Club Med Staff, Country, Animal, Sport, Famous Person, Club Med (so another place where a club med is located). Then you're given a letter. And you have a limited amount of time to figure out something in each category that begins with that letter. THEN to score points you have to share your answers with the other teams. If a team has the same word in a category as you, you don't get any points. So of course it's all about trying to think of the most obscure thing for each category. So it's a hell of a lot of fun. And it was, cos there were a couple of Swedish girls on another team and they just got right into it. Plus the staff members on my team were awesome fun.
After the game there was some live music so we chilled and listened to that before coming back to our room because the heat was just getting to us both, despite us guzzling water by the gallon. We were going to hang out there until 4pm and then go do some archery, but we wound up napping instead. Mm afternoon siesta.
We woke up a couple of hours later and then just hung around in our room checking out the weird local channels on the tv until we worked up the energy to go to dinner. Neither of us were very hungry so we ate little and then just came back because we're going to have an early night as we suspect the jet-lag has crept up on us. An early night means we should be up early tomorrow and feeling better.
Here's hoping anyway.
Tomorrow we're planning on going for a wander around Kata Beach proper. Scoping out the local markets and that sort of thing. Should be interesting. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Bedtime for me! Take care everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment