We spent Thursday just relaxing. We slept in until we woke up, had a nice leisurely breakfast, and spent the afternoon at the pool. In the evening we went down to the beach after dinner to watch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun watching the crabs scurry around on the beach.
The hotel was having a movie night at the pool. We told the kids they could watch the movie. It was "Guardians of the Galaxy" and so the girls weren't interested. We let them watch "Brave" on the DVD player and television in their room instead. While the girls were watching, Yulia and I went for a walk and to get ice cream. One of the things that we loved about our vacation was that even though we were there as a family, it also felt like a romantic vacation for the two of us.
Our main activity on Friday was to go to downtown Phuket. Yulia had wanted to look around. The girls were a little less enthusiastic about going, but were good sports. We walked through the market and down a few streets. We stopped at a 7/11 and bought some Slurpees for everyone. It was much hotter in town away from the ocean, so it was nice. We also found a second hand show store where Yulia found a gently used handbag that was just what she wanted to have for traveling. We also stopped at a little mall where we found a few souvenirs and bought some fruit pastries for a snack later in the day. We spent a few hours downtown and that was enough to get a bit of a feel for life and for the kids to see and smell what it is like in a developing country.
We went to the pool in the late afternoon so the girls could have one last chance to swim. While we were there the staff invited the children over to fish in a little pond. The girls all tried, but only Sophie and Lexa caught fish. Sophie caught the biggest fish, and caught it twice. I told Nika and Lina that they might have my luck as a fisherman (bad) and that the twins might be more like their Uncle Ben, who is a gifted fisherman.
After getting cleaned up and changing we went to the beach to watch the sunset one last time in Thailand. We had fun watching the crabs scurry again. We stopped by the cafe where we ate breakfast to see about dinner. It was a buffet that cost 1800 Baht each (about 60 dollars) each. That was what we were paying for all of us for each breakfast and was a bit steeper than we wanted to pay. We went to the Thai Express for one last meal (and it cost us just under 1600 Baht for ALL of us).
One observation that we made about restaurants in Thailand was that they brought food whenever it was ready. This was okay when it all came relatively fast but was a bit strange when we would get one dish for one person and then wait 10 or fifteen minutes for the next thing to come. We like the American way of getting things all at the same time (or appetizers first, then main courses). On Friday night my dish came last - after the girls had all finished their dinner for 10 or fifteen minutes. We ended up sending the girls home to get ready for bed while we waited for my plate to come and to pay the bill.
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Saturday morning we were up early - 4:45. We dressed, ate a quick snack, and went to meet our taxi. We left for the airport at 5:15. Our flight left Phuket at 7:30. We spent a full day traveling. Bangkok was busy - we had to get from one side of the airport to the other, leave the terminal, check in, go back through passport control area, go through security, and get to our gate within an hour and a half. We made it to the gate just as boarding began.
We ended up flying back from Thailand with a group of single professors from my school who had also done vacations in Thailand. One of my students was on the flight from Almaty to Astana (one had been on the flight out last week as well). Almaty was plus 13 degrees Celsius. Arriving in Astana was a return to winter. It was -9 Celcius when we landed and it got down to -20 later in the night.
We arrived home, got the kids in bed, picked up Yuki from our friends, the Petersons, and got back to life.
****
We had a wonderful time. This was the first time we have ever taken this kind of vacation and it was quite nice. We reflected that it was quite a privilege to be able to travel so far from home just to experience a different place and culture for a week. We really felt blessed. Our trip to Thailand was definitely a week that we will remember for a long time.
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| Sunset at the beach |
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| Looking for more shells |
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| We were trying to have a photo taken of just the two of us but Lexa jumped right in! |
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| Sunset! |
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| We saw hundreds of little crabs after the sun went down. This one was the biggest of them all. |
The hotel was having a movie night at the pool. We told the kids they could watch the movie. It was "Guardians of the Galaxy" and so the girls weren't interested. We let them watch "Brave" on the DVD player and television in their room instead. While the girls were watching, Yulia and I went for a walk and to get ice cream. One of the things that we loved about our vacation was that even though we were there as a family, it also felt like a romantic vacation for the two of us.
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| Watching the beginning of the movie outside by the pool |
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| Pretty cool setup |
Our main activity on Friday was to go to downtown Phuket. Yulia had wanted to look around. The girls were a little less enthusiastic about going, but were good sports. We walked through the market and down a few streets. We stopped at a 7/11 and bought some Slurpees for everyone. It was much hotter in town away from the ocean, so it was nice. We also found a second hand show store where Yulia found a gently used handbag that was just what she wanted to have for traveling. We also stopped at a little mall where we found a few souvenirs and bought some fruit pastries for a snack later in the day. We spent a few hours downtown and that was enough to get a bit of a feel for life and for the kids to see and smell what it is like in a developing country.
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| While waiting for our taxi to come and take us to Phuket City the twins found a nice sofa in the lobby to relax |
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| And Nika and Lina found these two big chairs to do the same. |
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| We first stop by a market and the smell was overwhelming! You see Lexa pinching her nose, we all felt the same! |
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| A lot of stores in Phuket are open like this. It was kind of interesting. |
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| On the streets of Phuket City |
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| Enjoying our Slurpees. |
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| Shrine. We saw them on just about every corner. |
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| These bird cages with birds were everywhere! |
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| See those shoes outside of the door? We noticed that in a lot of places people would leave their shoes outside before going in. We noticed it at the cafes, photo studios, and hair salons. |
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| Cowboy boots! In Thailand! What?! |
We went to the pool in the late afternoon so the girls could have one last chance to swim. While we were there the staff invited the children over to fish in a little pond. The girls all tried, but only Sophie and Lexa caught fish. Sophie caught the biggest fish, and caught it twice. I told Nika and Lina that they might have my luck as a fisherman (bad) and that the twins might be more like their Uncle Ben, who is a gifted fisherman.
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| Nice coconut! We fell in love with all of the fruit in Phuket, most of which we've never seen before. |
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| Fishing at the pond |
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| Lexa caught a fish! |
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| Sophie caught this big baby! And two minutes after releasing it back into the pond she caught it again! |
After getting cleaned up and changing we went to the beach to watch the sunset one last time in Thailand. We had fun watching the crabs scurry again. We stopped by the cafe where we ate breakfast to see about dinner. It was a buffet that cost 1800 Baht each (about 60 dollars) each. That was what we were paying for all of us for each breakfast and was a bit steeper than we wanted to pay. We went to the Thai Express for one last meal (and it cost us just under 1600 Baht for ALL of us).
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| Last time at the beach looking at all of the little crabs running under our feet. |
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| Looking at sunset |
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| Last time with the waves. |
One observation that we made about restaurants in Thailand was that they brought food whenever it was ready. This was okay when it all came relatively fast but was a bit strange when we would get one dish for one person and then wait 10 or fifteen minutes for the next thing to come. We like the American way of getting things all at the same time (or appetizers first, then main courses). On Friday night my dish came last - after the girls had all finished their dinner for 10 or fifteen minutes. We ended up sending the girls home to get ready for bed while we waited for my plate to come and to pay the bill.
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| Here is to show that the two of us are enjoying the food and the rest are still waiting. Twenty minutes later four of us were almost done with our dinner, and two were still waiting. Forty five minutes later five of us were completely done, and one still hasn't gotten his food! Crazy! |
****
Saturday morning we were up early - 4:45. We dressed, ate a quick snack, and went to meet our taxi. We left for the airport at 5:15. Our flight left Phuket at 7:30. We spent a full day traveling. Bangkok was busy - we had to get from one side of the airport to the other, leave the terminal, check in, go back through passport control area, go through security, and get to our gate within an hour and a half. We made it to the gate just as boarding began.
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| Air Astana is awesome! Look at the leg room this tall fella has on our last flight from Almaty to Astana! |
We ended up flying back from Thailand with a group of single professors from my school who had also done vacations in Thailand. One of my students was on the flight from Almaty to Astana (one had been on the flight out last week as well). Almaty was plus 13 degrees Celsius. Arriving in Astana was a return to winter. It was -9 Celcius when we landed and it got down to -20 later in the night.
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| Hello, home! Lots of snow and -20C! |
We arrived home, got the kids in bed, picked up Yuki from our friends, the Petersons, and got back to life.
****
We had a wonderful time. This was the first time we have ever taken this kind of vacation and it was quite nice. We reflected that it was quite a privilege to be able to travel so far from home just to experience a different place and culture for a week. We really felt blessed. Our trip to Thailand was definitely a week that we will remember for a long time.
