Possibly Moved....

I haven't taken the time to update this blog since last fall. I used to be so faithful in my daily ramblings, but somehow have become sidetracked. I will soon return (as I am unemployed at the moment and have more time), but until then please check out my photography blog... Thanks! :-)
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Http://aprilhandley.wordpress.com

My POSSIBLE New House

This house has been COMPLETELY remodeled.
New Roof. New flooring (wood/tile/carpet). New kitchen (appliances still have tags on them, new countertops, lighting, new all). New remodeled bathrooms (sinks, cabinets, tubs, lighting). To say the least... everything is new.
A good size lawn in the back with a storage building.
New paint on all the walls.
Circular driveway.

Super quiet neighborhood (Archdale Landing).

In a cul de sac.

Wired for burglar alarm.

Ceiling fans in every room.

Fireplace I'm not fond of. Any suggestions are very welcome!

This house is fairly small (1,400 sq ft), but just adorable inside.

Pictures

I put a lot of my pictures on facebook and haven't had time to upload them on here... so here are some links to see the daily albums...
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Traveling to Thailand and Our First Night
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z6D4P2653Z4BUGE1QJWYUV
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First Full Day in Bangkok... JJ Market and Chinatown
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z61TX2VSQ34OUGE1QJWYUV
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Second Day in Bangkok... Floating Market
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z4MZX5T2SV5FUGE1QJWYUV
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Third Day in Bangkok... The Temples
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z6C3Q3TYT6ZDUGE1QJWYUV
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http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z5EU5XT5SY4BUGE1QJWYUV
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http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z5GYP3RXW4WNUGE1QJWYUV
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Phuket... Elephant Trekking and the Beach
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z4ET66U64WZCUGE1QJWYUV
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Phuket: Phi Phi Islands
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z4D54WTSSW4DUGE1QJWYUV
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Phuket: Sea Cave Canoeing
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z6F2YVURRVY1UGE1QJWYUV
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Final Album of Thailand
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=560488414&k=Z4GXYVS6T26DUGE1QJWYUV

The Longest Day EVER...

Monday we flew home... losing a day... We left Bangkok Monday morning at 5:35 a.m. Flew to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Atlanta and Atlanta to Charleston. We arrived in Charleston on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. yet we had been flying for like 25 hours... Bangkok is 13 hours ahead of Charleston. The flight wasn't too bad on the way back. It was a terrific vacation. Now I am working on the 1,500 pictures I have taken to get some of them ready to put up for all to see. Check back soon! :-)

Sunday... Shopping at the MBK mall!!!!

Sunday morning we woke up early. I was still feeling pretty weak, but so much better. We ate breakfast at the hotel (wasn't great) and headed to find a cab to head to the MBK mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBK_Center) in Bangkok. It is 8 stories tall with 2,500 shops!!!

The cab driver we got was creepy! I was actually a little nervous about the ride, but we made it safely. We got there about an hour early so we walked around and finally sat down and just talked.

When the mall opened we walked in and were TOTALLY overwhelmed. This place was ridiculously big! We started from the 1st floor and worked our way up to the top. The mall opened at 10 a.m. and we left there at 8 p.m.! I did get more artwork on my back (a royal Thai elephant) so that took up the last two hours, but we literally walked all day long!!! Pretty neat we got a massage (Matthew), a pedicure (me) and a tattoo (me) all in the mall.

Oh boy... the cab driver we got to take us back to our hotel was clearly hopped up on something.... everytime he would laugh he would sniff and snort and he had this nervous laugh. It was crazy. Instead of a 30 minute drive back the driver got lost and it took 1.5 hours to get back!!!! It was so dumb. I was almost hostile in the backseat! LOL... Matthew even used the guys cell phone to call our hotel... we found another cabbie and got directions from him.

When we finally got back to the hotel it was 10 something and we packed our clothes and both of us went and got massages from the hotel spa. Mine was a foot massage yet somehow it ended with me getting popped in the forehead repeatedly... I am dumbfounded by Thai massages! LOL How are you all the way up to my pelvis and then up to my head when you are supposed to be massaging my feet!?!?!

We got to bed after midnight and woke up at 2:15 a.m. to get ready for the airport.

Saturday... Leaving Phuket...

Saturday morning we woke up super early after going to bed really early on Friday night (exhuasted from heat, traveling and all the activities). We at breakfast at Baan Yin Dee and waited on our taxi driver to come take us to the airport. I called the taxi driver who brought us from the airport to Patong Beach (the one who got upset with us). :-)

Our flight was pretty uneventful. I was not feeling well all morning and by the time we got to Bangkok I was pretty sick. The hotel we stayed at in Bangkok had a shuttle service come get us and by the time we settled in I was horribly ill. I was nauseous, had a fever, weak, shaking inside, freezing... you name it. I was really scared, although I didn't dare say that to Matthew. I ended up calming down and falling asleep while Matthw went out in search for food and also a massage. I stayed in bed all evening. It was not a good day.

Hey... out of 12 days of vacation.... One bad day isn't too bad and I recovered by the next morning.

Friday... Kayak Day...

Friday in Phuket started off.... aggravatingly hot! Matthew and I woke up pretty early in the morning and had the hotel take us down to Patong Beach to get money and breakfast (around 7 a.m.)

Our shuttle guy couldn't speak English very well and dropped us off at the most random spot. We kept asking be dropped off at McDonalds, but he surely passed 3 of them up. It was stifling hot that morning. We walked a few blocks from the ATM to a McDonalds (whilst passing many ladyboy streetwalkers... seriously a ridiculous sight that early in the morning). Upon arrival I was already hot from walking in the heat, but when we walked in it felt like a sauna!!! This is a 24 hour McDonalds and everyone was working like no big deal. There was a shirtless man eating breakfast in an otherwise empty restaurant. With the heat inside that restaurant... I see why he was shirtless!!!

After ordering our food (which was bizarre... Matthew ordered the big breakfast which included some pretty shady eggs, a hamburger bun with jelly and some kind of meat... yikes!!)... we sat down and just continued sweating. Finally I took my shirt off.... LOL... I had a tank top on underneath and just sat there angry. I couldn't even eat my pitiful egg sandwich because I was so hot and angry.

At the end of our meal two 'ladies' of the night walked in all cracked out. One of them proceeded to come and touch my braids and in broken English tell me how great my hair was going to look when I took my hair out of braids and it was really big. LOL... Why oh why does everyone have to touch my hair!??!?! LOL

We caught a very expensive tuk tuk back up to Baan Yin Dee and waited for our shuttle at 9 a.m. to take us to our canoe trip. The shuttle was very nice and the driver drove like we were in Bangkok in the morning traffic.

We got to our cruise right at 10 a.m. and boarded the ship and headed out to sea. It was a great experience. It felt like a family due to it being such a small group.

Our boat guide's name was Woody and he spoke English very well. There were 10 other crew members who were paddlers for the canoes. We were taken about an hour or more out to sea where we arrived at the first cave. They parked the boat about 1/8 mile out and we each got in our canoe thingy's (they looked like hollowed out kayaks) and were off to fight the sea's strong waves. I just kept praying that we wouldn't be dashed against the side of the cave. Our canoe guide's name was Ton. He weighed maybe 95 lbs and was barely 5 ft tall and he had to paddle Matthew and I in the ocean!!! LOL.... He was huffing and puffing in some areas! LOL I had to lay down because he couldn't even see over me to guide us!

Anyway, the first cave was neat. It was a bat filled cave and our guide kept making bat noises which freaked me out. I had the flashlight so we could see in there. We had to be quiet as we went through the cave. It was kinda creepy, but pretty cool. We ended up in a lagoon... it was sooo hot!!! Then our poor little Ton mustered up the strength to paddle us back through the cave and out into the open ocean. We paddled about 1/4 of a mile to the next cave (Oyster cave) and went through it. Afterwards we paddled back out to sea to get back on the boat. Matthew had to lay down on this cave as to not get scratched from the oyster shells and stalagtites.

We rode for another 15 mintues or so until we reached the Hong Island cave which was our final cave. My stupid camera died here, but it was really amazing. The tide was going down and everyone was getting stuck in there. Our guide had to actually get out of the boat and push us at one point. We got out of there pretty quickly and headed back out to open sea to get back on the boat.

Once on the boat we headed to Lawa beach and ate a buffet lunch onboard. The food was good, but hanging out and talking to everyone was even better. We had a family from South Africa, a couple from Northern Thailand, a family from Belgium, a couple from Australia and a couple from San Francisco, Cali. It was a great experience and I exchanged emails with people.

Once we stopped at the beach some people took the canoes to the shore, some swam... Matthew and I took multiple trips up to the top of the boat (about 2 stories up) and kept jumping off the top into the ocean. It was awesome. We stayed there for about an hour or so and then everyone boarded and we headed back to Phuket.

The ride back was so great!! It was like 1.5 hour ride and everyone chilled out together. Matthew and I hung out in front of the boat with our legs dangling off of the bow hanging out with the crew. They were so cool. One of the crew was a Muay Thai boxer. It was really interesting. We drank cold coconut milk from the coconuts and some of the crew sang island music with bongo's and acoustic guitar. Throughout the trip I kept asking Matthew... 'can life get any better?' I have to say... that day... probably not. It was awesome.

Thursday... Phi Phi Islands

Wednesday night after my last post we went to an Indian restaurant and had the best food we have had in Phuket so far. Our waiter was from Mumbai (Bombay) and he was beautiful! Hazel eyes!! LOL... Anyway, I won't get sidetracked on that... So the food was great, but the massage parlours and bars we had to pass to get there were .... an adventure... ladyboys (if you wish you can see what this is.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyboy) and prostitutes are quite common here in Phuket and can be unnerving as they openly solicit. After eating we went back to Hotel Ibis and went to bed.

Thursday, July 2nd was Matthew's birthday. He said it was an awesome one. We caught a taxi about 40 minutes away to a pier and caught a yacht, yes... a yacht, to the Phi Phi Islands. It was unreal!!! This boat was beautiful. Full of leather seats in air con room with flat screen t.v.'s (all they played was Diva's Tour from 90's and get this.... a Titanic movie! LOL).... it was great. We rode out about 1.5 hours to the islands and got to see this big chain of islands that I've only seen in National Geographic magazines... it was truly unreal. Finally we stopped and if you wanted to kayak to shore you could to see monkey's (Monkey Beach) or you could jump off the back of the boat and swim which is what Matthew and I did. We rented snorkeling equipment and jumped of the back of the boat and snorkeled in the coral reef. It was breathtaking. The fish were vibrant colors and the coral was really cool. I saw sea urchins and a ton of stuff I couldn't identify. We dodged all the longtail boats, speedboats and tour groups and swam to shore where we were greeted by a beach full of monkeys. One of them bit a lady!!! They were neat, but I was ready to get back to snorkeling.

We snorkeled for another hour or so and I almost got ran over by a couple of boats... All I could hear was 'MISS!!! MISS!!!' over and over and I looked up and hey... there was a massive boat! LOL... After snorkeling our boat took us to Phi Phi Don Island and we ate a buffet lunch and shopped along the pier. Matthew went swimming again. Then we headed back to Phuket. We were absolutely exhausted afterwards, but we still had to move our stuff from Ibis hotel to Baan Yin Dee resort.

Baan Yin Dee Resort... my oh my... Astounding. Upon arrival the bellhop carried all of our heavy luggage up to the 3rd floor... by himself. No elevators here as everything is outside... our '3rd floor' room is winding around the building and is only really 2 floors up. Leading into the resort is a fish pond with stone steps you cross over into an open air teakwood reception. They greeted us with cold mimosa's and escorted us to our HUGE room and explained everything to us. This place is phenomenal. Teakwood and marble walls and floors. A bathtub that could seat 2 whole Thai families. You name it. L.U.X.U.R.Y!!!! And less than $60 USD a night!!!!! Infinity pools cascading down the hill... I think I counted 4 of them. Needless to say we stayed in that evening. We ate at the outside restaurant... very fancy... possibly too fancy for the likes of Matthew and I! ha ha... Baan Yin Dee overlooks Patong Beach because we are up in the mountains. It is literally jungle up here. Everything is so lush and green.