Thailand FTW! (for the win)

omg… the food here is amazing!! I was worried I wasn’t going to like it, but I was so wrong! This morning they delivered a note to go to reception regarding dinner and then they gave me a free voucher for the buffet dinner tonight. I guess they don’t do a buffet every night, but tonight they were and it was supposed to have food from the 4 corners of Thailand. All I had for lunch was the fruit plate they had brought me earlier in the day, so by 7pm I was starving. (I was also falling asleep cause I had been out in the sun all day). But seeing the sunset made me hop out of bed to get ready for dinner. The buffet was set up at the beach front restaurant, so my table basically faced the beach and the waves. Of course again, I felt a little silly sitting there in that romantic setting all by myself, but whatever. I ordered a cocktail, that cost as much as my mani/pedi from earlier today. (That would be around $5 or $6 US). Then I hit the buffet. Oh man! It was fabulous! Tons of appetizers, shrimp, chicken skewers, bbq chicken, some kind of ribs, a bunch of noodley salads, regular salad, egg rolls. My favorite was this beef strip salad that had cold strips of beef mixed in with peppers and who knows what else. It was really spicy and really good. The for the main course there was rice and more chicken and beef and a bunch of different fish (which I didn’t eat). And then for dessert there were all these fancy little pastries, tons of fresh fruit, and then a bunch of Thai desserts that I know I should have tried, but I was just too stuffed by the time I got to them. There was only one chicken thingy I didn’t like because it had lemon grass in it and I don’t like lemon grass. I thought I was going to be in trouble in Thailand, because I don’t really eat fish, I don’t like coconut and I don’t like lemon grass. But everything else I ate tonight was so super yummy! I think I’ll be able to get by just fine. Although, I am really glad I’m spoiling myself at this hotel for a few days before I start this big long budget backpacker tour. I don’t think we are going to have to many meals like this one! And it was free. How sweet is that?! Although, really it probably would have only cost about $10 US if I had had to pay. And I think I went back to the buffet like 3 times so it would have totally been worth it!
This hotel is amazingly nice. I walked down the beach today, as far as I could go, and this hotel by far seems like the nicest one around. The sand here is definitely different. It’s almost corn starchy and if you drag your heels on the dry sand it makes a funny squeaking sound. There were red flags out on the beach today, which means no swimming but I saw a bunch of people in the water anyway. But I think the flags were up because there are jelly fish, and I want no part of that, believe me! As I was walking along the beach I kept seeing things that looked like ice cubes, and I think they were jelly fish pieces. I don’t know if those parts will sting you, though. I think it has to be the cloudy tenticle part, but who knows. I wasn’t trying to risk it. I’ve been stung by a jelly fish once, and it was no fun at all. Unlike Panama, where I came across broken glass and all kinds of trash while walking on the beach, the beach here is really clean. On my way back to the hotel, I saw why, they have teams of like 10 people or so, in uniform, cleaning and literally sweeping up the beach. They had brooms and trash bags and everything. Makes sense, though I guess. If labor is cheap, why not?! I don’t know if they worked for the hotels or for the city. Anyway, I think it’s a great idea. It was so depressing in Panama, to be in this beautiful place and to see it just covered in trash.
And of course, my first day out in the sun even though I put on sun block all day long, I still got burned a little bit on my chest. It’s not too bad, it doesn’t even hurt, but it’s a little pink. It’s funny all the tourists here have that pinkish glow. There are a lot of Europeans and Japanese people here. I don’t think I’ve come across any other Americans. I heard a guy trying to make reservations for Christmas time and the lady said the hotel is already book up and is completely full.
I would definitely come back here and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing vacation. There are a lot of beaches on Phuket, and I picked this one because it is supposed to be relatively quite. Most of the backpackers head to Patong beach where there are a bunch of night clubs and shopping and cheap hotels and stuff. I just wanted to relax and not be bothered.
I’m debating on whether I should head out now, at about 830pm to walk down the main street and do a little window shopping and check out what there is around here. I spent all day either at the beach or by the pool and getting my nails done and stuff. There are tons of little shops and restaurants around here and you can actually look at stuff without being hasseled, like in Egypt. But I don’t really want to buy anything, and I’m feeling super sleepy, so I might just call it a day and watch a little BBC.
Tomorrow is my last full day and night here, and then it is back to Bangkok to start my tour. I hope the people and the guide are cool. I’m a little nervous since I’ll be stuck with these people for so long. But actually it’s two tours combined, so we might get a new group of people half way through. I’m really excited about the first part. I’m slightly less excited about the China part, just because I’ve never even heard of most of the places we’re going in China and I have no idea what to expect. Well, it will be an adventure, no doubt!