First few days in Thailand.....ups and downs!

Upon waking on our first morning in Thailand, after filling up on the buffet breakfast (which Marty was a little disappointed with after Singapore's feast selection), we headed out to the streets to get our bearings.  The girls instantly started whinging due to it being so bloody hot and humid that our singlets were dripping with sweat in a matter of minutes, and it was only 9 o'clock in the morning!!! We passed thru some markets which attracted the usual market stall hagglers wanting to strike a deal, which we politely said 'No thanks" to start with, then eventually not even making eye contact with them.  However, we did pick up some bargain's, the girls getting a new set of bikini's for there trip.  Their excited soon went back to whinging about the heat, which in turn annoyed Marty and l, so we headed back to the resort and decided to have a pool day and 
cool off.

Yet another buffet breaky...

Trying to opt for a slightly healthier version!

The streets lining alongside the resort...

Beach activities at Karon beach....

Construction site Thailand style...

Back at the resort after our hot stroll around the streets....

Boo cools off quickly in her new bikini's...

Meg incoming!!!!

What a backdrop!!!

More fun and games....

There's the stud!!!

Hard life....

Bikini babe....

...loving this so much!!!

I don't know if it was the heat, humidity or just underlying tension between Marty and l, but our moods with each other continued to fluctuate between happiness, tolerance of one another thru to tension.  Even though it was only day 2 here, we were both a little disappointed with Thailand so far, both expecting a re-creation of our Bali holiday a few years ago.  The resort is definitely not as good as what we had in Bali, a little older and not as much for the kids to do, and the staff weren't as friendly or interactive with us either.  It just didn't promote explosive fun as Hard Rock Hotel in Bali.  I do think the heat and humidity is not helping our moods, but jeez l hope we get better with each other as we've been away for a week now and nothing has improved.  Anyway, at least our moods aren't affecting the girls too  much, both having a ball, literally, in the Zorb Ball at the pool that arvo.  It was hilarious as both couldn't run on water at all, instead, they end up lying down and floating around, puffed out quickly.  Thankfully it was what we needed, and after a great chilled out arvo by the pool, having a few mojito's and alcohol slush's, Marty and l were back on track.  The back drop from the pool was amazing with lush green hills and mountains set with floating fluffy clouds around them. 

Boo's confident.....

Meg's not so sure....

Loving these slushy cocktails!!!!

That night we decided to hit the streets and found the "Red Onion" restaurant which was only a couple of blocks away and was recommended for a great cheap meal.  It was all so delicious and we would definitely be returning to it again throughout our stay here.  Our walk home was a little chaotic in trying to remind the girls to stay close to our sides and walk single file along the edge of the road.  The traffic was very chaotic and crowded, they didn't seem as forgiving of pedestrians as in Bali either.

Time for dinner at the "Red Onion"

Entree.....yummo!

Delicious!

Marty was impressed with this hotted up tuk tuk!

Girls loving there street purchase....

...two in one, a hat and a fan!!!

Today was day 3 in Thailand and thankfully Marty and l awoke in our king sized bed all rested for our next day, hopefully we have a fun filled day and the mood will be light and happy....  After breaky we headed up to the main foyer to book some tours.  We met a very lovely and helpful Thai lady, "Ray", who was able to narrow our bookings down to 5 tours, spread over the next few weeks, only costing us $1300 AUS in total with a bonus 4 hour sight seeing tour around some major attractions in Phuket.

We decided to do the sight seeing tour that afternoon, which left us the morning to try and explore a few more things nearby in Karon.  We made our way down the streets towards the Karon Temple where we were memorised with the golden temples that were decorated in such vibrant coloured sculptures.  We were able to witness monks worshiping, which left Meg in a daze, l could see her mind ticking away with thoughts of "what were they doing"?  After many pics, and the girls trying to round the chickens up, we decided to stop for a nice slushy Thai style from a street vendor.  This kept the girls quiet while it cooled them off, poor things faces were red and sweaty.  Hopefully we all get used to this humidity, even though not as bad as Singapore, it was still worse than Darwin.  Whiles walking back along the streets, we all had to look in shock at the electricity and phone lines that were all tangled up in big bunches above our heads.  The girls spotted the fish tanks, so naturally we had to stop and all had a go of putting our feet in.   I remember doing it in Bali but Marty never had a go, surprisingly he was first in.  Watching his face was hilarious, it was mixed with fear and happiness all in one go.  We all had many family giggles as the fish feed on our 'travelling' feet, sure they had alot to clean off!!! Lol...

Hitting the streets once more!

Karon Temple....

Girls deciding on what Buddha to donate some money to....

Chook protecting her chick....

Grand entrance....

Hotted up tuk tuk with their sound system...

Yet another work site....

Over head power lines classic!

Just what we needed, a street slushy Thai style!

....Meg's totally loving it!

Boo's not so sure....

Time to get those feet cleaned....fish style!

Look at the girls faces!

Family feet fish feeding time!!!

You wouldn't believe how horrible and good it felt!!!

Meg must have alot of tissue to come
off!!!

As we headed back to the resort for lunch, the tension between Marty and l continued to flicker in and out.

It was really starting to get to me as we were on this amazing family overseas holiday and all we seemed to do was have continued moments of being snappy with one another and growing of distance between us.  I felt like he didn't even want to be here and left me regretting planning this holiday all together.  Something was eating at him, but he wasn't ready to share with me at this point, so l just tried to keep the peace.  Anyway, at lunch everyone chose a typical western cafe dish whilst l had a delicious Pad Thai, l couldn't even persuade Boo to try a new dish.  Oh well, only day two l suppose...... 

After lunch we made our way to the resort foyer where a taxi picked us up for the sight seeing tour.  First
stop was Laem Phrompthep viewpoint which had many huge rock sculptures of elephants around.  The views were magic overlooking hills in the distance.  We even saw a Thai couple having their wedding pics taken, oh how happy they looked, as l remembered Marty and l were back in the day.

Thai travel style....

Wouldn't see these in Oz...

OH&S at its best.....

   

Laem Phrompthep viewpoint.....

Gorgeous newly weds...

Next stop was the famous "Big Buddha" which was up in the hills overlooking Karon.  As one of the ionic tourist attractions in Thailand, it felt surreal as we stood at the base of this ginormous Buddha statue.  I didn't know much of the history behind it and was amazed that it was decorated with these little 5cmX5cm tiles.  As we walked around the statue we were all memorised with the enormity of this place, in both physical and spiritual presence.  There were monks walking around which the girls couldn't keep their eyes off them, Meg even being a bit scared of them.  It didn't help that whilst walking past them along a narrow path a pair of cats started having a fight and snarling at one another, which started Meg freaking out.  We all had a chuckle to ourselves.  The views overlooking Karon below were absolutely breath taking.  The Big Buddha had lived up to my expectations, and am glad we had the chance to visit this place so early on in our stay. Was pretty amazing that we had views out on our balcony at the resort of the Big Buddha up the mountain, and now we were standing right in front of it. I ended up purchasing a tile for $100 Baht and scribbled some words to leave a piece of us in this picturesque place of worship.

WOW!!!

Big Buddha.......

Views are spectacular...

Our tile....felt rushed, hence a bit messy!

Meg thought the cat was a fake, till it moved!!! lol

Panoramic splendour....

After the Big Buddha l thought it couldn't get any better, then we took a short drive down to the Wat Chalong Temple.  It stood so proud and tall, full of gold and pride.  It is one of the most important of the 29 Buddhist temples in Phuket, and the largest.  We were memorised and l couldn't take in the beauty with the amount of tourists strolling around.  It was so busy,  I tried to get in my zone and concentrate on capturing this beautiful place of spirit in my head.  It was crammed full of glorious artwork, gold gods and practising monks.  We climbed the marble staircase to capture the wondrous surrounds below.  It was absolutely amazing.  We made sure to cover up, using the supplied sarongs to honor their culture.  We headed around the grounds, basking in its beauty when all of a sudden l nearly crashed to the ground at the sound of mini explosions.  So glad l didn't because it was just the firecrackers being set off by the caretakers.  I later found out that they set the firecrackers off in the brick oven-like construction just outside the temple to merit ones gratitude and wishes.  Pretty scary when you don't expect it, l thought we were under attack!! Lol, bloody dramatising tourists.  The girls found the baby elephant sculptures and must have been missing a playground as they were quick to line up and jump on top for a pic!!!  It took all our will power to head back to the taxi, sadly our time was up and we had to move on to the next tourist hot spot!!

Wat Chalong Temple....

Ride em Elephant girls.... 

Wat Chalong Chedi....

Maintenance.....

The firecracker oven....

Fire in the hole!!!

Few family selfies thanks to Marty's new toy....the selfie pole!

Craziness time at the end of a long day....

With our hour up, we had to head back to the taxi where we were chauffeured to 'the largest jewellry store in the world".  It was filled with gems, diamonds, silver and gold.  When we arrived we were ushered inside, a little frantically, leaving Marty and l wondering what was going on as nothing had been told to us.  As we entered we were greeted by some Thai people in traditional dress who gave us a group number.  While we waited for our number to be called out we headed to the huge fish tanks to check out some marine life, such as turtles, large fish and sting rays.  Girls loved it.  We then heard our number be called out and we started our tour by boarding a little train that took us thru the stages of production from cutting the gems from rocks to the end where it transformed into a piece of jewellery.  We were taken thru to the jewellery factory were we watched craftsman work their magic and skills into producing perfection.  The girls were very fascinated with this and so we were in there for a while, plus Marty and l were loving the air conditioned room.  Once out of the production stage we were then walked thru to the "shop".  It was huge, filled with glorious glittering gems and diamonds in all shapes and colors.  I was mesmerised with the flickers and the price, so reasonable.  I was left disappointed that Marty didn't even consider getting me anything, seeing we would never be able to afford it back in Australia.  It left more tension between us as l felt each day our love for one another was dying.  I just wish l knew what was bugging him.  Anyway, we left with Marty and l again quiet with one another, and the girls a little exhausted by our day out and about.

Boo so interested....

After the taxi dropped us off, we headed back to our room to get changed then head out for dinner.  This time we went to check out Seafood Karon, another place that had been recommended, which was situated in the same strip as the Red Onion.  Totally hilarious that we chose this place, seeing none of us liked seafood!!!  All the others had plain western meals while l had a mouth watering Pad Thai, my second for the day l know, but oh how l love Thai food!

Meg's going to look like a carbonara by the end of this trip!

The following morning the girls were very excited as we had planned to drop them off at "kids club", meaning they didn't have to follow us around walking thru markets all day.  Marty and l had a vision that it would be similar to the one in Bali, so we had our buffet breaky and dropped them off on our way back to our room.  Marty and l needed this time alone to have a much needed one on one talk.  It's really hard when living in a caravan 24/7 and everyone being together every second of the day to try and sort thru things without the girls being around it.  Marty and l hung out in the room for the morning, using the time to sort thru some issues we were having with one another.  There was so real issues sorted, but there was some head way in trying to have fun and get along.

Huge bloody snail we nearly stepped on.....

We decided to utilise this time without the girls to go out and explore in peace without having to hear the girls whinge and whine.  Marty led the way, we checked out the nearby street markets but it was very uninteresting, so we headed to the beach, but he didn't really want to hang out there either.  So we eventually caught a tuk tuk to Patong, bloody rip off at $400 baht one way.  Marty looked like he was sandwiched in a little tin, the tuk tuk being a small beat up little truck with more money spent on its music bling and speakers than the whole truck put together!!! The drive from Karon to Patong sent us up thru winding hills and tropical landscapes, shortly arriving after about 20 mins to a bustling city.  We got dropped off at some markets, which were a dive so we headed off down a street, which continued onto another street, in which case we got a little lost.  Funny though, we were both in light spirits having a laugh about it.  Eventually we got back on the main road and found the huge shopping mall, Junsalong.  Thank god, as we so needed the reprieve from the heat in the air conditioning.  This shopping thing isn't really me, but Marty loves it so thought l would just go with it and see if doing something he enjoyed would help heal things between us.  Everything was overpriced and after a while we both ended up bored so caught another tuk tuk back to the resort.  We got back in the early arvo around 2pm and when we arrived at the "kids club" to pick up the girls we were greeted with a very angry Thai lady and two upset and starving children.  Apparently the 'kids club' is nothing more than a stop off activity centre to give the parents a half to an hour break from their kids, in which case the parents have to be within the resort or pool area.  It was made very clear that dropping kids off for hours on end with no food was quite unacceptable.  I got a little defensive in that it shouldn't be advertised on booking and within the resort as a "kids club" if it was in fact just a supervised activity place.  Marty and l felt so upset, seeing both girls in tears, crying because they were hungry.  I could only imagine how the Thai women would have treated them, the girls telling me they were slightly grumpy with them.  We quickly left, Marty and l really upset at what had happened, and also realising that there would be no further 'kids club' for the girls, which equalled, girls with us 24/7!!!!

Marty certainly sweating it out!!!

Thank god for frozen shakes!

Not much to these markets!

Getting directions....didn't go so well! Lol

Home washing service we're thinking!

Cool side street houses...

Having felt so terrible about what the girls experienced, we treated them to whatever they wanted at the resort cafe for a late lunch.  They inhaled their food like they hadn't eaten in a week!!! Poor girls.... After their bellies had been refilled, we took them to the pool for the rest of the arvo and just hung out.  Marty and l still shocked at what had happened over the girls, and really pissed that when we booked we were told by the booking agent that a kids club was included.....oh well, time to move on and build a bridge l suppose....
We showered and got dressed up for yet another stroll down the street for dinner, still loving the Thai food, me that is! 

Girls looking gorgeous in their new dresses....

What another jam packed few days...ups and downs, but at least the highs are outnumbering the lows.  The sight seeing has been mind blowing, loving the temples and insights into the Thai culture and religion....We are all very excited for tomorrow, off to Phi Phi Island!!!!

Bell Xxx