We went to Thailand for 11 days first, then flew back to Melbourne for a few days and back out to Los Angeles for another 10 days. I would have liked to spend more time in the USA, but work committments ensured a short visit.
I'm yet to sort through the pics and reduce them for the web, but will do it as soon as I can muster the energy. I'm still a little cactus from new years eve celebrations. After a 16 hour flight, it was committment that had us up just after midnight (yeah we both slept through it) and partying until 6am this morning!!
Thailand:
We flew out on the 5th of December on Thai Airways to Koh Samui Thailand, Via Bankok. It was only enough time in Bangkok to change planes, not to do any looking around the sity itself. Not that I have any great desire to see Bangkok, as it isn;t the most pleasant of smelling cities!! The flight to Bangkok was fine, with really good food and service from the Thai Hosties! The leg from Bangkok to Koh Samui was the same, with great service and excellent food. We landed in Koh Samui at around 10.00am and were settled into our hotel by 11.00am. The Chaba Samui was our hotel of choice and it was located 15 minutes from the airport and right in the heart of Koh Samui's busiest street. However it was well away from the more noisy section of the street. So we were able to have a refuge when needed. The Hotel was brilliant and the staff couldn;t be more helpfull. By Midday, we were sitting by the pool having a watermelon shake after already having the staff prepare our outfits to be pressed ready for my brother's wedding the following day.
Highlights-
The food- we found some very nice little cafe's and eateries off the main streets which served the most amazing food and cost next to nothing. I recal one such lunch, which included two big bottles of beer, two mains and two entree's costing 240 Baht. That's $8 Aussie dollars!!!
The Weather- It was 32-34 every day and we only had two really humid days and one day of rain (My Brothers wedding got rained on!!)
Feeding baby Tigers- We got two feed two baby Tigers with a bottle. When I say babies, they were 14 month old Kittens, a male and a female. They weighed more than I did!! Tatyana's got the pics on her camera, so I'll post some of it when I get them! But it was a definate experience. They were just so focussed on the bottle and never got a claw out. They did wrap their big paws around our arms when we fed them, but they were very soft and affectionate. It's hard to imagine that they can turn so quickly and rip your head off your shoulders with a few bites!!
Snorkelling- Took a trip out ot some Islands and went snorkelling. It included lunch in a traditional Thai Fishing village on an isloated Island about and hour off the coast. The food was amazing once again! What was funny to see, was that the tin shed's they were all living in had solar panels and Sat TV!!!
The rest of the village was primitive to say the least! Thai Massage- We had at least one every day, sometimes two!! Brilliant!
Clothes- Cheap as fuck. Jeans $20, Shorts-$12, T-Shirts-$6.00
Scooter hire- $30 for the entire trip!!
THe people- Thai people are just brilliant. They are one of the most humble people I have come across and are polite and respectfull in all occasions. Even when us dumb toursists get it wrong they are apologetic. This isn't the first time I have been to Thailand, and each time I am always astonished at how great Thai People are.
Did I mention the food????
U.S.A:
We flew into Los Angeles on the 19th Of dec. Got picked up by friends in their Porshe Cayenne and driven to their house in the Hollywood hills!! No shit, it was like living in an American drama series!!
We stayed on Woodrow Wilson Drive, just off Mullolland Drive! A five minute walk one way looked down over all the studios, including Universal and down the other side was a view of Beverley hills! Highlights
Riding the Canyons on a Speed triple and a R1200RT. Both good fun in their own way. (Riding on the right hand side of the road took some concentration for the first few hours)
Hollywood Boulevard- Got a pic of James Deans Star and had Pizza in a traditional New York style eatery. Hollywood boulevard is a bit of a let down actually. It's only the walk of fame which interested me. The area itself, is a shithole. As is most of L.A.
Venice Beach- Like a weirder st Kilda with more homeless and more druggies! But interesting to see the muscle men at the beach Gymnasium which Venice beach is so famous for.
Santa Barbera- A really really pretty little town up the coast from LA. Great Clam chowder on the peir!
Seal Beach- North of Santa Barbera is a small beach packed with massive Elephant seals. We were lucky enough to be able to see some pups which were born just the night before, with unbilical cords still attached.
San Francisco- Now this place i could go back and spend a heap more time in!!! It was awesome and probably one of the real highlights of the trip....Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Cable cars, San Francisco Docks, Chinatown!! It was awesome!!
Big Sur National Park- this was awesome and we saw three grey squirrells on our walk!!
Las Vegas- This was just insane!! We had the best night out including getting married. I have a CD of pics from the wedding which I will load a few of later. Justso you all don;t freak out, we didn;t get legally married, we just went through an Elvis chapel wedding just for the experience!! And it was an experience!! The highlight of the trip for sure!!! I haven't had that much fun in ages!!
Overall, the U.S. was a bit of a dissapointment. Certainly LA was for sure! Some of the rest was cool to see. But, I would return to Thailand before going back to the US!
