Bangkok & Ayutthaya

After our 26 hour adventure, we finally arrived in Thailand just after midnight on Sunday night / Monday morning local time (we left Jacksonville, Florida at 10:15am on Saturday). There is an airport rail link that takes you into the city from 6am - midnight each day, but we obviously got in too late for that. We took a taxi to our hotel for the equivalent of about $16. The cab fares are extremely reasonable there so we used cabs as our main mode of transportation. We recommend making sure they use their meters on each trip vs. just throwing out a number. We found you're likely to pay less using the former strategy.

We finally checked into Banyan Tree Hotel - the perfect first spot for our trip. We found a great deal for this hotel via JetSetter and were extremely happy with the choice. Everyone was so nice - greeting you with a Sawadee ka / Sawadee krup (hello for female & male, respectively), and a slight bow with hands pressed together (like someone is praying). The hotel had an awesome rooftop bar that's actually recommended in the tour books, and it had a great pool on an upper level floor with great views of the city. We definitely recommend this hotel. (It came with a big buffet breakfast each morning, too.)

Our first morning we were ready to tackle the town and see several of the main Wats. As we were about to leave, we learned that streets around the main temples were closed due to the Princess' funeral, and the temple known as the most important in Thailand, Wat Phra Kaew (the home of the Emerald Buddha), was closed. The princess died July 2011, but they just cremated her body the day prior and had her official funeral our first day in Thailand. I believe it has something to do with the Buddhist culture? 

The funeral caused us to adjust our plans a bit which wasn't a problem. We were able to take a cab to catch a boat that took us to several of the other temples that were open. We wanted to go on a canal cruise anyway, so this was perfect. We saw Wat Pho, the largest temple in Bangkok and home of the reclining Buddha. What a site to see! This was one of my favorite temples. The Buddha was enormous (46 meters long and covered in gold leaf). Its feet alone were three meters long and decorated in mother-of-pearl. Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of how large it was.

We also saw Wat Arun which was beautiful as well. It's located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. It was really interesting to see these Buddhist temples; I don't believe I have ever seen anything but a Christian place of worship. At many of the temples we saw people worshiping the Buddhas which was also a first for me - I'm not sure that I have ever seen someone worshiping someone other than the God I believe it.  

In Thailand they demand respect in the temples, so they require proper dress to visit. Women are expected to wear long skirts or dresses (at least to the knees ), and cover their shoulders. Men are expected to wear pants. Both are expected to wear closed toe shoes, even though at each temple you are required to take off your shoes. You aren't allowed in if you don't have the appropriate dress, or, they will give you (or charge you) for a wrap to wear while you are inside the temple. It was extremely hot, so we tried to wear cooler things as we were exploring and bring cover ups / items that would make our dress appropriate for the temples. Some of the temples were more relaxed on the dress code and you'd see some tourists not wearing the appropriate attire, but out of respect for the local culture, we tried to follow their customs.
Speaking of customs, we researched several before our trip, including - a woman should lower her head when she passes a monk and step off the sidewalk as the two should not touch, you're not supposed to pose in front of a Buddha for a picture, and you're not supposed to step over someone or their belongings. 

We also made it to Chinatown where we tried street food from a vendor. We were warned about this before our trip because their water isn't safe and sanitation standards are quite different from ours, so we were careful what we tried. We went with some deep fried dumplings. If you see the food cooked in front of you and it has steam coming from it, it's generally safe. Our first (and only street food) was a good choice, too! We had intentions of trying more, but after seeing some of the food outside waiting to be cooked with flies swarming around, and after the warnings we received prior to our trip, we were a bit hesitant to be too adventurous with our food choices. Brian was more adventurous than me - I had a lot of pad thai and fried rice!

After a long, hot day of exploring, we took some time to enjoy our hotel pool which was a great way to end the day. For dinner, we went with a restaurant in our hotel called Saffron. It's on the 52nd floor of the hotel and has panoramic views of Bangkok. After dinner we took advantage of our rooftop bar. As you might expect, it was extremely overpriced, but we were paying for the view and the experience and it was well worth it. 

                                           

The next day we had plans to catch a train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya (the old capital of Thailand), but first took a cab over to see where Brian's mom went to school. It's a different school now, but the building is still the same. We were able to take some pictures and walk the same street Brian's mom did years ago. We also walked down the street where she grew up. We're so glad we had that opportunity. 

Ayutthaya - where things got exciting
Up to this point our trip had been pretty smooth sailing. Our flights were on time, we were happy with our hotel, and we were feeling good about our trip so far. Then we went to the train station to catch a train to Ayutthaya (where we were going to catch an overnight train to Chiang Mai, but wanted to explore the old capital of Thailand first). Per our research, the train was supposed to leave roughly every hour and take an hour and 45 minutes to get to Ayutthaya in a basic, but clean 3rd class seat for less than the equivalent of a dollar per person. Apparently our research was wrong and the "express" train like I described above only runs twice a day (leaving about a half hour before we arrived, and five or so hours later).

The other option was a train with no air conditioning and standing room-only that took three hours to get to Ayutthaya. We didn't really like any of our options, so the guy at the train station we were talking to about the train schedules offered to get his cab driver friend to drive us to Ayutthaya for a negotiated rate of about $50. We decided to go for it.

The guy in the train station made the deal with the cab driver, we put our bags in the car and we were off! It was supposed to take about an hour and a half, so after about an hour and 45 minutes with no Ayutthaya in sight, Brian started to notice signs for Pattaya, a beach town south of Bangkok (in the complete opposite direction of Ayutthaya), so he asked the cab driver how much longer. After a very interesting exchange of Brian repeating "Ayutthaya" and the cab driver saying "Pattaya" which apparently has a silent "P" and sounds a lot like "Ayutthaya", we discovered we were in fact being taken to the wrong city in the complete opposite direction of where we wanted to go!

We didn't really know what was in store for us at that point, but after a lot of frustrated noises from the cab driver, an angry phone call to his "friend" at the train station, and a quick fill up at a gas station, we were going probably double the speed limit and on our way to Ayutthaya after a nearly two hour detour! At that point we figured all we could do was laugh about it. The cab driver felt the same way, so throughout the drive he made several phone calls apparently telling the story and laughing.

We had plans to rent bikes in Ayutthaya and bike around to explore the different temple ruins before we needed to catch our overnight train. We were running very late at this point and we felt bad the cab driver was in the middle of the misunderstanding, so we ended up paying him extra to take us on a tour of the different attractions. At the end of the day, he dropped us off at the train station, we gave him a generous tip, and we were all happy, and had an interesting story to share!

The train station in Ayutthaya was not at all what we expected. It was all outdoors with no air conditioning and no options for dinner. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we found a restaurant in our tour book and had a Tuk Tuk take us there. It turned out to be one of our favorite restaurants of the entire trip. It was called Pae Krung Kao and it was right on the river. It had big beers, good food, and a cool view - just what we needed after our crazy day! Our table was on a floating dock on the river which definitely added to the experience.

5th Anniversary Trip to Thailand!

We can hardly believe it, but Brian and I have been married five years already! We wanted to do something big for this milestone anniversary. (Well, we thought it would be a good excuse to go on a big trip...) We've had Thailand on our travel list for some time - we know several people who have been and loved it, and Brian's mom lived there with her family when she was in middle and high school. She lived all over the world, and Thailand was her favorite. All of this was enough reason for us to check it out ourselves!

We talked to people who have been, and did some research ourselves, and came up with the following itinerary - Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, and Railay Bay. All in all it was an amazing trip. We were able to see where Brian's mom grew up and went to school, visited a lot of amazing Wats (temples), rode elephants, went hiking up waterfalls, participated in the Songkron Festival (the Thai new year celebrations), went to the largest outdoor market in the world, went snorkeling in the Andaman Sea, and renewed our wedding vows on one of the world's most beautiful beaches. We packed a lot into our two week trip, but had an amazing time.

Logistics
I've been saving Delta Skymiles since 2005 when I took my first international trip to Europe for my study abroad program. After nearly seven years, I finally had enough for a flight to a far away land! As you might expect, it proved to be difficult to find a flight and actually use the miles, but we eventually made it work. I recommend calling the airline directly to find out what flight options are available because flights with their partner airlines don't show up online. We were able to get a much better flight, for less Skymiles by flying Delta domestically and Korean Air internationally. We flew from Jacksonville to Atlanta on Delta, and then from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea and Seoul to Bangkok on Korean Air. We really enjoyed Korean Air - everyone was extremely friendly; the customer service was phenomenal. I think a large part of this is the Asian culture - in general, from our experience, they just seem to go the extra mile for you.

The flights weren't as bad as we anticipated. The flight from Atlanta to Seoul was about 14 hours, and the flight from Seoul to Bangkok was about 5 hours. The entire trip from the time we left Jacksonville until the time we landed in Bangkok was 26 hours. The long flights had individual TVs in each of the seats with movies, games, music, etc. So between that, reading material, food, and naps, the flights went by much more quickly than we anticipated.

One difficult thing with Korean Air is you can't book your seats online. You have to call within one month of the flight and request specific seats. We booked my flight through Delta to use the Skymiles and wanted to book Brian's through them also, but it was going to cost about five times as much to do so, so we booked through Cheaptickets.com. (I'm not quite sure why or how much sense that makes, but oh well...) Since we booked through two different venues, it proved to be somewhat difficult to ensure we had seats together, requiring five or so calls to Korean Air and a lot of frustration. At the end of the day, after giving our sob story of it being our anniversary trip and being heartbroken if we weren't able to sit together, we did get seats next to each other AND Korean Air had an anniversary cake for us on our way to Asia! We tried to look at the seat map on SeatGuru.com to figure out the best seats and request those, but something went awry and we missed the "best" seats by a couple of rows on each flight. Bummer! Oh well, we survived and somehow managed to have a row to ourselves on each of the flights going to Asia, but not so much on the way back.

One more note about the flights - apparently, what "class" flight is booked determines whether or not you'll get frequent flier miles for the trip. We were excited because we thought Brian would get 20,000+ Skymiles for this trip (getting us another free flight in the near future), but apparently when we booked through Cheaptickets.com we booked the "class" that wasn't eligible for Skymiles. A bit ridiculous if you ask me. Cheaptickets doesn't post the class before you book, so we had no way of knowing that would be the case. We complained afterward and all we ended up with was a wasted hour on the phone and a $50 credit from Cheaptickets (which they gave us a hard time about using when we tried to cash it in). So the moral of the story is - you have to call Cheaptickets before booking a flight to make sure the class you're booking is eligible for frequent flier mile credit.

So with that, I'll leave you with a some pictures from each of the cities and will break the rest of the trip into separate posts about the various cities.

Thanksgiving Western Caribbean Cruise

This year we decided to change things up a bit from the traditional Thanksgiving family gathering. Instead of meeting at a family member's house, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by cruising the Western Caribbean! We went on a 7-day cruise on the Norwegian Star to Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico and had a fantastic time!

After getting on the ship in Tampa, Florida on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we spent the first full day on board, cruising the Caribbean. Then on Tuesday, our first port of call was in Roatan. We did a little research beforehand and discovered the West Bay area had great beaches, restaurants, and snorkeling. We had originally planned to take a cab or bus to the beach for about $15 per person round trip, but when we got off the ship, we were told you could rent a van for $100 for the day. Since there were eight of us, we decided to make it an adventure and go at it on our own! Thankfully my brother Mark speaks fluent Spanish so he could read all of the road signs and ask for directions when needed, so he was gracious enough to be the driver. Roatan is only about 40 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, so it's not too hard to navigate.

We ended up at Bananarama, a dive resort and restaurant right on West Bay Beach. We were able to park our van nearby for $1 per hour (all of the places we stopped at on the cruise, especially those close to the ports, accepted the U.S. dollar in addition to their local currency, so we never had to exchange any money.)

Once we arrived, we were able to set up shop on the beautiful white sand, taking in the site of the incredibly beautiful ocean. The water was absolutely amazing, both in beauty and temperature. We had discussed taking a snorkeling trip but didn't reserve one in advance. When we arrived at the beach, several locals approached us, offering to take us out on their personal boats. The prices varied per person, but we ended up going with someone who took us for $10 per person. It was very informal (no forms to sign, no life jackets), but they did provide snorkels and fins, and took us to a beautiful reef nearby. You could actually see the area from the beach, but it was probably too far to swim. The guide even got in the water with us and pointed out some different things. We pretty much stayed in the water as along as we wanted, and were probably on the trip for a good hour and a half or so. It was definitely worth the $10, and the snorkeling was fantastic! If you're with a decent size group, I definitely recommend renting a car and doing something similar, as it's significantly cheaper than booking an organized excursion through the ship.

After we went snorkeling we were able to relax on the beach and swim a bit. One thing to note - it's typical for locals to come up to you and try to sell you things such as jewelry, massages, food, etc. It can be a bit annoying, but when you tell them "no gracias", they're generally good about leaving you be. Although, Brian did decide to get an empanada from a local man who said they were made by his mom. It was the right call too; it was good!

After we spent time at the beach, we grabbed lunch at the Bananarama restaurant where we were able to get a table outside, with a great ocean view, just a few feet from the sand. It was a great way to end our time in West Bay Beach.

While this area of beach was a bit crowded, it had everything we needed right there for our short visit - cheap snorkeling trip, amazing turquoise water, and great food and drinks at the restaurant. I thought it was the perfect experience for the limited time we had in Roatan.

I believe we had to return the car by 3:30pm and had to be on the ship by 5pm, so on the way back to the port area, Brian, my step-dad Ed, and two brothers, dropped me, my mom, and Brian's parents off at some shops near the port when they went to fill up with gas before returning the rental car. We did some shopping while waiting for them to come back, however, a significant amount of time passed and they hadn't returned yet. We were starting to worry, so we headed back to the car rental place to see if the car had been returned (it was just after 3:30pm at that time), but it had not. Of course I was thinking all sorts of worse-case scenarios in my head as we walked around the port area trying to find them. Finally, much to our relief, they arrived with the rental car. Apparently after they got gas at a station five minutes away from where they dropped us off, a cop directing traffic had them turn the wrong direction, so they had to pretty much go around the whole island again to get back to the port. I was reminded how lucky we are to have cell phones in the states so we can just give someone a quick call to provide an update. Brian and I don't carry our cell phones when we travel international, so we unfortunately didn't have that luxury. After that experience, I did vow to never be separated from Brian in a foreign country ever again!

Besides the awful thoughts of what could be happening to my husband and half of my family when they were "missing", I think Roatan may have been my favorite stop. The beaches and snorkeling were amazing and the locals were very friendly.

The next day we arrived in Belize City, Belize. Prior to the cruise, we did some research and found cave tubing is one of the top things to do in Belize, so we booked the "Cave Tubing & Rainforest Trek" through the ship. (We actually booked this one while we were on the ship and found the price went up $10 per person. I recommend booking your excursions prior to your departure if you know what you want to do.)

We were picked up at the port by a school bus and taken to the rainforest about an hour away. When we got there and were waiting in line to get our tubes, it started pouring down rain for 10 or so minutes. It was actually really cool because it made the adventure feel very authentic. After we picked up our tubes, we hiked with a guide and group of eight through the rainforest to the entrance of the cave (which took about 30 minutes). The hike wasn't bad at all, and was actually pretty fun. We walked through the rainforest and had to cross a couple of creeks before we arrived at the entrance of the caves. We then hopped in and started our hour-long float through the ancient Mayan caves. I was concerned the water would be cold, but it wasn't bad at all. It was a very cool experience and we all had a great time.

After we finished the float, we ate lunch at a restaurant on site (it was included in the excursion cost.) It was buffet-style and really good. When we finished, we got back on the bus and headed back to the port. When we arrived we had about 30 minutes before we needed to get back on the ship, so Brian and I did a little shopping and enjoyed a local beer before getting back on board. We were very happy with the excursion and would certainly recommend it.

The next day we stopped in Costa Maya, Mexico where everything you could want was right there at the port. I think this city is actually centered around the port, so I'm not even sure if there is much more when you leave the port area. There was a beach area (not the nicest beach, but a beach none-the-less) where you could snorkel and lay out, hammocks, Senor Frogs restaurant and bar, vendors with beverages walking around, tons of shops, and even an area with dolphins where you could have a "dolphin encounter"! So for this location, it wasn't necessary to even leave the port.  It was nice because we were obviously pretty busy the two prior days, so it was nice to just relax for a day. While we enjoyed it, we were glad the majority of ports weren't that way because it did have a Spring Break-type vibe. While that's fun sometimes, we also like to get out and about and experience the culture.

Our last stop of the trip was Cozumel, Mexico. Me, Brian, my parents and his parents all scheduled the "Dune Buggy & Beach Snorkel" excursion for this location, while my brothers took an excursion to see the Tulum Mayan Ruins (a gorgeous area we enjoyed on our previous trip to Mexico). For our excursion there were four people to a dune buggy, so Brian drove me and our moms, and Ed and Poppa Jim rode with another couple, who we randomly met in Roatan and learned they live only a few streets away from us in Jacksonville Beach!

We hopped in our dune buggies and traveled about 30 - 40 minutes to the southern part of Cozumel to Punta Sur ecological park. Although, we did run into some trouble trying to get there... On the way we were cruising along and suddenly the dune buggy started slowing down and eventually stopped. In addition to the guide in the front, there was a chase car in the back who saw us and pulled over. They were eventually able to get the dune buggy started again, but had us switch buggies just to be on the safe side. Thank goodness they did, because later we learned they broke down again and had to hitchhike back to the port! The new dune buggy worked great for us, but when we got close to Punta Sur, the buggy in front of us stalled out. The guide had us basically push them with our front bumper to get them going again. This happened several times, including going up a hill, in the middle of the street on our way back to the port, etc. Although, it was quite fun!

After we eventually made it to the beach, we picked up our snorkeling gear and headed to the water with our guide. Both the water and the sand were extremely beautiful here also! The snorkeling was great; I got to see the biggest starfish I've ever seen in my life, and got very close to a barracuda. Unfortunately we didn't have a waterproof camera to take any photos, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it!

After snorkeling we had a buffet-style lunch waiting for us, which again was included in the excursion price. It was pretty good also. We were able to hang out at the beach for maybe 30 minutes or so which would actually be my only complaint - it would have been nice to be able to spend more time at the beach before heading back. But the ride back was beautiful! We ended up going around the entire island in the dune buggies, and the majority of the trip back was on the coast, so we had amazing views. The trip back probably took 30 - 40 minutes as well and was very enjoyable.

After arriving back at the port area, we had a decent amount of time before we needed to be back on the ship, so did some more shopping. (There are tons of shops around the port here, too.) You can find vanilla for a really good price in a lot of the stores, especially the grocery-type stores. (I would recommend waiting to purchase the vanilla in Cozumel vs. Costa Maya because it is a little cheaper the farther away from the port you get, and of course with Costa Maya, you don't really leave the port). Our folks decided to head back to the ship, but Brian and I opted for a quick visit to a restaurant where we were able to get some guacamole and his favorite local beer, Sol. The last time we were in Mexico we loved the guacamole, so we couldn't leave without getting some while we were there! It definitely didn't disappoint, either. We were on the second floor of the restaurant and were able to see people walking up and down the streets and funny enough, spotted my brothers walking down the street! So they were able to join us for a drink and food before we had to get back on the ship.

We enjoyed each of the ports and were very happy with the excursions we chose; we wouldn't have changed a thing. We were also very impressed with Norwegian. It's well-run ship with friendly staff, nice, updated, and clean ship (they had many hand sanitizer stations throughout the ship, and staff with hand sanitizer spray at the entry of each restaurant), nice rooms, great entertainment, and good food.

Regarding the food, they do things a little differently compared to other cruise lines. They have a program they call Freestyle Dining. Instead of having a specific time for dinner like the majority of cruise ships have, they allow you to eat in the main dining rooms whenever you'd like (and you aren't paired with random people). With this approach we found we did have to wait a bit to be seated, however, it wasn't too bad at all. I think the longest we had to wait was 30 or so minutes. They give you a pager too, so you're free to walk around while you wait. They do offer two reservation times for these free dining rooms for 5:15pm or 8:15pm. We took advantage of this for some of the nights so we could avoid the wait.

In addition to the two free main dining rooms, they also have a variety of specialty restaurants that require a cover charge (anywhere from I think $10 - $25), but then it is all-you-can-eat once you're there. We went to two specialty restaurants - El Bistro, the French one and La Cucina, the Italian one. We went to the French restaurant for Ed's birthday and it was amazing! This particular restaurant cost $20 per person, but it was definitely worth it! Brian and his mom ordered escargot for an appetizer. Most of us at the table had never tried it before, so we tried theirs and all discovered we loved it! By the end of the night, I think we had a total of seven orders of escargot! Each of our meals were delicious and the service was fantastic. It was a great night! (And if you're cruising on Norwegian with someone who has a birthday, just call Norwegian at least one week prior to your sail date and let them know. They'll give you a voucher for a free birthday cake for any dinner you'd like.)

Our last night on the ship we tried the Italian restaurant for $10 per person and we were not impressed. The service and food were both mediocre. Granted, we may have had a different experience if we had not gone to the French restaurant first, but I would recommend skipping the Italian restaurant.

We were also very pleased with the location of our rooms. Brian's mom did quite a bit of research before we booked our room locations. You have to be careful to not choose a room directly underneath a bar or club if you don't want to be disturbed when you're trying to sleep at night. We ended up in rooms 4528, 4532, 4536 and 4538. We were at the front of the ship, really close to stairs and an elevator, and directly below the area where we chose to spend most of our time - the adults only area at the front of the ship on I believe Deck 12. There were great spots for laying out and a nice hot tub. We were also very close to the area where you get on and off the ship at each of the ports, so the rooms were very convenient to everything.

As far as length of the cruise, Brian did think seven days was a bit long for him personally, but our moms could have gone another week, so it's really based on your preferences. Also, while Brian and I had a fantastic time with our family, we don't know if we would go on another cruise with just the two of us. We like to see all we can when we're in a new place, so we felt the need to get off the ship as soon as we were able, and not get back on until the very last minute, which made for a fairly busy vacation. However, with the itinerary we had, we did have two full days to relax on the boat which was nice. We definitely agree this is a great vacation option for a family and overall, we were extremely pleased with the trip and everyone had a fantastic time! The price was very reasonable and you certainly get a great value for your money. I would highly recommend Norwegian based on our experience, and would even specifically recommend this cruise. Oh, and an added bonus - Javy Lopez (handsome and former Atlanta Braves catcher) was on the cruise with his family!

An exciting game of Catch Phrase on our last night!

Next up... Thailand! We just booked our flights for our two-week, 5th wedding anniversary trip so we're looking forward to researching that destination and welcome any and all feedback!