A Sunny Farewell to Thailand

One of the "lagoons" at our resort

Friday, November 25, 2016 

For the third time this trip we would be leaving a city, and would need to check out of our hotel many hours before a late flight. After our final Thai breakfast buffet, we packed up our bags and dropped them off at the front desk. We had been granted late checkout of 1:30 pm, but since we wanted extended beach or pool time before our 4:30 airport trip, that seemed more like a burden than a privilege.

We spent a couple hours at the nearby beach. The weather was outstanding, and the warm sea water made us never want to leave. (In hindsight, I probably should have left earlier because my back and shoulders got pretty burnt while hopping around in the waves, but at the time it seemed perfect.) After leaving the beach, Steph showered at the resort fitness center, and then walked around town a little bit.

It wasn't until we returned from dinner the night before that we realized that our resort was closer to a decent "town" than we thought. On the first day we had walked to a 7-11 on the main road at the front of the resort and were disappointed by the sparse buildings and how far they were. But last night we realized the street near the beach at the back of the resort was actually a short walk from a more commercial area. Steph enjoyed her final Thai foot massage, and walked around the markets before heading back to the resort four our taxi ride back.

In the meantime, I had moved from the beach to the pool, enjoyed a margarita, and got in some good blog writing. Up until this point almost the entire blog had been written at hotel pools, because we were otherwise always on the go during the day, and I was always too tired at night. After taking a dip in the pool, I also showered at the fitness center and put on my final clean shirt for our flight to Taiwan.

We had reserved a taxi ride from a friendly driver who called himself Mr. Sky and had taken us into Patong Beach two days earlier. By finding a driver on our own we saved a few hundred baht, rather than having the hotel set up the ride. As we rode up north toward the airport, the beautiful weather disappeared, and a heavy thunderstorm hit.

Partially because of the storm it took almost an hour and a half to return to the airport, but we still had plenty of time to make our flight and officially say good bye to Thailand.

One of the hotel pools

Thanksgiving Day Boat Tour

James Bond Island in Phang Nga Bay

Thursday, November 24, 2016

On this Thanksgiving Day, I’m thankful that we had a pre-booked boat tour to the picturesque Phang Nga Bay.

We woke up early for breakfast because a shuttle would be picking us up at 7:50 am to bring us to the pier on the other side of the island. We squeezed into another packed van, but luckily we were the last stop on the morning route. At the pier we randomly ran into the two San Franciscoites who were on our Chiang Mai elephant tour a couple days earlier. They were waiting for a different tour this time, so we boarded our speedboat along with around 25 other tourists.

It took about an hour to get to Phang Nga Bay, which was every bit as stunning as pictures I’ve seen. A large portion of the area is protected under the Ao Phang Nga National Park, and features 42 islands comprised of limestone formations, cliffs and caves. The most famous of the islands is a tiny one nicknamed “James Bond Island” because it was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun. 

Canoe ride around the bay

We made several stops during the day. A cave walk was the first stop, complete with hard hats and lanterns. James Bond Island was next for some picture taking opportunities. We also did a canoe ride around some of the islands and caves. Lunch was at Koh Panyee, a Muslim village on stilts that overlooked the water. The final stop was Naka Island for an hour of swimming, cocktails, and relaxation on the beach. We returned to the pier in Phuket around 4:30 pm, and we back to our hotel by 5:30. It was a really nice, full day with lots of great views, photo opportunities, and fun in the sun.

In the evening we took a taxi from the hotel into Kata to get a massage and dinner. After my last painful experience with a Thai massage, Steph made sure I got the wimpiest masseuse and treatment on the menu, while she went for something much more hardcore. Dinner was nearby at the well-reviewed Mom Tri’s Kitchen. A little pricey by Thai standards, but they served delicious fresh fish and were located in a nice hotel overlooking the beach. I didn’t see turkey or mashed potatoes on the menu, so instead I ordered salmon in red curry sauce, for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

Sunset back at the hotel

First Day In Phuket

Beach outside our hotel

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Our Phuket experience got off to a slow start. We knew our flight was scheduled to land a little before midnight and the airport was an hour from our hotel. The price we were quoted for a ride to the hotel seemed reasonable, but that was before we realized that we were being herded into a large but overly packed van with guests staying in other hotels and towns. I was wondering why the driver never asked what hotel we were staying at, and the reason was that he was driving us to a central tourist office, where we could tell some better English speakers of our intended destination. The workers in the office, after trying to sell some tours for our stay, put together an itinerary for the driver and then back into the van we went. We were the 4th stop, and got to our hotel sometime before 2 am.

Breakfast buffet near one of the hotel pools

The Hilton Arcadia is a huge resort. It was obvious just from the drive to the front desk, which was deep within the property itself. We checked in and were pleased to see we were upgraded to a corner room with an ocean view on the 9th floor. The room was very nice, and we went to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning we headed to the hotel breakfast buffet, which was included with our package. It also had a nice sampling of foods from around the world, and was probably a step above the buffet in Chiang Mai. The restaurant had outdoor seating right by the pool, which was nice, but after sleeping in a bit the day was already hot and humid and we had a table in the sun. We ended up switching seats after the sweat was dripping faster than the fat from my third plate of bacon (just kidding, Dr. Sussman).

View from our hotel room balcony, as the rain storm was coming through

We headed back to the room to change, psyched for our beach day ahead. As soon as we had changed into bathing suits, the skies opened up and it started pouring.

We had planned Phuket as the third leg of our Thailand trip in part because the rainy season ends in November, so the later we arrived the better chance we had at nice weather. Unfortunately it seemed we were still getting the tail end of the season.

A couple hours later the rain let up enough that we felt ready to venture out and head to the convenience store for supplies. I asked a staff member, which way to head into "town" and he started laughing hysterically at my choice of words. He informed us that there was a 7-11 down the road. I guess we booked a hotel a little ways from the main downtown spots.

With umbrellas in hand, we made it down the street (after taking a shuttle from the front desk to the street. Again, very large property). We bought some extra bottled waters (tap water is not drinkable in Thailand) and snacks and other supplies for the stay.

Beach near the hotel, after the rain stopped

The sun finally came out by the time we made it back to the room, so we headed to the beach, which was located on the back end of the property, across a different road. The beach was lovely, and the water was as warm as ocean water can be.

Later in the evening we decided to head to Patong Beach, which is the party central area of Phuket, where lots of the youngin hip tourists stay. We grabbed some street food dinner, walked around the outdoor markets, and walked through Bangla Street. There were enough naughty things going on Bangla Street to make Amsterdam blush with shame, so we headed out as fast as we could. Back at the hotel there was live music playing in the hotel lounge, but we were sleepy and with an early wake up planned for the next day, headed to bed.

Bangla Street at Patong Beach

The Bros: The Story of Six Frat Guys on the Move

Three of "The Bros". It was difficult to get a non-blurry picture because they were always on the move.

This is just a side story that has been of great entertainment to Steph and I the past few days. Not sure how well it translates in blog form, but we've had an uncanny number of run-ins with one particular group of tourists throughout the country. It just so happens that it is a very distinct group of "Bros", meaning a group of 20-somethings frat boys who are always loudly discussing their drinking habits, workout regiments and sexual conquests. They were staying at the same hotel as us in Chiang Mai, but as the timeline of our run-ins below show, the places we ran into them started to get more and more random.

• 11/20 - At the pool. They are not happy the pool is in the shade.
• 11/20 - Happy hour in the hotel lounge. They are very happy about free booze.
• 11/21 - Happy hour in the hotel lounge. They are very happy about free booze.
• 11/22 8:00 am - They're waiting in front of the elevator, but when we approach they decide its taking too long and run down the six flights of stairs instead.
• 11/22 8:01 am - They were running to the breakfast buffet where we were headed. They are unhappy that there is no meat in their omelet.
• 11/22 1:00 pm - They are also at the temple in the mountain, 40 minutes from our hotel.
• 11/22 8:00 pm - We thought we had seen the last of them, but in the hotel lobby minutes before we are picked up by our taxi to go to the airport, they walk in. Glad we got some closure and could say goodbye.
• 11/22 9:00 pm - Walking through the airport near our gate, all six of them are in the airport bar! That is when it started getting weird. They are by far the loudest people in the airport.
• 11/22 9:30 pm - They leave the bar and are now at our gate. Definitely on our flight.
• 11/22 9:50 pm - Not only are they on our flight, but they are all within one row of us. There is limited overhead baggage space, so I have to put my bag in the bin above one of them. A water bottle falls out of my backpack and hits one Bro on the head.
• 11/22 11:30 pm - Now in the Phuket airport, they head for a hotel transfer in a difference city in Phuket. This is definitely the last time we will see them.
• 11/23 9:00 pm - Walking through Patong Beach, we walk past them in line for a Thai Boxing event. Mind officially blown.

Non-blurry artist rendering of one of "The Bros"

Again, maybe this loses in the translation, but every time we thought we had seen the last of them, we would make a joke about how we haven't seen them in awhile, and then literally turn around and see them. Five times in the hotel seemed like a lot, but not crazy. But in a mountain outside of the city was strange. On the exact same flight and nearly identical seats was downright wacky. And then randomly seeing them in a crowded street nearly 1,000 miles from where we shared a hotel was downright mindblowing to us. Now I won't be shocked if they live in LA and we run into them at the supermarket in a couple weeks.

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park

View of Chiang Mai from nearby mountain

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

It didn't take long for me to fall behind on these posts, but let's see if I can remember what we did three full days ago.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

It was our last day in Chiang Mai, so we had to check out of the hotel by noon. However, our flight to Phuket wasn't until 10 pm, so we had plenty of time to fill. The only top touristy thing left on my list was to see Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which is a grand temple on top of a mountain within the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. The temple was especially popular because its location on the mountain had panoramic views of Chiang Mai and the surrounding area. 

I was having difficulty figuring out the best way to get up the mountain on our own and to the temple, which was about a 40 minute drive outside of the city. So I discussed with the concierge, and she secured a taxi driver for a few hours. The driver ended up bringing us to a viewpoint on the mountain for a picture, to the temple for an hour visit, and then to a waterfall in the national park. We actually saw two waterfalls, with only a short walk in between. An especially sweaty man on the trail dissuaded us from trying to climb up to see a third waterfall deeper in the forest.

We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon, and since we no longer had a room, we walked around the surrounding area. Steph and I both got a massage. I made the mistake of not requesting the weakest female masseuse for my weak white boy body, and instead got a massive man who destroyed my muscles. I'm still sore today.

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park

You may recall that my electric razor had died and my facial hair was growing quickly. An update on that situation is my facial hair has continued to grow. So next on the agenda was finding a barber to clean me up a little bit. That too may have been a mistake. Because some combination of my tender, not-accustomed-to-straight-blade-shaving skin, and the woman's unorthodox knifing skills, left me with a very smooth, yet extremely painful experience. I'm still hurting today.

To walk off all of the pain, we next took a short walk to the river, which is another popular neighborhood. This happened to be part of the same river we went rafting on the day before some 40 miles further north. We didn't see anywhere we wanted to explore further, so we just snapped a picture are returned closer to our hotel. We did a little more shopping, had some more food at the live music night market, took a shower at the hotel, and then finally took a taxi to the airport.

I was a big fan of Chiang Mai and sad to see that part of the trip over, but beach destination Phuket was next up on the itinerary and I was very much looking forward to that.

Ping River in Chiang Mai

Elephants, Tigers, and Chairs - Chiang Mai!

Rafting down the Ping River

Monday, September 21, 2016

Aside from flights, today featured the first scheduled activity we had for our trip – a jungle trek through Northern Thailand. The tour company would be picking us up at the hotel at 8 am, so we were up by 7 for the breakfast buffet. An air conditioned van picked us up, and our tour guide was a very nice woman who spoke English very well. The van made one more stop to pick up the only other two guests, a mother and daughter from San Francisco on the other side of town.

We rode north of Chiang Mai and made our first stop around 30 minutes later at a butterfly and orchid farm in Mae Sa. There was a butterfly room where you could walk through and there were tons of them flying around, which was very nice. 

Unfortunately out tour did not include a stop to the nearby Elephant Poopoopaper Park. Luckily our tour guide did know enough about it to inform us that elephant poo is a major ingredient in paper. And apparently there is a park dedicated to this single fact.

After a 20 minute stop to look at butterflies, we were back on the road heading to our main destination. It was a very nice drive, through a very green mountain landscape. We arrived at the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp around 40 minutes later.

First we were given the opportunity to feed elephants bananas. Those hungry little fellas would eat the entire bunch at once as if it was nothing. We then saw them get bathed and play in the river. Next up was a performance to showcase their skills. They used teamwork to move logs. One rose a flag up a flagpole. But the most impressive was definitely the painter. Yes, apparently elephants have now dug into the fine arts. Channeling his inner Bob Ross, the hand-less creature painted a happy little tree. There.

Jungle ride on an elephant

The main attraction for the day was a ride on the elephant’s back through the jungle. Steph and I shared an elephant, and went on a half hour trip through a stream in a lush jungle until we reached a tiny hillside tribe village. We spent a few minutes stretching out legs there before the elephants whisked up back to the home base.

Our next mode of transportation was a bamboo raft ride down the Ping River. This lasted almost an hour, and was quite lovely. Since we were moving downstream we ended the ride in a different spot, but luckily the van was able to find us. Once in the van, we headed south again toward Chiang Mai, but stopped at the butterfly place again for a Thai lunch buffet. We had the option to add a stop at the nearby Tiger Kingdom for an additional fee, but politely declined. It sounded like a true money grab for a picture near a tiger. We finally returned to our hotel around 3pm, for a pretty full day tour.

We spent the rest of the day around the hotel - relaxing by the pool, followed by happy hour, and then a foot massage for Steph. We returned to nearby night market (the area with live music and food stands) for dinner and found a couple new favorite dishes.

Elephant painting his favorite tree

Immediately after the elephant snatched six bananas out of my hand

Steph feeding the elephant

Hillside tribe village

Bamboo hats on a bamboo raft

Exploring Chiang Mai

Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai

Sunday, November 20, 2016

We were up by 7:30 and headed to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. The selection delighted us both with a large mix of both Asian and western food.

Our plan for the day was just to hit some of the local highlights with no set schedule. After taking a leisurely morning, we headed out around 11 am. Our hotel is located a bit outside of the “old city”, which is the central part of the city, bordered by a wall and moat, which houses many of the main attractions.

It was warm outside, but noticeably more comfortable at this time of day than it had been in Bangkok. It seems that Bangkok is a bit more humid, and also stays hot throughout the night. Chiang Mai has similar high temperatures as Bangkok, but cools off more at night, which means it also takes longer for the day to warm up. I’m a big fan of this already. It was just under 80 degrees when we left the hotel and the day’s forecast high was 91 degrees.

Three Kings Monument

We were planning on walking toward our first destination on foot, but quickly abandoned the idea and hailed a tuk tuk (basically an open air taxi) to take us into the central part of town. We started with the Lanna Folklife Museum, which gave us some learning on the earliest people in Chiang Mai. We stopped at the museum’s café for lunch and enjoyed some thai iced teas (our lunch staple in Thailand for taste and a caffeine boost) and live music. Then we visited a few of the top temples in the area, including Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang. Eventually we hailed a songthaew ride back to the hotel, returning around 4pm.

First impressions of Chiang Mai put it well above Bangkok on my all-important snap judgment list. It’s the second largest city in Thailand, but dwarfed in size by Bangkok. And with the smaller size and lesser crowds, it also feels more low key. I enjoyed wandering around the city, which is mostly low rise shops and restaurants.

Back at the hotel I lounged around the pool for a bit, but didn’t go swimming. Unfortunately the pool was in the shade at that point, as were most of the lounge chairs.

When we booked the hotel, we upgraded our stay to get Club access for around $20 per night. This gave us several perks including the breakfast buffet mentioned earlier, free soft drinks/water all day, and access to the business center.  But of course the main reason for the upgrade was the daily 2-hour happy hour with free drinks and hors d'oeuvre hosted in the lounge.

We were planning on just making a quick stop at the happy hour before heading out to dinner, but were impressed enough with the food selection, and the make-your-own drink bar, so we stuck around. A couple gin and tonics later, and it was time to head out in the night.

Crowds at Sunday Night Walking Market

We were full enough from snacking that we didn’t go straight to dinner, and instead went to the famous weekly Sunday Night Walking Market. We took a quick tuk tuk ride to the east gate of the old city, where the market began. From there the main road in town was shut down to traffic, and each side of the street (along with several side streets) were lined with stands selling a variety of merchandise. There was a decent variety, and a lot of it seemed like better quality than your usual tourist market. Being a weekly event geared at visitors though, it seemed that every tourist in all of Thailand was walking on that street shoulder-to-shoulder at the same time. Being someone who does not enjoy shopping and does not like crowds, this wasn’t exactly my scene, but I was very impressed by the sheer scale. We spent at least an hour waddling through the crowds and picked up some merchandise before heading to nearby dinner at Hot Chilli. We returned to the hotel around 10pm after a full first day in Chiang Mai. 

More Buddhist temples

Seeing Sights and Sweat in Bangkok

Wat Pho in Bangkok

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Near Wat Arun

My first full day in Thailand began with an ominous start. As a lifelong electric razor user, I woke up to the frightening realization that my razor’s battery had died and I had left my charger several thousand miles away. Now almost three days since my last shave, a nasty beard was coming fast, promising to ruin every photo I starred in for the entire trip and terrify family in Taiwan. So I decided to make the dramatic decision to use the razor and shaving cream provided by the hotel. As inexperienced as I am in this area, it is no surprise that it did not turn out well. By the time I finished off the tube of shaving cream I had a misshapen goatee, a nasty patchy neck beard, three cuts on my chin, and a bloody finger. I decided that was enough for one day, and it was time for breakfast.

After a leisurely meal of coffees and pastries in the hotel café, we packed up and headed out. It was around 10 am, and the heat was already excessive. We took a short walk to the train station and rode that a few stops to the river, where we then picked up a ticket for the “tourist boat”. Boat rides on the river are actually a common mode of public transportation in Bangkok, although the tourist version of the boat has a more limited route to maximize stops at tourist locations.

We knocked out a few of our top destinations, Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and Wat Pho (translation not available). Very cool architecture, highlighted by the Reclining Buddha which was impressively gigantic. Unfortunately the Grand Palace was not open at the time we arrived so we had to skip out on what is considered the top attraction in Bangkok. A little disappointing, but we didn’t mind too much since we were already drenched in sweat and were supposed to be back to the hotel to check out by 2pm. So back to the tourist boat we went.

Except we didn’t get on the tourist boat.

Instead, somehow we instead joined a French tour group on their private boat. As the passengers without baguettes in hand, we were quickly revealed as imposters. Although we don’t speak French, we believe the tour guide announced that a special stop would have to be made to rid the outsiders. 

One man proposed to Stephanie, while most others just turned and laughed. Before long we were dropped off at a different pier, further away from the direction we wanted to head. It took a bit of waiting, but we did eventually locate the tourist boat, relieved to be with our kind once again.

Guilty smile after sneaking on to a private boat tour

We got back to the hotel around 2pm, and since our flight wasn’t until 7:30, we dropped off our bags with the front desk while we checked out. After a nice lunch, we returned to the hotel to cool off at the pool. I hung out outside to dry off while Steph used the hotel steam room. We each cleaned off with a spa shower sometime before heading to the airport around 5:15.

It was an occasionally frightening drive without seatbelts as our driver weaved in and out of traffic through lanes that didn’t exist. He also dropped us off at the wrong terminal, but eventually we made our way to our gate safe and sound. I had a terrible pastry at Bread Talk in the airport before an uneventful flight on Air Asia. It was only a little over an hour to land in Chiang Mai, our second Thai city in as many days.

We checked in to the DusitD2 Chiang Mai hotel, which seemed like a fun trendy place, at around 9 pm. We quickly dropped off our bags and headed out in search for food. The surrounding area was in stark contrast to the chaos of Bangkok, and only a block away we found the Night Market which seemed like a fun spot to hang out. There was a stage with cover bands playing American tunes, and then 20-30 food stands and bars, with lots of open seating. Definitely seemed to be a tourist gathering place, as I commented there were more white people at this event than most I had been to in Los Angeles. We hung for a little while trying some food, listening to some tunes, and sipping some mediocre local beer. After that Steph got herself a foot massage while I headed back to the hotel to start this blog. 

Night Market in Chiang Mai

The Thai Adventure Begins

Jim Thomspon House in Bangkok

Friday, November 18, 2016

Our flight landed around 10:30 am Thailand time. After exchange money for Thai Baht, getting Steph a visa, and heading through a painless immigration process, we were on our way to the big city.

Very early on in taxi ride to the hotel, the reputation for terrible traffic was proved correct. Lots of traffic jams, accidents, and broken down cars littered our path. Especially once we got within the city limits, some streets were gridlocked.

View from our hotel of Bangkok skyline

After checking into the Grand Hyatt Erwan Bangkok, which was located in an upscale commercial district, we headed to a nearby shopping mall for some lunch. We were obviously overexcited for our first authentic Thai meal, so we over-ordered, but the food was tasty.

We decided to work off the meal by walking nearly a mile to our first destination even though the weather was already over 90 degrees and extremely humid. The Jim Thompson House is a museum built out of an American entrepreneur’s Thai-inspired home, which holds his local art collection. We took a guided tour of the home and property, which was interesting.

One of the many outdoor markets in Bangkok

After we left the museum, we decided to reward ourselves for the recent sweaty walk, and the many hours of travel with an hour foot/neck/back massage. Wanting to protect our newly pampered feet, we hopped on the train for two stops instead of walking back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, we cooled off with an evening swim, took a lengthy walk around the nearby night markets, grabbed some street food for dinner, and got to bed around 10pm. Considering the lack of sleep and drastic time zone changes while flying, I was very impressed how much we were able to do today and how we stuck to a normal time schedule in local time. Sleeping in our first bed since Tuesday night, we had a great night’s rest.

Near the hotel in Bangkok at night

The Flight

A plane that may or may not look like the one I traveled on

Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - Friday, November 18, 2016

The travel schedule seemed daunting. We would leave Los Angeles late Wednesday night, with a 14+ hour flight, a 2 hour layover, and a 4 hour flight to the final destination, where it would be 10 am Friday morning when we landed.

I was afraid jet lag would derail the Thailand part of my trip, so my goal was to get enough rest on the flight to avoid napping on Friday in Bangkok, and get myself into local time as quick as possible. To do this I was (almost obsessively) trying to keep Thailand time zone in my mind from the moment I left LA. This meant forcing myself to watch movies instead of sleeping after getting on our 11pm flight, even though it was well past my bedtime in LA. I even limited myself to one glass of complimentary wine and saving my coffee intake for the 2^nd flight to better align my body with the right time of day.

Hurray movies!

For whatever reason I was in the mood for some cartoons, so I watched The Secret Life of Pets and Finding Dory the first night. I added the more mature Independence Day 2 to the list after my first nap. Between three movies, strategic resting, and a couple of meals, the time moved along quick enough for a 14-hour flight. We landed around 6 am Friday morning.

Oddly enough our layover was in Taiwan. We were only there for a little over an hour before our next boarding, but Steph still made quick work of some Taiwanese food while we waited.

Our flight to Bangkok departed around 7:45 am Taiwan time, and was a little under 4 hours.  One the 2^nd flight I started chugging coffee and reading up on Thailand. And before we knew it, we were there!

Trip Preview

Steph and I have been talking about a two-week trip to Asia for a couple years now. I hadn’t been to Asia since winter break 2011 when I “met the parents” for the first time, and even now haven’t seen Steph’s parents in person since our wedding in 2014. Even though we discussed it for awhile, we’ve had trouble coordinating dates that worked for everyone. Also with a few job changes during that time, we haven’t both had enough vacation time until now. With Steph’s sister, Amanda, having her first child over the summer, we were also motivated by wanting to meet our niece Audrey for the first time.

We decided to split a proposed trip with a one week Taiwan family trip, and a one week sightseeing trip. We threw a few ideas around for other locations, including China and Hong Kong, but started to hone in on South East Asia as it seemed more affordable and more exotic for this stage of our life. With Amanda and Muyen currently living in Hong Kong, I felt comfortable thinking I would see it at some point. Thailand is often considered a tourists introduction to Southeast Asia, and it seemed affordable, and had a good mix of cities, culture, and beaches, so that’s where we ended up.

The full planned itinerary:

Wed 11/16 – redeye flight

Fri 11/18 – 11/19: Bangkok, Thailand

11/19 – 11/22: Chiang Mai, Thailand

11/22 – 11/25: Phuket, Thailand

11/26 – 12/4: Taiwan

12/4: back to LA

This totaled about two and a half weeks (including nearly 50 hours of flights), and 11 days off from work.  But as our first vacation more than an extended weekend since the honeymoon, we were pumped and ready to go.

We kept the individual itineraries pretty flexible, especially since there would be a decent amount of traveling within the trip. I booked two semi-full day tours - 1 in Chiang Mai, and 1 in Phuket. But otherwise we decided to play everything by ear.

Just a note on the expenses - for a trip of this size, the major expenses were quite reasonable, partially through the magic of travel points. As a Hyatt credit card holder, we had a voucher for a night stay at a Hyatt (up to category 4) that would expire at the end of the year. Fortunately there was a Grand Hyatt in Bangkok that fit the bill, so we used it on that. I also had a decent number of Hilton points, which covered our 3 night stay in Phuket. The one-way flight to Bangkok was only around $350, and we used American Airlines miles for the return flight. The dollar is pretty strong in Thailand so the domestic flights and the hotel in Chiang Mai, which we paid in cash, were all quite reasonable (the flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was only $40, for example). In Taiwan, we would be staying with family, so that would cover any lodging costs there too. This means we had a lot of extra cash left in our budget for useless souvenirs. Always a bonus for any trip.