An Autumn Trip to Thailand

Coffees and the Hales on Patong Beach

It's official. I'm the worst blogger ever. This fall has been such a crazy hectic time that I've not had a the time, (or motivation) to write down all that we've been up to. Most of it is just normal every day stuff, not too interesting, but we did have a fantastic vacation to Phuket, and I want to record the details.

We left for Phuket very early in the morning on the first Saturday of our October break, and arrived around 7am and took a cab down to Patong Beach. We had arranged to stay there for two nights, but our flight had changed, so we stayed one night. Patong Beach is a pretty lively tourist area. The beach reminded me of Hanalei, but the boulevards were much less relaxed. It was a bustling area and we soaked it up for the day and evening. We walked along the main beach, swam at the hotel pool, went out for some really delicious Thai food and then walked along the famous Bangla street. Paul insisted we take a tuk-tuk home. Tuk-tuks are cars or trucks with open backs and usually have some sort of cover. In the Philippines, they use motorcycles, but in Phuket, they were trucks. It's a fun way to go a short distance. :)We turned in early, with plans to do a little bit more exploring before we relocated to a more isolated hotel. We didn't do much the next day, but we did manage some shopping and then piled into a taxi to go to a resort north of the airport.

Perfect pool day.

Chasing waves on Patong

Selfies on the big screen!

A ride in a fun tuk-tuk!

Transit in Phuket can be pricey, and really the only way to get around is by taxi. The taxi drivers have the upper hand because we have no other choice, so we paid a hefty sum to be transported up to our next hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort Mai Khao. It was gorgeous. A bit isolated, but there was a really nice beach and the pool was amazing. There was even a play room for Paul (which we could have left him there for childcare, but we didn't). It was a really peaceful place, the opposite from being in Patong. We spent our time sleeping, eating, running, swimming and soaking in the sun and beautiful sunsets. After a few days, we geared up and headed south again to catch the ferry to Koh Phi Phi.

A huge stretch of beach, so we had a private beach sunset party. 

Happy Hales

Deep thinking on the beach.

On the way over to Koh Phi Phi

The ride down to the ferry was long, and we almost missed the boat, but we made it! Unfortunately, there were no seats left inside so we hunkered down for the 3 hour ride on the bow of the boat. I did my best to shade Paul, but he fell asleep and it was difficult to keep him in my lap and cover him. We all ended up a little crispy after that ride. Donnie and I chatted and shared some drinks to pass the time, and finally we arrived at Koh Phi Phi. I'd read about this place and it's on all the best beaches list, and it does not disappoint. We were booked to stay at the Holiday Inn Resort on the island, so after making one stop at the town, the ferry dropped us into little long boats to be shuttled to the resort. We had to wait a little bit for our room to be ready, but when it was, it was fun to see. The rooms there are bungalows and really aren't too much nicer than camping cabins. The difference is that they are literally steps from one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen. So we settled in for four days. Making a routine of eating, sleeping and playing on the beach. There were a few restaurants to explore along the beach, but we ate a lot of room service. :) The highlight of our time there was a boat ride we took on one of the days. We left early, right after breakfast and headed out in one of the long boats. The boat took us to the nearby island where the movie The Beach was filmed. That area is called Mya Bay. It was gorgeous, but crowded, so after a few pics and some swimming, we moved on to some other beaches and coves. We had our own boat, so the driver took us to some less crowded spots for swimming and snorkeling. Paul was hesitant at first to get in the water with all the fish, but he put on his goggles and swimmers, and jumped in. He loved watching the fish swim between his toes. :) We also stopped at Monkey Bay. It was cool at first to be so close to these wild monkeys, but they are super aggressive. After one of them charged at Paul, we decided we'd just take pictures of them from the boat. While we watched, another tourist was letting them climb all over her, and one bit her! I was glad we had opted out of close contact with them. :)

The beach a few steps from our door.

My fav view.

Our little bungalow

The only way around the island is on these long boats.

Here we go!

Mya Bay

Fearless snorkellers

The Hales 

Really cool sea caves.

Evil monkeys.

Best viewed from afar.

My snorkeling dudes.

There's only one ferry out of Koh Phi Phi, and it leaves early in the morning, which was good because we had a flight to catch at 11am. The weather wasn't on our side and after a torturous 4 hours on rough seas we made it to Krabi. Our flight left without us and we were left to figure out what to do next. Luckily, there was a room available at the Holiday Inn in Krabi, so we checked in, took naps and played at the super fun water slides. We ventured out in the rain for some really awesome Indian food, and made plans to catch our newly booked flight the next day. :)

The best Indian food ever!

We made our flight to Singapore, but we didn't get to see much of the city once we got there. It's a really nice city, albeit expensive, but Paul was grouchy and we found our happy place at a local brewery, so we just resigned to relaxing. The next day we planned to go on a tour of the city from the airport, but upon arrival at the airport, we found you actually could only do those arranged tour from inside the departure gates. (Transfers only) So we spent the day playing, eating and walking around the Changi Airport. It's one of the best in the world, I would say. Although, I do favor Munich's more. 

We got home late and vegged the next day before getting back into the grind of October. This month has been packed with obligations, work, coaching, playing and also fun. But I'll fill you in on the details in another month or so....

hahaha hopefully sooner than that. Love to all and I miss your faces. :)

What happened to September?!

I can't believe September is already coming to a close. What have the Hales been up to? LOTS! (Which is why I haven't had time to post.)

My life has been swept up with the beginnings of school and coaching soccer. Weekends have been filled with getaways, stay-ins and a quick trip to HK.

When we started school, we spent the first two weekends at our favorite hotel (one weekend because it was a deal and the other because it was a long weekend). It was fabulous as usual. The Intercontinental Shenzhen never fails to impress, and we enjoyed their pool, awesome breakfast buffet, happy hour, and of course luxurious rooms. One of the weekends we made had Amy come and watch Paul while we went out in the area.

We had heard about a new (and only) craft brewery in Shenzhen, so we decided to try it out. The place is called Bionic Brews. It's down a little alley with a door that looks like it goes to a wet market (which it used to be) and inside isn't much nicer. It has a few tables, and pretty ingenious rig for dispensing beer, and the art work on the walls is awesome. It was done by a local graffiti artist and it makes the place seem cool, but not over done. You feel lucky to have found it, and only people who really want to be there make the effort to get there, so the atmosphere is friendly and chatty. And the beer is fantastic. We ended up going back the next weekend with some friends and enjoyed it just as much. It's such a relief to know that a place like this is here, and I suspect we will be going their often. :) A few pics from the those weekends:

All were delish.

Their brewing area.

The door in...creepy, right?

The alley into Bionic.

Playing in the sand at the hotel.

This place has a sandy island in the middle of it's pool. 

LOVE IT!

More brew pics.

Some Mid-Autumn love.

The weeks have been busy, I am coaching soccer again this year, and our schedule is demanding. We practice three times a week, and often have at least one game each week also. We've also had a Saturday with three games in a row! My team is not so good, but in their defense, only 4 of them have ever played soccer before, so it's a steep learning curve. We lost our first four games, but have won the last two...hopefully we will win again today. In addition to coaching, I've started playing on a women's league once a week. It's basically 2 hours of running, kicking, falling and sweating, but I like it and I feel like I have a better sense of the game for coaching. It's fun to meet other women in the area, and most of them are not educators. They come from all over the world and are a lot of fun to play with. I want to keep it up, it's just rough the next day after playing until 10:30pm. Ugh.

Off to play!

The field I play on. We play five on five.

My MS Soccer team! (they designed their own uniforms)

Some practice in between games.

Our super cute team.

Trying to stay cool in the unbearable heat.

So Donnie had been itching to go shopping at Marks and Spencer (an English grocery chain) in Hong Kong. So one Sunday (after a long previous Saturday of soccer), we jumped on a morning ferry over to HK. We walked through the central district, which we hadn't really done before. It's really cool! International foods, steep hills, interesting shops and lots of people to watch, it actually reminded me a lot of Chinatown in SF. We were in heaven at the store too. There were so many good foods to choose from, including fresh pre-made food, hummus, baked goods and reasonable wine. We did our shopping, then headed back to the ferry via a covered path that would have taken us straight to the store. We found another awesome super market on the way back, but we just browsed before catching the 3:30 ferry home. It was a fun excursion, but a little too expensive to make a habit out of. :)

The water looked so blue!

It was a gorgeous day in HK.

This month has also brought some interesting weather. It's been hot, of course, but not so polluted. We've enjoyed clear days for a while now. Last week, a typhoon came in our area, so we got to spend the day at home. :) It was nice, but a little bit exhausting to spend the WHOLE day playing trains. Whew. It was a great way to break up the week, and actually we headed out to Luohu to meet Dad for dinner because he was back in town!!

Paul took this pic. I was being a '"mountain" for his trains.

Rain and trains.

Last weekend, Dad was in town still, so he met us at Donnie's campus for the International Brunch. This event was put together by Donnie and it included all teachers and students bringing food to share from their home countries. I think more than 20 countries were represented and I even cooked a recipe I found online over the summer. I didn't really want to share my peanut butter bars, but I did. :) Donnie got there early, and so did Dad and Paul and I arrived with the crowds by bus a little later. The food went fast! But we had a good time playing on the playground and got to sample a few goods, the ones from India were especially yummy. 

This picture makes me hungry.

On our way, reppin' the USA!

So good to spend time with these two. Makes my heart full.

Playing at the Brunch (Photo by Dad)

The next day, Dad and I went for a hike up the mountain, it was intense! But the weather has started to cool. Photo credit to Dad for the pics below. Actually, I think that was the first cool day we've had. It hasn't really stuck around, and the pollution is back though. After our hike, we cooled down and then headed out for some food at the Paulaner Brewery. It was the perfect way to end the weekend, but Paul and I weren't done yet! We headed to a super fun birthday party of one of his friends. We had fun, but I was pooped! 

So that's what we've been up to! This week has been rough, Paul has become sick as he usually does right before we travel, which has led to little sleep and missing school. But this Friday we are headed to HK to start our journey to Thailand! I'm so excited, I can't wait! This time next week, I'll be relaxing in Koh Phi Phi. :)

Hope everybody's month has been wonderful and a very happy birthday to V and Andie who celebrated earlier this month. :)

Love to all and I'll post soon I promise!