Last Leg of our Journey: Shenzhen - Hong Kong {January 1st-4th)

January 1st: Arrival 

Feeling ambitious we woke up relatively early and grabbed the metro to Luoho!! John wanted to buy some gifts and I had wanted for him to experience this crazy market! We spent the morning there looking around and when we hit our wall we grabbed a cab home. We then proceeded to pack-up John’s life and head to the ferry terminal to head to Hong Kong! It was perfect, we made the 3:00 ferry as planned. J We arrived onto the streets of Hong Kong by 6:30/7:00pm. We grabbed a cab to our hotel, which ended up being in a wonderful location and settled in. Our first night was spent simply walking the streets of Kowloon – what a beautiful place!! We found a hole-in-the-wall to eat, which turned out to be delicious, and bought our drinks at a 7-Eleven (the cheapest option).

January 2nd: Stanley Market/Lang Kwai Fun

Day 2 in Hong Kong: on our second day we took our time in the morning. We lazed around and got into looking at pictures from years and years ago which gave us a pretty good laugh! We slowly got dressed and found our way to Stanley Market. We hopped on a bus and we are very happy that we made the trek. It took us a while to get to where we were going but the coast of HK is absolutely beautiful! The market was in a sort of beach town where, after shopping around, we found a great little place to have a beer and share a meal. This was one of our favorite meals! We had an assortment of cheese, meats and pâtés with bread as an entre and then a delicious goat cheese and spinach pancake. We sat and chatted for over an hour before we made our way back to the buss. We did some shopping on the way back to our hotel, including a trip into Tiffany’s (drool) and a 5 floor Forever21! When we arrived back to our place we cleaned up and headed out to for an evening in Lang Kwai Fong (“Fun”). We had a Great night out!! That place is insane; it’s a hill filled with bars and restaurants and people! We ate a delicious Chinese meal (which later came back to bite me after a cough on the dance floor…no need to share more) and then decided on a place to have a drink. 

Of course the place that we chose was on a super steep hill and I was the one facing backwards… We each got a Hoegaarden; it was in a glass bigger than my head (but of course when I had both hands on around it the glass looked like a perfectly normal size). We went back and forth from bars and the 7-Eleven until we selected one place in particular. No one was dancing but I didn’t see this as a problem…within a half hour John and I were dancing with lots and lots of strangers! Haha We had a great time out on the streets and in the bars of Lang Kwai Fun and cannot wait to return J

How could I forget!! John made a new friend when we were out that had EVERYTHING in his book bag! When I say everything, I mean everything - even the cover to a hose. He wanted to be prepared for any situation that he may find himself in...hilarious guy!!

January 3rd: The Peak/The Sky Bar

We took our time this morning to get ready and head out. We knew we had lots to do but also knew that it was going to be our last day together. With our map we found our way to the bus that would take us to The Peak tram where we stood in line for what seemed like a short forever. Once we got our tickets we were squished in a crowd that all felt that they had to be on the tram first – we spent the entire time making fun of everyone and their anxiety levels. Once we got to the top we decided that The Peak was well worth the journey! It got cloudy as the day went on but initially we got a pretty great view of Hong Kong. Both John and I agreed that if we were to do it again,    we would want to go up at night to see Hong Kong lit-up! We ate a delicious meal at the top before heading back down to the real world and back to our hotel to get ready for our drink on the roof of the highest bar in Hong Kong (maybe the world?). We had attempted a drink at this same bar on our first night but went to completely wrong building (turned out it was an office building) but had decided it would be a nice thing to do on our last night together. We got ourselves dressed up and walked to this building. After some confusion and a few wrong turns we made it (it’s attached to the Elements Mall and the bar is at the top of the Ritz Carlton). We walked in with confidence and no one asked us if we were supposed to be there (our dressed up was not other people’s dressed up). We took an elevator to the 103^rd floor before transferring onto another elevator to the 113^th floor that took us to one of the most posh bars both John and I had ever entered. It’s difficult to put into words exactly what it was like but it was very impressive! We chose to sit outside and we found our own private corner to look out onto the city – it was a stunning view!! John had two small bottles of white wine in his coat pocket but we quickly decided that sneaking wine from a bottle was not an ‘ok’ thing to do! Haha It took me some time before I could sit on the edge with John, the height and the feeling of walking on a boat surprisingly freaked me out (the building was moving like crazy). John seemed super confident that my sitting on the edge would not tip the building over and convinced me it would be fine – so I sat and looked at the lights with him for a while (hahaha how embarrassing).  From The Sky Bar we decided to walk back to the Night Market for a yummy meal and drinks before calling it a night; before we knew it, it was 12:00am and it was time to head home…

January 4th: Good Bye @ the Airport.

We may have slept 2 hours in total and I may have woken up with a really puffy face; we stayed up chatting a little later than expected, our wake-up call came at 5:30am and we were out of our room by 6:00am. We took the metro and were able to transfer onto a really night Airport Express train that got us to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We went to check-in but couldn’t (too early) so we took everything and went for breakfast. It was really nice to be able to relax and chat and not have to say good-bye right away. After eating John was able to check-in. We walked around to find a seat and before long it was time for him to go. We said our good byes and I waited for him to get through security before I left. I got myself a ticket for a limousine (large van) and went straight home to Shenzhen where I stayed in my room for 2 days…I needed a couple of days to be sad, catch-up on sleep and write all of these blogs that I have done about our holiday). 

Bangkok - Shenzhen for New Years Eve {December 31st - January 1st}

We were able to laze around in Bangkok for the morning because our flight conveniently didn’t leave until that evening. We puttered around mostly, did some shopping and got our last dish of pad thai. Although my stomach didn’t love Bangkok our last meal was delicious! I even bought a new book at this neat little store that will buy books back.. We bought the things that we had sought out the day before and then grabbed a cab and headed to the airport (early, of course). By the time we got back to Shenzhen it was 11:30pm. We were in a taxi line and freezing by the time 12:00 rolled around – Happy New Year! 

Haha John had bought white wine and chocolates at the Bangkok airport so we went home and drank wine, ate chocolate and watched the Grinch before passing out. We’re pretending that our night out in Bangkok was our New Years Eve J haha We were too exhausted to do anything in Shenzhen!!

Krabi Town - Bangkok {December 30th - 31st}

We got to the Krabi airport with plenty of time to spare (we were way better at being early to airports this trip then you would expect). We got some coffee and were able to go straight through. Thank goodness because we just wanted to sit, chat and read a bit – it was pretty early in the am. We flew out with no problems and landed in Bangkok around 10. With no where to stay we knew that we wanted to stay near Koh San Road at the same place as Ross and Mariya. We hopped in a taxi and told him to take us to Koh San Road – we figured we could find our way from there. We walked the entire road (it was crazy and it was only the morning) and found our place with little problem (a kind man pointed us in the right direction). 

"There! Now the sweat will
never enter my eyes again!"

By this time it was around 10:30am. When we asked for a room we were told that they had to wait for everyone to check-out, only then would they know if they had an open room or not. We decided to set up shop at the little outdoor restaurant around the corner, order some beer and a club sandwich and wait. While we drank and ate we took turns, every 15 minutes, going to the desk and asking for a room. 

We continued this until I ran outside waving the key at 1 o’clock!!! Needless to say we were a little buzzed and sweaty (the sun was beating down). 

We dropped our things, took a quick trip to the pool and then decided that while in Bangkok we had to do something educational. We put on pants and long sleeves (I went with a tank and scarf) and headed to a temple. Once we found out that I had to buy a legit long sleeve and we had to pay for two tickets that weren’t going to be cheap we snapped a few pictures with the temple in the background and left…we relaxed in an open field under the sun for a few minutes which was lovely and then found our own way back to the hotel. The long pants and shirts had to GO! 

On our way back to the hotel we just so happened to run into Ross, Mariya, Matt and Shelby who were just finishing up their dinner! We sat with them for a bit and then headed home to shower and relax. We went up to their room for some drinks and a catch-up and then hit Koh San Road together J what a place at night!! Shops, restaurants and bars line both sides of the street, there were people and lights everywhere and my word the food stalls smelled good (it’s possible that they smelled extra yummy because they were relatively cheap)! 

After we walked the street twice we headed back to the hotel to say goodnight. John and I knew we only had one night in Bangkok and no matter how tired we were feeling, we had to go out! We began with a street massage and boy was mine wonderful! John was brave (silly John) and said ‘full’ while I said ‘feet’. Mine was so relaxing and lovely while John’s began wonderfully I was trying not to laugh at what was to come next for him. Having my feet done meant that I could see what the other ‘full’ decision-makers were experiencing – yikes!! At one point the woman had John sitting down with her leg wrapped around him while she twisted him from right to left- strange. 

After this experience we went home, showered, changed and left before we could fall asleep! We found a great restaurant on Koh San Road and thought a bucket was a good idea. John ordered two rum and cokes. The waiter came back with 4 coke zeroes and 2 pints of rum (2 cokes and 1 pint each)…Danger!! It was because of a crazy truck driver from England, Benjamin Thomas that we got to know Dave and Emma (friends from Australia). We ended up chatting with them for most of the night and laughed a lot – such interesting people! Dave decided to move to an island in Cambodia and is opening up a hostel there. Emma was coming to visit and see how it was all coming along. After buckets, strolling and dancing it was time to call it a night. On the way home was no different then walking down Koh San Road – men were all over the place promoting ping-pong shows by popping their lips together. All I could do was laugh!!

What a night out in Bangkok!!

Railay - Ao Nang/Krabi Town {December 29th - 30th}

The night before leaving Railay John and I planned to get up relatively early so that we could go to the beach and let the boatmen know that we had to go to Ao Nang (for a boat to go they need 8 people). We thought that it would take a while so we’d set up on the beach for an hour or two. Our last morning finally arrived and after sadly packing up we headed to the beach. I complained about leaving (wanting to stay there forever) and John was reassuring me that we’d get a couple of hours on the beautiful beach before we would have to leave…of course as we stepped onto the beach the boatmen (seeing us with our bags) starting rushing us for the money and to get on the boat that was about to leave. John’s crystal ball must have been a little murky from all of the seawater…Ah well; we had to leave at some point I guess. 

Us in our tuk-tuk with our Singha beer

It took us about 20 minutes to get to Ao Nang and it took us half of that to realize we wouldn’t be staying. My word places were ridiculously priced! After this realization we sat on a curb, drank our hot water and thought about what we should do (we couldn’t stop sweating, it was so hot). We found a hotel, bought 2 beer and sent a postcard (foreshadowing of what’s to come in the mail Mom and Dad)!  We then grabbed a tuk-tuk and drove (on the highway…which was insane) to Krabi Town. Fortunately we picked the first place that we looked at (it was great, big, had a/c and the bathroom was outside which was quite cool). We dropped our stuff and walked aimlessly for a while until we found some food. It didn’t take us long to learn that there is not much going on in Krabi Town but there are people that will bug you to take a boat ride with them haha! Although there wasn’t much to do we did find a great bar that served delicious food, drinks and showed movies. 

Cards were extremely over priced so we bought paper and pens and went to creating our own deck J We played cards, had some beer and chatted – it was hilarious. After a while we went back to our place to freshen up then went to the Night Market that they have (I guess it is quite well known). It was so neat! Lots of people were there and John tried lots of the food that they were selling. The homemade chocolate ice cream was our favorite! After puttering around there we went back to the bar that we had been at earlier that day and had some beer and watched the new Bond movie … we didn’t get it here in China. It was great!

Side Note (sorry John but it was hilarious): We desperately wanted to rent a scooter and had finally decided that it was time (I was super nervous but excited). John filled out the paper work but when it came to getting the bike to start John couldn’t remember how…the man then said maybe it was for the best if he ripped up the receipt, gave us the money back and we went on our way. He said he was concerned about us getting hurt on vacation but John and I are pretty sure he was worried about his bike! hahaha

Koh Lanta - Railay Beach {December 27th-30th}

I had really wanted to visit Railay and had not too subtly hinted this in the time leading up to decision time but we weren’t convinced that we’d be able to afford it – the places online were very expensive and people in Phi Phi had said that Railay was very beautiful but pricey. Finally we decided that we would go anyway and see what we found. Worst came to worst we could have hopped on a long tail boat and headed to Ao Nang for the night. To get to Railay you have to take a long tail boat so we hopped on the ferry that took us to where we could transfer onto one of the neat boats. The second we saw Railay from the ferry we knew that we had made the right decision. It was absolutely breath taking, unlike any place we had ever seen! The water was crystal blue, the beach was white powder and there were astonishing cliffs and mountains surrounding it – now I know why it is such a famous place for rock climbers! Once we arrived on the beach we walked to the Eastern side of Railay and found where we would be staying for 3 nights (Raily Viewpoint Hotel). We dropped our things, packed our beach bag and headed to the sea! We spent our phenomenal 3 days on the beach/swimming in the sea, drinking beer and one afternoon was spent poolside. Our evenings were spectacular and all began with a stunning sunset. There was a neat bar on the beach that would set out mats and mini tables – we chose to take our own drinks and towel for the event.

After sunset on our first night in paradise we found ourselves on our side of the beach at The Last Bar. We sat on the floor with a pillow and had a few drinks while this fantastic singer/guitarist serenaded the audience (no song was a disappointment).

     After sunset on our second night we found ourselves eating at what we called The Jungle Bar (because it was in the woods). It was absolutely delicious and the cheapest food that we found. Afterwards we puttered about and decided that a relatively early night would be wise because we were planning to kayak for our last day – something that was on both of our priority lists J

Our Last Day & Night in Railay:

Our last day was spectacular – we spent a few hours kayaking around a piece of Railay and it was…well it was beyond words. The water couldn’t have been more lovely, blue and warm and the scenery was mind-blowing. After paddling around exploring we chose to pull up on a beach that we found. We stayed put for a while and from there had to paddle back to return the boat (unfortunately). I would kayak Everyday if I lived in Railay, what an experience! Our last night was one of our favorites. We went to the beach for sunset, played with our beach paddles and had a drink as the sun went down. While sitting there we realized it was a full moon which meant Chinese Lanterns. When it was nice and dark we bought one, lit it and sent it into the sky. Check Chinese Lanterns off of my list, what a beautiful thing to do!! We were so content, sitting on the beach watching it float away when a family had bought a bunch and offered us one. How could we say no? There were 10 of us that set them off together (staggered) and we thought that watching 10 was a sight.. until we watched a wedding party send upwards of 60 into the dark clear sky. What beauty! It was absolutely spectacular to watch and the perfect way to end our time in our favorite location of our trip!!

Koh Lanta for a night of relaxation - December 26th-27th

On the boat heading to Koh Lanta

While in Koh Phi Phi we grappled with what island to go to next, after realizing that everything was booked in Phi Phi. Finally we decided on Koh Lanta, it was said to be beautiful and very calm, a nice change from the party atmosphere of Phi Phi. So we bought 2 boat tickets, booked a place at the pier and hopped on the afternoon boat the next day. The boat was great! We got to sit on the outside where we dangled our feet from the sides and read while we headed to our next adventure. Although the place that we had booked was a little out of the way we were lucky enough to have a free drive in a truck. The girls got to sit in the truck with a/c while John and the boys had to sit in the back of the truck with the sun beating down on them - I saw this as yet another fun/hot experience for John to put under his belt...hahaha When we got to our place, although it was a bit out of the way, we were excited to drop our things and cool off. John had splurged for a/c (what a saint). Turned out that our place had a pool and bar/restaurant on the beach only 2 minutes from our hut so needless to say, that’s where we spent our day. We ate, drank and swam in the ocean - a lovely day. 

We really couldn’t have asked for a nicer and more relaxed evening in Koh Lanta. After cleaning ourselves up we walked to the main street along the beach where we shared a delicious meal and then went for a long walk on the beach. The places there are phenomenal, the beach is like white flour and there were lights everywhere. After giving up on trying to find a place to stay for the next night (my word the places were expensive) we stumbled across a really neat bar on the beach where they had dug out areas and put a mat down with pillows and a table. We set up shop there for the evening, had a few drinks and made a plan to head to 

Railay in the morning. 

Christmas in Koh Phi Phi {December 23rd- December 26th)

{Before arriving in China John had booked three nights in Koh Phi Phi so that we knew we had somewhere to stay for Christmas, from there our schedule was wide open so that we could move between islands as we pleased.}

On Sunday morning John and I got up early, shared a small breaky then took our taxi to the pier to hop on the boat to Phi Phi. When we arrived we were a little concerned with the weather, it was raining. We found seats on the bottom deck of the boat (away from the rain) where we read and slept and drank horrible cups of coffee while we journeyed to The Party Island of Koh Phi Phi.

We spent 3 wonderful days in Koh Phi Phi and were very sad when we had to leave: my word we had a fun Christmas! John found us a beautiful spot on Nice Beach; it was the perfect location with a lovely beach and stunning cliff faces surrounding it. We spent our days on the beach, eating yummy food (Koh Phi Phi also has the most delicious slices of pizzas that we enjoyed both day and night), drinking beer and puttering around the shops (there were all over the place).

The first day that we arrived we dropped our things and went out on tour. Lucky that we did because we came across the Captain Bob’s Booze Cruise shop; friends that had been on the island before said that this Cruise was well worth the money and that if we did nothing else but spend a day with Captain Bob, it would be worth it. The weather wasn’t fantastic but after some deliberating we decided to do it (it was the only day open, so it was then or never). We had a half hour to shove a piece of pizza into us, change and get to the boat – this day quickly turned into one of our top days! We got on the sailboat with a bunch of strangers (including a group of hilarious Mexicans) at 12:00 and set off on our adventure. The first stop was Monkey Island. We stripped down, jumped off of the boat and swam to shore to meet the monkeys that we were warned ‘might rip off a piece of flesh for now reason so be ready to run to the water’. After some time spent with the energetic monkeys we swam back to the boat (some kayaked) and heading to our next stop. Cliff Jumping. I had already wrecked my big toe on coral swimming to see the monkeys so I decided against jumping but John and some of the boys did!! It was hilarious watching them. We then sailed to Maya Bay where The Beach (movie) was filmed. We cracked the beers on the way and when we arrived we put lifejackets on like diapers and swam to a beach in a cave where we snorkeled, swam, drank and played Frisbee (it was directly across from Maya Bay and it was stunning). After some time spent there we headed to the other side. I swam the whole way with a few of the Mexicans while others were dragged half way (John) and others kayaked. We ventured into the middle of the island where we found a lagoon and then strolled back. What a beautiful place. From there we swam back to the boat (a good distance) and then got some fresh cold ones. We went to another island where we were able to go into a swim-up cave and receive massages from the waves, it was amazing and a little nerve wracking when it came to getting out against the waves. After snorkeling around we hopped back on the boat and left the island to watch the sunset, that’s when Ryan from Washington whipped out a beautiful engagement ring (I asked “what is that?” and John responded “Kate, shut uppp” and Ryan smiled) and proposed to Ashley, also from Washington. After the celebration we enjoyed some beer funnels then sailed back to the pier. After showering John realized he Really didn’t feel well so I went out to meet everyone for a quick drink and let them know that we wouldn’t be going out. I then walked all over the island trying to find John water and pizza then made it home. This was definitely one of the Best Christmas presents that we have ever received from my parents and John’s!

Christmas Eve Day was spent on the beach recovering and Christmas Eve was spent on the other side of the island. We had a beautiful dinner at Ciao Bella on the beach and then proceeded to have a wild night that included fire dancers, music, dancing, and buckets. The tide also went out and we were able to walk out and         see the beach from another stunning angle. What A Night!!!

Christmas Day was also spent on the beach recovering:) We went on an adventure, found our own private beach and then went out for round 2. This evening was a little more relaxed (minus doing the limbo that was on fire – it seemed like a good idea at the time) but it was terrific! The perfect way to end our time in Koh Phi Phi, the island full of beautiful people and sun burns. 

To have spent our first christmas together, without our family was strange but we did have a truly phenomenal time in Koh Phi Phi :)

Hello Krabi, Thailand!! Saturday, December 22nd

Saturday, December 22^nd – Arrival in Krabi, Thailand

We arrived at the Krabi airport safe and sound and looking/feeling a bit ragged…. I felt 3 inches shorter and I was sure that my body was bent a little to the right. We used the bathroom (as in John was straight in and out while I waited in a huge line) and went to find ourselves a cab to get to our little beach hut for the night. Mission accomplished, kind of. If only we had checked that the girly man (legit) that booked our cab had filled the form out properly…we ended up driving in the wrong direction. Not a problem, we just paid the difference: Miscommunication #2. When we arrived to our place in Krabi we were thrilled, what a great recommendation from Ross and Mariya Henderson J 

 We had a beautiful little hut just a few steps from the beach and it was beautiful! We check-in, had some breakfast then settled in for the day. JB was exhausted (still jet-lagged) so he went to take a nap while I explored the beach. ¾ hours later I got sick of reading, laying on the beach and swimming alone so I woke up the tired boy. We spent the rest of the day walking the beach with our new friend Boom (a 3-legged dog who was more agile than the two of us in the sand), trying to get across the water with no success and skyping at a bar down the beach. That evening we met a great group from Australia/NZ and a couple from out West. We sat around, ate yummy food and had some drinks before the karaoke started up J We didn’t last very late and were very excited about our trip over to Koh Phi Phi in the morning! 

Boom