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Thailand - Day 18

Travel day.  I had an afternoon flight, so I had time to enjoy breakfast and leisurely pack. 

Beautiful, sunny morning.  It started raining on my way to the airport.  Anantara provided transportation to airport.  Mercedes with cold towel, beverages and snacks provided, approximately a 20 minute ride.  My driver went above and beyond the call of duty.  I only needed him to drop me off at the airport.  He took my bag out of the trunk; escorted me into the airport; waited while my  bag was scanned through security; took my bag to the check-in counter; then escorted me to the security checkpoint.  That will definitely be included in my Tripadvisor review of Anantara.

1 hour and 15 minute flight from Phuket to Bangkok.  From Bangkok to Taipei, a little over 3 hours.  Taipei to SFO, approximately 11 hours.  At SFO, I got to go through Global Entry instead of normal immigration.  Awesome!  In and out in approximately 3 minutes.  My bag came out of baggage claim about 15 minutes later.  Then it was a breeze through customs and a leisurely walk to a waiting BART train.  About an hour ride from SFO to the Richmond Amtrak station.  Amtrak to Sacramento normally takes about an hour and a half, but due to delays with Union Pacific, it took about 2 hours.  I setup a pickup with Lyft on my way from the train to the curb.  The car was there in 2 minutes.  A short ride later, I was home.

Thailand - Day 17

"Do not much of anything" day.  Very nice day.  Mostly sunny.  A tad on the hot side.  (I was sweating from just walking around and taking pictures.)

After breakfast, I walked around more of the resort.  I found the tennis courts and the boxing ring.  From there, I went back to other side.  I walked around the pool, then went down to Mai Khao beach.  There was still some of the resort that I hadn't seen, but I was sweating so much, I decided to return to my villa.  I put my pool and outdoor shower to good use.

Lunch time, I walked down to Mai Khao Plaza. It's a nice place.  There are a few shops and a restaurant.  I stopped by a souvenir shop and bought some stuff.  Then I had lunch at Mai Khao Living Room.  A very nice restaurant with a good menu.  Also, it's much cheaper than the resort.

On my way back from lunch, I stopped by Turtle Village.  More shops, more restaurants, more stuff.  It's conveniently located next door to Anantara.

The rest of the day, I did relatively nothing.  I kicked back in pool for a bit.  From the pool, I moved to my Sala.  A little later, I went to Anantara's Tree House. I finished the day with a 90 minute Thai massage.

Thailand - Day 16

Beautiful day.  I spent all of it on a diving excursion.  I went with Sea Bees Diving.  I did the 1 day/2 dives package to the Similan islands.  They picked me up from the resort around 0640.  Then it was about a 45 minute ride to the pier.  There I, and a lot of other people, boarded a  very large catamaran.  Once everyone was onboard, we began our 3 hour trip to the Similan islands.  On the way there, the crew prepared a very nice breakfast for everyone.  After which, everyone settled in for the ride.

The dive sites were very nice.  Blue skies, calm waters, and about a 20 meter visibility underwater.  I think I got a lot of good pictures.

After the first dive, the crew prepared lunch.  Some time after lunch, dive 2.

Once the dives and snorkeling (there were snorkelers too) were done, everyone was back on the boat for the return trip.  The crew prepared more snacks.  I don't know about others, but after the snacks I found a place to lie down and get some sleep.

Back at the pier, transportation back resorts was waiting.  Funny thing, it started raining on the way back. It was a 45 ride back to the resort.  I got back around 1920.  Once there, I showered and got a drink. I barely finished my update and called it a night.  I was tired....

Elephant Trekking

Thailand - Day 15

It's been raining on and off all day.  What's been nice is it really hasn't affected anything.  What's been really nice is it stops raining during my activities.

Today's activity was elephant trekking.  It took up the entire morning.  It was a nice drive there, during which it rained.  We (me and guests from other resorts) arrived, it stopped raining.  We got a tour of the place.  We were introduced to an elephant and his Mahout.  We went elephant trekking.  Some people bought some souvenirs after.  Then we were all driven back to our respective resorts.  During which it started raining again.

This is the fourth elephant I've been on.  Three times, I've been a passenger.  One time, I was a Mahout.  The other times, it was just a single elephant.  This time it was more of a caravan.  It had a different feel, but it was still good.

I got back to the resort around 2:00.  Lunch was still being served.  I didn't bother stopping by my villa, I just went straight to lunch.  Afterwards I walked around a little bit more of the resort.

Thailand - Day 14

Normally, the first day after I arrive at a resort, I walk around and take pictures.  Today wasn't a good day for that, so I just walked around and figured out where everything was.  The resort is big.  I walked around most of it today and still didn't see everything.

I also scheduled a few activities.  Today I had the obligatory massage.  Tomorrow is elephant trekking.  The next day will be diving.

Scheduling diving was a little bit of a chore.  The dive shop is in the JW Marriott.  It is not the Marriott Vacation Club...  Which is next door to Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas...  Which is across the street from Anantara Phuket Vacation Club.  JW Marriott is about a quarter mile down the road.  The dive shop is hidden away in back.  I took a buggy to get there and back.  (Buggies are awesome.)

I also figured out my dining plan for here.  I will do breakfast at Anantara's La Sala restaurant.  Lunch will be at Anantara's Sea Fire Salt restaurant (appetizers or sides).  Dinner will be at one of the local restaurants.  (Dinner at La Sala is expensive.  Much cheaper to eat at local restaurants.)

Oh, almost forgot, Happy Halloween!  They don't do Halloween here.

Thailand - Day 13

Travel day.  I had an afternoon flight, so I had time to enjoy breakfast.  Afterwards I returned to my villa to finish packing.  Just as I finished, two monkeys appeared outside.  I managed to get pictures of one of them.  On my way to check out, I saw two more.

Check out was quick, followed by a short boat ride to Kota Kinabalu.  From the boat, 20 minute car ride to the airport.  Then a 2 and half hour flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur.  Then a 1 hour 15 minute flight to Phuket.  I thought immigration was relatively quick.  When I got to baggage claim, my bag was coming out.  That never happens.  I'm guessing the slight detour I made to currency exchange may have contributed to my bag arriving so quickly.  Anyway, got my bag.  Anantara had a car waiting for me as I walked out.  A 20 minute car ride later, I arrived at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas.

On a slightly different topic, I learned something today which has annoyed me all week. When I left the Philippines to come to Malaysia, my flight path was El Nido to Manila to Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu.  It's approximately 1500 miles from Manila to Kuala Lumpur.  From Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu is about 1000 miles.  But El Nido to Kota Kinabalu is about 400 miles.  When I booked my flight, there was no option to fly El Nido to Kota Kinabalu.  (Anyone who has seen El Nido airport would understand this as reasonable.) However, there is an option to fly from Puerto Princesa (the other end of Palawan). to Kota Kinabalu.  (AirAsia) Unfortunately, it's not everyday of the week.  So if you're going from El Nido to Kota Kinabalu and can be flexible with your travel plans, play around with dates to try to get the one from Puerto Princesa... Or you can take the "scenic" route that I took.

Malaysia - Day 12

Eat, sleep, drink, repeat.  Add in a 100 minute Malay massage just to mix things up a bit.

Gaya Island Resort

Malaysia - Day 11

For the last couple of days, there has been a monkey hanging (literally) around my villa.  Every time I try to get a picture, it runs away. I've been to several places where there were monkeys.  The warnings were don't feed them and be very mindful of your belongings because they are notorious for stealing them.  Here, the same warnings apply with the addition "Keep your villa locked."  This morning, a monkey (not sure if it was the same one) tried to get into my villa.  Later in the morning, another monkey was at my door.  I managed to get a picture of it before it ran away.  It's not a great picture, but it is the only one I have managed to get so far.

The rest of the morning was uneventful.  Snorkeling, not good.  Again, bad visibility, it was around 10 ft. 

I had lunch later.  Something at lunch did not agree with me.  Amazingly, in all my years of travel to foreign countries, this was the first time a meal did not sit well with me.  I was fine later though.

I went to the Spa Village for massage #3 of 5.  (I think I got this package for making my reservation early.  It is not something I would have chosen, but I definitely wasn't going to say no.) I chose the Balinese massage this time.

The weather here is cooperating nicely.  It's been nice in morning, usually continuing into the afternoon.  Then rain in the evening.  Which has been good because usually by late evening, I'm done.

Gaya Island Resort

Malaysia - Day 10

I went diving today.  I did a 2 tank dive with a company called "Borneo Dream".  The water temperature was warm, no wetsuit needed.  There was a lot of sealife to see.  Unfortunately, visibility was worse than the Philippines.  10-15 feet on the first dive and about 20 feet on the second.  On the plus side, I stayed under longer than normal and the underwater housing I got for my camera worked great.  Also, the dive shop took us to a restaurant and bought us lunch after the dives.

After lunch, the boat brought me back to the resort.  From the jetty I headed directly to Spa Village.  I had another appointment.  This was my second of five massages.  This time, I got the "Rolling Waves" massage.  Forearms and knuckles are used to lengthen muscles and release tension.  It worked out very well after diving.

Locks

Filipinos and Malaysians can be added to the list of people in Southeast Asia who are fascinated by my hair.

Malaysia - Day 9

The day started with a beautiful morning.  That, turned into rain (occasionally heavy) in the afternoon.  Then clear in the evening.  Much of my activity was in the morning.  I had the buffet breakfast.  (Quite good, but Anantara is still my favorite.)  Then I took a walk around the resort.  It's quite big.  I worked up a little sweat...  The humidity may have contributed some to that.  I stopped at the Spa Village and scheduled my first of 5 massages that came with my package.  Then back to explore more of the resort.

Later, I had a late lunch.  I arrived at the restaurant just as it started raining.  I can't spell or pronounce what I had, but it was very good.  (Minor rant: Why fly thousands of miles just to have pizza or fries?)

It was still raining when I finished lunch.  Luckily, the resort has umbrellas just about everywhere.  In addition to the two in your villa, there are umbrellas in every common area.  If you didn't bring one from your villa, you can use one of those, which I did.

I returned to the Spa Village later for my 50 minute massage.  I chose the "Malay Massage: Long kneading strokes that focus on the muscles, and pressure applied to various points of the body."  Yep, it was good, and also a great way to end the day.

Kuala Lumpur Airport

Something good to know about Kuala Lumpur Airport (KUL): It is actually two airports, KLIA1 and KLIA2.  This is very important if the plane you arrive on lands in KLIA1, and your connecting flight is in KLIA2.  Transferring between is easy enough.  Just take the KLIA Ekspres.  There is a fare, but it's really inexpensive and travel time is about 3 minutes.

Malaysia - Day 8

Travel day #2.  Got up at 0400 this morning in the Philippines to catch an early flight to Malaysia.  I've been in airports all day.  By the time I arrived in Kota Kinabalu, it was dark and rainy.  And I still had to do a 20 minute car ride to the boat, followed by a 20 minute boat ride.  I was tired when I arrived at Gaya Island Resort.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go to my villa because the resort lost power earlier in the day and they hadn't restored power to the section my villa was in....

Positive things today were:

   1.  Malaysia is my second best immigration experience ever.  (Switzerland is still number one.)
   2.  Gaya gave me a free dinner while they were trying to restore power to my villa
   3.  When power still wasn't restored after I finished dinner, they moved me to another villa

Taytay, Palawan, Philippines

Philippines - Day 7

Travel day.  45 minutes to 1 hour boat ride.  90 van ride.  55 minute flight.  Now for the fine details:

   - It rained most of the day. Luckily not bad enough to cause problems for the motorized outrigger we took back to the mainland.
   - El Nido airport, though cute in its own unique way, is not high tech.  Security consists of a few security people physically going through everyone's luggage.  There aren't any scanners.  Surprisingly, they don't check the passengers.
   - While the rain didn't affect the outrigger, it did cause problems at Manila airport.  Our plane was an hour late.
   - I do not recommend driving in Manila.  Definitely get a driver.

Philippines - Day 6

Nice day.  Eat, drink, sleep, repeat.  Not necessarily in that order.

Philippines - Day 5

The day began with a postcard type beautiful morning.  I got up and took a leisurely stroll to breakfast.  I saw some blacktip reef sharks along the way.  I also saw a water monitor lizard by the restaurant.  I took a few pictures of it.  Then I finally made it to breakfast.

After a very satisfying breakfast, I returned to my cottage and pretty much did nothing for the rest of the morning.  Lunch came by and I skipped it too.  I was still too full from breakfast.

I did do a snorkeling excursion in the afternoon.  It was to Nabat island.  It takes 15-20 minutes to get there by boat.  Once there, everyone has approximately 45 minutes to snorkel.  Visibility was about 20 ft.  I'm guessing that was due to the aftereffects of the typhoon.  The water was warm.  There were a lot of fish and coral.  However, there were not any big fish.  I took a lot of pictures of small fish.

After snorkeling, I went to the island bar.  I ordered some drink that I had no idea what was in it.  (It was very good though.)  Then I got to be entertained by some Apulit staff playing volleyball.  I was asked to join but I gracefully declined and enjoyed my drink.  After the bar and volleyball, I still had time to shower before dinner.

Dinner was very good as usual.  The appetizers and main course have been different every night.  This time I saved room for dessert...  Food coma kicked in about an hour later....

Still on Apulit

Philippines - Day 4

I went diving this morning.  Apulit has several dive sites.  The one we went to was called "Dragon Head".  The aftereffects of the typhoon could still be seen.  There was stuff floating in the water.  Not trash or debris, just stuff.  Visibility was about 30 ft.  I didn't see much sealife, however there was one little fish that followed us for most of the dive.  Counting the divemaster, there were three of us and the fish would randomly hide behind one diver, then switch to another.

After diving, I had a little time to shower before lunch.  All the meals are buffet.  However, you can have a private picnic or dinner setup in a cabana, on a beach, or in a cave.

Speaking of which, I did the Cave tour in the afternoon.  It was much better than I expected.  I'm glad I brought my camera.  With the help of our guide, I managed to get some good shots.

The tour finished just before dinner.  I went and stuffed myself.  Food coma is starting to set in about now....

Philippines - Day 3

I had planned to do nothing today.  That happened to be a good idea.  It rained all morning.  There was a typhoon hitting the Philippines.  Luckily, not in the area I was in, but it was close enough to give us rain and thunderstorms.  No winds though.  It was all gone by the afternoon.

I did get out a bit.  I walked around some of the resort and took a few pictures.  In spite of the rain, I and many of the other guests also had breakfast in the restaurant.  I did wonder how that would work out considering the restaurant has just a roof and no walls.  But there was no wind so everyone was fine.  By dinner time, the sun had set and you couldn't tell it had rained.

Apulit Island

Philippines - Day 2

Finally made it to Apulit Island.  This place takes time to get to.  Another reason I spent a night in Manila is I didn't arrive early enough to catch the connecting flight to El Nido.  This morning, it was a 40 minute ride from the hotel to the airport.  (Manila traffic is bad.). Followed by a 55 minute flight to El Nido.  Then a 90 minute ride to Taytay town.  Then finally, a 40 minute boat ride to Apulit.

Upon arriving at Apulit, we were greeted with Ginger tea and a song by the staff.  After a quick registration, I was given an overview of activities and taken to my water cottage.

Apulit has 50 water cottages.  20 have a loft and sleep 4.  30 sleep 2.  All are over water.

I didn't realize how tired I was until I checked into mine.  I did a little unpacking, laid on the bed and the next thing I knew, it was dinner time.

Dinner was a huge buffet.  There was a lot to choose from.  I didn't even make it to the desserts.

After dinner, I called it a night.  I was well fed, a little tired, and ready to go to sleep.

Intramuros

Philippines - Day 1

SFO to Taipei, approximately 13 hours.  Taipei to Manila, approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Not bad really considering I slept most of the way.  I didn't even watch an in-flight movie.  BTW, for those of you who have ATT Uverse with the app. It does work in Taipei airport.

Immigration in Manila is relatively quick.  I still had to wait for my luggage, but I wasn't in any rush to be anywhere.

The hotel I was staying at, the Bayleaf Intramuros, provided transportation.  I was only staying here one night.  I wanted to see a little bit of Manila before continuing on to my final Philippines destination, El Nido resorts, Apulit island.

The Bayleaf is very nice and conveniently located to a lot of stuff.  It is in the Intramuros.  There is a lot to see a many places to eat, all within easy walking distance.  I did manage to see quite a bit.

Hello Kitty