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 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.