welcome!

“I love you. I’ll be seeing you.” – Noah

Whatever happened to secret admirers, candy grams, and those boxed superhero Valentine’s Day cards you find at local drugstores?  As we get older, the innocence and excitement of Valentine’s Day often gets replaced with the pressure to have someone to watch The Notebook with.  We miss the simple days of getting up in the morning, eating chocolate for breakfast and counting the cards in the shoebox that sat on your desk at school all day!  The true test of one’s popularity index could only be correctly measured on this day.

So we started thinking – every year, starting in November, we spend hours looking for the perfect Christmas cards…then even more time writing out personal notes to all of our friends.  And every year, without fail, we forget to actually SEND them!  Why the simple task of walking to the post office and depositing the cards is too much to handle, we’ll never quite figure out.

But this year, we have an idea to rectify this conundrum: we’re bringing back the cheesy goodness of Valentine’s Day!  If you’re looking for a cute idea, march to the nearest drugstore, pick up a boxed set of Valentine’s Day cards, and send them to all of your friends.  Cheap, cute…and the best part?  No lineups at the post office.

Does anyone have Jake Gyllenhaal’s home address?

Koh Samui – Seafood Feasts and Festivities!

A handful of idyllic beach bungalows, quaint beach front restaurants and an overall sense of seclusion – that was Koh Samui, 20 years ago.   The picture today is in many ways a stark contrast to the once remote and “underdeveloped” island. Starbucks, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and countless 7 Elevens now inhabit one of Thailand’s most popular islands.   It is amazing how much a place can change.

I do have to say that despite the development of the island, nothing will ever top a seafood feast on the beach.  After the sun sets, the beach comes alive with neon lights, loud music and fireworks.  Take your pick of one of the many beach restaurants that line the shore and spend hours indulging on a variety of different Thai seafood delights.   My absolute favourite “seafood feast on the beach” dish is Pla sam rod (fish with 3 sauces).   It is spicy, sour, sweet and soooo delicious.  A close second for me is Pak bung fai dang (Morning glory, stir fried with chili).  The best vegetable in the world if you can cook it like the Thai’s.

After dinner, dance with your toes in perfectly white sand whilst sipping an incredibly cheap Mai Tai , Singha Beer  or the infamous Thai bucket, definitely an acquired taste!  The attached photograph of Ark Bar on Chaweng beach I took last night over a game of cards and some highly entertaining people watching.

Next stop, Koh Tao…I am on the ferry as I write and typical of the island life, we are an hour behind schedule.  Thank goodness for air conditioning!  Koh Tao – an island famous for its diving, where whale sharks are plenty, visibility is incredible and prices are cheap!  Plans thus far include beach massages,  sun tanning, island hopping….and of course, lots of eating.  I will keep you all posted, Sawasdee Ka from the Lomprayah ferry Koh Tao-bound!

The Life of Kai (well, some of us, anyways!)

Warning to readers:  Before perusing this blog post, please ensure that you lock all credit cards safely out of harms way.  You may find yourself making a sudden visit to the Expedia website to purchase one-way tickets to Thailand.  

Actually, scratch that.  Where’s my wallet? 

As mentioned in last weeks post, one of our lovely partners, Amanda, is spending the holidays with her family in Thailand.  For the next couple of weeks, she will be blogging about her travels to the beach and back.  Just two days from Christmas, here is the first of a few jealousy-inducing posts:

So here I am back in the land of smiles for the holidays. For some people, Christmas is not Christmas without snow, a fireplace and eggnog. For others, the only Christmas they know includes a fake tree, incredibly tacky Christmas displays at the local malls and a Santa with an accent.   Even though the Thai’s may not be the greatest at window displays, Christmas at the beach has always been what I believe to be the only way to spend the holidays! 

Last night my sister flew in and joined me at home in Bangkok. We headed out to our favourite place in the city, Kao Sarn road. This road is unlike any other road one would experience. For those of you that have never been, Kao Sarn road (pronounced cow san) is every backpacker’s dream. It is one long strip of hostels, restaurants and shops, some of which you may recognize from scenes from The Beach.  At night, the road fills up with pop-up bars, plastic stools are brought out and suddenly, you are witnessing a full-scale dance party, no cover required!  Talk about an opportunity for some event planning!

In the 20 years that my family has been here, I am pleased to say that Kao Sarn road is one of the few places in the city that has hardly changed. And for that, I am grateful!

Off to the beach on the 26th. Can’t wait, will keep you posted!