Additional Vacation info

So the good news is that when we got back, Akiva’s birthday presents from Mom and Dad and Rachel and Micah were waiting for us. He received an electric gear thing, several good books, two years supply of saline nasal inhaler. Akiva is busy experimenting with seeing how what happens when you put your figures in the gear thing toy, and how much torque the small electric motor has..

The bad news is that Suzhou is -1 C…. much colder than when we left and possibly the coldest ever in Akiva’s life so far.

So as Haga said, Thailand was great. Possibly the most relaxing vacation in my life. Not necessarily the most exciting vacation. But the most relaxing. Our daily schedule was something like this:

6:30 Haga and Akiva wake up, they go out.
7:30 Jesse wakes up. We all go out.
7:30-8:30 Akiva plays outside
8:30 we eat so-so breakfast
9:30-10:00 Akiva plays in sand
10:10:15 Akiva plays in ocean
10:30 Akiva and Jesse sleep
11:30 Akiva and Jesse wake up and plan where to go for lunch
12:00 We all go to the local Muslim curry restaurant. Jesse eats spicy chicken curry. Haga eats Pad Tai (noodles). Akiva eats rice cereal mixed with lemony Thai soup. And Ice Coffee.
1:00-2:30 Akiva plays in sand
2:30-3:15 Akiva goes in ocean
3:30-5:30 Akiva and Jesse sleep
5:30-6:00 Haga, Akiva, and Jesse swim in pool (its in the shade now)
6:30-7:30 Akiva and Jesse discuss what to eat for dinner
7:00-8:00 We all eat calamari, pad tai, chicken curry. Although sometimes we eat BBQ and Satey.
8:30-9:00 We get Akiva ready for bed.
9:30- Jesse goes out to local bar and socializes with Belgium film crew preparing to film reality TV series.

We had some variation to this routine…we went to Phuket Town one day to buy stuff.

Oh…and I went Scuba diving one day. Here is how that went…

I was taught for 45 minutes in a pool by an Italian instructor.
We went out on the boat the next day in the morning. I put the gear on and went under. It took me a long time to get down just 10 meters because I’m not good at equalizing the pressure in my ears.
I saw a bunch of coral and fish. It was pretty.
About 15 minutes into it, I felt I was having trouble going both up or down because of my ears (I have sinusitis and it is a little difficult to gauge if I am blowing on my ears (by holding my nose) to much or little.
On the way up I started to get dizzy (I guess from pressure on my ears). I got scarred for a few seconds because I thought I was going to pass out. Then I figured I should communicate to the instructor that I was about to pass out. I made a circle motion around my head, signifying birds / stars were orbiting my head. The instructor sort of made a hand motion like “mama mia, fugett about it. Tis nothing.”. So I thought…OK.
Then we got to the top. But my ear felt itchy for a few days afterwards. Haga thinks its because I don’t clean my ear enough.

We also met up with a friend, Amy. Amy is a “cool chick”. We stayed at her house last time we went to Thailand. You can see pictures and read the post about the last time we went to Thailand here.

What else? Ummm…. Here are some random observations:
1. China Eastern Airlines sucks. Period. Not because we took the red-eye…but because it is just bad.

2. Thai people like rock and roll. And not just young people. That makes them better than Chinese people. On the beach, the Muslim middle-aged woman who made my ice coffee (and I note that SHE was Muslim because she wore the black head scarf…which I guess means that she was somewhat observant) hums disco and rock songs.

3. In China, the best clothes are exported to the US. In Thailand, they import thrift store cloths and wear concert T-shirts (because many are made there). I saw a lot of older people wearing Dead Kennedys T-shirts. Very funny. So Thai people, although not as wealthy as Chinese, look cooler.

Great Family Vacation in Phuket, Thailand

Patong Beach, the most "happning" beach in Phuket.

Thai warm weather made Akiva’s life simple. And Thai people made him smiley.

When Akiva is in Suzhou, he wears a dipper, a under ware shirt, a toe covered sleeper, shirt, sweater, and pant. When he goes outside, he wear head to toe covered sky jacket with glove, bootees and extra ear covered hat over the indoor clothes. In Thailand, he was good to go with only dipper. He was often free style on the beach. He loved less hassle.

Thail street food in Patong

Thai people are very found of baby. Everyone smiled at him. When we went to shopping mall in Patong, all teenage girls wanted to pork Akiva’s chubby cheeks (although he was very sleepy he was happy to let the girls do so). When we were in the ocean after sun set (Thai people go to the beach before sun rise or after sun set, so they don’t get darker. To me they look already very dark), all toddlers and kids wanted to play with Akiva and again wanted to poke his cheeks and squeeze his soft arms and thigh. When we sat on the porch in our bungalow, walking-by cleaning ladies and front desk people entertained Akiva constantly.

Bangtao beach is very quiet. Akiva played sand every day.

Sometime Akiva acted like a boy’s band star with big almost fake smile. Sometime he acted like a king with courtesy smile. He seemed know how to select his social behaviors with different smiles.

Bangtao Laguna Bungalows was 200m from the beach by walking.

I have traveled in Thailand three times in winter. The first time was with my girl’s friend. The second time was with Jesse two years ago. And this time was with family. Every trip convinced me Thailand is great country to travel (with anyone!!).

Akiva loved water.

I need to mention how excellent Thai food is! (We learned how to say “No spicy” in Thai languages for baby). Akiva liked Tom Yong Goug (Thai soup), Pat Thai (Thai fried noodle) and rice porridge. Tropical fruits are delicious!! Mangosteen is amazing! I love sticky rice with mongo (which our friend Tony introduced me two years ago). Thai deserts are also very good, enough sweet to make my sweet teeth satisfied.