Jun 272012
 

I think I’m going to have to stop counting the days that I am here because I can’t really keep track of them anymore. It’s great when the days finally start to blend together as it means that ‘vacation-mode’ is finally setting in. Mostly, I do the days in the title to differentiate the posts and give them some order, but I suppose the date of publication will do that for me…. πŸ™‚

Anyway, my sleeping patterns have changed, thus also changing my exercise pattern. Usually, I prefer to get up and off for a run on the treadmill right away so as to get my day going quickly. I generally don’t enjoy running in the afternoons, but I could…. I am rather keen to try a run on the beach with no shoes, but am a little concerned about the sloped terrain, so maybe I will have to save that for walking. In any case, in a few days we are moving to a different hotel that has a gym and pool, so I should be able to return to a more regular routine then. In the meantime, I’ll do what I can with our swimming.

We’ve been chilling in the mornings and then going to the beach for a swim in the early afternoons. That is usually followed by some food and afternoon relaxing before we go out for dinner and ride around the town.

Although I have been doing well in keeping with my ‘no work for two weeks’ rule, I am exploring other areas of interest such as writing. My post tomorrow will explain that in more detail.

So, most of my days are being filled with playing games, reading, writing, eating and sleeping. Sounds like vacation, right?! It’s still a bit weird for me as I feel as if I should be more productive and exercise more, but I need to learn to give myself a break. It’s only been three days after all! Need more practice. πŸ˜‰

Here are some pics:

Sunset view (June 26th)
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Sunset view (June 26th)26-Jun-2012 15:49, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 4.1, 15.7mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 200
VW Bus bar
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VW Bus bar26-Jun-2012 17:36, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200
VW Bus bar menu
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VW Bus bar menu26-Jun-2012 17:54, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
 
White Russian #1
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White Russian #126-Jun-2012 17:53, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.2 sec, ISO 400
Let's see...
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Let's see...26-Jun-2012 17:54, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.333 sec, ISO 400
Yep! Tasty!!!
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Yep! Tasty!!!26-Jun-2012 17:54, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.333 sec, ISO 400
 
White Russian #...4???
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White Russian #...4???26-Jun-2012 18:33, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 4.1, 15.7mm, 0.2 sec, ISO 400
Didn't get a pic of the food as I was a little bit too buzzed for that, but took a picture of the sign ensuring quality food!
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Didn't get a pic of the food as I was a little bit too buzzed for that, but took a picture of the sign ensuring quality food!26-Jun-2012 18:47, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.4, 7.9mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200
In memory of...
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In memory of...26-Jun-2012 17:36, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 4.0, 14.1mm, 0.5 sec, ISO 400
 
Jun 252012
 

There’s nothing quite like waking up and realizing that you’re on vacation with absolutely nothing to do. If you’re like me, then on a normal day your mind might start racing with making a mental list of what needs to be done. So, when you remember that, in fact, you have nothing that ‘has’ to be done, a smile is all that is left to be had! πŸ˜€

Still, I haven’t quite fully accepted that I should be in relax mode, so I decided to check out the beach and mark the distance if I were to go for a run. With my running shoes and Nike+ ready to go, I went for a healthy beach walk.

After sorting out that it is about a 5.8km roundtrip route on the sand, I came back to enjoy some coffee on the balcony, which is one of my favorite things to do on holiday. For some reason, coffee on the balcony feels like holiday. πŸ™‚

Although we may end up moving from our ideal location due to noise issues (though most of the area has noise issues), the accommodations here at The Front Apartments is pretty sweet.

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24-Jun-2012 09:00, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100
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24-Jun-2012 09:01, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100
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24-Jun-2012 09:02, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 100
 
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24-Jun-2012 09:02, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
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24-Jun-2012 09:03, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
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24-Jun-2012 09:03, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100
 
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24-Jun-2012 09:03, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125
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24-Jun-2012 09:04, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200
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24-Jun-2012 09:04, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 250
 

We have a one-bedroom apartment with a fully equipped kitchen, two bathrooms, free wifi and a large living space. The couch isn’t very comfortable, but everything else is quite nice and more than I had expected from a place in Phuket. Not sure what I expected to be honest, but when you have low expectations it’s much easier to be impressed. πŸ˜‰

Our main quest for the day was to find a scooter and explore. R’s favorite thing on holiday is to get a little set of wheels and ride around. His feet don’t go well with a lot of walking, so the scooter is a great option. He drives, I ride and watch the scenery. πŸ™‚ We found one for a pretty good deal for 25 days (25 days!) and were off.

The Patong Beach town is reasonably spread out with lots of typical touristy beach shops, but also has its own character. I didn’t get many pictures on our first day of riding around the town, but they will come.

Of course, a day and a post is not complete without a few pics of the evening gastronomical pleasures! πŸ˜€

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24-Jun-2012 17:22, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200
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24-Jun-2012 17:32, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 400
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24-Jun-2012 17:32, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200
 

More to come…

-T

Jun 242012
 

Let me just start with – It’s fantastic to be on vacation at last! πŸ˜€

We embarked in the early morning from Abu Dhabi on Etihad’s partner airline – AirBerlin. First, a few comments about this flight.

This was the first time I’d been on an AirBerlin flight as I’ve hardly been to Europe and not at all to Germany. There are a few important points to make note of. The seats reminded me of the good ol’ days of flying when I was small and more flexible so I never noticed the cramped leg space. Now, I’m less so and took note that when the ever-so-kind Arab passenger in front of me pushed his seat completely back I had almost no space to even hold my book. However, I think that the width of the seats was slightly larger, which would be good news to someone wider than myself. Next, the flight attendants were really lovely. Unfortunately, they had to deal with chauvinistic and peasant Arabs…, but I admired their professionalism and ability to stay polite. Most especially, I appreciated their uniforms,which were nicely fitted shirts and slacks. It is nice to see a more comfortable and realistically attractive uniform that doesn’t require skirts or other ‘sexist’ styles of the female flight attendants. Finally, I must comment on the food. Airline food is rarely expected to be good, but this was…barely acceptable to me. The breakfast was a choice of pancake or omelet. I chose the omelet and am disappointed I didn’t think to take a picture…. It left much to be desired. The only other food offered was a two or four-bite (depending on your bite) sized sandwiches of either turkey or cheese. It was edible, but nothing to write home about. So, while the flight was pretty smooth and luckily it was not a full flight, so R and I had our own space, I’m not yet a fan of AirBerlin.

In any case, Phuket International Airport is nice and small, so we were able to get on our way to the hotel in no time at all. After about a 40-minute taxi ride, we made it to our digs for at least the next week – The Front Apartments. It’s a nice and spacious apartment overlooking the beach. The beach is a mere 10 steps away!

So, R&R begins! πŸ˜€

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