Karon beach District, Phuket

In November of last year I had the opportunity to go to Thailand, a destination I had wanted to visit for a long time, but hadn’t had the chance to until then.

After a long flight from Vancouver, connecting in Seoul, South Korea, I finally made it into Thailand, with my first stop being Phuket. It was a late arrival, and I only spent the one night (sleeping) there, before taking a ferry over to Ko Phi Phi for a few days.

I did get to return to Phuket after Phi Phi Island though, for a two day visit.

Phuket, an island in Southern Thailand, is one of the country’s most visited destinations. Beautiful beaches, cheap food and drinks, and great nightlife are some of the main draws to this tropical destination.

Karon Beach District at Night

Patong Beach is the most touristy area of Phuket, and since I only had two days in the city, I chose to skip Patong, opting instead to spend my time in the beautiful Karon Beach, a mere 7km south of Patong, but a world away in atmosphere.

Karon Beach still has some of the allure that Phuket is known for: beautiful beaches, good bars, great restaurants, inexpensive Thai Massages, and very cheap shopping. What is mostly different is that Karon’s scene is a little more… let’s say, “relaxed,” aimed more towards families, couples, and… well, me!

KARON DISTRICT
On my first day in Phuket I walked around Karon district a little, trying to create a mental map of the area, and looking for a place to eat. I started by walking up and down the streets near my hotel, lined with recently built buildings (as Karon was severely damaged during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami), which somehow still capture the essence and chaos of a Thai city.

I finally found a great little restaurant a few streets back from the beach, which typically means cheaper prices and less tourists. After indulging in a delicious seafood massaman curry, I walked across the street to a brightly coloured temple that caught my eye.

Karon Temple

The temple (Wat Suwan Khiri Khet, also known simply as Karon Temple) is unlike anything else I saw in Thailand on my two weeks there. With an over the top cartoony feel to it, the temple felt more Disney than religious to me, but it was still breath-taking. Not being sure at the time if the temple was open to the public or not (I kinda jumped over a tiny fence to get there), I quickly took a quick shots of it with my iPhone, before heading out.

KARON: THE BEACH
With a full tummy and a craving for sun, I walked back down to the beach. Karon Beach is beautiful; I walked a large stretch of the deep-golden sand beach, admiring the natural scenery of the area from various view points. Despite being the beginning of the high season, the beach was quite empty, with only a few European tourists here and there.

After a long walk along the beach, I returned to the area closer to my hotel, and sat on one of the beach chairs available for hire. Soon, an attendant came to charge me a fee (forget how much it was, but it was the equivalent of less than CAD$0.75 to rent the chair), and after I was settled, I went to a small stand near my chair and got a beer. I spent the afternoon admiring the scenery from my beach throne, a Chang beer in hand, until the sun began to set.

…AND THEN THINGS WENT WRONG
After watching the sunset, I returned to my hotel, showered, and then went out for dinner. I was kind of in the mood to check out one of the bars near my hotel and make new friends, but that’s when things went wrong: I started feeling the effects of an intense body flu (cold / hot flashes, body aches, weakness).  After I was done eating, I had to return to my hotel, hoping I could sleep it off so I’d be better the next day so that I could go check out the Phuket Big Buddha.

That night I continued to feel the effects of the flu get worse and worse. I slept very little, having to get up every so often to turn the air conditioner on and off as my body temperature commanded. By the time my alarm went off in the morning to get up for the tour, I accepted I was much too sick to go out and explore. In fact, I was much too sick to go anywhere most of the day. I finally was able to sleep in the morning for most of the day, until 4pm came along and I felt better.

Getting sick on vacation, my least favourite thing to do. The silver lining: I was staying at a beautiful, modern hotel, which I didn’t really mind spending the day in!

It was my second and last day in Phuket, and I refused to let sickness damper my holiday. So I got up, had a bath to sweat off whatever part of the flu was still in my system, and finally got the energy to get up from bed. I headed down to the pool area and plopped myself, trying to get a little bit of sun. After a couple of hours (in which I dozed off a little), I was feeling much better and ready to pamper myself.

FISH SPAS and MASSAGES
I headed a block over to a place I had seen before, in which they had one of those “Dr Fish SPAs” in which hundreds of little fish eat all the dead skin cells off your feet. At a cost of CAD$5, I got 15 minutes of what sometimes felt like torture, while the fish nibbled at my feet as if they were determined to swallow them whole.

When my feet were shiny and new (or so they say, I didn’t actually feel / see any difference), I headed over to a massage parlour by my hotel, and had my first of many traditional Thai Massages. As you can read on my post about the Thai Massage, this traditional form of massage is more therapy than relax, and is at some points a little painful (especially when you’re as inflexible as I am!), so I am glad my flu pains had disappeared by now.

*****

Feeling my muscles relaxed after the massage, I had dinner (my first meal in almost 24 hours by then), and then opted to stay in again instead of heading to a bar, as I still didn’t feel 100% and was heading to Bangkok the next day for a busy 10 days of touring around Northern Thailand.

Despite the random sickness that took a big chunk of my time in Phuket, I really enjoyed my time there. I am glad I was able to enjoy the beach a little and pamper myself. I am also ever so grateful that I was in a nice hotel in which I could relax and get better, as I felt perfectly fine after that day, and was able to fully enjoy the rest of my time in Thailand!

During my breaks at work, I sometimes like going around for a walk around downtown Vancouver’s West End, and was able to get some beautiful shots of the area with cherry blossoms in full bloom!

1.Musée du Louvre – Paris, France
It really should be no surprise that the number one spot goes to the Louvre Museum, one of the world’s biggest collections of international history artifacts, housed in a beautiful historic monument. 

The Louvre Museum – Paris, France, May 2007

The Louvre receives over 8 million visitors every single year, making it the most visited museum in the world. With over 35 thousands artifacts from all through history, including some of the world’s most valuable pieces of art (including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa), the museum is impossible to cover on a single visit.

Aside from the significance of the items housed within the museum, the building of the Louvre is fantastic: from the 12th Century initial structure to the modern glass pyramid entrance built in 1989, the building is a work of art in itself.

2.Museo Nacional de Antropología – Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico’s most-visited museum, the National Museum of Anthropology, opened in 1964 within the realms of Mexico City’s famous Chapultepec Park. The museum contains one of the most impressive collections of pre-hispanic artifacts in all of Latin America, and is one of the world’s most impressive museums of anthropology.

Inside the Aztec Exhibition Hall, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, July 2009

The architecture of the museum is impressive in itself: 23 exhibition halls surround an open-air patio covered by an enormous squared concrete ‘umbrella’ supported by a single column. From the ‘umbrella,’ a circular waterfall falls multiple metres down into a large pond in the courtyard.

The exhibition halls include archeological and anthropological artifacts from over 50 different pre-Hispanic cultures around Mexico, as well as post-Hispanic textiles and artifacts. Perhaps the most famous piece of history found at the museum is the “Stone of the Sun,” known as the Aztec Calendar.

3.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA
Popularly known as “The Met,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest museum in the USA, and one of the largest collections of art in the world.

The Facade of The Met, New York City, January 2011

The main building of the Met (the one I visited) is located in New York City’s Central Park. The museum contains an impressive amount of art from all over the world, separated into various halls, by geographical area.

The most dominant permanent exhibits at the Met represent Ancient Egypt, classical Rome and Greek sculptures, European art (including famous works of art by the Masters of the Renaissance), as well as a large collection of American art. There are also large permanent exhibits dedicated to Oceanic, Oriental, and Islamic art, as well as a significant amount of modern art.

The vast amount of art from so many different places in the world and different periods in time, make a visit to the Met entertaining. There is so much to see that it is virtually impossible to see everything in one go. Definitely a must visit place on any trip to New York City.

4.Musei Vaticani, Vatican City, Italy
Italy is home to many of the greatest art museums in the world, but one of the most impressive is the Vatican Museum, within the walls of the Vatican City.

Hall Inside the Vatican Museum in Vatican City, April 2007

My main reason for choosing this museum out of any other museum in Italy is because of the impact it had on me, due to a large concentration of incredible works of arts (both paintings and sculptures) packed within the walls of the museum. To make the experience even more overwhelming, the art pieces are housed within beautifully decorated rooms and halls that are as impressive as the art itself.

The halls of the Vatican museum allow visitors to move in one direction only (there are too many visitors to the relatively small museum, to allow otherwise), guiding them from room to room; the final part of the museum is the Sistine Chapel, with its famous wall and ceiling murals by Michelangelo.

The Sistine Chapel is much smaller than I imagined, and will be crowded in any visit; nevertheless, the mural paintings are beautiful. Even without the Sistine Chapel as a finale, the Vatican Museum is impressive, and well worth the 2-hour line up to enter.

5.Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.
Located in the beautiful waterfront area in Wellington’s Central Business District, Te Papa Tongarewa – Museum of New Zealand, is a great museum that delves into the history of New Zealand.

Te Papa Museum’s Entrance in Wellington’s Waterfront – April 2011

The Te Papa museum covers everything from the geographical formation of New Zealand, to Maori culture, to history, to modern life. There is also a large exhibition room teaching about New Zealand’s endemic plants and animals, both those that have now become extinct, and others, like the iconic kiwi, which are still part of today’s fauna.

Surprisingly, the Te Papa museum is free of charge, although a non-compulsory donation is recommended (and very well-earned). The museum Is well worth a visit to get a good introduction into everything related to New Zealand, in a short time!

***

International Museum Day is here, so let’s celebrate the importance of museums to our education and understanding of other – and our own – cultures.

Which are your favourite museums?

I took this photo of a baby elephant with his mum at the Elephant Hospital / Conservation Camp in Lampang, Thailand last November.

Because of their alliance with Sesame Street, the characters of this much-loved show often make an appearance around all of the Beaches Resorts in the Caribbean… and it’s always a joy to run into them.

Me, With Cookie Monster and my Friend Sammy

I may be almost thirty years old now, but the crazy kid inside of me couldn’t resist a photo op with this furry blue cookie-loving beast!

The Beach and Caribbean Sea in Providenciales

Last September (2012), I got the opportunity to visit the beautiful Caribbean nation of Turks & Caicos for the second time, for our management conference with my job at Flight Centre.

My first visit to the islands in 2009 was a conference as well, and in similar fashion, my stay was short (three days!), full of work during the day, parties at night, and a little time in between to actually enjoy the country. To read about my visit to Turks and Caicos in 2009 and more about the way Flight Centre conferences go, check my Turks & Caicos: Flight Centre Conference 2009 post.

Conference sessions and parties apart, this conference was the most fulfilling to me personally, because for the first time I got to interact with the wonderful people of this island nation (other than those who work at the resort), through our volunteer session with the Sandals Foundation.

I figure instead of writing about how fun the parties were (and they were fun!) I’ll talk about the destination itself a little more, and the volunteer experience at one of the local schools.

View of the Beach from the Sea

THE BEACH
Our conference was once again graciously hosted by the Beaches Resort in the town of Providenciales. 

I mentioned this on my previous post, but I cannot get over how beautiful the beaches in Turks & Caicos are. They are narrow, but they stretch for miles and miles.

Despite being very busy almost every one of the three days spent there, with conferences and social events, we did get to spend a bit of time enjoying the warm weather, dipping in the clear ocean, and even lounging in the white-sand beaches, getting a semi-tan.

We took advantage of every minute of free time we had, to strip down to our bathing suits and enjoy the natural beauty of the Caribbean… usually with a beer in hand, to cope with the blasting heat.

Ryan, James, Sammy and I, Enjoying the Beach

Because the population in Providenciales is so scare, the beaches are very clean and, despite being quite narrow, the beaches are usually empty. The ocean is so clear, it almost felt like we were swimming in a pool, and the sand… well, the sand is white and beautiful!

I haven’t had the opportunity to travel too extensively in the Caribbean, but as far as I have, I can say Turks & Caicos has a lot to offer to beach lovers. Having said that, there really isn’t much outside of the beach resorts, so for anyone searching for any type of culture or an urban setting, this might not be a good destination for you, unless you are planning on a quick stop over.

I personally could have definitely used a full day of doing nothing but relaxing in Providenciales, as the natural surroundings are absolutely gorgeous.

My Messy Writing at the School

VOLUNTEERING AT THE SCHOOL
One of my favourite parts of the Flight Centre conferences, is that I get to volunteer in a project that helps the local community move forward.

In my previous visit to Turks & Caicos in 2009, I helped rebuild a local conch farm, which had been devastated by a recent hurricane.

At my conference in Whitehouse, Jamaica in 2010, I was in a leader-less group that was meant to turn a barren field into a park for old women to come together. I came out of that experience feeling upset at the fact that 40 people were given no instructions as to what we needed to accomplish and no instruments, and wasted three hours without accomplishing absolutely anything… not to mention I had mutant-fire-ant bites all over my legs and hands, which doesn’t help make my memories of that volunteer experience any better!

My Friend Mere with our Class

This time, I can safely said my volunteer experience was magnificent. I really felt like I made a difference, despite only helping at the school for a few hours in the afternoon.

The project I was assigned to consisted of visiting a local school and talking with the kids about conservation of their forests. I was in a group of three “teachers” in a class of about 25 children aged 11 to 12 years old. After brainstorming with the children about the importance of trees, reasons for deforestation, and ways in which we could help preserve the forests, we divided them into groups and helped them create posters to put around the school, to teach other children about being mindful of their natural surroundings, and learn to recycle.

Painting one of the School Buildings

Yes, the experience was short, but we got to interact with the children and the teachers, which was awesome. This interaction, although not lengthy, taught me so much more about life in Turks & Caicos than anyone merely visiting a resort in the islands will.

The children were a joy to work with as well, and they seemed to enjoy the experience as much as we did, even wanting to stay behind after school was over to finish up their posters!

As we still had time to spend after the children went home from school, all the groups of “teachers” helped paint one of the buildings at the school, which was in dire need of a make over.

All in all, this was by far the best volunteer experience in any of the three conferences I’ve attended… In fact, it’s been one of the most memorable parts of any of the conferences I’ve attended.

And well, the three nightly parties were pretty memorable, too!

Flight Centre Party at the Nightclub at Beaches Resort Turks & Caicos

Here are some photos I took of the ANZAC memorials in different cities I visited during my Australia / New Zealand adventure in 2011 – 2012:

ANZAC Memorial at Hyde Park in Sydney, Australia:

Shrine of Remembrance at King’s Domain, in Melbourne, Australia:

Memorial to the Fallen at ANZAC Park in Nelson, New Zealand:

Happy travels!!

To celebrate, here are a couple of photos of the giant Earth globe floating inside the foyer at the main entrance to the Vancouver Convention Centre. If you haven’t seen it already, go check it out!

James, Ryan and Myself, the Bear Family!

After seven days aboard the Sapphire Princess cruise, my friends and I docked in Whittier, the cruise port about an hour’s drive away from Anchorage.

We had opted for a late flight leaving from Anchorage just past midnight, so that we could have the day to explore Anchorage. Being Alaska’s biggest city by far, Anchorage was full of promise to keep us entertained for the 12 or so hours we’d have there… unfortunately, we found the city to be very underwhelming, and a little boring!

True to the typical way of building American cities, most residents live in the suburbs, while downtown serves as a hub where people come in and out mostly for business. As we visited on a Sunday, the city was short of a ghost town (restaurants and department shops did have some patrons, but the streets were eerily empty!).

The city itself is also not photogenic in the least. I tried taking a few shots, but there was nothing really to photograph, so most of my shots ended up being of random things. Architecture is not unique nor beautiful; neither interesting nor paying homage to “The Last Frontier” feeling of the rest of Alaska.

Humpy’s Pub – Homely food and yummy Alaskan Beers

We spent the afternoon walking around the city, visited a mostly empty summer market, spent a couple of hours drinking locally made beer and having lunch at Humpy’s Pub (which was kind of the highlight of our visit!), and then “shopping” in a department store. After realizing we still had the bulk of the day to go, we took a taxi to a nearby suburb to go to the cinema, to help pass the time.

After the movie we went back to downtown for dinner, and then we finally decided to just go on to the airport and wait for our flights back home.

As we took off from Anchorage just past midnight, Alaska said goodbye to us with a show of Northern Lights! I’d never seen them before so I was very happy to see the beautiful light display in the sky through the plane window, as we bid farewell to Alaska.

ALASKA WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER
Surprisingly, the best part of Anchorage wasn’t in anchorage at all. We bought a transfer from the cruise port which stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a refuge for orphan / injured wildlife to be rehabilitated back into nature, which proved to be outstanding.

The Conservation Center is a non-profit organization which serves two purposes. The main purpose is to give shelter to orphan local wildlife, and heal animals that have been injured. The second purpose is to act as a sort of zoo, where visitors get the chance to see and learn about the animals of Alaska. Depending on age and health, most of the animals are released back into the wild after they have been rehabilitated. Those animals that would not survive the wild anymore are kept in the Conservation Center permanently.

We only spent an hour at the Conservation Centre, looking at the animals, but that was definitely the best part of Anchorage for me… I am a big fan of zoos though, so maybe that is why!

*****

My Favourite Part of Anchorage… Alaskan Beer!

Maybe it was the combination of waking up at a ridiculously early hour to leave the cruise, the rainy weather, or the fact that we were in Anchorage on a weekend, but my impression of this northern city is that it has little to offer to visitors. If it was up to me I could have entertained myself at the pub drinking more Alaskan beers, but not everyone I was with is a drinker, so that was out of the window.

Altogether I could have easily skipped Anchorage on my trip to Alaska, but at the end of the day I was with great company, so it wasn’t a total loss.

We woke up early this day to cruise around the Glacier Bay National Park, allowing us to see many of the area’s glaciers. Thankfully, the weather was sunny once again, which made it perfect for viewing the amazing scenery of the area.

Not much to say about this day, as pictures are much better than words:

Me, Ryan, Chan and James

Cruising Glacier Bay

Cruising Glacier Bay

Cruising Glacier Bay

Cruising Glacier Bay

Cruising Glacier Bay

Cruising Glacier Bay