Wow! Sleep and relaxation have never felt so good. I am to the bone tired and didn't realize it - no gunfire, bombing or rocket attack sirens at night do a girl good! So far, this has been a perfect trip and there are MANY more days remaining. Time is thankfully passing slowly and we don't wear our watches, so we eat, drink, swim and wander whenever we feel like it. Dubai was amazing but hot and muggy unlike anything I have ever experienced - good for a day though. Made an exotic purchase of a Samsonite and then some perfume oils that are fabulous and then got on a plane and headed the hell out of there! Here's a steamy pic of one of the street sculptures and the tallest building in the world from the inside of the largest mall in the world - size complex, maybe? I ended up in the Dubai airport for many hours waiting for my 11pm flight, then tried to sleep sitting up for six and a half hours - by the time I reached Thailand I was exhausted, but only a 5 hour layover until Phuket!
I absolutely love Thailand. It's incredible - excellent resorts, but still the soft underbelly of street life that I am so drawn to - tons of ladyboys here which has been interesting. So different than their counterparts in the states, but since they aren't ostracized here, it creates an obvious difference in demeanor. The resort we are enjoying this first week is amazing - the villa is 3 stories with a private plunge pool on the top and our own butler. We are so used to doing grunt work that it's been an adjustment to let someone else cater to your every whim, but I am somehow dealing with it :) It's incredibly serene, quiet and beautifully landscaped here - every place on the street has gardens, potted plants, little spirit houses and shrines all over AND they burn incense 24-7 here. I brought a ton with me because I cannot burn it obviously in my tent room and miss it greatly. I have thrived on it from way back in the day of being 12 and burning my strawberry incense from Spencer's Gifts, while listening to my Rush albums - oh yea, and ELO along with the K-tel mixed albums. Haven't thought about any of that until arriving here! This is the lobby of this stunning place - I really can't say enough about it except that we are here off-season and that made it much more affordable!
We lounged by the pool the first night, ordered some delicious grub from the 5-star restaurant here, drank a ton of wine and beer and basically reveled in gluttony! The pic on the left is one of the lagoon pool areas in the main section and the one on the right is the Jewbilee in the corridor walkway from our swanky residence. Yesterday we explored the streets and local shops around the resort, swam and floated around in our pool then shaved the legs and were off to the beachfront bar and restaurant which were AMAZING - and they shot off fireworks on the sand. Lots of menfolk with their Thai dates and you know how much I love what that scene insinuates - seediness!!! Here's a pic of me before I realized I needed to button up and a pic of the bar. Boobie alert! AnyDrunkyMcMurphy ... we ended a fabulous day with an evening swim.
More to come later this week, but count on it being self-indulgent and low-brow! Of course I would be speaking of me, as my traveling compadre is the pinnacle of self-control and appropriateness - that was, until this trip! We are truly having a blast and a wonderful time and thank you all for your enthusiasm and well wishes for this much needed vacation!
Drink of the Day - a wine-beer-rum-fruitjuice assortment of beverages! My liver is in excellent form so far!
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