Thailand Part 2

While in Thailand, we hooked up a few times with our Baku friends, Max and Adriana, who were also vacationing there, just at a different resort. Adriana organized a surprise and belated birthday party for Max, with Kyle and I as the only guests. A fabulous evening was had by all, until....


The Baku Bunch in Thailand


Max cutting his birthday cake

...Max awoke the next morning with food poisoning. He spent 2 full days and 1 night in the Phuket hospital. Sounds scary? They said that it was just fine. In fact, Adriana said the facade was a little lacking but that the interior and Max's room specifically were incredible. I suppose that the facility was so nice because it specializes in cosmetic surgeries for tourists and for "lady boys" but I'll come back to that topic in a couple of paragraphs. With the help of antibiotics, Max made a full recovery, but being on medication meant that he could not imbibe, which gave us the perfect opportunity to label it as "No Booze Novruz."


Kyle and I seized the opportunity of a cloudy morning to visit Big Buddha. He's a new addition to the landscape in the predominantly Buddhist country. He is still under construction and is perched on top of the highest point in Phuket and well, he's just big.

Big Buddha


View from the top of Big Buddha's hill


Another shrine atop Big Buddha's hill


We also visited several Buddhist wats or temples and Old Town Phuket, where we stopped in for some traditional Thai food at a little cafe. I had a surreal "where AM I moment" as a slurped spicy noodles, Taylor Swift played on the radio and we saw this walk down the street:

Buddhist monk on the streets of Old Town Phuket


Kyle at Wat Chalong


A long day of sight-seeing meant time for relaxing. I chose a fish-eating-the-dead-skin-off-of-my-feet pedicure and Kyle opted for a mean Thai massage, where he declared that the tiny Thai lady used so much pressure with her little bony fingers that, "she poked a hole right through me."

Brooke getting a fish pedi


We're almost to the end, but there will be a "Thailand Part 3" blog. It's coming shortly.