Paradise is Possible!!!

Thailand has been a dream of mine for a long, long time. Our first year in China we watched all our friends  as they vacationed in far off exotic places. We looked on quietly, saving money, paying off debts and being conservative. Lee and I drooled as we watched one family tour Egypt, salivated as another toured Asia, stopping in Vietnam and Malaysia... another close friend travelled to the Philippines. We watched our expat community disappear each holiday as we stayed behind claiming to enjoy how peaceful the city felt while we quietly dreamed our dreams and saved our pennies. Thanks to my husband who manages money much better than I do, our turn to be exotic, daring and adventurous came!

I have to warn all my readers right here and now that the following blog entry will be nothing but ooey, gooey mushy ravings of a girl enchanted with the far off land of Thailand.  It was truly the most beautiful amazing place I have ever visited. From the moment we got off the plane and started our hour and a half long car ride to the resort, I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty and character of Phuket. We drove through lush mountains, passing pick up trucks filled with men and women returning from a long day of work. The hot wet tropical air was overwhelming as we sat in our jeans and sweaters, dying to get to our room and strip our of our oppressive clothing. My first thought was "We should move here, we HAVE to move here!"

We got to the Hilton and my dream come true began. Pictures just don't do it justice. We were welcomed in to an open air lounge where we were served the most delicious juice (still don't know what kind of juice it was) and given cold refreshing wash cloths to freshen up with. There was music (some sort of stringed instrument) being played by beautiful Thai women. I thought I had died and gone to heaven right then and there!

(This was taken a different day, but really it was two women our first day there.)

 This is the first view as you come up the stairs to the reception area.

Here's where we checked in, with couches to the left for relaxing.

Our stay in Paradise had a slight hiccup.... we were tired, a little jet lagged and very hungry and not at all in the mood for bad news. When they informed us that they had overbooked and wanted to put us at a different resort for the night we were slightly put out, until they offered to upgrade us to a suite and give us a free dinner at one of their restaurants for the entire week. We some how found it in our hearts to overlook the overbooking problem. We ate at the restaurant downstairs each night we were there, which turned out to save us quite a bit of $$$! Sails was a buffet restaurant with a different theme each night. Here are some pictures of the Italian night...

This is the bread table. It was amazing all by itself!

 One of the several buffet tables. You could ask for custom made pasta!

 This was OUR table. We sat there every night. The kids really liked the familiarity and knowing what to expect.

 This was the dessert buffet. YUMMY!

 Little tiny individual cups of chocolate mousse.

 Yummy cake!

 More yummy cake.

 This is the outside view of the restaurant.

Lovely wait staff. They were so sweet to us every night.

I know there are a lot of pictures of the restaurant, but we spent a lot of time there! In case you are wondering, I DID gain a few pounds this trip. I vowed to use the beautiful health club while on vacation to continue my training, but alas, between the scuba diving, elephant rides, speed boat tours, beach trips, massages and the three swimming pools I did not find time to work out. I will have to make up for it now that we've left paradise and returned to the real world!

So that's enough for today, mostly because the pictures I want to use are on Lee's computer and he's at work! So, in conclusion of Paradise Part One, I'd like to send out a HUGE shout out to my dear husband, who made my dream come true and carried me off like a princess to a foreign tropical island and treated me like a queen! 

Stay tuned for more adventures in Tropical Paradise!