Day 4- Crickets!

We have arrived in Phuket, Thailand!

We took a one hour Thai Airways flight to Phuket and I must say that Asia flights are so much better than U.S flights. Even their lounges are amazing and have great food! I was able to spend some time at the lounge and got my first ever Thai ramen! (We all know how much I love ramen!)

We are staying at the Westin in Phuket and to our luck, none of the rooms we booked were available so we got upgraded twice to our own villa! We basically have our own house at the Westin and we have our own private pool and deck! What a great surprise- we can’t wait to ring in the new year in our own private villa!

Once settled in, and after a quick dip in the pool, we were finally ready to explore the island of Phuket. We took a cab to the Night Market where we spent the entire night shopping and eating!

We got a good amount of shopping done and burned through a good amount of baht!  The food was vast and interesting and very delicious- we stuffed ourselves per usual. Seafood, drinks, mango sticky rice, etc. you name it, we probably had it. One thing about the food at the night market is that all the sauces they put on their food is really spicy!!

 

I even saw them extracting cane juice straight from the cane! It reminded me of my daddy because it is his favorite!

I would say, however, the only thing that Eric tried that I didn’t have the courage to was a batch of fried crickets!!! There was a stand with a bunch of different insects (grasshoppers, cockroaches, spiders, etc.) and Eric decided to order some crickets! I could barely watch him eat it….

After his yummy snack, we went to a nearby lounge to relax and soak in the sights of the night. We vowed to take this trip to Phuket as more of a relaxing trip where we can rest up before the rest of our adventure packed journey.

We are missing our family and hope that everybody at home is having a good holiday season. Stay tuned for our New Year’s Eve Day!

Day 3- And that's it for Bangkok!

Floating market day!

Waking up at 5:30AM, we were very excited for our floating market tour. I can't believe this is already day 3- my how time flies!

Although I absolutely hate tour buses, we decided to join a tour group to go to the floating market so we wouldn't have to worry about the logistics of getting there (it takes an hour and a half from our hotel). Although we didn't get to spend much time at the actual market, we had a blast riding the different boats and checking out the merchandise!

The floating market is a market atop a man-made canal. We learned that many years ago, the king wanted to connect two rivers and ordered to have this canal made. The canal originally had merchants trading goods but eventually became a big tourist attraction and now has everything from food to clothing and souvenirs (for tourists)!

Eric and I decided to pay a little extra and get on a paddle boat instead of just walking around the market, so we took a half an hour ride along the canal. I tried to take my aunts advice and try to get everything for 100 baht, but the merchants just laughed at me or got mad at me and kicked our boat..... thanks guys.

After our share of 'shopping', we grabbed some noodles and snacks before we got back on the bus. Since we were lame and signed up for a tour, our tour guide of course brought us to a few tourist traps before we finally got back home. We went to a coconut plant to learn about coconut sugar and oil and went to a wood carving store to watched men and women skillfully carve teakwood. Although we knew it was a tourist trap, we couldn't help but to buy a souvenir- with our names carved in it!

After our half day at the floating market, it was already past 2PM and so we decided that we had time to go to one temple before they closed at 5:30PM. We had a choice between Wat Arun and the Golden Mount. Although we heard Wat Arun was better, we wanted to see a different part of Bangkok so we decided on the Golden Mount!

We climbed ~150 steps to get to the top and walked around and did our prayers. It was high a top a mountain cliff so we got some great views of the city of Bangkok.

After our visit to the Golden Mount, and a few more smaller shrines, we headed off to the more developed area of Bangkok where you can get all your brand named shopping done- Siam Paragon!

This shopping mall is huge! With all the brands you can think of, we felt like we were transported to a different world. What a different part of Thailand- so many high end, upscale stores and restaurants, we couldn't believe that just 24 hours ago we were buying 30 baht pad thai!

We got some dinner (although it was only $15 we felt like it was so expensive compared to what we got yesterday) and walked around to some other shopping centers- Central World Plaza and Gaysorn Plaza. Again, these plazas are huge and lit so beautifully.

After our share of the 'fake' Thailand (or at least what I felt was fake), we decided to visit the shrine of the 4 faces Buddha (thanks Jen Jen for the suggestion!) So magical and serene in the  middle of a bustling crowd, it was beautiful.

We spent the rest of the night walking around this center of the city and ended up getting some last minute massages to rest our sore feet (oh, how cheap massages are here!)

And that's it for Bangkok! We can't believe it's over! We're headed to Phuket in the morning and we can't wait for our relaxing days in our Westin resort. We're excited to ring in the new year together and hope that everybody back home has some good new years resolutions!

Happy almost new year, off to Phuket!

Day 2- Oh Boy!

We are in Bangkok! After our long 10 hour flight from Belgium, we got in at 6AM and couldn't wait to start our day in this new city!

We quickly checked in our hotel and decided to plan our day with the concierge downstairs. As I planned and relaxed at the lobby for a bit, Eric went for a quick morning work out. Thanks to the new atmosphere, our jet lag and his exhaustion, he immediately got sick and threw up in the lobby bathroom! Oh boy!

I was worried that he was already sick before our trip even fully began, but thankfully after a quick bite at a bakery nearby we were on our way to The Grand Palace!

We took a public boat from the hotel (our hotel is right on the river and is very close to the temples!) and after a 15 minute ride we were there!

When walking in the palace area, our breaths were taken away. I didn't know what I was expecting but I was in awe when we were surrounded by these colorful buildings with such amazing detail and symbolic statues! So beautiful.

The Grand Palace was huge and it took us a while to walk through each area. The walls of the palace area were so extensive and it was amazing to see all the many buildings, gardens and shrines. We went to visit the famous Temple of The Emerald Buddha where we soaked a flower and patted them on our heads! I even taught Eric how to make a prayer to Buddha!

What an experience! I still can't believe we are in Thailand! The Grand Palace was beautiful- a must see, but make sure you are covered from head to toe (yes we were very hot!) or they won't let you in!

We then headed over the the temple of the reclining Buddha. This was also amazingly beautiful!!

We saw pictures of Obama (I guess he recently paid a visit) and even donated some money and participated in dropping a cup of coins around the perimeter of the temple walls!

The Buddha was enormous. It was so big that we couldn't even take a full picture of it! What an amazing sight!

 

What was even better about this temple was that it has the original thai massage school where the famous thai massage originated. We were quick to sign up for a one hour 'original thai massage' at the massage school- they got every kink out and we felt great afterwards!

 

After getting lost in the beauty of these thai temples, we quickly realized that we hadn't eaten in hours and it was already almost 4PM.

We walked around the bustling market nearby and grabbed some delicious food. Our particular favorite was our fresh coconut juice and the pad thai- all for less than $2!

 

Don't worry we also gorged ourselves with a lot of different fruits and other cheap snacks along the way! Yum! The market was full of activity and unique foods and fruit, what a great way to spend the afternoon.

Now that that was over, we were pooped and suffering from our jet lag and decided to go back to the hotel for a quick nap.

When we woke up it was 1:30 AM. Oops.

A little disappointed, we quickly realized that we had our whole trip ahead of us, and what was even better was that we were on our way to the famous floating market in the morning! We got some great rest and can't wait for our early morning adventure.

Hopefully we can catch more of the famous temples tomorrow after our amazing journey to the floating market! Stay tuned!

Day 1- So far so good!

After months of planning and anticipation, we have finally arrived at our first stop of the trip- Brussels, Belgium! We are on our way to Bangkok and we had a 6 hour layover in Brussels so we thought we should take advantage of the time and go into the city of Brussels to explore. Surprisingly we got a lot done!

We landed around 6:45 AM in Brussels and it was pitch black outside. We were a little worried about the darkness and we were hoping that the sun would rise by the time we got into the city via train. Of course, the first thing we witness when walking out of the airport while looking for a place to store our carry-on bags was a man getting mugged- not a good first sign.

With a little bit of help from some locals we were able to purchase a train ticket and get to Central Station in 25 minutes! (Thanks Nina, Mathias and Greg for the tips in advance)

It was still black when we got to the city and of course we forgot the detailed itinerary I printed out- all that hard work wasted!!! Good thing I was prepared and had a copy of the Powerpoint I made on my phone! So off to our first stop- Mannekin Pis!

We almost walked by it unknowingly- this famous statue of the peeing boy was quite small!

It was still dark out so we naturally were intrigued by the glowing, lit up buildings and so we started walking towards them- it happened to be the Grand Place! The buildings were beautifully lit up in the square while the intricate details of the architecture were astounding! So glad we caught this while it was lit up in the dark!

Since we forgot our map, we decided to just walk around the city and get lost on an adventure. Luckily, we ended up at all the places I wanted to go to anyway! Brussels is actually quite small and it wasn’t too hard to see the sights.

We walked through the Galaries Royales St Hubert area where there are a bunch of restaurants and cute stores. We stopped for our first meal of the day- waffles!!! We went to Mokafe  which the locals claim is one of the best waffles in town. It wasn’t crowded as it was early and they had just opened, so we grabbed a seat and shared a waffle with bananas and chocolate. OMG so delicious.

I didn’t even like waffles, but this is no ordinary waffle. Crunchy on the outside yet light and airy on the inside, it was the perfect start to the day. Of course, Eric had a beer with breakfast as well.

As we walked around the city some more, we grabbed some more beers and decided to grab one more waffle before we left. We went to Gaufre De Bruxelles where we tried a different type of waffle this time, a liege waffle which was sweet and didn’t need any toppings. OMG! This one was even better!!!!!

Soft and chewy, this dense waffle was completely different from our first and soooo good!

With our bellies full and with 3 hours of exploring under our belts, we decided to call it a day and head back to the airport. Don’t worry guys, I got you some chocolate souvenirs from Chocopolis! ;) Belgium Beer, Waffles and Chocolate….I think we got it covered

We had a great time exploring this small city. Definitely worth a quick visit if you also have a layover- very doable indeed!

So far so good! Now off to Bangkok!

Melric is officially Asia-bound!

One more week!

I can't believe that the holidays have come up so fast and now our trip to Asia is only one week away!

We have mostly everything planned and the last thing I am doing is researching some good food places!

I'm still curious as to the best and most efficient ways to travel to and from the airports and around the cities as well. My aunt told me that you can rent Vespas in Thailand for the day! (although I am not sure how much I trust Eric to manuever a vehicle. Afterall, he hasn't had the best track record..)

We're both very excited for our trip and we can't wait until we make our daily posts to keep everybody updated! We know that internet will be limited but we promise to try our best!

We would still love any suggestions or tips on where and how we should go/do/eat in all of the countries we will be visiting! We will be going to Thailand for a few days, then flying to Singapore then Hong Kong and ending our trip in Japan!

Stay tuned for our next post next week! We'll stay tuned for any tips and advice! Please leave your comments here so we have them all in one place! :)

Melric is officially Asia-bound!