Southeast Asia was top on my list of places to go from our Seoul travel hub, but once I became pregnant with my Little Monster, most of its developing destinations became off-limits, which was a total buzz kill. As a compromise, Hottie agreed to a babymoon in Thailand. It. Was. The. Bomb.
Hottie enjoying the good life.
Again, I stalked resorts on Jetsetter since roughing it wasn't a good idea in my state. Jaded with the idea of going to the tourist-ravaged hustle that is Bangkok (and even Phuket), I finally settled on Anantara Resort in the remote Southern locale of Si Kao. It took us ages to get there between the flight, Bangkok layover, puddle hop to Krabi and 1.5 hour harrowing drive to Trang complete with hairpin turns and games of chicken with motorbikes laden with entire families. This was certainly going to be an adventure.
The Anantara Resort did not disappoint. Nestled onto the fishing beaches as the only resort in a primarily local town, it offered all of the creature comforts a prego woman craves with the serene, kind service that only the Thai can deliver, and it was a short walk from the local beach lined with fried seafood street fare and insanely cheap restaurants featuring not a lick of English on the menus.
Anantara Resort
Anantara Resort
View from our room
A Thai cooking lesson from one of the Resort's chefs
We were experiencing real Thailand beach life with its naked babies,
scruffy stray dogs and slow pace of life -- a refreshing reprieve from
the bustle of city life in a developed nation. As the only white people
regularly leaving the resort during the Monsoon off season, we stood
out like sore thumbs, which was actually really nice for once. Every
single Thai person who passed us excitedly shouted their only English
greeting, "Heellloooooo!," and all of the women burst into smiles and
incoherent jibberish upon spotting my rotund baby belly.
Honoring the King and Queen.
"The Drag" in Si Kao
Fishermen at work
16 weeks pregnant
Hanging out with one of the locals :)
While there, we went island hopping on a fishing trip in which we disembarked to swim through a cave into a warm lagoon isolated in the central crater of a dormant volcano island. It should be noted that on this trip only a five-year-old boy actually caught any fish, and all of the mature adults hated him for it.
Hottie also indulged my love of aquariums, so we patronaged the small Si Kao aquarium associated with a government-sponsored University. Many of the specimens were dead and preserved and others displayed in lines of tiny tanks. It was, however, a lovely visit, thanks to a lively seal performance that we watched with a giant crowd of field tripping 8-year olds. Our adorable, diminutive doll of a tour guide introduced the seals as "sea cows." In my fuzzy-brained prenatal state, I found this very confusing, since I had been looking forward to seeing manatees (sea cows) since our arrival. Every time they pointed out a sea cow, I was like, "WHERE?!?WHERE?!?" The befuddlement carried out far too long until I figured out that manatees were "Dobong" to the Thai.
Field trip!
kissy faces with the sea cow (seal)
Hugs from the dobong (sea cow). Confused yet?
We also went to Trang for some open market shopping and a visit to the Buddhist Temple of which the locals were most proud, and were given a tour by the Temple's own senior Buddhist monk.
Trang market
Town crematorium. Creeeeeepy.
The highlight of the trip for both Hottie and I was our elephant ride through the jungle and rubber plantation. We had the chance to bond with the beautiful female Indian elephant named Shingda who happened to also be early in her own pregnancy. That lady ate like a fiend the entire ride, pulling bamboo up by the roots where ever she could find it. I feel you, Girl.
Shingda's family
After hanging with the local people, flora and fauna (and enjoying one too many spa treatments at the resort), it was hard to say goodbye to Si Kao, Thailand. But, alas, we had to get back to real life in the big city, and soon enough, back to the good ol' U.S. of A for a pre-delivery visit with the people we love.
We miss you, Thailand, and we can't wait to come back!
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