Thailand January 2011

It is 5 a.m. local time. I can't sleep anymore. After an exhausting 34 hour travel from our home in St. George, Utah we arrived on Railay Beach in Southern Thailand. Our trip began with a shuttle ride from St. George to the Las Vegas airport. We then flew to San Francisco where we boarded a Cathway Pacific 747 plane and rode on it for 15 hours to Hong Kong. The layover in Hong Kong was 2 hours and the airport was like being in a big fancy mall. Quite nice. We then flew on Dragonair airline to Phuket, Thailand. The beautiful beaches of Phuket were visible from the air as we came in for the landing about mid day (2 calendar days after we left home). The next portion of our journey was a 2.5 hour taxi ride on winding roads through tropical forests and the occasional jungle-covered limestone tower. The air was humid and the temperatures very warm. I had already changed into my shorts and tevas at the airport. We drove through some tropical rain storms but nothing sustained and the sun was poking through the clouds often. The last link of our travels was a "long-tail" boat ride from the small pier at Ao Namow out to Railay Beach. This was through moderately rough seas and lasted about 30 minutes. We finally arrived at the Bhu Nga Thani Resort & Spa at 3 p.m. local time. This resort was under construction while we were here in Railay 2 years ago and is absolutely beautiful. I feel like we have our own personal resort because the occupancy rate seems very low. The Thai staff are always very eager to serve and help and their English language skills range from very good to extremely limited. Even though we were quite tired we quickly changed into our swim suits and walked over to the west side of Railay where we looked for John Tully and his wife Jacqueline. John works as a PA with me at the hospital. We found them at a beach side restaurant and we all went for a swm in the warm shallow waters of the Andaman Sea. It wasn't long before John and I decided to grab our climbing gear and find a few good routes to do before the sun went down. Deb and I skipped dinner as we were way too tired to keep going, therefore, we fell asleep early in the evening. That would be why I am now wide awake this early in the morning and ready to start another exciting day in Thailand. Sawatdee!