HK5 Thailand: Chapter 4 Bruised Spines and Headaches

Here is a good rule to follow when you have to take a water taxi to your vacation destination. STICK TO THE RESORT TAXI SCHEDULE that is offered. Do not vary off their time slots. The reason, rough waters and I mean ROUGH! When we arrived we took the hotels water taxi to the islands which left around 4PM. We did schedule the resorts taxi again heading back to Phuket, but Clem and I got in our heads we wanted to have lazy morning on check-out day because our flight wasn’t until 5PM. The resorts taxi left at 8AM. So we hired a private boat and left the island just after 11AM. Boy was that a BIG mistake. The ocean was so choppy we spent the trip jumping up and down because they had to keep the boat in high gear in order to make it over the large waves. We are talking, perfect surfing waves.

My next piece of advice, if you change your travel plans. Don’t forget to double check your drop off point. The resort taxi picked up and dropped off in a private marina which had immediate access to ground transportation. Our new speed boat that left my spine bruised beyond belief and two kids in a quiet coma. Dropped us off in location where our car service was not. Thankfully the public marina we were located at had a small little village close by and the amazing ladies at the Phuket Panwa Canoe Ltd. and Sunshine Cokecoke shop saved us from imploding. The happily phoned for a taxi, while shopped for the kids their clothing store. Win, win on both sides. The taxi was prompt and the drive sweet as can be for someone who just got hired out of the blue.

We were finally on the last leg of our Asia journey. We arrived at the airport to early to check in for our flight. Fair warning when traveling in Asia international airports. All of the airports we flew out of (Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok and Phuket) all had rotating check-in counters. Which means the airlines rotate their counters based on the number of fights they have going out. #HKfamily5 is notorious for arriving at last minute for a flight. It’s embarrassing. But I made sure I gave us plenty of time to travel to and from the airports through out this trip. To my surprise, the extra cushion I allotted, became a super cushion. Case in point, we waited for almost two hours to check into our flight in Phuket. We noticed this a lot throughout the trip and I wondered if it was to control the crowds inside the terminals. But in Osaka, Bangkok and Phuket the terminals were virtually empty. I feel for the businesses who were virtually empty because of it.

Our 6 hour flight from Phuket to Hong Kong went pretty smooth but we were already seeing a lot of news reports throughout the trip about the Hong Kong riots. In Phuket a restaurant in the terminal had the news on for CNN and there was a report about how the protestors had setup shop in the Hong Kong check-in and baggage claim areas. We were expecting a massive delay when we landed. In Hong Kong I think we gave Clem a little heart attack because we got separated into two different busses on the tarmac. The girls and I boarded the last bus, while he and Lochlan got boarded on the first bus. They took off before us, and by the time we reached the terminal, his bus had not arrived. 

Now we did land around 1030PM in Hong Kong, we were shocked to find that almost all of the business inside the airport were closed. We were in mad dash to change terminals and forgot to stop to get water. Water bottles on asian airlines is a HOT COMMODITY. Getting water on all our flights was like pulling teeth. I’ve never begged so much for anything on a plane, let alone water. Luckily we found a water fountain and filled up the kids bottles at least. The flight from Hong Kong to SFO went pretty smoothly. This time we flew Cathay and it was pretty quick ride. Oh yeah. Just over 14 hours. The kids and Clem slept for a large portion of that time. I nodded off and on but ultimately spent most of the trip awake watching movies and working on the blog and setting up the school new database. 

When we landed in the Bay Area, we were so tired and extremely hungry. Hello In & Out. The trip was certainly a great journey for the whole family. I think overall Clem was extremely happy with everything I had planned for the journey. The kids especially loved all three legs of the trip. Bangkok being on the lower end of that Totem. Japan was such a mesh of surprised for the kids and even Clem. I managed to keep a lot of things secret until the day of! Looking back the kids still have their favorite parts of the trip. For Paley was the roller coaster heaven at Spa Land in Nagoya. For Lochlan he still talks about Komodo dragon we saw on Koh Phi Phi walking around the souvenir shop of the resort. It took two men to drag it out. I think the were more scared of it than the female worker who kept swatting at it. 

The kids sitting at little shop chugging down water.

Margot was in love with all the water, just like her Daddy. Water played an amazing part of this adventure. From rain in Japan, to the Noodle Chute restaurant in Kyoto, to the roof top pool in Bangkok and even the pools and oceans of Koh Phi Phi. The adventure opened us all up and surprisingly after traveling for 18 days. We were all in pretty good shape. About two weeks later, thanks to the rush of getting back school, we all got sick. All in all we loved the trip. Would we go back to Japan, most certainly. Especially Kyoto and Japan. In terms of Thailand, MEH! we’ve done it. Next adventure please!