The first thing we did upon landing was to find a spot to stay at, at one of the more populated areas. Not already having a hotel, that was exciting, and it worked out well. Then we wandered around and marveled at the smells and the unbelievable percentage of non-Thai-food restaurants and ...uh, not exactly Engrish but its Thai equivalent.
I got some flip flops which are "Diesel Lite" (now with 30% less calories?), with "Shock Assorption". Oh and of course we got an hour and a half worth of massages for about $20. Sweet.
A couple days later, we moved on to a resort further up the beach, for the main festivities. It was like Thailand, filtered. The air was cleaner, no hassling vendors, Thai food was in abundance, but of course everything was a bit more expensive. The boy found a tailor at the main resort shopping area, who had the best materials and workmanship we found there. Had a wooooonderful 5 course valentine's day dinner at the Italian restaurant there for Valentine's Day.
Did a bit of touring of the downtown area the 2nd day, which was less exciting than expected aside from going to McDonald's. Plus my legs had pretty much had it at that point, from all the walking. Note to self: always include advil when I know I'm gonna be walking! Spent the afternoon in the hotel room chilling, watching the National Geographic channel until the boy was able to get me some tylenol. Apparently acetaminophen is called paracetamol there. Good to know. I was a bit pertweaked about that. Then I went with the boy to the tailor for his first fitting... he really got some absolutely amazing suits at a very, very decent price.
Friday was the "activity" day, went on a package tour of pretty much the entire west side of the island. Saw some beautiful temples, the Cape, Sunset Point, etc. Note to you girls out there: foreign toilets are always an adventure - don't forget to bring your own toilet paper. Seriously. Got a lot of amazing pictures which I'll post some highlights of, at some point. After that we took advantage of the hotel spa... $45 for an hour and a half, but even more amazing. It bears saying again - Hooray for chest massages!
Saturday was a lot of work stuff, with a bit of time in the middle for exploring Patong again with a coworker. He had been nastily sunburnt, being a redhead, which made for much amusement for the locals. I got stopped about every 15' and asked about my tattoo, which amused the coworker greatly.
Sunday, woke up early for one last buffet breakfast (heeeeaps of fruit, tea, and an exceptionally good chocolate croissant) and then headed to the bus to the airport. Then...ugh, travel fun. But we were able to get on a standby flight in extra good seats, from SFO home. So at least it ended well!