B Family Travels

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Le Meridian Koh Samui

Joe was too cheap to get a 4^th night at the Conrad so we moved to the Le Meridian Koh Samui for our final night in Thailand. We had Mr. Samui pick us up at 3pm and drive us about 30 minutes back towards the airport to the final hotel on our trip. Unlike the Conrad, the Le Meridian was located in a busy part of town right off the main road. We knew just about anything was going to be a bit of a letdown after the Conrad, but it was only for a night so it wasn’t that big of a deal. We checked in before 4 and were greeted by a number of very friendly employees who really liked the girls and walked us to our room. Annie let one of them carry her for some of the way which was a bit surprising.

We booked a standard room and used an upgrade certificate to move to a pool suite, which shared a pretty large pool with 5 other units. The room itself was very small, probably the smallest room we had during the trip, and by the time we got two cribs in there it was jam packed. But, it worked for us since we had a nice private patio overlooking the shared pool area. Three of the other five units were occupied during our time there, and while it was a bit odd initially having an another couple 20 feet across the pool sitting on their patio or seeing them lounge in bed, it was not a problem at all. It would have been really, really fun to have had friends and family rent out all the units around the pool area and have a private pool to hang around in. And it would have been really, really weird to come here on your honeymoon. :)

Eating some M&Ms and enjoying some welcome drinks upon arrival at the Le Meridian

Entrance to Le Meridian located on this street... reminded me of the North Shore a bit

View from our villa. If you look closely, you can see our across the pool neighbors hanging out in bed

Annie and Joe enjoying the pool

Looking into our room - gives you an idea of how tiny it was! There was a bathroom to the right with a semi outdoor shower

Like all the other places in Thailand and Malaysia, the room service menu was very reasonable and pretty good. I have to say, Thai food comes in way ahead of Japanese food for me any day. We went swimming a couple of times, had dinner on our patio and walked around the resort.

The resort was very small compared to the Conrad and had a small beach that went away at high tide. There was a long pier, maybe 100m, that had a bar in the middle that let you get a good view back to the hotel, but the water was a bit rough and it was tough get the girls on it. There was a pool overlooking the beach with a restaurant and a bar and some grass areas further towards the street that had various activities throughout the day like Thai Boxing and Yoga.

Beach front pool and dining

Pier with bar in the middle

Standing at the end of the pier looking back at the resort

We came back to the room and got the girls ready for bed. As was typically the case, the girls fell asleep quickly and we followed suit shortly after. We had the breakfast buffet in the morning that was good but nothing remarkable - probably at the bottom of the list for me on this trip. We decided to venture out by foot and see what was in the area around the hotel. To immerse ourselves in the local culture, we stopped at a convenience store and got the girls an ice cream.

Best Friends

A face only a father could love

Big sister stayed nice and clean

She swung by a Thai tattoo parlor on the way to ice cream

We headed further down the somewhat chaotic road and found a small strip mall-like shopping area that happened to have a small kids play place. It was 30 or 40 bhat (around $1 USD) per child for a half hour and the girls stayed for close to an hour and it was probably one of their most fun moments of the entire trip. Not that it was a surprise, but it again reminded us that they don’t really care where they are as long as they get to do exactly what they want to do.

Authentic Thai play place

Looks like Eden

Big girl

While out walking, we noticed there were tons of tourists riding around on mopeds, most of them without helmets and some with kids on their bikes with them. Joe and I kept commenting to one another that it seemed SO dangerous. When we later mentioned it to our driver on the way to the airport and he told us that tourists frequently have accidents, get injured and total the bikes. Within minutes of this conversation we drove by a man that had wiped out on his moped and was waiting for help. Hard to imagine taking risks like that on a vacation, especially now that we have kids! In yet another odd coincidence, we saw a flatbed truck drive by with a bunch of tourists sitting on makeshift benches in the back. Joe asked me, "Can you IMAGINE anything more dangerous??" Before I could even answer, we came up behind a beat up SUV with people riding ON THE ROOF.

We headed back to the hotel, did the typical swim and food at the room and finished packing up for the trip home while the girls took a nap. I headed back out to the main road to get a quick (and insanely cheap) manicure at the spa next door. We checked out and Mr. Samui met us for our final transfer and we were to the airport in less than 30 minutes. As mentioned before, the Koh Samui airport is really interesting and entirely outdoors. It has a really neat shopping street between the drop off and the terminal. We were flying coach, got settled into our seats and had a short flight to Bangkok where we had a 5 or 6 hour layover before our red eye flight back to Tokyo.

Massage "beds" at the spa next to Le Meridian

Exhausted at the end of a looong vacation. Love these sweet girls and this pic!!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Koh Samui Part 2

As usual, we are behind in finishing up our posts from our last trip. Wanted to get this one done as we will be starting a short trip at the end of the month to Taipei and Hong Kong and would like to be caught up before that happens!

In our last Koh Samui post I mainly talked about the amazing villa we stayed in at the Conrad. We found the rest of the resort equally amazing! We started every morning with breakfast at one of the restaurants, which was included for the four of us since Joe is a lowly Hilton Gold member, which comes simply by having the Citi Hilton Reserve credit card. It was buffet style but they also offered a menu with different types of egg dishes you could get made to order. I ordered eggs benedict every morning, something I've never had before and it was delicious. The buffet had a great selection or fruit, salads, baked goods, an omelet station, Thai dishes, freshly squeezed juices and smoothies, etc. But perhaps the best part of breakfast every morning was the view. Like the rest of the resort, the restaurant sat on the side of the cliff looking over the ocean. Joe and I could have sat there for hours leisurely stuffing our faces, but of course our two fellow travelers didn't like that plan.

Eggs Benedict 3 mornings in a row? Don't mind if I do

Oceanfront dining

I gave Annie my phone and told her to take some pictures to keep her occupied

One downside to the resort is that it didn't really have a proper beach. Not a big deal to me, since I usually prefer the pool over the beach, but the girls really love it. To make up for this, the resort offered daily excursions to their own private island where you could enjoy the beach. The ride was a little longer than I expected (15-20 minutes) and it was fast and bumpy; I don't think any of us were big fans of the journey. Once at the island the staff set up some mats for us in the sand under some trees and we were free to explore. You could also order a picnic lunch to take along with you but we never stayed at the island long enough for that.

She's on a boat

View of the Conrad from the boat on our way to the beach

Pit stop on our way to the beach to feed some fish

Feeding the fish. Alternate caption: Destroying the ecosystem?

Exploring the island with Dad

Really, really wanted to swim all by herself

The boat drops you off about a five minute car ride from the hotel. There was a local family there with a little boy who came up to the girls and gave them a candy. Luckily we had a package of fruit snacks on us to return the favor.

Between the extravagant breakfasts, boat trips to the beach and enjoying our private pool in our villa, there wasn't a whole lot of time in the day for other activities, which was just fine by us! We did spend a little time at the main pool where Lizzy downed multiple complimentary mocktails.

Steep golf cart path down to the pool

Main pool, loungers sit in the water

Main pool at night

Lizzy taking a dip at the pool in our villa. Hard to tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins!

Dad and his girls taking a ride back to our villa

There was a kids club (Turtle Club), but it wasn't heavily advertised and I had to call to ask anytime we wanted to use it as it was kept locked up. Apparently you can leave your kids here pretty much all day for FREE but we really only used it twice as a place to take a break with the girls. We weren't really clear at the time what the "rules" were and we didn't feel it necessary to leave them.

Turtle Club

Relaxing in a cabana by the pool

There was also a fitness center that I used a few times, and an amazingly challenging morning Yoga class.

Morning Yoga poolside

It was also fun trying to do some yoga with the girls back at the room. They have lots of work to do.

One of my free drinks! Mojito mocktail, so yummy

Unlimited juice, this place is off the hook!

It's hard to be on vacation

We spent 3 nights at the Conrad Koh Samui and would gladly return to this resort again if we had the opportunity!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Annie's 4th Birthday

Just wanted to post a few pictures from Annie's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe how time has flown since her 3rd birthday, when we were still waiting to find out if we would be moving to Tokyo.

Unfortunately Joe's travel schedule has been crazy these past few weeks, so Annie's small birthday get together with friends had to be postponed. Joe did fly all the way back to Tokyo from Orlando to be here for Annie's birthday even though it meant he would be going right back to the airport to fly to Los Angeles a few days later.

I'd say this was the first birthday Annie was really excited about and she talked a lot about turning 4 in the days and weeks leading up to it. On the day of her birthday Joe took off work so we could all (Lizzy included) go into school with her. We spent some time making birthday crowns and then I read a book to the class that Annie brought from home. Annie then got to choose a birthday book for Teacher Cassy to read. Annie really enjoyed being the center of attention and getting to sit up in the front of the class. She also very sweetly included Lizzy by having her sit up in front right next to her. After the stories we all sang Happy Birthday and then Annie's teachers presented her with a birthday certificate. We brought in oatmeal cookies that Annie passed out at snack time.

After the school day was over, we played at home and had a visit from our neighbor and Annie's friend, Mateo, who brought her a small bouquet of flowers and a happy birthday balloon. So sweet! Annie and Lizzy both enjoyed having Joe around to play with while I made Annie's requested dinner: spaghetti and meatballs. She chose funfetti cupcakes for dessert and after cake she opened her presents. We also had to buy some gifts for Lizzy who didn't seem to understand why everything was for Annie. She received some arts and crafts activities, a few clothes, Candy Land and some My Little Ponies (they don't make those like they used to!).

She didn't seem to mind that it was just a small family celebration and we'll see if I end up rescheduling another "party" with a few friends. Maybe one of the last years we can get away with it!