Phuket

Besides redecorating the house and trying to impress the hubby by cooking –which to be honest I have done only once so far because one Sunday morning I realized that I already have the ring around my finger - we started travelling as well. For Chinese New Year we visited Phuket. Our hotel was located on a steep hill which was part of the Tsunami evacuation area 6 years ago. So if history repeated itself, we would have been safe although I am not sure if I would have made it back to the hotel on time in case I saw a giant wave approaching the beach where I was trying to look like Brooke Shield in the Blue Lagoon but with better trimmed eyebrows whilst sipping fresh coconut water. The hill was too steep and I had way too many pancakes, waffles, banana cakes and other undefined Asian goodies for breakfast. So in case I would be lying at the beach if a tsunami was coming our way it was impossible for me to reach the top of the hill before the wave hit the shoreline. Instead of risking my life by getting a tan at the beach, I could have easily stayed inside the hotel. We paid for a standard room and we got the Kata suite; 3 terraces facing hills, sea and city, giant bath tub with sunset view and flat screen television, second flat screen television in living room, and a bathroom and bed to get lost in. Since 1 out of 2 tourists in Phuket is either Danish or Swedish, I do think they gave us the suite because we were being friendly. Unlike the other people we were polite and returned their smile. So I bet the staff agreed to give the suite to the first couple that entered and treated them nicely and luckily they got to see me first as I got out of the cab before Anders did.

Apart from getting a tan and doing somersaults in the tub we explored the surroundings on a moped and visited Phi phi Island - I always thought the island was named after the discoverer’s favorite poodle named Fifi nonetheless it was confirmed by locals that it is pronounced ‘pee pee’ Island.- Although we were surrounded by clear turquoise water, white sandy beaches and monkeys, it rather felt like a tourist trap as we were cramped on an island with hordes of tourists who all wanted to have a glimpse of the beach which might have absorbed a few drops of Leo’s sweat when the movie “The Beach” was shot in Maya Bay. Considering I would have shown more interest if Robert Pattinson had been walking around there, I took a bunch of pictures of cute furry butt monkeys.

















Anders couldn´t believe his eyes when he saw the invoice and the size of the room. Disbelief, recalculating the bill, acceptance followed by sheer happiness,..











Room with a view

Grass is greener on the other side

I forgot to add the interesting part about the new carpet we bought. We went to the local mall behind the corner where there is a carpet store on the upper floor. We were trying to negotiate a decent price when all the sudden the salesman tried to convince us by saying “the carpet is made in Europe”. “Belgian quality,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. Where is it from?” as there was still the possibility we misheard the fraudulent carpet vendor saying Belgian instead of Persian. “Carpet is made in Belgium. Very good quality”. We barely made it to the door muttering that we needed to think about his bargain.

We were convinced it was a scam and decided to ask for a second opinion in a less local environment. So we went to a furniture mall where visitors look like they are familiar with European quality and Ikea, but we were told again that the rugs were Belgian. Since they were cheaper in the first shop we visited, we had to go back and begged for the discount we were given the first time.

In Belgium I would only settle for an oriental rug but in Singapore I gladly rest my feet on Belgian cotton. So anyone in Europe who thinks that oriental rugs are of high quality might want to rethink the assumption as the grass is always greener on the other side.