![\"\"](\"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-7.12.23-PM.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0Shangri La Hotel![\"\"](\"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-7.15.42-PM.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe catch our taxi at noon and are at the airport 20 minutes later.\u00a0 Check-in is quick and easy.\u00a0 Of course, our bags are overweight, and we have to pay extra, but again, it\u2019s around $30, instead of $150 like it might be in the US.\u00a0 As we wait for the plane, it becomes obvious we\u2019re headed to a beach destination.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a Spring Break crowd, very young, noisy, and headed for a party.<\/p>\n
On board the plane I managed to get seats near the front, and we had room to spread out (no one in the middle seat).\u00a0 The flight \u201cfun\u201d began as we neared Phuket.\u00a0 We knew the weather was unsettled, and as we began to descend the ride got bumpy.\u00a0 This went on for a while, and then we heard the landing gear come down.\u00a0 Suddenly, the pilot hit the power and we pulled up beginning to climb.\u00a0 It took about 5 minutes of hard climbing and we popped out of clouds looking at some beautiful ocean\/island views below.\u00a0 Finally the pilot came on and said the thunderstorms were a little strong, but would clear out in 15 minutes, so we\u2019re circling.\u00a0 Eventually we started down again, the ride got bumpy, lightning and thunder were popping all around us, the landing gear came down, and suddenly we were on the ground.\u00a0 Applause broke out from the party crowd in the back.<\/p>\n We collected our bags, and walked out into the sea of people with signs looking for fares.\u00a0 We found contact I booked two months ago, and were lead to a nice SUV for the drive to Khao Lak.\u00a0 The drive takes about 80 minutes and we pull up the entrance of resort at 7:15pm.\u00a0 It\u2019s weird to enter a hotel lobby where there aren\u2019t any doors.\u00a0 It\u2019s all open-air with a nice breeze blowing in.\u00a0 They load us into a cart along with our luggage, taking us to our room.\u00a0 Since it\u2019s dark, it seems like a long way.\u00a0 The guys haul our bags down some the stairs and show us little about the room.\u00a0As they are departing, Judy shouts, and when I turn, she is pointing at something.\u00a0 She thinks she saw a lizard scurrying around.\u00a0 The luggage guys looked around a little bit, but decided to turn the job over to housekeeping who showed up 5 minutes later.<\/p>\n After pulling out some furniture they finally began to point at something down in a cabinet behind the fridge.\u00a0 They chased it around the walls and up to the ceiling before finally knocking it down with some kind of spray. \u00a0It was a fairly large lizard.<\/p>\n Around 11:00pm, Judy received a text message from Shannon announcing their arrival.\u00a0 We immediately grabbed our shoes, and searched out their bungalow down on the beach.\u00a0 We had a nice reunion visit out on their deck. Around midnight, flight fatigue began to set in on them.\u00a0 They\u2019re flight from Sydney was nine hours.\u00a0 We made breakfast plans and headed back to our room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our flight to Phuket doesn\u2019t depart until 2:35pm, and the airport is close by.\u00a0 We enjoyed breakfast, then walked around the hotel grounds.\u00a0 It\u2019s a large property and very shielded from the nearby neighborhoods.\u00a0 There\u2019s little audible evidence that traffic … Continue reading <\/a>\u00a0Mr. Burger, on our way to the airport.<\/p>\n<\/a>Chiang Mai City Wall.<\/p>\n<\/a>Phuket, as we loop around.<\/p>\n