Buddhist Temples, the Phad Thai adventure, and a lot of spacing out

So this isn't going to be too terribly exciting... in a nutshell, we woke up early, visited a temple, ate food, and spaced out for 5 hours. =)

Actually, Wat Chalong was incredible... it is the biggest temple in Phuket. I wish I could describe it to you but I really can't; you'll just have to wait for pictures. The temple is a whole huge compound, made up of many buildings all of which are incredibly ornate with many colors and carvings. There is one huge building with the giant Buddha statue in it and other smaller buildngs around it with statues of monks, real monks in their orange robes chanting which is incredibly haunting and beautiful, and rooms with incense burning and flowers floating (not quite sure the significance of that). There was also a huge... vat, I suppose, about 20 feet tall which every hour a Thai guard would throw a bunch of dynamite into and there would be an incredibly loud explosion which would go on for about a minute. Not sure what that was about either... I guess we have a lot to learn about Buddhism and temples!

The temples were also incredibly HOT. We had learned it was offensive to wear shorts and tank tops inside temples, so both Jamie and I wore long pants and long sleeve button down shirts. Holy crap we have never sweated so much... probably ever. Ok, I can think of one time; running in San Antonio in September. But that was running so that doesn't count. =) I think poor Jamie must have lost about 10 lbs in sweat. =) The temple was incredible but we couldn't wait to get out of there and into cooler clothes. It was a bit of a chore to find a taxi around there but we finally did and I have become quite good at bartering for rates at this point.

AFter we got back to the hotel and in much cooler clothes I had a mission, to find a local street Phad Thai stand recommended by the blog Jamie's Phuket (http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com), I highly recommend you check out his blog. Anyways, he lives here 9 years and said it was the best Phad Thai he has ever had. Problem is, we really didn't have any directions to the place! I knew it was vaguely somewhere around this hotel called Baan Karon. So we hopped a taxi to Baan Karon, wandered around for less than 5 minutes and I spotted it! There is only a sign in Thai so of course I couldn't really tell but I recognized it from the pictures on Jamie's Phuket! It was cheap eats and OH so incredible. It was hands down the best Phad Thai I have had. Jamie even liked it a lot and it had Seafood in it! Totally worth the trip, and Jamie was impressed that I actually found the place given my reputation for getting lost. =)

After lunch we hit the beach. I mean, we hit it hard. I spaced out in a chair for 5 hours and pretty much didn't move except to play in the waves occasionally. I think Jamie read his book. I literally did nothing. It was wonderful. =)

Well, we are leaving PHuket tomorrow to go to Ton Sai. The climbing part of our trip is about to begin, and we're super excited! We're not sure if there will be internet for the remainder of our trip or not, as the places we have yet to go are a bit off teh beaten path. So, this may be the end of our short-lived blog. =) But if there is internet, I'll check in periodically and give some updates on the climbing and other adventures!

Hope you all are well.

Liz and Jamie