Paradise is nice!

My flight to Hangzhou was cancelled at the last minute, so we had to change that part of the flight to Beijing. Then my flight out of Beijing was late taking off, so I missed my flight out of Guangzhou, etc... I ended up having to stay overnight in Bangkok anyways. What sucked about that was that I did not get to a hotel until after midnight and then I had to get up at 5:00am to catch an early flight to Phuket, so I did not get to see or do anything in Bangkok.

I arrived in Phuket just in time to see Santa arrive on his elephant!



This place is really nice. Where Dalian is cold and grey, Phuket is very warm and colorful. On the day after Christmas it was the one year anniversary of the big tidal wave that hit Phuket, as well as most places along the Indian Ocean. Several monks from a nearby temple came and held a prayer for the victims and survivors. Even though I do not understand Thai or the chants it was very moving.



Most of my time here has been spent being lazy, and it's wonderful! The other day I got a Thai massage at the spa here at the resort. It was amazing that I did not realize how tense I was until after that massage. It felt sooooooo good.