December in Beijing and Thailand

December was a crazy month. Between work, the stomach flu, business school applications, January's visit (the first friend to visit me in Beijing!) and getting ready for the Thailand trip, life was pretty overwhelming. But b-school apps have all been submitted and I survived the stomach flu. I think Jannie had a good time in Beijing (despite the fact I was a sick hostess) - took her to some of my favorite restaurants in Beijing, including Pure Lotus (Vegetarian), Middle 8 (Yunnan food), and Dintaifung (Shanghai/Taiwanese). We even went swimming. Jannie attempted to teach me how to tread water in preparation for Thailand. She wasn't very successful, but I think I'm slowly getting better at it (but will still drown probably if the water is too deep).

After trying to make it to the Thai beaches all summer and failing, I finally made it to the Thai beaches in December! Since I submitted my b-school apps before leaving for Thailand, I was able to enjoy a worry free vacation. I met Kelly and Nan in Bangkok and we flew to Phuket together. Jannie joined us there. We stayed at the Hilton Phuket by Karon Beach. The resort was gorgeous and the Karon beach was awesome - soft white sand and clear blue water. The weather was fabulous as well (absolutely no rain!). We went to the much busier Patong Beach about 10 minutes away also to jet ski, which was fun. We also spent one of the days going to Ko Phi Phi with stops on Monkey Beach and Maya Beach. Beijing is cold and nasty, so it made me appreciate the warm weather and beautiful beaches and ocean even more. Having Nan with us also made everything easier since she spoke Thai.

Since Kelly managed to convince the people at Air Asia to switch our flight to the next morning, Kelly and I were able to go with Nan to Natalie's (our other Thai friend who is half Brazilian, half Thai) house for Christmas Eve dinner. Dinner was such a lovely affair. We all got dressed up for the event. Natalie's family lives right outside Bangkok in a gorgeous house which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. Her mom (Brazilian) cooked everything. Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Thailand, she still wanted to have a gathering of family and friends to give thanks, so there was even a huge turkey and honey-cured ham. It was delicious. We also tried Brazilian dessert and an amazing passionfruit flavored mousse.

Kelly and I flew to Chiang Mai Christmas morning and visited the major sites there over the next 3 days. We went to Doi Suthep to one of their most holy temples. It was really beautiful. We also visited Doi Inthanon where we saw a couple of waterfalls, the highest point in Thailand and the King and Queen Pagoda. Of course, we also rode elephants (was fun but what a bumpy ride!), an ox cart and went on a ride on a bamboo raft along the river. We had lunch at this pretty outdoor restaurant with a great view of the river. We also visited the Night Bazaar (a night market) and the big Warorot Market by the river. My favorite thing in Chiang Mai was the cooking class Kelly and I took. We learned how to make Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai (one of our favorite Thai dishes even though most Thai people don't actually eat it), Som Yum (Payaya Salad), Glass Noodle Salad, Penang and Red Curry, Spring Rolls, Chicken with Cashew Nuts and Mango Sticky Rice (Thai food anyone?!). The food actually turned out really well. I'm excited about trying it at home sometime, although it would require fish sauce, oyster sauce, lemongrass and kaffir leaves (I think that's what they are called - they're so fragrant and really do a lot!).

After Chiang Mai, Kelly and I went back to Bangkok. We stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton right by the Chao Praya River. We met up with Nan. Nan took us to a Pad Thai restaurant (that's all they serve pretty much but they do it so well!). The food was so good, even though it was all just variations of pad thai. Need to work on my pad thai so it tastes just as awesome. I got a haircut and Kelly permed her hair. Major makeover!

We had fabulous food throughout our entire trip. In Phuket, we ate at this hilltop restaurant overlooking Phuket Town. The restaurant was a simple, cute outdoor place that served really delicious Thai food. We had really good Tamarind Prawns, Glass Noodle with Seafood, Fried Fish with Garlic and Pepper. In Chiang Mai, Kelly and I found Ginger & Kafe. The Thai food was delicious and beautifully presented. The restaurant was a part of a store (Ginger) that was like a smaller and cuter version of Anthropology. The restaurant itself was whimsically decorated. We both loved it. We also ate at the restaurant of a famous cooking school called the Wok where we tried Khao Soi, a traditional north thailand noodle in curry dish. It was really tasty. In Bangkok, Natalie and Nan took us to a Thai restaurant where we ordered a feast of crispy fish with sweet and spicy sauce, shrimp balls, chicken with cashew, pineapple fried rice, salty crispy fish salad and a bunch of thai desserts. We also got french pastries from Lenotre - a really good french bakery. And of course, we could not end our Thailand trip without paying a visit to Mango Tango - Kelly's favorite dessert place. We had mango sticky rice with mango ice cream and mango pudding. The mangos in Thailand are just awesome.

Kelly and I arrived in Beijing to find out that we had missed 2 of the most polluted days in Beijing. The pollution index was a whooping 421 out of 500 (so much for blue sky days) on Thursday the 27th and maxed out the scale at 500 on Friday (they stop measuring). The sky was basically black. On a bad day in NYC, it's 72. Beijing defines blue sky days as 100 or under on the scale and they claim to have had over 250 in 2007. A significant number of blue sky days falls between 95 and 100 which is still pretty polluted. But the pollution has been okay since we got back.

I took Kelly to a Xinjiang restaurant with Mary and Jia. Mary did all the ordering of course (hooray for Uyghur speaking person!) so we had a fabulous meal. For New Year's Eve, Kelly and I went pearl shopping, got ourselves facials, then had a Chinese-style banquet with a group of people at Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant where we had a ton of peking duck. We celebrated New Year's Eve at a house party which was a fun way to send off 2007. Hope 2008 will be a fun and fabulous year.