Blonde visited Bhutan because the idea of it fascinated her; what did “Gross National Happiness” really mean in practice. How was life different in a profoundly Buddhist country? What would it be like to experience a culture still relatively untouched by Western modernization? And how cool would she look in a picture showing that she’d made it the whole way to the Tiger’s … [Read more...]
The Second King of Bhutan and his Dzong
One day, on a group tour of Bhutan, Blonde was the victim of a gastrointestinal system rebellion and was told that she couldn't go with the group that day. She added this to the list of reasons why she may never again go on a group tour. (And as a friend of hers correctly pointed out they let the cows poop in the road so why was Blonde being put in a lower class than a … [Read more...]
Possibly heaven on earth: The Maldives!
You may deny it, but you know you have fantasies. And, if you're over the age of 35, you secretly fear that if your fantasy actually happened it would never live up, in reality, to the fantasy version. This is one case where it not only lived up to it but exceeded it! Blonde and Brunette had dreamt and schemed for years about going to the Maldives but it was always just too … [Read more...]
Reefers at Kurumba, Maldives!
The coral reefs in the Maldives, at least where we were stayed at Kurumba, are generally healthy. They have more kinds of fish swimming around than the number of STDs we assume Charlie Sheen has flowing through his tiger blood. OK, there probably aren’t that many kinds of fish but you get the idea. However, changing ocean temperatures and a combination of naturally occurring … [Read more...]
2013 in review – no wonder we’re tired!
It was a dark and stormy night. No wait, it was a bright and sunny day and Blonde and Brunette were out and about on a dolphin-delight wave runner tour of the Everglades with Captain Ron's. Brunette had purchased a condo on Marco Island, Florida in the summer of 2012 and this was her first official snow-bird winter. Simultaneous with Brunette's fun-sucking husband getting onto … [Read more...]
Big Buddha, Phuket, Thailand
Blonde and Brunette were in Thailand recently and cashed in our last stash of beloved SPG points to stay at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. In a rare case of us being sensible we had chosen not to rent a car for our time in Thailand. We had chosen our resort in part because it was an out of town, quiet destination. We didn't want to stay in the crazy cacophony that is … [Read more...]
Two beautiful, tranquil places in Phuket, Thailand
We do a series on "Places We've Loved" and Phuket won't make it. Did we have fun there? Yes, we had a lot of fun. But if you're trying to decide where to spend limited time and money to go we wouldn't recommend Phuket. The towns are very noisy, crowded, chaotic and filled with fume-spewing traffic. Maybe we didn't get to the right places, but in our experience you couldn't … [Read more...]
Phangna Bay and James Bond Island, Thailand
Back when Roger Moore was James Bond and making the 10th Bond movie, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, it was filmed, in part, on an island near Phuket, Thailand. Even though the film was shot close to 40 years ago, was a critical dud and one of the lowest ranked films of the Bond franchise, the rock is somehow still a major tourism draw. The gun may not have been golden but the … [Read more...]
Lessons in selecting a mate as learned in the Sacred Monkey Forest of Bali
When the book and then the movie Eat, Pray, Love were wildly popular desolately single women went en masse on tours to Bali. They yearned to be told their fate by Ketut Liyer, an ancient healer and lady-fate predictor, get overnight spiritual transformations and meet sensitive and adoring (yet manly) men. Men wanted to go anywhere but Bali. They (probably rightfully) … [Read more...]