Asia Backpacking Adventure: Part 2

And the adventure continues...

We left on Saturday morning from Chiang Mai and flew to Koh Samui, Thailand.  Two words describe what we did here for three days: pool and beach!

I lied. Remember in our first blog where I said I didn't help much in making the travel plans? Well, in the very beginning stages of planning our trip Chris asked his geographically-challenged wife where I would like to go and my one and only request was "somewhere hot with a beach."  So, see... I did help! Chris decided on Koh Samui not only because of the weather and beach, but I quickly learned he had a hidden agenda, too.  Koh Samui also has great diving!

Koh Samui was truly a "beachy" town lined with markets and fun places to eat.  Most of the places we ate at were right on the beach. Now, I don't mean you could see the beach... your feet were in the sand while you ate.  How fun!!

Relaxing at a beach-front restaurant

Eating dinner on the beach at the Ark Bar

It was fun at night!

Also, most of these beach-front restaurants had "seafood bars." They had fresh sea creatures sitting on ice and you would hand pick your seafood and tell them how to cook it.  Of course, Chris had to try it!  He ordered the red trout and it was delicious!

Chris choosing his fish

The finished product!

 Chris once again brought me to an amazing hotel (which he got for super cheap).  It had an incredible view which we woke up to every morning and an infinity pool (which is my new favorite thing).

The view from our hotel balcony

Eating in the pool... this was super exciting for us! 

And Chris wasn't satisfied with eating "at" the pool, he wanted to drink "in" the pool, too!

One day while we were there, Chris went on a dive trip to the island of Ko Tau. He went with a Japanese company so he was able to talk with the Japanese divers about living in Japan.  He was hoping to see the infamous whale shark.  He didn't have any luck, but he did see some pretty incredible things. He saw soft corals, a cool "swim-through" a giant puffer, schools of barracuda, giant groupers, and moray eels. Chris felt bad leaving me at the hotel, but I wasn't complaining! This is how I spent my entire day:

After three days in Koh Samui we packed our bags and we were off for our fourth destination... Kuala Lumpur.  We were headed here for one reason only, the Petronas Twin Towers.  Never heard of them? Neither had I!  (Now I know they are featured in the movie "Entrapment" if you want to check it out).  Chris loves architecture and unique buildings so Kuala Lumpur was on his list.  The funny part is the effort we put in to get to see the towers and were only going to be there for literally a few hours!  

We had to take a van from our hotel to the ferry station, a ferry to the bus station, a bus to the airport, and a plane to Kuala Lumpur. Once we arrived we weren't done... we then boarded another bus to take us to the train station then we took a rail train to the towers.  Are you tired yet?  We were!  Now, to a girl who is prone to get motion sick on a swing, this was a traveling nightmare, but surprisingly enough I did pretty well! This was the part of our trip where Chris' "Amazing Race" commentary was in full-force!  At times he actually made me run! I think he thought there was really going to be a prize when we got to the towers.  I hope he wasn't too disappointed!

We were both pretty thrilled that I made it successfully through the ferry ride (my least favorite form of transportation).

A unique statue we saw while we were on the ferry.

Finally, we made it to the towers!  Chris was thrilled. He was like a little kid!  Me, I kept thinking, "we took a van, ferry, bus, plane, bus, and a train to see these?" Just kidding, they were pretty impressive!

He made it!!

Chris loves these maps, especially when they say, "You are here!"

The sky bridge that connects the two towers.

Sorry about all the pictures... remember, they are the sole reason we came!

In all of Chris' researching, he found the best view of the towers was from the Sky Bar.  We walked forever and by the time we got there it was evening, which was great because the view of the towers at night is pretty spectacular!  Our plan the whole time was to be able to see them during the day and night. Here was our view as we ate our dinner comprised of appetizers:

We had to document that we were there...

I told you we only went to see the towers, so after dinner we headed back to the train station and boarded the over night train to our fifth and final destination...