a veg life

(posted by Emily) Traveling to a new part of the world is always a fascinating experience. Rick and I typically come home with new foods we love to eat (and crave), new experiences to share, and new items of clothing to wear. For some reason, visiting SE Asia was particularly impactful for both of us. There are some many things we learned or came away with, and I thought they would be worth sharing with you. Top Ten: Lessons we learned in Asia 1) Share the road. Driving in Thailand can be heart pounding, but driving in Cambodia is even more enlightening. On the 10+ miles of road we explored while there (to and from the airport, to and from downtown), I can only remember 1 stoplight. While most roads are paved, there are no lane markings. Drivers truly share the road, taking turns at intersections, using as much of the roadway as they need to, and showing courtesy to one another at all times. Neither of us remember hearing a horn honk. It has been fascinating to come back to a ...

(posted by Emily)  5 January 2015 Koh Samui and Bangkok, Thailand On Monday morning, we decided to take advantage of some of the Conrad's perks. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast spread, with fresh juice, fruit, granola, toast, salad, and coffee. After breakfast, we rented an ocean kayak, and headed out in the water around the hotel. We decided to skip snorkeling, but swam a bit before heading up to our room.  We enjoyed the pool a bit more, showered, and packed our bags. At check out, there were glasses of lemongrass lemonade waiting for us, along with one last view of the property. The hotel offers a complimentary shuttle to the main tourist area of Koh Samui, Chewang . There was a bus at 1pm and one at 6pm--we decided to get on the 1 o'clock bus to head to the town, which was near the Koh Samui airport. Though we needed to get to Chewang eventually, we should have just taken the 6pm bus.... When we arrived in Chewang, we were near a large...

(posted by Emily)  4 January 2015 Koh Samui, Thailand One of the perks of staying at the Conrad was the offer of a complimentary snorkeling tour on Sunday morning. We signed up for the 10am boat, and were pleasantly surprised to find we had it all to ourselves! Private snorkel tour? Don't mind if we do! the fish were so friendly! eels at the bottom of the reef After a bit of snorkeling, we headed off to a smaller island with a beach for a swim. the boat that took us on our tour looking back at the beach There was a Conrad employee who came on the tour with us as our "beach butler"--he suggested we drive around the island to see the Conrad from the water. The property is stunning when you are on it, but from afar it is even more impressive! When we got back, we spent the afternoon relaxing in our room, enjoying the pool and the view.  We knew we wanted to stop in to the bar for happy hour again, and ...

(posted by Emily)  3 January 2015 Leaving Krabi, off to Koh Samui, Thailand We were up early on Saturday morning to catch our transfer to Koh Samui. I decided to take a few more photos of the Vogue Resort while we waited for the van.  Koh Samui is an island off the south eastern coast of Thailand. There are a number of islands in that area, but Samui is one of the largest.  You can see Krabi on this map too, further south.  In order to get to the island, we had to plan for a bus and ferry service . There is an airport on the island, but it's cheaper to take the high speed catamaran. The first leg of the trip was via double decker coach bus, similar to the mega bus.  After about 2 hours of driving, we arrived at the pier where we boarded the ferry. It is a high speed catamaran boat, and takes about 45 minutes to get to Koh Samui. There were TVs on the boat that provided a safety briefing, then short documentary/promo se...