Fetter's Travels: October 2014

Hi All,
here's what we're up to in between vacations:

The Aussie's don't do Halloween, so a bunch of us Canadian's got together and did it up.

What a blast! We were up dancing until 2am. The theme was The 1970's/80's.

(Plus 4 had birthday's this week too, so great excuse to get together!)
Thanks for hosting Matt and Molly.

Sean (on his birthday) and Krystin Rennie (Collingwood, ON)

Yes, that is Wayne with me! Ha, ha, ha.
His short shorts were a big hit all night long :)

Patrick Ingleman (B.C.)

Another birthday girl: Carmen Babin (B.C.) and Suzie

Wayne and Patrick Rock'n it!

Too funny. Patrick with Sean.

The girls; Molly (birthday girl from London, ON), Stacey (Moncton, New Brunswick, Carmen,

Cathy (B.C.), Suzie and Krystin.

Sean, Cathy, and Art (another October birthday, from B.C.)

Our host Mat Cox of London, ON.

This is today after school on our backyard trampoline.

I like to pretend I had twins and dress them the same (ha, ha).

It's really Noah and Ellise's school uniform.

Oct. 3-5

Two words describe the first part of our Thailand experience perfectly: rainy season! We have been so fortunate with the weather on all our travels this year, so when we finally got some rain, we were a little disappointed. But we knew it was the rainy season before we went, so we expected some rain, just not 5 straight days of constant heavy rain with the odd torrential downpour. It did make for some lush green scenery though. It was very tropical, because all the rain just added to the heat and humidity that was already in the air. Luckily the rain did subside for about an hour each day and we got to tour around the areas surrounding our hotels. All of the hotels that we stayed at also provided at least one umbrella per room for the guests to use, so we stayed dry most of the time.

After the full days of exploring Singapore, it felt good to have a few days to just laze around the hotel, read our books, use the fitness room, play ping pong and pool in the games room as well as play family card games.

Our hostess, in the main lobby of the Horizon Karon Beach Resort on Phuket Island.

The lush green grounds of the resort.

The pool and swim up bar which we didn't get to use because
it was raining the whole time we were there.

The kids favourite spot: the all-you-can-eat buffet.
The food was delicious and plentiful, so eating breakfast and dinner here every day,
the clothes were getting tight by the end of our stay.
Thank goodness for the fitness room.

Karon Beach, Phuket, between showers.

Hail to the victors!! Ping Pong champs.

Noah practising for the rematch.

Oct. 5-7

Today we hopped in a van for a 3 hour driving tour of Thailand on our way to our second stop in Krabi. The majority of Phuket was very similar to Bali, Indonesia; very crowded, dirty, and run-down. But once we got out into the rural areas it was beautiful, lush and green with limestone karst cliffs and mountains. This is the part of Thailand that we were really looking forward to seeing.

Aonang Villas, our second hotel in Krabi, Thailand.

The beach at Krabi overlooking the Andaman Sea (which was a sensational 30 C).

This is our family picture with Tik Tik, a beautiful Thai woman that I met outside our hotel.
She owns this massage hut on the beach, so we all went for a massage on our first evening in Krabi. The massages were surprisingly good and extremely cheap. We also received fresh fruit,
and the girls received a free manicure and pedicure. Needless to say, they got a very big tip!!

Family photo time in the hotel room.

The first bit of blue sky that we saw in Thailand.

The blue sky was short lived. More torrential winds and rain!

Suzie braving the storm.
Notice the plastic awnings in the restaurant to Suzie's left.

Big wind!

Pool fun!
The girls are in love with the Frangipani blossoms that smell like a bottle of perfume.

The calm before the next storm.
(And no, nothing to do with our marriage)!

Lots of flowers and leaves fell into the pool during the storms. Ellise made this lovely arrangement.

No tsunami problems for us,
but after the devastating tsunami back in 2004 these signs were everywhere.
Yikes!

Oct. 7-9

The highlight of our Thailand trip was our final destination: Phi Phi Don Island. There are 2 islands in this area which are best known for their movie sets in "The Beach" with Leonardo Di Caprio, and "The Man With The Golden Gun", an old James Bond Movie. The scenery was stunning!

The ferry ride to Phi Phi Island, and the final leg of our Thailand trip

Ton Sai, the main ferry dock and tourist area on Phi Phi Don Island.

Gorgeous scenery!!!

Sheer limestone cliffs dominate the landscape.

After the ferry, we had a longboat ride to our hotel on the far north end of the island.

Welcome to paradise!

Ellise enjoying the scenery from the tree swing.

Our home on Phi Phi Island.
The whole villa was ours; two adjourning rooms.
However, Ellise still ended up on the single bed in our room on the last night!?!

Longboats; the only mode of transportation on Phi Phi Island. Not a car in sight.
We loved how all the boats would get stranded during low tide.