Exhale... and surprise after surprise..

So from the 16th through the 19th, I was in Kathmandu, and had a nasty bout of a cold that had gone from our tour leader to Franz to me.
While sick, we had a couple of fascinating trips around the Kathmandu valley where we saw the Bouddha Stupa, the Pashipatan temples where Hindus are cremated (saw one take place - the eldest son feeding the father the fire and everything), Patan, which was a neighboring kingdom, and Bhakpatur, another neighboring kingdom. The 19th we packed, and spent the day flying to Phuket for the WARM part of our vacation. 17K feet in the air on a mountain to a paradise at sea level.
Franz hadn't let me know what our hotel in Phuket was - it was to be a surprise. Indeed it surpassed all my expectations. It's the Banyan Tree Phuket. We were greeted with a bracelet of fragrant orchids to wear, a juice drink, and a cold peppermint towel into this grand open air lobby filled with fire and water and stone. Quite an amazing first impression. We have a 2 bedroom villa with outdoor showers, a private pool with jaccuzzi, amazing air conditioning, fluffy pillows and towels, and a complimentary internet connection. This is luxury on a scale I hadn't experienced before, and even now on the second day I'm not sure what to think.
The surprises kept coming, however. After an excellent night's sleep, and a delightfully decadent pan-asian breakfast buffet, back at the villa a familiar whistle and smile greeted me at the door. Franz had Charles fly out here from Dallas to enjoy the Thanksgiving week in the sun with us. Somehow, I don't know how, as I manage to keep pretty close tabs on things at home, he managed to keep this a secret since June; flight and schedule changes were coordinated, and Chaz managed to get some extra time in at work so he could get away.

Look who showed up! [new window]


I feigned some indignation at having done all the work in the trek and having him get to enjoy all the spoils of the relaxing, but this is all really too much not to share with him. He's really gotten into it as well, and I'm really lucky that he's able to enjoy it as well. We spent the 20th on the beach, and today, the 21st in the villa and at the pool basking in the sun. Tonight we're going to go into Phuket town, and then we've got 3 days of Thai adventures lined up. This is the real vacation now.