A SINGLE FLOWER FALLEN ON THE WALKWAY TO MY ROOM

This incredible hotel and spa called the BURASARI in Phuket Thailand, is considered a world class boutique hotel and was a hit when Ek brought Liz and I here as well as this recent trip.   The first year we had rooms that walked out into the pool.  This year I got a balcony room that was big enough for a large family and had it all to myself!!  What a place this is.  I hope my video and photos below can do it justice.

ABOVE IS THE HOTEL LOBBY

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO IN HIGHER RESOLUTION AND LARGE OR CLICK ARROW BELOW

ABOVE IS A VIEW FROM A RIVER BOAT DINNER CRUISE   THROUGH BANGKOK AT NIGHT

THE CRUISE INCLUDED A WONDERFUL TRADITIONAL DANCE TROOP

EK ……LUV THIS SHOT OF YOU MY FRIEND!  WE ALL GOT KIND OF WIND BLOWN ON THE CRUISE

BY POOLSIDE AT BURASARI

HOW UNREAL WAS THIS????A MOONBEAR CRESCENT MOON WAS VISIBLE THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE IN THAILAND

PER, JACKIE AND EK ON THE CRUISE

CAN’T ESCAPE THAT COCA COLA LOGO NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD WE TRAVEL

A LOVELY TERRACOTTA INCENSE JAR

BELOW YOU WILL SEE THE MARBLE TILES I PURCHASED FOR MY SON, MOM AND DAD WHICH WILL END UP BEING INSTALLED IN THE GIANT BUDDHA OF PHUKET (ABOVE)

ON THE LAST VISIT WITH MY DAUGHTER LIZ WE PURCHASED ONES FOR OURSELVES AND STEVE BUT WERE IN A RUSH AND I WAS KICKING MYSELF I DIDN’T GET ONE FOR THE REST OF MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY.  NOW WE ALL ARE A PART OF THIS MAGNIFICENT BUDDHA!!!

A VIEW FROM THE GIANT BUDDHA

TEXT BELOW FROM BURASARI WEBSITE

Named after the rare Burasari flower that grows on the property, Burasari is a Phuket resort that is an unexpected treasure in the heart of exciting Patong.  Burasari is a boutique hotel in Phuket unlike any other Patong Beach hotel, offering a full experience of sophisticated style, comfort, privacy, tranquility, and a first class international dining for discerning travellers.

Burasari’s Feel at Home philosophy gives our guests the experience of a warm home that embraces you with stylish design, great food, caring service and the calming elements of nature.

Style : Our Classic, Premier Collection, Elite Collection, and Mood Collection rooms range from elegant classic northern Thai Lanna style with antiques and wood carvings, to the more minimalist, airy contemporary Thai style, to the fabulous one-of-a-kind Mood Collection of rooms designed in a range of nine different themes, ranging from romantic to artistic.

Smart Dining: Burasari is home to Floyd’s Brasserie, the one and only restaurant in the world owned by world famous TV chef Keith Floyd.  Floyd’s personally selected menu offers Fresh Phuket Lobster, Imported Oysters, Australian steak, and much more, plus exclusive fine wines specially selected for Floyd’s Brasserie.

Nature : Small and intimate, the resort’s stylish rooms are set around two swimming pools fringed with lusciously fragrant frangipani trees, towering palms, glorious bougainvillea, curling ferns, and trickling waterfalls that create a romantic, self-contained oasis removed from the bustling outside world.

Care : Our friendly staff embody the best of Thai hospitality, giving you caring service and a readiness to serve that gives you the easy feeling of being in a home, not a hotel.  Your comfort is our heartfelt concern – after one visit, you’ll begin to think of Burasari boutique hotel Phuket as your home away from home!

ABOVE: EK AND I SITTING AT SUNSET ON ONE OF HIGHEST PEAKS ON PHUKET….WOW WHAT A VIEW!!!

Wow…looking back at these photos is like going on my adventure all over again!!!   I am fast forwarding to the last week in Phuket Thailand just because I happened to be working on these food photos and wanted you all to see what an incredible place Phuket and introduce you to my dear friend Ekarat who spoiled me rotten while I was there!!!  Ek , for some reason I can’t convince my dogs to squeeze fresh limeade for me every day or catch fresh fish for dinner!  Dang I miss that outrageously fresh and spicy Thai food!!!

This seafood restaurant we went to twice and was the same one I raved about last trip.  I can honestly say I have never had such perfect homestyle food anywhere in the world!!!! It’s THAT good!!

One of the prawn dishes we had

The BEFORE version of the prawns……….incredibly fresh

Waiting for the sun to set on Phuket!

I ate my share and more of this fresh squid dish.  Spicy and full of lime and Thai goodness

The mussels were also very well seasoned and mouthwatering….I’m drooling as I write

MY BOYS…our group on Phuket included Eks cousin, nephew and a visitor from Korea …all of them about the age of my son.  They called me “mom” and I loved every minute of it!!  I’m so disappointed I didn’t get a good photo of Eks cousin Pai this day….he does a good job of avoiding the camera but I have a few good ones I’ll post later.  Pai was behind the camera in this shot

Yummers!! Dip these babies in  the hot sauce and pop them in your mouth…Crunchy from head to tail like a Fish potato chip.  I took the tail…Ek got the part that looks at you

BELOW..RUBBING IT IN LIZ…..WISH YOU WERE HERE!!

The view from our table on the beach during our lunch visit

Yadda Yadda Yadda………did I ever quit talking Ek?????  I had a captive audience and I took advantage of it….LOL! I have a lot of photos of me talking with my hands since we had Korean, Thai and English trying to communicate.  It was the most fun EVER !!

Are these beautiful or what?????

And tasted even better!!!!

Ek as we got ready to climb the long staircase to the Big Buddha which is still under construction on Phuket.  I’ll be posting more photos of this soon

Check out what the sign says…….The construction has come a long way since last year when I visited

Another huge statue at the top of the hill by the Buddha

Here is my very favorite dish of the entire trip and I had it at least 4 different ways.  The fish was filleted and the meat cut into large chunks.  The dredged in some kind of seasoned flour and flash deepfried with herbs, basil, and delicioius bits I couldn’t identify.  Then reassambled back onto the fish to make a beautiful presentation. No bones……..just perfect sweet and very spicy fish chunks to devour!!!!!

Here I am at the BURASARI HOTEL with my favorite drink…..fresh squeezed lime juice.  This swing was in the restaurant.  This lime juice went well with the spicy dishes and seemed to rehydrate much better than just water.

I would love a glass of this right now!!!

Another view from the seafood restaurant

Have to fit in a panda somewhere in Phuket!!

The seafood is THIS fresh

View from the hilltop where the Giant Buddha resides

I love the red accents in this image

A local temple .  I got some wonderful video here as well which I’ll be posting soon

I have hundreds of photos yet to share of my time visiting Ek in Bangkok and Phuket.  Next post you will get to see his puppies and some fun at the food market too!!!  Oh and a visit to a dog show judge  friend of Ek’s on Phuket .  OMG her home was one of the most beautiful properties I had ever seen!!!!

Hope you are enjoying the “tour” after the trip.  I am counting the days until I return to Thailand………the warm smiles, the exotic  foods and the genuine hospitality that the Thai people extend is what makes this such a popular destination, yet comparatively  few Americans venture that direction, I’m sure because it is so far and also quite mysterious at first glance…..which is all part of the allure for me personally.  Thailand is so diverse and “user” friendly!!!!

A cute dog at sunset on Phuket

THANK YOU  SO VERY MUCH EK FOR THE INCREDIBLE MEMORIES OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!!

I’m going to let most of these photos speak for themselves with short captions inbetween.  This was on February 9, 2010 at Chengdu Panda Base.  The day was stunning with more pandas than we had time to see ……but we made the very best of our full day there with Lichunlin and one of nutritionists escorting us around the base . The second half of the day we were on our own and poking around every corner of this stunning , fully landscaped paradise in the middle of the city of Chengdu.

The Chinese New Year decorations were just going up, vs. Dianas and my trip where they were just coming down.  All the red made for some incredible photo!

A new expansion was added since our visit in 2008 on top of the hill where few tourists go.  This was our favorite place to just take our time photographing and observing the cubs and older pandas as well as some getting ready to breed

Do you all remember Siyuan…..she was my first panda I ever had my photo taken with in 2006.  We found her on top of the hill munching boo and taking in the cool sunshine and fresh breezes that day. Siyuan is easy to recognize by her white paw

Here I am with Siyuan in 2006

Siyuan “bleeting” at us like a goat.  I think we woke her up and surprised her as we came around the corner

The youngsters were BEARY tired…..sleeping off their bamboo and panda bread meals in the lazy afternoon

Ohhhhhh to be a panda!

Gayle and I on one of the new concrete benches made to look like a tree trunk. Thanks Lichunlin for taking this photo!

More of the hill dwelling pandas

Kind of like a bobsledding team!

What a sweet expression

We both had the opportunity to have our photo taken with one of the teenagers.  I need to find out who this was.  There was a BBC reporter having her photo taken too and it was kind of crazy during the “shoot”.  The idiot lady was hugging and kissing the panda so hard I was just waiting to take photos of a mauling……hey…shes a reporter…she would understand the need to get a story right!! LOL!

Seriously though……that was the most unbelievable and irresponsible thing I had seen  in a long time.  The staff looked pretty shocked too.  Good thing it was over fast!

All you see are the top of our heads because all we want to do is look at the panda practically sitting in our laps!!  Our photographer keeps saying LOOK UP. Well the panda is certainly well trained because she looked up on command.  We were content to gaze in disbelief at our panda friend and count our blessings that we had this opportunity to “hang out” with a giant panda TWICE on this journey

Another lovely beast

Ms. Mei Lan who was shipped to Chengdu from Atlanta was given the royal welcome with little touches like this in the office

Bamboo overload

Reclining Panda

MANY MORE PANDA PHOTOS TO COME THIS WEEK INCLUDING THE RED PANDAS WE GOT TO HOLD!!!

Below are a couple of iphone images from this weekend in Portland too on our Saturday Walk.  Don’t miss the new videos below of the magnolias, doxies, etc etc.  I loaded quite a few and did an Ipadio update

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I WAS NOTIFIED IN THIS MORNING’S EMAIL THAT THIS IMAGE I TOOK AT ELEPHANT NATURE PARK A FEW WEEKS AGO IS #332 IN FLICKR’S EXPLORE WHICH IS AMONG THE 500 PHOTOS CHOSEN  BY FLICKR STAFF AS THE MOST INTERESTING PHOTOS OUT OF THE GABILLION LOADED BY MEMBERS THAT DAY!!!

The photo I call “LEKS SONG” is of Sangduen “Lek” Chailert who is the founder of Elephant Nature Foundation in Chiang Mai Thailand.  This series of images were taken shortly after our orientation learning about how to navigate around the silent tippie toeing elephants as we enjoyed the rescue park for a full day of bathing , feeding, smooching and learning about these endangered beauties.

As a few others in our group of 10 were feeding some of the elephants (many more photos on the way) Gayle and I stood by the fencing to watch this scene in amazement.  Lek  slipped into the enclosure in silent  elephant style, then sat under one of the two new babies and started to sing a sweet song in Thai to him.  The song I chose for the video was not Lek but is a beautiful Hilltribe love song to highlight the mood of the day

I was mesmerized by this incredible human/elephant bond,  and  was lucky to have both my SLR and video camera on hand.  This video below tells the very short story in photos and film how touching this priceless moment in time was.  Lek and the baby were not 2 individual beings for those few minutes of bonding……..rather they were syncronized as ONE…moving in tandem…slowly to her sweet , soft song.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS VIDEO MUCH LARGER AND IN HIGH DEFINITION

or stay at the blog and click arrow below.  There is audio with this video..ENJOY

ABOVE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOS I TOOK AT THE SICHUAN OPERA IN CHENGDU

What a treat this was when Mickal took us out on the town  for an evening of tea and local entertainment at the Sichuan Opera!!!  The sights and sounds are dazzling we sat in some of the best seats in the house to watch the drama, music, face changing performers , master puppetry and shadow puppets and comedians…….and all the tea you could drink!   It was like a “living room”  or coffee house size performance

MICKALS LITTLE GIRL “MINNIE” DOING HER FACE CHANGING IMITATION

The cup you drink from is like a small bowl with a lid…with your Jasmine loose tea in the bottom.  The lid usually stays on while the tea steeps.. as the nights were very cold and the teahouses and restaurants not heated whatsoever. Once steeped to our taste we used the lid to hold back the leaves as we sipped.

THIS PUPPET COULD BLINK HER EYES AND THE DEXTERITY IN HER FINGERS WAS INCREDIBLE

Once the lid is left off the cup, a server comes along with a pot of boiling water that is remniscent of watering can with a 3 foot long skinny spout!  That baby shoots a stream of boiling water across an entire table  (or two) and many of the patrons laps with precision accuracy. I only wish I had taken a photo of  it and am so grateful for that “precision accuracy”!

This way they can fit more in the space without leaving an aisle for the server to walk through.  Just watching them wield the wicked water pot was entertainment in itself!!

“AHHHHHHHHHH PANDAAAAAAAAA” AND APPLAUSE CAME WHEN THIS SHADOW PUPPET APPEARED

THIS COMEDY ROUTINE WAS WONDERFUL.  NOT A WORD OF ENGLISH SPOKEN AND MOSTLY LOCALS ATTENDING THE OPERA.  IN FACT IT WAS PRETTY OBVIOUS WE WERE PROBABLY THE ONLY TOURISTS IN CHENGDU THAT WEEK!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO MUCH LARGER AND IN HIGH DEFINITION

or click arrow below to stay here and watch.  There is audio with all my videos I post.  The music you hear on this one is actually a real Sichuan Opera sound track I found on Itunes

THANK YOU MICKAL FOR YET ANOTHER INCREDIBLE MEMORY IN CHENGDU.  WHAT A WONDERFUL FRIEND AND HOST TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME WITH US THAT WEEK.

It is such a comforting feeling to be so far from home but still with friends who looked out for us!!!

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BE SURE TO CHECK THE NEW AUDIO UPDATE TODAY…MORE COMING TOMORROW!!!

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