The Engagement-moon - Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

In May, we flew to Thailand! This was a long trip, and you know what I learned? American Airlines SUCKS. We flew american to Tokyo, and then JAL to Bangkok. I guess the airlines in Japan are subsidized by the government or something, because we got unlimited access to any movie or new TV show (hello HOUSE marathon!!), they wake you up to give you sushi, and you can sprawl across five seats! It's glorious.

Since this is really more like a honeymoon, I'll give you guys the deets more like that. Everyone should have a honeymoon before they get married anyways, right? ;)

In Bangkok we stayed at a place called Phranakorn Nornlen. This couldn't have been any better of a refuge in crazy Bangkok! The beds are stiff, but ALL the beds in asian hotels are stiff (compared to my pillow-top, at least!). The mood of the place is tranquil, relaxed, and refreshing, and every morning they serve you freshly made vegan breakfast. Man I wish I had my picture of the food! It was SO delish!

source: Phranakorn Nornlen

We only planned to stay 2 nights in Bangkok, and our major "activity" was going to a Thai cooking class! There are a lot of Thai cooking schools to choose from in Bangkok, but if you'll let me sway you at all, don't go to the big-name places. Book a class with Angsana at her house. She speaks perfect english, she'll take you to get the produce, her husband's swedish, and seriously, this is the best Thai food I've ever had - and we were in Thailand! Throughout the rest of the trip we dreamed of her sweet Thai green curry! Here's a tip - I found a recipe online! It's the only one I've been able to find though, so I guess you'll just have to go to Bangkok ;). We got a little recipe booklet after the class of the food we'd made, and spent some time eyeballing the monitor lizard in her backyard!

source: virtualtourist

YUM!!

source: Thai Home Cooking

After Bangkok, we flew down to Phuket! I know Phuket is a "typical" honeymoon location. Let me tell you right now, we both hated Phuket. It felt like Vegas. I don't know about you, but when I travel, I want to feel like I'm going somewhere different, not somewhere that makes itself look like every other tourist attraction. They even had a "cultural amusement park" called PhantaSea - because, you know, when I go to Thailand, what I really want to do the most is go to a crappy amusement park to learn about the Thai culture through caged hamsters, fake dinosaurs, and teeny-boppers singing about the "PhantaSea" of Phuket. Really.

It wasn't all bad, though. While Mr. Cubbie was slaving away at his conference, I got to catch up on my epic reading - The Pillars of the Earth! - on the beach, biotch! ;)

And we took some hilarious tuk-tuks in the evening!

After a week of being spoon-fed consumerism, we high-tailed it out of there to Khao Lak. Khao lak is known for its amazing scuba diving, especially in the Similan Islands.

found on flickr!

Pretty sweet, eh? Well, we didn't get to go to the Similans :( Apparently May is "monsoon" season or something. Seriously, though - we were shocked and devastated to see the suffering in Myanmar - a little bump in our scuba trip really wasn't that bad.

When we got to Khao Lak, it was raining a little bit, so we started our first day of scuba lessons in-doors (the first day is really just videos, anyways!). At the end of our lesson, we walked back to our new home away from home, Baan Krating. This place was the coolest - imagine being in an ewok village in a jungle cliff overlooking the ocean! W-O-W!! :)

source: Baan Krating

We were certainly happy! Or maybe that's because we got to eat MANGOSTEENS - the queen of fruit! Seriously, this is the tastiest fruit ever!

After we got back to our ewok village, we decided to go on a hike at the nearby Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park. This was also such a cool place to visit! There was a 2-mile loop that skirted the ocean, so we started that trail. There were vines for swinging on like Indiana Jones...

...cute photo-ops!...

...and a beautiful beach at the end...

It was here, on a beautiful remote beach in Thailand in the middle of a hike, that Mr. Bear Cub looked around him at everything that was beautiful and special in his life, took a deep breath, got down on one knee, asked me to marry him. And of course I said yes!! :)

*note - I normally don't wear make up. You're going to have to get used to this paint-free mug until the wedding! ;)

Not so bad, eh?

I really absolutely wish I could remember everything he said! It was so sweet, I know that! On the walk back to ewok-ville, I noticed his knee was sandy.

"Do you want me to help you wipe the sand off your knee?" I asked of my new betrothed!

"No! That's engagement sand! I want it to stay there." My new fiancé responded, lovingly ;)

So that's how we got engaged, but there's still plenty of engagement-mooning left in our trip! :) What's that? Go on a honeymoon right after you get engaged? Okay! :)

Mr. Cubbie and I loved Thailand; hopefully some day we'll be able to go back there with our [future] kids.

Did your fiancé have some quirky, yet cute way of telling you he loves you (like keeping "engagement sand" on his knee! :) ) that will always remind you of your engagement?