Pua everywhere!

After a long flight from JFK, K and I (S) made it to Hawaii! M and T had longer flights but we all made it to Oahu and were reunited for this awesome vacation. 

M welcomed us with leis and a Benz! Btw I am soooooo excited she has written for the blog!!!!!! I know it will be a thousand times better now. The blog just kept our old brains fresh with memories from previous trips, mostly that time when I got attacked by a monkey and when T and V found themselves in a Balinese bath together... And never forget "sh*t people"! Pardon my lack of makeup and baggy eyes below. I was tired but extremely happy for the tropical surroundings and to see M!!

After T's flight arrived from L.A., we headed over to the Rainbow Drive-In for some BBQ mixed plates, Mahi Mahi and a loco moco. Planes these days will just keep you starving on those long flights. We then checked into the hotel, which has a spectacular view of Diamond Head. Then, we ended up taking a walk to the beach where a bunch of Japanese visitors were demonstrating their passion for hula (?) before ending up at the Beach Bar in Waikiki. Listening to some Hawaiian renditions of classic 80's and other covers over some cocktails, we were able to catch up on our own adventures. T's got a new job, for one! Anyway, we were obviously still on mainland time and headed back to the hotel before 9pm! Hopefully we will have more stories tomorrow!

A-L-O-H-A

Tomorrow morning I embark on a 10+ hour trip from Philly to Honolulu.  Hello, this is M and it's my first entry into the JohnsonHoneymooners.blogspot.com.  It's hard to believe that we (S, T, and M) have been out of b-school for four years now.  T is soon starting a new job.  S is now married to K while I  am still doing my thing in Philly.  Life is quite good when we actually stop and notice. Together we've traveled to Portugal, Greece, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand since our graduation.

This year we will land in the islands of Hawai'i which is my hometown. We'll arrive in the busy island of Oahu (where I grew up) and then island hop to Maui.  I am excited to share this part of paradise, and for them to meet my family and friends. Along the way,  I know there will be many scenic views, warm waters to swim in, yummy tropical cocktails, ono foods (Hawaiian word for delicious), and good memories.

ALOHA is a lovely feeling, and it's just a flight away....more to come :)

Hawaii 2014!!!

Exciting news!  Next week, M, T and I are reuniting in Hawaii for our third, oops, FOURTH almost annual trip! Killing 2 birds with one stone is the way of life in our busy 30's so I am also attending a wedding at the end of the trip. We missed doing it last year because I went on an actual honeymoon with Kkkkk. Anyway, so much has happened since we were in Asia for V's wedding. I cannot wait to catch up with these girls, hang out with M's family and friends and create adventures. Stay tuned for more! Now onto packing and cleaning...

"This Is How We Do It"

The day and venue of V and Alex's wedding was epic! Trisara is a secluded 5-star resort with breathtaking views of the ocean. When we were driving up the hill and caught the first glimpse of the ocean, I literally gasped. It was so beautiful. I couldn't believe we were there. We were among the first guests and immediately started taking pictures. The groom was there greeting us as we sipped on ginger tea and took in the surroundings. I kinda told Alex I would cry for 2 reasons: tears of happiness for the beautiful wedding and tears of sorrow that our vacation and trip would be over! Maybe not the classiest thing to say but it was the truth. Although we went halfway around the world to see our friend get married, they picked paradise and none of us could complain. In fact, it was quite the privilege (as always!) to be friends with V!

The ceremony was performed by the groom's older sister and she was phenomenal! More on that later. Orchids were everywhere but they really couldn't compete with the water and trees all over. The bridal party was a great looking bunch! The girls wore fuschia (?) cocktail dresses in different styles. And Addison the little flower girl was adorable as always!

  

We knew V would come out in style but we did not anticipate how dramatic of an entrance she would make. While the rest of the wedding party entered from the lounge, V and her father came out from the second floor of one of the towers on the right, crossed a bridge above the manmade waterfall and took the stairs down. Relatives (i think cousins?) played pachelbel's canon in d on violin and piano. T & I were tearing up at the sight. The gown was custom-made by designer seamstresses in Singapore. I should have asked about the shoes because they were awesome. Anyway, the tears didn't end there.

When the ceremony began, Alex's sister enlightened us with the rigorous credentials needed to become ordained. It basically only required checking a box in a free online form. Despite her inexperience "marrying people," she did a great job capturing what is so special about V and Alex as individuals but also as a couple the last 4 years. She mentioned that she was Alex's legal guardian at some point during school and that he never crossed boundaries with her and was just a great example for the entire family then and now. I looked to T and we were both in tears. When he brought V home for Thanksgiving, they knew she could hang because she is cool and can handle lots of food and football. I think it is truly remarkable that V and Alex made the early days of their relationship work, while she was in NY and he was in Singapore. It's so great to see that all of that was culminating into this great event celebrating all they've been through to get their lives together. Everyone felt the love the entire night!

The cocktail hour served passion fruit margaritas and some chili moon martini (?) drink as well as Singha and wine. We dined on awesome hors d'oeuvres and signed the guest book, which involved lots of people taking silly pics. When cocktail hour ended, it started pouring; guests had to be escorted with umbrellas to the reception area. When we got to our seats, we welcomed the bride and groom to their first dance. It was a Chinese version of Prince's (and Sinead O'Connor's) "nothing compares 2 u"!!!!! So good. Other highlights of the reception were: Alex singing a song to V (!!! Surprise!!!), V's awesome Chinese dress, the DJ, the DJ falling on the floor, all the 90's pop music (including K singing "this is how we do it" to the amusement of T and the girls singing "shoop" before the DJ cuts it off abruptly) and lighting up lanterns to the sky... What an amazing night! Hope this honeymoon feeling never ends for all of us!

 

Pre-Wedding Prep

We found a spa within walking distance from our villa called Chada Sai. The 3 girls opted for 10am massage and nail appointments anticipating that we'd be done around noon. Jamie and Dave checked out of the villa and into the Dusit Thani so we didn't see them again until wedding festivities began. Matt & K just chilled in the villa to swim, check email and watch TV.

When we got to the spa, we were greeted by chilled tea and very soothing scents. I got a pedicure/manicure first (with "scratch") then had a 1-hour coconut and Thai herb/black sesame scrub. T&M got an intense 1-hour Thai massage and then a pedicure with scratch. There are no words to describe that thai massage experience. You just have to see T and M gyrate to demonstrate. They put on pajama-looking hammer pants and laid in beds next to each other while these tiny but strong thai women mounted them from behind to achieve maximum stretch. It was also raining during some of our treatment, so that added some calming noises to the madness.

Anyway, by the time we were done, it was already 1pm! Were we really there for 3 hours?! We could have stayed all day. I asked my masseuse where we could get lunch and she recommended a Mexican place across the street... Seriously?! It was called Gitano's and it was a Mexican-Thai restaurant. We were skeptical but it was POURING and we had to eat. We also didn't have much time to eat, get ready and get to Dusit Thani for the 3:30 shuttle. I sent K an iMessage that we were getting lunch and he said "I'll be there in 10!" The menu was great, it was just as described but good lunch portions, prices and selection! T had a watermelon ginger juice and I had a Thai iced tea. M got a coca cola of course.

K met us right as we were about to order food. He got a fried chicken curry, I got a crab curry with brown rice vermicelli, T had a pineapple fried rice and M got some spicy glass noodles. We shared some stir fried morning glory on the side. Everything was less than $5 a plate!

We rushed back to get ready for V's big day! We probably only had a half hour but we made it!!!

Island Hopping at Koh Phi Phi

V arranged a group island hopping adventure that began at her hotel lobby at 8:15am. Anticipating this early start, I took orders for breakfast sandwiches and all but one of us made the trip out to pick up. There were 11 sandwiches ordered between 7 Americans! The guys each had 2 sausage egg mcmuffins. The English muffins here are a bit more fluffy and less bitter than the American version. However, that dog was there again. This time, the larger group witnessed him as he followed us up to the gate of our villa. He was marking trees along the way and digging the mud so that it would hit us. We didn't know whether to be flattered or disgusted.

We crammed into one SUV and got to the Dusit Thani just in time. After some pill popping to prevent seasickness, we hopped onto the boat to begin our day around Koh Phi Phi. Our tour guide's name was Mack and he took us around the islands. First stop was at a coral reef to do some snorkeling but we had some amazing views on the way like Camel Island above. M and I made some dough balls out of bread for fish food and rented some swim fins, which was a good call since the reefs roughed up K's feet! We snorkeled for about an hour, feeding fishies some bread and banana. We saw many fish, huge clam-like things, and sea urchin. We then swam up to the beach to relax and take pics like the one below entitled "the full Johnson."

After lunch, we continued hopping from island to island until about 4pm. By the last stop, many of us just wanted a cool cocktail so we picked up some Mai Tai's served in a pineapple and piña coladas served in a baby coconut. Yum! M&I snorkeled for a little bit longer but the water was just too murky and filled with tourists.

We got back from the outing around 4:30pm, picked up some spare booze from Lindsay, the maid of honor, and proceeded to return to our villa to make dinner plans for tonight and spa plans for tomorrow. I called one spa that happened to be booked up, but instead of saying "no availability" or "no" to my question, the lady responded "cannot massage." We even made a trip to Tesco (my fave) for snacks and more beverages.

We met the others in our group around 8 at Pla Seafood (Thai-Austrian restaurant) in Surin Beach. We had some yummy Thai food and drinks. Between T, K and I, we ordered shrimp spring rolls, papaya salad, shrimp pad thai, grilled squid and fried fish red curry. :)

We then went down the street to Catch Beach Club. I was so tired, though, that I had to call it quits while everyone else except for K stayed around. The saxophonist and fire breather were just not enough.

Our Phuket Triathlon or the Bank of K&S

Good morning from Phuket! We are staying at the Residence Resort and Spa Villas with 3 other guys from our bschool class: Dave, Jamie and Matt, although none of them get here until tonight at V's welcome reception. Oh yes, we are here for our great friend and Bali travel partner's wedding and we cannot wait! She is having it at one of the premier resorts in Phuket called Trisara. Even though our accommodations aren't 5-star by any means, we are still living the life, waking up to this...  

Anyway, M snuck into the villa after V's bachelorette party around 2am. Trannies, dancing and whips were involved! But T&I stayed in and woke up early to get to Tesco at 8am to pick up some fruit and drinks for our villa. We also ran into the DOG that followed us all the way home the night before. He waited for us to leave McDonald's where we had breakfast and picked up sandwiches for K and M. T and I named him after a classmate that lurked around girls... About the second half of the title, we can talk about it now since we exhausted almost all the funds, but Karl and I had a brain fart the day before on our marathon travel day. We added a zero next to the amount of cash we wanted to take out. We anticipated 6,000 baht because that would be about $200 and we knew the island hopping trip would be about 2,000 baht. Anyway, adding a zero by accident (we were probably still in that yen mindset), we tried to take out 60,000 baht, however the machine only lets you take out 20,000 max. This didn't raise any alarms to us, so BOTH of us said "I guess I'll take the max." What a dumb moment. T exchanged her yen and USD so she was fine. Anyway, we realized we were each walking around Thailand with $600 in our wallets. Not cool. But it was fine because K&I owed M money for the Japan hotels so I ended up giving her half because she didn't have enough after the bachelorette party and K gave some $$ to our friends A (also from the Bali trip) and Andrew who hadn't been to an ATM yet. 

After breakfast, we checked out the beach nearby. We could see the hotel where other friends including the bride and groom are staying, so we decided that we would walk there to get to the welcome dinner later at 7pm. When we got back "home" we swam in our private pool (the swimming portion of the triathlon) and took in some sun before heading out again. We had a lunch appointment at Taste at Surin Beach with friends plus the maid of honor. I had a beer and a nice lunch of soft shell crab sandwich while others ordered tacos. I know (especially with McD's in the morning), not quite Thai food but there will be lots of that later. 

T made a 3:30 pm bike tour for us so we had to go back to the villa. With our tour leader decked out in Livestrong apparel, it was definitely the best way to explore our area. We saw Fish spas where baby fish eat your dead skin, locals, interesting neighborhoods, crazy traffic (confirmed that I cannot drive in Japan or Thailand simply because turning is way too confusing from the other side of he road. Don't even get me started on driving from the right side of the car), and a Muay Thai ring and practice.

We then biked to Laguna and we saw elephants! We met 2 at Laguna named Cindy (after cindy crawford allegedly) and her daughter Lucky. See how cute lucky is? She sneak attacked K by kissing him on the cheek. We spent a lot of time with these oh so charming and friendly animals! When we got back to the bikes, out bike tour leader had gone out to purchase waters for us! Sweet! Oh, here's Lucky doing a head stand. Yoga elephant!

After cleaning up from our amazing bike tour (but still sore from it), we got pretty to make our beachside walk to V's welcome dinner. We were hungry but energized. The sun had just set so the sky was pink and there were few people out besides a small European family with a flashlight. Who knew this would be the longest walk ever? We were using the hotel as the landmark to judge whether we were getting any closer and it never seemed like we made any progress for about 3/4 of the 45-minute trip. There were also a ton of tiny crabs out that you could see as the waves receded back into the ocean. T kept shrieking as they crossed her path! It would have been completely dark in some parts, were it not for the kid with a flashlight behind us. We were exhausted, sweaty and hungry when we saw a figure say M's name in the darkness. It was Jamie! Surely we were close to the venue! It was great to see more familiar faces. V had put together some Thai cooking stations, where noodles, papaya salad, Tom Yum soup, green curry and plenty of BBQ meats were presented. We ate lots and drank Singha beer while catching up with the bride, groom, and classmates. I think we are now getting used to the idea of eating on the beach for every meal.