Travel 2014
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A little while back friends of ours announced that they’d be getting married in Thailand. I was very excited and RSVP’d yes before they’d even chosen a date. I’ve wanted to take Ashton for the longest time – We were in Bali last year and she loved it, so I knew she’d be equally impressed with the land of Smiles. Our planning began. There were about 25 of us in total all heading to celebrate the wedding and all wanting very specific experiences from this vacation. We met up once or twice to discuss the trip and outline when we’d be together and then we all went off to find bits and pieces that we felt we’d like to try out on our own. Everyone began booking their tickets and most of them were going to be arriving the weekend before we did – (This is what happens when you RSVP yes before finding out WHEN said event will be). I had a wedding to photograph the Saturday. We had to fly out the Sunday morning to arrive in Thailand Monday night so that I’d be ready to photograph the wedding in Thailand on the Wednesday. No problem. I was so focused on photographing the Saturday wedding, when Sunday morning arrived, leaving for the vacation was like an unexpected treat. We flew with Emirates so stopped in Dubai before heading to Phuket. Arriving in Thailand at the resort and then walking across to the beachfront where 20+ really good friends are sitting enjoying dinner. So flipping cool. I had such good intentions of creating BEAUTIFUL images during this vacation. The truth is when you’re photographing moments, it’s difficult to just enjoy them. Well, it is for me anyway, because when I have my camera, I’m looking for a new way to tell a story. A new angle. The exact moment. It all kind of interrupts just existing though. For this reason, combined with the HEAT. Shoo. It’s so hot. I didn’t use my camera while on vacation. I enjoyed the moments & took Happy Snaps. Apart from these 3 events, all photographs were taken with my Nikon hand held underwater camera (Nikon AW100) or my iphone: Stacy and Shaun’s WeddingSanthiyaTrash The Dress Back to the trip though. We landed in Phuket and headed to Angsana, Laguna Phuket which if the wedding weren’t being held at… I’m not sure I would have even considered this resort as an option. It’s in Phuket, but a distance from Patong, Karon or Kata – Where I would instinctually book (just to be closer to the action). So it was great to experience something you wouldn’t necessarily choose, and it was a really great resort. Beautiful room, clean beach, very chilled vibe. Perfect to ease into the vacation. The wedding was an AMAZING day… You can see more HERE. It was just perfect and I don’t think Stacy or Shaun would change a thing about it. I know that I wouldn’t. The day after we checked out of Angsana and moved towards Patong Beach. We wanted to experience some of the crazy nightlife. We did just that in Bangla road, which was conveniently situated just 1 road away from our hotel – The Kee Resort. If you want a place to leave your bags, a nice clean room, in the very centre of the madness… This is the resort. We did a day trip to Phi Phi and stopped to snorkel, feed monkeys and then just enjoy some of the islands along the way before returning to Phuket for another crazy night out. Ashton and I then headed to Santhiya in Koh Yao Yai for a couple of days before meeting up with Stacy and Shaun in Krabi – We stayed at the Amari Vogue in Krabi which had amazing views which was perfect for the Trash The Dress, but it was on a very quiet side of the island. While there we would have liked to visit some night markets but there was nothing on that side of the island. Probably a blessing in disguise. We headed back to Phuket for a night where we were able to catch up with some last minute shopping. The trip home had a 24 hour layover in Dubai. Yes. 24 Hours. Yikes. We contemplated just staying in the airport vs the extra cost of a hotel and day tour in Dubai. Option 2 won… Yah. So we arrived in Dubai and made our way through immigration and off to our hotel at 4am. There were busy city streets full of cars… at 4am!!! Crazy. The next morning we woke up and met Stacy and Shaun for breakfast and the 4 of us did the City Hop-On / Hop-Off bus tour… Stopping when and where we wanted. We then met up with the Brinks in the evening for dinner and to enjoy the Dancing Fountain shows at the Dubai Mall, before heading back to our hotel for a power nap and airport collection at 1am. Crazy. So worth it. So this is our Thailand 2014 experience. I want to go back!
iPhone Collages - Edited with VSCO App & collaged with instapicframes.
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... And then we headed off to Dubai: