Wednesday, February 9, 2011

100 Days in Thailand :: Day 18 - War Eagle Moments & Interior Design

On our 18th day in Thailand (Feb. 5th) we found ourselves back in the Chiang Mai airport on our way back to Pattaya. We were headed down to visit Sam again, and to pick up his Honda City (like a Honda Civic) that he is so graciously letting us borrow for our time in Thailand!

We arrived at the airport early that morning (around 7am), and I'd picked out an Auburn shirt to wear that day. We hadn't been in line to check in for 30 seconds when I heard.... "Excuse me, but, did you by any chance go to Auburn?" I turned around to find 4 guys (one in an Auburn hat) standing together in line beside me. Here I was with members of the Auburn family, thousands of miles away from Auburn! But wait - these weren't just random members of the Auburn family! One of the faces looked familiar!!!

We went back and forth with "WHOA!" and "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" as I let it sink in. It's been so long since I've been at Auburn (and he looked so different with long hair) that I had to ask him if I was crazy, or if I really did remember him as a friend from college. (I am forgetting friends faces and names in the worst way lately!!!) Sure enough - I wasn't imagining things - it was Mr. Jeff Parker - an Auburn Alum and Farm House Alum (I was a Little Sister for FH in college) who used to be a roommates with some of my other friends in college! CRAZY!!!!!

He and his friends (and a whole crew from Auburn) are living in Asia for a year working with Campus Crusade. It was so cool to catch up and it made me really proud to hear how so many Auburn Alumni are serving God around the world! I am kicking myself for not snapping a picture - but our War Eagle moment totally made my day!

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After an hour flight on Air Asia, we were back in Pattaya! We got to see our good friend Thida again, and checked in to another beautiful hotel (courtesy of Sam!)

For our first night we stayed in the Dusit D2. It's considered a "boutique hotel" because it was created for the "younger crowd" (or so we were told!) I've never been big into decor or interior design until I got married and realized how much FUN it is to decorate a space - to make our home unique and beautiful. My love for that sort of thing has grown since I started reading my friend Katie's blog too! She posts a lot of beautiful pictures and decor ideas and shares some of her furniture make-overs online (and as an added bonus I get updates on her life and pictures of her incredibly cute son! Seriously - Cullen is one of the most ADORABLE little boys ever!)

So - anyway - as I've become more aware and interested in interior design/decor - I've really enjoyed all the details of the places we've stayed. It's been interesting to see the asian influence (even in "western hotels"). I love how different things look here, and the way so many places bring natural influences into their designs. They really make the outdoors come indoors.

So - I snapped a lot of pics of the two hotels we stayed in on this trip to Pattaya. For those of you who are interested in design/decor, I hope you enjoy these photos!

 Our room in the D2 (it's always so hard to get a pic of the whole room!) 
Note that the glass you see behind the bed is the shower - yes see through - in the middle of the room. 
They call them their "sexy showers". There was also an entire wall that was mirrored.... 
I have a feeling those 2 details are less "asian design" influenced 
and more "pattaya is the sex capital of the world" influenced.

A shot of the bathroom ....


The design for this hotel was "ocean". Everything about the design, decor, and brand focused on 
the ocean, the waves, the beach, etc. The color scheme was all brown and blue (my favorite!) 
white and silver, and you could see the ocean in all the details - from the "waves" in the walls (above)
to the "bubbles" hanging from the ceiling in the lobby (below).


Here are some shots of the lobby - I was obsessed with this flooring! 
The pictures don't do it justice - it was a distressed hardwood floor and 
I LOVED the color of the wood! The color and texture reminded me a lot of driftwood. 
If I ever built a house I'd love to have floors that look like this!


 The "bubble" or porthole looking thing you see below housed a TV. 
They were all over the hotel and they all played ocean scenes (from underwater). 
I felt a little like Ariel in The Little Mermaid walking around this place!


Another view of the lobby (below) - and the window treatment. 
I looked a little like a waterfall at a glance... I thought it was chains at one point 
but a closer look revealed that it was made of individual silver ropes. 
Not something I'd want in my home but it was a neat effect here!



There were lots more pictures I didn't get - the pool, the restaurant, the spa (my favorite! We were given huge discounts for a spa treatment, so I got a massage. It was soooo relaxing!) But we were only here for 1 afternoon, 1 night, and 1 morning. After that we moved to another hotel (it was Chinese New Year and Pattaya was PACKED! We were lucky to find rooms at all!) that was even better.... tomorrow I'll share more pictures! :)

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