Rangali Island and Male, Maldives (May, 2013)

Our business class flights on Singapore Airlines were awesome (and totally free since we used 30,000 US Airways miles each - 60,000 total - to book Bangkok, Thailand (origin) to Singapore (23 hour stop) to Male, Maldives (destination) to Singapore to Bali, Indonesia (open jaw) all in business class and the $222.04 in taxes and fees for both of us were paid for using 22,204 Capital One points).  We were able to sleep most of the ~5 hour flight to Male.

Once we arrived in Male, we were escorted to the Conrad Hotel arrivals lounge.  They took pretty good care of us there, with drinks, food, scented towels, and welcome kits.  It was about an hour before they escorted us to the seaplane that would take us to our hotel on Rangali Island, where we were scheduled to stay 4 nights at the infamous Conrad Maldives.  We used 145,000 Hilton Hhonors points for the 4 nights (36,250 points per night) using an American Express AXON award booking, so we paid no cash out of pocket for the hotel nights.  These rooms normally go for over $1,000 per night.  The seaplane was pretty cool, besides the fact that it cost ~$1,000 roundtrip for both of us (can't use miles or points to reduce the cost...ouch!).  We got to see a bunch of the islands that make up the Maldives from the air.  After about 30 minutes we splashed down on the water at the Conrad hotel.

They checked us into our room (#122); we walked around a bit and checked out the island.  The weather wasn't spectacular...it was cloudy and beginning to rain and very windy.  Walking out of our room to the beach was a bit disappointing with so much wind and the waves being pretty bad.  The staff was distracted and we quickly found out why...the Conrad hotel staff was playing in the championship game in a nationwide Volleyball tournament against the staff from a rival hotel chain on a different island.  We stopped in to watch the game.  It was pretty intense; it seemed that every hotel employee was there at the game and cheering passionately.  Everyone was happy and excited since the Conrad staff won the best of 5 series and the championship trophy (apparently, the Conrad had fallen short for the past 3-4 years).  After wandering the island a bit, we quickly found out that we were on the bad side of the island...the snorkeling, and the calm water was on the other side.  We asked if they would switch our room and they obliged the next morning.

Cody, on the pristine beaches of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

Our first scuba diving experience.  We were able to go down 40 feet with a guide, even though we were not certified.

Eliza, relaxing in one of the many hammocks at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

Eliza on the ferry between the 2 Islands that make up the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, with the overwater bungalows in the background.

Midnight fishing trip...we caught some small fish with just fishing lines and our bare hands.

Our deck in the room we paid to upgrade to (the overwater bungalow).

Eliza, on the deck of our overwater bungalow at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

Cody, walking down the steps into the crystal clear water at our overwater bungalow at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

The place was more or less deserted and we were on the end of the long pier in one of the more upscale overwater bungalows at the resort.

Fish surrounding the underwater restaurant, where we had lunch.

Clown fish.

We ate lunch at the underwater restaurant.

Lunch in the underwater restaurant.

Spectacular sunsets.

Eliza, looking hot outside our private overwater bungalow.

Room #214 was much better.  We were steps from the beach and the best snorkeling we've ever experienced.  The water was calm, no wind or waves crashing in on the beach...it was beautiful.  Also, the violent weather passed and we were left with sunshine for pretty much the rest of our stay in the Maldives.  We relaxed on the beach under our grass hut and Cody went snorkeling and chased a 6 foot reef shark for about 10 minutes.

We booked a scuba diving course in the afternoon of our 3rd day, and, to our surprise, they let us go down nearly 40 feet after we passed a few minor competency tests.  It was both of our first scuba dive, but it won't be our last.  We went snorkeling on the reef and booked a dusk/night fishing trip where we hauled in a few fish just holding the lines with our hands...no fishing poles (pretty much everyone else on the boat got seasick besides us and the crew).

We attempted to go snorkeling with the whale sharks the next day, but ended up paying $250 just to ride around on a boat and look for them...that's right, they didn't find any - maybe next time.  We spent some time relaxing by the pool, lounging on the beach, and snorkeling on the reef before having dinner at the Rangali Bar.  We thought it would be a shame to come all the way to the Maldives and not get an overwater bungalow room, so we decided to splurge and upgrade our room to an overwater spa retreat room.  The room was pretty awesome.  It had a jacuzzi out on the balcony and steps going right down into the crystal clear water below.  It had a separate private massage room that overlooked the ocean (overkill), so we gave each other massages to skip the $150/hour fee. With Bangkok and Bali on the agenda for our trip and the $7-10 massages you can get there, we figured the fee was a bit steep.

Our last day on the island, we splurged and booked lunch at Ithaa, the underwater restaurant ($463.32 for both of us...ouch!).  I guess it's one of those things you have to do, just because it's there, it's unique, and it's not something you see every day.  We spent time lounging on our deck in the bungalow, in the hot tub, and swimming at the pool and relaxing in the hammocks before catching the seaplane out to Male on the way to our next destination, Bali, Indonesia.

When we arrived in Male, we booked a tour of the city, which was something we wanted to see, but not very eventful.  We bought some souvenirs and headed back to the airport after a few hours in Male.

Singapore (May, 2013)

We arrived in Singapore for a quick stopover (~24 hours) before heading out to the Maldives.  We thought we'd try and see Sentosa Island, since we had never been there before.  It took us a little while to get out there from the airport using public transportation (MRT), and we arrived at the W Sentosa hotel around noon.  We booked a room on using 20,000 Starpoints (normally ~$460.00/night) from the iPad once we arrived in the lobby of the hotel.  We dropped our bags and quickly caught the hotel shuttle to Resorts World and Universal Studios.  We decided to do Universal Studios and since there were pretty much no crowds (luckily), we were able to see all the shows and go on all the main rides before the park closed.  It was a fun day.  We walked around Resorts World and the waterfront boardwalk before heading back to the hotel pool, which was open all night and had pretty cool atmosphere and lighting.  Next stop the Maldives.

Ko Samui, Thailand (May, 2013)

We stayed at the famed Conrad Koh Samui for 2 nights.  We used 2 Hilton free weekend night certificates that we got for applying for a Citi Hilton Reserve Credit card and spending $2,500 on the card within 4 months.  The rooms normally go for over $1,000 per night.  The credit card also gave us Gold status with Hilton, which enabled us to have free breakfast in the restaurant and saved us some  money.  The property was incredible; the hotel was built into the side of a cliff and each room was its own villa and was constructed on stilts.  The rooms were spacious and immaculate; the highlight of the room being the balcony which had an infinity plunge pool.  The pool was actually a decent size - big enough to swim laps.  Being on the balcony was so relaxing...it was like you were in the sky looking out over the beautiful Thai sunset.  Leaving the room to go anywhere in the hotel was a downgrade, the hotel was pretty awesome, but you really didn't need to leave the villa.  The pathways are incredibly steep between the rooms in the hotel.  You have to call the front desk and you get driven around in golf carts anytime you want to leave the room.  We didn't venture too far from the room the first day, only to the spa for a head and shoulder massage.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed out to ride elephants up to a beautiful waterfall in the jungle.  It was a pretty cool experience, the guide jumped off and let us ride on the elephant's back rather than just sitting in the seat that was mounted to its back.  I never knew elephants were so nimble.  We were walking up tiny steep, rocky trails and coming down similar ones.  We walked around in the creek and the elephant even filled its trunk with water and blew it out.  We headed back to the hotel and had some dinner in the restaurant, watched the sun set, and ordered a movie on pay per view.

This place was amazing...very relaxing.  Definitely our favorite hotel that we had ever been to.  Hopefully we will have the opportunity to return someday.  We were off to our next destination (Singapore) early the next morning.

Bangkok, Thailand (May, 2013)

We stayed in Bangkok at the Marriott Renaissance Ratchaprasong for 3 nights using one free night certificate and 20,000 Marriott Points per night (total of 40,000 points) for the other 2 nights.  Normally the hotel was $215/night ($645 for 3 nights), but we were lucky enough to get it for free.  In addition to having the free nights, we called Marriott a few days prior to arriving and asked them to give us a Platinum elite level challenge (i.e. give us temporary Platinum status with Marriott for 3 months and if we stay at Marriott hotels 9 times before July, they'll let us keep the Platinum status for ~18 months).  Platinum status with Marriott is normally only given to those that stay more than 75 nights per year at Marriott hotels.  The benefits to having Platinum status are pretty sweet: free buffet breakfast and access to the club lounge which serves free drinks all day, generous offerings for morning and afternoon tea, and appetizers and deserts around 5pm.  We took full advantage of the club lounge when we were not out exploring Bangkok.

We arrived fairly early (~9am) to our hotel after taking the redeye flight from Perth through Singapore and making our way via public transport (BTS train) from the Bangkok airport to the Chit Lom station which was right next to the hotel.  We dropped our stuff, had a shower and some breakfast, and were quickly on our way to the river to take the water taxis to see some of the sights.  We were able to see the Grand Palace, and the reclining Buddah (I guess they're impressive if you are into that kind of thing...not our cup of tea).  We stopped to get 1 hour couples foot massages and another hour long couples traditional Thai massages (basically a mix of yoga and massage where they contort and stretch your body certain ways and give you a deep tissue massage while you are in that position).  We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and stopped for some lunch/dinner before heading down the river on a boat to wander the markets and see the ladyboys cabaret show Calypso (a bit disturbing).  It was a late night by the time we got back to the hotel and we were exhausted and slept in pretty late the next morning.

After getting up late the next morning, we headed to Chinatown via the water taxis on the river system and wandered around a bit, sampling some of the street cuisine and different types of fruit and navigating our way through the mazes of trinkets and shops.  We stopped back at the hotel for some food and a nap, and headed out to the more crowded areas of Bangkok at night just to wander the streets and take in the sights and smells.

Day 3 we hired a private car and driver to take us about 2 hours outside Bangkok to Sampran to see some elephants and crocodiles.  We saw an elephant show where the elephants were trained to kick soccer balls into goals and do all kinds of tricks.  We fed the elephants and took some pictures...the elephants were trained to take the Thai money (Baht) from your hand before you could snap a picture with them.  We also saw a crocodile show where the guys were wrestling the crocodiles and sticking their heads in the crocodiles' mouths just after the crocs were snapping at them...fairly entertaining.  The highlight of our entire Bangkok experience was the Muay Thai fight that we attended at Lumpini stadium.  The stadium is not air conditioned; it is hot, sweaty, and packed with locals, who are loud, pushy, and betting on every fight (there are 10 fights total...the whole thing lasts about 4-5 hours).  It's a pretty cool atmosphere with a lot going on around you.  Luckily, the first couple rows around the ring are reserved for the non-Thai tourists.  Tourists pay about 10-20 times as much for the tickets as the locals do, but you get comfortable ringside seats and don't have to deal with the crowds and risk getting robbed or worse.  The action moves pretty fast, there is not a lot of downtime between fights.  The fighters each go through some sort of spiritual ritual before every fight that looks like a dance, but they are very into it and almost emotional when they are going about it.  The fights are pretty intense, blood, bruises, and some pretty good kicks and punches.  You're right close to the action and you can see every move.  This was definitely the highlight of Bangkok for us.

It was a fairly late night by the time we got home...typical of Bangkok I guess.  We were off early the next day to our next destination - Koh Samui.

Cirque du Soleil OVO Show (May, 2013)

We took Ryder and Sawyer along to Cirque du Soleil's OVO show.  We went a Chinese family (somebody Cody is in a negotiation with for work).  We had VIP seats with food and the kids were each given a goodie bag with a Cirque du Soleil mask and a DVD.  It was a fun show.  Ryder and Sawyer met a new friend, Ana, who was just learning to speak English, only having moved to Australia from Beijing less than a year ago.

 In the VIP tent, with our VIP's.

 Sawyer, with her new friend, Ana.

 Ryder, wearing the Cirque du Soleil mask.

Getting ready for the circus.

Supa Golf…Date night with Rick and Alex (April, 2013)

The girls planned date night and took the boys to Supa Golf, which is basically playing golf with giant rubber balls and clunky golf clubs with rubber heads on them…Cody squeaked out a come from behind win over Rick on the final hole.

Coral Bay, Western Australia (again) (March, 2013)

Coral Bay was the consensus highlight of the trip.  Tranquil, aqua waters, lots of shallow beach for the kids to play on, and fine, soft, clean sand make Coral Bay one of the prettiest places we've ever been.  This time we booked a snorkeling tour on a glass bottom boat and it was well worth the $140 for the family.  The reef was incredible, very dense, and with all kinds of different coral and fish.  It was great that even Zander, Nash, and Addy could see all the fish and the beautiful reef under the water with the glass bottom boat.

Alex convinced Eliza to jump in and take a swim with the snorkel on.  They swam out over the reef for about 20-30 minutes and Eliza wasn't scared...a big accomplishment.

Rick, Cody, and Harvey took a walk down the beach to where there was a shark nursery.  Rick and Cody went snorkeling out to look for some reef sharks...only saw one and it quickly bolted away into deeper waters.

Next stop...Canarvon.

Exmouth, Turquoise Bay, and Yardi Creek, Western Australia (March, 2013)

We had originally intended on staying most of Tuesday in Coral Bay, but it was raining when we got up, so we decided to take off early and drive to Exmouth to see if the weather was better.  When we got to Exmouth, the sun was shining, and it was hot (but a bit windy).

We stayed 2 nights at the Lighthouse Caravan Park on the Indian Ocean side of the cape.  We decided to go straight to Turquoise Bay, the highlight of the area.  We hung out at Turquoise Bay most of the day, did the drift snorkel a bunch of times.  Ryder is our little snorkeler.  Sawyer was scared, but bravely did it once, and Eliza put her fears aside and did it once.

We broke ranks from the Kemps...they went back up to Exmouth to eat and we ventured further south, eventually making our way down to Yardi Creek.  We stopped at Oyster Stacks, Sandy Bay, and a few other places along the way.  Yardi Creek was beautiful.  We wanted to take a boat trip, but nobody was there to take us (just 3 empty boats).

The next morning, Rick took Cody spearfishing just across the road from the caravan park.  We were out there about 2 hours, and after diving down and poking our heads in and out of small caves, Rick finally shot a Spangled Emperor about 2 feet in length and pinned it to the back of the cave.  He was kind enough to let me pull the spear out of the rock and drag the fish to shore.

We spent the remainder of the day at Sandy Bay, but it was terribly windy and we ended up leaving pretty early.  We had dinner up at the lighthouse and watched the sunset from the top of the hill.

It was now time to make our way back to Perth.  We decided to depart the next morning early and spend an extra day at Coral Bay since the rain cut us off the 1st time through.