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Trip To Thailand -Part 2 Elizabeth And David Dubrow A lifelong Texan, Elizabeth Dubrow grew up in Houston, but moved to Austin in 1990. She attended the University of Texas, where she received in B.A. in Asian Studies in 1993, and a J.D. in 1997. Although she has dabbled in both law and computer programming, she is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she "grows up." She has been married to David since 1998. Her interests include film, books, food and travel David Dubrow spent his first seven years in Argentina, but then settled in the U.S. with his family. After graduating from the University of Texas with a degree in psychology, he spent a few years working odd jobs and travelling through Europe, Israel and Egypt before returning to the U.S. to earn another degree from UT in computer science. He currently works as a software engineer at Motorola Metrowerks in Austin. He has been studying Aikido, a Japanese martial art, for 13 years and has a 3rd degree black belt. He hopes one day to return to school to study cognitive science and artificial intelligence. Click Here to visit their website.

Click here to read part one and part three of of this article.

Koh Raya Yai

We spent 4 days on the quaint little island of Koh Raya Yai, which is south of Phuket. There isn't much to do on this island other than dive, snorkel and lay on the beach. Oh yeah, eat and drink Singha beer. But that's what you do on vacation. Actually, there is some interesting hiking on the island, but it's almost too hot.

There's some nice wildlife, like water buffalo, birds, fish, goats and kitties. If you're interested in diving, see Raya Divers. We stayed at the Ban Raya Resort. The place seems to sit in a former coconut plantation. There are coconuts everywhere on the ground and falling from the sky, so watch your head. I'm not sure why they call it a "Resort," but it is a nice place to stay for a few days. It is very quiet and peaceful here, except for when you are being attacked by mosquitoes. Bring plenty of books and lots of batteries for your Walkman, because there is electricity only from 6:30 pm to 8:00 am. They have a library here, but most of the books are in German and Swedish, as far as we could tell, so bring your own books if you can't read John Grisham in Swedish. It can get really uncomfortable during the day without even a fan, since it's so hot. But you will always have a nice, cold shower 24 hours a day you can use to cool off. The staff is very nice.

Beach at Koh Raya

Phuket

We spent only 2 days on Phuket after our stay on Koh Raya. We had the good fortune to stay at the Bangtao Beach Cottage on Bangtao beach. The beach wasn't our favorite in the world, but the hotel was one of the nicest places we've ever seen.
First of all, take a look at our charming cottage:

There are only 11 cottages at Bangtao Beach Cottage, each with its own unique interior decoration. They turn down your bed at night and leave an orchid on your pillow. I'm sure the Sheraton, Amanpuri and Chedi resorts all do the same thing, but our cottage was only about $80 a night versus $200 and above for those other hotels. The restaurant was fabulous. We had the best Thai meals ever, even surpassing the awesome dinner we had at a Thai restaurant in Lancaster, PA. The staff at the hotel were very warm and helpful. We did not want to leave.

Here are more pictures of Bangtao beach (check out the picture at the bottom. I'm wearing a dress we bought on the beach for about $5. We probably could have gotten it cheaper, but we're terrible bargainers.):

Pictures of Bangtao beach

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