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MONITALY & YUKETEN LOOKBOOK SS 2012

pics via Monitaly

Classic made in U.S.A. footwear and luggage are exceptional as traditional artifacts of the rugged and refined American past. Since 1985, designer Yuki Matsuda has paid homage to the American crafts and traditions by treasure hunting for outstanding examples of footwear and luggage in remote locales spread out across the rolling Appalachians to the high Sierras.

Seaflower Bungalows, Koh Phangan!

For the second part of our trip we stayed at Seaflower Bungalows on the island of Koh Phangan in the gulf of Thailand. Some of you may remember that this is the same place we stayed at during our quick stint in Thailand last fall (and is also the same place that Erin got engaged at and went to for her honeymoon!) So needless to say, it is absolutely fantastic, and we would go back a hundred more times if we could! Once is just never enough.

Just a little warning for all you lovely readers: this is a very photo heavy post! It was just so incredibly beautiful on the island and there were so many photo opportunities that we just couldn't resist! Unfortunately, our photos will never do the beauty justice, but here is a glimpse into our magical eight day stay in a little part of heaven...

This incredible resort is located on Sunset Blvd and has a beach bar called Heaven, and let me tell you, they both totally live up to their names!

I mean seriously, how magical is a place where a bunch of baby ducks are running around that are tame enough to be held?! Dream land.

As soon as we got there we spent a lot of time unwinding and relaxing on the beach. The tide was very low while we were there, so the water was unbelievably warm! (and the air temperatures were even hotter! Above 40 degrees Celcius everyday! Whew!) That was such a welcome change from the chilly weather we were having back home in Winnipeg.

Our husbands were a lot more active than we were. They quickly made friends with all of the guys staying at the resort and started a daily routine of playing the game Petanque on the beach!

We spent quite a bit of time relaxing in our hammocks and reading (many) books! It felt so great to be able to take a break from work and computers and just enjoy the simplicity of reading a good book. That is something we should definitely make an effort to do more of!

There were also many card games played and fruit shakes drank! The fresh fruit out there is like no other. I don't think I have ever tasted more flavorful watermelon in my entire life! Needless to say, there were multiple watermelon and lemon shakes drank each day. Mmm... what we wouldn't give to be enjoying one of those right now...

I know we mentioned it before, but one of our favorite (and trickiest!) parts of the day was deciding what we wanted to eat for our next meal! Everything was just so delicious, so you just didn't know where to start!, but we did our best to try to sample one of everything on the menu.

There was wifi throughout the entire resort which made it really easy to keep in touch with our family and friends back home. Here I am FaceTiming with my brother in paradise! (he might have been a tad jealous!)

We decided to rent scooters for the week so that we would be able to drive around the island and explore! (not to mention that it was an incredibly easy and affordable way to get around!) It was so fun to take them out for a spin on a sunny afternoon!

One of our favorite things we did was go feed the elephants & play with the monkeys! Eee! At first we were a bit freaked out because their trunks were way grabbier with the bananas than we expected, but after awhile we got used it! (and the fact that they're sooo cute helped out a lot!) It was such an amazing experience.

 

Here's Erin just chillin' with a little monkey friend! So cute!

One afternoon our friend Pascale, who is the daughter of the owners of Seaflower, took us on a little scooter trip across the island to go swim in a waterfall! I mean, how many times in your life do you get to do that?! Yup, it was as spectacular as it looks!

Hands down our favorite time of the day was at sunset. Everyday we would all go back to our rooms at about 5:00pm, shower off, put some fresh non-sweaty clothes on, and then meet down at the beach bar for 6:00pm. By then the sun was just starting to set and the temperatures were cooling off a bit, (think: 30 degrees C) and we would all sit back and watch the sky change colors and the sun disappear behind the water on the horizon. Incredible.

Another reason why sunset time was so magical: it was also cocktail hour! We drank the most beautifully garnished cocktails at the Heaven Bar, including that mouth-watering mojito! Mmm... I can almost taste the fresh mint now!

 

Erin's uncle Pete just happened to be in Thailand at the same time as us, (what are the chances?!) so he decided to come stay at Seaflower with us while we were there! He is seriously the greatest, we had so much joking around and playing games with him. He was the perfect addition to our little gang.

One evening we all went into town and had an authentic Thai barbeque for dinner. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a cone shaped metal grill that has a trough around it filled with water. The noodles and vegetables are cooked in the hot water (sort of like a fondue), and the meat is grilled on the cone part. It might sound a bit confusing, but it is so fun and incredibly delicious! This was one of our favorite meals we had!

Another one of our favorite meals was the seafood beach barbeque that we had at Seaflower! We feasted on giant prawns, mussels, red snapper, crab, eel, squid and banana flower salad. Did I mention that it was all caught fresh that day?! Doesn't get much better than that!

 

On our last night at Seaflower we all lit paper lanterns, released them into the night sky, and watched them until they disappeared amongst the stars. What a perfect ending for such a surreal place. Farewell  Seaflower! 

...and hello Bali! Stay tuned for pictures from the third part of our trip later on this week!

XO