Sunday 23 February 2014

Koh Chang to Koh Kut back to Koh Chang


Koh Chang was our final bash at Thailand. Or, Koh Chng was it's final bash at me. Arriving via bus, ferry then tuk tuk. Lonely beach was our chosen destination. Lonely it was not. Infinity pool on the beach? Very cool! The bungalow that Catherine chose was better than the one she was shown. How bad was the one that she was shown? The stairs were broken & missing. Andre The Giant would have struggled making the leap from step one to two. Soon realising it was easier to climb the disgusting mattress that was perched against the bungalow to the balcony floor. Only to have the manky mattress removed the following day. Inside was no better. Part of the wall was missing! The section of wall must have looked around and thought - screw this I am off to a better bungalow. The worst beach bungalow I have ever rented. Our new friends Gizzy (Geoff & Lizzy) along with Catherine thought it was fine. Obviously.

Saturday 22 February 2014

Kanchanaburi



With a heavy heart we left Bangkok for Kanchanaburi, the whole reason we were going here was for Russell's dad as it is the location of the Bridge over the River Kwai & has lots of history and war museums which is right up his alley. I think the most uttered phrase was, "your dad would have loved this".

Friday 21 February 2014

Month 8 in Review




Chomreabsuor from Siem Reap, Cambodia! Today is our 8 month travelling anniversary & quite a month it has been. Here's a re-cap.

Bangkok - Part 2 - the one with the in-laws


We arrived back in Bangkok at about 6am at the Southern bus terminal, last time we were there on our way from Laos to Koh Phangan for NYE we easily got a metre taxi so we expected the same again - Wrong!

Sunday 16 February 2014

Khao Sok


Khao Sok is a national park in Thailand that is conveniently located between Phuket & Bangkok so we thought it'd be a good idea to go there on our way to meet Russell's mum & dad in Bangers, we booked 4 nights there in a nice looking resort with a pool & only 5 minutes walk from the park itself. The plan - lots of relaxation, clean air and nature before crazy Deb & Russ arrive in crazy Bangkok. 

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Phuket. Shaken not stirred


Ferry over the Andaman sea back to Thailand. We have entered Thailand three times in two months. We then took a bus back to Phuket. Staying in Old Phuket town, Ghost town more like. When we were last in this part of Thailand we forgot about James Bond Island. Which is the reason for our return.











Rose ring made from three straws by a nice Thai lady.

The man with the golden gun was filmed here. The one with Roger Moore & Christopher Lee. It was worth the travel back to Phuket. The rock standing precariously in the middle of the sea is quite the sight.

The tour included three other islands. Soft drinks all day & a buffet lunch. The nice lady who booked the tour for us pre-warned the boat there was going to be a vegetarian on board, the lady on the boat asked who that could be so both me & Catherine raised our hands. There was nobody else so we had our very own buffet, sharing with nobody but each other and without strangers breathing and sneezing all over our noodles.

After James Bond & lunch we headed to Hong Island. Where some canoeing was awaiting us. No thanks. We laid our beach towels on the deck of the boat & caught some sun. Next up was Penang Island. Same again. More canoeing. Again we stayed put. Sun bathed & watched dozens of eagles circle above. Then an eagle feeding boat trip sailed up next to us. Dozens of eagles turned into hundreds. That was pretty cool. The fourth & final stop was at some bay. I have forgotten the name. Even though we hardly got involved with the activities. We had a fun day out. Again, doing what we wanted & not what we felt like we should. Besides all we were interested in was Bond's Island.

While on our travels. We had learned something a little interesting. Maybe a little weird. South Korean couples celebrate being together for one year by wearing identical clothes. When they have children the whole family wear matching clothes.


Saturday 1 February 2014

Langkawi. Or as mum likes to calls it. Line of cowie.


On the advice given to us by our hotel receptionist, we arrived 40 minutes before the ferry departed Penang for Langkawi. He said we did not need to buy the tickets in advance. That guy knows nothing! Both ferries were sold out. We were put on the waiting list & hoped for a cancellation. No luck. Or so we thought. We got chatting a to a couple from Malta. They had a plan b. We would get the ferry back to Butterworth, jump on two buses then get to another ferry port where a ferry departs to Langkawi every hour. We landed in Langkawi at roughly the same time as the original planned route & it cost half the price :D