Saturday - 31 May 08
Well here we are in Chiang Mai otherwise known as Changers! What a place, its awsome, besides Koh Samui and Jomtien Beach this is another place I could happily plant my butt in retirement.
I was awake very early this morning sitting on the balcony of our luxurious room in Cliff View Resort enjoying the beautiful view, soaking it up and sadly thinking about this being our last day here and in Samui for some time. So far this has been the best part of our trip but still look forward to the rest of it, all of 6 weeks, in eagerness and anticipation.
We had our last breakfast at the resort and said our goodbyes to all the wonderful staff. Our driver picked us up early to take us to Samui Airport and I gotta say you could have a holiday there, just at the airport. Its the best domestic airport I have ever been in and the western countries could learn a thing or two about customer service and friendliness. We checked in no trouble and went to the outdoor departure lounge and you really need to see it to believe it, I will upload the photos on to the blog in the next couple of days, its awsome. They provide free internet at the internet kiosk and free drinks and cakes and nibblies at the courtesy counter, outdoor kids play gym and comfortable lounges and cane settings to sit on while you watch the big screen TV's and its all open air. Its more like a VIP lounge than a waiting area.
Our Bangkok Airways flight was due to depart at 1.35pm but as there were only 19 passangers and all had checked in the flight left 15 mins earlier, how good is that! It was a plane with propellers and Bangkok Airways being the boutique airline of Thailand the service as usual was impeccible and so was the food they served. It was a good, comfortable flight and the two hours and 20 mins went so quick.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 3.55pm in the arvo and right in the middle of a storm and heavy rain which wasn't too bad except our backpacks got a bit wet when they unloaded it from the plane to the baggage collection. We collected our wet luggage and headed to the tourist information counter to find out about a hotel for the night and a taxi to the city and hotel. After much conversation, contemplation and haggling we took 2 nights in a guesthouse for 600baht per night to give us time to look around for something else seeing as we are going to be here for a couple of weeks and with the rain and wet luggage we didn't want to have to trapse the streets late in the afternoon looking. We found a really nice, funny, english speaking taxi driver to take us to the guesthouse and he was a real laugh, and cheap. We checked in at the guesthouse and the people were really unfriendly and ignorant, gave us our key and a young man carried our backpacks up 3 flights of stairs and into our room. We got into the room and what could I say but here we go again! The room was a shithole. No fridge, no towels, the air con barely worked and the bathroom looked like it had been bombed in the second world war. So Rick and I dropped our bags on the chairs and decided to go for a walk around to have a look at other guesthouses and accommodation places. The shithole was in the old city and was surrounded by alley ways of girlie bars and pickup pubs, not our kind of area.
We walked for a while and ended up down in the area of the Kalare night bazaar and where all the outdoor food courts, restaurants and markets are. Its a wicked area and so we went from one hotel and guesthouse to the other until it was dark finding out the price and looking at the rooms until we found one that suited us and was value for money. Its a lovely little boutique hotel called 'The Night Bazaar Place' and the room is big, modern, spotlessly clean, air con, cable tv, fridge a really nice bathroom and has free Wi Fi internet in the lounge area of the lobby. Its great and the best part is 'Stay 4 nights only Pay for 3' and its only 700 baht a night. Its right in the middle of the best shopping and food area. Sweet! Better than a shithole for 600 baht with nothing.
Well by the time we finished organising our new digs for tomorrow we were hot, tired and hungry so called into Burger King to grab some chow before we made our big long walk back to the shithole. It was quite a good walk except we got lost and it ended up we were walking around in circles but eventually found the shithole. We had to ask reception for towels as they had forgot to leave towels in the room when they attempted at some time to clean the freakin room. I jumped in the shower quickly although I was a bit worried what I might catch from having a shower in such a crappy room. Rick and I made the best of what we could and watched the AFL on Australia channel. Kangaroos and Brisbane Lions.
Looking forward to getting out of this forking hole tomorrow. Anyway besides all that Chiang Mai is great and can't wait to do some exploring and SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!! He Ha!
Until tomorrow. Stay tuned the best is yet to come
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Last full day in Koh Samui - Oh NO!!!!!
Friday - 30 May 08
Sawasdee Ka to one and all. Hope you all enjoyed the photos posted on the blog, sorry they are a bit all over the place but I will work on getting it right.
Well today being our last day here was spent enjoying the last of our luxury resort, at least until we get to Kamala Beach near the end of our trip. From tomorrow its back to backpacking and budget accommodation which is going to be a little hard to take for the next month. Oh Well!
We slept in this morning for once and all our Japanese neighbours were up early and they are not the quietest people when they are getting ready to leave. We headed off to our healthy breakfast and then decided to just hang out here for the day and then go into Chewang tonight for dinner.
To Chase Malakai, our last grandchild, who is 1 year old today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Love you and wish we were there to celebrate your first birthday.
Well we did our last wash in the Jacuzzi this morning and its been the best washing machine. It doesn't take long for things to dry here with the heat and humidity. We headed off by Songteaw into Chaweng this evening and we got the ride cheap for once, 100 baht. We had dinner at the Islander restaurant which is an aussie place we have been to a couple of times. We had a roast and I have to say it wasn't all that crash hot but we felt we needed to have some meat and veg. We were going to take our last walk around afterwards through the markets and street stalls but just as we were leaving the restaurant it decided to poor rain, so that put paid to that so we waited and when it eased hailed a Songteaw to come back to the resort, to come back it cost 150 baht which we had to haggle to get it. We can't work it out, same distance, same place, different price. Gets me!
Tonight we are just sorting and packing our backpacks ready to leave tomorrow for Chiang Mai. Our Thai airways flight leaves at 1.35pm and we arrive at Changers at 4.05pm so its not too long a flight. We haven't booked accommodation and will just search it out when we arrive, even if we just get something for a night until we have time to find good value accommodation.
We are looking forward to checking out Chiang Mai but not looking forward to leaving Samui. This is our second time here in 6 months on the island and its just the best. Hopefully we will get back here in the not too distant future because its just absolutely beautiful
Anyway better go and finished getting organised. Our next post will be from Chiang Mai, so stay tuned.!!!!!!!!
Sawasdee Ka to one and all. Hope you all enjoyed the photos posted on the blog, sorry they are a bit all over the place but I will work on getting it right.
Well today being our last day here was spent enjoying the last of our luxury resort, at least until we get to Kamala Beach near the end of our trip. From tomorrow its back to backpacking and budget accommodation which is going to be a little hard to take for the next month. Oh Well!
We slept in this morning for once and all our Japanese neighbours were up early and they are not the quietest people when they are getting ready to leave. We headed off to our healthy breakfast and then decided to just hang out here for the day and then go into Chewang tonight for dinner.
To Chase Malakai, our last grandchild, who is 1 year old today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Love you and wish we were there to celebrate your first birthday.
Well we did our last wash in the Jacuzzi this morning and its been the best washing machine. It doesn't take long for things to dry here with the heat and humidity. We headed off by Songteaw into Chaweng this evening and we got the ride cheap for once, 100 baht. We had dinner at the Islander restaurant which is an aussie place we have been to a couple of times. We had a roast and I have to say it wasn't all that crash hot but we felt we needed to have some meat and veg. We were going to take our last walk around afterwards through the markets and street stalls but just as we were leaving the restaurant it decided to poor rain, so that put paid to that so we waited and when it eased hailed a Songteaw to come back to the resort, to come back it cost 150 baht which we had to haggle to get it. We can't work it out, same distance, same place, different price. Gets me!
Tonight we are just sorting and packing our backpacks ready to leave tomorrow for Chiang Mai. Our Thai airways flight leaves at 1.35pm and we arrive at Changers at 4.05pm so its not too long a flight. We haven't booked accommodation and will just search it out when we arrive, even if we just get something for a night until we have time to find good value accommodation.
We are looking forward to checking out Chiang Mai but not looking forward to leaving Samui. This is our second time here in 6 months on the island and its just the best. Hopefully we will get back here in the not too distant future because its just absolutely beautiful
Anyway better go and finished getting organised. Our next post will be from Chiang Mai, so stay tuned.!!!!!!!!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Another Relaxing day at the Cliff View
Sawasdee Ka
Another day spent relaxing in Koh Samui. We are lapping up this 5 star luxury as much as we can since we only have another day and a half and we fly off to Chiang Mai. No more luxury then until our last week in Thailand when we end our trip at the Print Kamala Beach Resort in Kamala Beach, Phuket.
Today has been yet another veg out day, we were up early this morning but then so was everyone else that are staying here. The Japanese tourist and their are heaps of them, were all at the restaurant by 7am waiting for it to open and then headed straight to the pool. We thought, shit, we better head down to breakfast earlier than we normally do in case all the food runs out, and we can't have that. I must say I am proud of Rick as he actually had a healthy breakfast.
It was quite sticky and humid this morning after last nights storm and it was definetly not a day to be dragging ourselves around markets so we walked the million stairs up to the Reception and got the resort driver to drive us to the nearest 7/11 in Lamai so we could get extra water and pepsi and some munchies to see us through until we leave here Saturday and fly out to Chiang Mai. He drove us there, waited while we got our stuff and then drove us straight back to our room, which was good. The housekeepers had been in and cleaned in the short time we were gone so we were free for the rest of the day. We had considered a swim in the pool but it was chockers with the other guests, and we didn't want to show them up with our gorgeous bodies. Ha Ha! Anyway the water by then was probably as hot as it was yesterday when we went for our arvo swim.
Tonight is just a light dinner in the restaurant as we can't be bothered going out and it looks like another storm on the way. I have posted a separate blog page of photos of all the places we have been to in Thailand since we got here in April. I am still working out how to set and size the photos on the page so its a bit of a mish mash. Hope you all enjoy them. Until tomorrow.
La Kon
More Photos of Thailand
Tuk Tuk in Nong Khai
Rick with the Rickshaw driver in Kanchanaburi
Floating Markets
Nong Khai - Mekong river
Friendship bridge which links Thailand to Laos
Treehouse @ Bluestar Guesthouse
Floating Markets longtail boat
River Kwai Railway Station
Our sleeper on train to Nong Khai
Rick acting like a tool on the train
Bluestar Guesthouse Kanchanaburi + Bridge Over River Kwai
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Day 9 on Samui - Day 5 at the Cliff
Wednesday - 28 April 08
Hello again. Here we are day 5 in our lovely resort and boy is it gonna be hard to leave here on Saturday.
We didn't venture out today after our busy day in Chewong yesterday. We thought a day of just hangin out here is in order as we don't want to overdo it. Ha Ha!
We had the wickedest storm late last night and its been a long time since I have heard cracking thunder like that. It woke me up with the ground shaking and the lightening made it look light daylight, it was awsome! There is another storm hanging around tonight waiting to go off, I love it.
We did our usual off to breakfast at the restaurant to give the housekeepers time to service our room, not that there is much to do as we make our bed everyday and leave the card out to let them know we are happy to keep the same towels and the linen doesn't need to be changed daily. All they really need to do is take our rubbish, leave our two bottles of water they give you everyday and sweep the floor. I was good again today at breakfast and stuck to corn flakes and fresh fruit, Rick can't help himself and couldn't refuse the bacon and eggs. I know who will be joining Jenny Craig first when we get back.
We spent the morning with Rick on the net doing his stockmarket monitoring and me watching discovery channel. This arvo we thought it would be good to go for a swim in the resort pool. We didn't stay in for long as the water was hot and we would have cooked had we stayed in any longer than we did. The resort seems to be filling up on a daily basis, mainly Japanese tourists that only stay a night or two and then move on. There are only about 4 or 5 of us couples who are here for a week which is good because you get plenty of peace and privacy and the place isn't crowded with people.
We had dinner in the restaurant tonight and as usual we were the only ones there. The staff throughout the resort are all very friendly and welcoming from the receptionist to the restaurant staff. They are always asking if you are happy with your room and if the food in the restaurant was good. We have no complaints after a couple of the places we have stayed in on our travels.
Tonight is a night in watching the movie channel on cable tv and waiting for this storm to hit. Tomorrow we will venture out probably into Lamai to stock up on a few supplies to get us through until Saturday when we fly out to Chiang Mai. Yesterday i went to a Kodak shop and had 274 photos downloaded from the camera onto a disc so I could clear the internal memory and memory card. I have now worked out how to upload photos onto this blog so have added photos of the Samui Cliff View Resort where we are staying. Hope you all like them.
Until tomorrow when we catch up again. Bye!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Hello from the Koh! (Island)
Tuesday - 27 May 08
Sawasdee Ka!
Today has been an active day for us compared to yesterday. The weather is still very hot and humid and we haven't had any rain for the last 2 days. We were up early this morning and headed off to breakfast. I decided I don't need a cook breakfast every morning whether its free or not. So I went healthy and had fresh pineapple and watermelon, cornflakes and toast and Rick stuck to his usual eggs and bacon.
We decided to go into Chewang for the day and have a look for another small backpack coz the one we bought in Kanchers has frayed along the zipper and split down the side and its much easier to carry a small backpack than a handbag, that way Rick can carry it at times and we have something to pack our coffee, sugar and camping cups in when we move on as opposed to putting them in our big backpacks with our clothes. We couldn't find one small enough that was worth the price they were asking so gave up. We did see one that would have been ideal and I asked the guy how much and he said 1000 baht and Rick and I laughed at his price, he said 'how much you want to pay', we said, 200 baht and he said 'no way' so we wandered off to other stall , when we walked back past his stall he offered it to us for 500 baht, and we kept walking. No Sale! We wandered the streets looking at market stalls and being Koh Samui things are a little more pricey than some of the other places we have been, but its still a great place.
We found an actual supermarket that was a little bigger than their 7/11 store so decided we should by some supplies, so we got 2 minute noodles in a bowl for dinner and some munchies for supper and some toothpaste.
We stopped and had lunch at the Islander restaurant which is a aussie/pom restaurant we ate at a couple of times when we were here last November. The food is good and cheap and the restaurant is clean and staff friendly, besides a lot of westerners eat there so you know when you see that, it is a good place. We then decided we had walked around so much and from one end of Chewang to the other so it was time to catch a taxi back to the resort instead of a Songteaw. I had to barter the taxi driver down as he wanted 300 baht and the most we have ever paid is 200 baht, I told him that and told him not to bother we would catch a Songteaw, so he called me back and said he would take 200 baht. He was a nice guy and they would rather have a fare and make some money than sit around the street doing nothing waiting for a fare and make no money.
We got back to the resort and bought another 10 hour internet card as Rick used the last of our other one this morning. We were going to go for a swim but it was still too hot and there wasn't any shade over the pool and we don't need to get sunburnt again, so we decided to just veg for what was left of the afternoon. Rick was on the computer and then did the washing in the Jacuzzi and I laid on the bed reading until it got dark.
So we have had a busy but still relaxing day. The humidity tends to drain you and you sweat like there's no tomorrow but a quick cool shower remedies that.
So until tomorrow. See Ya!
Sawasdee Ka!
Today has been an active day for us compared to yesterday. The weather is still very hot and humid and we haven't had any rain for the last 2 days. We were up early this morning and headed off to breakfast. I decided I don't need a cook breakfast every morning whether its free or not. So I went healthy and had fresh pineapple and watermelon, cornflakes and toast and Rick stuck to his usual eggs and bacon.
We decided to go into Chewang for the day and have a look for another small backpack coz the one we bought in Kanchers has frayed along the zipper and split down the side and its much easier to carry a small backpack than a handbag, that way Rick can carry it at times and we have something to pack our coffee, sugar and camping cups in when we move on as opposed to putting them in our big backpacks with our clothes. We couldn't find one small enough that was worth the price they were asking so gave up. We did see one that would have been ideal and I asked the guy how much and he said 1000 baht and Rick and I laughed at his price, he said 'how much you want to pay', we said, 200 baht and he said 'no way' so we wandered off to other stall , when we walked back past his stall he offered it to us for 500 baht, and we kept walking. No Sale! We wandered the streets looking at market stalls and being Koh Samui things are a little more pricey than some of the other places we have been, but its still a great place.
We found an actual supermarket that was a little bigger than their 7/11 store so decided we should by some supplies, so we got 2 minute noodles in a bowl for dinner and some munchies for supper and some toothpaste.
We stopped and had lunch at the Islander restaurant which is a aussie/pom restaurant we ate at a couple of times when we were here last November. The food is good and cheap and the restaurant is clean and staff friendly, besides a lot of westerners eat there so you know when you see that, it is a good place. We then decided we had walked around so much and from one end of Chewang to the other so it was time to catch a taxi back to the resort instead of a Songteaw. I had to barter the taxi driver down as he wanted 300 baht and the most we have ever paid is 200 baht, I told him that and told him not to bother we would catch a Songteaw, so he called me back and said he would take 200 baht. He was a nice guy and they would rather have a fare and make some money than sit around the street doing nothing waiting for a fare and make no money.
We got back to the resort and bought another 10 hour internet card as Rick used the last of our other one this morning. We were going to go for a swim but it was still too hot and there wasn't any shade over the pool and we don't need to get sunburnt again, so we decided to just veg for what was left of the afternoon. Rick was on the computer and then did the washing in the Jacuzzi and I laid on the bed reading until it got dark.
So we have had a busy but still relaxing day. The humidity tends to drain you and you sweat like there's no tomorrow but a quick cool shower remedies that.
So until tomorrow. See Ya!
Koh Samui - Cliff View - Day 3
Monday - 26 May 08
Hi to one and all! Todays blog will be a very, very short one as basically we have done nothing but relax in our air con room. It has been a really hot and sticky day and as both Rick and I ended up a little sunburnt from our day in the resort pool yesterday we thought it best to try and stay out of the sun today as much as possible.
We did our usual off to the resort restaurant for breakfast, Rick having his usual bacon and eggs and me having a Thai breakfast which was just fried rice with chicken. How you call that a breakfast, I would have called it lunch.
The rest of the day as I said we spent in the room, catching up with emails and keeping cool. We didn't even venture out for dinner we called room service instead.
We have both been sleeping like babies the bed is so comfortable and so good for old backs like ours.
Anyways, nothing else to report today, so until tomorrows blog.
La Kon
Hi to one and all! Todays blog will be a very, very short one as basically we have done nothing but relax in our air con room. It has been a really hot and sticky day and as both Rick and I ended up a little sunburnt from our day in the resort pool yesterday we thought it best to try and stay out of the sun today as much as possible.
We did our usual off to the resort restaurant for breakfast, Rick having his usual bacon and eggs and me having a Thai breakfast which was just fried rice with chicken. How you call that a breakfast, I would have called it lunch.
The rest of the day as I said we spent in the room, catching up with emails and keeping cool. We didn't even venture out for dinner we called room service instead.
We have both been sleeping like babies the bed is so comfortable and so good for old backs like ours.
Anyways, nothing else to report today, so until tomorrows blog.
La Kon
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Day 2 at Cliff View
Sunday - 25 May 08
Sawasdee Ka to one and all. Here we are enjoying our second day at our new place of residence and enjoying every minute of it. Talk about lapping it up, how good is this place. We are happy just hanging out here as we have everything and don't need to leave the resort.
Rick was awake early this morning and he would have to be the noisiest shit. I could have slept all morning but no not Rick. We went to the restaurant for our first free breakfast and then went for a walk down to the private beach area and its so quiet here as there aren't many people around, you virtually feel like you have the whole place to yourself.
The rest of the morning we spent in the pool, its still very warm here and we don't want to hang out in our room all the time so we decided beached whales or not we are swimming to cool down and so thats where we stayed for hours, anyways it gave the housekeepers time to go in our clean our room.
We came back from the pool and straight into the Jacuzzi, I laid in there until I just about shrivelled up. Then Rick threw some clothes in to the Jacuzzi and did the washing. Yo! I spent what was left of the arvo curled up on the bed having a Nanny snooze and Rick just farted around watching a movie. It has just been one of the most relaxing days.
We sat on the balcony just as the sun was going down and everynight at the same time all the longboats anchor just in front of the resort to do their nights fishing and when the sun has gone down completely all you can see are the bright green and red lights of the boat. Rick and I counted 15 plus 1 trawler I guess that will be tomorrows seafood in the restaurants.
Tonight we had dinner again at the resort restaurant and the meals are quite reasonable except they add on a 10% Gst and then 7% vat so it ends up being quite expensive even for a light meal. So we have decided the restaurant is out. Its cheaper to have room service.
Anyway everyone that was our day, now we feel we really are on holidays and its much more relaxing when you stay for a while in the one place as opposed to every couple of days picking up stakes and moving on and always on the go from destination to destination.
Hope everyone at home is well. Until tomorrow, See Ya!
Sawasdee Ka to one and all. Here we are enjoying our second day at our new place of residence and enjoying every minute of it. Talk about lapping it up, how good is this place. We are happy just hanging out here as we have everything and don't need to leave the resort.
Rick was awake early this morning and he would have to be the noisiest shit. I could have slept all morning but no not Rick. We went to the restaurant for our first free breakfast and then went for a walk down to the private beach area and its so quiet here as there aren't many people around, you virtually feel like you have the whole place to yourself.
The rest of the morning we spent in the pool, its still very warm here and we don't want to hang out in our room all the time so we decided beached whales or not we are swimming to cool down and so thats where we stayed for hours, anyways it gave the housekeepers time to go in our clean our room.
We came back from the pool and straight into the Jacuzzi, I laid in there until I just about shrivelled up. Then Rick threw some clothes in to the Jacuzzi and did the washing. Yo! I spent what was left of the arvo curled up on the bed having a Nanny snooze and Rick just farted around watching a movie. It has just been one of the most relaxing days.
We sat on the balcony just as the sun was going down and everynight at the same time all the longboats anchor just in front of the resort to do their nights fishing and when the sun has gone down completely all you can see are the bright green and red lights of the boat. Rick and I counted 15 plus 1 trawler I guess that will be tomorrows seafood in the restaurants.
Tonight we had dinner again at the resort restaurant and the meals are quite reasonable except they add on a 10% Gst and then 7% vat so it ends up being quite expensive even for a light meal. So we have decided the restaurant is out. Its cheaper to have room service.
Anyway everyone that was our day, now we feel we really are on holidays and its much more relaxing when you stay for a while in the one place as opposed to every couple of days picking up stakes and moving on and always on the go from destination to destination.
Hope everyone at home is well. Until tomorrow, See Ya!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Welcome to our Daily Blog! - Thailand
Saturday - 24 May 08
Wow, what a day! We slept in this morning as we sat up watching the footy (AFL) on the Australia Channel, the only thing is it didn't start until 11pm and finished at 1am in the morning, it was a shocker of a game and I just can't get over Geelong loosing. Ho Hum!
Rick and I quickly packed our backpacks and got ourselves ready to check out and move to our new accommodation. We decided to catch a meter taxi rather than try and haul our backpacks, computer, mini suitcase and all the other odds and sods on a Songteaw. We were only going a couple of kms up the road and it didn't cost us much more in a taxi.
We arrived at the Samui Cliff View Resort & Spa at 12.30 and check in was easy going, we were greeted with a warm face washer and cool drink while we waited for them to check us in and explain how everything works. As the resort is built on the cliff and the rooms are at the bottom and the reception at the top on the main road they actually drive you to your room. How Cool! Thank god cause its a bloody lot of stairs to walk down and up. When you want to go out anywhere and leave the resort you just dial reception and they send the little bus down to pick you up at your room and drop you where you want to go. Even better!
When they showed us our room we couldn't believe it, it is total luxury and the view is to die for. We thought the Samui Peninsular Spa & Resort we stayed at here in Samui last November was plush but man this one is super plush. It is decorated in the usual beautiful, chunky Thai timber and the furnishings, the colours and decoration is out of this world. The huge bed is situated in the middle of the room looking out of huge windows out over the Gulf of Thailand and it was decorated with all fresh tropical flowers, orchids, frangipani and hibiscus. We have a computer area and a loungesuite, tea & coffee making facilities and all the lighting is push button on a keypad. But wait there's more! The bathroom is another story. We have a Jacuzzi (with cushioned headrests) that looks out of a huge window out to the Gulf of Thailand and the view is spectacular, I know where I will be relaxing for most of the week. The bathroom floor is all loose white large pebble stones and has big stepping stones from shower to Jacuzzi to toilet and sink, the shower is huge (but not as exciting as the outdoor shower we had at the Peninsular last trip). We have Wi Fi internet which we need as we spend so much time on the net so now we can use our laptop again and catch up on stuff and I can keep up to date with the blog. The balcony is nice also with 360 degree views of the Gulf and Chewong and Cheong mon, and overlooks the pool and spa and the private beach. I have taken heaps of photos of everything as it just blew us away and the views at night are awsome.
All I can say is I am so glad we became members of Absolute 2 years ago when we first travelled to Thailand because we have now stayed at 3 of their resorts, that cost us nothing when we do, and they have all been superb, we spend our last week here at Kamala Beach in Phuket at another of their resorts and we are looking forward to that because they really are 5 star luxury.
We had no sooner put our backpacks away and the resort delivered a fresh fruit basket and then while we were having lunch in the restaurant a short time later they delivered us a bottle of champagne to welcome us to the resort. Talk about being treated like kings & queens.
This afternoon after we spoiled ourselves and had lunch in the resort restaurant, Rick rested his old and weary bones while I did our washing. Rather than do it all by hand, I filled the jacuzzi, put the soap powder in and turned on the jets. Wicked! I did 2 loads of washing in under an hour. Hung the underwear on the little line over the jacuzzi (glad I thought to bring pegs) and the rest over the balcony furniture.
Tonight Rick decided we should eat out somewhere else as the restaurant is a little exxy if you want to eat western food. So we climbed all the stairs to the top and he decided we should walk and go to the 7/11 to get some milk, water and munchies. Of course Rick has no sense of direction as to where we are situated which is between Lamai and Chewong and there are no shops within the vacinity so we walked and walked in the rain until he got sick of me nagging and taking the mickey out of him and we walked back to the resort and asked to be driven into Lamai so we could have some dinner, so the resort driver drove us to our room (language barrier) until Rick explained we just came from there and wanted to go into Lamai, so the driver finally drove us there and said he would wait to bring us back and we told him we would catch a Songteaw back which we did, when we arrived back at the resort the driver was waiting to drive us to our room.
The rest of the night is Rick watching Bloomberg and me doing the usual internet and email stuff. Tomorrow is a day hanging out here at the resort, swimming in the pool and exploring the rocks around the beach area and just enjoying this luxury. Of course breakfast is first thing on the agenda as we got free breakfast vouchers for the week for both of us which we get a full American Breakfast and seeing as there are only about 10 rooms occupied and the resort is pretty quiet as far as guests goes we mosey on down whenever we feel like it.
So it has been an awsome day, and we are going to enjoy this week in heaven. Stay tuned and until tomorrow.
La Kon
Wow, what a day! We slept in this morning as we sat up watching the footy (AFL) on the Australia Channel, the only thing is it didn't start until 11pm and finished at 1am in the morning, it was a shocker of a game and I just can't get over Geelong loosing. Ho Hum!
Rick and I quickly packed our backpacks and got ourselves ready to check out and move to our new accommodation. We decided to catch a meter taxi rather than try and haul our backpacks, computer, mini suitcase and all the other odds and sods on a Songteaw. We were only going a couple of kms up the road and it didn't cost us much more in a taxi.
We arrived at the Samui Cliff View Resort & Spa at 12.30 and check in was easy going, we were greeted with a warm face washer and cool drink while we waited for them to check us in and explain how everything works. As the resort is built on the cliff and the rooms are at the bottom and the reception at the top on the main road they actually drive you to your room. How Cool! Thank god cause its a bloody lot of stairs to walk down and up. When you want to go out anywhere and leave the resort you just dial reception and they send the little bus down to pick you up at your room and drop you where you want to go. Even better!
When they showed us our room we couldn't believe it, it is total luxury and the view is to die for. We thought the Samui Peninsular Spa & Resort we stayed at here in Samui last November was plush but man this one is super plush. It is decorated in the usual beautiful, chunky Thai timber and the furnishings, the colours and decoration is out of this world. The huge bed is situated in the middle of the room looking out of huge windows out over the Gulf of Thailand and it was decorated with all fresh tropical flowers, orchids, frangipani and hibiscus. We have a computer area and a loungesuite, tea & coffee making facilities and all the lighting is push button on a keypad. But wait there's more! The bathroom is another story. We have a Jacuzzi (with cushioned headrests) that looks out of a huge window out to the Gulf of Thailand and the view is spectacular, I know where I will be relaxing for most of the week. The bathroom floor is all loose white large pebble stones and has big stepping stones from shower to Jacuzzi to toilet and sink, the shower is huge (but not as exciting as the outdoor shower we had at the Peninsular last trip). We have Wi Fi internet which we need as we spend so much time on the net so now we can use our laptop again and catch up on stuff and I can keep up to date with the blog. The balcony is nice also with 360 degree views of the Gulf and Chewong and Cheong mon, and overlooks the pool and spa and the private beach. I have taken heaps of photos of everything as it just blew us away and the views at night are awsome.
All I can say is I am so glad we became members of Absolute 2 years ago when we first travelled to Thailand because we have now stayed at 3 of their resorts, that cost us nothing when we do, and they have all been superb, we spend our last week here at Kamala Beach in Phuket at another of their resorts and we are looking forward to that because they really are 5 star luxury.
We had no sooner put our backpacks away and the resort delivered a fresh fruit basket and then while we were having lunch in the restaurant a short time later they delivered us a bottle of champagne to welcome us to the resort. Talk about being treated like kings & queens.
This afternoon after we spoiled ourselves and had lunch in the resort restaurant, Rick rested his old and weary bones while I did our washing. Rather than do it all by hand, I filled the jacuzzi, put the soap powder in and turned on the jets. Wicked! I did 2 loads of washing in under an hour. Hung the underwear on the little line over the jacuzzi (glad I thought to bring pegs) and the rest over the balcony furniture.
Tonight Rick decided we should eat out somewhere else as the restaurant is a little exxy if you want to eat western food. So we climbed all the stairs to the top and he decided we should walk and go to the 7/11 to get some milk, water and munchies. Of course Rick has no sense of direction as to where we are situated which is between Lamai and Chewong and there are no shops within the vacinity so we walked and walked in the rain until he got sick of me nagging and taking the mickey out of him and we walked back to the resort and asked to be driven into Lamai so we could have some dinner, so the resort driver drove us to our room (language barrier) until Rick explained we just came from there and wanted to go into Lamai, so the driver finally drove us there and said he would wait to bring us back and we told him we would catch a Songteaw back which we did, when we arrived back at the resort the driver was waiting to drive us to our room.
The rest of the night is Rick watching Bloomberg and me doing the usual internet and email stuff. Tomorrow is a day hanging out here at the resort, swimming in the pool and exploring the rocks around the beach area and just enjoying this luxury. Of course breakfast is first thing on the agenda as we got free breakfast vouchers for the week for both of us which we get a full American Breakfast and seeing as there are only about 10 rooms occupied and the resort is pretty quiet as far as guests goes we mosey on down whenever we feel like it.
So it has been an awsome day, and we are going to enjoy this week in heaven. Stay tuned and until tomorrow.
La Kon
Hi from Lamai!
Friday - 23 May 08
Well our blog today will be a short one since we have just had the laziest day ever. As usual we were awake early and decided to go out and have breakfast at our little outdoor restaurant up the road. We wish we hadn't as we had eggs and toast and the cook must have been off cause the scrambled eggs weren't all that great, we ordered ice coffee and we got hot coffee instead and it was that strong you could stand your spoon up in it.
We spent most of the morning at the internet cafe catching up on emails and it seems we are spending more and more time there than anywhere else. Tomorrow we move to our new accommodation which has Wi Fi which will make it so much easier as we can use our laptop and not have to go out of our room and not have to sit in a sweatbox for hours answering emails.
It was a pretty humid and hot day as it was building up to the usual afternoon storm, so we decided to stay indoors for the rest of the day in the air con. Tonight we decided to go out to a real restaurant for dinner as I really felt that I needed to eat some red meat. We walked up the beach right on dusk to Lamai Beach hub where all the bars and restaurants are. We took a stroll first through the night markets and nothing took our fancy so we headed on to an english restaurant. We ordered 'Fillet Mignon' which turned out to be braised beef with 2 slices of bacon on the side. Funny Fillet Mignon, not how I remembered it. Anyway it was tender and cooked right and served with real veges, and gravy which we have not had for a while, so all was not lost, we did our usual stop off at the 7/11 to get milk and water and thought we would have an ice cream to eat on the way home as our dessert.
We strolled back to our bungalow along the beach and took some awsome photos of all the little restaurants that set up tables and chairs on the sand for people to dine at. It was really quite pretty with all the coloured lights and the music playing. Shame Ricks not the romantic type.
Rick and I are getting our fair share of exercise with all the walking we have been doing. Our legs aren't too happy about it but we need to walk the food off. My knee is almost back to normal now after my idiotic fall in Jomtien Beach. The bruising and swelling has gone and the cuts and scrapes are healing fine, Dettol antiseptic cream and bandaids work wonders.
We spent the night watching the AFL game on the Australia channel and watched our team, Geelong get wolloped by Collingwood. We are not used to seeing them loose a game and it was quite distressing, but hey its their first loss for the year so I guess its not all that bad.
Well not much else happened today as I say it was our laziest day. We are looking forward to moving to our luxury accommodation tomorrow so we can live like kings for a week. Should be good.
Until Tomorrow!!
Well our blog today will be a short one since we have just had the laziest day ever. As usual we were awake early and decided to go out and have breakfast at our little outdoor restaurant up the road. We wish we hadn't as we had eggs and toast and the cook must have been off cause the scrambled eggs weren't all that great, we ordered ice coffee and we got hot coffee instead and it was that strong you could stand your spoon up in it.
We spent most of the morning at the internet cafe catching up on emails and it seems we are spending more and more time there than anywhere else. Tomorrow we move to our new accommodation which has Wi Fi which will make it so much easier as we can use our laptop and not have to go out of our room and not have to sit in a sweatbox for hours answering emails.
It was a pretty humid and hot day as it was building up to the usual afternoon storm, so we decided to stay indoors for the rest of the day in the air con. Tonight we decided to go out to a real restaurant for dinner as I really felt that I needed to eat some red meat. We walked up the beach right on dusk to Lamai Beach hub where all the bars and restaurants are. We took a stroll first through the night markets and nothing took our fancy so we headed on to an english restaurant. We ordered 'Fillet Mignon' which turned out to be braised beef with 2 slices of bacon on the side. Funny Fillet Mignon, not how I remembered it. Anyway it was tender and cooked right and served with real veges, and gravy which we have not had for a while, so all was not lost, we did our usual stop off at the 7/11 to get milk and water and thought we would have an ice cream to eat on the way home as our dessert.
We strolled back to our bungalow along the beach and took some awsome photos of all the little restaurants that set up tables and chairs on the sand for people to dine at. It was really quite pretty with all the coloured lights and the music playing. Shame Ricks not the romantic type.
Rick and I are getting our fair share of exercise with all the walking we have been doing. Our legs aren't too happy about it but we need to walk the food off. My knee is almost back to normal now after my idiotic fall in Jomtien Beach. The bruising and swelling has gone and the cuts and scrapes are healing fine, Dettol antiseptic cream and bandaids work wonders.
We spent the night watching the AFL game on the Australia channel and watched our team, Geelong get wolloped by Collingwood. We are not used to seeing them loose a game and it was quite distressing, but hey its their first loss for the year so I guess its not all that bad.
Well not much else happened today as I say it was our laziest day. We are looking forward to moving to our luxury accommodation tomorrow so we can live like kings for a week. Should be good.
Until Tomorrow!!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Life in Koh Samui
Thursday - 22 May 08
Hi to everyone from beautiful Lamai Beach in Koh Samui. What a fabulous island and how lovely are the people. We are having such a relaxing time it seems almost criminal. We have now booked our new accommodation at the Samui Cliff View Resort just up the road and it is totally luxurious and 5 star, it is on the side of a cliff with 360 degree views over the Gulf of Thailand we move there on Saturday and as much as we love our little Bungalow here there's nothing like doing the 5 star thing.
Today we have had a big day, for us anyway. We spent the morning at the internet cafe doing our usual daily business. Rick checking the stockmarket and his CFD's which arn't doing too well at the moment with this bullshit with the oil prices being so high, we are hoping oil prices shit themselves over the next few days. On the other hand its good for us as our BHP shares are now worth $5 bucks more than we paid for them, so a bit of profit taking maybe in the wind. Anyway thats the market and thats Rick's department.
I have the pleasure of answering all the emails and dealing with useless bloody real estate agents who don't know how to do their jobs for which we pay them. Roll on July, when we get back to Queensland these real estates are gonna know their jobs by the time I am finished with them and they certainly won't be managing any of our properties either, I hope they like giving refunds on management fees because I will demanding it. Our unit in Hervey Bay will be vacant from 28 May thanks to the tenant breaking her lease, as much as it pisses us off that it cost us money to let her go we are glad as she has been a pain in the arse since we bought the place and it now means we can move in there when we get back and not have to wait until October.
We caught a Songteaw into Chewang and spent the rest of the day looking around the markets and taking a walk along Chewang beach. I have to say its not quite as nice as Lamai Beach where we are staying. We thought there weren't many tourist here on Samui, how wrong were we. They are all at Chewang probably because that is the hub of Samui, where all the young folk go to stay and hang out. It has all the pubs, nightclubs and bars you could wish for if you are a young person looking for a good time and holiday its probably the best place to be.
We didn't get back to Lamai until 3pm and by this time we were exhausted and hot as it is so humid here and the hottest part of the day is between 11am and 4pm. We had a nice cool shower each, a bit of a Nanny & Poppy snooze and when the sun went down ventured out again to the internet cafe and the 7/11. We were good tonight and instead of eating out decided to buy some noodles in a cup from the 7/11 and eat in and then feasted on chocolate while we watched, as usual, the bloomberg channel.
Our flights are all booked for next Saturday to Chiang Mai, we managed to get a direct flight from Samui to Chiang Mai which is only a 2 hour flight. It cost a little more but hey its worth it cause it beats catching ferries, buses, trains and the 2 days travelling to get to Chiang Mai. We will be hanging out there for a month so we can travel to Chiang Rai, Mae Hong son and Pai. We were thinking it maybe worth looking for a small house or villa we can rent for the month we are there as they are pretty big on renting accommodation out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and the longer you rent for the cheaper it is. We will certainly check it out first since our days of being ripped off and being bullshitted to are well and truly over.
Koh Samui has been the best part of this trip so far. We really needed this 2 weeks R & R after all our travelling on the public transport system and it taking forever to get from one place to another. We have been and seen many places and have now been in Thailand a month. The last 6 weeks of our trip should be a lot less hectic. A month in Chiang Mai and surrounds in Northern Thailand, then back south to Phi Phi Island and then on to Kamala Beach in Phuket, Bangkok for 1 night and then back to oz.
Our travels, other than those couple of shitty days have been good, we would certainly do it all again in a flash perhaps maybe with a few changes here and there but certainly Thailand for us is the place to go. Apparently once you turn 50 years young you can get a 12 month visa to stay in Thailand provided you can show that you have a least 80,000 baht in the bank to support yourself for the 12 months. Something to think about!
Anyway time to go and do other things. To everyone out there still reading our blog.
Kob Kai (Thank You)
Hi to everyone from beautiful Lamai Beach in Koh Samui. What a fabulous island and how lovely are the people. We are having such a relaxing time it seems almost criminal. We have now booked our new accommodation at the Samui Cliff View Resort just up the road and it is totally luxurious and 5 star, it is on the side of a cliff with 360 degree views over the Gulf of Thailand we move there on Saturday and as much as we love our little Bungalow here there's nothing like doing the 5 star thing.
Today we have had a big day, for us anyway. We spent the morning at the internet cafe doing our usual daily business. Rick checking the stockmarket and his CFD's which arn't doing too well at the moment with this bullshit with the oil prices being so high, we are hoping oil prices shit themselves over the next few days. On the other hand its good for us as our BHP shares are now worth $5 bucks more than we paid for them, so a bit of profit taking maybe in the wind. Anyway thats the market and thats Rick's department.
I have the pleasure of answering all the emails and dealing with useless bloody real estate agents who don't know how to do their jobs for which we pay them. Roll on July, when we get back to Queensland these real estates are gonna know their jobs by the time I am finished with them and they certainly won't be managing any of our properties either, I hope they like giving refunds on management fees because I will demanding it. Our unit in Hervey Bay will be vacant from 28 May thanks to the tenant breaking her lease, as much as it pisses us off that it cost us money to let her go we are glad as she has been a pain in the arse since we bought the place and it now means we can move in there when we get back and not have to wait until October.
We caught a Songteaw into Chewang and spent the rest of the day looking around the markets and taking a walk along Chewang beach. I have to say its not quite as nice as Lamai Beach where we are staying. We thought there weren't many tourist here on Samui, how wrong were we. They are all at Chewang probably because that is the hub of Samui, where all the young folk go to stay and hang out. It has all the pubs, nightclubs and bars you could wish for if you are a young person looking for a good time and holiday its probably the best place to be.
We didn't get back to Lamai until 3pm and by this time we were exhausted and hot as it is so humid here and the hottest part of the day is between 11am and 4pm. We had a nice cool shower each, a bit of a Nanny & Poppy snooze and when the sun went down ventured out again to the internet cafe and the 7/11. We were good tonight and instead of eating out decided to buy some noodles in a cup from the 7/11 and eat in and then feasted on chocolate while we watched, as usual, the bloomberg channel.
Our flights are all booked for next Saturday to Chiang Mai, we managed to get a direct flight from Samui to Chiang Mai which is only a 2 hour flight. It cost a little more but hey its worth it cause it beats catching ferries, buses, trains and the 2 days travelling to get to Chiang Mai. We will be hanging out there for a month so we can travel to Chiang Rai, Mae Hong son and Pai. We were thinking it maybe worth looking for a small house or villa we can rent for the month we are there as they are pretty big on renting accommodation out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and the longer you rent for the cheaper it is. We will certainly check it out first since our days of being ripped off and being bullshitted to are well and truly over.
Koh Samui has been the best part of this trip so far. We really needed this 2 weeks R & R after all our travelling on the public transport system and it taking forever to get from one place to another. We have been and seen many places and have now been in Thailand a month. The last 6 weeks of our trip should be a lot less hectic. A month in Chiang Mai and surrounds in Northern Thailand, then back south to Phi Phi Island and then on to Kamala Beach in Phuket, Bangkok for 1 night and then back to oz.
Our travels, other than those couple of shitty days have been good, we would certainly do it all again in a flash perhaps maybe with a few changes here and there but certainly Thailand for us is the place to go. Apparently once you turn 50 years young you can get a 12 month visa to stay in Thailand provided you can show that you have a least 80,000 baht in the bank to support yourself for the 12 months. Something to think about!
Anyway time to go and do other things. To everyone out there still reading our blog.
Kob Kai (Thank You)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Greetings from Koh Samui
Wednesday - 21 May 08
Hi to everyone out there who is still reading our daily blog and not yawning over it yet. We are settled in and having a great time here on Samui.
We are doing our usual things now that we are in complete holiday mode and are so relaxed we are almost in comas. We have decided to stay the extra week and will moving on Saturday to our new swish (free) accommodation a little further up the road thanks to our Absolute travel club which we took membership with on our first trip over here 2 years ago. So that will 2 free weeks we will be using on this trip, our extra week here and our final week at Kamala Beach before we head back to Australia.
Today we took a long walk to grandmother and grandfather rock which is a small tourist spot here in Lamai Beach. The rock formations are that of a female and male genitals which makes for interesting photos and postcards. We then did our usual daily walk along Lamai Beach from our Bungalow to the hub of Lamai where all the bars and restaurants are, unfortunately none of the restaurants open until evening and we were 'yet again' hungry and had to eat at McDonalds as it was the only place open and we now and again need a break from rice and noodles.
We had a good look around the restaurants and street stalls but nothing has really caught our eye in the shopping department although I could do with a couple of light beach dresses with this heat and humidity. I think a tuk tuk into Chewang maybe the go. Hopefully tomorrow. We took the long walk back along the beach to our bungalow and by this time it was early arvo which seems to be the hottest part of the day and the humidity is stifling. As usual when we got back on went the air con and we had our usual Nanny & Poppy snooze. We had a wicked afternoon thunderstorm and it was quite cyclonic and went for around 2 hours, the gardens and pathways around the bungalows were like rivers and we were getting a bit worried that we might not be able to get our for dinner. The storm eventually cleared and with all the wind and rain cooled the place down quite a lot and there was a nice seabreeze to do our usual walk up to the local cooking house for dinner. A stop at the local internet cafe to update our blog and home again to see what is raging on the television.
Thanks to Kez for the update on the Bold & Beautiful, seems I am not missing anything and it won't take much watching when I get back to know that. To all of you who have been emailing us letting us know you have been reading the blog, and haven't yet found it yawning material thank you also, it makes it worth the trip to the internet cafe everynight.
So until tomorrow, we bid you goodnight!!!!
Hi to everyone out there who is still reading our daily blog and not yawning over it yet. We are settled in and having a great time here on Samui.
We are doing our usual things now that we are in complete holiday mode and are so relaxed we are almost in comas. We have decided to stay the extra week and will moving on Saturday to our new swish (free) accommodation a little further up the road thanks to our Absolute travel club which we took membership with on our first trip over here 2 years ago. So that will 2 free weeks we will be using on this trip, our extra week here and our final week at Kamala Beach before we head back to Australia.
Today we took a long walk to grandmother and grandfather rock which is a small tourist spot here in Lamai Beach. The rock formations are that of a female and male genitals which makes for interesting photos and postcards. We then did our usual daily walk along Lamai Beach from our Bungalow to the hub of Lamai where all the bars and restaurants are, unfortunately none of the restaurants open until evening and we were 'yet again' hungry and had to eat at McDonalds as it was the only place open and we now and again need a break from rice and noodles.
We had a good look around the restaurants and street stalls but nothing has really caught our eye in the shopping department although I could do with a couple of light beach dresses with this heat and humidity. I think a tuk tuk into Chewang maybe the go. Hopefully tomorrow. We took the long walk back along the beach to our bungalow and by this time it was early arvo which seems to be the hottest part of the day and the humidity is stifling. As usual when we got back on went the air con and we had our usual Nanny & Poppy snooze. We had a wicked afternoon thunderstorm and it was quite cyclonic and went for around 2 hours, the gardens and pathways around the bungalows were like rivers and we were getting a bit worried that we might not be able to get our for dinner. The storm eventually cleared and with all the wind and rain cooled the place down quite a lot and there was a nice seabreeze to do our usual walk up to the local cooking house for dinner. A stop at the local internet cafe to update our blog and home again to see what is raging on the television.
Thanks to Kez for the update on the Bold & Beautiful, seems I am not missing anything and it won't take much watching when I get back to know that. To all of you who have been emailing us letting us know you have been reading the blog, and haven't yet found it yawning material thank you also, it makes it worth the trip to the internet cafe everynight.
So until tomorrow, we bid you goodnight!!!!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
How Nice is Koh Samui
Tuesday - 20 May 08
What a relaxing day we have had today in Koh Samui. It really is paradise. The good thing about it is its low season and there are not a lot of tourists and its very peaceful. We are settling in well to our little bungalow and loving it. The bed is so comfortable and we are so relaxed we slept well last night as it was like sleeping on clouds. We were awake early this morning and laid in bed drinking our coffee and watching, get this, the bloomberg channel (the stockmarket) I am surprised! (Not) Onya Rick.
We went for a long long walk along Lamai Beach this morning and it was absolutely wonderful. The beach is lined with bungalows and resorts, bars and restaurants and the water was clear and smooth. We walked so far we thought we would get lost, we found our way off the beach and onto a street and followed that street and guess what? We found a McDonalds so guess where we had breakfast. We walked further along this street, after breakfast, and it was lined with bars and western restaurants, shops and market stalls, woo hoo. Have to head back there! We found our way from there back to the main drag and back to our bungalow stopping at he 7/11 to stock up on supplies.
We dropped off our washing to the lady at our bungalows to do for us as its only 30 baht ($1 Aus) a kilo and we had a bit to do, probably cost us $3 all up. The rest of the day we relaxed in our bungalow in the air con. Catching up on our rest and just enjoying the peace and time at the internet.
Tonight we took a stroll up to our little restaurant for an early dinner and we were the only one's there, we ordered light, sticky rice and Rick had his Pork Spare ribs and I thought its a while since I had my Tofu so I had Tofu with fried basil, well the lady said it was a little spicy and I said thats ok, I don't mind. Idiot!!!! It was so spicy I dread to think what I am going to suffer tomorrow and what Rick will suffer tonight being in the same bed, a ring of fire I'm sure.
Tonight it is a full moon so there is a huge full moon party on Samui Beach, so while everyone is out raging at the full moon party we will tucked up in our bungalow, like a couple of old grannies enjoying the air con and the bloomberg channel no doubt. Hey has anyone got an update on the Bold and Beautiful?
So we have had an excellent day in Samui and can't ask for anymore relaxation than we are getting. So until tomorrow.
La kon
What a relaxing day we have had today in Koh Samui. It really is paradise. The good thing about it is its low season and there are not a lot of tourists and its very peaceful. We are settling in well to our little bungalow and loving it. The bed is so comfortable and we are so relaxed we slept well last night as it was like sleeping on clouds. We were awake early this morning and laid in bed drinking our coffee and watching, get this, the bloomberg channel (the stockmarket) I am surprised! (Not) Onya Rick.
We went for a long long walk along Lamai Beach this morning and it was absolutely wonderful. The beach is lined with bungalows and resorts, bars and restaurants and the water was clear and smooth. We walked so far we thought we would get lost, we found our way off the beach and onto a street and followed that street and guess what? We found a McDonalds so guess where we had breakfast. We walked further along this street, after breakfast, and it was lined with bars and western restaurants, shops and market stalls, woo hoo. Have to head back there! We found our way from there back to the main drag and back to our bungalow stopping at he 7/11 to stock up on supplies.
We dropped off our washing to the lady at our bungalows to do for us as its only 30 baht ($1 Aus) a kilo and we had a bit to do, probably cost us $3 all up. The rest of the day we relaxed in our bungalow in the air con. Catching up on our rest and just enjoying the peace and time at the internet.
Tonight we took a stroll up to our little restaurant for an early dinner and we were the only one's there, we ordered light, sticky rice and Rick had his Pork Spare ribs and I thought its a while since I had my Tofu so I had Tofu with fried basil, well the lady said it was a little spicy and I said thats ok, I don't mind. Idiot!!!! It was so spicy I dread to think what I am going to suffer tomorrow and what Rick will suffer tonight being in the same bed, a ring of fire I'm sure.
Tonight it is a full moon so there is a huge full moon party on Samui Beach, so while everyone is out raging at the full moon party we will tucked up in our bungalow, like a couple of old grannies enjoying the air con and the bloomberg channel no doubt. Hey has anyone got an update on the Bold and Beautiful?
So we have had an excellent day in Samui and can't ask for anymore relaxation than we are getting. So until tomorrow.
La kon
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sawasdee Ka from Koh Samui
Monday - 19 May 08
Hello from Koh Samui, we are finally here and it great to be here. Our day didn't start off the best as the bus that was meant to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the boat for our trip to Samui island didn't pick us up. So thay had to call a taxi to take us there and the guy couldn't have driven any slower if he tried and thats unusual for Thailand as there is only the one speed here and that is deathly fast. So of course we missed the boat along with about a hundred other people mainly young backpackers so we were loaded into a rust bucket bus and driven an hour to the next ferry stop. By the time we arrived and got on the boat it was farting room only. You know those stories you hear on the news about overloaded ferries sinking. Well the ferry we were on was way overloaded. The boat trip to Samui only took an hour and there were only 3 of us who got off, the rest of the people were heading to Ko Phangnan Island which most young people and backpackers go to party.
We decided after the last 2 days of shit that we have had that we were not taking anymore crap or bullshit from taxi, tuk tuk or hotel hawkers. I had surfed the net and wrote down a couple of accommodation places to look at in Lamai Beach here on Koh Samui and would decide once we had looked. We got off the ferry and had to walk a fair way down the pier to the taxi and tuk tuk rank to catch transport to Lamai Beach. A tuk tuk driver asked us where we wanted to go and we told him and his tuk tuk does that run, we asked how much and he said 60 baht each which was what it was last time we were in Samui. We said ok. There were two old Buddhist monks sitting on the tuk tuk waiting to go our way, so we chatted to them and had a cigarette with them while we were waiting to go. The tuk tuk driver was hanging around waiting to see if he could pick up extra fares as the more people they can get on the more money they make. I gave him 5 mins and then if he hadn't left by then we were getting off and getting a meter taxi. He tried to show us pamphlets of guesthouses that we should stay at that obviously he got kickbacks for. I was quite direct and a little abrupt and showed him my list of guesthouses and told him that is where we want to go and we are not interested in his. Within 5 mins we were on the road to Lamai Beach. He probably thought I was a rude bitch, but I don't care I am over their bullshit. The Thai people are lovely people but these few who have forked us around and ripped us off have made the last two days a nightmare and we are over them.
We arrived at Lamai Beach at the first hotel, we asked about a room and she told us 1100 baht - 1500 baht a night, I told her it was advertised on internet for 600baht which it was, she said no, Rick and I said goodbye and left. We are lucky all the hotels and bungalows are right next door to one another so we went to the next one and the next one and the next one until we found one that we liked, was value for money and had everything we need. We are staying at 'The Cottage@Samui' in a lovely bungalow with air con, cable tv, nice bathroom, comfortable bed and is nicely decorated and clean, it has a nice verandah overlooking the garden, is quiet and within spitting distance to the beach and shops. The lady asked for 600baht a night and Rick asked if we booked for 7 nights can we have a discount and so she gave it to us for 500 baht a night, so we booked 7 nights. Bargain!
After the last 2 days we are much happier and more relaxed, we can now sit back and chill for the next week. We have decided we now have enough time up our sleeves that we can probably spend another 7 days here, a total of 14 before we head to Chiang Mai, which if we can get cheap fares will be flying to. No more buses or trains for a while for us.
We have decided not to do a visa run into Myanmar unless we absolutely have to. We probably won't be allowed to anyway as it seems the military junta there has put restrictions on border crossings to stop journalists and aid workers from entering the country and filming the cyclone raveged areas and people. We can apply for a 30 day extension on our visas at the immigration department, it takes 2 days and 1900 baht each but thats probably the safest way to do it. We will need that time to finish our trip. We only have 6 more areas to visit now unless we get side tracked and with the visa extension will give us from now another 60 days to do it.
Our first day on Samui Island has been great. We have excellent accommodation run by nice people, its quiet, the beach is beautiful and we have found a great little outdoor restaurant 5 minutes down the road that serves great, cheap food. We are in heaven. We had a great time here when we came last November and it hasn't changed since then.
Our trip so far has been great, except for 2 crap days and a couple of crap people, but hey thats good odds considering we have been in Thailand now for 22 days and travelled to heaps of places. From here on it will only get better and better and what better place to start than in Samui.
So with that in mind I will bid La Kon until tomorrow!
Hello from Koh Samui, we are finally here and it great to be here. Our day didn't start off the best as the bus that was meant to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the boat for our trip to Samui island didn't pick us up. So thay had to call a taxi to take us there and the guy couldn't have driven any slower if he tried and thats unusual for Thailand as there is only the one speed here and that is deathly fast. So of course we missed the boat along with about a hundred other people mainly young backpackers so we were loaded into a rust bucket bus and driven an hour to the next ferry stop. By the time we arrived and got on the boat it was farting room only. You know those stories you hear on the news about overloaded ferries sinking. Well the ferry we were on was way overloaded. The boat trip to Samui only took an hour and there were only 3 of us who got off, the rest of the people were heading to Ko Phangnan Island which most young people and backpackers go to party.
We decided after the last 2 days of shit that we have had that we were not taking anymore crap or bullshit from taxi, tuk tuk or hotel hawkers. I had surfed the net and wrote down a couple of accommodation places to look at in Lamai Beach here on Koh Samui and would decide once we had looked. We got off the ferry and had to walk a fair way down the pier to the taxi and tuk tuk rank to catch transport to Lamai Beach. A tuk tuk driver asked us where we wanted to go and we told him and his tuk tuk does that run, we asked how much and he said 60 baht each which was what it was last time we were in Samui. We said ok. There were two old Buddhist monks sitting on the tuk tuk waiting to go our way, so we chatted to them and had a cigarette with them while we were waiting to go. The tuk tuk driver was hanging around waiting to see if he could pick up extra fares as the more people they can get on the more money they make. I gave him 5 mins and then if he hadn't left by then we were getting off and getting a meter taxi. He tried to show us pamphlets of guesthouses that we should stay at that obviously he got kickbacks for. I was quite direct and a little abrupt and showed him my list of guesthouses and told him that is where we want to go and we are not interested in his. Within 5 mins we were on the road to Lamai Beach. He probably thought I was a rude bitch, but I don't care I am over their bullshit. The Thai people are lovely people but these few who have forked us around and ripped us off have made the last two days a nightmare and we are over them.
We arrived at Lamai Beach at the first hotel, we asked about a room and she told us 1100 baht - 1500 baht a night, I told her it was advertised on internet for 600baht which it was, she said no, Rick and I said goodbye and left. We are lucky all the hotels and bungalows are right next door to one another so we went to the next one and the next one and the next one until we found one that we liked, was value for money and had everything we need. We are staying at 'The Cottage@Samui' in a lovely bungalow with air con, cable tv, nice bathroom, comfortable bed and is nicely decorated and clean, it has a nice verandah overlooking the garden, is quiet and within spitting distance to the beach and shops. The lady asked for 600baht a night and Rick asked if we booked for 7 nights can we have a discount and so she gave it to us for 500 baht a night, so we booked 7 nights. Bargain!
After the last 2 days we are much happier and more relaxed, we can now sit back and chill for the next week. We have decided we now have enough time up our sleeves that we can probably spend another 7 days here, a total of 14 before we head to Chiang Mai, which if we can get cheap fares will be flying to. No more buses or trains for a while for us.
We have decided not to do a visa run into Myanmar unless we absolutely have to. We probably won't be allowed to anyway as it seems the military junta there has put restrictions on border crossings to stop journalists and aid workers from entering the country and filming the cyclone raveged areas and people. We can apply for a 30 day extension on our visas at the immigration department, it takes 2 days and 1900 baht each but thats probably the safest way to do it. We will need that time to finish our trip. We only have 6 more areas to visit now unless we get side tracked and with the visa extension will give us from now another 60 days to do it.
Our first day on Samui Island has been great. We have excellent accommodation run by nice people, its quiet, the beach is beautiful and we have found a great little outdoor restaurant 5 minutes down the road that serves great, cheap food. We are in heaven. We had a great time here when we came last November and it hasn't changed since then.
Our trip so far has been great, except for 2 crap days and a couple of crap people, but hey thats good odds considering we have been in Thailand now for 22 days and travelled to heaps of places. From here on it will only get better and better and what better place to start than in Samui.
So with that in mind I will bid La Kon until tomorrow!
Cha Am - Lets get out of here!
Sunday - 18 May 08
Well what a nightmare! We were up early this morning and couldn't wait to get out of this fleabitten hole. We didn't get much sleep we were so wound up, besides the hotel and town being a shithole and being ripped off on the hotel.
So we decided last night after searching the net that we would drop Koh Tao from our inventory and head south to Koh Samui. It has more accommodation and we know the island and the best areas to stay. This morning we checked out of the shithole and caught a taxi back to Hua Hin to the train station. We were lucky and managed to purchase two of the last three tickets available on the second class, air con train to Surat Thani for 11.11a, for the 5 hour train ride.
As we were there early we had an hour or so to kill before the train so just sat around the station waiting. The station was crowded with people waiting for the train back to Bangkok and there were just hundred of hung over (Thai) teenagers who had been to the music festival in Hua Hin all weekend. Thank god they were going the opposite direction to us.
As usual with any transport in Thailand, nothing runs on time and no one is in a hurry. The train was an hour late (whats new!). It finally left Hua Hin at 12 noon and I must say it was a long but much better trip than the train to Nong Khai and all the buses we have caught. We are 'over' using the transport system and are considering flying to our other destinations. If we can get cheap flights thats what we will do. It takes too long to get from A to B on the transport system and we are loosing too much time and seem always catching something.
We arrived in Surat Thani at 5pm and decided we would have to stay a night. This time I wasn't even off the bottom step of the train and a taxi hawker had me by arm. Was I pissed off! You bet! I shrugged him off in no uncertain terms and stormed off and waited for Rick. We hadn't booked any accommodation so thought we would have a look around for a cheap hotel close to the ferry terminal so we could catch the first ferry to Koh Samui in the morning as there are only two a day. One in the morning and one in the arvo.
We walked outside of the station to have a smoke and the hotel hawkers were everywhere, they pounce on you like vultures. One offered us a hotel, cheap but good and near the ferry terminal, so off we go with other tourists and almost an hour later end up at this hotel. 450baht a night, air con, internet & hot water. The room wasn't much but an improvement on the shithole in Cha Am. We figured we are only staying one night. The guy booked us on the 8am ferry to Koh Samui for tomorrow and said the bus would pick us up at 7.30a, be ready.
We checked in went to our room, showered and then went for a walk to get milk and cold drinks to get us through until dinner. We walked around and then realised this hotel was in the middle of a residential area with no restaurants or cafes and no where near the ferry terminal. What a freakin joke!
We hung around our room until late and then decided to go out and try and find something for dinner, we asked reception where the nearest KFC was she said about half an hour away and we would need to catch songteaw. So off we go, hail a Songteaw and half an hour and 100baht later we were sitting in KFC for dinner. We left and caught a Songteaw back to our hotel which was 200baht, same distance, go figure? By this time we were hot, tired, pissed off and once again ripped off. Decided this was the last time. To make matters worse, internet server was down and couldn't use the internet card we had purchased. Great hotel!!!!!!! When travelling to Thailand avoid Surat Thani and especially the taxi and hotel hawkers at the railway station.
The rest of the night whats left of it is sleep. Its been another trying day. One thing I'll say about this trip, its been an education and we have learned, tomorrow we will be that little bit wiser.
Until our next adventure tomorrow!
Well what a nightmare! We were up early this morning and couldn't wait to get out of this fleabitten hole. We didn't get much sleep we were so wound up, besides the hotel and town being a shithole and being ripped off on the hotel.
So we decided last night after searching the net that we would drop Koh Tao from our inventory and head south to Koh Samui. It has more accommodation and we know the island and the best areas to stay. This morning we checked out of the shithole and caught a taxi back to Hua Hin to the train station. We were lucky and managed to purchase two of the last three tickets available on the second class, air con train to Surat Thani for 11.11a, for the 5 hour train ride.
As we were there early we had an hour or so to kill before the train so just sat around the station waiting. The station was crowded with people waiting for the train back to Bangkok and there were just hundred of hung over (Thai) teenagers who had been to the music festival in Hua Hin all weekend. Thank god they were going the opposite direction to us.
As usual with any transport in Thailand, nothing runs on time and no one is in a hurry. The train was an hour late (whats new!). It finally left Hua Hin at 12 noon and I must say it was a long but much better trip than the train to Nong Khai and all the buses we have caught. We are 'over' using the transport system and are considering flying to our other destinations. If we can get cheap flights thats what we will do. It takes too long to get from A to B on the transport system and we are loosing too much time and seem always catching something.
We arrived in Surat Thani at 5pm and decided we would have to stay a night. This time I wasn't even off the bottom step of the train and a taxi hawker had me by arm. Was I pissed off! You bet! I shrugged him off in no uncertain terms and stormed off and waited for Rick. We hadn't booked any accommodation so thought we would have a look around for a cheap hotel close to the ferry terminal so we could catch the first ferry to Koh Samui in the morning as there are only two a day. One in the morning and one in the arvo.
We walked outside of the station to have a smoke and the hotel hawkers were everywhere, they pounce on you like vultures. One offered us a hotel, cheap but good and near the ferry terminal, so off we go with other tourists and almost an hour later end up at this hotel. 450baht a night, air con, internet & hot water. The room wasn't much but an improvement on the shithole in Cha Am. We figured we are only staying one night. The guy booked us on the 8am ferry to Koh Samui for tomorrow and said the bus would pick us up at 7.30a, be ready.
We checked in went to our room, showered and then went for a walk to get milk and cold drinks to get us through until dinner. We walked around and then realised this hotel was in the middle of a residential area with no restaurants or cafes and no where near the ferry terminal. What a freakin joke!
We hung around our room until late and then decided to go out and try and find something for dinner, we asked reception where the nearest KFC was she said about half an hour away and we would need to catch songteaw. So off we go, hail a Songteaw and half an hour and 100baht later we were sitting in KFC for dinner. We left and caught a Songteaw back to our hotel which was 200baht, same distance, go figure? By this time we were hot, tired, pissed off and once again ripped off. Decided this was the last time. To make matters worse, internet server was down and couldn't use the internet card we had purchased. Great hotel!!!!!!! When travelling to Thailand avoid Surat Thani and especially the taxi and hotel hawkers at the railway station.
The rest of the night whats left of it is sleep. Its been another trying day. One thing I'll say about this trip, its been an education and we have learned, tomorrow we will be that little bit wiser.
Until our next adventure tomorrow!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Our Worst Day in Thailand
Saturday - 17 May o8
Sawasdee Ka!
What a freakin day! We are both pissed off to the max and never expected to have such a stuffed up day. We should have stayed that couple of extra days in Jomtien Beach. Rick had a sneaky suspision that we weren't going to get our bus tickets that we paid for from that bloody travel agent who has been stuffing us around, so I thought bugger it I will ring him, so at 7.30am this morning I did. He said he would drop the bus tickets off to us at 9am at the hotel and I told him that we had to get to North Pattaya bus station as the bus left at 10am, so he said I will drop it off at 8.30am so we checked out of our room and waited in the lobby. At 8.45 he rang reception and said to meet him at the bus station in Pattaya and he will give us our tickets then. So we caught a Songteaw to the North Pattaya bus station and I rang him again to say we were there waiting, well he turned up half an hour later and went straight to the ticket office and purchases our tickets. We could have done that ourselves which would have saved us the 120 commission he charged us to book our tickets. What an arsehole!
The bus trip to Bangkok was pretty good and we were at the Southern Bus Terminal in 2 and a half hours. We went to the ticket office and asked to purchased our 1st class air conditioned bus ticket to Hua Hin, twice we asked if it was a 1st class air conditioned bus and both times they assured us it was. We had half an hour to have a toilet stop and get something to eat before our bus left for Hua Hin. The toilet we accomplished the food ended up being a packet of crisps and can of pepsi. We found our bus and low and behold it was a clapped out pile of shit. Air conditioned but still a pile of shit. It was supposed to leave at 1pm and it was to be a 3 hour trip to Hua Hin, it left at 1.30pm so the driver could maximise the amount of people he could cram on the shitbox and he stopped at every bus stop and medium strip he could for the next 5 hours to pile as many people on as he could until they were packed in like sardines and then he turned the air con off. So our 3 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip and I guess by now you understand my description of the so called bus.
We arrived in Hua Hin around 5.30-6pm and walked through street after street, stopping at hotel after hotel only to find they were all full. By this time we were pretty freaked out and sweating our butts off carrying our backpacks and other gear. We stopped to talk to a nice young Thai/Indian guy and asked him why all the accomodation was booked out and he told us that there is a 3 day festival and as we could see everyone came to Hua Hin for the holiday celebration, he found us a taxi and we had to head 35kms back to Cha Am to try to find somewhere to stay, costing us 400baht for the ride. The taxi driver was really helpful and took us from hotel to hotel in Cha Am which was booked out with the overflow of people that couldn't get accommodation in Hua Hin. By this time it was about 8.30pm and we managed to find one on Cha Am beach, 1000 baht for the night and it is a shithole. Its the worst place I have ever seen in all my travels over the years. The bed is a double that sinks in the middle and has a single bed blanket on it. The towels they supply are two threadbear beach towels that wouldn't dry a flea. The bathroom, if thats what you call it, well we won't go there. Thank god we carry our own toilet paper because theres none supplied. We have cable tv, 100 channels, 1 english speaking channel and the tv is hanging off the wall along with the powerpoint its connected to.
We did get one thing for our 1000 baht and that is free Wi Fi internet, Woo Hoo! Woopy Duck!
And the best thing is they told us if we stay an extra day or two they will only charge us 900 baht per night for the next two nights. How bloody kind of them, but I don't think so, considering the room is probably only worth 250 baht a night (for a dog).
We at least managed to find a decent cafe to grab some dinner, Rick had pizza and I had Fettucine and it wasn't at all bad. With all the stuffing around today it has cost us quite a considerable amount of wasted money. Several lessons have been learned. First buy your bus ticket direct from the bus station, don't use Travel agents, theres no need. Also check that your destination is not during any festival time or other holiday time and if so book ahead for accommodation. And thirdly, don't stay and pay in a shithole like this any longer than you have to.
Tomorrow we are heading back to Hua Hin to the bus station (cos theres not one here) to catch a bus out of here to somewhere south, where to exactly we haven't decided yet, we will have to do some searching on the net tonight. Maybe Chumphorn and then on to Ko Tao or Surat Thani and then on to Koh Samui. Wherever it will be, this time it will be on a 1st class air conditioned bus.
So hopefully the worst of it is over and this will be our last freakin wacked our day on our journey around Thailand. We are a bit wiser and less patient now and certainly not willing to put up with any more wankers. Tomorrow is another day and will be a brighter and better day for sure.
Until then!
Sawasdee Ka!
What a freakin day! We are both pissed off to the max and never expected to have such a stuffed up day. We should have stayed that couple of extra days in Jomtien Beach. Rick had a sneaky suspision that we weren't going to get our bus tickets that we paid for from that bloody travel agent who has been stuffing us around, so I thought bugger it I will ring him, so at 7.30am this morning I did. He said he would drop the bus tickets off to us at 9am at the hotel and I told him that we had to get to North Pattaya bus station as the bus left at 10am, so he said I will drop it off at 8.30am so we checked out of our room and waited in the lobby. At 8.45 he rang reception and said to meet him at the bus station in Pattaya and he will give us our tickets then. So we caught a Songteaw to the North Pattaya bus station and I rang him again to say we were there waiting, well he turned up half an hour later and went straight to the ticket office and purchases our tickets. We could have done that ourselves which would have saved us the 120 commission he charged us to book our tickets. What an arsehole!
The bus trip to Bangkok was pretty good and we were at the Southern Bus Terminal in 2 and a half hours. We went to the ticket office and asked to purchased our 1st class air conditioned bus ticket to Hua Hin, twice we asked if it was a 1st class air conditioned bus and both times they assured us it was. We had half an hour to have a toilet stop and get something to eat before our bus left for Hua Hin. The toilet we accomplished the food ended up being a packet of crisps and can of pepsi. We found our bus and low and behold it was a clapped out pile of shit. Air conditioned but still a pile of shit. It was supposed to leave at 1pm and it was to be a 3 hour trip to Hua Hin, it left at 1.30pm so the driver could maximise the amount of people he could cram on the shitbox and he stopped at every bus stop and medium strip he could for the next 5 hours to pile as many people on as he could until they were packed in like sardines and then he turned the air con off. So our 3 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip and I guess by now you understand my description of the so called bus.
We arrived in Hua Hin around 5.30-6pm and walked through street after street, stopping at hotel after hotel only to find they were all full. By this time we were pretty freaked out and sweating our butts off carrying our backpacks and other gear. We stopped to talk to a nice young Thai/Indian guy and asked him why all the accomodation was booked out and he told us that there is a 3 day festival and as we could see everyone came to Hua Hin for the holiday celebration, he found us a taxi and we had to head 35kms back to Cha Am to try to find somewhere to stay, costing us 400baht for the ride. The taxi driver was really helpful and took us from hotel to hotel in Cha Am which was booked out with the overflow of people that couldn't get accommodation in Hua Hin. By this time it was about 8.30pm and we managed to find one on Cha Am beach, 1000 baht for the night and it is a shithole. Its the worst place I have ever seen in all my travels over the years. The bed is a double that sinks in the middle and has a single bed blanket on it. The towels they supply are two threadbear beach towels that wouldn't dry a flea. The bathroom, if thats what you call it, well we won't go there. Thank god we carry our own toilet paper because theres none supplied. We have cable tv, 100 channels, 1 english speaking channel and the tv is hanging off the wall along with the powerpoint its connected to.
We did get one thing for our 1000 baht and that is free Wi Fi internet, Woo Hoo! Woopy Duck!
And the best thing is they told us if we stay an extra day or two they will only charge us 900 baht per night for the next two nights. How bloody kind of them, but I don't think so, considering the room is probably only worth 250 baht a night (for a dog).
We at least managed to find a decent cafe to grab some dinner, Rick had pizza and I had Fettucine and it wasn't at all bad. With all the stuffing around today it has cost us quite a considerable amount of wasted money. Several lessons have been learned. First buy your bus ticket direct from the bus station, don't use Travel agents, theres no need. Also check that your destination is not during any festival time or other holiday time and if so book ahead for accommodation. And thirdly, don't stay and pay in a shithole like this any longer than you have to.
Tomorrow we are heading back to Hua Hin to the bus station (cos theres not one here) to catch a bus out of here to somewhere south, where to exactly we haven't decided yet, we will have to do some searching on the net tonight. Maybe Chumphorn and then on to Ko Tao or Surat Thani and then on to Koh Samui. Wherever it will be, this time it will be on a 1st class air conditioned bus.
So hopefully the worst of it is over and this will be our last freakin wacked our day on our journey around Thailand. We are a bit wiser and less patient now and certainly not willing to put up with any more wankers. Tomorrow is another day and will be a brighter and better day for sure.
Until then!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Day 3 - Last Day in Beautiful Jomtien Beach
Friday - 16 May 08
Here I am again sitting on our balcony for our last night in Jomtien Beach watching the waves on the beach and the Thai people doing their thing on the streets writing this blog.
We have had a quiet and relaxing day, which is wearing us out! We were awake early again this morning and sat on our balcony watching the Thais set up all the umbrellas and deckchairs along the beach, these people must never sleep they are always busy working. We decided perhaps we needed to do a bit more exercise and should walk to the other end of Jomtien and have a look at what is there, the place seems to go on forever and so does the beach. We must have walked at least 3 kms along the beach footpath and I said to Rick I could spend a least another week here it is just so nice, but alas we can't we have to move on.
After our 3km walk we thought it must be brunch time as we (as always) were feeling a little hungry, we both agreed not to walk the 3km back so caught a songteaw instead. Life is just so simple! The afternoon we spent relaxing, Rick on the computer and me snoring my arse off having my usual afternoon Nanny Nap.
The Thai people must also celebrate TGIF (thank god its friday) early this evening the beachfront was a hive of activity with Thai families having their evening meal together, kids riding bikes and swimming and music playing it was really cool to watch. The whole family then piles into the ute (in the actual trayback) and off they go. its amusing to watch them as they carry whole families on motorbikes and in their utes and they just mozey along without a care in the world.
Well we are all packed and ready to head off tomorrow on the 10am bus to Bangers. We are still waiting for the travel agent in Pattaya to drop our bus tickets, which we have paid for, off at our hotel. So I guess we will have to catch a Songteaw into Pattaya City to his office and pick the bloody things up from him at his office and then catch another songteaw to North Pattaya to catch the bus. We figure by the time we get to Bangers and change buses to Hua Hin we should arrive there around 4pm. We haven't booked any accommodation as we seem to be doing alright finding reasonable and not too expensive hotels on our travels.
The rest of the night is lazing around the hotel room eating chocolate, drinking pepsi and watching the AFL footy. Elvis is in the building again tonight, playing and singing, so no doubt we will be hearing him as well .
What can I say but its been a great day in a great place. Until tomorrow! La Kon (Goodnight)
Here I am again sitting on our balcony for our last night in Jomtien Beach watching the waves on the beach and the Thai people doing their thing on the streets writing this blog.
We have had a quiet and relaxing day, which is wearing us out! We were awake early again this morning and sat on our balcony watching the Thais set up all the umbrellas and deckchairs along the beach, these people must never sleep they are always busy working. We decided perhaps we needed to do a bit more exercise and should walk to the other end of Jomtien and have a look at what is there, the place seems to go on forever and so does the beach. We must have walked at least 3 kms along the beach footpath and I said to Rick I could spend a least another week here it is just so nice, but alas we can't we have to move on.
After our 3km walk we thought it must be brunch time as we (as always) were feeling a little hungry, we both agreed not to walk the 3km back so caught a songteaw instead. Life is just so simple! The afternoon we spent relaxing, Rick on the computer and me snoring my arse off having my usual afternoon Nanny Nap.
The Thai people must also celebrate TGIF (thank god its friday) early this evening the beachfront was a hive of activity with Thai families having their evening meal together, kids riding bikes and swimming and music playing it was really cool to watch. The whole family then piles into the ute (in the actual trayback) and off they go. its amusing to watch them as they carry whole families on motorbikes and in their utes and they just mozey along without a care in the world.
Well we are all packed and ready to head off tomorrow on the 10am bus to Bangers. We are still waiting for the travel agent in Pattaya to drop our bus tickets, which we have paid for, off at our hotel. So I guess we will have to catch a Songteaw into Pattaya City to his office and pick the bloody things up from him at his office and then catch another songteaw to North Pattaya to catch the bus. We figure by the time we get to Bangers and change buses to Hua Hin we should arrive there around 4pm. We haven't booked any accommodation as we seem to be doing alright finding reasonable and not too expensive hotels on our travels.
The rest of the night is lazing around the hotel room eating chocolate, drinking pepsi and watching the AFL footy. Elvis is in the building again tonight, playing and singing, so no doubt we will be hearing him as well .
What can I say but its been a great day in a great place. Until tomorrow! La Kon (Goodnight)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Day 2 in Beautiful Jomtien Beach
Sawasdee Ka to you all!
Another day in paradise, what can I say! The better the place the shorter the days. We have one and a bit days to go until we leave here and head to Bangers to catch the bus to Hua Hin and its not going to be easy to leave.
Today was another R & R day of generally relaxing and veging. As usual we were awake at sparrow fart and sat on the balcony and watched the waves on the beach as we drank our coffee. I went back to bed and watched tele while Rick tended to his normal daily obsession of the stockmarket on the computer.
We eventually got ourselves organised and walked up the road and thought we would try another restaurant for Brunch since it was too late to be calling it breakfast. Everyday I say I just want toast and coffee and always end up with bacon and eggs. If this keeps up we will be forced to catch trucks everywhere not buses because the seats in the buses won't be wide enough for us.
We thought it best we take a long walk and try and keep our big bodies moving after breakfast and with taking our Malaria tablets we have to stay upright for at least on hour. Thats a big ask! We found a nice little roadside shop that had heaps of clothes really cheap so finally I bought my newest grandson his birthday present (1 yr old - 30 May) and then found the post office to post it to him, minus a birthday card since I still haven't found them yet, I couldn't wrap it either as birthday paper doesn't exist here either. Anyway it cost us shit loads more for the postage than the actual present. But he is worth it. With that out of the way we decided to walk back to the hotel along the beach, I did promise myself a swim today, even though Rick felt the authorities wouldn't allow whales on the beach but after having seen masses of box jellyfish in the water I thought he is probably right, better the whale stays out of the water.
My left knee has been giving me the poops today as it was the one I used to break my fall yesterday in my endeavour to make a complete dick of myself publicly. I have cleaned it with the antiseptic wipes but is looking quite red and is very sore, so I went to the pharmacy up the road and got some dettol anitseptic cream, if its no better by the time we get to Hua Hin I will visit a doctor just to be on the safe side. Can't do this trip with one leg!
Rick has decided to put off having his teeth done until we get back home. The last thing we need is for him to be whinging in pain with a sore mouth while we are travelling. These Antibiotics and painkillers the dentist gave him I am sure are called asshole pills because within half an hour of taking them he gets edgy and becomes the worlds biggest ASSHOLE! It only lasts a little while but its enough to piss me off. Thank god he only has 2 days left of taking them till he is finished and can change back from Dr Jekyl to the Rick I am used to.
Tonight we went back to this mornings restaurant for dinner and it was probably the second worst meal we have had so far on this trip. It was crap! Pad Thai that tasted like rubber and soup that looked and tasted like it was made with washing up water. No tip!
Once again I am sitting on the balcony of our room doing this blog and am being entertained by the music from the Elvis ( I didn't know Elvis was Thai) show downstairs in the outside restaurant. There is a nice breese blowing off the beach and the street below is alive with traffic and the occasional hoon car or motorbike with doof doof ringing out the latest Thai chartstopper, in Thai of course, and I think of how priviledged we are to be able to enjoy this and for being in such an amazing, friendy and beautiful country its just so diverse and culturally sound.
Anyway with that thought in mind I will say Kob ka (Good bye) Until tomorrows episode!
Another day in paradise, what can I say! The better the place the shorter the days. We have one and a bit days to go until we leave here and head to Bangers to catch the bus to Hua Hin and its not going to be easy to leave.
Today was another R & R day of generally relaxing and veging. As usual we were awake at sparrow fart and sat on the balcony and watched the waves on the beach as we drank our coffee. I went back to bed and watched tele while Rick tended to his normal daily obsession of the stockmarket on the computer.
We eventually got ourselves organised and walked up the road and thought we would try another restaurant for Brunch since it was too late to be calling it breakfast. Everyday I say I just want toast and coffee and always end up with bacon and eggs. If this keeps up we will be forced to catch trucks everywhere not buses because the seats in the buses won't be wide enough for us.
We thought it best we take a long walk and try and keep our big bodies moving after breakfast and with taking our Malaria tablets we have to stay upright for at least on hour. Thats a big ask! We found a nice little roadside shop that had heaps of clothes really cheap so finally I bought my newest grandson his birthday present (1 yr old - 30 May) and then found the post office to post it to him, minus a birthday card since I still haven't found them yet, I couldn't wrap it either as birthday paper doesn't exist here either. Anyway it cost us shit loads more for the postage than the actual present. But he is worth it. With that out of the way we decided to walk back to the hotel along the beach, I did promise myself a swim today, even though Rick felt the authorities wouldn't allow whales on the beach but after having seen masses of box jellyfish in the water I thought he is probably right, better the whale stays out of the water.
My left knee has been giving me the poops today as it was the one I used to break my fall yesterday in my endeavour to make a complete dick of myself publicly. I have cleaned it with the antiseptic wipes but is looking quite red and is very sore, so I went to the pharmacy up the road and got some dettol anitseptic cream, if its no better by the time we get to Hua Hin I will visit a doctor just to be on the safe side. Can't do this trip with one leg!
Rick has decided to put off having his teeth done until we get back home. The last thing we need is for him to be whinging in pain with a sore mouth while we are travelling. These Antibiotics and painkillers the dentist gave him I am sure are called asshole pills because within half an hour of taking them he gets edgy and becomes the worlds biggest ASSHOLE! It only lasts a little while but its enough to piss me off. Thank god he only has 2 days left of taking them till he is finished and can change back from Dr Jekyl to the Rick I am used to.
Tonight we went back to this mornings restaurant for dinner and it was probably the second worst meal we have had so far on this trip. It was crap! Pad Thai that tasted like rubber and soup that looked and tasted like it was made with washing up water. No tip!
Once again I am sitting on the balcony of our room doing this blog and am being entertained by the music from the Elvis ( I didn't know Elvis was Thai) show downstairs in the outside restaurant. There is a nice breese blowing off the beach and the street below is alive with traffic and the occasional hoon car or motorbike with doof doof ringing out the latest Thai chartstopper, in Thai of course, and I think of how priviledged we are to be able to enjoy this and for being in such an amazing, friendy and beautiful country its just so diverse and culturally sound.
Anyway with that thought in mind I will say Kob ka (Good bye) Until tomorrows episode!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Jomtien Beach - We are Here!
Wednesday - 14 May 08
Yo! We are finally away from Pattaya and 10 mins down the road in Jomtien Beach. It is so much more relaxing and quiet than Pattaya. We can now stroll the streets, the beach and market stalls in peace and not have to put up with any sleaze.
We were awake and packed early this morning we were just so eager to leave and get here. Our hotel room isn't quite as nice as the one in Pattaya but at least this one has a balcony and we are on the 4th floor overlooking Jomtien Beach and the ocean and have free Wi Fi internet, so I am sitting on our balcony typing out this blog looking over the beach and people watching. The hotel cost us twice as much (1100 baht) as the one in Pattaya but hey its the added extras and the bonus of the beach that makes it worth it.
We caught a Songteaw here to the hotel and checked in around 11.30 and unpacked some of our stuff and Rick had to do his sharemarket stuff on the computer so I had a bit of a quick Nanny snooze. We then decided to take a walk along the Esplanade and look for a cafe to have a quick bite and then grab our milk and supplies from the 7/11 store next door. When we were walking up to the cafe I was talking to Rick and not looking where I was going and fell off the gutter crossing the road and hit the deck and hard. All I could say was shit and all Rick could do was laugh, he is just such a helpful and caring man (not!) he says its payback for my laughing at him at the dentist when the dentist gave him the bad news about his teeth. He has been a bit of a shit since he has been on these antibiotics, thank god he only has to take them for 6 days. Anyway I cut my knees and elbow and besides saying a few choice words I am ok. As soon as we had lunch we headed back to the hotel and I had a shower and washed my wounds and got out the first aid travel pack and cleaned them with the antiseptic wipes. The streets here are pretty grose and dirty and I don't want any infections.
We bought some washing powder so I spent the arvo doing some washing by hand so now I have washing pegged on clothes hangers hanging all over the room, I would have hung them on the balcony but we had a wicked storm this arvo and it rained for an hour, I just hope they are dried by the time we leave Saturday.
After the rain finally cleared and I finished watching (old episode) of Home & Away on the Australia Channel we headed up to the restaurant to have dinner, gotta say its the best fried rice and chicken and cashews I have had in a long time. Good service and cheap food. its roughly costing us about $20 bucks a day for the two of us to have 3 good meals and guess what? We don't have to cook, wash up or do housework. Loving it! While we were waiting for our dinner this gorgeous little girl about 3-4 years old come to see if we would like to buy a single rose, she was selling in the restaurant, I told her she would have to talk to the boss (Rick) and she give me a kiss and then Rick one and told him 20 baht, very matter of fact, of course we couldn't say no, she was so funny and sweet and spoke only Thai.
Tomorrow I am going to join the rest of the whales on the beach and do a bit of sunbaking and maybe even a swim. Rick reckons they won't let me for fear I will cause a Tsunami (asshole), its just too nice not to and the weather is so humid during the day.
I wish we could stay here a bit longer it just so nice but we have booked and paid for our bus ticket to Bangers on Saturday. I would have to say that so far, here (Jomtien Beach) and Kanchanaburi (river kwai) are the best places we have visited and are to date our favourites. They are places you could visit time and time again and never get sick of.
Anyway better get on and finish my emails so his Lordship can have the computer. See Ya!
Yo! We are finally away from Pattaya and 10 mins down the road in Jomtien Beach. It is so much more relaxing and quiet than Pattaya. We can now stroll the streets, the beach and market stalls in peace and not have to put up with any sleaze.
We were awake and packed early this morning we were just so eager to leave and get here. Our hotel room isn't quite as nice as the one in Pattaya but at least this one has a balcony and we are on the 4th floor overlooking Jomtien Beach and the ocean and have free Wi Fi internet, so I am sitting on our balcony typing out this blog looking over the beach and people watching. The hotel cost us twice as much (1100 baht) as the one in Pattaya but hey its the added extras and the bonus of the beach that makes it worth it.
We caught a Songteaw here to the hotel and checked in around 11.30 and unpacked some of our stuff and Rick had to do his sharemarket stuff on the computer so I had a bit of a quick Nanny snooze. We then decided to take a walk along the Esplanade and look for a cafe to have a quick bite and then grab our milk and supplies from the 7/11 store next door. When we were walking up to the cafe I was talking to Rick and not looking where I was going and fell off the gutter crossing the road and hit the deck and hard. All I could say was shit and all Rick could do was laugh, he is just such a helpful and caring man (not!) he says its payback for my laughing at him at the dentist when the dentist gave him the bad news about his teeth. He has been a bit of a shit since he has been on these antibiotics, thank god he only has to take them for 6 days. Anyway I cut my knees and elbow and besides saying a few choice words I am ok. As soon as we had lunch we headed back to the hotel and I had a shower and washed my wounds and got out the first aid travel pack and cleaned them with the antiseptic wipes. The streets here are pretty grose and dirty and I don't want any infections.
We bought some washing powder so I spent the arvo doing some washing by hand so now I have washing pegged on clothes hangers hanging all over the room, I would have hung them on the balcony but we had a wicked storm this arvo and it rained for an hour, I just hope they are dried by the time we leave Saturday.
After the rain finally cleared and I finished watching (old episode) of Home & Away on the Australia Channel we headed up to the restaurant to have dinner, gotta say its the best fried rice and chicken and cashews I have had in a long time. Good service and cheap food. its roughly costing us about $20 bucks a day for the two of us to have 3 good meals and guess what? We don't have to cook, wash up or do housework. Loving it! While we were waiting for our dinner this gorgeous little girl about 3-4 years old come to see if we would like to buy a single rose, she was selling in the restaurant, I told her she would have to talk to the boss (Rick) and she give me a kiss and then Rick one and told him 20 baht, very matter of fact, of course we couldn't say no, she was so funny and sweet and spoke only Thai.
Tomorrow I am going to join the rest of the whales on the beach and do a bit of sunbaking and maybe even a swim. Rick reckons they won't let me for fear I will cause a Tsunami (asshole), its just too nice not to and the weather is so humid during the day.
I wish we could stay here a bit longer it just so nice but we have booked and paid for our bus ticket to Bangers on Saturday. I would have to say that so far, here (Jomtien Beach) and Kanchanaburi (river kwai) are the best places we have visited and are to date our favourites. They are places you could visit time and time again and never get sick of.
Anyway better get on and finish my emails so his Lordship can have the computer. See Ya!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Last full day in Pattaya! Thank Buddha!
Tuesday - 13 May 08
So today is our last day in Pattaya and Rick and I will be happy to head off tomorrow although we have slightly altered our intinerary by 3 days (again!).
Today we planned to catch a Songteaw to Jomtien Beach which is only 10 mins south of Pattaya which we did. Jomtien Beach was actually where we had originally planned to stay before we got side tracked and ended up staying in Pattaya after our long bus trip from Udon Thani.
When we got to Jomtien we wish we had have continued on to there as opposed to staying in Pattaya. Its beautiful there with a lovely beach and a lot quieter than Pattaya We walked the beach and the Esplanade and then went to the hotel I had as number 1 on my list to stay. They showed us the room and we thought, bugger it! why not spend 3 days here from tomorrow. So we booked the 3 days at the Jomtien Boathouse with a seaview room with a balcony that looks right out over the beach. It was more expensive than we have paid for any of our accommodation here in Thailand. 1100 Baht per night which is about $37 Aus, but the more you head south toward the beach and coastal areas the more costly the accommodation becomes.
But hey what you loose on the round-a-bout you make up on the swings and we saved heaps on our accommodation here in Pattaya.
When we finished exploring Jomtien we hailed a Songteaw to bring us back to our hotel in Pattaya. I showed the guy our hotel room key tag and asked him did he know where it is and he nodded yes. Well, he didn't, and we ended up being taken all over south, central and north Pattaya and I wanted to get to the travel agent to change our bus ticket to Bangkok from tomorrow to Saturday. Well after the driver had picked up a shit load of other passengers and dropped them off all over the place, we had no idea where we were and he had no bloody idea where we wanted to go. Thank god we agreed on the 100 baht fee before we got on. We must have used up that 100 Baht so he stopped the Songteaw in the middle of North Pattaya somewhere and asked us where the hotel was. We told him in South Pattaya and he got the shits and he started heading back to Pattaya City and he still didn't have a clue and he stopped to pick up another shit load of passengers and I thought bugger this he will still be driving us around the freakin place tomorrow, so I got off and so did Rick and when Rick leaned into the window to pay the driver he was so pissed off that he raised his voice to the driver and the driver yelled at him. We then hailed another Songteaw, he knew exactly where the hotel was and we were there in 5 minutes.
It was then we agreed thank god we are leaving tomorrow. 1 day in Pattaya is better for people like us. Anyway we changed our bus ticket to Bangkok from tomorrow to Saturday and from there we will be travelling on to Hua Hin.
The rest of the day we were so hot and bothered and pissed off over that driver that we thought it best we have a lazy arvo in our hotel and pack our backpacks and sort our stuff out ready to leave tomorrow.
To Ben, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON' for today, hope you had a good one and guess what I found a post office but no birthday card. Sorry!!!!
To Dan & Clear, its good to hear Chase is walking and now your in for it. There will be no stopping him. Good Luck!!!! Lol
So until tomorrow!!!!!!!!!
So today is our last day in Pattaya and Rick and I will be happy to head off tomorrow although we have slightly altered our intinerary by 3 days (again!).
Today we planned to catch a Songteaw to Jomtien Beach which is only 10 mins south of Pattaya which we did. Jomtien Beach was actually where we had originally planned to stay before we got side tracked and ended up staying in Pattaya after our long bus trip from Udon Thani.
When we got to Jomtien we wish we had have continued on to there as opposed to staying in Pattaya. Its beautiful there with a lovely beach and a lot quieter than Pattaya We walked the beach and the Esplanade and then went to the hotel I had as number 1 on my list to stay. They showed us the room and we thought, bugger it! why not spend 3 days here from tomorrow. So we booked the 3 days at the Jomtien Boathouse with a seaview room with a balcony that looks right out over the beach. It was more expensive than we have paid for any of our accommodation here in Thailand. 1100 Baht per night which is about $37 Aus, but the more you head south toward the beach and coastal areas the more costly the accommodation becomes.
But hey what you loose on the round-a-bout you make up on the swings and we saved heaps on our accommodation here in Pattaya.
When we finished exploring Jomtien we hailed a Songteaw to bring us back to our hotel in Pattaya. I showed the guy our hotel room key tag and asked him did he know where it is and he nodded yes. Well, he didn't, and we ended up being taken all over south, central and north Pattaya and I wanted to get to the travel agent to change our bus ticket to Bangkok from tomorrow to Saturday. Well after the driver had picked up a shit load of other passengers and dropped them off all over the place, we had no idea where we were and he had no bloody idea where we wanted to go. Thank god we agreed on the 100 baht fee before we got on. We must have used up that 100 Baht so he stopped the Songteaw in the middle of North Pattaya somewhere and asked us where the hotel was. We told him in South Pattaya and he got the shits and he started heading back to Pattaya City and he still didn't have a clue and he stopped to pick up another shit load of passengers and I thought bugger this he will still be driving us around the freakin place tomorrow, so I got off and so did Rick and when Rick leaned into the window to pay the driver he was so pissed off that he raised his voice to the driver and the driver yelled at him. We then hailed another Songteaw, he knew exactly where the hotel was and we were there in 5 minutes.
It was then we agreed thank god we are leaving tomorrow. 1 day in Pattaya is better for people like us. Anyway we changed our bus ticket to Bangkok from tomorrow to Saturday and from there we will be travelling on to Hua Hin.
The rest of the day we were so hot and bothered and pissed off over that driver that we thought it best we have a lazy arvo in our hotel and pack our backpacks and sort our stuff out ready to leave tomorrow.
To Ben, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON' for today, hope you had a good one and guess what I found a post office but no birthday card. Sorry!!!!
To Dan & Clear, its good to hear Chase is walking and now your in for it. There will be no stopping him. Good Luck!!!! Lol
So until tomorrow!!!!!!!!!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Day 3 in Pattaya
Monday - 12 May 08
So we are up to day 3 in Pattaya and we are over it! Its a great city (for younger folk) but not our scene. There really is not much for a couple of oldies like us. If you are younger and into nightclubs, partying, girlie bars and lady boys then it would be great, but there are only so many streets and markets you can explore and places you can eat at and after dark it is a really 'in your face' place and it can get really annoying.
We strolled the city for most of the morning, posted some postcards and went everywhere trying to find a post office that they don't have and still looking for those 'non-existant' birthday cards. Rick called into a dentist today and had his teeth checked out, the dentist here are very good and very cheap which is why I guess so many foreigners come here for dental work and cosmetic surgery. Anyway, Ricks teeth have been giving him problems for a while now and the dentist has put him on antibiotics because his gums are infected and get this! he needs 7 teeth pulled out and 5 fillings and a plate made to replace the teeth he will loose. Ha! Ha! maybe a few weeks of silence will be good. Lol. He has to take these antibiotics for 6 days before they can even touch his mouth and if they clear up the infection he can go to any dentist and have the work done. I would say when we get to Chiang Mai it will take place because we plan on being there for about a month if we get our visa extension.
We have booked our bus ticket to Bangkok (2 hours) and will be leaving here Wednesday. We will change buses in Bangkok and travel on to Hua Hin which is 3 hours south. A couple of days there and then over to the island of Koh Tao, which is where our friends Kez & Wes were married in January. We will probably be there at least 5 days then we head up North to Chiang Mai. So to anyone contemplating travelling Thailand save up your dental and cosmetic work and have it all done here. To anyone travelling to Thailand and don't wish to visit the sleezy cities and dirty ones, avoid Bangkok and Pattaya. There are much better and friendlier cities to vist in Thailand.
So other than that today was just a day of looking around, dental visits and just getting over the place. Tomorrow we hope to get a songteaw to Jomtien Beach (15 mins) which we have been told is much the same as Pattaya only nicer with a nicer beach so we will check it out.
So folks a really unexciting day. Stayed tuned for tomorrow hopefully something may have improved.
To my number 2 Son, Ben - HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow and I am still trying to find that Birthday Card and the post office, have a good day and make it count. To all our grandchildren, we miss you all and can't wait to see you all in July.
So we are up to day 3 in Pattaya and we are over it! Its a great city (for younger folk) but not our scene. There really is not much for a couple of oldies like us. If you are younger and into nightclubs, partying, girlie bars and lady boys then it would be great, but there are only so many streets and markets you can explore and places you can eat at and after dark it is a really 'in your face' place and it can get really annoying.
We strolled the city for most of the morning, posted some postcards and went everywhere trying to find a post office that they don't have and still looking for those 'non-existant' birthday cards. Rick called into a dentist today and had his teeth checked out, the dentist here are very good and very cheap which is why I guess so many foreigners come here for dental work and cosmetic surgery. Anyway, Ricks teeth have been giving him problems for a while now and the dentist has put him on antibiotics because his gums are infected and get this! he needs 7 teeth pulled out and 5 fillings and a plate made to replace the teeth he will loose. Ha! Ha! maybe a few weeks of silence will be good. Lol. He has to take these antibiotics for 6 days before they can even touch his mouth and if they clear up the infection he can go to any dentist and have the work done. I would say when we get to Chiang Mai it will take place because we plan on being there for about a month if we get our visa extension.
We have booked our bus ticket to Bangkok (2 hours) and will be leaving here Wednesday. We will change buses in Bangkok and travel on to Hua Hin which is 3 hours south. A couple of days there and then over to the island of Koh Tao, which is where our friends Kez & Wes were married in January. We will probably be there at least 5 days then we head up North to Chiang Mai. So to anyone contemplating travelling Thailand save up your dental and cosmetic work and have it all done here. To anyone travelling to Thailand and don't wish to visit the sleezy cities and dirty ones, avoid Bangkok and Pattaya. There are much better and friendlier cities to vist in Thailand.
So other than that today was just a day of looking around, dental visits and just getting over the place. Tomorrow we hope to get a songteaw to Jomtien Beach (15 mins) which we have been told is much the same as Pattaya only nicer with a nicer beach so we will check it out.
So folks a really unexciting day. Stayed tuned for tomorrow hopefully something may have improved.
To my number 2 Son, Ben - HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow and I am still trying to find that Birthday Card and the post office, have a good day and make it count. To all our grandchildren, we miss you all and can't wait to see you all in July.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Day 2 in Pattaya!
Sunday - 11 May 08
Hi there everyone! What a place - PATTAYA! I must say it is a bit of a shocker and as previously told to us by a guy in Udon Thani you need to have an open mind with this place and he was right. It is quite a nice place and I have to say our hotel is great for 500Baht ($17 Aus) per night we are lucky. Besides the fact that we the room gets serviced daily, clean linen and towels and the place is immaculately clean, it also has a clean pool, outdoor entertainment area with pool tables and the rooms are all air conditioned with 65 channel cable TV, and we thought for that price it was probably a brothel. Ha! Ha! Its called the Chanthong Place Hotel
The only thing with the room is, no tea & coffee making facilities, however you can buy a cup of coffee at the reception desk for 30Baht. Woopy Doo! I have to have my coffee as soon as I wake up and I don't think I am going to go down to reception in my nightie to get a coffee. We did the next best thing, we went to the department store and bought ourselves a tiny little kettle that can easily be packed in our backpack, stopped at a market stall and bought 2 stainless steel camping mugs, we had already bought a huge tin of Nescafe from home and I already had a plastic spoon, so now we are set to make our own coffee in any hotel we stay in that doesn't have those facilities. I won't pay 30 Baht for a cup of coffee that taste like shit and is so strong you can stand your spoon in. We did the same with toilet paper, if you go to a public toilet here they don't have bum wrap, they have a slot machine you put coins in turn the knob and out comes a little box with 10 sqares of toilet paper. So we now carry a packet of tissues with us.
Today we spent most of the day exploring the beachfront shopping area of Pattaya. We found a great little restaurant to have breakfast, for 2 x bacon, eggs, toast and coffee - 88 Baht (3.50 Aus) so we will be going there again, probably tomorrow knowing us. We walked further down the street and found McDonalds the first we have seen one on these travels in Thailand since we have been here and we just had to stop there and have a Latte. We then found KFC & Sizzler all in the one shopping centre, how cool. We strolled one shopping centre after another as I am trying to find english birthday cards but they musn't celebrate birthdays here cos I can't find any sort of cards only postcards. We had quite a heavy downpoor and it cools the place down a bit for a while at least and then its gets twice as humid. The humidity isn't bothering us a great deal because as soon as it gets too much we go back to our hotel and hang out in the air conditioning and then early evening when the breeze comes in and it cools down again we head back out again.
Pattaya is a lively place and mostly at night time. It is full of girlie bars, Lady boys, nightclubs and bars, not our scene so we make sure we have dinner around 7pm and head back to our hotel to get away from it all. There are a couple of US war ships and subs in so there are heaps of blokes in town to keep the young ladies in the bars occupied and employed. Nothing opens here (other than local fruit and veg market) until 11 am and most shops and restaurants are open until at least 10-11pm at night. As for those bars and nightclubs they are probably opened until late morning. There are some tourists here and oldies like us, but there doesn't seem to be as many as I thought, maybe they too only come out at night. Who Knows!
Rick and I stopped at the Beer Garden pub that is built out over the beach, we were so hot and thirsty thought we would have a nice cold coke before continuing our exploring, they probably thought who are these two old deadshits coming in for just a coke, this is a bar and you are meant to drink alcohol, stiff!! I reckon if I hadn't been with Rick he could have been quite a lucky boy, if you know what I mean! Lol.
We bought a Wi Fi internet card 100Baht (about $4 bucks Aus) for 2 hours internet time. There seems to be problem picking up the signal in our room so we take our laptop down to the pool area or reception area to use it, its a bloody pain because the mozzies are so bad they just about pick you up and carry you away, thank god for our Malaria tablets.
Tonight was dinner at a German restaurant not far from our hotel, Snitzel, chips and salad, we are having a break from Thai food for a couple of days or until we can find a good Thai restaurant where the food is fresh and can understand english.
Anyway Rick is itching to go get some food so will sign off!!!!!! Lets see what tomorrow brings!!
Hi there everyone! What a place - PATTAYA! I must say it is a bit of a shocker and as previously told to us by a guy in Udon Thani you need to have an open mind with this place and he was right. It is quite a nice place and I have to say our hotel is great for 500Baht ($17 Aus) per night we are lucky. Besides the fact that we the room gets serviced daily, clean linen and towels and the place is immaculately clean, it also has a clean pool, outdoor entertainment area with pool tables and the rooms are all air conditioned with 65 channel cable TV, and we thought for that price it was probably a brothel. Ha! Ha! Its called the Chanthong Place Hotel
The only thing with the room is, no tea & coffee making facilities, however you can buy a cup of coffee at the reception desk for 30Baht. Woopy Doo! I have to have my coffee as soon as I wake up and I don't think I am going to go down to reception in my nightie to get a coffee. We did the next best thing, we went to the department store and bought ourselves a tiny little kettle that can easily be packed in our backpack, stopped at a market stall and bought 2 stainless steel camping mugs, we had already bought a huge tin of Nescafe from home and I already had a plastic spoon, so now we are set to make our own coffee in any hotel we stay in that doesn't have those facilities. I won't pay 30 Baht for a cup of coffee that taste like shit and is so strong you can stand your spoon in. We did the same with toilet paper, if you go to a public toilet here they don't have bum wrap, they have a slot machine you put coins in turn the knob and out comes a little box with 10 sqares of toilet paper. So we now carry a packet of tissues with us.
Today we spent most of the day exploring the beachfront shopping area of Pattaya. We found a great little restaurant to have breakfast, for 2 x bacon, eggs, toast and coffee - 88 Baht (3.50 Aus) so we will be going there again, probably tomorrow knowing us. We walked further down the street and found McDonalds the first we have seen one on these travels in Thailand since we have been here and we just had to stop there and have a Latte. We then found KFC & Sizzler all in the one shopping centre, how cool. We strolled one shopping centre after another as I am trying to find english birthday cards but they musn't celebrate birthdays here cos I can't find any sort of cards only postcards. We had quite a heavy downpoor and it cools the place down a bit for a while at least and then its gets twice as humid. The humidity isn't bothering us a great deal because as soon as it gets too much we go back to our hotel and hang out in the air conditioning and then early evening when the breeze comes in and it cools down again we head back out again.
Pattaya is a lively place and mostly at night time. It is full of girlie bars, Lady boys, nightclubs and bars, not our scene so we make sure we have dinner around 7pm and head back to our hotel to get away from it all. There are a couple of US war ships and subs in so there are heaps of blokes in town to keep the young ladies in the bars occupied and employed. Nothing opens here (other than local fruit and veg market) until 11 am and most shops and restaurants are open until at least 10-11pm at night. As for those bars and nightclubs they are probably opened until late morning. There are some tourists here and oldies like us, but there doesn't seem to be as many as I thought, maybe they too only come out at night. Who Knows!
Rick and I stopped at the Beer Garden pub that is built out over the beach, we were so hot and thirsty thought we would have a nice cold coke before continuing our exploring, they probably thought who are these two old deadshits coming in for just a coke, this is a bar and you are meant to drink alcohol, stiff!! I reckon if I hadn't been with Rick he could have been quite a lucky boy, if you know what I mean! Lol.
We bought a Wi Fi internet card 100Baht (about $4 bucks Aus) for 2 hours internet time. There seems to be problem picking up the signal in our room so we take our laptop down to the pool area or reception area to use it, its a bloody pain because the mozzies are so bad they just about pick you up and carry you away, thank god for our Malaria tablets.
Tonight was dinner at a German restaurant not far from our hotel, Snitzel, chips and salad, we are having a break from Thai food for a couple of days or until we can find a good Thai restaurant where the food is fresh and can understand english.
Anyway Rick is itching to go get some food so will sign off!!!!!! Lets see what tomorrow brings!!
Leaving Udon Thani for Pattaya
Saturday - 10 May 08
So what kind of day have we had today you all ask? A bloody long one!!!
We were up and organised early as we knew we had to be at the Central bus station at 8am for our long bus trip to Pattaya. Thought we would do what all good travellers do and have a good hearty breakfast before we left as god knows what would be available on the way. The only thing we didn't plan on was the hotel restaurant be off the ball and taking forever to do our breakfast which we didn't finish until 7.50am. We hurriedly grabbed our backpacks and all the other bits and pieces and headed out onto the street to catch a Tuk Tuk and for a street that is normally lined with the bloody things waiting to pick up a fair, NOT BLOODY ONE to be seen. We decided we had better start walking until we could find one to take us to the bus station and finally after walking half way there one showed up. Thank Buddha!!!!
We loaded our gear and selves onto the double decker first class air con bus 'with toilet' and we were on our way to Pattaya at 8.30am. What a long ride, 11 and a half hours with 2 x 20 min stops in the whole 11 1/2 hours. Unfortunately a young child dirtied his nappy not long after the trip started and the mother had nowhere to dispose of the dirty nappy so the bus stank of shit for the next 6 hours and I was feeling a bit green. Man it was off!
Well it was just the longest trip, even the train to Nong Khai wasn't as bad. We arrived in Pattaya at around 8pm with no accommodation booked and lucky for us a guy just happened to be sitting at the steps to the overhead pass of the main highway where the bus dropped us off, he just happened to have a car he used as a taxi and he just happened to know a good hotel that rooms are only 500Baht a night and he would take us there for 200Baht. Rick and I are thinking, yeh right a hotel room in Pattaya for 500Baht a night, must be a brothel, but by this time we are so tired, hot, hungry and sweaty we would have slept in a dog kennel ,so we agreed to let him take us there.
Well what can I say but Buddha is really looking after us. The hotel is great and its the best and cheapest accommodation we have had since arriving in Thailand. The room was spotlessly clean, no mould in the bathroom, lovely and modern, the best bed and pillows, a swimming pool, internet and its away from the hustle and bustle of the bars and nightclubs and only 10 min walk from Pattaya Beach. For 500Baht ($17 Aus) per night we've decided to stay 5-7 nights.
We quickly walked the nearby streets for something to eat and managed to find a small restaurant that couldn't speak english but managed to understand and cook us some chicken fried rice. It was yummy. We scoffed that down in no time and straight back to our hotel, had a lovely warm shower to wash the sweat off and to bed.
What a day! Did I say this backpacking caper was getting easy? I am beginning to wonder. Lol.
Tomorrow we go exploring. Looking forward to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So Until then. BYE!!!!!!
So what kind of day have we had today you all ask? A bloody long one!!!
We were up and organised early as we knew we had to be at the Central bus station at 8am for our long bus trip to Pattaya. Thought we would do what all good travellers do and have a good hearty breakfast before we left as god knows what would be available on the way. The only thing we didn't plan on was the hotel restaurant be off the ball and taking forever to do our breakfast which we didn't finish until 7.50am. We hurriedly grabbed our backpacks and all the other bits and pieces and headed out onto the street to catch a Tuk Tuk and for a street that is normally lined with the bloody things waiting to pick up a fair, NOT BLOODY ONE to be seen. We decided we had better start walking until we could find one to take us to the bus station and finally after walking half way there one showed up. Thank Buddha!!!!
We loaded our gear and selves onto the double decker first class air con bus 'with toilet' and we were on our way to Pattaya at 8.30am. What a long ride, 11 and a half hours with 2 x 20 min stops in the whole 11 1/2 hours. Unfortunately a young child dirtied his nappy not long after the trip started and the mother had nowhere to dispose of the dirty nappy so the bus stank of shit for the next 6 hours and I was feeling a bit green. Man it was off!
Well it was just the longest trip, even the train to Nong Khai wasn't as bad. We arrived in Pattaya at around 8pm with no accommodation booked and lucky for us a guy just happened to be sitting at the steps to the overhead pass of the main highway where the bus dropped us off, he just happened to have a car he used as a taxi and he just happened to know a good hotel that rooms are only 500Baht a night and he would take us there for 200Baht. Rick and I are thinking, yeh right a hotel room in Pattaya for 500Baht a night, must be a brothel, but by this time we are so tired, hot, hungry and sweaty we would have slept in a dog kennel ,so we agreed to let him take us there.
Well what can I say but Buddha is really looking after us. The hotel is great and its the best and cheapest accommodation we have had since arriving in Thailand. The room was spotlessly clean, no mould in the bathroom, lovely and modern, the best bed and pillows, a swimming pool, internet and its away from the hustle and bustle of the bars and nightclubs and only 10 min walk from Pattaya Beach. For 500Baht ($17 Aus) per night we've decided to stay 5-7 nights.
We quickly walked the nearby streets for something to eat and managed to find a small restaurant that couldn't speak english but managed to understand and cook us some chicken fried rice. It was yummy. We scoffed that down in no time and straight back to our hotel, had a lovely warm shower to wash the sweat off and to bed.
What a day! Did I say this backpacking caper was getting easy? I am beginning to wonder. Lol.
Tomorrow we go exploring. Looking forward to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So Until then. BYE!!!!!!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Last day in Udon Thani
Friday - 9 May 08
Hello to one and all. Today is our last day in Udon Thani and we have had a good, relaxing day. We were awake early (6am) and decided to take a walk to the 7 eleven to get some decent milk and some sugar cubes for our coffee (we bought our own big tin of Nescafe from oz) and besides the hotel charges you for the tea and coffee sachets you use and they are pretty stingy on sugar.
We stopped by reception and told them we will stay another day (today, as we pay daily rather than pay for days ahead in case we don't like it) our room had been booked for a new guest coming in so we had to room move but sat around all morning waiting for the people in our new room to check out so the cleaner could clean and we could move our stuff. We ended up with a huge room that you can fit 20 Thai families in and still have room to swing a cat.
The weather was probably the most humid day we have had since arriving in Thailand with lots of low storm clouds so we weren't in favour of going out walking too far today, so we hung around the hotel for most of the arvo catching up with emails and relaxing. Later this arvo we went for a walk to the Central bus terminal not far away to buy our tickets for the bus to Pattaya tomorrow. The bus leaves at 8.30am and its about a 12 and half hour trip so we probably won't arrive until 9pm tomorrow night, a long trip, so we are travelling first class, air con with a toilet, how lucky are we? The second class bus leaves at 4pm tomorrow arvo, no air con, no toilet I'd hate to be the people travelling on that bus. Lucky for us the bus is a direct trip to Pattaya which means we won't have to change buses in Bangkok like we had planned, so we get to avoid Bangkok which makes us happy. We met an older English guy(our age) at the bus station and he was giving us the info on the bus trip and about Pattaya, says its full of girlie bars and westerners and to go with an open mind because it can shock and educate. He was quite friendly and explained to him we don't drink so won't be hanging around any of those places or that area of Pattaya.
We haven't booked any accommodation as the accommodation in Pattaya and Jomtien Beach is quite expensive so we will have to look around for a decent place for a reasonable price when we get there. We only want to stay 2-3 days max and then head off to Hua Hin and then on to Koh Tao. We are itching to get up to Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Pai in Northern Thailand and spending a few weeks there.
Tonight we were going to do the rest of the markets and go to Sizzler for dinner, but its still so humid and there is lightening around and we have to be up early to be at the bus station at 8am, so we had dinner in the restaurant here, steak chips and veges, and back to our room to sort out backpacks and what have you so we are ready to move on tomorrow.
Its Friday and it must be the big night in Udon Thani. The streets are buzzing with traffic, people and music, around 6pm this place comes to life every night but more so tonight it seems to be more alive, I guess like anywhere else it because its the end of the week and people like to get out and about. It still spins me out seeing whole families all travelling on the one motorbike and they are just so casual about it.
Anyway best get going and finish sorting these backpacks out. Until next time!!!!!!
Hello to one and all. Today is our last day in Udon Thani and we have had a good, relaxing day. We were awake early (6am) and decided to take a walk to the 7 eleven to get some decent milk and some sugar cubes for our coffee (we bought our own big tin of Nescafe from oz) and besides the hotel charges you for the tea and coffee sachets you use and they are pretty stingy on sugar.
We stopped by reception and told them we will stay another day (today, as we pay daily rather than pay for days ahead in case we don't like it) our room had been booked for a new guest coming in so we had to room move but sat around all morning waiting for the people in our new room to check out so the cleaner could clean and we could move our stuff. We ended up with a huge room that you can fit 20 Thai families in and still have room to swing a cat.
The weather was probably the most humid day we have had since arriving in Thailand with lots of low storm clouds so we weren't in favour of going out walking too far today, so we hung around the hotel for most of the arvo catching up with emails and relaxing. Later this arvo we went for a walk to the Central bus terminal not far away to buy our tickets for the bus to Pattaya tomorrow. The bus leaves at 8.30am and its about a 12 and half hour trip so we probably won't arrive until 9pm tomorrow night, a long trip, so we are travelling first class, air con with a toilet, how lucky are we? The second class bus leaves at 4pm tomorrow arvo, no air con, no toilet I'd hate to be the people travelling on that bus. Lucky for us the bus is a direct trip to Pattaya which means we won't have to change buses in Bangkok like we had planned, so we get to avoid Bangkok which makes us happy. We met an older English guy(our age) at the bus station and he was giving us the info on the bus trip and about Pattaya, says its full of girlie bars and westerners and to go with an open mind because it can shock and educate. He was quite friendly and explained to him we don't drink so won't be hanging around any of those places or that area of Pattaya.
We haven't booked any accommodation as the accommodation in Pattaya and Jomtien Beach is quite expensive so we will have to look around for a decent place for a reasonable price when we get there. We only want to stay 2-3 days max and then head off to Hua Hin and then on to Koh Tao. We are itching to get up to Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Pai in Northern Thailand and spending a few weeks there.
Tonight we were going to do the rest of the markets and go to Sizzler for dinner, but its still so humid and there is lightening around and we have to be up early to be at the bus station at 8am, so we had dinner in the restaurant here, steak chips and veges, and back to our room to sort out backpacks and what have you so we are ready to move on tomorrow.
Its Friday and it must be the big night in Udon Thani. The streets are buzzing with traffic, people and music, around 6pm this place comes to life every night but more so tonight it seems to be more alive, I guess like anywhere else it because its the end of the week and people like to get out and about. It still spins me out seeing whole families all travelling on the one motorbike and they are just so casual about it.
Anyway best get going and finish sorting these backpacks out. Until next time!!!!!!
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