Blogs from Ao Phang-Nga Marine NP, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Well its been a long absence since my last blog and it’s been a great start to 2015. After seeing Naomi and Alex off on their long trip to Hobart on the 27th I had two days to myself and pottered around doing boat maintenance and cleaning. For a long time the bilge has been collecting water and it finally gave me a chance to dry it all out and find the source which it turned out was from our salt water galley foot pump. Fortunately we had a spare, it was configured the opposite way around but with some new hose I managed to squeeze her in and enjoy a dry bilge for a while. On the morning of the 29th my friend Maggie was arriving from the Netherlands and we had been exchanging emails ... read more

We booked a day trip with "On Sea Speedboats" for snorkeling and kayaking at the Ang Thong marine park northeast of Samui. They were very good...prompt pickup in fancy plush van at o'darkhundred (OK, 7 am, but we're on holidays here!)'. Our hotel made up these huge 'boxed breakfasts' since the buffet hadnt opened yet for us to take. Too much food for anyone but a linebacker, but we don't like to waste, so took it along on the boat (hint: pretty paper mache bags vs salt water.....decision to ocean!) There was pre-seasickness food for us at the dock, tea and toast and a big bowl of individually wrapped Gravol tablets. Sean, mariner that he isn't, took this as a very bad sign, and sat looking queasily out to sea as we waited to board. The ... read more

Sunday 23rd January 2011 After a lazy morning at Phi Phi Hill we boarded our ferry to Phuket, but we decided not to stay there. We hopped on a bus to Phang Nga where we booked a tour of the National Park and James Bond Island the following day. Monday 24th January 2011 Our tour took us to Phang Nga National park where we drifted through Mangroves on the slowest boat ever. We seemed to be overtaken at every turn, which worried us slightly as we wondered how we would fit everything in when we were travelling at half the speed of all the other tours. After travelling past many ‘sights’ that our guide pointed at and announced their names, we went kayaking (well, we sat in a kayak while a local tour guide did all ... read more

In der Bucht von Phang Nga gab es zur Abwechslung ;-) mal viele Karstfelsen zu sehen. Die Bootsfahrt ging zunaechst durch einen Fluss an Mangrovenwaeldern vorbei, hinter denen immer wieder hohe, von tropischen Baeumen bewachsene Felsentuerme und -Mauern hervor ragten. Einige bildeten Durchgaenge und kleine Hoehlen, unter denen man hindurch fahren konnte. Nach einer Weile wurde der Fluss breiter und die Mangroven verschwanden allmaehlich und ohne, dass wir es richtig bemerkt hatten, waren wir auf dem Meer in der eigentlichen Bucht. Den Hoehepunkt der Fahrt bildete der Besuch der sogenannten James-Bond-Insel, wo der beruehmte Felsen aus dem Film "Der Mann mit dem goldenen Colt." steht. Ohne diesen Felsen wuerden vermutlich deutlich weniger Touristen kommen. Auch, wenn die Phang-Nga-Bucht beeindruckend ist, kann sie mit der Halong-Bucht in Vietnam definitiv nicht mithalten.... read more

Ellie hadn't slept well as she'd been ill with fever most of the night. We got ready and checked out by 11am, then walked up to Mr Keans tourist information centre to book our coach trip to Bangkok this evening. Along the way, we both said how many people had warned us we'd get homesick, and yet surprisingly neither of us have... not once! We may have needed the odd hug from our Mam's, and I've really missed not having Ant around, but I haven't missed England at all. Mr Kean turned in to Mr Mean and wouldn't sell us a coach ticket. He said he "didn't like us" because he'd seen us use another tour company for our James Bond Island trip yesterday. At first I thought he was joking and laughed along with him, ... read more