The last stop on our Phuket tour was the Marriott Resort and Spa. It's located north of the airport, and was our fanciest stop (save the best for last and all that jazz). While the brunch was by far the best buffet/brunch experience we've ever had, we all agreed that our first hotel, the Indigo Pearl, had a lot of pluses to make it the top stop of the three. The Marriott is massive and has beautiful grounds and the best beach of the three hotels. The sand was smooth and the beach was free of the washed up garbage that [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone Well we are hiding from the sun at the moment - it is incrediably hot. This morning we went out to Shark Point which is about 100 metres out from our room on the beach at 7.30am. The different corals and fish were like nothing we have ever seen before. We saw only one shark but millions of other fish of every colour and size including Puffer fish and these weird very long thin fish. They were right up in our faces and several times we found ourselves in the middle of huge schools of electric coloured fish which [View Full Entry]

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Khao Lak is one of the towns that was hit really hard by the tsunami on Dec 26, 2004. Over 8,000 people died in Thailand - including a lot of tourists. This morning (Saturday) Brad is off on a diving trip for the day. I checked out the Tsunami Museum which was very interesting. The before and after photos were amazing. It's really sad to see such devastation. The town seems to be bouncing back quite well and tourism is on the rise again. In fact, I don't think I've ever met so many people from Germany and Austria! Even the [View Full Entry]

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Oooh the funniest thing happened! Our last evening in Chiang Mai we decided to go for one last foot massage. We went back to the same place where we'd had our full body oil massages because they were really good to us and seemed legit. We sat down on our chairs and got comfy but then.... A man in high heels that worked there was Brad's masseuse. The foot massage was apparently fine but it was obvious this guy had a big crush on Brad. He kept making comments (and though we couldn't understand him, we could catch the gist of [View Full Entry]

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James Bond Island, known originally and locally as Ko Tapu or Nail Island, found fame through the 1974 Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun". The film starred Roger Moore and Christopher Lee (as the three nippled arch-villain Scaramanga) but it was the scenic topography that helped make the film into a firm Bond favourite. It also turned the previously unknown Phang Nga Bay into a major tourist attraction. The island as a tourist attraction Everyday tour buses packed with thousands of tourists leave Phuket for the daylong sightseeing trip driving two hours to Phang Nga Bay, [View Full Entry]

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The minibus was due to pick us all up at 8am, unfortunately l had set my alarm for 7am and the next thing l remember was Tish telling me that l had 5 minutes to be ready as the Minibus would be here any minute. The Surin-to-Phang Nga trip is only 90 minutes, the drive is a scenic, all-natural stimulant; you’re guaranteed to be wide awake on arrival. And what an arrival it is. The sea a distant memory, the minibus turns off the cliff-lined highway and makes its way down the narrow road, winding around green hills, over rivers, and [View Full Entry]

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hon.ey.moon ·ˈhənēˌmoōn· noun a vacation spent together by a newly married couple the first month after marriage Life as always gets in the way of the best laid plans :) But we finally did it - quietly, privately - ish - and 3 and a bit months later - as plans got shafted by life again :) - actually got round to the equally-important business of getting away on honeymoon. The complicated compromise of where to go! begins here - on Bangsak Beach, Takuapa, Phang Nga Province, Thailand. Everyone - ok - fore [View Full Entry]

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Only two days left, and we are wondering why we didn't arrange to stay longer. Our list of "must sees" now turns into "hope we have time". I am anxious because I haven't even experienced all of the resort, we have only eaten at two of the twelve restaurants, and I still can't get around without the map! We squeezed in our last activities: intro to Thai language, dancing, and origami, which I flunked, but excelled in Yogilates, Ab torture & stretch, and finished well on a wonderful sunset bicycle ride. We bought a last bunch of bananas for Yum Yum, [View Full Entry]

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Our story continues from the previous blog. Ming told us only that we were going to a river that runs back and forth into the sea, so we were not prepared for an everglade so gorgeous that tears sprang to our eyes in wonder. My heart ached just looking at it, being actually IN it, like some kind of artist's animation or even a wide-awake-blue-ray-dream. The color of the water glowed; supernaturally verdant and luminous, so alive, so radiantly ALIVE. The twisted and gnarly mangrove trees had roots growing up out of the water around their own trunks and then down [View Full Entry]

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We got curious about the jungle next door and who might live there. We had a "day off" today, so we walked south along the beach a few minutes and met Bob, a retired time share salesman who was building a "5 star campground". So far, Bob has spent 3 days hauling a driftwood log onto the beach and has succeeded in making a nice bench. He has also outlined a campsite in driftwood. When we met him, he was pounding a hook into a tree to hold a hammock, but seemed so happy for some company. I think I knew [View Full Entry]

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