Blogs from Southern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 5

Monday 6th Feb Woke early, lots of barking dogs last night, competing with the night-song of the forest birds which disturbed our sleep. Breakfasted and out by 10.15am, the plan for today is to visit our nearest National Park, Sam Roi, which contains the Phraya Nakhon cave,housing the famous temple dedicated to King Rhama V. The trip revisited our earlier route with stunning Coastal and Mountain views, and flatlands, fen-style, freshwater lakes, fish farms and plentiful coconut trees plus pineapple groves. We arrive easily, along quiet roads. Paula is enjoying driving, so Leo enjoys the scenery. Half an hour of easy driving brings us to the Park. Bought our tickets at 200baht pp, (£4.50) plus 20baht to park (45p), Paula as usual having researched the area advises purchasing the round trip, long tail boat rather than ... read more

Friday 3rd February Woke early today to find the weather breezy and overcast, but still very warm, over 30deg c. Maybe not a bad thing as Leo coloured quite too much yesterday and could do with a day for skin to calm down. We enjoy very leisurely breakfast on our terrace, doing what we usually do back at home. A run-through of the national press, a debate on the state of the world, and how we'd fix all ills etc, feeling very settled and 'at home' which is how we intended our impromptu trip to be. We eventually saddled up and cycled towards the main town of Pak Nam Pran, hoping to find a branch of Bangkok Bank as we need to withdraw 18,000baht for our 23 day car hire. (£410). There are numerous ATM machines ... read more

Wednesday 2nd February Pran Buri, Thailand Slept very well after our journey, fully waking at 8.30am local time, which was good timing. Paula gave Leo a bit of a scare after they realised Paula's nocturnal trip to the bathroom nearly ended in disaster as she tried to walk through the patio door instead of the bathroom. There is a 30foot drop and only a low iron balcony, about knee height. Fortunately some internal warning system must have kicked in, sending her padding across the room to the right place! Breakfast on our terrace, bananas, Oreo cookies and tea, best start to the day- lots of energy for our planned bicycle trip to Khao Kalok beach for some sun sea and exploration. This name in Thai translates to Skull Mountain and contains an interesting cave with a ... read more

So I'm about 10 days into travelling through South East Asia, apologies for this being my first blog entry, I've been busy haha. So far I have spent several days around Bangkok, taking in the strange sights and smells =. Myself and Alex have now journeyed south to Kohn Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, where we have spent 6 days completing our Advanced Diving Course, so technically we are now meant to be proficient divers, not so sure about that but oh well. Saw some amazing things underwater, got 'narced' at 30m which is a strange drunk feeling that can happen at these depths, quite funny though =. We are now trying to figure out where to go and what to do next. Hopefully I will update you all sooner next time!!! ... read more

Friday 26 February We read that shopping is good at Patong beach, popular western resort of Phuket. We decide to flag a Tuk Tuk for 400 Baht, (£8), takes thirty minutes, over Challenging Phuket Hilll, very pleasant ride,which we thoroughly enjoy. On arrival, not nearly as much shopping potential as we thought and the beach, although long, was nothing compared with the Islands, so, shopped out after an hour we decide to return to Phuket Town, again agree upon Tuk Tuk as best option. Big mistake! We have to tell Boss man where and how much , He wants 100 more, we say no way so, after three drivers decline our fare, he procures the last Tuk Tuk driver in the lane, who again tries to ask more - Leo said no way, so he then ... read more