Page 17 of ClairesTravel Travel Blog Posts


Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Phuket January 10th 2013

Hello from Phuket. As you saw yesteday, we arrived in Phuket and into our great hotel. we went into town last night. wow, Phuket is a party town - lots of people very few Thai people, just a lot of tourists. I guess it's like a Myrtle Beach of Thailand. Shelly and I both agree, we like the smaller Thai villages better. Today we decided to chill. It felt great. I woke up about 7am and laid on my little glass enclosed sundeck and read for a couple hours, then we went to the great hotel breakfast. Then it was an afternoon by the pool, into town for another massage for $6, boy, I'm going to miss these Thai massages when I get home and then a dinner. We came back to the hotel for an ... read more

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Mae Hong Son January 9th 2013

We arrived in Pai after leaving the quick mountain biking from the day. We showered, then went into town for a massage, drinks and dinner. We also did a bit of shoping. Pai is small but has an active downtown. We had to walk into town but got a tuk tuk to get us back to the hotel. The next morning we were met at the hotel to start our rafting. We rafted the Pai river for 2 days. Unfortunately the water level was very low so there wasn't a lot of big rapids. we still had a good time, especially Shelly. The food was interesting - we tried some new fruits and lunch was a rice dish wrapped in a bananna leave. After about 5.5 hours of rafting we arrived at camp. ok, Thai people ... read more
rags - bathroom
riches - sitting area
riches- view

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Dao January 6th 2013

our third day of the multi-sport was all biking. we left around 9 for a 30 minute drive to Chiang Dou. Once in Chiang Dou we jumped on our bikes - oh sore butt still and started off. Again beautiful scenery. We biked to a hot spring, a small village where Shelly was caught with a banana cigar and then to the Chiang Dou caves. Chiang Dou mountain is the 3rd tallest mountain in Thialand. we toured the cave and had 3 really tight areas to go thru and had to be lead thru part of it with a local guide and an lantern. After the cave we ate another local lunch and then biked more to our rustic lodge. We did stop for some fried bananas - Shelly and I have to figure out how ... read more
hot springs
shelly in tight spot in cave
more mountains

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Mae Ai January 4th 2013

yesterday we truly started our multi-sport portion of the trip. The driver met us at 8:30. We left one of our suitcases (each) at the hotel as we will be coming back to Chiang Mai and staying at the same place next week. The van took us about 30 minutes out of Chiang Mai and then we got on our bikes. It's a mountain bike. We drove thru the country side stopping in little villages, along the road and at a buffalo/rice farm. The scenery was grand. I'm amazed at the nicer houses I saw. I was expecting the rural areas to be much poorer - ie I thought I would be reminded of Vietnam and what we used to see on tv. we did see a little of that but not that much. Today's biking ... read more
claire riding a buffalo
local food
2nd day biking

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai January 2nd 2013

our flight to Chiang Mai was uneventful. They did serve us a snack on a 1 hour flight, I was impressed with the service of Thai Air. We got to our hotel and it is wonderful. It over looks the river and has a salt water endless pool with a swim up bar. The room is large and the bath room has a waterfall in it. we went into Chiang Mai for dinner and ate on the river at a local resaurant that the hotel recommended. we took a tuk tuk there and back. After dinner we looked for a place to have a drink and found another restaurant and had a glass of wine but it wasn't any good. we drank a little, then came back to the hotel for an early night. This morning ... read more
old temple
teak temple with peakcock on it.
part of chinesse market

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok January 1st 2013

We made it into bangkok and checked in at our hotel. This hotel is grand. I can't believe we got it for the price and it was so close to where New Year's eve was going to be celebrated. We had time to rest before our night "Illuminated Bangkok" tour. Our guide picked us up and we drove via taxis and tuk tuks to see the night lights of Bangkok. We ate a local dinner at out door stall restaurants and tried many of the local fruits. We were nervous about the food but our guide said that it was safe so we tried it. Dinner for 3 with 3 beers - about $9. Stuff can be cheap. We saw the palace and night, the flower market, other markets and scenery then returned to the hotel ... read more
tuk tuk
part of the palace
another part of the palace

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok December 30th 2012

Today we slept in a bit, then had a great breakfast at the hotel. We decided at breakfast to see how much it would cost for the car back to Bangkok, instead of the train. it wasn't too bad and would get us in several hours before the train and would be much more comfortable, so we booked it. We were scared if the train was late (and it seems everything here is late) that we would miss our excursion that leaves at 7:30pm. We then packed (since the car was leaving earlier - 1:15) and that would only be a couple minutes after our massages. We signed up for an hour foot massage and an hour thai massage. Each massage was $15. wow. We got there for our massage and well they were running late. ... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand December 30th 2012

From Bangkok, we took a train to Kanchanaburi. This is where the bridge over River Kwai is located. Our train was interesting. It was a third class train - open air windows and definitely not exciting. The train ticket was only $3.50 each. The train was also an hour late. The train ride was about 3 hours. You did get to see a lot of the country side and a lot of stuff blew in on us. We got off the train at the bridge of River Kwai stop. There is a car out there with a taxi sign on it. We go over to it and show them our hotel information, he tells us it will be 50 Bhat. (about $2). Ok. he takes the taxi sign off his car and loads everything in. I ... read more
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Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok December 28th 2012

We made it late last night (1:00 am). The hotel is right on the river and we had a wonderful breakfast this morning (lots of vegies)and a nice walk along the river. Our flights were long but good. We slept some and I watched 5 movies and read a really bad book. It was a real book and I left it on the plane. Today we catch a train to the Bridge of the River Kwai. We will be there 2 days. I didn't even have to change my watch. We are 12 hours off. ;-) So far I think we are close to being on schedule with our internal clocks. I guess when you sleep on and off for a couple days on the plane it helps switch time zones.... read more

Central America Caribbean November 6th 2012

We are on the cruise and visited grand Turk island yesterday and did glass bottom kayaking.  It rained for part of it, but other than the warm rain, it was great.  The rain only lasted for a little bit anyway.   On sunday we did a wine tasting on board.  There were very good wines and we signed up for their Opus One special.  The bottle of wine was actually reasonable but if you signed up for the special they waived the fee to the speciality restaurant.  That saved us $50 too.  We did the speciality restaurant and wine last night.  It was grand.  This ship has movies under the starts.  They have a giant screen by one of the pools have have movies... all thru out the day.   It has been great.I'm so glad the cruise ... read more




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