We decided to go out for the day and Joy who works in the antique shop next to my work had given me the number of a taxi driver and friend (Mr. Chai) who she knows in Thailand .So I gave him a call to see if he would take us on a trip. Over the phone I could not communicate to him properly that I was a friend of Joy & Mike from England and that was why I was calling because he had been recommended to us. It was not for want of trying though. So I thought [View Full Entry]

---

---

More pictures [View Full Entry]

---

---

The streets stalls of the infamous night bazaar sell everything from croaking wooden frogs to watches, cushions, sun-glasses, fairy-lights, Von Dutch and Stussy T-shirts to name but a few. The market stands seem to go on forever, every night you could do a different stall and still not see everything. We were there nine days and I don’t think we managed to get through the majority of them. We visited some slightly more up market bazaars that were near the main rows of stalls but they were full of unique arty gifts. What surprised me the most was how different each [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived at the airport and when we boarded the plane it was packed with Thai tourists as predicted. After landing we got a taxi into town for 120 Baht, which we thought was quite reasonable- it’s a standard price set by the airport so nobody was trying to rip us off and that was a refreshing change. My first impressions of Chiang Mai are it’s a nice city with lots of greenery and a nice river. Chiang Mai is a walled city so it has an old feel to it in places. We stayed at the Down Town Inn which [View Full Entry]

---

---

Not something I would normally watch because I don’t like violence and I always turn this sort of thing off if it’s on the telly, but I decided to give it a go and found it to be rather entertaining. In the middle of all the girly bars in Koh Samui is a big boxing ring, quite a good place for it I thought thinking it would be a male dominated thing, however, to my surprise it was lady boxing first and there were lots of women who had come to show their support. A strong smell of hot sweat that [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had a mad night out in koh Samui and it first started off in burghaus bar in central Lamai where the music was banging tech-house. We had a few beers to get us in the mood followed by a blue lagoon cocktail the only problem with this bar was it was empty, blinding music but empty. So we decided to walk back to our hotel assuming that this is as lively as koh Samui gets. On the way back we passed a club called Fusion and decided to have a quick look to see whether it was the same as [View Full Entry]

---

---

Perhaps one of the most famous landmarks on Koh Samui is the Big Buddha. It is situated on a tiny island that can be reached by driving across a short jetty. The 12 metres high imposing Golden Buddha is place at the top of a mountain of 73 steps and the outstanding view behind it overlooks Maenam Beach and Koh Phangan. Here on display hidden in plain sight for all to see is the secret fire of the alchemical philosophers embedded in esoteric symbolism. The union of the red and white tincture through the philosophic mercury and the attainment of the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Four dragons, two on each side of the steps, accompany you to the openings of the Khunaram Temple. The door ways to the temple of initiation are beautifully decorated with intrinsic details and are made open and available for everyone to come and experience the ritual paraphernalia and god images of their deities. Loung Pordaeng is Samui's most famous mummified monk and his body is on display in the same Lotus asana meditation position in which he died in over 30 years ago. The black shades add a humorous element to the seriousness of the dead monk and make it "tourist [View Full Entry]

---

---

We hired a car for one day it cost us 1000 Baht for a Honda City. Mark enjoyed driving it because it was an automatic, really smooth like a hover craft. We hired the car at 3pm when it was a bit cooler and drove all around the island first taking photos. Then the next day we got up early and visited the highlights of Samui, and had the car back for 6pm paying just a bit extra for the last 3 hours which we thought was worth it as we did not want to rush back. [View Full Entry]

---

---

My first thoughts of Koh Samui are: it’s a bit tacky- full of sleazy girly pick up bars, but you get use to it after a few hours. Actually I think Mark is in his element. He gets a lot of attention from the Thai girls who try to lure him in. Every restaurant we eat in there is always loads of European men taking Thai girls out its bizarre. Good if you’re a single male of any age shape or size. The restaurants aren’t up to much in Lamai, nevertheless, we found a really nice one called The Patio over [View Full Entry]

---

---