NZTiger

We arrived in Bangkok just before 19:00. Took us a while to find the shuttle bus to the hotel and once we were on it discovered that we were going to a different hotel than we thought (memo to Trailfinders, don't ever book this hotel again !) Actually it wasn't that bad just not as good as expected especially as the spa didn't open on Sunday until after we left (yes I know, its a tough life) So here I sit in airside waiting for the gate to open. Now is when you want time to go quickly! luckily I'm not working tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea. Enough of my musings, it's been a great holiday and I would certainly go back to Pimalai. Lovely hotel, great diving ... read more

Well, the last two days have been excellent. Great weather and more good diving. The food has been very good and last night I had the the incredibly hot/spicy 'Tom Yam Goong' soup the lips have yet to lose some of the numbness but it was excellent. I'll post some more pictures on here when we get to Bangkok of sunsets, (more) fish! etc Today is our last day at Pimalai. We leave at 13:30 on the speedboat then minbus limo to Krabi airport then it's a 1 hour flight to Bangkok. We're staying there for 1 night then its a 13 hour flight home :-(... read more

Having sluiced away all the salt water I'd accumulated we made or way up to the Sea View at the top of the resort. We wanted to have scout out this restaurant for another night so it was a good excuse to sit at the bar and sip a Negroni. We made our way back to the seafood restaurant on the beach where we shared some excellent barbequed prawns and a whole silver snapper. The next day was a 'no dive day' so up at a reasonable time and off to the restaurant for breakfast. I won't bore you with the details, the only difference from Sunday was more sunshine and a lot hotter! In the evening we were eating at the Sea View restaurant - a change from seafood and Thai - but first we ... read more

We awoke on our first morning at Pimalai to a sound that brought fear into my heart... it was raining! This was not good, though at least we could still walk about in shorts and a t-shirt once it had stopped, which it did after 30 minutes. Sunday was the lazy day, after breakfast (excellent) we headed for the beach and despite the fact it was a little cloudy you still needed sun tan lotion to avoid being burnt (as I learnt to my cost!) The only other thing on the agenda was to seek out the dive centre. This was duly done in the afternoon and after the ever present form filling was complete I'd booked myself for 3 dives starting tomorrow. Later on it started to rain so we headed back to the room ... read more

Having consumed lunch we made our way back to the car and then it was off to the Elephant Sanctuary. This took about 30 minutes and the journey took us ever deeper into the rural backwaters of Thailand. We were now climbing above the plains and into the mountains that border Thailand & Myanmar (Burma) which made it so difficult to build the railway and cause so much suffering. When we arrived we were the only tourists there so without any waiting (apart from the opportunity to purchase some ripe Thai bananas - 20 Baht - approx 50p) the Mahout arrived atop the Elephant we were to ride. On her back was, what can only be described as, a garden seat sitting precariously on her shoulders. Luckily the park had provided platforms which we climbed so ... read more

After the sober reflection of the war cemetery it was back to the car and a short drive to the Bridge over the River Kwai. The driver dropped us of and with the guide we made our way to the site of the bridge. The guide explained how the the Thai government allowed the japanese to build th railway as they felt indebted to them for helping get rid of the French before WW2. Not all Thais felt the same way and some acted as spies sending intelligence back to the Allies. We walked the length of the bridge and it was only at the end that I remembered that I was going to whistle 'Colonel Bogey' as I marched along (See the film if you don't know why!) I was reminded by a local man ... read more

Up at 6:30, body clock still on UK time so in need of caffeine. Breakfast in the restaurant consisted of, amongst the usual cereals and stuff , a Chinese croissant an acquired taste that I can only liken to a deep fried donut with a background taste of special fried rice . We met up with our guide in the hotel lobby (note to Trailfinders the guide had 7:30 we had 8:00 not a good start as it could have meant missing some of the itinerary.) The driver was ready to go so we drove into the Bangkok rush hour traffic... ...half an hour later we were still in it. Not long after it started to move and we entered the suburbs. The guide had said it might take 3 hours but the traffic was ok ... read more