Back home in the Rice Fields Tuesday 15th July Samui has the nicest airport that I have used with it’s tropical gardens and open air departure lounges. We made it to the airport on time after a late night beforehand. Once we arrived in Bangkok we caught a taxi to the Mo Chit bus terminal as we were heading for Korat and the nearby town of Chock Chai to see my friend's family again and to attend the Hea-Teun-Cow-Pam-Sa Buddhist festival on Wednesday (Buddhist Lent). It took 3.5 hours to get to Korat on the bus and then we had to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Samui - I found the Beach and it was good !!! Sunday 13th July Last time I visited Koh Samui the blog entry was titled “Where is the Beach” - This time I am visiting with a friend and it is so much better than travelling alone. We stayed at the Akwa Guesthouse on Chaweng Beach Road. Samui is a brilliant destination with the marvelous, sandy Chaweng Beach across the road from the Akwa Guesthouse and we went swimmimg at sunset every night in the clear, warm water. There are many cabaret shows on Samui and we visited the Star Club [View Full Entry]

---

---

Walking Tour in Rainy Season Yesterday I did absolutely nothing except go out for a few drinks and a meal at night. I was invited to a disco but declined the offer as I was still tired after my eight day visit to Korat. Every night can be a party night in Bangkok but it will take it's toll on your health eventually. I decided I would catch the Chao Phrayer Express Boat to the area near the Grand Palace and visit some sites that I had not seen before. As I walked along Silom Road a man approached me and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Overnight to Khao Yai National Park Thursday 3rd July At 8.00 pm five of us including our driver Tum left my hotel for the drive to Pak Chong where we would stay overnight before driving through Khao Yai National Park in the morning. We are travelling in style in a recent model Mitsubishi cabin style truck and after about 1.5 hours of cruising down the highway we arrived at our destination where we continued driving towards Khao Yai looking for somewhere to stay for the night. We stopped at a large resort but the prices there were very expensive so we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Korat - My road tour and overnight stay with a Thai family Tuesday 1st July My phone rang at 10.00 am and today I am going out with my friend’s family to visit the the huge new temple Wat Luang Porto and the large Reclining Buddha near Sung Noen. They have also asked me to stay overnight in their village so it is going to be an interesting day. About 11.30 am my friend arrived in a blue Mitsubishi truck with San our driver for today, his son Bell, girlfriend Yong and San’s sister Sit. Sung Noen is about 45 minutes [View Full Entry]

---

---

Korat - Proud People and Ancient Sites Saturday 28th June Today I am going to Korat, about three hours and 259 km north east of Bangkok. I woke up at 10.00 am and luckily had packed my luggage the night before, so it was off to catch a taxi and then on to the Mochit Bus Station. Last time I was in Thailand I caught the BTS Skytrain to Mochit but this visit I was taking all my luggage so I decided to catch a taxi. The expressway is close to Silom so it only took 15 minutes to travel to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Welcome back to Thailand After my good friend Roman dropped me off at the Adelaide Airport to catch my connecting Jetstar flight to Melbourne I casually strolled to the check in counters to find out that my 9.10 flight was cancelled for no particular reason, the engineers were not on strike although there had been industrial action earlier in the week so it was in the back of my mind that there could be a problem with my flights. I was put on the next Qantas flight at 10.40am and arrived in Melbourne with about 30 minutes before my Bangkok flight [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wat Saket - The Temple of The Golden Mount It was my second last day in Bangkok for this visit and there was no time to waste so another cruise down the Chao Phraya river on the express boat was in my thoughts. For some reason I wanted to see Wat Suket "The Temple of The Golden Mount" which I knew very little about but it sounded like an impressive landmark and it is always nice to walk around that part of the city near the Grand Palace and the many other historic sites. It was a very hot Bankok day [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cycling in Bangkok's City Jungle Before I started this visit to Thailand I had seen reports of bike tours in Bangkok - This interested me as a variation to the usual tourist type day tours and also posed some questions as to where you could cycle safely in the heavy traffic and pollution filled roads of Bangkok. It is suprising and satisfying to find that there are still some small pockets of land in this bustling metropolis that have not been overdeveloped and retain some of their original character. The pottery island of Koh Kret that I describe in a previous [View Full Entry]

---

---

Koh Kret - A day trip escape from busy Bangkok Koh Kret is about 1.25 hours by the express boat away from the madness of Bankok's traffic and hectic lifestyle. Koh Kret is a small island mainly inhabited by the Mon people working in their pottery villages or selling souvenirs. You can get to Koh Kret independently by catching a bus and taking a couple of boat rides, hiring a longtail boat from the last express boat stop at the Nonthaburi Pier or Spice Roads have a bike tour which I would like to try next time I visit Bangkok. The [View Full Entry]

---

---