http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Thailand , South-West Thailand , Chalong en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 09:57:16 +0000 Sun, 19 May 2013 09:57:16 +0000 So we reach the start of our south east Asia tour. Arriving in Phuket and to our friends Chris and Paula at there villa in Chalong. Lovely place with a private pool to dip in as it39s averaging 34C at the moment with very little wind. Chalong has quite a big ex pat population so it wasn39t long before we felt one of the crowd in Happy days bar.Chris took us up to soi dog foundation a charit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-705506.html A long absence from the blog but here is the update on the intervening months. On returning to Virginia Beach from 39out west39 I enjoyed kayaking in the bay dog walking Polar Express Kelly and Craig39s golden retriever puppy from the neighbourhood cycling in the state park and visiting friends and sushi restaurants such a change from papaya saladWe took a short trip to the UK as m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-661647.html We spent a significant part of our time in Thailand in Ao Chalong because this is where our Thai friends stay and because it is just a nice town with everything you need.As well as our local friends my dad has a Scottish friend who lives in Ao Chalong and we caught up with him a few nights. This Scottish friend is a bit of a gourmand whereas my dad judges the merit of a place based on cost with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-458359.html I am getting a little behind in my travel blogs for a number of reasons one of them being that I find I require at least 12 hours sleep a day preferably comprising of 9 hours a night and a 3 hour afternoon nap. But I will attempt to catch up on what has been happening in the last week or so.Last Tuesday saw us arrive in Ao Chalong where we were eager to catch up with some Thai friends Tipsy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-452202.html so i had such a good experience with pharmacies and clinics here that i thought i'd try my luck going to a dentist. i haven't been to one in 4 years so i was a little apprehensive. dental worklanguage barrier yikes.so the clinic is only open from 5pm to 8pm. and apparently they consider a dentist's office to be another country because i had to show my passport to get an appointment. i made a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-315898.html so i have this horrible infection in my leg and i had to go to a doctor today. because i went to a pharmacy before which is kind of like a doctor because EVERYTHING is over the counter here. valium how much you need like i was at the pharmacy and i said i burn my leg on a motorbike and then i go to muay thai training and somebody kick me and now infected. i have learned to speak a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-309629.html so i find myself once again in this island of phuket part way through my month of muay thai training. and to be honest the novelty has worn off and i don't plan to pursue muay thai in the future. it is still enjoyable but it is not a passion and there are other things at this point that i'd rather be doing. that said it has been easier to get into it this time around. i was sore again for 3 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-307362.html it is sunday meaning that yesterday was my last day of training and i have made it through 4 full weeks of muay thai training tonight i get on a bus to bangkok and leave behind the life of sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress waking to roosters outside my window going to yoga and training jumping rope wrapping my hands hitting bags and kick pads and hearing the trainers shout moa powa l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-282363.html on sunday day off annukka and i went on an elephant trekking tour. it was indeed very touristy but sometimes you learn some pretty decent things from touristy treks. first we went on a water buffalopulled cart ride around a little recreated thai village. everything was miniature a little rice paddy a little grove of rubber tree plants a little thai style house etc. after this we went in a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-280653.html last night i put aside excuses that i was exhausted from two training sessions and i went out to watch some fights in patong. watching muay thai fights is pretty cool in the first place i saw some in koh phangan last year but it is especially cool when one of your trainers is fighting. last night one of our intermediate trainers nazee was the main event the last fight. he was fighting this http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-278555.html We are now in Chalong bay just south of Puket and once again the internet is useless for uploading pictures.... This is a damn shame as I have sooo many excellent pictures to post I will again keep the blog short as this feels like a huge waste of time without them. I went with all our Finn friends to Job to do big ragge band in Thailand while Sindy stayed at the hotel and got caught up on h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-262282.html I apologize for the delay in blog entries the internet at the camp has been down for several days. I actually wrote this last thursday so just imagine that is when I'm talking aboutAlrighty not much terribly new recently. Just lots of training. On tuesday there was an 8 man Muay Thai tournament that happened at Bangla Stadium in Patong. Saohin entered into this tournament. It was his second t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-206062.html The last few days have been relatively uneventful except for the plane crash at Phuket airport that killed several dozen people. It's been all over the news here as I'm sure it has been everyhwere else. That was somewhat scary to hear about but the owner of gym made an announcement that there was nobody on board who was on their way to Tiger Muay Thai. The main reason for the crash news people http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-203337.html Today was a relatively cool day. Most of the Thais were wearing jackets. It was 27 degrees. Not much new has happened in the last couple days. Heavy training lots of it. I've learned an awful lot. I've met some interesting people from all over the world quite a few from England a few Aussies.I've gotten to know the Thai trainers a little better and have caught on to their sense of humor. One t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-202266.html Alright now that I'm settled you're going to get a better blog entry. Sorry about that last one. Stop complaining you're lucky it's there at all. I went on 38 hrs without sleep. 15 hrs to Hong Kong 3 hours to Bangkok 1 hr 45 mins to Phuket. I met some interesting people on the way. I sat next to a Chinese guy on the flight to Hong Kong who told me that Thai transvestites are better looking th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-200985.html Hey everybody this is just a quick update because I don't have access to the internet for very long. I'll start uploading pictures in a couple days. In total it took me 38 hrs to get here and I didn't sleep any of it. It's coming up on 9 right now and I'm planning on going to bed pretty soon. Training starts at 645 tomorrow morning. I'll give a more updated entry in a couple days once I have e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-200748.html Hello allWe are now at a new resort called The Racha. It is on a very small secluded island off the southern coast of Thailand named Koh Racha Yai. It is such a small island that Emily and I just rode mountain bikes from one side to the other This island is a very popular dive site for dive boats from the mainland so I am looking forward to going diving here. The ocean on the west side of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-194353.html This trip I shall be mostly sweating. There were so many times when I turned to Jaggers my EX travelling buddy and said I've never sweated this much in my life the first time in Bangkok trekking in Chang Mai climbing the steps of the Angkor temples.... but no. That was a mere dribble compared to what I'm producing on a dailing basis at boxing camp. They make you skip for 20 mins as a war http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-175025.html Hello everyone Sorry about taking so long to update my blog. So much has happenend here it is hard to begin. For starters I learned how to drive a motorbike. I bought a proper helmet and I have been cruising the island for the last two weeks. I was pretty nervous at first but after about a week staying on the side roads I got on the main highways and I have never looked back. It is much cheape http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-161909.html Welcome to Thailand.It is hard to say anything about Thailand. It seems that everyone has been there but me. As I flew in I soaked in the coastline with beautiful cliffs and deeply colored seas. It was like nothing I had ever seen. After getting fleeced at the currency exchange a hearty off to the Federal Reserve I stepped out into the humid air and was surprised by how it did not bothe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chalong/blog-155958.html