Thailand

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We arrived in Bangkok to find out that our flight to Ko Samui was delayed, so we didn't actually arrive until 11 PM. Since we didn't have a hotel reservation we arrived at the place we wanted to stay to discover that they didn't have 24 hr front desk service & there was no way to check in. Luckily, our taxi driver suggested another place that had security guards who let us into a room for the night.

We awoke the next day to beautiful blue skies & amazingly clear blue green waters. Our beach time was off to a good start! We rode a catamaran to a neighboring island, Ko Phangan. It's a smaller, less populated island and the beach we chose, Thong Nai Pan Noi, had nice smooth sand & calm waters for swimming. Our first full day there we decided to swim out to a floating bamboo tiki hut that had lounge chairs on it. It was maybe a 10 min swim from our shore & it was a great way to get some full body exercise. The only downside was that the underside of the hut had some barnacles on it & I (Laura) cut my leg trying to climb up on it.

We had a few rainy spells, but had beautiful weather for the most part. After a couple of days at that beach, we were planning on going to a neighboring beach (Bottle Beach) by longboat, but decided against it since Ashley wasn't feeling well. She had gotten a bacterial infection of some sort & had a bad fever, body aches & traveller's diarrhea. We decided to go back to Ko Samui, which is a bigger island, so that we can go to a hospital & make sure it wasn't anything more serious. Luckily after a few days of taking some antibiotics, she felt much better & was able to enjoy our last few days on Lamai Beach.

It was nice to stay in one place for an extended period of time & lazy around not doing very much. We read a lot, went swimming, bought fruit & grilled sweet corn from beach vendors. We also decided to rent a jet ski & putter around in the water, but we ended up heading right into a storm & had very choppy water splashing into our eyes as we tried to navigate ourselves around. It was still a lot of fun.

We spent a couple of days exploring Bangkok and had just enough time to squeeze in the major sites. We saw the Royal Grand Palace & Wat Phrakaew (which has the Emerald Buddha), rode a river ferry down the Chao Phraya River, went to a Thai kickboxing match, spent some time in Lumpini park, saw our first movie in a movie theater since who knows when, and walked around the humongous Chatuchak Weekend Market (they had 15,000 stalls) where we bought a brand new knock off Lowe Alpine backpack.

People in Thailand are really devoted to their King, his picture is plastered everywhere, businesses as well as residences. Many local people wear yellow shirts to honor the King (yellow is the color of royalty). Even before the movie started in the theater, we all had to stand and watch a video tribute to the King while listening to the national anthem (or at least we think that's what it was). We're not sure if it's because this Dec will be his 80th birthday celebration or if they are always this gung ho about the King.

Thailand was a nice place to relax after our trek in Nepal & we look forward to checking out other beaches in Phuket & Ko Phi Phi at the end of next month before we head back to the States.

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Photos

Ko Samui, Thailand
View from our breakfast table our first morning in Thailand.

Ko Samui, Thailand
On Lamai Beach once Ashley was feeling better.

Ko Samui, Thailand
Laura posing on Lamai Beach.

Bangkok, Thailand
Majestic buildings on the grounds of the Royal Grand Palace.

Bangkok, Thailand
Ashley in the grounds of the Royal Grand Palace.

Bangkok, Thailand
Waiting for our river taxi on the Chao Phraya River at sunset.

Bangkok, Thailand
Laura posing with a picture of the King.