Blogs from Khao Lak, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 6

I've been in Thailand for just over a week now and I'm already feeling right at home. I arrived on Friday 8th August to a sweltering hot Bangkok - though having stopped in Doha which is really a desert with as much humidity as it's possible to cram into the air - I was well prepared. Meeting Fonthip at the airport, I was whisked away for dinner before heading back to her house which is some distance from the city and mercifully quiet compared to the hot, dusty bustle of inner city Bangkok. On my first day we head into the city centre to see the Grand Palace with all its temples and splendour. Every surface is covered with ornamentation, coloured or mirror tiles and gold and there is almost too much to take in. After ... read more

Sabai dee mai kwap? Okay, mega catch up time! Yesterday I arrived in New Zealand annd its FREEZING here. Really excited to start exploring as looks like there is loads to do but another benefit of re-entering eth western world is cheaper and way faster internet connections so hopefully I can claw back soem of the time I've lost. I reckon I'm about 3 blog entrys behind to catch up fully so without further ado here is the first. This will cover my last month in Thailand where I was living in Khao Lak, so here we go. As I mentioned at the end of my last blog, through pretty much random chance I ended up deciding to do a couple of weeks work as a volunteer English teacher in the town of Khao Lak on ... read more

In the last four days I've spent about 13 hours under water looking at fish. It's at the stage now where I see them when I close my eyes... I've seen sharks, turtles, stingrays, seahorses, a manta ray, the coolest special effects from octopi, all sorts of mean-looking creatures, thousands of technicolor fish and loads of other stuff that I'd have to look back in my log book to list. The coolest colours? Of course, the smallest creatures. Nudibranches, aka sea slugs, look totally unreal. Go and google them now! I'm now catching up with various things online, like permits for visiting sensitive areas of Tajikistan that border Afghanistan. Don't panic, they're so safe even the British government doesn't advise me to avoid them.... read more

We thought we needed a little treat whilst in Thailand, and it was in the form of 4 days on a dive boat where all we did was dive, eat and sleep. We had never been on a 'liveaboard 'dive trip before so it was all quite exciting. We boarded the boat from Khao Lak in the evening, with about 22 other divers and 13 crew. We started off with one of many fantastic meals and set off for the Similan Islands which are about 60kms off the coast of Thailand. Our days were pretty long and tiring. We were awoken usually around 6 30 am, in time for a light breakfast prior to our first dive at 7am. We were split into groups of about 4 or 5 divers, and each had a guide which ... read more

I think on every traveler's odyssey, at least in Thailand, an attempt is made to 'get away from it all' and find your own private little paradise. Koh N'Gai was our place. After an hour long boat ride from Lanta, we were there. Our guidebook said something about this island being Robinson Crusoe-like without an indigenous population. Whatever that means, we soon realized the comforts we appreciate so much on more traversed islands were no-where to be found here. No convenient stores, Electricity is only on from dusk to dawn, no cars, no motorbikes, no ROADS!! You get the picture. We walked across the white sand beach to get to our resort. My conversation with the manager went something like this: me: Hello, can I rent a motorbike to get around the island? him: No motorbike ... read more