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Published: November 13th 2008
Koh Lanta
Some days were nice....Hello and welcome to what should be our final blog, covering Southern Thailand and Hong Kong.
After our 'Tour of Duty' in Viet Nam and Cambodia we decided to get a few weeks R&R in on the beaches of Southern Thailand.
Our first stop was the island of Koh Lanta which unfortunately turned out to be closed. The dry season officially starts on the 1st November and as we arrived a few days before this date things weren't quite up and running yet. Still, we had a good time just relaxing by the pool, inbetween some days of torrential rain.
After Lanta we caught the ferry to Koh Phi Phi. The smaller of the two islands, Phi Phi Ley, was used as the setting for the film version of 'The Beach' and the scenery on both islands is beautiful, as you would imagine. The resorts are on the larger island of Phi Phi Don, which was devastated by the 2004 Tsunami, although now it looks to have fully recovered.
Phi Phi is a typically laid back Thai Island surrounded by azure waters and limestone pillars and deserted islands. We didn't really do much apart from eat great
food and enjoy the beaches and snorkelling. I did actually manage to fit in a couple of dives and saw plenty of Hawksbill Turtles, Morray Eels, Black Tipped Reef and Leopard Sharks but unfortunately no whale sharks, which had been spotted in the area.
So, we didn't exactly do much but we loved it. Another place we have to addd to the 'Must Go Again" list.
On the one hand we didn't really want to leave Phi Phi but on the other, we knew that our next destination would be our last before flying home.
Our last destination was Hong Kong, which is a very 'tall' city. Every single building seems to be a skyscraper and we ended up with cricked necks from staring up at the buildings all the time.
We enjoyed our final few days trying to pack in as many of the sights as well as maximising Tina's shopping opportunities.
We visited the 'Big Buddha' at Ngong Ping. This involves a cable car ride up the mountain on Lantau island to see the biggest seated buddha in the world. Later that day we searched for bargains in the 'Ladies Market" on Kowloon
before settling down on the harbour front at Tsim Sa Shui to watch the Symphony of Lights. Every evening at 8 o'clock the buildings on either side of Victoria harbour provide a musical display with lights and lasers. On such a huge scale it's very impressive.
The next day we travelled by cable car again to the Peak, which is the highest point on Hong Kong island and gives a great panoramic view of the city and across the harbour to Kowloon.
On the food front we enjoyed fantastic Dim Sum, washed down with pots of hot Cha and also great Peking Duck. The restaurants in SoHo are reached via an 800m outdoor escalator which runs downhill in the morning to take people into the city for work and uphill in the evening to take them home again. (We could do with one of those at Cliff End !).
And of course there was shopping, shopping, shopping. If there's one thing that Hong Kong does better than anywhere else, it's shopping. From the markets to the high-end boutiques there's just about everything you could want, although probably not at prices that are any cheaper than the UK.
The Beach
No, not 'The Beach', but another one on Phi Phi Oh well.
So, that's just about it. Our year is just about over and we fly back to the UK tomorrow (Taking full advantage of the free champagne in Premium Economy, of course).
It's been a funny old year all in all, but we're certainly glad we did it. Thanks to all of you who have sent messages over the year and most of all, thanks for reading.
Looking foward to seeing all of those of you that live in the UK in the near future.
D&T
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jo
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I don't believe it.................................
Where has that year gone? Despite the doom and gloom and bad weather here the months have flown by and its been great to read and see your udates from the far flung corners of the globe. What are we going to do without our little bits of sunshine? As you would expect, nothing has changed here! Looking forward to seeing you guys when you are back - Daren, Happy Birthday for next week. Jxx