Blogs from Thailand, Asia - page 2655

Sun. 9th. April. We don't know what the Canadians saw when they recommended Koh Lanta to us, but we're not impressed. The beach is rocky and there's nowhere to go. The Tsunami date is picked out in shells by the new swimming pool, and 1/2 the complex is being rebuilt, so we wonder about the tragedy but obviously can't ask. We've been having power cuts and brown water coming out of the taps, but at least the food and weather are perfect. Mon. 10th. We are picked up and taken to the jetty hours before the boat to Krabi is due. Why do they do this? But at least we find a seat in the shade. It's easy to board this boat because, besides having a gang plank, it also has railings to hold on to! ... read more

We're in KOH TAO... Okay... so we werrrre in Koh Tao. We arrived in Koh Tao on the 17th... by boat (fancy boat actually... by mistake!). But anyways, we got there, and were bombarded by people with pamphlets, advertising their dive schools and resorts on the island. Koh Tao is kinda like a ski resort... but for scuba diving! So most of the "resorts" are geared towards scuba divers... which was awesome for us. We planned to do our PADI Open Water Scuba course, and Koh Tao is supposed to be one of the cheapest and best places in the world to dive. RAD! So we picked this place with a really nice pamphlet called "Ban's"... twas huge. It was on Sairee Beach, which is a gorrrrrrgeous long white sand beach with lots of palm trees ... read more

On our way to Australia we stopped off at Bangkok for three days and then we caught the train down to Singapore via Penang and Butterworth. We had an amazing time and did lots of sightseeing. On the train - on which we spent a couple of nights - I met some deaf Thai people - amazingly, I could just about communicate - though their language is based on American Sign Language. We then spent a night in Singapore and flew to Melbourne the next morning... read more

So finally we boarded a flight to head for the beach. The destination was Krabi on a beach near Ao Nang. But it wasn't exactly Ao Nang since we had our own private strip surrounded by rocks - the resort is only reached by boat (boat ride is less than 10 minutes). We agreed that it was definitely one of the most luxurious and beautiful hotels that we had experienced. We were lucky to stay at this place as we get a special rate - the resort has recently opened and a portion of it was still under construction (part of the reason we got a good deal). But we also concluded that the hotel reservation desk gave us our package mistakenly. The nightly hotel rate included buffet breakfast and lunch - not just a sandwich ... read more

Another day, another mini van ride. after saying goodbye to mike in trang we started the 6 hour journey to ko samui. after a ferry ride that was full of breathtaking views across the gulf of thailand to the islands on the horizon (the pictures dont really do it justice) we arrived in the main town and headed for the nearest food stall. after some refueling we got a lift to morning glory bungalows. mike's friend Hyannis has owned the place for about eight years and offered us a warm reception. we were stunned by the tranquility of the place, far removed from the busy parts of the island full of package tourists and fish and chip shops, maenam beach is a popular backpacker haunt that seems to have resisted the mass tourism feel of ... read more