Blogs from Thailand, Asia - page 2656

hi everyone - i'm in koh tau right now, having a great time. took an overnight train (12 hours i think) from bangkok and then got straight on a 3-hour ferry to the island so I was sitting on a beach on kho tau at the same time that i was getting out of bed the previous morning in hanoi - i thought that was really cool... Anyway, Kho Tau is right next to Kho Phan Nagn, which is the where the full moon party is, and I got here a day after the full moon party so all the guesthouses were anticipating a bunch of people and rooms were expensive. I got one that I thought was a great deal - a really cool bungalow kind of secluded at the north of the island (it ... read more

Well, we got waylaid on a beach again. It's so easily done though, isn't it? After the dive trip we were planning to head straight up to Laos but then another option was offered up: Railey Beach near Krabi, 2.5hours south. It was in the opposite direction but somehow we managed to justify it and shared a cab/mini van with the polish couple, Jarek and Danuta, that we'd dived with. I have to add that Jarek and Danuta are by far the most generous, warm, lovely people you could hope to meet. RAILAY BEACH It's actually part of the mainland but you can only reach it by long tail boat, so it has the feel of, and for all intents and purposes is, an island. It is a thin pennisula with Railay West on the west ... read more

(Dave writes...) Before we left Laos, we celebrated my birthday in Vientiane. Of all things, we found a bowling alley there and went bowling with the Dutch couple we'd met, Arrie and Joke. The following day (my actualy birthday) we made a real pilgramage - we went to the Beer Lao brewery! I was very excited. They even had specific road signs outside the brewery (see photo). We were allowed into the bottling plant and received a free beer too. I was delighted with my birthday celebrations. Gem also bought me some tooth floss amongst other presents, which I was very excited about as it's hard to come by. From Vientiane we took a bus to Savanakhet, further south, en route to Vietnam. The following day we travelled to Hue in Vietnam. Hue was once the ... read more

I dropped into Bangkok for Sonkran, which is a nationwide waterfight and, incidentally, Thai New Year and a religious holiday. The sprinkling of water over one's head and wet clay on the cheeks started as a Buddhist blessing hundreds or thousands of years ago and has degenerated into a massive waterfight involving high tech super soakers, fire hydrants, water tankers, tonnes of plaster, and millions of litres of ice cold water. It must have been pretty boring before water pistols and supersoakers were invented. To prevent accidents (you would be crazy to be on a bike going past hordes armed with drums of water and high pressure hoses) the throwing of water is officially banned in Bangkok after 6pm. Thanks in part to this, the festival death toll dropped to about 500 this year. However, being ... read more

My family and I visited the bridge over the river Kwai. Only the second bridge (made of prefabricated steel) built by Allied POWs during WWII remains. The original wood bridge was destroyed by British bombers and the steel one was partially destroyed by American bombers. The entire railway was built by POWs and other forced labor. A national cementary finaced by many of the allied countries is in the middle of town and includes mostly British and Australian soldiers. It was a strange day at the cemetary. It was empty, quiet, and serene within the fence but the streets around it were full of trucks with people celebrating Song Kran/Thai New Year. This is basically a huge moving waterfight and everyone gets soaked. Music was blaring from the trucks and there was plenty of dancing. I ... read more