Shabs | Houdini | Travel Blog

Page 7 of Shabs Travel Blog Posts

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Phuket September 22nd 2006

Fly from Bangkok to Phuket (Thai Air Asia) arrive at lunch time. Stay at Patong Beach Lodge Hotel. Great to away from the humid, hot and overcrowded Bangkok. The flight was late as well. Arrived in Phuket by lunch time and went walking around to explore the region. This is when we discovered the most of the places had been rebuilt after the tsunami of Dec 2004.... read more

Thailand - Day 8

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 21st 2006

Bals

Shabs

Enjoyed the day exporing the shopping malls in Bangkok (MBK, Siam & others) did it all on foot and had enjoyed it somewhat. The prices were higher and the there was just too much variety. A lot of the clothes were for smaller built people - Bals was in heaven. Mom, Dad & Arun were trying to get hold of us because they had heard about a military coup in Thailand on the news and were worried and wanted us to come back. We assured them we did not even know about it and everything was calm and peaceful. We did later notice a few army men around and the local were treating them like heros - shaking their hands. Shows how international media can exagerate the situation. ... read more

Thailand - Day 7

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 20th 2006

Anshu & Bals

Shabs

Booked a train back to Bangkok. Got there in plenty of time and waited for the train. ANd waited and waited. Two hours later and after 1 announcement we decided the train was not an option anymore.....demanded a refund from the train station and headed off to catch the bus. The bus journey was quite lond and tiring, slept most the way and still arrived tired. Booked into First House Hotel. The room was quite dingy - opened the window for some fresh air and got a solid brick wall for a view. The wall was 15cm away from the window - what was the point of putting in a window??? Asked for a room change. ... read more

Thailand - Day 6

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai September 19th 2006

Shabs

More last minute shopping for family & friends back home. Packing up, had to purchase suitcases as we had shopped so much and it would not fit in our back packs =)) ... read more

Thailand - Day 5

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai September 18th 2006

Shabs

Spent most the day lazying by afternoon we walked around and explored and evening it was the night markets for us again. Chaing Mai has such a lazy pace. ... read more

Thailand - Day 4

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai September 17th 2006

Breakfast at the hotel.

Shabs

Today we plan to visit Wat Phra Doi Suthep, about 15kms from Chaing Mai. The wat can be reached by road from Chiang Mai. From the car park, at the temple base visitors can climb 309 steps to reach the pagodas with a long snake on the sides from bottom to top. We hired a local to take us there from our hotel. A fun day spent exploring the Wat. Two things I noticed here - one first time I saw someone getting paid for posing. A little girl, gorgeous as with red cheeks (makeup perhaps) and dressed up in tradition gear was posing with tourist for money. She could switch on and off her smile depending on whether or not the camera was on. Second thing was there were more worshippers here than at the ... read more

Thailand - Day 3

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai September 16th 2006

Rise and shine

Shabs

The train ride to quite the experience for us, cannot remember catching a train in our adult lifes so a sleeping train sounded fun. The bed were less than a meter across, my first thought was "I am surely going to fall off in my sleep" and I was on the top bunk. Luckily I located a strap of some strong material that fastened in the middle to stop me falling out and there were curtains so no one could see me sleeping with my mouth open =)) Once that was all sorted we fell asleep pretty quickly as we were quite tired. Woke up to a beautiful green scenery of rolling hills with little villages nestled at the bottom. Kids running around playing, strange looking livestock watching the train go by. The sitting toilet (lattern) ... read more

Thailand - Day 2

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 15th 2006

Anshu and Bals

Shabs

We finally book into the "Royal Hotel" - this place is ideal for us as we want to spend the day exploring The Grand Palace and Wat Pho and then catch a train to Chaing Mai (from Hualampong railway station) at 7:30pm. The attractions are within walking distance. Have a snooze around 3am and are up at 10am. Have some breakfast and a shower. Check out at 11am. Leave our bags at the hotel and go off to The Grand Palace. One of Thailand's most impressive sights: 54 acres featuring a collection of palatial buildings, golden stupas, sculpted nine-foot demons, and richly ornamented wats (temples). The architecture spans more than 200 years, and the highlight is undoubtedly the glorious Wat Phra Keo, the most sacred Buddhist sight in Thailand. The Wat is a complex of buildings ... read more

Thailand - Day 1

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 14th 2006

Shabs

So this is the beginning of our Thailand adventure - things have not started off as smoothly. To begin with getting three people to agree on an itinerary is near impossible, especially when all three want to do different things. We must have redone the itinerary several times before everyone was happy with it. That sorted we booked our tickets for the 13th September. The day before we were due to fly out, we realized that the "Returning Resident Visas" in our passports had expired!!! So we went to immigrations to try and sort that out, luckily it was sorted then and there. Aaron drove us to the airport, here we find out that we cannot fly out today as we have no Australian Visas for the one hour transit we have in Sydney!!! We are ... read more

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Houdini

Shabs

I think that travel comes from some deep urge to see the world, like the urge that brings up a worm in an Irish bog to see the moon when it is full ~ Lord Dunsany Travel for me has always been a passion - an all consuming passion, I love the different cultures. Travelling for me does not have to be to a different country - I am quite happy exploring all the corners of the country that I am living in while I wait for the opportunity to travel to another country. What I love about travelling - The sights, smells, sounds, cuisine and people of different places. The feel... full info