Teeside to Thailand

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The Journey So Far..........

Before jetting off for warmer shores we spent a few days with Andy's parents in the tropical beach paradise of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Teeside, relaxing after our manic weeks of packing and tidying, and getting slobbered on by a rather large black labrador. While she is nearly a year old and rather large, she stills likes to sit on your lap and suck your thumb!


After a couple of days there we finally set off on our journey to Thailand. After 3 flights, via London and Helsinki, we arrived in Bangkok minus Laura's bag, which got its own flight later that day.


Bangkok was much as we remembered it - smelly, dirty, noisy and manic, but fantastic all the same. It is amazing to see how much it has changed over the years. The amount of building work is incredible, filling in every available space with a new building or block of flats. They have even managed to build a new airport since we came two years ago, greatly confusing us when we landed.


During our night in Bangkok we wandered down to Siam Square, taking in the smells of the street vendors and burning incense, and dodging the elephants that, of course, were walking along the pavement. Having turned down many invitations to go and see "The Ping Pong Show", we finally decided on a traditional visit to the golden arches for our first nights dinner. The following morning we got a bus down the coast to Ban Phe. After arranging our accomodation on the island via the Tourist Information Service which was staffed by a disproportionately high number of ladyboys, we headed for the pier and the slow boat across to the island of Ko Samet.


On leaving the boat and trying to negotiate getting onto the pier, which involved clambering across two other boats moored adjacent, Andrew "butter fingers" Willis managed to drop one of our rucksacks into the Gulf of Thailand. This bag only contained our really quite expensive camera and a few other minor items such as airline tickets and passports, but thanks to some ninja like reactions from some fellow travellers the soggy bag was retrieved before it completely sank.


After a "taxi" ride to our resort, via a seriously overloaded pick up truck on roads so heavily rutted that even Andy was thrown from his seat on numerous occasions, we finally arrived at the beach.


We then spent our first relaxing evening peeling apart pages and blasting them with the hairdryer.


The resort was fantastic, sandwiched between the jungle and the sea. We spent a fantastic few days relaxing on the beach, and swimming in the lovely warm sea. We even managed to befriend one of the local dogs that hung out with us during the day and followed us around such that people thought we were taking it for walks.


After the minor trauma arriving on the island we opted for the slightly safer speedboat transfer on the way back to the mainland and headed back to Bangkok ready for Oz.

Laura's Guide to Fast Food Around the World

As many of you will know, Laura is renowned for her gastronomic tastes and her willingness to try the most exotic of cuisine. As such in this section of the blog Laura is going to rate some of the fine eateries of the world.


Times under the golden arches = 2.
Hounslow - Service 2*, Setting 1*, Quality of Food 3*, Value for Money 2*, Special Features - 24hr
Bangkok - Service 4*, Setting 3*, Quality of Food 3*, Value for Money 4*, Speacial Features - Thai Ronald McDonald


Times in Subway = 1
Bangkok - Service 3*, Setting 2*, Quality of Food 3*, Value for Money 2*, Special Features - None

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Photos

Saltburn
Laura and Indie playing fetch by Saltburn Pier

Bangkok
Rush hour seems to last all day.

Ko Samet
The beach was much like Saltburn.

Ko Samet
Laura found herself strangely comforted by the piles of paper around her.

Ko Samet
No one was going to steal our stuff with our ferocious guard dog on duty.

Ko Samet
Beach life.

Ko Samet
Ao Wai Beach.

Ko Samet
The walk to our room through the jungle.

Ko Samet
Our room with a view.

Bangkok
Traffic under the skytrain.

Comments

[Pete]

Brightened up a very cold Friday morning
Great to hear you are both well and having a great time, despite best efforts to lose both bags. Andy - I am surprised that your bag didn't take someone to the bottom of the sea with it. Loz - Great food article; Did you at least try sticky mango rice?

[Angela]

Hilarious
Lovely to hear things are going so smoothly! You're making us really jealous already. Can't wait for the next installment.

[Preston-Beer]

Ninja Helpers
Hey you two - I wish I could have seen your ninja like fellow passengers in action!! Great to see you have started to share with us your culinary delights Loz, and that they are upto the usual high standards!! Take care - have fun! Clair XX