At Bangkok airport waiting for flight home

We left a gorgeous sunny day at the resort:

then drove the 65 minutes back to the airport at the top end of the island.  Phuket is much bigger than it appears on the maps, and the traffic is pretty slow in places.

Our plane for Sydney is scheduled to leave in a bit over 2 hours. 

Thanks for reading along!

Mal and Julie signing off.

Last full day in Phuket

Woke up to find periods of pouring rain. 

Very grateful to get our boat trip in yesterday before this started.  We had a late breakfast then walked down to check out the big resort along the beach to try to find a coffee.  No luck with that, but we did discover the resort’s internet room, to come back to for posting the blog.  Our phones work intermittently with the internet at our place, but the PC no longer at all, (although later discovered it was ok in the lobby.)

We caught a taxi to Karon, 2 beaches north of us, and had a Starbucks which we both enjoyed. Then a walk to a nearby resort (Marina) to compare with ours, and it had nice views of Karon Beach.

Taxi back to our place then Julie had a 90 minute massage which was very relaxing.  Mal went back to the internet room and struggled but managed to post yesterday’s post.  By now the rain had stopped but fortunately the temperature remained at around 29 degrees which is a welcome relief.  We walked up and down the hill between us and Kata beach, running the now familiar gauntlet of  ladies pleading with us to come in to the restaurant on the other side of the hill – they never succeeded.  We had another coffee opposite the main road through Kata:

then booked a restaurant, rated very highly on TripAdvisor, right on the beach:

then trudged back up the hill, past our imploring ladies,and observing 17 construction workers about to leave work in their preferred vehicle.

The meal was very good but the wine list, which proudly claimed it “is one of the most outstanding restaurant wine lists in the world”, did not rate so well.  Nottage Hill cab shiraz was $A65 and Penfolds Bin 128 was $A230!  (A Henschke Hill of Grace was $A2,200 on our resort’s list). Ouch, and this country is supposed to be cheap.  Wine by the glass started at $A16, so none consumed tonight.

(Speaking of Thailand being cheap, since we got here the local papers have been full of a story about the Thai Government threatening to sack the head of the Bank of Thailand unless the Bank devalues the baht - interesting contrast to the way we manage economic policy).

Early night back to Mom Tri’s Villa Royale, which has lived up to all our expectations.  Tomorrow we have another sleep in then off to the airport to Bangkok, then 3 hours after that we head back home.

Cruise to Phi Phi Islands - Phuket day 3

Up early for a 7.40am pickup and then a 60 minute drive to the opposite side of the island.  The driver took many short cuts to avoid the traffic and it was interesting to see the middle of the island:  large schools, universities, magnificent golf courses in amongst the tree and pineapple plantations and small beaten-up shops and houses, with motor bikes everywhere.

We were first to arrive at the marina, and then were joined by another 16 people – mostly Chinese, but we teamed up at the front of the speedboat  with a Brazilian lady who has worked in Zurich for 9 years, and a Spanish couple living in Dubai, where the husband is an Etihad Airbus pilot.  We were taken to the boat where our thongs and sandals were confiscated for the trip, so barefoot for the whole day - a first for us.
 

 
The clouds were extremely threatening and as the boat raced across the water for the first stop at Phi Phi Lei island it appeared that the massive line of thunderstorms to the west would hit just as we got there.  The water became choppier and the boat started hitting some waves with filling-loosening bumps which was good fun.  Luckily the sun came out just as we arrived at Phi Phi Lei.

 We cruised past Viking Cave which apparently features old paintings of historical ships, then into beautiful Pi Lei Cove, with calm water the colour of jade. 

 

The cove was already occupied by a number of boats, many filled with Chinese. There were more Chinese in the water, easily spotted by their brightly coloured life vests – it seems that few Chinese know how to swim, but they certainly loved being in the water, particularly as there is safety in numbers. 

We plunged into the warm salty water which made it easy to float around, then after 15 minutes or so we went around the island a short way for snorkelling at the foot of some cliffs.  The water was clear and full of small stripy coloured fish, and it felt like being in an aquarium.

Back on again around the island to Maya Beach apparently famous as being “The Beach” in a film called “The Beach”, but it was hard to see any of the beautiful sand because it was covered in tourists, mostly more Chinese.  The whole of the beach was also a mooring place for squillions of boats which presumably were not in the movie.

Our tour guide was disappointed for us – he was hoping the majority would already have left. We pushed through the crowds for a 30 minute stop. It was a gorgeous place so we could see why the film’s producers chose it.

On again to cruise to nearby Phi Phi Don island where we pulled in towards the shore to some overhanging trees swarming with cute cunningly camouflaged monkeys. The guide tossed them pieces from just one banana. The monkeys lined up to catch the morsels, and like the Australian cricket team, dropped every single one, each failed attempt accompanied by loud disappointed groans from the boat, worthy of the MCG.

 Off again past what seemed hundreds of boats anchored at the island to our final stop, Bamboo Island, to re-join hordes of Chinese, and to have a picnic lunch on the beach. 

Then snorkelling for a while in a large roped-off area which included brown coral with bright blue clams, and more beautiful fish, including rainbow-coloured parrot fish.  Easy to float on our stomachs in the clear salty water and just drift with the water and observe it all through the mask.

We sat on the beach and were very amused by the antics of the Chinese, most in their life vests and huddling together in water barely up to their knees. A brave one tried snorkelling in water 18 inches deep.   Others were rubbing sand on each other, and there was general yahooing around and giggling like small children.  You would think this is the first time they had ever seen the ocean – maybe it is - and there was not a single inscrutable face to be found.  Their childish delight was infectious.

Big thunderheads building up again drove us back on to the boat at 2.50pm, a little early, for a 60 minute fast and bumpy trip back to Phuket.  We did well with the weather, with only a few drops at one stage.  Apparently the rainy season has started early in Phuket (as subsequently demonstrated the next morning with periods of heavy rain).

Got back to the hotel at 5.15pm, then dinner in the hotel.

 

 

Internet problems in Phuket

We can't get our PC to connect even though the smart phones do. So until we sort this out, just to inform we had a great day yesterday on cruise to Phi Phi islands.
This morning it is pouring rain so we were lucky to get sunshine yesterday. And today is just a do little day anyway.

Phuket day 2

Sleep-in , then skype of family and a late breakfast.  Raining when we woke up but it stopped about half an hour later, and a partly cloudy day seemed to bring the temperature down – about 31 degrees, very welcome.

We sorted out via internet  a tour for tomorrow around the Phi Phi islands, then walked along the beach below the resort, Kata Noi.  It appears that one monster resort “owns” the entire beach, but the end next to our place’s headland “belongs” to our place.  Our unit is on the top floor of the white-roofed building, directly under the 'mast' of the yellow crane:

We went for a swim then lazed on the beach until 1.15pm, then back up to the room for a shower and to catch a tuk tuk (of a much higher standard than in Bangkok) north to Patong beach.

Brother Ian, you were dead right to warn us not to stay in this area.   But it was worth the visit to see all the bars packed with Aussie bogans:

 and the sleazy night clubs:

and the older Australian gentlemen either with their pretty Thai consorts, or going into massage parlours.  We had a look at the beach packed with umbrellas.

But we soon got tired of being accosted by every street hawker pestering us to buy DVDs, massages or tuk tuk rides.  We were poring over our map wondering where a decent shopping area was when a tuk tuk driver offered help and pointed out the way to us. We gratefully said we would  take his taxi back in an hour.

Julie found some casual sandal-type shoes, while Mal got accosted while looking at properties to buy and mentally converting 7 million baht for a one bed apartment into $ (250,000).  “You wish to buy?”. “No thanks, just looking.” “You wish to rent?”. “No thanks, just looking.” “You wish to…?”, “‘bye.” 

We walked back along the beach to get some relief from the hawkers, and  found our tuk tuk man as agreed at 4.30pm and enjoyed the trip back south through the various shopping/restaurant  strips.  Cost 500 baht including tip, = $A17.  We were pleased to get back to our much quieter and up-market area.

Back into the swimming pool for a swim and read until 6.15, and then another shower before walking back up and over the hill to Kata beach for dinner at the Two Hats restaurant.  In some places on this road there is little or no footpath, so all the bikes and cars passing close by keep the adrenaline up on the there and back, at least there was plenty of street lights.

Bangkok to Phuket

It was an early start to the day at 6 am to get to the airport for a 10 am flight to Phuket.  We looked at the options of getting to the airport, taxi or train, and opted for the train.  We could have taken a taxi which would have cost about the same as the train, but with the traffic we did not know how long it would take.  We pulled our suitcases the short walk to the Skytrain and used the escalator to go up the 3 floors to the train.  We only had to go 1 station to the Airport Train station so we were there in plenty of time for the 8 am Express train that only took 20 minutes to the airport.

The flight from Bangkok to Phuket took about an hour and 15 minutes, and then we met the car that we had organised, and it was another hour to the other end of the island.  Our hotel is on a headland overlooking the Kata Noi Beach which is a stretch of nice white sand.  The hotel is absolutely spectacular and our room has an amazing view of the beach.

 

We walked to the town of Kata for lunch and then looked around the town quickly, but there isn’t much to see other than beach, lots of restaurants and tourist shops. 

 

 

Back to the hotel to change and go to the beach for a swim in the unbelievable warm water.  It was lovely!  Then we laid on the lounges belonging to the hotel before returning to the hotel for a swim in one of the three pools, and a bit more lazing around. 

Then we went to the restaurant for dinner which was superb, but we have to stop eating so much.

Bangkok day 4 – to River Kwai and Tiger Temple

Up early again to head north west with our guide Santhana and the same driver.  Weather was cloudy which we hoped would keep the heat down a little, which probably was the case.  We drove for about 2.5 hours to the River Kwai where we caught a long boat to the bridge.  Before the boat though we had a little time to look at a small museum on the banks of the river, which featured a replica POW bamboo hut with old POW photos and drawings and mid-80’s newspaper clippings with reunion stories, a few of which featured ‘Weary’ Dunlop.  Then on to the boat to see some nice views

and to zoom down to the famous bridge, which was much smaller than we had expected, and in a location bearing little resemblance to that depicted in the film. 

We also hadn’t expected one end to be in the middle of a town. 

We had a walk halfway along the bridge, then back to the town end to go to a floating restaurant.  Great location, food not quite up to the high standard we have found on this trip.

By now it was after 1pm, and time for a short drive to the Kanchanaburi war cemetery set in beautiful grounds.

Then a 45 minute drive north to the Tiger Temple, with showers threatening which never materialised.  The visit featured a short walk through monastery grounds, then through the man-made “Tiger Canyon” to a place with about 10 snoozing tigers.  Volunteers take your hand and rather forcefully direct you to a tiger where you are commanded to “sit” while another volunteer takes a picture or two, then on to the next tiger selected for you – 5 each all up.

 

Then on to see more animals, including a stop to pat a gorgeous 7 month old cub:

which refused to drink from its bottle:

We visited a large rock tiger enclosure, a cage with black Tibetan moon bears, and many buffalo waiting impatiently to be fed tapioca roots in bags on the back of a truck.  Also pigs in mud, and deer.  The story goes that in the early days of this place becoming an animal sanctuary, an injured pig was handed in, it was nursed back to health and released and then it came back the next day with 10 family members who never left.  The choice between poachers and Buddhist monks is pretty clear.

Final stage was the meditation block, where you can stay to learn to meditate with Buddhist monks while water buffalo wallow in the mud outside your window.

We left a little after 3pm with thunder sounding, then a long drive back to Bangkok which took 3 hours, not helped at one stage by a multiple truck pile-up which meant we only drove 38 kilometres in an hour.  There were some interesting things to see, such as monks on their way to meditation and trucks with colourful airbrushing:

 

 

Back to the room by 6.20pm after a fond farewell to Santhana who was an excellent guide.

Showers all round, then off to buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, followed by a quick drink in the bar courtesy of the hotel - escaping just before the DJ started up - then a coffee each in the lobby courtesy of us.

Some more animals, for Reilly:

 

 

 

Bangkok day 3 – rest day

A thunderstorm at 4.15am woke us up - welcome relief for the locals we suspect.  Up at 8.45am, skyped Laura who had told us that Reilly was keen to talk to Grandma and Pop, then down to a leisurely breakfast as today is a rest day for us.  Then to the pool to read the local newspaper and our books, and a swim or two in the refreshing water, with the BTS trains heading past.

Left there around 1.30pm and caught the train around to the mega shopping complexes where we had a nice Subway lunch of tuna and salad rolls – a light break from all this delicious ethnic food we have been ingesting recently.  Then we spent the afternoon wandering the shops and having some success with finding the various items on the list, including a watch for Julie.

Time for a coffee, then a bit more of a wander and off to the 56^th floor of the Centara Grand hotel, part of a nearby convention centre, for happy hour and a view of the setting sun. 

Cloud formed ominously to the west and we thought we would miss the sun, however it broke through a triangular frame of cloud:

 There were some nice views of Bangkok to be had.

 

Then dinner at a restaurant in one of the shopping complexes before strolling home in the slightly less muggy heat just before 9pm.  Up early tomorrow to go to River Kwai.

Bangkok Day 2 – Ayutthaya Tour

We were picked up at our hotel at 8.30am and driven north for about an hour towards the ancient city of Ayutthaya, where the temples and ruins have been declared a World Heritage Site.  Before getting there we visited the Summer Palace in Bang Pa which has beautiful extensive grounds, and the buildings and gardens have a distinct feeling of Europe.

The palace is rarely used by the current King, so it is open to tourists to look around.   There is a Chinese-style royal palace and residence, a brightly painted lookout tower and many ponds.  It was also a bit cooler here probably due to all the gardens and water.

 

 

 

Then we went by a “Flying Fox” basket to visit Wat Nived which is a gothic inspired Buddhist temple, with stained glass Buddha, on the banks of the Chao Praya River (the same one that winds its way through Bangkok). 

 

 

 

Then it was off to the city of Ayatthaya for an authentic Thai lunch on the banks of the Chao Praya.  There was a cooling breeze on the balcony overlooking the river, but Mal’s watch was saying that it was 36 C, so very hot.  This photo from the restaurant shows the common sight of poor residences next to expensive looking Buddhist temples.

Today at least we were travelling in an air conditioned van and had an endless supply of cold water and cold towels to help cope with the heat.  Santana our tour guide again said that April is the hottest month in Thailand, and today must have been around 37-38 maximum.

Finally we went to the ruined temples that had been ransacked by the Burmese in the 15th century, and they were really amazing.   There are several leaning towers and walls of Ayutthaya that are still defying gravity, and there are rows of headless Buddhas.  There is also a tree that has grown around a head that belongs to the Buddha in the back of the photo.

 

Then we visited elephants where you could ride them if you wanted to, but we thought it was far too hot today. 

We then travelled about an hour and a half back to Bangkok through heavier traffic than in the morning, but it is still light as it is a Sunday.  We got back to the hotel about 4 pm with lots of intentions to go for a swim, but there were no vacant chairs around the quite small pool so we sat in our air conditioned hotel suite and read the papers.  Very relaxing.  Back to the food court in the nearby shopping centre again for tea.