Hi Folks
I left the last post on a bit of a cliff hanger.....did i get the job or didn't I? Well, I'll let you know about that a bit later on, in the meantime I've got a trip to Thailand to tell you about which is far more interesting.
We'd spend a lot of time in SE Asia between 1999 - 2008 but we hadn't been back since. After lots of trips exploring India in the intervening years, we decided it was time to re-visit Thailand and have a complete rest on one of the wonderful beaches.
We flew direct to Bangkok with Eva Air on 20th December which was all very good, and we pitched up at Silom City Hotel which is a great mid-priced place in the heart of everything but well away from the Khao San Road (awful backpacker place best to be avoided). We had a top floor room with an amazing view of the city skyline.
I left the last post on a bit of a cliff hanger.....did i get the job or didn't I? Well, I'll let you know about that a bit later on, in the meantime I've got a trip to Thailand to tell you about which is far more interesting.
We'd spend a lot of time in SE Asia between 1999 - 2008 but we hadn't been back since. After lots of trips exploring India in the intervening years, we decided it was time to re-visit Thailand and have a complete rest on one of the wonderful beaches.
We flew direct to Bangkok with Eva Air on 20th December which was all very good, and we pitched up at Silom City Hotel which is a great mid-priced place in the heart of everything but well away from the Khao San Road (awful backpacker place best to be avoided). We had a top floor room with an amazing view of the city skyline.
We had three days scampering around this crazy wonderful city refreshing our memories of how things tick along in Thailand. One of the first stops had to be a meal in the street market just by the hotel, delicious Tab Tim (a large grilled fish covered in salt), with Som Tam (green papaya salad) & rice. Oh yes, it's good to be back in Thailand, the food is so fresh and healthy.
It can be a bit difficult getting around Bangkok, sometimes you flag down a taxi and the drivers simply refuse to take you where you want to go because of the traffic! Of course there's always a Tuk Tuk driver lurking offering to take you anywhere for an amazingly cheap price, but he'll take you to several shopping places en route where he'll get petrol vouchers just for getting you through the door, a well known scam. We found the best way to get around was by local ferry 15 Bhat (30P) for any trip along the busy Chao Phraya river, Skytrain, Underground train or walking!
It can be a bit difficult getting around Bangkok, sometimes you flag down a taxi and the drivers simply refuse to take you where you want to go because of the traffic! Of course there's always a Tuk Tuk driver lurking offering to take you anywhere for an amazingly cheap price, but he'll take you to several shopping places en route where he'll get petrol vouchers just for getting you through the door, a well known scam. We found the best way to get around was by local ferry 15 Bhat (30P) for any trip along the busy Chao Phraya river, Skytrain, Underground train or walking!
The view from Golden Mount Buddhist Temple & then later we walked to the Sikh temple.
There are street markets everywhere in Bangkok and the one closest to the Sikh temple has more Indian stall holders and shops than Thai. We couldn't resist calling into a cafe for a Lassie & a Ladoo, almost forgetting which country we were in. In amongst the tightly packed walkways, we stumbled across a wool & sewing shop, an Aladdin's cave of wonderfulness. I couldn't resist choosing a few fluorescent colours and a crochet hook with a view to leaving a little yarnbomb somewhere along the way.
Once we'd acclimatised to the 30 degree heat (lush) and the 7 hour time difference, we were ready to hit the beach and took an internal flight down to Krabi town on the South West coast. Bit of a different skyline down here, it's all limestone karsts jutting out of the sea, & mangroves. Cloudy, thundery skies too but still lovely and hot. From Krabi we could take the Ko Lanta ferry to Ko Jum, our chosen island retreat. By this time it was Christmas Eve and we did feel a little like we were "following the herd down to Greece, on holiday". After an hour of sitting on deck catching the occasional glimpse of flying fish, the ferry stops quite a way off shore and long tails boats chug out to meet us and take us into our resorts. All very easy and now it's time to relax and enjoy the beach.