garyandlinda – Page 4 – saskatoonie.com

October 23, 2022October 23, 2022

Bukit Bintang

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We left Saskatoon at 5:30 pm October 19, 2022. We had 3 flights, Saskatoon to Vancouver, Vancouver to Manila and Manila to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Total flight time about 20 hours. We arrived at KLIA airport around noon October 21. That is 10 pm October 20 in Saskatoon. Just under 30 hours from home airport to Kuala Lumpur airport, that doesn’t include the time we spent checking in or getting transported into Kuala Lumpur, approximately 43 KM, about a 1 hour drive.

Once we got through immigration we found our suitcases at the luggage carousel. Gary’s had some minor damage, we need to find some 2 part epoxy glue. We brought some crazy glue with us for emergencies. The glue job looks ok but it will never hold.

Before leaving the airport we bought Umobile brand sim cards for both phones. The cost of 50 MYR (Malaysian Ringit) is $14.40 CAD which gives us unlimited data and unlimited voice calling in Malaysia for one month. When we renew for the second month it will be less. Sweet deal!

The young lady at the Umobile helped us get a private vehicle from the airport to our hotel. The driver’s name was Kamal and he was a wealth of information. Gas in Malaysia is 2.10 MYR a mere 61 cents CAD per litre. No wonder the cost of our airport transfer was $23. CAD, half the cost of an airport taxi. We rode in a recent model Honda sedan which was very roomy.

We are staying at the Swiss Garden Hotel, Bukit Bintang. Once we got checked in we both showered and brushed our teeth – absolute best feeling after very long travel days! Although we were exhausted we found our way to Jalan Alor, a famous street food market. We thought we’d head to a Mexican restaurant we’d enjoyed on our previous travels but got enticed into another restaurant where we enjoyed chicken satay, vegetarian spring rolls and a couple of cold beer. The staff were great and we enjoyed chatting with them. The funny thing about this restaurant, The Grand Sky Restaurant, we had eaten very near here in 2016. After looking at our photos on the phone, our waiter said the owner had sold the place across the street because of the pandemic (where our picture was taken in 2016). That owner then bought the place where we were eating now.

We had been seated at one of the street side tables but when the rain arrived we moved inside! By the time we left it was dark and we added a couple extra blocks to our walk home after taking a wrong turn! We felt like walking zombies. Once back at the hotel it was time for another quick shower before we fell into bed! You’d think we’d sleep like the dead but our bodies still are figuring out the time change and we both made multiple trips to the bathroom through the night and woke up multiple times. It will take a few days to get our internal clocks reset!

Saturday, October 22

Our hotel room includes a free buffet breakfast. We had cappuccinos and all sorts of interesting Malaysian food both hot and cold. The oddest thing was yellow watermelon which tasted just like the red watermelon.

We walked down the street to get our bearings in the daylight. It was sunny, humid and perfect 30º weather. We have never stayed in this area before so we found it a bit confusing. The streets of KL are twisting around hills and through tunnels. You can see buildings ahead but you can’t just walk directly to them. We headed to the Kuala Lumpur Eco park and when we got there we discovered the gates locked. Closed for 2 days. Not sure why, plus all their signs were in Malaysian. We will go back another day. We walked back to Jalan Alor, the street food market in search of a drink. We passed the side street with some amazing street art. Whole buildings are painted with murals. The picture at the top of this page was one of the murals on an apartment building. It really cleans up the local neighbourhood.

tWe purchased 2 dragon fruit bowls 5 MYR ($1.44 CAD) each and 2 freshly juiced pineapple juice 8 MYR ($2.30 CAD) each for a lunchtime snack. Total approx. $7.50 CAD. We ate the fruit in our room. We have already logged 5.6 KM just walking around getting our bearings.

Back in our room we cooled off and did some research on finding GoPro batteries and planning our next few days of city touring. We need to figure out the MTR subway and monorail so we can get around faster. We also got both our our phones equipped with the Grab app and our credit cards loaded to pay for Grab rides. The cost is very affordable to take Grab rides around town.

After a rest in the afternoon we got ready to go out for supper. We went to lock our safe and the battery was dead so that took an extra half hour to have the safe expert come and diagnose the safe with a little hand held computer.

By the time we left we were already exhausted. The 15 minute walk got our blood flowing again and we ended up at the same place as the previous night, The Grand Sky Restaurant. First off we ordered drinks. Linda order Kedondong juice with sour plum and Gary ordered Calamansi juice with sour plum. They were refreshing. For supper Linda ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken, Gary decided on Kungpow Chicken. They were both really good. Total was 78 MYR about $22.50 CAD. It would have been less but we ended up with beer before we were done.

Of course it started raining after we arrived for supper, we watched people walking by in rain coats and with umbrellas. We were dressed in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. The air was warm and wet. Lots of people here wear masks outdoors. We’re a little more brave than that. I guess if you are shoulder to shoulder there might be some rational for masks but no thanks. We used our umbrellas we bought the previous night to keep us dry on our walk back to the hotel. Our total distance walked today was 7.2KM.

April 11, 2022April 11, 2022

Oasis Yoga Bungalows

Welcome to the Oasis!

We spent 9 weeks in one place. Oasis Yoga Bungalows was home from January 21, 2022 to March 28, 2022. This place really is an OASIS! We goofed up by not doing an interior video tour of our bungalow. We can tell you it had a big (huge) bed, a small fridge, an air conditioner which did a great job keeping us cool and of course a bathroom with shower. The shower also had hot water. There was a wardrobe to hang our clothes and shelving to stack a few things on. We also had a desk, chair and bug zapping electric bug swatter.

More about Oasis. They don’t use plastic. No plastic chairs, only real bamboo! They have a compost area where we could dispose of our fruit peelings. On arrival, we were given two metal water bottles that we could refill at the “water cooler”. No plastic bottles. NO PLASTIC BOTTLES! That is an amazing accomplishment! We also had free coffee and tea all morning with the supplied French coffee press to make our own coffee. The truth is, by 10am it’s too hot to drink coffee with out causing hot flashes.

The Oasis owners are a couple of American women. Not mentioning any names here, but one does (with us at least) all of the correspondence for bookings etc. The other is the yoga expert! She has a following across the area and you will see the coolest yoga studio in the video below.

In our video we mention that the skies opened up to fill the pool and water plants, but when that doesn’t happen on time there is a maintenance guy that fixes, waters and cleans the pool. The pool is immaculate! The pool gets pretty warm from the sun and the fact there is no algae in the pool is proof it is well maintained.

The front desk is usually attended by Nook who speaks good English. She is the person we usually dealt with on a daily basis. She also spearheads a cool environmental project in Koh Lanta to recycle plastic. That is no easy task. Check out her website: nooksecofactory

Or if that link doesn’t work, the Thai version can be found here.

Not to overlook the Oasis Restaurant staff who we interacted with every day, they were all great. The same with the cleaning staff that managed to clean and restock our rooms behind our back most of the time. The staff were all great!

When we weren’t at the beach or in the pool, we were sitting on our little deck on the front of our bungalow. We both marvelled at the trees and flowers, bougainvillea bushes, palm trees and all of the other shrubs and trees many of which had flowers. Funny thing, some trees had no leaves, just flowers. One tree went from autumn colours on half the leaves when we arrived to full on green with small flowers when we left. The exact opposite of what we expected. We’ve never stayed in one spot so long so it was interesting to see the changes both in the landscaping at the resort and also at the beach.

Oasis Yoga bungalows, See you next season!

April 1, 2022April 1, 2022

Going Home

April 1st is a long day!

We checked out of our hotel around 8 pm March 31, according to Air Canada we should have been at the airport by the time we left the hotel. When we got dropped off at the airport by the taxi ( ฿400 about $15 CAD) we ran inside to get out of the heat. Fully dressed in long pants, socks and shoes for the first time in months. When we looked for the JAL check in desk number we had trouble finding the flight because our flight departure was the next day. The flight finally showed up and we were off to desk “P” where Japan Airlines flight 718 was taking check-ins and luggage drop off. We waited quite a long time for the guy ahead of us to get processed. Once we stepped forward it was like the Spanish Inquisition. The fact we had completed the web check in and uploaded all our documents and they were approved, we still had to show paper copies of our vaccine information. When you look on the ArriveCan app, it shows our passports have already been designated as belonging to fully vaccinated owners. As far as the ArriveCan app goes, its a mess. When we attempted to put our flight in the previous night, while drinking a beer, the app led us to believe we would require COVID test to leave Thailand. We clicked through accepting quarantine and all these questions about where we planned to quarantine. Finally the app spit out a QR code with approval. No test required at this point, maybe at Vancouver. Who knows.The app actually asks you to pre-book an arrival test. We’ll see how that works out.

We were shocked at how busy the Bangkok airport was compared to when we arrived Jan. 8. They are busy re-opening shops and getting them set up. Social distancing was pretty much impossible, we put our medical grade N95 masks on and are hoping for the best!

Our flight from Bangkok to Tokyo was late leaving. Apparently there were issues with loading of some cargo. We made it to Tokyo’s Narita airport where we and all of the other transfer passengers were allowed to de-plane first. People arriving to stay in Japan were held back. We saw a huge area of chairs lined up in rows, like what they did in Phuket. Guessing there is an arrival testing program in Japan. There was a ton of paperwork handed out on the flight that those staying in Japan had to complete.

We arrived at Narita terminal 2 and required a bus trip to Terminal 1. Terminal 1 is fully open except for everything that involves the one thing people need to survive. Food.

We bought a can of iced coffee for about $2 CAD and tested it, then we bought another, so we both had drinks. A purchase of a few nuts got us through breakfast. The plane had served salmon rice congee. That’s rice porridge, with a bit of shredded salmon on top. It was ok (says Gary), especially when the dessert got opened up. Strawberry yogurt with a huge strawberry and another dish of watermelon and fruit.

Once we got to Terminal one we walked to our gate, then all around the terminal. By the time we got back to the departure gate for Air Canada flight 4 to Vancouver we had put on 3 km.

The washrooms here are amazing. Bum washing toilet seats and a place to leave your child securely sitting inside the stall. There’s disinfectant and instructions on how to disinfect your toilet seat. Push a button and warm water shines up your tush. This is pretty much normal in Asia, from this high tech system here in Japan to less advanced spray systems in all of Thailand. North America had a lot to learn!

We board at 16:05 that’s 4:05 pm, as of this moment we have 2 hours to sit. We’ll upload this blog post and that will be it until we get home later today, in about 17 hours. April 1 is a long day for us, we are packing in an extra day due to crossing the international date line going east. We lost the same amount of time on the way to Thailand, it’s only fitting we get it back!

We have so much video from our trip that we just could not deal with because of the length of time it takes for processing. We plan to get more Thailand blog posts and YouTube videos out in the near future. We should arrive home around 4:30 pm today, April 1. It’s still 11 pm March 31 at home and noon April 1st in Bangkok. Not sure what time our body thinks it is at the moment, our sleep patterns will be totally messed up by the time we get home.

March 31, 2022March 31, 2022

Back in Bangkok

Heading home!

The title above, “Back in Bangkok” means only one thing, we are on our way home. We will leave Bangkok at 00:25 April 1, 2022 which, by the way is the first day we can come back to Canada without a COVID test. Yipee! We did NOT plan to be so lucky, or have the foresight to know that the Government of Canada would finally get on board with the rest of the world for fully vaccinated travellers.

March 28 - Travel Day

Today, March 28, we travelled from Koh Lanta to Krabi (city) with Mun Lanta transport in a pimped out van. Yes, just Linda and Gary in this large comfortable van. Mun’s dropped us off at Krabi International Airport with perfect timing. We flew from Krabi to Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. The flight was with Thai Air Asia, a discount airline. The price we paid for the 2 of us was just under ฿4000. That’s only $148 CAD for both of us including each of our suit cases that weigh between 20 and 22 KG. Our flight was about 690 km and would be similar to a flight between Saskatoon and Calgary. Imagine being able to fly from Saskatoon to Calgary on an A320 jet, just over an hour long flight for $75 CAD each. This is why Thailand is so popular with tourists. Many of the islands and tourist hot spots are within a short and affordable flight.

We were the first 2 people off our flight to arrive at the baggage carousel. Long legs! We grabbed our bags and checked out the cost of a taxi to the Rembrandt Suites and Hotel. ฿900 was the quote. You would pay the person inside the booth near the airport building exit. Gary checked on Grab and the price was less than half price. Both the taxi and Grab prices include a road toll charge of ฿100. We booked a Grab. By the time we found Exit 11 we had to wait less than 5 minutes for our Grab ride to arrive. The car ride took about 45 minutes. The traffic in Bangkok’s City Centre is terrible.

Please watch our video highlights of our trip below!

Our room, #324 is a Grand Suite that is located on the 32nd floor of the Rembrandt. We have a kitchen area, fridge, microwave, toaster, kettle and plates, pots etc. There is a dining area, living room and a separate bedroom which is huge. The bathroom is located at the far end of the bedroom. We have a huge in-room safe, something that should be in every hotel room. Many lock boxes won’t hold a laptop, this one would hold a desk top computer tower.

You can see the view from our 32nd floor room and the suite at the Rembrandt in the video below.

For our first night in Bangkok we walked to Charley Brown’s Mexican Restaurant. We drank a few, actually quite a few beer, ate nachos, tacos and shared a taco salad. One of our most expensive meals at about $55 CAD. Even with happy hour prices the beer was expensive, ฿80 each about $3 CAD. We sat outside and met a couple of guys sitting at the next table. They both spoke perfect English, like they were from Canada! Turns out they have lived all over the world working in hospitality. The one guy was from India, so we quizzed him on the best Indian restaurants in the area. He recommended Amritsr Indian Restaurant.

On the walk back to the hotel, about 1km away, Gary smacked his foot. Wearing flip flops can be painful!. He’s now sporting a bandage on his big toe!

The next morning we walked to the Emquartier and Emporium Malls located on either side of the BTS Sky train at the Phrom Phong station. The malls are all high end shops and selling items we have no desire to buy. Before entering the overly air conditioned mall, we stopped for a very expensive cappuccino at an outdoor patio area shaded by very tall buildings. Almost $10 CAD later we headed into the mall. Searching for some extra bandages and medical tape, we finally gave up and wandered through a nearby park.

It was very hot by then. We tried to take a short cut back to our hotel but ended up walking farther. We did find a pharmacy on our detour and bought some bandages and medical tape. We also found our favourite beer, Tiger brand, at the nearby 7-Eleven, and a small bag of chips to build our already massive thirst. We had already shared a large bottle of cold water walking back from the mall. There are 7-Eleven stores every block or two. Some do NOT sell Tiger beer. Actually most 7-Eleven stores don’t sell Tiger beer!! We’ve enjoyed a few cold beer in our room. The condensation on the cans or glasses is crazy. You have a large puddle no matter how quickly you drink your beer. We had a chuckle after we wiped off the table to find there was condensation on the underside of the glass tabletop as well!

We did scope out the Amritsr Indian Restaurant, it is a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

After 6 pm we returned to Amristr and ordered Amritsari Chole, a spicy and delicious chickpea dish that is very popular in Amritsar, Punjab area, also Chicken Tikka, Bhaji mixed Padoka, and Garlic Naan. Total including bottled water, 10% service charge and 7% GST was ฿958 about $36 CAD. A bit expensive but very good with perfect spicy heat. We knew it was going to be a bit pricey, it was definitely worth the price. This actually was our first indoor restaurant meal in 2022. The restaurant has google reviews as the top Indian restaurant in Bangkok.

March 24, 2022March 24, 2022

Rain and Heat

Over the past few weeks...

Over the past 2 weeks we have had several days with rain during the afternoon. It’s been very humid and sunny most mornings but eventually a thundershower breaks out and the sky opens. The downside is an increase in mosquitos that can carry dengue fever, also the risk of washing the sweat and sand off in a refreshing downpour. We are more worried about mosquito bites than covid-19 although there is some of that around here too, same as at home.

We eventually had a stretch of very hot weather. Almost too hot. If we didn’t have a pool, an ocean and an air conditioned bungalow it would definitely be too hot. It seems some of the rain events are happening later at night. One day at supper when we walked down the beach with umbrellas and got soaked going to the restaurant. Our shorts got soaked, in fact everything south of shoulder height got wet. Other nights we may get threatening clouds, lightning and only a few drops, or it rains overnight. Whatever the weather, the humidity is between 60% and 90%. This is tropical heat and humidity. The weather that gives you ear aches because your ears never dry out. We rinse our ears out with a mixture 50/50 of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar. It kills germs and drys the ear canal.

Thankfully, the last 3 days have been very hot and sunny with no rain. The humidity and heat can drive you to drink beer before noon if you aren’t careful. Most days we lube up with Banana Boat SPF 30 Sport from a 314 ml bottle which cost us about $10 CAD back home. We only use the Shiseido SPF 42 made especially for faces on our faces. We are on our 4th bottle of Shiseido which is about $40 CAD per bottle and holds 30ml. 30 ml is 1 fluid ounce. That’s works out to about $200,000 CAD per barrel. Compare that to Western Canadian Select crude oil at $100/BBL, Shiseido is a bargain. Yes BBL is the official abbreviation for barrel. The key point is we need to get to the beach by 10 am or it gets too hot. We walk about 2 hours and swim about 2 or 3 times, mostly depending on how we feel. Lately the ocean has been so warm we wonder if someone left the heater on. Seriously it is amazing how warm the ocean is, and how clear the water is. We haven’t seen the dreaded jelly fish for over 3 weeks. What’s even more amazing is how warm the Oasis swimming pool gets from the sun. The pool is not artificially heated. It’s definitely warmer than the ocean too.

Lately we have managed about 6 km of beach walking daily. It is about 200 steps to the beach from Oasis Bungalows. The walkway comes out onto the beach around the centre of this huge flat crescent shaped beach. We leave our flip flops and Linda’s sarong high up on the beach and head out for our walk. We walk one way to the end, walk back the other way to the other end, then back to the starting point, pick up the sarong and go back down the beach about 400 metres to the Easy Bar Restaurant. They already know what we are going to order, 2 passion fruit smoothies, no sugar and no milk. ฿140 about $5.35 CAD. They are so good!

When we first started walking the beach we carried our flip flops. That soon got old. We decided if someone was going to swipe them, we would deal with it. After over 60 walks, our stuff is always there when we come back. We also leave our little waterproof bag on the beach when we swim. It has Gary’s phone, GoPro and a small amount of money. While we do keep an eye out for it while swimming, it has always been safe. Basically there are very few people on the beach. Thais are honest, and so it seems are most tourists.

The last several days we have been trying to shoot video of this tiny bird building a nest in the Bougainvillea bush next door. It’s not easy with a GoPro because it doesn’t have a telephoto lens. The GoPro camera gets hot because of the outdoor temperature and shuts off automatically. We did manage to get a few good shots of video but we really needed a tripod to get the perfect position. We managed to borrow a tripod and haven’t seen the bird since. It seems the 2 birds are hiding. When they finally showed up, we had no luck getting video. Sunscreen or greasy fingers on the lens one day and no birds the next. The video below is the best we can do!

We’ve been here 2 months and when we come into our bungalow with the air conditioning set at 30ºC it actually feels cold. One day the high was 35ºC but cooled off in the evening by 9 pm to 27ºC but felt like 32ºC with 92% humidity. The next day’s forecast was 34ºC and the next day 36ºC. Apparently, so we have been told by locals that it becomes unbearably hot here in April and May. Meanwhile back home it is colder than one would expect with global warming.

There are many resorts here that have no guests or even worse only 1 or 2 guests. With no guests you can at least turn off the lights. There are 2 places here in Koh Lanta that are fully booked. At least for now. The place we are staying, “Oasis Yoga Bungalows” and the other place Swedes also flock to “Slow Down”. It’s truly amazing how these 2 places have managed to keep their resorts nearly full. Part of the success is pricing, but it’s also the facilities they provide. We have a yoga studio here that draws in people to both stay and come just for yoga. We also have a beautiful swimming pool, and beautifully manicured grounds including 2 shade areas near the pool with matts to lay on and chill. There are hammocks too! While this is the first time we have stayed at “Oasis Yoga Bungalows”, there are many guests here for the second, third, fourth or even fifth time. All this while 90% of resorts on Koh Lanta are empty. Go figure! The restaurant here at Oasis has quality food too. The perfect menu for health conscious and hungry people, they sure know how to keep the guests happy. Lunch time is usually packed in the restaurant. Oasis Yoga Bungalows are pretty much fully booked for the next winter season already! Thankfully, we have our name on the list!

March 24

This week several long-stay Swedes left for home. We have slowly got to know some of them pretty well. Our turn to leave Koh Lanta is Monday March 28. We have a ride booked to Krabi (town), not to be confused with Krabi province, which Koh Lanta and Krabi the town also reside. From Krabi airport we fly to Bangkok’s second airport, Don Mueang International Airport, airport code DMK. Before Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport opened in 2006, Don Mueang was previously known as Bangkok International Airport. So we fly into DMK on Monday and fly out of Suvarnabhumi airport (code BKK) on Friday April 1, just after midnight. Yes 00:25 which means no bed Thursday night. We’ll fly to Japan Narita airport in Tokyo where we will wait for 8 hours. This is not quite what we signed up for when we bought our ticket in November. Our original flight was to depart Bangkok at 7:25 am and have a quick layover of 1 hour and 5 minutes in Tokyo. Seemed too good to be true. The new flight time is also on a different airline, so we really don’t know what the reason could be, but it may have something to do with very few passengers. In case you are wondering how do you pronounce Suvarnabhumi , that’s easy, its pronounced “soo·waan·aa·poom”. Don’t try to understand Thai words written in the English alphabet.

We are still getting thunderstorms many evenings, with or without rain. Rest assured the humidity has not gone away. Tonight at supper, 7:30pm it was 28º with 87% humidity, feeling like 31º. Currently at 11:30 pm it’s 25º and 94% humidity. We had thunder and lightning for at least 4 hours. We’re just getting ready for bed and there’s still thunder. It did rain, but nothing like you would expect from a 4 hour thunderstorm. We ate at SoGood Restaurant on the beach, we worried we might get wet with the amount of lightning we could see. There was a beautiful breeze off the ocean but it never did rain during our meal. Once back at our bungalow, we changed into our swim suits and jumped in the pool. We just stood in the pool and watched the lightning show to the north, it eventually got to the point that we cooled off enough to get out, or maybe it was the lightning that chased us out of the pool, but it never rained until we were inside. Our air conditioner is set to 28ºC for the night, it’s time for bed.

March 13, 2022March 13, 2022

Lanta Old Town

Day 2 with a rental car

After eating breakfast our destination was Old Town which is south of here and on the East side of the island. It faces toward the mainland. Where we are in Klong Dao we face West which is great for sunsets. We were down in Old Town several years ago and it is a cool spot for a visit. While it is only 14 km away it takes about 25 minutes or more to get there. It didn’t help that we got started and soon realized we had forgotten our masks!! So a quick turn around and a few minutes later we were back to Oasis Bungalows, grabbed our masks and got back on the road.

Many years ago Koh Lanta’s Old Town was an important port and commercial centre for the island. It provided a safe stopping place for vessels sailing between Phuket Thailand, Penang Malaysia and Singapore

We arrived in Old Town at the iconic pier. The drive was good except for a bit of road construction, but nothing major. We parked near the pier in a shady area. We were lucky enough to find a spot under the trees. We wandered down the pier and watched a guy fishing off the pier with a net. At the end of the pier is a large area where people can wait for the ferry. Two ladies were sitting there and pointed out the monkey sitting up on one of the rafters. We did see they had a trap set out on the roof, we assume it was to try and catch the monkey as he makes a terrible mess tearing through the garbage cans on the pier. The monkey seems to be wise to the trap as he gave it a wide berth.

At the shore beside the pier a pirate style sailboat sits grounded on the beach. The ship named Rawi Warin Grand Ship was used to take tourists around the island of Koh Lanta. It was damaged in 2020 during bad weather.

From the pier we wandered back down the main street with many over-the-water restaurants and shops. We checked out a number of the shops and stopped at Grandma’s House for a passion fruit smoothie. Phil, one of the other guests at Oasis, told us to check it out. Apparently he orders donuts from them sometimes. When we asked her if she had donuts today she said, “oh, you must be friends with Phil!!”

From Old Town we headed back to Saladan and made our way to the Lanta Mart where we picked up two cases of Tiger beer. We like Tiger beer best but for whatever reason it is hard to find. One of the restaurants on the beach that we really like has Tiger beer on the menu. So far they are the only restaurant we have found with Tiger! The gal there just said she buys it in Saladan but wouldn’t tell us where, basically she said come here to have beer!! Anyway, this past week we hiked into town and found some cases of the large bottles of Tiger beer at Lanta Mart. We bought one case and got a tuk tuk back to the hotel. So while we had the car we thought it would be a great time to pick up some more. We were able to get two more cases but that’s all they had. We ended up getting another case across town at Mother Marche’s, another grocery store. A few days ago while walking around in town we found an Indian restaurant, the Maharaja Indian Restaurant. We decided to go there for supper while we had use of the car. It was also raining. We had a great Indian meal there. The food quality was great and portions were much better than at Heama (Indian Restaurant) where we have eaten in the past. We’ll likely go back to Maharaja again a few more times!

We had to top off the car gas tank to 7/8 before turning the car in the next morning. We put in 15L but should likely have only put in 10. It is always a guessing game to know exactly how much you need to put in. We are pretty sure they made a little extra on the gas. Gas prices here in Koh Lanta are comparable to back home in Saskatoon. While most things here in Thailand are cheaper, gas is expensive by comparison.

We used the GoPro as a dash cam here in Thailand. It’s our proof in case of accident. We pieced together our trip to Old Town mostly in fast motion, added some music and loaded it on our YouTube channel. Please watch and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

We used to allow comments on our blog. We had to stop comments because of all the spammers. The same thing happens when you put your email address on a web page. If you would like to contact us, we have a hint in the image below.

February 25, 2022February 25, 2022

We got Wheels

Time to Tour Koh Lanta

We got a bit behind with our blog. We had to rent a car to get caught up! Wednesday, February 23 we rented a car for two days.

Kate at Oasis, where we are staying, arranged for a car rental to be brought to us. The guy arrived promptly at 9 am and we had Gary’s passport and info ready for him. Gary and the rental guy checked out the car and noted any scratches or imperfections, he said take all the pictures you want. Basically it is for our protection and his that we agreed on the condition of the car when rented. He noted Gary’s passport number on the form and he also took the photocopy we had of his passport. He then told us multiple times we had to leave the passport with the front desk at the hotel. He finally stood at the front desk with us until we handed it over to Kate. When he left we put it in our safe. We have the car for two full days and they will be back Friday morning at 9:14 to pick it up. It cost us ฿2400 $95. CAD for two days. We were basically packed up and ready to head out after we got the car.

From the hotel we headed into Saladan and across the bridge to the north island. It was a really interesting drive, the highway was impressive, wide with good shoulders that the motorbikes can drive on. They have some interesting road signs!

Drive on the left side! It should also say “Signal light lever on the right side of steering wheel”

Other guests had told us about a great batik store and so we made our way there. It was about a 20 minute drive. We arrived to find the shop and no one anywhere to be found. It was a fairly rural area with the shop on the side of the road. There was a covered area where there were several racks of sarongs and dresses hanging and more clothing in a small locked area as well. We finally found some contact info and Linda messaged them to see if anyone was around. They messaged back they were in Bangkok and wouldn’t be back until Thursday but if we were interested in anything to let them know and we could pay them Thursday when they were back, There were no prices on anything so in the end we messaged our thanks for the info and hit the road. We had noticed a nice coffee shop called Lanta’s Cafe on our way to the batik shop so we stopped on our way back and had an amazing cappuccino and a plate of French fries.

Lanta’s Cafe is literally located in the middle of nowhere.

FYI: geography class. Koh Lanta is actually two islands name Koh Lanta Noi and Koh Lanta Yai. Koh Lanta Noi is the north island, and separated from the south island by a nice bridge. The only way to connect to the mainland is via ferry from the north end of Lanta Noi.

Then we headed back to Lanta Yai and Saladan. From there headed south down the island. We drove by a number of beaches, Long Beach (Pra-Ae), Klonh Klong, and Klong Nin Beach. In Klong Nin we stopped and looked around. It is a gorgeous stretch of beach, no shade and lined with restaurants. There are occasional walk ways between buildings to the beach from the road. The easiest way to the beach was through some of the restaurants where you can sit under their umbrellas on the beach in front of their restaurant. As it was hot and sunny, we found a shady spot and had a passion fruit smoothie. The place is aptly named Beach Side Restaurant. The road side of this area reminds us of seasonal resort towns that you might find in Canada.

There is one person on a lounge chair in the centre of this picture.

Once we’d cooled off with our smoothie, we hit the road again and finally arrived at our destination, the Mu Ko Lanta National Park at the southern tip of Koh Lanta. It cost us ฿420 park fee admission. There is a visitor centre with a few displays regarding the area and marine life. There is also a small rocky island that you can access and climb up to the lighthouse and take in the impressive views.

Lighthouse on Southern tip of Koh Lanta Yai

Beyond the lighthouse there is this tempting trail. We didn’t go.

We spent quite a bit of time up there and then made our way back to the concession and bought an ice cream treat and a big bottle of water. There is also a hiking trail through the forest, it is approximately 2 km in length. We started out on the hike but the trail wasn’t great, we were climbing over roots and pushing branches out of the way plus it was pretty steep in spots. We finally decided that flip flops weren’t going to cut it and we turned back! Chatting with someone later they told us there really isn’t much to see, no lookout points or anything, just a long hike through the bush. Guess we really didn’t miss anything! By this time we were hot and sweaty and decided to head back to our hotel. We saw monkeys on the road!

As cute as these creatures are, be careful. Open your window for pictures and you may have an unhappy passenger looking for a hand out!

We also noticed a rubber tree plantation and had to investigate

We did stop along the ocean at the Family Seafood restaurant that is basically built on the side of a hill overlooking the ocean, The view was great and we enjoyed a cold drink and a tomato salad. The salad was ok but pretty heavy on garlic but we both just scrapped some of it off and managed fine. No vampires around us tonight!

This place gives “cat on a hot tin roof” a new meaning. We could feel the heat from the ceiling like a radiant heater.

We got back to Oasis about 4:30 and were happy to hit the swimming pool and cool down! Supper was back at the Pad Thai food cart!

Enjoy the Mu Ko Lanta National Park video below. To watch in full screen click bottom right corner of video or watch on YouTube

February 10, 2022February 11, 2022

Slow and Easy

Lanta life is good!

Yes we are still alive and well. We have been lazily enjoying our time in Koh Lanta. We usually go for a morning beach walk but today we hit the pool instead. Gary stepped on a shell or something and bruised his heel a few days ago. A few days of no bare feet on the beach will fix that.

We walk by these flowers every time we go to the beach. They were trying to establish these plants 2 years ago when we were here. They look great now!

Flowering trees and bushes are everywhere. We tend to take them for granted after a while. Beautiful!

Today we spent all day at the pool, most of it in the water. We visited with several of the local Swedes and saw one family leave Oasis for the journey home, albeit an indirect route home. They will be spending the next 10 days at Malee Highlands before heading home. While we have never been up there, it’s not far away. We need to get out more, maybe we’ll get our act together and rent a car. There’ is a whole Island that is only accessible by vehicle, much too far for us to walk! Actually, too far to go by tuk tuk too, we’ll need a car with air conditioning.

Best Pad Thai in Koh Lanta and likely the cheapest. Yes, you put on your own hot chili flakes.

Tonight we ate at the gal’s street food cart that sells Pad Thai. She has another vendor beside her selling mini waffles. It’s now a one stop shop. Supper and something sweet for dessert! Chicken Pad Thai – 2 for ฿100, lime soda – 2 for ฿40 and 3 mini waffles for ฿20. ฿160 is about $6.25 CAD. We were full. Gary talked to the waffle gal a bit, her English was really good. Gary said he doesn’t know how to take the head and legs off the shrimp. God, how embarrassing! So the waffle gal told the Pad Tai gal, so now everyone knows! We think the plan is that when he orders shrimp Pad Thai, there will be no head and hopefully no legs, provided nothing was lost in translation! It won’t be tomorrow as she is closed Fridays. I think we need to take the GoPro just in case. It could be entertaining. We likely won’t get there till Sunday as Saturday night Oasis Bungalows is holding an All You Can Eat Taco night that we have signed up for. We are looking forward to that.

Yesterday there were hundreds of jellyfish on the beach. One lady told Gary that they are safe. She was in the water with her little kid. Gary told her they do actually sting. Jellyfish get their prey with stings. While they may have a hard time finishing off a human, they definitely can ruin your day.

We found our first sand dollar ever on Klong Dao beach yesterday.

The reverse side. Already broken. Sand dollars are actually burrowing sea urchins. … And if you break open a sand dollar, five dove-shaped pieces emerge. Doves are often used in art and literature as a symbol of peace and goodwill.

Pineapple smoothie (left) Mango smoothie (right) Last night for supper at the Sisters Restaurant.

We both enjoyed sweet and sour chicken with rice at the Sisters Restaurant. This is one serving.

Two nights ago at Chef Chalong Restaurant, Gary enjoyed 7 huge shrimp. A few went missing before the picture.

February 2, 2022February 2, 2022

Lanta Life

Koh Lanta, the best kept secret in Thailand

The CDC now advises against travel to red list countries due to covid, Countries on the red list are Mexico, USA and Canada plus almost every place on earth. Thankfully Thailand is only an orange list country. So far we know of 2 separate cases of covid nearby here. Let’s face it, you only hear about it – much after the fact. Too late if you are not careful. We continue playing it safe.

We continue to walk on the beach every morning and read in the shade during the afternoon with splashes in the pool. We ate at Chef Chalong last night for the second time. Gary had pineapple rice with shrimp. He rated it 5 stars out of 5. Linda had Penang curry which Gary rated 3.5-4 out of 5. Linda had food envy! 4 out of 5 stars is still pretty good. Linda’s curry came with a plate of tomatoes, cucumbers green beans and some lettuce. The extras were great.

We finished off our meal with a complimentary fruit plate consisting of watermelon and pineapple.

We ended up visiting with the couple at the next table. They are from the German part of Switzerland. They told us about the proprietor of the bungalows where they are staying coming down with covid immediately before they arrived. The owner quarantined and the Swiss couple stayed somewhere else that was arranged for them while the lady recovered. After she recovered, the place was disinfected. You know, hazmat suits and foggers, like you may see on TV news from China.

We ended up having a long chat with the couple comparing notes on different travels over the years to Koh Lanta. Almost everyone we meet has been here before. This place is a favourite for anyone that has been here before. There is something about Koh Lanta that brings us all back. You aren’t going to read about this place anywhere else. It’s top secret!

When we got back from our 5-6 km walk this morning we spent some time in the pool and visited with a Swede that has been here since December. We learned a lot about the Swedish schools here. We still wonder why Canadians haven’t set up shop here. Partly we suspect is the distance between Thailand and Canada. From Scandinavian countries there are direct flights to Thailand, even to Krabi which is fairly close to Koh Lanta.

Supper tonight

Tonight we went for supper at E Chef Grill. It is operated by a couple from Poland. The food was both excellent and reasonably priced. Gary had red curry with shrimp. Rice is included in the price. Linda had Basil and Chill chicken with noodles. It was also excellent. The E Chef Grill have great food for taste, presentation and price. The place was super clean and modern and did we mention good Thai pricing. We spent ฿530 which is $20.25 which included 2 large 620 ml Leo (brand) beer that we shared. You can share beer here if you get glasses and obviously you need ice. Beer and ice you say? Absolutely!

While we were eating supper Gary checked the weather at home, then the weather here in Koh Lanta. They were the same, except the plus and minus. See below.

Interesting fact. On the way to supper tonight we walked past the place that we ate 2 nights ago by the name “James Ji Restaurant”. They were closed and had a sign that stated they are closed from Feb 2 until Feb 12, that’s 10 days. Ten days is the time required to quarantine in Thailand if you are vaccinated and become infected with covid. Oh Yay! Why after most places just opened would they close now? Rather suspect.

January 31, 2022January 31, 2022

Pizza Sunset

Plus 36º here beats minus 36º in Canada

Much of today was a repeat of our other days! We had a nice breakfast, lathered up with sun screen and went for a walk down the beach. From where we come out on the beach we headed south and walked as far as we could, made a U turn and ended up right back where we started. It was so hot by then we stopped and had a nice long swim. Once we’d cooled off, we headed north along the beach and walked as far as we could that way. Then back to where we started, another swim to cool off and then back to our bungalow. Altogether we walked over 7 km on the beach. We showered off, changed and recharged by drinking some some cold water! Then we headed out to the main street and tried out a new little ice cream shop. The ice cream was cold and sweet and enjoyable but not as tasty as “2 Scoops Gelato and Desserts”, the little shop we used to frequent when we where here other years. We’ve actually messaged with the owner a couple of times, he actually recommended we check out Oasis Yoga Bungalows where we are staying. He is still in Australia and hopes to reopen next year. Sure hope he does as he had amazing ice cream and gelato all made in house, lots with local fruit. We sat outside and ate our ice cream in the heat because the air conditioning in this new shop was not keeping up. The sign in the picture below was above our head marking the entrance of the Swedish School.

After our ice cream treat we walked south to a small shop where we can buy roasted cashew nuts. We enjoy them many days for a quick snack. We got a big bag and then hiked back to the 7-11 to pick up a few supplies and then farther north down the street to purchase more dragon fruit. We enjoy the fruit as a snack lots of days during the hottest part of the day. By the time we got back to our bungalow we’d walked another two km and were sweaty so we changed back into bathing suits, had a quick beer and then went for a dip in the pool. The pool water is pretty much the same temperature as the air temp but it still felt good.

Today hit 36 C and was a roasty, toasty day! About 5:30pm we headed out and went down to the beach and walked to the Costa Lanta Resort where they have a Wood Fired Pizza oven. The ambiance is great, it was a beautiful spot to sit and watch the sunset. The pizza was good, we ended up having a caprese pizza and then a veggie one. Gary liked the caprese one best, Linda liked the veggie. It was a gorgeous walk back to our bungalow in the dark after supper. All together we walked just over 10 km today which we felt was pretty good considering the temperature today! Today’s low tide was quite low. It was a long way to the water. According to the tide tables there was about 3 metres between high and low tide today. That’s a huge variation for such a flat beach. Another interesting fact, the sun rose at 6:43 am and the sun set at 6:31 pm. We had 11 hours and 48 minutes of sun today. The amazing thing is that even after the sun sets, it is still perfect weather for a tank top and shorts.