Thailand – Page 8 – saskatoonie.com

February 8, 2019February 9, 2019

Friday, February 08, 2019

Koh Lanta - Day 3

Every day we make notes for this blog, we need to look up the day and date to know where we are on the calendar. We had a great breakfast down the street. We ordered mango sticky rice and coffee.

We were full all day long except for a moment when we saw a bag of potato chips. They were balsamic vinegar, and they will be the last we eat (of that flavour) but did sound better than seaweed flavour.

We had to top up our cell phone data, that was more work than we expected. We went to the 7-11 and asked at the cashier, she pointed to the door. We were confused, a fellow English speaking person directed us to the ATM like machine outside. There we attempted to reload the phone. We could not get it to feed the paper bills into the machine, then we tried coins, no luck. We left and looked for another 7-11 and on the way we came across a mobile phone store. We ended up getting looked after there.

Off to the beach, on the way back to the hotel Linda bought a new wide brimmed sexy hat. It was 250 baht, about $10.00 CAD. We then stopped off at the hotel and picked up our air mattresses. They are a pain to haul around but its definitely nice once we hit the water. We started on the beach by our hotel but the wind was blowing the dry sand in our face so we walked about 1 km down the beach where the bay curves west and we get more protection from the wind. Eventually Gary went down towards the main road about 2 city blocks to buy smoothies. They are 1/2 the price of beach smoothies. He came back with 2 mango smoothies and a pomelo segmented and ready to eat. That was our afternoon snack. Mmmm. All of that for 120 baht or $5.00 CAD. They are getting to know us at that store, so far we have bought sunglasses for Linda, 2 smoothies on 2 different days and fruit. Gary asked how much for the pomelo and the young gal said 50 baht but for you 20 baht! OK, we are on the loyalty plan.

We are getting ready go for supper, and it feels like we both had enough sun for today. We might have to find shade tomorrow which is not an easy thing to find around here. The weather has been hot and sunny, sorry for all you people back home. Don’t forget we are heating our house just like you. Ok, that was insensitive! It is hot here, what can we say! Right now our biggest problem isn’t the cold weather it is who tracked the sand onto the bed?

We both showered and there is still fine sand! Our hotel Lanta at Home makes you take off your shoes at the street, the sand is a menace for everyone. We learned a trick, fold the duvet all the way to the headboard. Put the pillows on top when you sit on the bed the sand stays on top of the duvet and we just shake it off to get under the sheet. Not rocket science.

On the way to supper we stopped at an ATM and got baht. We ended up paying 220 baht for a ATM fee ($9.31 CAD), we took he maximum out which was 20,000 baht. Tangerine charged us $2.00 CAD and the total was $883.90. Just under 2% and credit cards are typically 2.5% surcharge on foreign exchange.

Tonight Linda had sweet and sour chicken with rice and Gary had yet another version of hot spicy chicken and cashew nuts with rice. We met a young couple from Denmark with 2 little kids, one, 8 months and the other, 4 years old. They’ll be in Thailand for 2 months on parental leave which is similar to maternity leave. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the ice cream store and we ran into the Danish couple also going for ice cream. It was pretty cute as the 4 year old was going to come and sit with us. Gary had showed her his “broken finger trick”.

Totally full and feeling over stuffed 🤮 we headed back to the hotel and purchased some beer to restock our fridge, we also bought aloe vera lotion and cheap sunglasses for Gary to wear in the ocean rather than his prescription ones. Both of our old cheap sunglasses for wearing in the water got broken recently so needed replacements. Linda got a bit too much sun today, Gary too but not as bad. We lathered with a newly purchased 30 SPF sunscreen this morning which maybe its not as good as our tried and trusted Banana Boat Sport that we typically use!

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019

Thursday February 07, 2019

Beach time Koh Lanta

Nothing exciting today other than the crap weather at home. We are on the opposite end of the spectrum, +33 C is much better than -43 C. We went for a walk before and after breakfast. Our room here in Koh Lanta does not include breakfast which sucks. We knew that when we booked, it was a matter of price and the need for a place with a room safe. Now we need to find food every morning before the beach. We went down the street and we each had 2 cups of coffee and a mango sticky rice (technically, coconut mango sticky rice). We were set for the day and only ate a few peanuts at the beach, drank some water and one pineapple smoothie each. After hiking all the way to a place we’d seen with economical smoothies we had to settle for pineapple as they were out of mangos! The pineapple smoothie was actually very refreshing.

Our hotel only offers eggs etc, fruit plates, corn flakes (milk costs extra). The servings of cornflakes would not keep a sparrow alive, they are the mini boxes you always wanted as a kid when camping! Gary could easily eat 3 or more of them. Our first morning we did eat here and spent just over $11 CDN on cereal and fruit so we are searching for other options now. It wasn’t the money, it was the lack of being filled up for the day.

We met a couple from Quebec while floating in the waves. We compared notes on places to stay and things to do in the area. It’s nice to meet other Canadians and compare stories of travel.

We had supper tonight at a restaurant next door. It was clean and nice. The meal was good but they were overpriced on their steamed rice compared to everywhere else we have eaten. We didn’t know that until the bill came as they don’t always list the price for steamed rice on the menus. Gary had chicken with cashew nut, Linda had ginger chicken. I swear you could eat chicken with cashew nut at every restaurant here and they all would have a slightly different taste. Some are spicier than others, some more teriyaki flavoured. It all depends on the chef! They’re all usually good no matter what recipe they used. Some places also have the dish without chicken so you get lots of vegetables and cashews.

February 6, 2019February 6, 2019

Wednesday February 06, 2019

Koh Lanta

Today our blog isn’t about what we did, but it’s about what we really enjoyed here today. The ocean, the beach, the climate and the food. Food includes mango smoothies, passion fruit ice cream and beer. Also the people. The people here are really friendly.

After our breakfast we got the real world stuff done which includes booking places to stay and scouting out things to do, paying bills etc. We made a couple Skype phone calls home before we took off for the day.

The beach was cool with clouds until mid afternoon and then the clouds thinned out.

We used our air mattresses on the water to float around and keep cool. We love the water and especially the surf temperature which is warmer than you could imagine unless you are here.

The surf temp is 28.8 C but in the shallow water it is over 30 C. We floated around on the air mattresses and never really did get cold. We alternated between the shade and the water. Once again the sand is too hot to stand on where its dry you need to skip fast to the edge of the water.

We walked down the street for supper and ended a long way down from our hotel. We looked at menus along the way but after the ice cream (actually sorbet) we weren’t as hungry so just walked around sight seeing a bit longer. We walked from the street to the beach and checked out some beach front places to eat. We settled on Han’s Bungalows and Restaurant. Neither one of us could finish our meals, They were good but we ate dessert before the main course. Blame the sorbet.

Enjoy the pictures that we took today. The sunset was pretty while we were eating supper on the beach.

Videos below show the beach activity at sunset.

February 5, 2019February 6, 2019

Tuesday February 05, 2019

On our way to Koh Lanta

Today we were up early to pack our bags and try to get breakfast before our shuttle to the pier in Phuket. Our ride was expected between 7:00 am and 7:15 am. Breakfast starts at 7:00 am. We got coffee and cereal with a bit of toast and jam, then we left.

Once at the pier we got on a big ferry with air conditioning. The ride was good and there was free instant coffee and snacks. We past some stunning cliffs and islands along the way. We got a few pictures out the side of the boat.

Once we arrived at Koh Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) we had to change boats. What a gong show that was. They let people on the ferry before we could get off. There was mass confusion and they kept calling out hurry, hurry! We finally made our way onto the next boat which was a muslim run boat. No beer and no air conditioning. Bloody hell! Actually, the reason we said Muslim boat is because a passenger was complaining about no beer and the lady said “we are Muslim, no alcohol”. No air conditioning was just a stated fact. Two more hours of travel and we were at Koh Lanta. Gary sat beside a guy from Germany on the second ferry and they decided we could share a tuk tuk and save a few baht. Incidentally, he told Gary he was Turkish, and Muslim and he did drink. They had quit an interesting conversation about how he is teated in Germany when in fact he is a German born citizen. Definitely a nice guy, university degree, good job, etc. He bought his flight to Thailand at the last moment, only a few weeks previous. When we finally got to the tuk tuks and the driver wanted too much money for the ride, Gary said “let’s walk”. We all agreed, we started walking and the price of the tuk tuk dropped by 1/3. We hopped in and were at the hotel in 5 minutes.

We got ourselves settled into the room and then went to see the beach and find some food and drinks. The beach is very close, 2-3 minutes walking from the front of the hotel. We needed a cube tap so we could plug our charger into the fridge outlet, so that we can charge things when were are out of the room and the key card activated electrical circuit is shut off. This keeps the guest from leaving the room with the air conditioning on. We ended up buying a small power bar because there were no cube taps to be found. We also bought 2 cheap air mattresses for the beach and an eye glasses case as Gary seems to have lost his. We grabbed a bite to eat, sharing a beer and an order of guacamole tortilla chips with salsa. On the way back we found an ice cream store so we each had a small dish of chocolate ice cream. From there we stopped at the mini mart and bought some large bottles of Chang beer (620 ml) for 58 baht which is less than half what we pay in the restaurants. The same shop also had a fruit smoothie stand so we explained we didn’t want a smoothy but to buy the fruit, so we got 2 VERY large mangos for $120 baht and half a watermelon for 60 baht. We hauled everything back to our hotel and stuffed all the beer and fruit in the little fridge. Gary got the power bar and our electronic charging stuff all rigged up so we are good! We are cooling off now in our room. Even the owner at the mini mart commented how hot it was today! By the time we got back here our clothes were soaked with sweat. Thankfully there is a little laundromat across the street that has a sign out 40 baht per kg which is quite reasonable. Since we’ll be in bathing suits for most of the next 5 days we can get a bunch of stuff washed.

We ate supper next door and it was ok. The mango smoothies each came with an orchid flower on top.

Gary ordered pineapple fried rice with chicken and Linda had Pad Thai. Both were good but Gary’s meal was special! See below.

After supper we walked back to our room and got to bed early. It was a long and very hot day. We’re thankful for the weather we have been enjoying because we know it’s very nasty at home right now.

See below more pictures from today.

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019

Monday February 4,2019

Bangtao Beach, last day in Phuket

Today was a pretty relaxed day. We went for breakfast just after 8. We came back to our room and sat on our patio and finished booking the last of our flights for the Philippines. At least our credit card worked today! We still have some hotels to book but we can get those done another day, we were more concerned that we got flights when we needed.

We headed down to the beach after 10. We went back to the same area on the beach but slightly over from where we were yesterday. The lounge chairs we rented yesterday had much thinner pads on them and the one’s today were slightly thicker although after an hour or so it was hard to tell the difference!

The video above starts with our gargoyle, Kermit the frog and the movie ends with the beach scenes.

The water here is like a bathtub! Very warm and clear. We came back and had a swim in the pool to try and get more sand off, then had a shower. We went back down to the beach for supper, ended up farther down the beach at Captain Kooks and had a table right on the beach. The food was ok, not as spicy as some we’ve had. When we paid and the guy brought our change we only brought change for $500, Gary swears he gave him $1000 as he didn’t have any $500 bills in his wallet. After much discussion and the gal checked with the manager, there were many “sorry, sorry” but the manager said it was $500. So either we made a mistake or they did, either way it kind of took the shine off supper!

We headed back to the room to get packed up as we leave tomorrow. We have a ferry booked and they are supposed to pick us up between 7 and 7:15. Breakfast doesn’t start till 7 but the guy last night told us to come at 6:45 and they’d feed us, guy tonight said come at 7 and they can wait for you…..think we’ll show up at 6:45 and hope the breakfast gals take pity on us!

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019

Sunday February 3, 2019

Bangtao Beach, Phuket Thailand

Today we had breakfast at our new place in Phuket. It is a small operation so understandably the breakfast is smaller, as in smaller selection. It was still good, Lots of coffee, dry cereal, option of eggs cooked several ways, fruit, yogurt, toast and jam etc.

By 10:00 am or so we headed to the beach and rented lounge chairs for 100 baht each. That’s $4.18 CAD each. That also comes with a washroom to use and showers to clean off the sand when we head back to the hotel. Most of the sand at least. We still rinsed off in the bathtub to get our legs and feet clean when we got into the room as the sand is so fine.

It takes between 5 and 10 minutes to walk to the beach from our room. Its barely considered exercise but truthfully it is so hot here that you almost break a sweat sitting in the shade drinking something icy. We each had 2 mango smoothies and shared one small beer with our lunch which was bbq corn on the cob. The corn was 50 baht each at the restaurant where we had rented the chairs. A lady was selling it cooked out on the beach for 60 baht. She was fully clothed, we were sweltering! See the video we made below.

Tonight for supper we are going back to eat at the beach and sit by the surf. That is the plan unless something better comes along, like a massage! Our bed is quite hard, so that is the excuse for the next massage. Not that we need an excuse.

We thought we would book the last of our flights to connect us back home. We booked flights while waiting in the Bangkok airport to fly from Langkawi, Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, and then from Kuala Lumpur to Cebu, Philippines. We had no trouble when we booked those flights, and they showed as pending charges online on our Mastercard. All was well.

We still need to book additional flights, Cebu PH – Boracay PH (return) Cebu PH – Coron Busuanga Island PH (one way) and our flight back to Hong Kong from Coron, Busuanga island PH via Manila to Hong Kong. You know where this is heading? Our MasterCard got declined on the purchase of the Air Asia ticket only one day after we successfully purchased 2 sets of tickets on the same airline. WTF. We had contacted BMO previously, told them we were travelling and they said good, but “due to our advanced heuristic technology you don’t need to notify us of travel plans”. FYI it even shows this when we log onto BMO to look at our Mastercard bill online.

Gary, slightly frustrated called MasterCard via Skype. They wanted to verify our authenticity by calling us at home. Hahaha. Gary did well by not losing his cool, and explained that we were away, we had contacted BMO and made them aware of our travel plans and there wasn’t much chance we would be able to answer the phone in Phuket, Thailand. He got transferred to a different person to do the verification. Finally we got verified and made the ticket purchases to Boracay and Coron. By then it was 7:00 pm and we went for supper. We still have one more flight to book from Coron to Hong Kong (via Manila). We do want to come home, eventually!

We ate supper and went back to our room, it felt like a deep freeze! We read for a few minutes and off to sleep, by 3:00 am we were sweating again. The air conditioning is set to 25 C.

February 2, 2019February 2, 2019

Saturday February 2, 2019

Bangkok to Phuket

Below is the chilly air on the flight today.

Today we said goodby to Bangkok and the filthy air. The city is nice but the air has been unusually sick. The smog was so bad that school was cancelled for the week.

Our 9:45 from Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport (DMK) on Air Asia went smoothly. Gary had some young Chinese girl fall asleep on his shoulder. Her husband or travelling partner didn’t seem to mind. It was only a one hour flight from DMK to Phuket. Our luggage was nearly the first on the carousel and we were off to meet our driver. He was late. Some excuse, but we lost 40 minutes sitting waiting for the pre-arranged driver.

We checked in to the Bangtao Village Resort and went for a bite to eat.

On the way back to the hotel we walked around trying to scope out the neighbourhood. Be darned if there isn’t a mosque with loud speakers a block (or less) away. It was actually so hot that we went back to the pool for a swim. This was like the hottest day in Saskatoon last summer, heat and humidity was extreme.

We swam for a bit in the warm pool, the warmest so far on our trip, it was like bathwater. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading our kindles. We both had brief snoozes on the comfy lounge chairs by the pool under the umbrellas.

We changed and went for supper about 2 city blocks away. Supper was good but the prices here a a bit higher than previous places we have stayed. Not a big surprise. The people will come regardless of food and beer prices. After supper we went for a walk on the beach. You have to cut through an alley way or a resort parking lot to get through to the beach. The ocean is like bathwater. We walked along the surf in the dark with the light of the nearby beach restaurants and hotels. The sand is so fine and soft it is quite beautiful, even in the dark. The surf was very calm. We walked back to the hotel in about 10 minutes and washed our feet off at the pool hydrant. We went in our room and washed them off again with soap and water in the bathtub. The sand is very sticky and fine. We are looking forward to the beach tomorrow!

We will only be here for 3 nights, then off to Koh Lanta by ferry for week.

The resort seems really good – it is small bungalows in two facing rows with the pool in-between. Each unit has a small patio on the front with two wooden chairs and a small table. We also have a small wooden drying rack that we can hang our beach towels and bathing suits on to dry which really helps on cutting down clutter in the room. The landscaping is beautiful, with a hedge running between the pool and walkway on each side and lots of other shrubs. They have orchids in a bunch of the trees around the breakfast area. There are a couple fountains so when you sit out on the deck in the evening the pool is all lite up and you can hear the water in the fountains gurgling and splashing. All in all pretty relaxing. It’s crazy how humid and hot it is here at 8:26 pm. Sitting here typing this sweating!! Just checked online, its 27C with 75% humidity and no wind. No mosquitos either. What a gorgeous night it is here.

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019

Friday February 1, 2019

Bridge over the River Kwai

Thursday January 31, (yesterday for us) we started our day early, alarm at 4:50 am, on the minivan at exactly 6 am. We were not the broken link on the chain that required today to run smoothly. There’s always someone that shows up late and makes everyone wait. Several minivans were spotted around Bangkok to pick up tourists for the english tour of the Bridge over the River Kwai. All the minivans converged somewhere central to load us on a big tour bus. We were off for the day long tour. Our minivan sat at a hotel waiting for a couple, for at least 10 minutes, the broken link we mentioned. Consequently we were the last ones to get aboard the big tour bus.

We made one stop after a few hours travel for a bathroom break. We arrived at the Death Railway Museum a few minutes after 9 a.m. The Museum and cemetery are side by-by-side. Our tour guide, Mr. Khom told us we had until 10 a.m. to tour both the museum and cemetery. We spent almost all of our one hour time allotment in the museum. We could have spent all day!

The bridge was built over 17 months by POWs from 1941 – 1943. The Japanese wanted a train line to move goods and armaments and also to gain access to oil and mines. The POWs provided the labour. The rail line was 415 km long with 304 km located in Thailand and 111 km in Burma. The POWs were promised many things, none of which were ever fulfilled, instead they endured horrific conditions, malnutrition, disease and forced to do intensive labour while sick and weak. It’s always heartbreaking to see how cruel humanity can be. During the building of the bridge and rail line, 30,000 English, 18,000 Australians, 13,000 Dutch and 700 Americans died. The Japanese had 176 POW camps located on Japanese home islands and 500 more POW camps on Japanese controlled Asia held islands.

We spent as much time as we could in the museum but could have spent hours more! The pilot who was the first in to bomb the bridge was actually a Canadian from Vancouver.

We didn’t have time to wander through the cemetery, just managed to take a few photos. It is beautifully kept and there are a number of maintenance people working there. From the museum it was back on the bus and we drove approximately 15-20 minutes to the river where we caught a boat, enjoying a 20 minute boat ride down the river. It was interesting to see all the floating river restaurants and hotels and some very impressive complexes and homes too. There are huge fields of sugar cane, tapioca and banana trees alongside both the roads and river. Besides tourism, agriculture is huge in this part of Thailand.

We arrived at the Bridge over River Kwai by boat where we docked and climbed the stairs to the area by the train tracks. When we got there a train had just arrived and there were lots of folks getting on and off. We waited for the chaos to clear and once the train left we had approximately 10 -15 minutes allotted to walk down the rails and across the bridge. There were lots of signs saying they aren’t responsible for your safety – so in other words make sure you are off the bridge before a train comes!!

The train is mostly a tourist attraction now and not for cargo or commercial purposes which is really sad considering the sacrifice so many made to build it. The rail line built by the POWs was dismantled after the end of World War 2, in 1947 After hiking across the bridge and talking pictures it was back on the bus. We drove another 20 minutes or so to a local restaurant where we were served a fixed lunch. We started with a soup that had broth, one chunk of chicken and a chunk of fruit or something that looked like pear. There was steamed rice, 2 separate chicken dishes, one quite spicy, the other not. There was an omelette type of dish, which we didn’t try. For dessert there was fresh pineapple, which was sweet and fresh! We bought a large beer to share that was not included in our tour cost. At 120 THB is was our most expensive beer here to date.

The tour was 3800 THB for two people or $160. We got our money’s worth as we didn’t get back until after 7 pm. There was a bit of confusion on the way back as some people had to get off to head to the airport, others to different hotels. One couple got fed up and left to take the Sky Train (BTS) which might have been the smartest thing to do. At that point we were ferried off in another minivan. Once we got back to the hotel we ate supper at our new favourite restaurant and came back to our room and crashed until the people up stairs started banging around at 2 am, for the second night in a row.

Today, Friday February 1, we did some shopping and packed a box of redundant clothing that we brought with us. Some t-shirts are just too heavy, and Gary sent home some shorts and extra sox he didn’t want to haul to the beaches for the next 2 months. We packed in a few souvenirs and some of the brochures from the various sites we’ve visited so far and mailed the box home.

We went for a massage to end the day at “Foot Haven Massage Spa” next door to our hotel Centre Point Pratunam. Both of us got the best massage of the trip at this great place. We were lucky picking this spot as there are about 5 places within a block. Some not so savoury or clean. When you see the gal picking nits out of the co-workers hair it’s a real turn off! We spent 500 TBH each about $21 CAD for a full hour.

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019

Wednesday January 30, 2019

Today we took a tuktuk to a nearby hotel where we met a couple we know from Saskatoon. We had a visit and set up a tour for tomorrow to the bridge over the River Kwai. We leave the hotel at 6am.

We took the skytrain back to our hotel which was slightly cheaper than the tuktuk but much faster. Once we got off the skytrain we ate lunch at a small restaurant. We came back to the hotel and went to the pool, Linda did laundry. It was supposed to be quick, one thing turned into another. A Kleenex, a husband and a money eating dryer.

We went for supper down the street at a real Thai restaurant. It was good!

Its now off to bed, or get a massage, we’ll flip a coin!

Tomorrows actives will be on the next day’s blog because we expect to have lots of pictures and not time tomorrow night as we will be all day in the bus.

The air in Bangkok is terrible with smog. It will hopefully be a breath of fresh air tomorrow. Thursday we have the tour, Friday we’ll stay in Bangkok and tour around, Saturday it’s off to Phuket.

January 29, 2019January 30, 2019

Tuesday January 29, 2019

Phnom Penh to Bangkok

Today we got up at 4:48 am and plugged in an electric kettle for instant coffee. We ate our sticky rice with fresh mango for breakfast and washed it down with Nescafe. Ugh. Our driver Mr Sandy was a few minutes late, he seems to have slept in because his alarm failed to work. Our hotel man phoned Mr Sandy and he was there to pick us up in 10 minute. HIs hair was still a bit sleepy looking and trying to button his shirt. In the end we had to wait at the airport to check in. We were there about 15 minutes too early.

The check-in, passport control, security and screening went very soothly. Shoes off, belts off, the usual thing. Once again we had to ditch a brand new bottle of water we got from the hotel.

Our flight loaded quickly, we were off in no time and on the ground in Bangkok in less than 2 hours.

Once we passed through immigration, picked up our bags, hit an ATM for Thai Baht, then we got a SIM card for our mobile phones. The cost was 649 Thai Baht which is $27.50 CAD. Over $1/day each for phone service. We paid $5 USD in Cambodia for up to a month ( but was only there 3 days) and $8 USD for a month in Vietnam (our stay was 20 days).

We hired a cab for 500 Thai Baht for the 45 minute trip to the Centre Point Pratunam hotel. Once we got checked in we crashed. Something about getting up early and flying is hard on the body. It really wears you down. Our Sticky rice was starting to wear thin by then. We got up after 90 minutes of snoozing and walked around and found a Thai restaurant. Back to the hotel to check out the laundry facility and then we went for a walk. By then it was getting dark.

The buildings around here are tall and the roads are narrow. Our side of our hotel is on a wide street but the front is on an streets no wider than a back alley at home. it is cray how narrow the roads are here in places.

The weather is Bangkok is hot. The weather at home is -33C with a wind chill of -46C. There are times when we miss the cold, but only for a moment as we are crowded on a narrow street passing food carts with deep fryers and people smoking cigarettes. Car and tuk tuk exhaust and smoke. We are wandering around Bangkok in flip flops t-shirts and shorts. By 6:30 pm our underarm secret was worn off. Its almost 9pm and we are ready to crash again for the second time today!