Fire up the Tuk Tuk

We are planning another trip around South East Asia without a net for 2017. Flying to and back from Bangkok we will be doing an Indo China loop in an anti clockwise direction via Phnom Penn, the Mekong delta, the length of Vietnam from South to North, Luang Prabang in Laos and then back into Northern Thailand before heading back to the Thai capital. We plan to leave in Mid March 2017.

The Hotel that just keeps giving !

Well that's nearly it. Twenty six days after leaving our suite at the Vie Hotel in Bangkok (nervously anticipating the Cambodia Express) we have returned. The Vie have been great. They have upgraded us again to a luxury suite on the 22nd floor with stunning views over Central Bangkok.

We woke up to blue skies and sunshine in Hua Hin. The morning was spent by the pool until check out time saw us move to the beach (beautiful white sand - lots of litter) Then the 150 mile train ride up to Bangkok. This time second class and a special express train.

Not a patch on third class. No live animals or pungent food stuffs allowed in  second class by order of Thai National Railways.

Obviously we were late arriving but only 40 minutes. So it was check in - dump bags then a tuk tuk to the Kohsan Road for the final chicken Pad Thai of the trip. Plus a final last look at the strangely uninteresting  'freaks' we occasionally  saw, and more than often heard, on this trip (but not in Kota Bharu, Sungai Kolok, Phattalung or on the roof of the boat in the middle of Cambodia).

We are now back in our room preparing for tomorrow and our trip to the airport and our 11:40 flight back to London.
Stay with us for our final couple of posts and thank you (fellow without a netters) for sharing our trip with us.

Just like England

We found sunshine again yesterday. Upon arrival at Hua Hin, 150 miles south of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand. We spent the afternoon by the pool in glorious sunshine after a four hour minivan trip from Chumphon yesterday morning.
Travel sickness is either a real problem in Thailand or Sue and I are always on a minivan with the only Percy  (Thrower) in the region on his way to the national vomiting finals.
Sue fell down a few stairs in the hotel and after an initial scare, we think she has just sprained her left wrist.
We are off to the beach this morning then it's the train ride back to the Siamese capital.

Hip Hip Hua Hin

We have arrived in Hua Hin and it's sunny !!!

Enough of Tao

We awoke yesterday to more rain and the constant threat that the weather system over Koh Tao would continue all day.

Making a bold move we decided to get off the island a day early and got the afternoon boat to Chumphon on the mainland. We stayed in a hotel that has all modern amenities including a pool and air conditioning but looks architecturally like a gift to the people of Chumphon from the Soviet Union in 1977.

Chumphon is a transport hub and not really a place travellers stay the night. We had dinner in karaoke restaurant where the singers sing from their tables. All the songs were Thai classics and all sounded like a cat being slowly strangled.

By the time our meal was over, that type of death was preferable to desert so we ran back to the hotel.
This morning, the plan is a minivan to Hua Hin, further North, where the forecast is hot and sunny. Let's see !

Wet pics

No pictures of the warfare due to unreliable camera when completely soaking wet.

Wet Wet Wet live in Sairee

We awoke today after a lovely sleep to cloudy skies. Today on Koh Tao is the day the locals celebrate New Year (Songkran) by soaking each other with water. 

Ironically, the rain came and soaked everyone on the island far more than Songkran did. 

Sue and I walked up to the Nangyuan viewpoint and got there about half ten. Then the rain came so we decided that if we were going to get wet then we should take our weaponry into Sairee village and join in the soakfest.

The journey in was quite relaxed, just the odd watergun trained on us while we returned 'fire'. However, when we entered Sairee it was a different story. Almost everyone had waterguns and were arriving on the back of trucks with vats of water on board. Some locals were either standing outside throwing bowlfulls of water or with a garden hose trained on anyone who walked, drove or rode past on mopeds. Of the westerners involved we were about twenty five years older than the other participants.

We were involved in house to house waterfights and my objective was to aim at cigarettes. There were battles in every alleyway and we would have got less wet if we had jumped fully clothed into our pool.

It is still raining and it's twenty to five in the afternoon. We have never been subjected to rain effecting our holiday up until now. 

I feel more sorry for the Thais as it is their public holiday. Still, the objective is to get wet !