Apr 22, 2012 - finishing off the week in the storms and rain

We said goodbye to our bike and I dropped Ang off at the resort then drove the bike back from whence it came after filling it up with fuel bought from a toothless old bag at the side of the road who should have had a mask and a swag bag considering that she charged me 10 Baht more than the day before for the same fuel. I walked back to the resort along the sand and it started pelting it down which was OK as it was hot rain and I needed a shower anyway. We have actually started eating in the restaurant at the resort more as it is really nice...

Apr 19, 2012 - Thailand by the sea, and the rain

The air asia flight from KL to Phuket was really good and took no time at all, just a few weather bumps and one drop which got everyone oohing. We had arranged accommodation for a week at a resort in Khao Lak which is about an hour North of Phuket and they had arranged a taxi to pick us up. As soon as we stepped outside of the arrivals hall there were loads of people asking if you wanted a taxi or a place to stay, we politely smiled as you are advised to do and said we had one booked. We saw a sign with the name of the complex on and our...

Nov 30, 2010 - Turn off your mind, relax ....

and float down stream It is not dying It is not dying.... I am hanging out in this huge 2 bedroom suite in The Marriott Mai Khao Beach and need to check out in less then an hour to get to the Ferry to go to Koh Phi Phi Island. I am chilling in the lap of luxury and figured I should touch base with all of you real quick and post some pictures while I had the use of a computer and a decent Internet connection. So, after my last entry, I left Karon Beach and caught a ride up to Khao Lak which is about an hour or so north of Phuket Island....

Mar 26, 2009 - Khao Lak

We found what we thought was a bargain, it looked like a cute little bamboo hut from the outside and looked ok on the inside, really cheap. Then we tried to sleep in there and i have never been surrounded by so many bugs in all my life, we got eaten alive and that was with the "mosquito net", which hyad so many gapping holes in it you couldn't really call it that! Anyway that aside its not a bad place the beach is quite nice and there are a few cheap little restaurants to eat at. However we decided to only stay here two nights as there...

Feb 18, 2009 - Khao Lak

Arrived into Phuket airport and caught a taxi to the highway to wait for a public bus up to Khao Lak. It happened that a tour guide, Mr. Chu, on his way back to Khao Lak from the airport stopped and offered us a ride there for a bargain price. Very interesting 1+ hour journey learning about his life in Khao Lak - he is not only a tour guide, but also owns an ice cream shop and is the regional meteorologist. Very interesting to get his perspective on how the Tsunami had hit this small town particularly hard (80% of deaths in Thailand were...

Feb 14, 2007 - En Route to Khao Lak

It's either the effects of the sun, or from hearing the miscreant mispronounce famous Thai dishes, but I'm not feeling 100% this morning. In order to cover all bases, I sleep in as long as possible. I pack the remainder of my items into my bags and head off to meet Delicatino. As I make my way across the 6 town blocks to Jamie's hotel, I am solicited by, at least, 30 taxi/tuk-tuk/moto drivers. The thing that amazes me is that if I am not stationary, arms prepped for hailing, chances are I don't want your cab; I am choosing to walk. Can you...

Jan 8, 2007 - Day 117 - To Khao Lak and the Similans

After another morning of rubbish internet connections, we gave up on updating the site for a while. We were picked up and taken to Khao Lak for our diving adventure in the Similans. Once on the boat we had a detailed briefing and were shown our cabins before dinner and bed. Little did we know the horror that was about to follow. Leaving port at about 11.30 pm we had a 3-4 hour trip to where we would make our first dive the next day. Man alive. It was SO rough. Despite being given a sea sickness tablet the minute I stepped on the boat I...

Apr 22, 2006 - Khaolak again

So last night we tried to go out in exciting downtown Koh Lak. . . it's not that much going on. This morning I was trying to get motivated to head to Puket to get a flight to BKK. Lital and Ricky were supposed to head to Chompon for a night and get back to Koh Tao but instead Ricky, Lital and myself are heading to Phuket to spend a couple of nights down there since none of us have been there yet. Oh how things change. Am I ever going to get to Africa? I can't even get out of Thailand right now! ;) Thankgod my visa expires at the end of...

Apr 13, 2006 - Elephant Nature Park

Anja tried to hand the elephant a bunch of bananas, but his trunk carefully waved them off as if he was not really hungry. "He's a sweety", said the Mahout and smiled. He then moved the bananas on top of the large basket of fruit to reveal some pineapples and pumpkins. The trunk returned immediately to grab several of the sweet fruits in one elegant move. We are visiting the Elephant Nature Park one hour's drive south of Chiang Mai and have taken 2 days off to assist at the farm. The founder, Sangduen "Lek" Chailert, takes care of 28...

Feb 28, 2006 - 24th, 25th Khao Lak

Arrived late last night in Khao Lak, hired a motor bike today and toured all around. The Tsunami has really hit hard here, only 5 resorts up and running out of a probable 150-200. Total devastation, 2 and three storey resort buildings completely wiped out, only a few coconut trees remain along the ocean front. A police boat was 2klm out to sea when the Tsunami hit and is now a tourist attraction 2klms inland - it is a HUGE boat......unbelievable unless you see it. They are struggling here so it was good to stay a while and support the...

Feb 24, 2006 - Thailand - Khoa Lak

The diving overall was very good but after four days of not sleeping so well in our shoe box and being up very early every day to do the first dive we were fairly pleased to be back in Khao Lak at 4pm and decided to splash out a bit and have luxury accommodation (well 3* at 20GBP per night with a duvet and soft pillows and everything!) for a couple of nights before heading off again, this time to Phuket.

Feb 20, 2006 - Thailand - Khao Lak

Khao Lak was a complete whirlwind, after an already very long and stressful day. That morning we did the border crossing into Burma, 10minutes spare to shower and pack again before a 3 1/2 hour bus to Khao Lak. We arrived at 4pm and by 6pm we were getting kitted out with scuba equipment for a 4D/4N live aboard trip we were to leave for straight away. We were luck as we just popped into a dive shop to find out dates of their trips and they had one leaving in a couple of hours with space for 2 people. As they only had room in the quad bunk on...