Wrap up.. Back Home Again

Well, it's all over... sadly.  Never seem to get used to a holiday coming to an end, even though it is nice to come home to your own bed and the comfort of your own home.  One very nice thing is that we came home to some pretty nice weather.. makes the transition a little easier.  Got home Saturday.. the same day we left Thailand.. left Thailand at 6:00 in the morning and were home in Victoria at 1:01pm the same day.  We only saw about 2 hours of nighttime in 28 hours of traveling.  Traveling toward the sun rise really messes up the body's internal clock.  Once we got home we tried to stay up until at least early evening... only made it to about 5pm.  Sunday was a day of off and on naps intermixed with Shelly going grocery shopping and my cutting the grass that had made its way into a mini jungle while we were gone.  Today, got up and drove Shelly to work and the routine has started again.

All in all, we really enjoyed the holiday... saw lots, did enough and really got to relax.  Even though we were gone for 3 1/2 weeks, it seemed to last a lot longer.  We felt like it was almost equal to our 7 week visit to this part of the world three years ago.  We both feel that we have a better idea of what life in Thailand might be like and that will help us in our decision on whether or not we will spend some time living over there.  The trip this time was a little different for us in that we did not do as much of the tourist stuff with organize tours and the like.  We spent more time checking things out for ourselves and looking at things in more practical terms.  It will be interesting to see how we feel about life over there after some time passes.  One thing for sure, we still love that part of the world.

I've gone through some of the pictures that were taken and added a few random shots that I thought were interesting.  Hope you enjoy them and THANKS FOR CHECKING OUT THE BLOG.  I enjoy doing it and would only do it knowing that there is someone on the other end getting some enjoyment out it.

Bangkok Airport

Downtown Bangkok

Bangkok Shopping Centre

     

Awesome Thai Food and our Happy Restaurant Owner

Airport Hotel

Our Krabi Hotel

Krabi Oa Long Beach

Cruisin the Mountains

 

Karst Mountains

Super Model

 

 

 Various Hotel Rooms

Pattaya Street Action

                        Koh Samui Pool

Fishing Fleet Koh Samui

Last Update From Thailand

Well, here we are back in Bangkok.  We had a great time in Krabi and have decided that it is now our favourite place to be in Thailand.  It is apparent that they recovered very well from the tsunami of 2004 and the place is much better than we remember it to be.

 The sidewalks in the flooded areas have been replaced and are amongst the few places where you can walk without falling into a hole in the sidewalk or tripping over the broken slabs... unlike most places we've been in Thailand.  The whole area is very plush and green with Karst Mountains covered in jungle overgrowth.. very picturesque.

When we first arrived here by plane from Koh Samui we took an airport shuttle to our hotel.  The ride was supposed to take about 30 minutes but instead took over four hours.

The Songkan Festival was still in full force when we got there and the streets were jammed with people in trucks loaded with water barrels and people on foot and on motorcycles all armed for water combat.  Added to the water, they mix coloured talcum powder to the water and smear the coloured powder all over each other as a good luck gesture.  Great fun, especially when we were seated inside a bus and out of reach of the revellers.  Had a great time taking pictures of it all and best of all the Thais love having their pictures taken.  If you ever get a chance to come over here, try to come during festival time.. never seen so many people having that much fun.. ever!

We really tried to do some relaxing during our stay here and I think we succeeded.  Did tons of walkabouts snooping in all the little shops and visited some of the local markets.  Rented another motorbike for a day and our timing couldn't have been worse.  We got caught in a rainstorm and almost drowned there was so much water.. when it rains here, it rains.. tons of rain.. like you can't see in front of you rain.  The only thing we could do was... wait for it... go for a massage!! Seems to solve most of our problems over here.  I got the all over oil massage and Shelly got a French Pedicure.  The other day we decided to work on our tans a little bit and fried ourselves... only thing to do was.. you got it.. get a massage.  They gave us the vitamin E and Aloe treatment and the burns just disappeared.  Going to miss the inexpensive massages that are available anywhere you go and I mean anywhere.  You can't go fifty feet without running into a massage shop.. lots of competition and of course the good prices.

Had a really easy trip up to Bangkok today with everything falling perfectly into place for us.  Nice plane ride, free shuttle from the airport we landed in to the other airport near where we are staying and then a free shuttle to our hotel.  Starting to think that we have things figured out over here.  Tonight we went out to the night market in this area... really kind of nice because it is totally away from the main areas of Bangkok and was truly a "local" market.. no English signs, only sight, sound and smells to determine our supper.  We tried a Tom Yum soup made right there in front of us with fresh seafood and noodles.. it was so good that we ordered a second batch... followed this up with coconut frappes.. yummy!

Tomorrow we are heading into Bangkok and one last shopping trip.  Shelly is going to try and find someone to take the frissy curl out of her hair and I will... wait for it... get a massage.. tough isn't it.

Koh Samui Airport

Koh Samui Airport

Koh Samui Airport

Our flight home leaves a 6:00am local time so we will have to be at the airport pretty early.  With the time change we will be home the same day around noon.  Not bad for 20 hours worth of flying.  Not looking forward to the trip but that the price we pay.  Might to do follow up blog once we get home.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of  Songkan and Krabi.. talk to you soon.

Koh Samui Airport

Songkran Festival

The Street Wet From the Water War

Gramma to Grandkids

"Sawadee pe Mai" or Happy New Year in Thai. Today is the official start of the traditional Thai New Year, but that didn't stop most people here from getting an early start yesterday.  We rented a motorbike for the day and had been out looking at island and doing a little real estate checking.  On the way home we got attacked!!!  We were peacefully riding down the street enjoying the heat of the day when out of no where we were bombarded by water, soaked by massive water guns and pails of water thrown upon us... Songkran had arrived early!  From that point on all the way back to our hotel a few miles away we were under constant attack... it was a lot of fun.






 Later in the evening we went out for supper and it was more of the same resulting in us going into the restaurant soaking wet!  We saw a few tourists that didn't have a clue what was going on and they seemed more than shocked by it all.  People were on their balconies with pails of water, motorbikes with "armed" riders rode up and down the streets looking for victims.. to top it all off, once you are soaked with water they attack you with chalk and talcum powder.  Best of all, everyone was having the time of their lives.

The beaches here are probably among the best anywhere in the world.  We've had  nice days walking the beach and taking in the sights.  Today started out with quite the storm.

It was really windy and it rained quite a bit.. all that quieted things down on the beach, but out in the streets the water wars were still going on.  We haven't been doing much of the tourist type stuff this trip. Instead, we have been spending more time exploring and getting a feel for the everyday life here.  All in all, it has been very relaxing for the two of us.














The changing of hotels was traumatic for us, leaving the beautiful hotel that we stayed when we first arrived on Koh Samui and moving to a more 'standard' styled place.

Our current hotel is OK, just not quite up to what it was three years ago when we were here.  Still, the people are nice, it is close to the beach and not to far from the night action, so not that much to complain about.

Tomorrow we are headed off to Krabi, a town on the Andaman Sea.  We are looking forward to going there to see how it looks to us ten years later.  We visited here on our first trip but only spent a day.  It will be our first visit back to one of the places that had been struck by the huge tsunami of 2004 and it will be interesting to see if it changed much and to what extent they have recovered.  Once again we will get some pictures and post them here for you.  Until then, take care and talk to you soon.