Bob & Janette's Travel Adventures

Flight details:

 Brisbane to Bangkok Thai Airways Flt

Depart Monday 20Jun05 2240hrs arrive Bangkok Tuesday 21Jun05 0405hrs

 Bangkok to Brisbane Thai Airways Flt

Depart Thursday 7Jul05 hrs arrive Brisbane Friday 8Jul05 hrs

 

---

Bangkok

Flying Thai Airways from Brisbane to Bangkok couldn't have been better.....well that is unless we managed an upgrade to Business Class but that wasn't about to happen to us two "backpackers" on this trip.

We arrived in Bangkok just as the sleepy city was waking. Clearing customs was quite quick and we were soon on the bus heading into the city - destination non other than the famous Koh San Rd (Backpacker Central) where we found a very nice place with aircon and private ensuite. Tours booked for the next few days included the Floating Markets, River Kwaii, Jeath War Museum, Kanchanaburi and the Watpha Tiger Temple.

 

•    The Damnoensaduak Floating Markets were interesting but left us with the feeling that it is now just continued as a tourist attraction.

•    Kanchanaburi is about 3 hrs west of Bangkok by bus and turned out to be a beautiful location. We hope to return here one day and perhaps spend a week exploring the region.

•    The Watpha Tiger Temple certainly was another highlight of our time spent in this region. Run by the Monks, the tigers are well cared for and despite suggestions by some that they appear drugged we saw evidence that they are not. Warnings not to bring little children into the area were ignored by a group of tourists and one tiger became a little "difficult" to handle. It was quite amazing to see a Monk grab the tiger by the ear, take him in a headlock and slap him on the snout. All this whilst yelling at the group to take the young child away.   Drugged.....no way!  There will always be controversy over this place so I urge you to go and make your own mind up.

 

 Chiang Mai

From Bangkok we caught the overnight sleeper train up to  Chiang Mai. For those who have never travelled through Asia on a train it was an experience. Our journey was helped along with a little assistance of alcohol....thai whisky. Needless to say we didn't use the squat toilets on the train.

•    Thai Cooking Class.   We wanted to do a cooking class while in Thailand and it was a good decision. Our first port of call was the street markets, where our instructor "Oi" showed us all the ingredients that we would be using during the day. After going back to Oi's house we made our own curry pastes and then cooked a total of 6 different dishes. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks because I came away an even better cook that what I already was.

•    Mae Sa Elephant Farm.   We hired a motorbike for the day and visited the Mae Sa elephant farm which is about 12ks north west of Chiang Mai. This was one of Jan's "must do" things and she was not disappointed from the moment of our arrival. Jan was greeted at the entrance by two elephants who "cuddled" her and later she got to play with a baby elephant. Give me a fast motorbike any day because I wasn't too comfortable riding the elephants.

•    Pai.   Before leaving Chiang Mai we decided to head up country to Pai. It is a sleepy little town way up in the mountains. Only about 60klms from Chang Mai but about 3 hours by bus. That should give you some idea how steep the roads are. Absolutely break neck speed around blind corners with massive drop offs on the side of the roads.
  
  We stopped half way for a coffee break and then headed off again. Ok imagine this....narrow steep roads, blind corners and speeding almost out of control when all of a sudden the bus conductor climbs out of the window and climbs up onto the roof to have a smoke...CRAZY!!!
  
  As soon as reached Pai we both hired motorbikes and quickly found somewhere to stay. Our plan was to spend a few days here and explore the beautiful countryside. Headed out in the afternoon checking out all the back roads. Elephants, water buffalos were all the go and the kids very friendly waving to us as we passed them.
  
  That night we rode into town for a lovely dinner, but unfortunately things came to a halt when my lunch which was consumed some hours earlier wanted out immediately. Cheeks held firmly together we managed to rush back to our villa where I spent the night cuddling the porcelain. This brought an end to Pai and we headed back to Chiang Mai the next day.

Koh Phangan

 

From Chang Mai we jumped the train back down to Bangkok and then on to Surat Thani. We had and interesting five hour wait to catch the night ferry out to the island sitting around on the docks. Met a Swedish guy who had been living in Thailand for the past few years and shared a few beers with him. Jan needed a toilet break and asked if he knew where we could find a western toilet. He took us to a place just up the road and true to his word Jan had the comfort of a proper toilet. What he forgot to mention was that the toilet was in a brothel. So I got to sit with the girls while Jan got to sit in comfort.

Caught the over night ferry at midnight, pigs and chickens down stairs with the crew and us passengers on the upper deck. Sounds first class doesn't it. Arrived at day break and hired another couple of bikes for our transport and headed across the island exploring and settled at Seaview Bungalows, a great little resort on a sandy beach called Haad Rin. This beach is the location of the famous full moon party held, you guessed it, every full moon. Thankfully we were there between full moons so had the beach all to ourselves during the day. After dark the beach was transformed into restaurants and a big beach party with the biggest speakers you have ever seen. We both loved the place didn't want to leave.

Koh Tao

Today we caught the fast ferry across to Koh Tao, a neighbouring island which is famous for its snorkelling and diving. Once again we rented a trusty motorbike to get around on and found a tidy place to stay. After settling in we went on a quick ride around the island and then booked a snorkelling trip for the next day. That evening we found a nice bar on the beach front where we sat and watched the world go by.

The next morning we headed off early for our day of snorkelling around the island. The under water scenery was absolutely breath taking, although we were a little disappointed that the weather was a quite rough to stop at shark point where all the reef sharks hang out...apparently. The whole day was taken up with cruising to different snorkelling spots where we would spend an hour in the water before heading off to another spot. It wasn't until the end of the day that we realized how burnt we were, in fact so burnt that we had to cut our diving trip short and headed back to Bangkok the next day.

Kanchanaburi

We had a few days to spare as a result of returning to Bangkok early so we booked a trip back to Kanchaburi so that we could visit the Australian War Museum and Hellfire Pass.  From Kanchanaburi travelled 60Ks on the "death railway" to the end of the line at Namtok Station.  Travel from Namtok to the museum was via a very fast 30 minute songthew ride which gave us a few hours to wander around the museum and walk down the tracks to the cutting.

It was a long trip but definitely worth visiting and the best run museum that I have visited. 

 Bangkok

How could we visit Bangkok without a trip to the famous Patpong Road area before our departure. Jan had never been to Bangkok and was keen to see all the sights so we headed into Patpong late on our last night. We walked up and down the lanes checking out the scenery when I discovered what appeared to be a new lane from my last visit. Patpong1, Patpong2 and now what appeared to be Patpong3....a new lane. We strolled down and found a nice street side bar where we could sit and have a drink while doing some people watching. We ordered our drinks and sat back watching people walk past. It wasn't long before Jan pointed out to me that the bar across the lane was full of all men. A quick glance over my shoulder and I noticed that our bar was also just full of men. We had settled not into a gay bar.....but a gay street, not that there is anything wrong with that. After finishing our drinks we continued our tour of  Patpong.

We soon found ourselves in another establishment, in Patpong1 this time. What an eye opener for those who are broadminded. I quickly got the word from Jan that I wasn't to attempt to catch any of the ping pong balls.

Our trip to Thailand was no where near long enough. In the 3 weeks that we where there, we covered a vast distance but ever so quickly. *We will return here again to spend some more time and explore more thoroughly the country and island areas.

 

Why the Ads?  You may notice adverts by Google on the pages of this site. We receive a small commission from each time they are clicked, and we use the revenue to keep this website running.   Importantly, there is no cost to you for clicking on an ad.  So please help keep this website running by exploring any adverts that interest you, and help keep our costs down.

 

*Postscript:  Thai islands re-visited Nov07 (see Phuket 2007 for details)