Month: January 2023

As I was up to date with my blog yesterday, I thought of updating it with yesterday’s events after we came back from the night market – alas the couple Basil Margheritas made me instantly sleep when I got into bed with my iPhone and iPad!

The breakfasts here at the resort are just the same as elsewhere – fresh fruit, yoghurt, fried rice or noodles, pancakes and eggs prepared to order! I stuck to my normal breakfast: fresh fruit, fried rice and salad and ordered an omelette ( which I gave to Gerry as he thought I had ordered it for him!!)

Right after breakfast we went for a walk along the beach – we could see the debris that the stormy sea brought back to the beach!

We saw all sorts of debris on the beach even sandals and wood covered with tiny shells

As we did not have our swimsuits and beach towels with us, I volunteered to walk up to our room to get everything while Gerry organised the deck chairs before they were all taken!

A peaceful morning went by quickly – it was sunny but the waves were too high for me to venture in the sea – listening to my Spotify list, reading my new book and generally being lulled into a gentle sleep by the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach!

The beach being beaten up by the wild waves

This is where we had lunch – when the tables were still safe on the beach – after our lunch the tables were all removed

Our pre lunch drinks – pina colada for Gerry and a mango Lassi for me

More relax time till we got ready to go to the night market. Our van with other guests was leaving the resort at 17.30 to the Thong Sala market close to the pier where we had arrived the day before https://www.welove-kohphangan.com/item/night-market-koh-phangan/.
It was interesting to see that just outside our resort there are quite some shops as well as a village which we will explore tomorrow.

Our van driver dropped us off just at the beginning of the market not far from the pier and he told us to be at the same spot by 9 pm when he would be returning to the resort. We all paid 800 baht per person for the round trip!

At the night market – full of food stalls, Jewellery, clothes and weed of all sorts

The spicy aromas from the different stalls was enough to make us hungry!

The only food we bought from the market stalls was sticky rice and mango with coconut cream – actually that was my treat which I’ve missed since we left Bangkok!

Me and my sticky rice and mango

We had walked the whole length of the market and decide walking back on the other side which was mainly filled with clothing stalls. We still had time so we decided to stop at a trendy restaurant and bar called Salt Salt. Seafood restaurant & bar 082 169 7762

This is we’re we enjoyed a couple of cocktails and some deliciously presented sushi’s and it was a delight being served by charming young staff.

Charming young lady serving us and cocktails for us – Gerry is back to G&T and I tried out the Basil Margherita – heavenly!

That’s me studying the menu and a picture of part of our order

Whilst enjoying our nibbles and drink we also had the time to enjoy the market from our table – as it got later more people were buying food!

After such a delicious meal it was time to get back to our meeting point. The driver and the van were there and in time the rest of the passengers arrived too! I slept most of the way back to the resort!!

Thursday morning was still quite stormy but that did not stop us from going down to the beach. Gerry definitely wasn’t going diving as the sea was still too rough.
Down at the beach, there were a number of swimmers who braved the waves and started jumping from the big boulder in the sea. A great past time for them but also for us!
Actually there is a rope dangling from the top of the boulder which makes it easy for the swimmers to climb one end and jump off the other!

When I shared the pictures below with my son and told him how we enjoyed watching the swimmers jumping off this boulder, he came back with the answer that he was at the same place 10 years ago and had jumped off that rock too!!!

After a late lunch, we were back in our cottage to start our packing routine – we had some laundry done here so we’re moving to our next destination with clean clothes. I’m getting to be an expert in efficient packing resulting in two big bags, one small rucksack for me and Gerry having his Apnea machine which he needs for his night breathing.

We both showered and by 6.30 pm we were down to the main area for dinner! I must say the staff here are so well mannered and helpful but again Gerry tips them generously – we were told that the tips went into one pot which end of the week was shared equally – very democratic!!

Gerry had a spicy vegetable dish with steamed rice while I had spicy noodles with shrimps and vegetables. As usual we had a great meal but as usual we missed our cocktails here and no vanilla ice cream for Gerry!

We settled our bill for our meals and drinks outside our breakfast and it came down to €160,00 including Gerry’s diving refresher training. Montalay is a family run resort with even grannie doing the accounting and keeping control of the staff!!

Tomorrow after an early breakfast we will be getting the shuttle down to the ferry – it’s goodbye to this lovely place!http://www.montalayresort-kohtao.com/

Friday, 27th January

Our alarm went off at 7 am and of course as always, I’m the first one to get out of bed! I got some water boiling for a coffee so that Gerry could have that with his first cigarette of the day – everything was packed the night before and all we needed to add were our toiletries! By 7.45 I was down at the reception area to ask that someone would collect our luggage from our cottage and take it to the shuttle van. I was one of the first ones at breakfast so choice enough for a table! Gerry joined later and as soon as one of the staff saw him coming they quickly got his coffee and orange juice! By 8.15 we were ready to head to the ferry – our luggage was already loaded onto the pick up truck and we waited a few more minutes for other guests who were leaving with us.

Breakfast buffet to be enjoyed by the guests and our luggage stacked on the pick up van.

Our last trip to the harbour went off smoothly – within 10 minutes we weee on the quayside and the driver picked up our luggage and headed towards the check-in. Here it was swarming with passengers – a catamaran ferry boat had just arrived and passengers were descending and grabbing their luggage which was waiting for them on the pier. Other passengers like me were checking in and exchanging their voucher for their ticket and shirt sticker displaying where they are heading to.
There were all sorts of passengers – locals and foreigners – with all sorts of luggage and carrying children either in baby sling carriers or backpacks and in buggies. Fingers crossed we all got on the right ferry!!

Luggage labeled according to the sticker handed out with the ticket

Sticker used for Koh Phangan and passengers waiting to board the ferry while the longboats lie idly next to the pier

When we were finally underway, it took us just over an hour to reach Koh Phangan and once we retrieved our luggage and walked down the pier, we were met by our pick up who would be taking us to our next resort for the coming 5 days – Havana Beach Resorthttps://www.phanganhavana.com/v3/index.php

Our pick up from Havana Resort advertising my name!

We had to wait for another couple with a young child and then we were off driving a 40 minute ride through the mountains. The ferry is on the west side of the island and our resort is on the east side so we had to go through the mountains to get there. From the map below you will see Thong Nai Pan Nou Beach – this is where Havana Beach Resort is located

Once we arrived at the resort, we were welcomed by a Dutch young lady, Leonie, who’s been working here for the past two years. She showed us to our room which is at the top of the hill meaning a great view of the bay but also walking up and down the hill to the beach and restaurants!!

So sweet to be welcomed with flowers on the bed – spacious room and terrace with a good view!

Once we had organised ourselves it was time to explore the beach – and have a spot of lunch!

Just as we had reached the restaurant we bumped into the Dutch couple ( who live on Ibiza) and actually were not surprised to see them as they too are doing the islands! It’s a small world!

Views of the wide shallow bay with fine white sand!

Of course we had to have a swim – in the lukewarm shallow sea! It was paradise! And then lunch with some cocktails – what is life good!!!

Stir fry for Gerry and papaya salad with shrimps for me ( I have to stop eating shrimps)

Sea, ice cream and selfies

We had a lovely easy going afternoon – I walked along the beach which was just marvellous and took some more pictures – we’re going to enjoy this place for sure!

After the beach it was time to relax in our room, shower and enjoy our terrace till it was dinner time! It was cocktail time for us before we were ready to enjoy a barbecue on the beach

Various fish to be bbq’ed – Gerry took red snapper and I took tuna

By the time we finished our meal we had still some energy over to take a stroll at the other end of the beach before we had our strenuous climb up the hill to our room!

and we made it without any problems! We sat for a while on our terrace and chatted with our Dutch neighbours before we called it a night!

Good night all from our first day in Koh Phangan !

As we are spending our time leisurely, I don’t have much to write about as it would all be repetitive – lying on the beach, going for a swim, reading, stroll on the beach all in between breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

However yesterday Gerry enrolled to take a refresher course for diving – he was together with a Canadian of similar age and they spent a long afternoon handling a multiple choice test, go through the equipment and first, geared up in their wetsuits, they took their first plunge in the swimming pool. Their young German instructor needed to know how familiar they were and they spent a good hour going through various manoeuvres.

By the time they came out of the pool, it was gone 5pm and they weren’t ready yet as the next part was to go into the sea! By that time I had gone up to our cabin to read. That meant I hadn’t taken any pictures!

It was gone 6 pm when I started wondering whether Gerry had made it back to the beach so I went down to the diving school and on the way I met the Canadian guy returning – I was relieved to see him and joked about how please I was that they hadn’t drowned!!
I found Gerry at the bar chatting to the Dutch couple whom we had met in Khao Sok and were also spending some time on Koh Tao.
Well Gerry was completely exhausted especially getting back to the beach with the waves beating him, it was all too strenuous – he had second thoughts of going out with the boat tomorrow for a dive near a wreck!!

We were staying at the resort in the evening as we planned an early night just in case Gerry changed his mind about going out for the dive!

13th Day – 25th January

Apparently we had torrential rain all night but as I had my earplugs in, never heard anything – I slept right through it and when I woke up at 8.30 I had to wake up Gerry to let him know that it started raining! That’s when he told me it had rained all night!!!

It had cooled down a bit and it was actually quite pleasant – the wet soil and trees had a dang earthy smell and I could just imagine the shrubs and trees feeling grateful for the rain. No wonder it’s all so lusciously green here!

By the time we wanted to go down for breakfast, it was dry – however the restaurant was full and we shared a table where a young German couple was sitting!
Something I like about this trip is that everyone is interested in their fellow travellers whether they are old or young. Where have you been, where are you going to? are frequent questions………

Well Gerry cancelled his second diving session but that was also due to the stormy weather. By the time we were back in our cabin it started raining again! And this time I did take a video even though the rain was not always visible but the sound of falling rain was crashingly loud!

With the rain pouring down, we just relaxed in the cabin however Gerry had to be out on the deck to have his smoke! It was clear that most of the guests were in their cabins as the internet was very weak! Anyway the rain cleared up round noon so I decided to go for a walk round the resort and even go down to the beach to watch the huge waves. The wind that was blowing was actually quite warm – like a hair dryer!!!

Scenes of stormy weather on the beach front

As the weather seemed to hold out, we decided to go into town and as there was no shuttle at that moment, we paid 50baht per person to have the pick up truck take us. While we were waiting, the Canadian couple joined us and they decided to go into town as well – they hadn’t been there yet.
When we were dropped off at the jetty, it was chaotically busy as a ferry had just arrived. Travellers, old and young with backpacks or gigantic luggage, were wandering around trying to find out with which pickup would bring them to their resort. These were the brave travellers as the sea was very choppy and there must have been a few passengers who were sea sick and now thankful to be on safe ground!!

Chaotic scenery at the ferry – tourists arriving and pick up shuttles waiting

Our next stop was at Cafe del Sol where I could charge up my phone while enjoying a cappuccino – and Gerry enjoying his second ice cream! While sitting there watching the world go by, we were surprised – or not – to meet up with the Dutch couple from Ibiza! They too had decided to leave the resort and wander around town!

Gerry enjoying his addiction to ice cream

We wandered around town and one thing for sure – there’s no lack of diving schools offering PADI certification and no lack of Thai food stalls if all sorts including juice bars with mounds of exotic fruits

Also as cannabis has been legalised there are quite a few shops that have sprouted in Thailand https://www.dw.com/en/thailand-legal-uncertainty-dampens-thriving-weed-businesses/a-64109306

Some time later it started drizzling so we decided ( as it was still early for dinner ) to have a full body massage. Massage parlours are fully abundant on the Main Street so it was quite difficult to make a choice ! The first one we tried could only squeeze us in at 8pm ( and it was only gone 5.30 pm)!! But the second massage parlour that looked decent could take us both in at the same time.
This parlour had four cubicles separated by curtains and we were led to the last two – as we were together the curtain between us was left open allowing more space to move around. Anyway we were given a really good massage; the masseuses using their body weight to put pressure on various pain points. We had a full hour massage and then we added a manicure and pedicure for the both of us – first time for Gerry to have manicured hands!!! And all this for only 1.600 baht for the both of us so we left a very generous tip for the girls!

By the time we were ready and feeling more supple, it was gone 7 pm so we decided to go to our favourite Italian Cafe del Sol for dinner https://www.cafedelsol.ws/

Once again we had a lovely meal starting off with our usual cocktails ( gin tonic for Gerry and for me a Mojito)- the photos above are evidence of our delicious meal; tuna steak for Gerry, mixed vegan salad for the both of us and for me a vegan spaghetti ( of which I forgot to take a picture as I was so hungry!!)

For desert we had a crème brûlée for me and of course a dame blanche for Gerry ( that’s an overdose of vanilla ice cream for him today!)

As we had still some time before we had to take our shuttle back to Montalay, we ordered an Amaretto as a digestieve together with the bill.

We had such a good meal – one can live and eat very comfortably here in Thailand – the same meal back home would be triple the price!! Should I seriously think of spending winter in Thailand? Or perhaps move here ? Life is good here – even when it rains!!!

Our shuttle arrived on time but this time Gerry and I climbed into the back as some young Germans decided to crowd into the cabin – showing lack of respect for older citizens!! But never mind, we enjoyed the ride feeling the breeze through our hair and feeling young at heart – and it was dry!!!

Good night all!

I just could not believe that I woke up at 8.30 a.m. – I slept nearly 12 hours!!! And Gerry was already up having his coffee! I was quite groggy from my long sleep but that was soon over when I was sipping my tea on our verandah………

When we finally made it to breakfast it was 9.30 am – it’s great just to do things leisurely! Our waiter who had served us last night and had received a generous tip from Gerry, came straight to us with a wide grin across his face – he showed us to a table and went to get us fresh coffee and fruit juice. I guess tipping well in the beginning ensures that you’re provided with excellent service!

I have not mentioned it earlier, but while we’ve been out in Thailand, Gerry received the news that his only surviving uncle passed away and today the family was holding the cremation service back in the Netherlands. So when I asked what Dutch people would be doing on a Monday morning, Gerry mentioned that some would be going to a funeral.
So after breakfast and in honour of “Oom Rob”, we went down to the beach to build a cairn in his memory – we didn’t find any rocks or pebbles but dried coral so we used that to make our memorial tower.

Going back to our bungalow we had a lovely walk through the gardens – so luscious and green! We also discovered a lovely Buddha statue sprawling on a rock just outside our bungalow as well as an interesting tree with strange roots

Back on the beach we found two chairs and a little table in de shade of the tree and that’s where we spent most of the day, watching other bathers who were also snorkelling and the boats coming and going with scuba divers.

This time I did go in for a swim and the sea was very enticing – both Gerry and I just felt relaxed floating in the warm sea.

It was quite a repetitive time we spent on the beach – swimming, watching the world go by, taking a stroll along the beach and drinking (and eating) fresh coconut!

Around 3pm we went up to the restaurant for some fresh fruit juice before we went up to our bungalow for a shower and to get ready to take the shuttle down to the main town.

All healthy liquid snacks and lunch!

Our shuttle left on time and actually it was quite crowded – once again Gerry and I sat in the cabin and at the last moment we had a young Spanish girl sitting between us. We tried to make conversation with her but she didn’t speak a word of English!! I was quite surprised that a young person is travelling so far and doesn’t have a second global language – I don’t think that Thai people speak Spanish……

Within 10 minutes we were back at the harbour were we arrived yesterday but this time it was not chaotic at all. We agreed with the driver that we would take the 9pm shuttle back to the resort together with some other guests. We then went for our walk around town which was quite busy. Every other shop was a diving school or a scooter rental and we had to look out for the scooters when just walking around the narrow streets !
Of course there were quite a number of seafood restaurants and Thai food. However, after a while Gerry decided he had a craving for vanilla ice cream! So we tried to find a coffee shop that would have ice cream – we came across Cafe Amazon ( which is a chain here in Thailand) but they only had pastries so we continued our search and on the main road we found an authentic Italian cafe…. And what did he have on his menu? Dame Blanche!! Just in time as Gerry was going cold turkey not having had a vanilla ice cream in a number of days!! Well I am not an ice cream fan so I opted for a Mojito – after all it was long gone cocktail time!!

Besides having excellent ice cream, this Italian cafe called Cafe del Sole, also had excellent WiFi and I could complete yesterday’s blog without too much hassle. Also finally I’ve managed to update my blog on my iPhone!!

As both Gerry and I were catching up with our social network, we decide to have dinner at this cafe / restaurant and we ended up having a super delicious meal. Apparently the owner is an authentic Italian from Napoli and we saw some tasty pasta dishes and pizza’s coming along. Anyway we choose a green salad, tenderloin steak for Gerry and a tuna steak for me! Well prepared and super delicious!

Well after dinner, it was time to make our way to the harbour where our shuttle was to pick us up. Some other guests were already waiting and not too long after, at exactly 9 pm, the pick up truck arrived.

Our drive was an easy one – no scooters on the road and certainly no cars!!! The road is wel lit especially the hairpin bends so we felt at ease! In no time we were back at the resort and we went straight to our bungalow where I now am finishing off my blog for today!

Once again, an early start as today Sunday, will be a travelling day for us. Our driver will be picking us up at 8.39 am to drive us to the pier at Don Sak – just under 2.5 hours’ drive. Actually we were woken up by quite some noise outside our tree house and opening the curtains, we saw a whole family of monkeys; papa monkey and loads of little ones scrambling around while papa watched over them. I dared not open the screen to take pictures as I was afraid they would jump in our treehouse so the pictures below may not be too clear but it gives you an idea of what was going on outdoors!

Once we had breakfast, one of the staff came to pick up our luggage and by the time we were at the reception area, our driver had already arrived, right on time and we were on our way. We had spent two fun packed days at Khao Sok and now we were heading to some relax time on the island of Koh Tao.

We arrived just before 11 a.m. and that was the time that the ferry was supposed to leave so you can imagine I was quite stressed out. Exchanged our ticket voucher for the real tickets and our baggage was labeled with a pink label matching the pink sticker we had to wear on our t-shirts. We had a long walk on the pier to reach the catamaran where passengers were gathering. I was a bit in a panic as Gerry had to have his smoke and walked leisurely down the pier when 2 busloads of passengers arrived as well.

Eventually I understood the system – this catamaran was doing all three islands : Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. As Koh Tao is the most further island, all passengers for that island were asked to go on board first. We gave our luggage up front and it got stored under a big canvas in the front of the catamaran. Then those passengers for Koh Phangan went on board and finally those passengers for Koh Samui went last as they were the ones to get off the boat first! This ferry was doing a round trip, picking up passengers as we stopped at the islands.

Once we left Koh Phangan, we were out on open sea in the Gulf of Thailand and the waves were stronger that the ferry did quite a few low dips and high rises! This last leg of the journey lasted 1.15 minutes and most of the passengers were quite still although some plastic bags were passed around to some passengers.

Finally we arrived at Koh Tao and the pier was ever so busy – on one side there were passengers waiting to get on to the ferry and on the other side there were all the drivers holding resort boards names waiting for their pick ups.

There were six of us packed into and onto the pick up truck along with our luggages – luckily here the locals have respect for my grey hair as I was requested to sit in the cabin and because there was not enough space outside, Gerry squeezed into the back seat where a senior citizen couple were already seated.

After taking a winding road going uphill and down hill we arrived at our resort on the east side of the island. We checked in at the reception and our luggage was brought to our bungalow – here it’s all steps and stairs with beautiful tropical gardens surrounding the resort. Outside the dining area there’s the swimming pool and below that the beach.

Our bungalow is large and simply furnished – we will be exercising quite a bit here, walking up and down in this resort. But we can really enjoy our surroundings. We don’t have any monkey climbing the trees but we do have chipmunks- as yet haven’t been able to take pictures of them as they are too quick!

After having sorted out everything in our bungalow, we went down to relax on the beach. Gerry did go in for a swim but I preferred to sit and enjoy the view.

After Gerry’s swim we relaxed somewhat longer and this time we ordered the local beer for Gerry while I had a fresh coconut!

Round about 6 pm we decided to go back to our bungalow and shower – we had gone without any lunch today and our breakfast was at 7.30 a.m.

All the staff are ever so friendly and polite! We decided to have a Thai meal but as usual we ordered too much – anyway I enjoyed my spicy shrimp and aubergine soup while Gerry ordered chicken satay and salad.

By the time we finished our dinner, I was quite exhausted that when we got back to our bungalow I just had enough energy to brush my teeth and hop into bed – I guess the last 10 days have been quite strenuous making sure that our itenarary went off well. All Gerry had to do is enjoy all the different aspects of our trip! I was fastby 9 p.m.

Up early this morning mainly to complete yesterday’s blog before we left for our day’s excursion to Khao Sok National Park and then breakfast – a mix of good with a touch of local!

By 8:30 we were ready and waiting for our pick up. We stuffed our towels and a dry set of clothes plus the Nikon camera into the dry back along with other things such as insect repellent, sun block, and slippers for when we were relaxing on the raft complex that was required we took with us! Good job we had bought a 40 liter bag as it was quickly filled up!

Our pick up finally arrived but the resort manager wanted to know whether he was picking up the right guests. The driver didn’t have a list so he called his office and after some time it was confirmed that were to join him. The resort manager told that he often had guests ending up with the wrong group! Well the mini van full only two places left for us – then we started on our 1.5 our drive to Cheow Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park.

I had read that without doubt, this park is one of the most strikingly beautiful places in Thailand with over 100 little islands and towering line cliffs. Our guide Mr. Tu instructed us to pay our National Park Entrance fee of 200 Baht per person (This was the price of foreign visitors!) and the we walked down to the pier to embark our longboat. Well this was a hot selling item – loads of mini vans were offloading tourists who were going to do the lake tour. Our group consisted of 12 persons – all different nationalities; only one other Dutch couple who lived on Ibiza and the rest were from Italy, Switzerland, Sweden (but living in Myanmar), Germans, Americans and British.

Our boat ride on the lake took us first along the Rajjaphraba Dam (which means light of the Kingdom) and then along so many scenic views that we just could not stop taking pictures. Our program for today included a full day tour on the lake where of course we could marvel and gawk at these towering pillars of limestone reaching high out of the lake but also a stop at part of the rain forest where a trail was set out in the swamp area – hence the insect repellent we had to bring with us. We would then stop on a raft island for lunch and a swim before getting back into the longboat again to visit a bat cave (that’s a big NO for me as I certainly don’t do bats!) And then back to the pier by long boat to get our ride back by mini van to our resort.

Our longboat trip was about an hour before arrived at our first destination – the jungle trail, the Klong Ka, swamp forest nature trail. Actually the pathways used for this trail were used many years ago by the indigenous people living here before the dam was built. Mr. tu explained to us about the various types of bamboo and plants growing of which some could be totally poisonous so he warned us not to touch any vegetation. He also showed us how the indigenous people could find clean water in this swamp area – by rattling thick bamboo and hearing the water inside.

Mr. Tu had told us that there was a slight climb in our trail, but in fact the first part was quite steep which for us guys from the Lowlands, meant it was quite strenuous and anyway most of the group was much younger than we were!!! Anyway it was worth it to go on this trail…….

We walked back the same path down to the longboat and we were quite worn out – also due to the humidity at this time of day.Luckily there were some clouds today to shield us from the hot burning sun. Back in the longboat, it was only a 10 minute drive to the floating resort where we would be having lunch and some time to relax and swim. We were all ravenous by this time and looked forward to a typically tasty Thai meal.

We had a scrumptious lunch made up of deep fried fish, rice, green vegetables, omelet, small aubergine curry and fresh pineapple for dessert. We were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of the well spread table!

Then it was time to relax and have a swim – it was mandatory to wear life jackets otherwise you could get a 5,000 Baht fine! We saw quite some improvising when wearing the life jacket – it would be worn like a big nappy! And this would leave you free to swim!

We had to be ready to get back into the long boat by 3 pm as on the way back, there was still another stop at the bat cave – actually it was a cave where the indigenous people used to bring offers to their gods. But as bats inhabited this cave, there was no way I was going there and Gerry gallantly stayed with me on the longboat with some other guests.

As we stayed on board the longboat, I was taking some pictures of the breathtaking scenery when our skipper volunteered to take a few pictures of Gerry and myself – I’m sure these guys get training in using smart phones for picture taking!

When finally everyone was on board, we started our trip back to the pier – it took about an hour but in the way we stopped by the three pillars in the lake which have become the emblem of the Cheow Lan Lake. This was a mesmerizing view and our skipper maneuvered the long boat so that everyone could get a good view to take pictures

We then continued more or less along the limestone coastline where we could see the intricate works of nature – the rock formation in some places was like lacework!

One final interesting feature was a whole in the rock wall which streamed in the sunlight and created verdant colours in the water

By the time we reached the pier we were all dead tired and made our way to the allocated mini van – most of us slept all the way back to our resorts. As we were last ones in, we were the first ones out on the return journey and Gerry woke everyone up with his booming voice and wished everyone happy holidays!

It was close to 6.30 pm and as we were quite thirsty made our way to the restaurant firstly to quench our thirst and also have some bites for dinner before we returned to our treehouse to shower.

Tomorrow we will be saying good bye to this most scenic province of Thailand and making our way to the east coast of this strip of land to start our island hopping part of our travels.

Today it’s Friday and we spent last night chugging away on the train. Actually we did get a decent sleep – I had the lower bunk bed while Gerry climbed gallantly to the top bunk. While we did have a 2 hour delay at Nakhon Pathom, it seemed that the train driver made up for lost time and we arrived at Surat Thani just an hour later than scheduled i.e. at 9.30 a.m. Our new driver was waiting patiently for us but had already seen that our train was delayed. As soon as we came out of the station there were many drivers waiting for their pickups and all holding the names high above their heads! And yes I saw my name in full – Mrs. Liliana Maria Helena Spiteri – long before I saw our driver!!!

As we had had no breakfast on the train – there was no buffet service but rather vendors came along after our stop at Champon and had hard boiled eggs, biscuits, sticky rice and even coffee but we decided to wait till we got to Surat Thani and our driver could take us to a decent place where we could use proper toilets and washrooms and have coffee.

The driver designated to pick us up and bring us to our accommodation, was waiting outside with many more waiting for their pickups. Luckily he held his sign with my full name – Mrs. Liliana Maria Helena Spiteri – high up above his head as he was quite short and I could not see him except for the sign! As usual, this friendly driver took our luggage and packed it into the car – he had been waiting an hour and so was eager to get on the road again – we had an 1.5 hour drive to our destination – but of course Gerry had to have his smoke first! Also we asked the driver if we could have a bathroom and coffee stop somewhere and he said we would do that in 20 minutes!

As soon as we left the town of Surat Thani, we entered a different countryside – luscious green vegetation made up of gigantic ferns, bananas, palm trees and other huge trees and of course the huge limestone rocks rising high.

Within 20 minutes we stopped at a food and fuel court – the bathroom facilities were excellent and so was the coffee at Cafe Amazon. We had a friendly chat of sorts with the guys sitting next to us on the outdoor tables – they were interested to know where we came from – then one of the guys gave us a little bag of sticky rice with fried onions and chicken which we tried to refuse politely but he insisted that we take it – did we look so hungry? Actually at the coffee bar they only had sweet pastries and we didn’t fancy that, so we took this little bag and rather enjoyed snacking on the contents. In return Gerry rolled a cigarette for the guy and immediately the others wanted to see his tobacco. So he gave them some and they rolled really thin cigarettes in strips of paper thin bamboo! Well we had to break up this smoking party as we had to get on our way.

Back on the road, we just enjoyed the view and soon we arrived at our Khao Sok National Park where we will be spending the next two nights. This park is one of Thailand’s most beautiful and oldest rain forests estimated to be more than 160million years. Thailand is very protective of its National parks and this evergreen rain forest with its huge limestone mountains shooting up high is one of the oldest in the world.

We arrived at the Rock and Tree House Resort and had a couple of hours to relax before we went off for our first activity – canoeing on the River Sok.

Our tree house is actually built around a tree – we have a tree jutting out of our terrace and the resort is built on trees and rocks.

We settled down for a while and had coffee on our verandah before meeting getting back to the reception area for our canoe outing. We were told this was a great way to experience the natural beauty around us and spot any wild life. Apparently we were going to have one canoe which was pumped up properly (well Gerry and I can account for at least 150kilos together!) – but we only realised when we drove to the river Sok that we would be canoed on the river by luckily a very slight young man.
Right now the River Sok is very low but in the wet season it can rise up to three meters. Well once in the water, there were times that we scraped the bottom of the canoe along the rocks so Gerry and I managed to spread our weight by lifting ourselves on our arms…….. but the scenery was breathtaking and our canoe-er pointed out to us the monkeys (loads of them), fish, huge tadpoles and frogs and even camouflaged snakes coiled up on branches above us ( it reminded of the film Jungle Book where Ka the snake lay lazing on a branch observing the world!). We even spotted a white heron who when he saw us approaching, lazily spread his wings to fly away!

Half way on our expedition, we stopped for coffee – no not at a coffee bar but rather on the banks of the river where a bamboo table and lean to posts were assembled with a sun shade above. We climbed up the bank and our guide who had brought water with him as well as coffee ingredients built up a fire from splinter thin bamboo and started boiling water in a hollow bamboo stick! We drank our coffee also out of bamboo mugs and had little bamboo spoons to stir our instant coffee! This was the way that the indigenous folk used bamboo for cooking going back many, many generations before the western world invented plastic!

At times it was very peaceful on the water that our canoe-er stopped paddling so that we could hear the sound of silence but at other times it was a cacophony of different bird songs and the most deafening screeches of the cicades.

After our coffee break we were off again being canoed on the river where we just relaxed and enjoyed the passing scenery. Some parts of the limestone rocks were hewn out by the rushing waters over millions of years and other parts we saw the roots of ancient trees spreading along the banks.

This canoe trip was just exhilarating however we soon reached our end point where we were picked up by one of the crew members who loaded the canoe on the back of the pick up truck (together with Gerry) and we made our way back to our resort.

By the time we got back to our resort, it was near 5 pm and actually we were feeling quite hungry as except for our gifted sticky rice and chicken this morning, we had not had anything else today. So we relaxed first on our verandah before we made our way to the main area for drinks and dinner and update my blog as well as catching up with our social media.

As dusk descended, the resort looked magical with all its fairy lights on – there was even a (man made) waterfall gurgling down the mountain side into the pool.

Once again, we had a full day which we enjoyed tremendously – tomorrow another day of exploring the lakes and jungle! Goodnight all!

Although we had a lazy start this morning, I had to update my blog so was out on our verandah in order not to wake up Gerry. Well by 9 a.m. we went for our breakfast – loads of fruit made up of ever so sweet pineapple, juicy watermelon, mouthwatering papaya and fresh pomelo. This morning I decided to have also a bowl of fried rice while Gerry had his normal breakfast of eggs sunny side up on toast coffee and fresh fruit.

As our driver was supposed to be picking us up at 5 p.m. I enquired at the reception whether we could check out at that time, however this would cost us another 1,000 Baht (€28,00) so we decided just to stay by the pool and use their facilities but vacate the room at 12 noon.
So, being a lazy day, we walked around the beautifully landscaped gardens and along the river and took some pictures. We even went in for a swim and the water was just so refreshing.

We had a good lunch later in the afternoon so that we wouldn’t need to eat again very soon. Lovely salad the same as last night and a beef burger for Gerry while I had a chicken club sandwich.

Various pathways and garden statues and the lawn sprinklers are on!

We were ready to go by 4.30 and when we arrived at the reception, our driver had just arrived so we set off straight away. He told us that traffic could be bad hence his early arrival. Well traffic flowed easily and we made it well within 1.5 hours which meant by 6.15 p.m. we were dropped in front of the station!

And what a shock we had!!! Streets were being repaired and restructured, lots and lots of scooters whizzing through the pedestrians, cars cramming their way between the stalls and market vendors trying to sell their wares! So there we stood with our luggage more than two hours early, however I went into the station to make sure which platform we needed to be for our night train to Surat Thani. The young man took my tickets and started highlighting dates, times, names etc and then told me the train had an hour delay! He could not explain what caused the delay so we decided to walk down the market street towards the temple where it was less crowded. And to add to it all a bird shitted on my arm! That’s supposed to be good luck but this evening we’ve run out of good luck.

Loads of stalls and loads of restaurants but we didn’t want to eat anymore as we had had a hearty late lunch but we would have loved to sit somewhere and have a coffee – no luck as most coffee places were closing up for the evening. Well we walked to the park in front of the temple and by this time our initial shock more or less subdued. We sat ourselves on a concrete bench round a tree and just watched the world go by. Luckily my iPad was recharged and I started updating my blog for today. And that’s where we are right now back at the station and waiting for our delayed train

It’s now 10.20 pm and I’ve enquired when our train would arrive – it’s now supposed to arrive at 11.10 pm – fingers crossed!

There was our train finally. This is all part of the adventure of travelling locally and now to find our sleeper couch! Good night all!

Once again an early start! All six of us got together for breakfast which was really good, fruit, eggs, tiny croissants and of course Thai food . I’m getting used to eating fried rice in the morning but that’s as much I will have in the morning!

it was quite an experience staying overnight at the Jungle Rafts as it was idyllic but I can only do one night without electricity! The views and atmosphere made up for the lack of modern amenities.

Before having breakfast we went to meet Wandy, the 53 year old female elephant who resides with the Mon people in their village further up on the river banks. Naturally, this was a great attraction for young and old and a bucket of fruit and vegetable peelings was left on the side so that we could feed her.

And then time for breakfast which was really good. Yesterday evening I couldn’t take any pictures as it was too dark, but our group sat at this table and this morning it was again set for us. By 8:30 we were ready to get our longboat back to the pier where Nem and his van were waiting for us (with all of our excess baggage).

We had to have an early start as yesterday we were too tired to go to the Hell Fire Pass and we needed to get there before going on to Erawan National Park. i will have to add the pictures at a later stage as these are on my camera but I do not have the converter with me to put those pictures on my iPad.

The Hell Fire Pass Memorial is a walkway and and Memorial in honor of all the prisoners of war of the Japanese and civilian Asian labourers (Romusha), who were forced to work to build the railway connecting Burma and Thailand during WW2. Many lost their lives due to the heavy workload, starvation, brutality and disease. More than 60,000 Allied prisoners worked on the railway and some 12.500 lost their lives here.

The name Hell Fire Pass came from the appalling working conditions at this site as actually this was the name given to the Konya Cutting . It is part of the Death Railway and this is the part where the prisoners had to use hand drills, picks and shovels to cut into the mountain and create a 500 meter pass for the train. Incredibly this task took only 6 months with many lives being sacrificed.

Following the audio tour and just walking on the track where so many POW’s worked and died in terrble conditions brought often tears to my eyes. We all became subdued and all lost in our thoughts.

It was good that after this visit we were off to the Erawan National Park where we would be visiting the 7 tiered waterfalls. It would be good to sink into the water and have Althea’s morbid thoughts washed away!

Of course Beauty made sure we stopped for lunch before we started our short hike in the park to the waterfalls. Again, we had a very tasty lunch – sticky rice with grilled chicken, papaya salad, chicken curry and light soup with vegetables and shrimps.

By 4pm we were on the way against our drive Mr. Nem knew that if we left on time we could get to the bridge over the River Kwai to be able to see the train leaving the station. We had such a busy day that we were hoping this last sightseeing stop was well worth it – and it was! We stopped on a street corner not far from the railway and walked up to the bridge. Naturally there were many more people who wanted to experience this but we could walk around freely. My thoughts went to those men during the war who were so badly treated and who died building this “Death Railway”.

In a few minutes time, the train that had stopped at the station started moving and again a loudspeaker announced that we had to move behind the red line.
in a few minutes’ time it was all over and we headed back to our van.now we had a short ride to our hotel where we could all relax and have proper showers.

Finally we made it to the Royal River Kwai Resort and Spa. Once we were allocated our rooms, we thanked Beauty and Nem for looking after us the past two days – indeed their hospitality and kindness is something that we westerners ought to take as an example in our lives.

Our room was massive, overlooking the swimming pool area and a garden full of flowering plants and exotic palm trees. The first thing we did when we got to our room was to charge all the phones and iPad so that I could get back updating my blog.

Just a bit of relaxation before we went to an early dinner.The main dining room was filled with rowdy school children on a school trip so we went down to the restaurant along the river – it was such an idyllic setting where we enjoyed our cocktails – gin tonic for Gerry and for me a mojito- just delicious!

we decide that we were ready to give Thai food a break and went for tenderloin steak for Gerry and grilled white bass for me with some really scrumptious green salad.

Off to bed – tomorrow we have a leisure day at the resort – we will be picked up by 5 pm to be taken to the station at Phanom Thuan.