Category: Uncategorized

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.

(I started writing this post yesterday however as our trip included an overnight stay at at the floating accomodation on Kwai Noi River which has no electricity power, hence no WiFi and no recharging of phones, I have been unable to add pictures and publish this post!)

Early this morning our wake up call went off just before 5.30 a.m. and by the time we came downstairs with all our luggage and of course with our 2 day requirements in our dry bag, our pick up was already waiting for us and it wasn’t yet 6a.m.! Beauty will be our guide for the next two days and Nem will be driving us around and looking after our excess luggage at the back of his van!

Our hotel prepared a boxed breakfast for us and after Gerry had his first smoke we were off to pick up the next couple joining us on this excursion – a Dutch young couple who were staying in China Town. Then onto another pick up from a posh hotel along the river and this time it was a British couple who retired in Cyprus. So that made up the whole group for the next two days.

It took us 2 hours to get to our first sightseeing place – Samui Songram – where the train station called Maeklong Station is in the middle of a sprawling market. The space between the rails is used by vendors to sell their fish, fruit and vegetables as well as snack and souvenirs. All the stalls have awnings over their merchandise but when the train is about to arrive then they are pulled back and the merchandise stacked against the walls or even left on the ground low enough so that the train can pass over it!

This was such a strange experience when all of a sudden a voice boomed from the loudspeakers in both Thai and English – we were warned that the train was approaching and everyone should step behind the red line. By that time all the awnings were pulled up and only the tourists needed to get away. What a sight! I have never seen anything like this before and wondered what came first – the market or the railway track? Still don’t have an answer.

We bought some fruit for the rest of the journey which was going to take us another 2 hours to get to the train station – Thonburi Nam Tok – where we would embark on the Birma Line train – or rather known as the Death Railway – to travel part of the journey where the railroad was built by the World War II prisoners.

Both Gerry and I had done this excursion when we had come out to Thailand together some 7 years ago. Well on the way on the train, we were chatting with our guide, Beauty, when she told us that the next stop was ours and we would need to get out as our driver, Nem would be waiting for us to take us to our buffet lunch restaurant – Praweenut. However all of a sudden, Beauty realised that we had gone a station too far and we got off at a little station where it seems that it was used by the Buddhist monks who had a temple high on the hill. So after Beauty contacted our driver, Nem made his way to us and arrived 15 minutes later – by this time most of us were ravenous and we made it to the restaurant just in time before two bus loads of tourists descended for lunch too!! Well the train ride which is actually the original Thailand Birma line instigated by the Japanese during World War II, by using prisoners of war and imported workers from neighboring countries, was spectacular.

Most of the passengers were tourists but of course there were also locals including monks. The views from the train on the left handsome were of the River Kwai deep below and the mountains separating Thailand from Birma or Myanmar nowadays. On the right hand side we could admire the peaceful flat verdant countryside

We had a delicious Thai buffet lunch however we are not used to having such a meal in the middle of the day and as we all had to get up at the crack of dawn, we all managed to get an afternoon dip. By the time we were ready to get away and drive to our next destination, The Hell Fire Pass Memorial, we were all exhausted! So much so, that Beauty rearranged our schedule and asked us if we preferred to go straight to our overnight stay on the Jungle Rafts but then get up early the next morning to go to the Hell Fire Pass – we all agreed to that!

Our drive would take us some one and half hours to arrive at our Jungle Rafts on the River Kwai. This was quite an experiencing to spend time on a river raft complex without any electricity but it was magical!
However to get there, we had to take a 20 minute longboat ride from Phutakien Pier- the scenery was spectacular!

It was great to able to relax once we were allocated our rooms which were simple but functional. We changed into our swimwear and Beauty had given us life jackets as besides that the current was very strong, all these establishments are heavily controlled for safety!
One of the main activities was to float down the river up to the green flag where it was safe to get out on time – the yellow Flag meant that it’s getting risky if you don’t get out now while the red flag meant that you most probably will be floating all the way down to the Gulf of Thailand!

So obviously Gerry had to test the waters for me as I’m not much of a hero when it gets to currents and rushing waters! He enjoyed it tremendously but the steps were too far apart for me to climb out ( I also have a frozen shoulder!). Anyway the river looked murky to me and I don’t like being in unclear water – I’ve been spoilt with the clear blue Mediterranean Sea!

As dusk descended on the river, all the oil lamps were lit up giving the area somewhat of a magical and mysterious atmosphere – soon the mists will also start swirling over the river till the early morning. Anyway by torchlight we got ready for dinner – no hot water here, very spartan but then the temperature is welcoming to have a cold shower / wash!

After dinner, we took the longboat again (I’m getting used to getting in and out of this low boat and seemed to become more flexible!!) for a 5 minute ride to another part of the Jungle Rafts we’re there was going to be a dance performance by the local Mon people. So as there was no internaat and very little light, we decided to go. Actually it was a really good performance .

We were given some background information about the Mon people are from Burma and are allowed to live and build their village by the Thai authorities as they had to flee Burma. Most of the Mon people who live in the village on the banks of the river close to the Jungle Raft Resort all work in the local resorts so their village is quite empty during the day. This evening the dancing, singing and music was all performed by Mon people of different ages.

Back at our raft home, it was time to sleep – we had had so much to see today and we were dead tired! Tomorrow we have an early start as we will be visiting the Hell Fire Pass Memorial first which we missed today

As yesterday suddenly turned out to be an exciting day filled with loads of fun activities, we decided to have a relax day today so after breakfast we made appointments for massage sessions here in our hotel. Gerry went first and had an hour of Thai massage whereby he felt his body being pulled apart!!! My session of compression massage lasted 90 minutes and the masseuse handled most of my pain points in my shoulders and neck. Well we can say that we will be starting our itenarary feeling supple and relaxed.

By the time we were ready from the massage, it was time to have a light lunch out on the hotel verandah as we watched office people walking outdoors for their lunch. A little alleyway in front of our hotel and on the backside of the big office building of Bangkok Bank (where my friend Pintuwan used to work) was quickly transformed into street food stalls where the office people came to get their lunch. Mind you, our hotel restaurant is also used by the Bangkok people to have a quick lunch………… The whole of Silom is buzzing with activity on this Monday morning!!!

We were lucky to have our lunch on the verandah after which we took a stroll down Silom to the Decathlon store to get a dry bag – a waterproof bag to put our belongings for our 2 night trip to Kanchanaburi early tomorrow morning.

After having succeeded in acquiring the dry bag , we wandered a bit before heading back to the hotel to shower and get ready to go for our fitting!

You may be wondering – what fitting?
Well yesterday I did mention that our Tuk-Tuk driver made a last stop before returning us to our hotel. This stop was at the International Fashion Centre – a business run by Nepalese dress makers and tailors and where we could order clothes made to order. So yes, we ended up being measured for various outfits and today we had to go for our fitting! I was really surprised how well tailored these garments were! I have never in my life bought a pair of trousers that fitted perfectly! Gerry too had ordered a number of shirts, a suede jacket and a couple of chino pants. We will be picking up our order when we get back to Bangkok on the 9th February before returning back to NL the following day.

Gerry trying on one of his chino pants and short sleeved shirt

Our Tuk-Tuk driver whose name we found out today is Tchi picked us up to go for the fitting and then dropped us at Somboon Seafood Restaurant where we met up again with Pintuwan and Jan for our last dinner together before we left Bangkok. It’s always a pleasure being with this lovely couple who appreciate life day by day.

Of course having dinner with Pintuwan and Jan is always a feast – Pintuwan just knows what to order so between us we shared a lovely meal of grilled sea bass in salt (which Gerry filleted so professionally), king crab in a curry with boiled rice, glass noodles with shrimps, and green asparagus with mushrooms and shrimps.

And of course according to Pintuwan, we had to get one of the waiters to take a Group picture of us – once at table and the last one in the hallway! It’s not a goodbye to Pintuwan and Jan but rather au revoir as we will be catching up with them when we will be visiting them in Rayong.

Everything is packed now, alarm set for 5.30 and just in case also requested an early morning call plus a breakfast box and are ready to continue our travels in Thailand.

Day 3 in Bangkok and it’s Sunday morning and after quite a hectic day yesterday we decided to have a leisure day together – we made it just in time to breakfast which was healthy fruit (fresh papaya, mango, water melon and pineapple). Along with the fruit I had some fried rice – yes we are in Asia and I adapt myself quite easily while Gerry stuck to his omelet on toast and yogurt and fruit.

Finally by 12 noon we were out of the hotel and walking on Thanon Silom towards Lumphini Park – the green lungs of downtown Bangkok. This public park is a green zone where office people, tourists and Bangkok residents come to jog and enjoy other outdoor activities. I was reminded of Central Park in New York where it is also surrounded by skyscrapers.

Lumphini Park has a lot of flora and fauna and a large lake where people can do all sorts of outdoor activities – elderly people practise Tai Chi while young people are to be found peddling or canoeing on the artificial lake. We strolled round one section of the park taking in many breaks in the shade (yes, yes, I know it’s crazy to walk in the heat – today being sunny and 34C) and watched people doing their own thing! We also spotted quite a few leguaan or rather monitor lizards – a species some of the world’s biggest lizards growing up to 2 meters and weighing some 50 kilos! These monitor lizards can also swim!

Monitor lizards basking in the sun or swimming; orchids grown in trees and luscious green palm trees all to be found in Lumphini Park.

After some time we were ready to go exploring elsewhere in Bangkok. We had decided to go to the the highest building in Bangkok – according to my research it would be the Baiyoke Observation Deck on the 77th floor with the revolving View Point on the 84th floor. Once out of the park, we saw a Tuk-Tuk parked and thought ourselves lucky that there was no queue, however the driver was nowhere around! At the same time, another Tuk-Tuk drove along and stopped for us. We gave him the directions where we wanted to go and agreed on the price of 300Baht for both of us. On the way we got chatting and he assured us that the number one Observatory Tower was no longer the Baiyoke Observation Deck but rather the Mahanakhon Skywalk Observatory. We took his word and changed route – actually my friend Pintuwan had already told me to visit this attraction which is situated just opposite her condominium.

It seemed we had our Tuk-Tuk driver accompanying us for the rest of the day as we decided to take a longboat trip on the river and canal starting off a pier in China Town. Anyway, Tuk-Tuk driver was a very charming Thai young man and we were pleased to give him our tourist business today!

We left our Tuk-Tuk driver outside this iconic building and went indoors to buy our tickets. We were politely asked if we were over 60 years and when we said yes, we were told that we would get discounted senior citizens admission tickets for half the price! Aren’t we glad that we have grey hair! Most Thai people are very respectful towards older people and actually it’s quite charming to be called grandma and grandfather!!!

Anyway within 30 seconds we were whisked up to the tallest Observatory Deck and Skywalk – one of the world’s largest glass trays at the height of 310 meters.
It was all so very impressive and the breathtaking views are carved into our memories. After going round the observatory deck and taking quite a few pictures – selfies included- we took the elevator up further to the Skywalk. We were give cloth covers for our shoes so that the glass would not be damaged and then mustered up all the courage in the world to get onto the glass tray. Actually I had a bit of a problem and the assistant was really sweet when I turned round to go away. She asked me if she could hold my hand so that we could walk together and I agreed to that and only held her hand for two paces. Wow what an experience! Seeing skyscrapers underneath my feet! But I preferred to look ahead into the horizon……..

And this is Gerry also on top of Bangkok

We were both glad that we took up our Tuk-Tuk driver’s suggestion and we’re also happy that when we got outside, he was waiting for us with a really big smile on his face – he was proud that this grandma and grandpa did actually go on the Skywalk!

Well our last sightseeing activity was to go down to the Pier in China Town where obviously our Tuk-Tuk driver had his connections and join a longboat excursion along the river and main canal.
On this trip we could see quite a big contrast between the prosperous downtown and the wooden houses built on poles on the canal. But we were glad that we did this trip as between the shanty type of houses, there were also shining gold temples and lastly the King’s palace with its shimmering rooftops. On the way, we stopped along a smaller boat manned by a vendor selling Thai souvenirs. An English couple bought several elephants while I did buy 2 small wooden Buddha statues. By the time we arrived back at the pier it was already gone five o’clock and our Tuk-Tuk driver was waiting for us!

Various scenes on our longboat trip

On our way back to the hotel, we had a final stop – but I’ll write about it tomorrow as our Tuk-Tuk driver will be picking us up from our hotel tomorrow afternoon- it’s bed time here!

This morning we had to get up ever so early – no time to feel jet lagged as by 8a.m. we had to leave our hotel to make our way to our Thai cooking class at House of Taste Thai Cooking School situated some 1.5 km away from our hotel. In hindsight it was good that we only had a light breakfast as we would be eating our own dishes which we were to prepare at our classes.

As instructed we arrived at the school just on time (I had to keep turning round to see whether Gerry was still behind me as he was just sauntering along!). Of course the students were all international – a party of 6 Koreans including a young couple with their 2 young kids and their grandparents; a girl from Texas, another girl from Japan and a young couple from California and of course us two!
We had an excellent Thai young woman as our teacher and after introductions and explaining what we were going to do, she took us to the market carrying shopping baskets. Our first stop was at a vegetable stall where she showed us the vegetables and herbs we would be using, and then onto the fruit seller to show us the local fruit including papaya, dragon fruit and mango on one side of the stall while on the other side there was fruit from all around the globe!

After roaming around the market and buying some fresh juices and cherries for us, we picked up the ingredients needed for our cooking class

Back at school, we were instructed how to cut up the vegetables and herbs and also pound the spices into a curry paste. Naturally we had to take our ingredients to the cooking area where we all had our place behind a wok on a gas burner. Our Teacher had everything under control, sometimes requesting us to pound the herbs harder in the mortar with the heavy pestle, turn up the heat – or lower the heat under the wok and of course all the while, Gerry had to liven upstage group with his comments.

We prepared – and ate the following :

• Tom Kha Kai – spicy coconut soup with chicken
• Pad Thai – stir fried rice noodles with shrimp and chicken
• Gang Phed Gai – Red Curry Chicken
• Kaw Niew Ma Muang – Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango

Obviously this was all too much and Hence we were glad we had a very minimal breakfast in the morning! But it was all good fun and very tasty!

It’s a good thing we had a substantial walk back to our hotel as we were really stuffed – actually Gerry just didn’t eat his last two dishes, except for the mango fruit. Well it was siesta time by the time we got back to our hotel and as we were going out with our friends Pintuwan and Jan in the evening, we decided to take a well deserved nap.

Pintuwan and Jan came to pick us just before 6 pm so we had enough time to shower and get dressed after our nap. We were all on time to have a good evening together – Pintuwan made reservations at a restaurant called Thanying – a restaurant with Royal Thai Cuisine from the recipes of the Sukothai Palace kitchen. Pintuwan gave me a brief history of this restaurant was named after the present owner’s mother, Her Serene Highness Princess Sulabh who was once head cook in the Sukothai Palace kitchen for her half sister, Queen Rambhai Barni of the late king Rama the seventh. The recipes used in this restaurant came from Princess Sulabh own recipes used in the palace so in essence we had a royal meal ! And it was delicious – good we were with Pintuwan as she explained everything that we were eating!

After our scrumptious dinner we took one picture on the restaurant verandah – just to commemorate and cherish our friendship!

Then to end this wonderful evening with friends, we drove to the Shangri-la Hotel to enjoy an after dinner cocktail and listen to some jazzy singer while admiring the twinkling river view.

When Pintuwan and Jan left, we stayed on for a while but then decided to walk back to our hotel. I had to keep hold of Gerry as every time we passed a Massage Establishment, the young girls tried to drag him inside for a massage! Luckily we got back to the hotel together and were ready to have a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow we plan to have a relaxing day – after all we are pensioners!