Thailand

Day 18

Final Day

After finalising the packing I headed into the MBK centre for a full thai massage.  This is basically a head,neck, arms, legs and feet massage, it would last a hour and cost £9.00.  I thought a massage is a relaxing experience, however I think the thai's have a different outlook on this.  Dont get me wrong in parts the massage was very relaxing, however there was a lot of pain involved as well.  She kept saying relax relax, however that is quite difficult when you have a elbow in your back.


1730 quickly came around and we were  picked up by the minbus, holiday over.  It has been a brilliant holiday and I would recommend coming.  The people are very friendly, the food is amazing the place is so so diferent to anywhere in europe, anyone who has visitied Thailand will know what I am talking about.


One final gripe, we flew home with emirates airlines. Normally they are very good, however the plane that we flew from Dubai to Manchester on was terrible.  It had not been modernised since the 80s, the seats were very uncomfortable and entrainment was rubbish. Come on emirates sort it out, that plane should be used for 2 hour trips to spain, not long haul!

Goodbye Thailand

Thailand

Day 17

More relaxing

With the holiday fast coming to a end, I basically chilled out all day by the pool and worked  on the old tan.  Thankfully, the speedo club were not attending today

a view of bangkok road system

In the evening, we all headed out to sumo, a restaurant in the MBK centre for very nice meal.  In the evening we headed back to the room to start packing.

Thailand

Today started the same as yesterday, basically I did nothing but chill round the pool until mid/late afternoon.

In the evening however, we headed back out to cheap charlies and snappers.  This is about 2 miles from the hotel and in normal circumstances you would probably walk it.  However, in Bangkok during the evening it is still about 30c, and crossing a road is a life risking task. Even though the little green man says it is okay to cross, motorists still plough through it. So I thought It would be best if we got a taxi, however it was peak time with the traffic and none of the taxis would do the ride on the meter (a taxi trip on the metre would cost about 1.40, 40p each, they would only do it for 3.00!) Everyone bar me thought this was a rip off, a massive 1.60 extra! so we walked it,and to say I was pissed off was a understatement.  I was hot, sweaty not to mention crossing several roads that were dangerous all for the sake of 40p extra each.  Although claire was equally as mad as me and we made our feelings known when we reached the restaurant.

After another lovely meal at snappers we headed to cheap charlies for a couple of beers. Then we wandered round the area where we found this ace bar.

My I just add, we got a taxi back! I had made it quite clear there was noway on earth I was walking back. It cost a grand total of £2.00!

Thailand

Day 15

After yesterdays activities, I decided i was doing absolutely nothing today.  Basically I went to the gym in the morning and then I lounged around the pool all day. I think there must have been speedos on sale at half price in the MBK, because every guy around the pool was wearing them.  They seriously need to banned because anyone over the age of 10 looks ridiculous in them.

 When wandering around the pool I noticed this plant pot.

Nothing overly exciting I admit, however I noticed there were tropical fish in it.  In the UK you would require a heater, filter, UV light etc etc, however in Thailad it is so hot all year round you obviously dont need any expensive equiment

In the evening myself and claire went to the MBK centre and ate at a lovely thai restaurant called sumo.

Thailand

Day 14


Bangkok Royal Palace and watarun


Today I have something other than claires shopping spree to report! After a short taxi ride we headed to the river catch a river boat (it cost 3p each!) to watarun.  Watarun basically  is a achient temple.  Like everywhere in thailand, thankfully, health and safety is not a priority. The steps leading up and down the temple were extremely steep, like a concrete ladder.  If you trip on these steps it is a one way ticket to hospital.

very steep stairs

After about a hour at te temple, we headed back over the river to the royal palace. After walking all round the outside of the palace in 40c heat we  eventually made it through the front gate.  At this point I was stopped by he fashion police and told my 3/4 lenght pants were too short and I had to go and join a massive queue to put on some comedy baggy trousers.

We looked around the palace for about 2 hours, were the searing heat was taking its toll so we headed back to the puthuwan princess (our hotel).

In the evening we all headed to patpong.  This area of bangkok has several streets that are dedicated to the following, dancing girls, dancing boys and the occasion market.  If you have never been there before then it is a real eye opener.  I must have been offered to watch a ping pong show about 50 times, i am guessing it was not a table tennis competition haha. After 3 or 4 drinks we headed back to the hotel about 130am, very tired and a little drunk. Sorry fletcher no photos!

Thailand

Day 13

More shopping!!!!

Today we headed to pantip plaza, this is basically a 7 floor electronics centre. This place is a gadget lovers dream and it sells everything.  We ended up buying a 64gig usb stick for £12, what a bargain.  I also bought a remote controlled car for £12, it is seriously quick.

After spending a eternity in the electronic mall, we headed to platinum plaza.  This is essentially a clothing mecca, a very cheap one at that. I ended up buying shirts, all at a very cheap price.  Claire managed to buy another 6 bags, why!  After shopping all day we headed back to the hotel, absolutely wrecked.

At some point I am going to visit the main tourist attractions, i.e the palace etc.   I will also head to patpong one night and just for u fletcher I will get some interesting pics!

Thailand

Day 12

Cheap Charlies


Today started quite slowly, we chilled out by the pool until about 3pm. After a slow start we headed to a newly built shopping complex called terminal 21.  This is basically shopping mall based on a airport terminal, all be it a very fancy on.  Each floor is based on a different city i.e london,paris, san francisco ec.

the london section, all of the local thai people were having their photo taken next to this bus

after wandering round there for a hour or so we went down sukhumvit lane (spelling), this is basiclly a very busy street with loads of market stalls, restaurants and dancing bars. Eentually we ended up in cheap charlies, this is basically a little english speaking outdoor bar, It was packed and the atmosphere was good.

After a couple of changs we headed to snappers, basically a new zealand fish and chip bar.  The food was amazing, and we could not eat another thing.  After the meal we decided to walk home, this in my opinion was a bad idea and took the best part of a hour. even though it was 11pm, the temperature is still about 28c.  I will insist on a cab next time.

Thailand

Day 11

Dinner cruise

After breakfast we headed just down the road to look at a couple of other shopping complexes

Siam Centre and Siam Discovery

Siam Parigon

Both of these places are very posh and full of genuine designer shops, so there were no purchases today.  After looking round for a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel.  We were very tired from the day before, plus we were going out in the evening.

The highlight of the trip so far was the evening dinner cruise, that claire had very kindly booked before we left the uk.  This consisted of a waiter serviced 5 course meal, while sailing down the main river in bangkok.

Watarun

same view at night

Some of the food we ate

a dancer

me in my 1.40 shirt

after a amazing evening we headed back to the hotel at about 830pm for some much needed rest.

Thailand

Day 10

Chatuchak Market

Today we went to Chatuchak Market, this is the biggest outdoor market in the world and there are plenty of bargins on offer.  It took claire all of about 5 minutes to start buying stuff, shoes and countless bags.  To say this place is busy is a understatement, and combined wth 35 plus temerparures it is imperative you stay hydated.  I managed to pick up a few bargains myslf, especially a shirt at 70p and two more at a £1.40 each.

The market is amazing, however it does have one part of the market that is very bad. This is the pet zone. It sells everything from snakes, parrots, puppies, cats, squirrels, chipmonks, fish etc etc and plastered all over this section are signs saying no photos.  The reason for this is the conditions for the vast majority of them were appaling, i.e ten ducks in a cage, about 500 fish in one tank, 50 hens in one cage.  When walking through this section (claire and her mum and dad refused to go through it) I noticed a lot of commotion in one corner, and there was a small concrete pen where two cocks (hens) were fighting, with a load of people watching.

People on route to the market as we were leaving

After spending about six hours there we had enough, the place was geting far too busy! We headed back to the hotel were I chilled out by the pool for a hour or so.

A collection of the stuff I have bought so far.  May I add the reebok trainers are genuine, bought from a official shop, only cost £18

Thailand

Day 9


Transit to Bangkok

After getting up relatively early, we headed to samui airport to catch our 45 min flight to bangkok.  At about 1500 we reached our hotel in heart of the bangkok shopping district, the Pathumwan Princess.

Custom hotel pics

view from room

After some unpacking we headed into the greatest shopping complex in the world, the MBK centre.  It did not take Claire long to sart buying clothes shoes bags etc etc.  where she plans to put all this stuff is beyond me, I have no doubt most of it will end up in my case!  I bought some genuine calvin kleins today!  We also sneaked a sub way back into the hotel room, I had forgoten how good they are!

Thailand

Day 8

Final day on samui


Today we made the most of our final relaxing day before we head for the inevitable bangkok madness. All we did was laze around on the beach and work on the old tan, which is coming along nicely.

The cool bar, literally a shack on the beach.

After lazing around all day we head out for a meal at a local restaurant.  During the meal a huge flying beetle crashed to the earth right next to  us, this made claire and her mum scream.  Claires dad decided he would try hand help the stranded beetle off its back.  However it clung on to his shoe , he panicked and flicked it off his foot towards a couple having a meal on the next table.

a big toad i encountered

after a couple of drinks at the cool bar myself and claire headed home at about 1 am.

Thailand

Day 7


Chaweng

Today we did our usual thing of chilling by the sea and the usual happy hour cocktails.  However in the evening claire and myself headed into the busiest town on samui (chaweng) for a evening meal.  About 7 years ago I had stayed in chaweng and to say it has changed is a understatement.  Today there are literally hundreds of bars and restaurants that line the sea front, six years ago I dont think there were any. Even though the place is much busier, it is still a nice place to visit unlike lami which is very seedy.

Anyway after walking down the main street in samui, we headed to the sea front and found a nice restaurant.  We had a very romantic meal on the beach and a couple of drinks.  After the meal we decided to walk down the sea front (on the sand) to our coach pick up point.  This proved to be a major error, because the sand was really deep and the tide was coming in. It took the best part of a hour to reach the centara grand, just in time for the bus.  We were both covered in sand, and neither of us were in a good mood (claire especially).

Here you go Mark, a picture of me on the blog. Mr Baxendale complained about there being no photos of myself or claire on the blog.  Ps having a photo next to cliare makes my tan look epic!

we arrived back in the hotel for 11 pm, happy hour.  So we had a couple of drinks and stayed up to to our latest night yet 1am!!!!!

Thailand

Day 6


Resurection

I woke up early this morning and the first thing I did was check out my camera, hoping that it had miraculously mended its self.  Much to my amazement the waterproof camera was now fully operational.

This is a pic of a deserted beach about 500 yards from our hotel complex.

Today we literally hung out in the hotel complex, chilling out in the pool and going in and out of the bar, especially at the 1 pm happy hour.

Despite yesterdays slight failing with camera, I decided to take it back into the sea and took some good  photos and a video.


To help attract the fish I took some bread at breakfast, here is a nice 44 second video.

In the evening we headed to claires parents villa, where we ordered room service.  I was absolutely wrecked and decided to call it a early night.

Thailand

Day 5

waterproof!!!!!!!!!!!!


With my sunburn I decided i was going to take it easy in the sun today, so I was restricted to a t-shirt all day. I decided I would test out my cameras waterproof ability today.  The main reason I bought my camera was because it was waterproof to 3 meters, which meant it would be sand proof (my two previous digital cameras had died through sand), plus it meant I could take some underwater pictures and videos.


The water was a little cloudy

After loungind in the sun all day I decided to hire (it was free) a kyak out for a bit, this was great fun except for the part were I nearly got stuck on some rocks and got overturned by a wave.

In the early evening myself and claire headed back to our private pool, where after about a hour she finally managed to do  a forward and backward roll!!!! this would normally take the average person about 10 min to learn.

In the evening we headed out for a meal and I decided while we waited (it took over a hour to arrive, we were literally 20 seconds from leaving when then food arrived) to check out the days photographs. About 30 seconds after switching on my camera, it would turn its self off saying batery incompatible. After faffing around for ten min or so I took the battery case off and I found a small amount of water was in there! No amount of blowing, switching on or off would solve the problem, Iets just say I was pissed off!

After the meal we headed back to the room, claire was feeling pretty tired this was mainly down to a touch/a lot of sunburn.