Month: February 2019

35 degrees, sunny

We thought we ought to see a bit of this part of Thailand whilst we’re here, so today we went off on a tour of 4 of the limestone islands (of the 300) that are in this bay.  We elected to join a formal tour rather than a private long tail boat so joined 33 other people on a speedboat for a 1/2 day trip.

The first stop was at a couple of small islands which are joined by a sand bar at low tide.  All very pretty, but heaving with people.  Apparently there are 10 companies touring this area, plus the private hire long tail boats, all arriving there at the same time to catch the low tide.  And as the tide was coming in, the sand bar was getting smaller!

We managed to get away from most of the people by scrambling over some rocks around the end of one of the islands, crystal clear water and lovely soft sand.

Next we went to Chicken Island, so called because there is a rocky outcrop that looks like a Goose!

We stopped here for 1/2 snorkelling along what used to be a coral reef until the Tsunami destroyed most of it.  But there were plenty of colourful fish to see; Parrot Fish, Angel Fish, Clown Fish and lots of yellow/black stripey ones along with sea slugs and bright purple something or other on the sea bed.  The only problem was the number of boats coming and going into the area we were swimming in, which made it a little bit hazardous at times.

Next island we stopped at for lunch.  Again people ‘thronging’ around the beach area.  Lunch was provided by the tour company and we didn’t have high expectations, but it turned out to be fine.  After lunch a bit more snorkelling in a sectioned off area but the water here was not very clear.

The last stop was Railly Beach with limestone cliffs and caves with external stalagmites.

One of the caves was a temple to fertility which was piled high with wooden carvings – look closely to see what of!

Back at the hotel for 3 pm to shower off the sand and have a doze round the pool.

One last use of our lovely outdoor bathroom, dinner in the Italian restaurant as we’re craving European food!

 

35 degrees, sunny

Another lazy day on the beach and round the pool.  Getting through some books and sun screen!

In the evening we joined a Chinese New Year celebration in the restaurant.  They had set decorated it beautifully, with lots of hanging Chinese lanterns, lovely table settings and all the staff were dressed in Chinese style clothing.  It was a buffet; Chinese food, Thai style which included such delights as Jellyfish Salad (which we declined!), sea bass and honeyed duck, which were delicious.

After a burst of firecrackers set up on the beach, (right next to where we were sitting, making us jump) a Chinese Dragon/Lion thing came in and danced around the room.  It was in the style of a pantomime horse with two people inside, but they worked it very well and were very entertaining.  It was still about 35 degrees so the two operators must have been melting inside the costume.

35 degrees, sunny

Another lazy day on the beach and round the pool when it got too hot on the beach.  Tried taking a kayak out to look around the headland, booked it for two hours but 1/2 hour later we went back in as it was too much like hard work, so we went back to lazing around again.  The heat and humidity are sapping our energy  and we’re tired out by 9 pm, ready for bed having done nothing much at all, all day.

Our balcony

 

35 degrees, sunny

Another lazy day on the beach and pool.  Took a kayak out for an hour but returned it after about 1/2 hour as it was too much like hard work paddling it in the sea and sunshine.

 

35 degrees, sunny

Another day lazing around the beach and pool area when the heat got too much as there is more shade around the pool in the afternoon.

Not much happened today – getting through some books though!

35 degrees, sunny

Woke to a lovely sunny day.  Wandered around the hotel grounds after breakfast.  There is a lovely beach and pool area and lots of lush greenery and running water.  Some huge goldfish living in a fairly shallow pond area by the restaurant.  Out to see are the islands that first attracted us to this hotel

We spent most of the day lazing on bean bags on the beach and watching the tide go out quite a long way.  All of a sudden the area where the tide had gone out was smothered in tiny little crabs which just appeared out of the sand and started munching away at the sand around them

We have booked ourselves flights back to Bangkok from the local airport at Krabi as we don’t fancy another 2 1/2 hour drive (or more during the day with Thailand’s traffic) back to Phuket.

We had an early evening meal watching the sun set over the islands in the bay and an early bedtime.

19 degrees, rain

We left Sydney on a cold and rainy day and had a smooth 9 hour flight to Bangkok on seats with extra legroom which I  had forgotten I’d booked, so that was a nice surprise.

We arrived at Bangkok airport and made our way to the Domestic departure lounge through the chaos that is the arrivals area, for our flight to Phuket which was four hours later.  Not sure how, but we managed to get tickets giving us entrance into the Bangkok Airlines lounge so peace and quiet resumed for a while but it was a long wait.

The flight to Phuket was only one and a half hours, but very noisy with one screaming child delaying take-off because they wouldn’t sit in a seat on their own, unfortunately they were just behind us!  We eventually landed at about 10 pm, which is now 3 am Sydney time, and through the chaos that is Phuket airport we found our pre-arranged taxi to take us to our hotel, apparently another hour and a half journey.  The taxi was a fairly tacky mini-van and the driver naturally didn’t speak English and five minutes into the journey stopped at a fuel station to have a fag!

We both decided we needed to stay awake for this journey although we hadn’t the faintest idea where we were going and the driver was the usual Thai kind, foot down hard to accelerate, then coast, then accelerate, etc till we felt like nodding dogs in the back of the vehicle.

Two hours later and still miles from Krabi and driving down a dark road surrounded by jungle, an alarm sounded in the car and the driver pulled over and turned the engine off!  Just what we needed, a breakdown in the middle of nowhere, in the dark.  The driver rooted around in the centre console and found something which he pressed and then tried the engine again, which thankfully started.  Definitely a worrying moment or two there!

Another half an our later we arrived at our hotel but as it was now well past midnight the place was fairly dark and empty and we’ve been awake for 24 hours.  However the night staff were very welcoming and quickly showed us to our room, which looks lovely but we didn’t spend any time looking around, just climbed into bed and fell asleep straight away.

38 degrees, sunny

Today we took the 30 minute ferry ride across the harbour to Manly on the side facing the Pacific Ocean.

Scorching hot sun and we walked across the town to the beach on the Pacific which was a lovely stretch of sand but not a speck of shade in sight.  Naturally, by the time we had got ourselves moving in the morning and over to the beach, it’s now coming up to 12 mid-day – not a good time to start laying in the sun in Australia.

We managed about an hour altogether with frequent dips in the sea, which wasn’t really suitable for swimming in – more suited to the surfers buzzing about.  It was just too hot to stay longer so we showered in the public showers and found a nice restaurant overlooking the beach for lunch – took ages to cool down.

After lunch we took the ferry back again and had a last look at Sydney Harbour before going back to our hotel to pack again ready for an early start in the morning.

All around the harbour colourful models and lanterns were being erected as the Chinese New Year festival commences on 1st February – which yet again we will miss!

30 degrees, overcast

After a couple of busy, tiring days we decided to take it easy today and had a late breakfast, then did some washing and ironing as we are getting through a our clothes quite quickly in this heat. John went to get a haircut and then we just loafed around the hotel until 5pm when we left to go on our Harbour Dinner Cruise.

Toured around the harbour whilst having a nice meal and listening to quite a good duo, a lovely evening.

Surprised this one came out as the background is through smoky glass.

As it was a lovely warm night, we walked back to the hotel from Circular Quay, despite one of us moaning all the way!
ANZAC memorial