Thailand Day 8 - James Bond Island

Here are some photographs of the day trip I have been on today. James Bond Island is known as such because it was where the filmed the Base of Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun. even though it was filmed in Thailand, the base was supposedly set in China.

Some Pictures of the journey to James Bond Island (Ko Khao Ping Kan)

The three photos below are from a Cave that we stopped at on the way to catch our boat. Its a pity the photographs that I took in the cave proper haven't come out as there was hundreds of Fruit Bats hanging from ceiling and flying around the stalactites.

Reclining Buddahs seem very popular inThailand. Ive always

assumed Buddah's to be fat. Apparently The size and shape

of a Buddah denotes the period it is from.

This monkey needs to be careful it doesn't get sunburnt in a tender area!

The next set of photo's is of the longboat journey around the

Mangrove Forests to James Bond Island.

This is where Scaramange supposedly hid his secret weaopn

A Grotto - formed upto 8,000 years ago when the sea level was much higher than now.

I am assuming and hoping this is metres and not miles!!!

The View from my lunch table. Had the hottest fish soup ever here.

I wasn't very dignified eating it!

Muslim village, built entirely over the water on Stilts.

The stack behind it protects it from the monsoons.

Thailand – Day 6 (Thailand – Day 6 (Sunday Brunch & Hotel Pool)

After the Hotel Brunch, which is famous all around the Island, I decided to stay by the Hotel Pool today. The brunch buffet was amazing. It was both Thai and International food, but every dish was cooked and prepared to perfection. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Phuket. They even laid on entertainment as in the video below. It would have been nice and romantic had I not been here on my own :-(

Thailand – Day 5 (Phuket & Beach)

After the late night (4am) I had with Dave last night, there was only going to be one place to be today and that was going to be the Beach. The Sea here as Azure blue and very warm J There’s no need to take your time walking into it, you just dive in. Not at all bracing. There’s nothing much more really to say about today as I spent it relaxing on the beach all day. There was a very big downpour in the afternoon, so I decided to spend this time in the sea as I was going to get wet anyway! It’s very bizarre swimming in the sea during torrential rain. Unfortunately my bag wasn’t as protected from rain as I thought and my camera got soaked. It now doesn’t work, so I have to buy a new one :-(

Met with Dave during the night. He took me round his favourite haunts in Patong. I think he’s bored of Thai’s as you can see him dancing with a ‘Pole’ in the video below!! Compared to Karon, Patong is very wild and I thought Karon was pretty wild. I also met up with an old work colleague of mine from Norwich Union, also called Dave. No photos of Dave, but he’s not photogenic anyway, so I’m sure he wont mind. Amazingly we got chatting to some Swedish people. I say amazingly because every time you enter a bar, you are surrounded by Thai women wanting to be your best friend!! ;-)

Dave Dancing With A Pole!!!

Thailand – Day 4 (Arrive in Phuket)

Took the advice of a Dave Hone and travelled down from Bangkok to Phuket on Thai Airways in First Class. It only cost £20 extra but it was well worth it. It’s going to make flying home with Emirates in economy class very painful.

So, I finally got to my hotel at 8pm. I was meeting Dave Hone at 9, so it was going to be a quick turnaround. It’s a very impressive complex/resort. Its right opposite the beach but the rooms are a little tired and dated. I mentioned this to the staff and they gladly upgraded me to a deluxe room. The view from my balcony is beautiful. The picture on the left is the view from my room but taken with my phone, so the quality isn’t too good. My room overlooks tropical gardens, a lagoon and the Sea. First thing in the morning, the view is even more amazing as the sun is behind the hotel so all the contrasting colours stand out much more.

Dave arrived as planned and off we went to his friends Irish Bar in Karon. I was promised Thai cuisine by Dave but had to settle for a Chilli Burger! It was nice but not what I planned on eating that night. As you walk down the streets, there are numerous little food stalls to choose from. Dave as his own reasons why you shouldn’t eat from these vendors, but I find them OK and at £0.15 per kebab you can’t go wrong. We went into numerous bars, all full of rather forward Thai women ;-) Dave attempted to beat these women at Pool, but kept failing!

Karon, according to Dave is quite tame compared to Patong. Until I went to Patong the following day, I couldn’t see what the problem with Karon was. In fact its not that it’s a problem, it’s just less intense than Patong. There are enough Bars and Discos too keep anyone happy ;-)

Thailand (Day 2) - Bangkok

I certainly needed the nights sleep I have just had. I am quite amazed that jet lag is not affecting me at all. In fact I've been very alert all day. At times, especially on the Tuk Tuk ride, I needed to be. The photo on the left is of the Taxi ride to Wat Pho. At one point this was the view I thought I was only going to get to see of Bangkok. The traffic is chaos. It makes driving round london seem like a country drive in Licolnshire. You seem some very strange sights. Yousee fathers taking their daughters to school on the backs of scooters. the father will be wearing an helmet but the young daughter wont! There is a complete disregard to all other road users, crossings, etc. The taxi driver insited on looking in my guide book whilst he was driving also. I did survive the journey, but more travel fun was to come in the form of a Tuk Tuk ride.

I decided to visit Wat Pho. Wat Pho is Thailand oldest and largest temple. It's also a place a etiquette and social protocol nightmares! Basically you wander around thinking 'Am I allowed to take photopgraphs of that?', 'Should i be wearing shoes in here?', 'Should I be displaying my knees', ' should i be displaying my ankles' and the list goes on. Just when you think you are OK, you get a Thai shouting at you - "NO PHOTOS or NO SHORTS". The highlight of Wat Pho is the 'Reclining Buddha'. It is 150ft long made of plaster and covered in gold gilt.

On leaving Wat Pho,you are harrassed by lots of street sellers and Tuk Tuk Drivers. One of the tuk Tuk drivers offered to take me on a mini tour of the city for 1 hour. This cost me £1.20. It seemed hard to decline, but after visiting a few temples and large Buddahs you soon realise why it was so cheap. A lot of the taxi drivers and Tuk Tuk drivers are on commission from shops, so one of the stops on 'their tour' will always include a stop at such a shop. On this occassion it was a tailor made suit shop. I had to tell them I had already bought two jackets earlier in the day, but still they tried to sell me more. I made my excuses and left!! So not to disappoint the Tuk Tuk driver I gave him a 100% tip. Whoever said I was tight?? ;-)

TUK TUK RIDE




I think I have captured the essence of a Tuk Tuk ride in the clip above.

Below are some more photographs of today

Thailand (Day 1) - Bangkok

So, I finally arrived in Bangkok at 0830 some 14 hours late. I wouldn't recommend two night flights in a row to anyone! After checking into the hotel, I went for a walk around the local neighbourhood. There wasn't much to see in respect of historical monument or temples, but walking past one bar you got too see what Bangkok is also famous for!

Below is a short video clip of my hotel room. You certainly get a lot for your money in Bangkok. I just wished I had spent my first night here, rather than on an aeroplane next to an annoying Thai. As I arrived so early in the morning, everything during the day now seems a complete blur. Luckily I had a good night sleep and now the jet lag is not affecting me at all :-)

Thailand - A Nightmare Journey

Well the original plan was to arrive in Bangkok at 6:30pm on Tuesday night, check into my hotel, have a couple of drinks and wake refreshed on the Wednesday morning for some serious sightseeing. All this planning went out the window once I arrived at Birmingham aiport on Monday night. My flight from Birmingham to Dubai was delayed by 1 3/4 Hours. My transfer time at Dubai, for my Bangkok flight, was 1 3/4 Hours!!! I was promised by the airline staff at Birmingham that my flight was being held as there were 15 other passengers going onto Bangkok. If they didn't hold the flight for us, they said they would put us on another carriers' flight. They lied to us :-( I checked on the internet for other flights from Dubai to Bangkok and there wasn't any. On arriving in Dubai at 0930, we were told we had to wait until 2300 for the next flight to Bangkok. So off we went to a hotel for the day :-(

I spent the day in Dubai going around two different shopping districts. One was very much an arabic district. It was full of shops selling gold in every form possible. This would have been ideal if it was goldI was looking for. Unfortunately all I wanted was a fresh pair of undies as mu luggege was marooned at Dubai airport. The shops I did find only wanted to sell me 10 boxes of 10 boxers!!! Eventually I did get some fresh undies, razors and dehodorant (mine was confiscated at birmingham). If that was the arab shopping the next area was definately the western district. The shopping centre was as big as meadowhall but unlike meadowhall, every shop was a designer outlet but definitely not designer prices. It was bizarre being in an arab country but 90% of th people in the shopping centre were wstern. Whilst there, I decided to treat myself to a couple of Timberland shirts as I needed a fresh one for the rest of my journey. The journey between the two districts took me down the road in the photo. Ten years ago, most of the buildings in that picture didn't exist, it was just desert.

Finally at 11pm my second night flight in as many days left on time for Bangkok. I managed to get an emergeny exit seat so I had plenty of leg room. Unfortunaltey next to me was a miserable tiny Thai man. He seemed to fill every bit of spare space possible and just be generally annoying. When I said 'hello' he just grunted in return and when he was a asleep, he kept moving up next to me :- My revenge came by accident. I got up towards the end of the flight and stood on his foot. He woke up rather startled :-)