We are back again after a couple of frustrating years of not been able to travel. To wet the whistle, so to speak, we decided to do just a three-week trip back to one of our favorite countries, Thailand to sample the waters for future travel. And my, have things changed. Airports are chaotic, shops are still shut, and it doesn't seem to have the same vibe as before. Let me run down on our trip so far. As per some our last posts, I sometime suggest you grab a coffee, tea or something stronger to read on as I tend to ramble sometimes. Here goes!!!
Day 1 - We arrived at Adelaide Airport at 6am for a 9am flight. After an easy check-in, we then headed to the back of the line for the security checks. One hour later we final got through security and headed for the International Departures section. Everyone wants to travel these days.
It was pleasant trip on Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. We had a two hour stop-over there and then another Singapore Airlines flight to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at around 7pm and then a taxi from the Airport to our overnight hotel.
Day 2 - We departed Bangkok on a Bangkok Airlines ATR74 flight to Koh Samui. It was always our intention to hire a motor scooter in Koh Samui as we had done on our last two trips there, but before we left Adelaide, I had looked up the weather forecast for Koh Samui, and they predicted rain and thunderstorms for the whole 5 days were going to be there. I decided to hire a car which we picked up at the airport on arrival. It was an easy drive to our villa, and we checked in soon after. The villa was way beyond our expectations. There are only 4 villas in the complex with 2 one-bedroom villas and 2 two-bedroom villas. The villas are authentic early 1900's teak still house that were transported from Ayutthaya (former capital of Siam) and then reconstructed on site, The villas are two story with the Bedroom and Lounge upstairs and the Kitchen and Dining downstairs. Upstairs is fully air conditioned, and downstairs is all open. All the furniture is antique from the period but at the same time it has all the mods and cons of a modern hotel. The villas a set in lush tropical gardens with a pool to cool down at the end of the day. Our host was fantastic, and we really enjoyed our stay there. There was a Festival happening across the road from the Villas which meant loud music until mid-night every night. As Debbie and I don't normally go to bed before midnight anyway, we accepted the inconvenience. The owner, knowing this may cause an inconvenience to the guests, said he would understand if we wanted to cancel the booking (no penalty), and as we could not pass up the opportunity to stay in these unique villas, he offered to cut the cost the villas by 50%, so in the end it only cost around $50 a night. Even at the full price it was a bargain. I will stop for now and just show you some of the photos from the villa. I will update in a couple of days with photos of around Koh Samui. Enjoy
Day 1 - We arrived at Adelaide Airport at 6am for a 9am flight. After an easy check-in, we then headed to the back of the line for the security checks. One hour later we final got through security and headed for the International Departures section. Everyone wants to travel these days.
It was pleasant trip on Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. We had a two hour stop-over there and then another Singapore Airlines flight to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at around 7pm and then a taxi from the Airport to our overnight hotel.
Day 2 - We departed Bangkok on a Bangkok Airlines ATR74 flight to Koh Samui. It was always our intention to hire a motor scooter in Koh Samui as we had done on our last two trips there, but before we left Adelaide, I had looked up the weather forecast for Koh Samui, and they predicted rain and thunderstorms for the whole 5 days were going to be there. I decided to hire a car which we picked up at the airport on arrival. It was an easy drive to our villa, and we checked in soon after. The villa was way beyond our expectations. There are only 4 villas in the complex with 2 one-bedroom villas and 2 two-bedroom villas. The villas are authentic early 1900's teak still house that were transported from Ayutthaya (former capital of Siam) and then reconstructed on site, The villas are two story with the Bedroom and Lounge upstairs and the Kitchen and Dining downstairs. Upstairs is fully air conditioned, and downstairs is all open. All the furniture is antique from the period but at the same time it has all the mods and cons of a modern hotel. The villas a set in lush tropical gardens with a pool to cool down at the end of the day. Our host was fantastic, and we really enjoyed our stay there. There was a Festival happening across the road from the Villas which meant loud music until mid-night every night. As Debbie and I don't normally go to bed before midnight anyway, we accepted the inconvenience. The owner, knowing this may cause an inconvenience to the guests, said he would understand if we wanted to cancel the booking (no penalty), and as we could not pass up the opportunity to stay in these unique villas, he offered to cut the cost the villas by 50%, so in the end it only cost around $50 a night. Even at the full price it was a bargain. I will stop for now and just show you some of the photos from the villa. I will update in a couple of days with photos of around Koh Samui. Enjoy
Days 3 to 7 - I've decided not to do day by day commentary as some days we did bugger all and just veggied out at the villas or took a short stroll around the area. To sum up days 3 to 7, we did get out and about and visited a couple of waterfalls (not that spectacular) and visited a couple of Buddhist shrines. We drove around the island on day 5 stopping at a few places to take in the ambience.
Overall, it was a relaxing 5 days in Koh Samui. We said our goodbyes to our host Mimi and headed to the airport.
There the drama began. When unpacking the rental car at the airport, I noticed I had left my computer back at the villas on the spare bed. I left Debbie there and rushed back to the villas. Luckily the villa was still unlocked, and my computer was resting nicely on the spare bed. I grabbed it and jumped back in the car and headed back to the airport. I was using Google maps on my phone for directions back. After arriving back, the car rental mob was supposed to meet me to inspect the car, but nobody was there. I locked the car and told one of the other car rental booths that we were boarding shortly, and I could not wait around for my rental company to show up. I raced down to the departure gate to meet up with Debbie again and we checked in and proceeded to the departure gate. Just as we boarded the aircraft, I realised that I had left my phone in the car.
On the flight back to Bangkok, thoughts of how I was going to recover my phone flooded my head. When we arrived in Bangkok, I went to the Bangkok Airport agent for the same rental company, told her the story and she phone the agent in Koh Samui who informed her that they had the phone. I agreed to send her our Bangkok Hotel address and she would send it back to me. It arrived two days later, and all is good with the world again.
We have just spent 6 days in Bangkok and head North to Chaing Mai tomorrow. In my next blog I will summaries our 7 days in Bangkok.
Below are some phones of our stay in Koh Samui. Enjoy!
Overall, it was a relaxing 5 days in Koh Samui. We said our goodbyes to our host Mimi and headed to the airport.
There the drama began. When unpacking the rental car at the airport, I noticed I had left my computer back at the villas on the spare bed. I left Debbie there and rushed back to the villas. Luckily the villa was still unlocked, and my computer was resting nicely on the spare bed. I grabbed it and jumped back in the car and headed back to the airport. I was using Google maps on my phone for directions back. After arriving back, the car rental mob was supposed to meet me to inspect the car, but nobody was there. I locked the car and told one of the other car rental booths that we were boarding shortly, and I could not wait around for my rental company to show up. I raced down to the departure gate to meet up with Debbie again and we checked in and proceeded to the departure gate. Just as we boarded the aircraft, I realised that I had left my phone in the car.
On the flight back to Bangkok, thoughts of how I was going to recover my phone flooded my head. When we arrived in Bangkok, I went to the Bangkok Airport agent for the same rental company, told her the story and she phone the agent in Koh Samui who informed her that they had the phone. I agreed to send her our Bangkok Hotel address and she would send it back to me. It arrived two days later, and all is good with the world again.
We have just spent 6 days in Bangkok and head North to Chaing Mai tomorrow. In my next blog I will summaries our 7 days in Bangkok.
Below are some phones of our stay in Koh Samui. Enjoy!
Days 9 to 16 - After an uneventful flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok, we got the Sky Train from the airport to the city and then final a taxi from the station to our hotel. The hotel is quite nice. Very modern and well-furnished and a bit disappointing after having spent 5 days in the gorgeous villas of Koh Samui. But it was planned that we would spend a week in Bangkok as we haven't in the past spent that long in the city. One of the problems with going back to places you have already been to, is that what do you do. This was our 15th trip to Bangkok, and we have seen just about every touristy thing to see both in the city and outside the city.
We went back to a few of our favourite places as far as shopping goes and tried the newest shopping centre which is the SIAMICON. We have visited some fantastic shopping centres over the years including some massive ones like EDMONTON MALL, but this one takes the cake as the best one we have ever been tp. Not because of the size, as it is big, but because of the decor and attention to details of the atmosphere they are trying to create. The ground floor just blew us away, from the floating market in the food hall to the fountain display out in the courtyard beside the river.
To get to the shopping centre they even created a new rail line, although it's hard to call it a rail line because the rail cars run on Rubber Wheels and are driverless. Altogether, a must do thing to do if you are visiting Bangkok.
A week was to long for us. If you haven't been before then a week would be fine to see all the attractions in and around Bangkok, but when you have 'Been There, Done That' a week just drags by.
Anyway, after our week we boarded our SMILE airlines flight and travelled North to our favourite city, CHIANG MAI.
In my next blog I will tell you about our week in Chiang Mai and where we stayed.
Enjoy!
We went back to a few of our favourite places as far as shopping goes and tried the newest shopping centre which is the SIAMICON. We have visited some fantastic shopping centres over the years including some massive ones like EDMONTON MALL, but this one takes the cake as the best one we have ever been tp. Not because of the size, as it is big, but because of the decor and attention to details of the atmosphere they are trying to create. The ground floor just blew us away, from the floating market in the food hall to the fountain display out in the courtyard beside the river.
To get to the shopping centre they even created a new rail line, although it's hard to call it a rail line because the rail cars run on Rubber Wheels and are driverless. Altogether, a must do thing to do if you are visiting Bangkok.
A week was to long for us. If you haven't been before then a week would be fine to see all the attractions in and around Bangkok, but when you have 'Been There, Done That' a week just drags by.
Anyway, after our week we boarded our SMILE airlines flight and travelled North to our favourite city, CHIANG MAI.
In my next blog I will tell you about our week in Chiang Mai and where we stayed.
Enjoy!
Days 17 to 23 - Arriving at our hotel in Chiang Mai, we were excited by our new home for the next 7 days. The hotel, Ping Nakara Spa Resort, was more than we expected. Built in the 70's to an early colonial design, it was beautiful. Our room was on the top floor (3 floors only and only 19 rooms) and was excellent. It had a king size bed, lounge and a balcony that extended the length of our room. I have included photos of our room and around the hotel. Everything was complimentary including a mini bar refreshed each day, a fantastic breakfast each day and complementary use of one of the vintage Mercedes Benz hotel cars for short trips to town and back. We only used the cars once and that was to take us to the Motor Bike rental shop to hire a motor scooter for 6 days. We have always used the same rental company on our previous trip to Chiang Mai and the owners recognised us from 3 years ago. As a result, they hired us a brand-new Honda Click which we loved and used every day.
Like other destinations on this trip, we have been here before (our 10th visit to Chiang Mai) so there really wasn't a lot we haven't already seen. We checked out a museum we hadn't been to before and some temples that we missed on previous trips.
Manly, it was about just relaxing and taking in the atmosphere of Chiang Mai. Reluctantly, we had to say goodbye to staff after 7 nights at the hotel and board a plane back to Bangkok for some last minute shopping before heading home. I will cover that in the next blog. Enjoy the photos!
Like other destinations on this trip, we have been here before (our 10th visit to Chiang Mai) so there really wasn't a lot we haven't already seen. We checked out a museum we hadn't been to before and some temples that we missed on previous trips.
Manly, it was about just relaxing and taking in the atmosphere of Chiang Mai. Reluctantly, we had to say goodbye to staff after 7 nights at the hotel and board a plane back to Bangkok for some last minute shopping before heading home. I will cover that in the next blog. Enjoy the photos!
