| 10th December/25th December Our days in Nai Yang alternated between our local beach, the beach at Surinath National Park and shopping in Phuket Town, where Harry bought new glasses at a fraction of the cost in England. We also decided that after the success of optical swimming goggles purchased on a previous trip to Singapore, to invest in an optical snorkel mask, as it is much easier when you can see. We had infrequent rain storms during this time mostly at night, so generally the weather was brilliant. We hired one of the local longtail boats and went fishing, and Harry snorkelled. The water was so clear you could see the fishes even from the boat. Having seen several other areas from the sea we decided to set out and investigate these one of which was a beautiful beach called Naithon. After much trepidation Jenny decided to try out my snorkel and mask and was amazed at what she was able to see on the rocks and coral. Following this she decided she would buy her own snorkelling kit again with the optical lenses. Eventually, getting itchy feet again we set off for another trip and visited Ban Tao, Kamala, and Patong, Karon, Kata and Chalong Pier. We wanted to do a little window shopping in Patong, but there were so many traders that if you so much as glance at anything your pratically dragged into their shops, needless to say as this is one of our pet hates, we swiftly departed. Stopped at a local market on the way home. We continued to practice our snorkelling, so that Jenny would gain more confidence and fishing, although mostly only catching small fish. Wanted to go to the Similian Islands, but after a bit of research decided that the long sea trip would be a bit uncomfortable. Settled for a trip to Maya Bay, Monkey Island, Phi Phi Le, Phi Phi Don and Khai. It was an excellent day out, but everywhere was crowded because it was nearly Christmas. Finally managed to upload our travelogue on the web site, and hopefully you have now seen this and our Christmas and New Year greetings. Christmas day was spent on the beach. In the evening our hosts Doon and Fatima invited us for a fairwell dinner as we had been with them so long, which was excellent. We knew we would miss them, as despite the language barrier we got on very well. 26th December 2004 Tsunamis( Tidal Wave) Well the day started out as usual on our trip to Thailand, we got up early and as we were leaving for Australia in the afternoon we decided to go for an early swim, we went to our Favourite spot to go snorkeling before breakfast. I swam out about 100mts to snorkel over the coral Reef, Jenny who has learnt to snorkel decided it was a bit rough and decided to swim close to shore. We then drove to Nai Yang Beach about 2 Kms and had breakfast in a Beach bar, whilst having breakfast we thought we would have a Thai Massage , but after paying for the food we realised that we hadn't bought enough money with us so we went back to our room to pack and shower. We had a knock at the door and the owners wife said in pidgeon English that there had been a Big Wave on the Beach and I decided to go down an see if I could help, I only got half way down the stairs and the owner Doon shouted that we must Evacuate the Building, he was gathering his family and other guests into his Transporter and told us to follow in our car, women and Children were crying and we drove up a very steep and baddly rutted dirt road to the high ground on the Island,we had no time to collect any thing ,I only had my swimming shorts and jenny in a bikini and sandals. The communication were hopeless and we heard that 500 people were killed already and that there could be another wave. After about half an hour the Locals decided to move up even higher so we thought it prudent to follow, on the walk up we met the other guests, Dan from Wolverhampton,Living in Japan Teaching English, Django from LA working with Dan, Simon from Italy and Kevin from Alanta Georgia on vacation who gave me a T-Shirt and Jenny a Wrap ( for which we are very grateful ) as by this time the sun was scorching. We believe a second wave hit the beach later, but have not seen any reports since to confirm this. We ended up staying in quite literally a Jungle hut high up in the hills we guess about a 1000 ft above sea level we could see the Airport and knew there was a problem because all the Aircraft had taken off and nothing was landing and by now this was about Midday and our flight was for 3-55pm then we heard that the airport was Shut The Thai people where fantastic they gave us water and soft drinks, they cooked food for us and were as helpful as they could be bearing in mind that they spoke little English, so we had to guess what was happening Later in the after noon we met the owner of the Beach bar where we had breakfast, he said all the beach bars had been Obliterated his included and that the Tidal Wave hit the beach 10 minutes after we had left, he got away on his motor bike. We had been told that the airport had re-opened at 5.00pm and decided to walk down to the car before it got to dark to see, and try and get more news. The locals were still hanging on worried about another possible aftershock. Our fellow travellers decided to continue down, Dan and Django walking and Kevin coming with us as he was due to fly out also. We drove to the airport only 3kms away to check they were open and whether any flights were leaving. The staff told us they would book us onto the next flight in 40 minutes so we hurriedly returned to the house to finish packing. We made it in time and left for Singapore about 8.15pm. Arriving in Singapore for our connection to Melbourne, they decided we could not continue on as our luggage would not be unloaded in time to travel with us. We were put up in a very nice Hotel free of charge. We finally were on our way at 8.15am, arriving in Melbourne nearly 12 hours later than planned and very tired. It wasn't until we arrived in Melbourne we realised the full scope of what had happened and could only be thankful that a lack of cash had removed us from certain danger. Thank you, for those of you who have contacted us to ensure our wellbeing it was much appreciated.
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| Bungalow at Nai Yang Beach |
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| Latex hung out to change colour |
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| Pineapples growing |
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| Harry preparing a curry paste |
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| Jenny tasting the food we cooked |
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| Our creations |
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| Our bungalow at Koh Lanta Yai |
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| Jenny on deserted beach on Koh Lanta Noi |
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| Market in Phattalung |
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| Phattalung Market |
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| unknown wat between Trang & Surat Thani |
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| Lunch at Surat Thani |
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| 26th/27th November, 2004 - We've finally started our World Trip, and have now arrived in Thailand via Singapore. Our first few days were spent at Nai Yang Beach in the Surinath National Park, Phuket. We've been here before and little seems to have changed other than prices, and a few new buildings. The beaches are beautiful and the water warm. We are reaquainting ourselves with the pleasures of Thai food. Its a lovely place to take long leisurely walks, unfortunately Harry's foot is troubling him so he has had to rest it a lot. We had problems with our rental car and had to exchange it three times before we found one with both brakes and steering. 30th November/9th December - Left Nai Yang and Phuket Island and crossed to the mainland and made our way to Ao Phang Nga National Park, where we had a jungle bungalow, with visits from Monkeys at breakfast time. Spent the evening in Phang Nga itself and dined from one of the huge markets you can see everywhere here. Drove on the next day passing many rubber trees, some being tapped for latex and some not depending on their ages. Washing lines appear regularly by the roadside with what appear to be bathmats drying in the sun but are actually sheets of latex, which start out white and gradually change to brown, only to be removed and replaced by further white ones. Our next stop was Ao Nang (Krabi), where we found a Thai cookery school www.thaicookeryschool.net and enrolled for the following day. Accomodation was found at Jungle Village, alas no hot water seemed to be forthcoming for showers despite water heaters being present, so we moved to another bungalow with no more luck. Spent a very enjoyable 6 hours the next day at cookery school, learning how to make curry pastes for green curry, red curry, penang curry, yellow curry, massaman curry, jungle curry and then cooking then all together with various stir fry dishes and types of rice dishes. All to be tasted and eaten during the day. After returning from the cookery course and still finding no hot water we decided it was time to move on. Made our way round the coast to a car ferry for Koh Lanta Noi which you crossed over by means of an unpaved deeply rutted mud road, finally catching a further car ferry to Koh Lanta Yai, we have been here before and so knew where to stay www.lantavillaresort.com , however the price had tripled but after a little haggling we negotiated the price to a more reasonable level. The following day we arranged to have a day out fishing, and this was very enjoyable Harry caught 5 fishes including a small tuna, which much to the boat owners discust we insisted he threw back. Swam, walked and swam again although sometimes in the terrential rain. Jenny's trying to prepare herself for a bit of snorkelling later in our trip. Thought we'd try driving to the other side of the Island that we'd not been to before, but the road was very rough and the car was definitely not happy, so we decided against it. After four days in this idyllic setting we decided it was time to move on and caught the ferry back to dry land. We drove towards Trang, but realising there was little to interest us there continued on to Phattalung. An interesting town with many shops where goods are piled high and owners can't have a clue as to what they have in stock, to shops only selling half a dozen items. The accomodation gets cheaper on this side of the country. Had some interesting food, not quite sure what we ate. Lovely fresh food market beside the water. We found our way to the bridge, crossing over to Pak Phanang to try and find the King's Craft Centre, but after driving for over an hour failed to find it. This seems to happen a lot as many items appear on tourist maps, but are not backed up by road signs in english. Our hotel that night was the cheapest of all at 280 Baht/ £4. We had a hard time finding a meal that night, as just about all the town closed at night, unlike other places visited where shops stayed until at least 9.00pm and often later. On our way again the next day via Nakthon Si Thamamarat. The weather has been getting progressively worse since leaving Koh Lanta, and is now raining and overcast for most of each day. Having decided not to stop we pushed on and reached Surat Thani for a late lunch. Found a swish five star hotel offering us a 1500 Baht room for 765 Baht including breakfast. Investigated the shops during the evening and found a huge Tescos!!!!! Finally on the 9th December made the decision to return to Phuket Island as the weather was definitely better on that side of Thailand. We had driven a lot of miles and enjoyed it, but felt we could have seen far more if only the road signs had been better.We returned to our original bungalows, but by now the price was increasing for Christmas time and we decided against it. We found a great house to stay it’s called Wong Lees address 65/15 M.5 T.Saku, A.Thalang Phuket 83110 and we managed to negotiate a very good price 700 baht (10 UK Pounds ) a night, we have a large double bedroom en suite bathroom and breakfast is included, the house is new as is everything inside. We are the first tenants, Doon and his wife Fatima are great hosts and the house is 3 Kms from the Airport. Driving in Thailand is a bit of an experience to say the least, motor cycles in their droves come from every angle drive the wrong way up the hard shoulder, you frequently see four people on one small motor bike , Women driving with one hand whilst breast feeding the Baby, dogs sitting on the pillion seat , they are oblivious to other traffic , most of them not insured otherwise we have so far not had any mishaps. The internet is pretty slow around here, so we'll continue with our saga soon. Love to you all, have a Happy Christmas. Harry & Jenny | | |
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