Phetchaburi. December 30-31, 2013.

December 30

We got a good taste of the Northern end of the East coast of Southern Thailand, and a place called Hua Hin. Well, we got stuck in traffic and took about an hour to dislodge ourselves. Hua Hin is a sprawling, over populated beach resort town with lots of condos, hotels, apartment blocks and construction as far as the eye can see creating more beds for tourists. We also stopped at the Hua Hin Floating Markets, and instead of seeing aging thai women selling freshly picked vegetables or flowers from their equally old boats, we found truck loads of tourists with tourist style retail and not a floating boat to be seen. Avoid Hua Hin.

Imagine our surprise once we hit delightful Phetchaburi. This little town is jammed packed with temples, caves and the occasional palace. We had the good luck to arrive on Monday and could enjoy the Monday night markets. And the prices of all sorts of things are becoming cheaper, probably because there are hardly any foreigners here. In fact, dinner of chicken, pork and rice for 2 people with a bottle of coke to share was a massive 70Baht (or $2.20 USD).

We have also cracked the code on how to get the prefect latte in Thailand. Order a latte with no sugar which comes hot and strong and then add your own milk. This cools it down and turns it into an actual latte. Yihaaaaa!

Memory Lane for Stephen

Monkeys everywhere.
Tourist Markets in Phetchaburi.

Yes, those are bugs!

December 31, New Years Eve

A day of temples and caves. Every corner there is a temple, and working temples at that. We drove a little out of town to visit some of the more popular ones. First up was Tham Khao Luang a cave filled with shrines and void of monkeys. Next was Wat Kampang Lang, and our first temple in the Khmer or Cambodian style. Of course now it functions as a home to a Buddha shrine and neighbours a regular temple. Small but nice. Then up the hill to Khao Bandai It for more monkeys, another cave, a temple and views over the city. Caroline was very excited to find Manneke Pis was also on vacation in Thailand.

Tham Khao Luang Cave

Buddhas in the Tham Khao Luang Cave

Manneke Pis vacationing in Thailand (Khao Bandai It)

Caroline catching up
on local Belgian news.

Contemplating 2014

New Years Eve

We joined in the festivities hosted by our hotel. The fun started at 6pm and just lasted through to midnight. Being some of the few foreigners around, we got invited up to the stage to help ring in the New Year. And there was a band playing some great 60's and 70's music, mainly in English which was a bonus. We had no idea we would be in Phetchaburi for the New Year!

January 1

Happy New Year 2014!!!!!!

A quick drive around town to see a few more temples from the comfort of Sterlin before picking up a latte and heading north.

Making friends at the Coffee shop.

Prachuap Khiri Khan. December 29, 2013

We continued North through some lovely countryside eventually making it to the East Cost of Thailand and the town of Prachuap Khiri Khan. This sleepy town is famed for its fresh seafood and we certainly enjoyed what was on offer. However, before dinner we hiked up the top Khao Chong Krajok dodging a minor infestation of monkeys along the way. There were stunning views from the top.

Monkeys everywhere. Must have been hundreds of them.

Views from Khao Chong Krajok.

We never worked out what this particular seafood was.
But Caroline enjoyed it nonetheless.

Ranong. December 28, 2013.

Myanmar in
the distance.

We drove 205 kms from Khao Sok NP to Ranong. Google maps gives it 2h44mins, but in effect it takes longer. Don't get me wrong: the roads are good. But the driving style of the Thais is reckless to put it mildly. So we prefer to take it easy.

Ranong is a border town with Myanmar. And we got our first glimpses of the country. We know that it is not possible to get our car into Myanmar, but all going well we will travel here with backpacks later in the trip. Being a border town and a place where people do "visa runs" to renew their 60 day entry permits, the town is quite geared up for ex-pats and tourists. This combined with the end of year vacation made it hard for us to find accommodation for the night, but as we had given up and were heading out of town we stopped at one last hotel and found a bed. Well bed is a kind word for what the hotel offered, but fear not, we whipped out our sleeping mats, pillows and duvet and had a good nights sleep.

We drove around this sprawling town to fulfill our tourist obligations, but did not find much of interest. We did however find a bar serving pizza and beer/wine. The wine menu was a little confusing with white wine offered at either 60B or 160B ($2 or $5 USD). Caroline assumed this was a little glass or a big glass and ordered a big glass of course. Turns out it was a big glass or a carafe, score 1 for Caroline.

Caroline got a little more wine than she bargained for.

Upgraded our bed.

Khao Sok National Park. December 27, 2013.

Upon arriving here (after the drive from Phang Nga) finding accommodation proved a bit of a challenge: we looked at 5 different places, 2 of which were full and 3 were 'mmmm only if it's the last room in town', before finding and checking into Art's Riverview Lodge. Totally agree with the Lonely Planet that it is the prettiest location in town. The rooms/huts are basic but nice and clean, and somehow had a much nicer feel to them than the others we saw. The common area (with bar/restaurant) overlooks the river. We saw monkeys everywhere: in the trees, swimming across the river, on the cars,... Very relaxing and peaceful. Stephen went for a dip in the river while I was quite happy looking on from the terrace. We had plans for going for a walk in the park but ended up enjoying time in the Lodge.

At Art's Riverview Lodge.

Phang Nga. December 27, 2013.

Yesterday, upon driving towards the hotel we'd scoped out a week ago on our way through here to Phuket, we saw the same man we'd talked to then about a boat trip. We agreed on a 7am departure this morning.
We drove into town for gas and something to eat. The Lonely Planet doesn't say much good about town, but guess what: we passed 2 lively looking evening markets and found a very local, friendly place that served good food for not a lot of money.

Calm waters so happy Me!

So up at 6, quick breakfast and off to the boat ramp for a long-tail boat trip past the 'floating village' of Koh Panyee (it's actually on stilts) to Ko Tapu, aka 'James Bond Island'. It featured in the movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. The whole idea of leaving this early was to beat the tour groups and it paid off: we had the tiny island to ourselves. Back we went, past the mangroves, back to the dock. A lovely 2.5 hours spent cruising around the amazing scenery of the region.

Long-tail boats waiting for tourists.

James Bond Island.

The name is Coney, Stephen Coney.

After our fun boat ride we returned to our hotel to freshen up before heading towards Khao Sok National Park, our next intended stop.

December 27.

Before leaving Phang Nga we made a short stop at Elephant Cave and a temple in a slight state of disrepair (which made me kinda like it) before heading towards our next stop Khao Sok National Park.

Phuket Island. December 19-26, 2013.

December 19.

We drove straight to Phuket Old Town where we'd decided to spend the night. After checking in we went for an evening stroll in the old town. Contrary to Ao Nang (and as it turned out the beach towns here on Phuket) the shops don't stay open here at night, only bars and restaurants. So it was a nice, quiet evening walk. Will hopefully be back to have a look at the place in the daytime.

December 20.

Traveling like this is a lot of fun but is also hard work. Spending 1-3 days in one place means we are constantly planning: the next day's drive, accommodation, things to do,... So we'd decided to take a longer break here on Phuket and for the occasion we booked a vacation rental (aka a small 1-bedroom apartment). Checking in was a breeze and now we can really relax for the week. Being here for Christmas is an added bonus.

Stephen been contemplating doing a diving course (when in Rome....) so after settling into our accommodation we drove to PADI Phuket Scuba Club (found them online and been in touch via email). Everyone was nice, the atmosphere relaxed and he could start tomorrow. The diving course will take 3-4 days depending on how fast Stephen picks it up. Since he's the only one starting tomorrow he'll get one-on-one training.

Kata Beach

After organizing all that we had some drinks with Kevan and Chantal and some of the instructors, and then went in search for dinner. We walked the 2kms back to our apartment, quite doable in the relative coolness of the evening.

December 21.

Around 10am Kevan and Chantal picked us up to drive to Kata Beach. Stephen started his course and I went for a walk around Kata beach town. The place is inundated with tourists, mostly Russians, Brits and Germans from what I heard. Found a Starbucks and went in search of tailor to have one of my favorite dresses copied. I bought it in 2003 in Dusseldorf. More on that as it develops...

It is nice to have some time to do nothing! Well, I'll be surfing (the net that is, as I am not a beach person) and walking and reading... and joining Stephen and the divers for drinks in the evening.

Lunch over Kata Beach

After his first day on the course Stephen came back to the flat and we went for a short drive the pick up some provisions at Villa Market at HomePro Village at Chalong Circle. Pure heaven for us Westerners! Huge wine selection, fresh produce, cheeses, meat, fish,.... Great place to stock up on some supplies. Then we joined the divers for beers in the bar/restaurant next to the dive shop. Home cooked evening meal accompanied with wine.

December 22.

Stephen enjoyed the second day of his diving course. Some more theory followed by 1 confined and 1 open water dive.

Stephen and Lauryn, his diving instructor.

Copy number 1.

This afternoon I went to the tailor I found to check on 'the dress'. Not that it's difficult to find a tailor around here mind you, every 5th shop is one, but to find one that feels good and that you can agree a price with, is the key. I didn't really know what to expect (the only other time I had something copied turned out to be disappointing), so you can imagine the smile on my face (that I was trying to hide) when, on walking into the store I saw the new dress exactly as I'd hoped it would turn out: an exact copy of the original. Which sounds simple enough but with all the stitching and un-symmetrical lines was a tad more complicated. After trying it on, I let the smile break free and promptly ordered 3 more in different colors; a fit trade-off for the diving course I reasoned.

December 23

Final day of diving instruction with a boat trip to Racha Noi and Racha Yai. Perfect day!

Dive Boat.

Caroline headed up to the Big Buddha which is a massive 45m tall Buddha looking to the East. The Buddha is still under construction, but nonetheless is quite impressive. The evening was spent celebrating the day.

Big Buddha

December 24 (Christmas Eve)

Today was a relaxing day.
We headed back to Old Phuket Town to pickup the extension for Sterlin, who is now allowed to stay 3 months in Thailand. We followed up with coffee and lunch at the lovely decorated Chicroom Cafe.

Found a beautiful old Land Rover, still going.

Since Stephen hadn't been to the Big Buddha yet, we drove up there later that afternoon. The monks were praying and one of them was doing blessings. We also wrote on a marble tablet that will be incorporated in the construction somehow.

Contributing to the Big Buddha construction.

For Christmas Eve we stayed in and enjoyed a home-cooked meal, which is what we usually do that evening. We'd found some coiffable bubbly and Sauvignon Blanc to help celebrate the evening. I don't think I'll ever really get used to warm (read: hot) weather around this time of year. The decorations just don't have that same 'je ne sais quoi' about them in the bright sunlight.

Christmas Eve overlooking Kata Beach as the sun
goes down.
Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Eve Dinner.

December 25.

The 4 copies.

Around noon we walked into town to pick up the other copies of the dress and planned to go for coffee. Only to discover that we didn't bring any money. Well, I had the exact money for the tailor but Stephen misplaced the small change for the day. So back to the apartment he went. We needed to buy gifts for the 'White Elephant/Secret Santa' game later that evening. Late lunch was enjoyed at the same beach restaurant we had our first dinner some days ago.
Around 5:30pm Kevan and Chantal picked us up and together we went to the Christmas Day Dinner spot. It was a lovely evening, spent in good company, with lots of good food (a very well cooked turkey amongst other yummies) and drinks.


December 26.

After a week we had to pack again as we were saying goodbye to Phuket today. But not before a lunch time stop in Patong to catch up with Stephen's cousin George and Chelsea.

Stephen, Chelsea, Caroline and George.

Before truly heading north we backtracked a little, to Phang Nga.

Ao Nang, Krabi. December 16-19, 2013.

December 16

From the border we drove straight to Krabi, only stopping once for coffee. The Southern end of Thailand is still considered a bit of a 'security' risk, so better be safe than sorry and not linger.

Once at Krabi we did a drive-thru of the town and decided to continue to the beach town of Ao Nang, about 10 km further. Driving through Ao Nang we progressively moved from backpackers/low end/budget to midrange to high end accommodation closer to and on the beach. After a loop of town we decided on a feel-good lower midrange place with very welcoming and lovely staff. We booked in for one night initially and ended up staying for three.

Finished the day with a stroll around the shops, dinner and drinks. Found a really nice restaurant that had a special promotion, two glasses of wine for the price of 1.

December 17

Off to the 7-eleven to purchase a local SIM card which was conveniently located next door to the Starbucks. We talked to our mums in Belgium and New Zealand. Then it was back to the 7-eleven to reload the SIM card.

Spent the afternoon lying low and avoiding the heat of midday. In the afternoon Caroline did a little stroll around town checking out the beach and shops. There are lots and lots of Europeans here, and quite a few Aussies as well. Many of them drunk from the night before. Finished the day with a sunset walk along the beach, followed by drinks and dinner. And then shopping. Caroline got a nice new hat and Stephen some much needed fake Crocs (not very cool but very functional. Caroline has banned me from wearing them in San Francisco).

Ao Nang Beach during the day.

Ao Nang Beach at Sunset

December 18.

Took a long-tail boat to Railay Beach. Spent a few hours chilling on the beach and Stephen decided to swim to the karst (see picture). The waters are amazingly clear and the surrounding landscape is idilic. The beach was a little crowded so we headed back after lunch.

Turns out, apart from eating, drinking, shopping and beaching there is not a lot to do in Ao Nang. So in the afternoon we did a little more drinking and eating.

Beautiful Karst as seen from Railay Beach.

Railay Beach.

December 19

Time to move on. The morning goal was to buy and hoist a Thailand courtesy flag. Our hotel manager advised us that the nearest shop selling flags was in Karbi Town, a 10 km drive away, so off we set. We were successful and now Sterlin is appropriately adorned.

Next stop was Tiger Cave Temple or Wat Tham Sua. We are having a little difficulty with our Navigation GPS which is making finding these temples a small challenge. But persistence paid off and we had no trouble finding the temple once we worked out how to convince the Navigation GPS to work. The cave system was nothing too special, and only dates back 35 years or so. But we went for a stroll in the surrounding forest which was actually quite nice, cool and yet no bitting insects.

It was getting late and we still had 160 kms (100 miles) to drive to Phuket. Along the way we stopped at Phang Nga Bay National Park to check hotels and long-tail boat costs to visit the "James Bond Island". Both quite reasonably priced, so we will probably be back once we leave Phuket.

Sterling flying a Thai Flag

Tiger Cave Temple

Thailand Border Crossing. December 16, 2013

Today we crossed from Malaysia into Thailand. We were up early as we not only had to cross the border and complete all the paperwork for the car, but also had to travel 300 kms (200 miles) to Krabi once we had crossed. Overall, the process was a lot easier than we had imagined.

Here is a summary of the steps we followed:-

• Wash Sterlin so he looks good for the crossing.
• Fill up Sterlin with subsidized Malaysian fuel near the border so we can drive to Krabi without stopping.
• While still in Malaysia, get Third Party Car Insurance for Thailand.
• Exit Malaysia and get our passports stamped from the comfort of Sterlin in one of the drive-through lanes.
• Park the car and find the right customs officer who can process the exit of Sterlin. Complete the paperwork.
• Drive through the duty free no-mans-land to Thailand.
• Get confused by the signs in Thailand and eventually work out we have to park the car and walk through the border and then go back and process the car.
• Find the office where they hand out blank arrival/departure cards.
• Line-up to get our passports stamped.
• Line-up at a different counter to declare Sterlin to customs. Get a nice declaration form nicely filled out in Thai script.
• Back to the car park, get Sterlin and drive through the border.
• Pick-up Thai Baht at an ATM.
• Pick-up food (1) at supermarket for the drive at Tesco.

We started just after 9am at the Zurich Insurance Office and finished at 11:30am at the Tesco Lotus supermarket, so the whole process took about 2.5 hours. Insurance was a breeze, although we almost purchased more insurance for Malaysia by accident. At the last minute we worked out that the agent was selling us the wrong insurance because she thought we had just arrived in Malaysia. So we cancelled that and started afresh with insurance for Thailand instead.

Insurance Office getting Thai Third Party Insurance for Sterlin.

Success!

Exit Malaysia

Sterlin waiting while he is cleared out of Malaysia

Celebrating with ice-cream in Thailand.

Definitively in Thailand.

** footnotes by Caroline **
(1) including a magnum ice cream.

Alor Star. December 15, 2013.

Today's drive was only about 95kms, so no need to rush out in the morning.
We stayed off the motorway again and took a more roundabout route towards Alor Star (aka Alor Setar; the first is an abbreviation... not sure why it needs abbreviating though...).

The only reason we are in Alor Star is its proximity to the Malaysian / Thai border. The idea is to go be there around 9am tomorrow morning, when the Zurich insurance office opens. That is where we need to buy 'third party insurance' for Thailand. Hopefully things won't take too long as we want to make it to Krabi, Thailand before tomorrow evening.

We treated Sterlin to a proper cleaning so he is all ready for the border crossing tomorrow.

Which, sadly, means that this is our last evening in Malaysia! Hard to believe we've been in the country one month - minus 4 days in Singapore.

George Town and Penang Island. December 12-15, 2013

December 12

We took the scenic route to George Town. As we head North there should be less and less monsoon rains, which btw is a good thing. We got to George Town, on Penang, by way of the rather impressive bridge connecting the island to the mainland (as opposed to the ferry). We'd pre-booked our accommodation, The Armenian Heritage Hotel, so navigating into town was easy enough; there was just a lot of traffic. I really wanted to like the hotel but they were experiencing some teething problems (they'd been open since Oct 1st, so I'll forgive them).

Chez Nous Interior

By then it was 3pm and we ended up relaxing in our room before going out for a drink and early dinner.
We found a nice little cafe owned by a Belgian, Philippe, and his Malay-Chinese wife Liz. They were extremely welcoming and made us feel right at home "Chez Nous". We enjoyed several Blanche de Buxelles, a Grimbergen Blonde and a cheese platter. Very nice, so we stayed for dinner.

Belgian Cafe and Restaurant

December 13

Brother and Sister on a Swing

Last night while at 'Chez Nous', Philippe pointed out another of his customers, none other than Ernest Zacharevic, the artist who did lots of George Town's fabulous murals. I didn't want to bother him and his wife while having dinner, but as they walked out I did briefly tell him that I was looking forward to seeing his work in town. He seemed like a very nice young man, which Philippe confirmed; they'd been in the restaurant a few times.

So today we walked around George Town's World Heritage Historic District following a map with the locations of Zacharevic's work. that way we also got an excellent feel for the place. We absolutely love his work.

Children playing Basketball

Kids on Bicycle

Double Role - Police and Firefighters

We left early this morning so we were able to go and relax, out of the heat, in our room for a while before catching up with Coen and Marijke - yes they were also in town - at 'Chez Nous'. After that back to the hotel and out again for a walk and dinner.

Philippe

With Coen and Marijke

December 14.

George Town is on Pulau Penang, which is about 70km in circumference.
This morning we got up very early and were in our car at 6:30am. First stop was Penang National Park for a 1.5 hour hike to Monkey Beach. When we left our hotel it was already 27C, so all the more reason to do this early. We came back from the beach to the car park by ore-booked little boat, very pleasant.
After that we drove around the island but to be honest there wasn't that much to see.

Parked a little too long in the same spot...

Temperatures crept up to 34C so a few hours in our AC'd room were much appreciated before an evening meal and last evening walk around George Town's old district.