Baan Krating Khaolak Phangnga

... big out there so i'm pretty happy i'll be doing my IDC for the first bit of the season because living on a boat in 14ft seas is no fun but this is also prime time to see a bunch of sharks because there havent been any divers around for 6 months so they come back and hang out until the season starts and all the people kinda scare them off.....oh well, it will be a long season and i'm sure i will get my share of leopard sharks and hopefully some mantas.....should be fun

... map in the hotel site was very vague, with the hotel itself marked as one big circle in the middle of the sea. At least it had occurred to me to print the address in Thai, so we counted that it would be understandable enough to get directions. It was an interesting experience, as the road signs had big letters in Thai and small ones below in English, so we had to look closely not to miss Phangnga. We stopped a couple of times to ...

... shuttle bus - the kids want to spend all their time with Mum and Dad since they're leaving tomorrow - and we go back to the Napalese lady's shop to exchange some of the shirts we bought yesterday. They fit Henry now but probably won't by the time he needs to wear them. No problem! And we again end up buying quite a few more T-shirts, this time for Rob's brothers. I return to the handbag shop and buy 3 more Thai silk ...

... as most good ideas tend to be, and last night there was a 'Shiva Moon' party on offer near my beach bungalow in Ban Rai. The music was described as "trip and acid trance" and I decided that - dressed in my M & S polo shirt and shorts - I might not fit in that well to the trip scene, "Hello chaps. Golly gosh, it's awfully loud in here, anybody want to share a jug of pimms with me?" Instead I decided to head to the main tourist town ...

... joka tapauksessa loma maistuu nyt todella hyvälle. Suuntaan ensimmäisenä Bangkokiin ystäväni Pilvin luokse, todennäköisesti lähden tutkimaan pohjois-Thaimaata ennen thaimaalaista uuttavuotta. 17.4. olen varannut lennon Hanoihin ja sieltä aloitan suuren maailman valloittamisen. Nu är det dags att lämnä Ao Nang. Här har jag haft 5 ...

... International channel that there had been another earthquake in the northern portion of Sumatra, near Banda Aceh. It registered 7.4 on the Richter scale, and was very close to the epicenter of the 2004 9.1 quake. We went to be wondering if we would hear sirens in the night, and made a plan to run up the hill behind our cabin, if we did. We were assured by the fact that our new cabin sat well off the shoreline and on ground that did not get wet in 04.

... la ville et les villages alentour ayant ete reconstruits post-tsunami sous forme de zone touristique destination charter. Pas de marche, pas de bouffe de rue, pas de temples, rien de rien. Meme pas de lady-boys! Juste des hotels hors de prix et archi-pleins, des restaurants de pietre qualite et des bars desoles et desolants. Meme le parc national de Khao Lak s'avere ridicule, une petite plage ...

... quelle con l ossigeno dentro. L altra sera mi spavento perche sento un urlo fortissinmo distante... sembra una donna che grida al massimo delle forze e non si ferma. Io sono in un bel ristorante a mangiare il piatto tradizionale thai Pad Thai, noodle allo wok con salsa di soya, uova strapazzate, vegetali vari e noccioline americane tritate. Mi alzo e vado alläuscita del ristorante (aperto) per capirci qualche cosa. Mi vedo davanti un thailandese che se la ride con in ...

Well, here I am (actually up to date on the blog, I am so impressed...you can thank the rain) in Khao Lak on the west coast of Thailand. I was hoping to be able to go on a live aboard to the Similan Islands to do some diving by unfortuatly the timing didn't work so I have booked a day trip, very expensive but it is one of the top 10 dive site in the world so I figure since I am here I should do it. I was going to head down to the beach and check it out but it started raining, hard, two hours ...

... reception area with 3 Thai ladies whizzing around behind the counter. After the usual rigmarole of paperwork, passport-handling and payment, I was directed towards a very tropical and cosy looking bungalow set amongst many others and decided once again that I had been given good advice. The room was palacial as far as Thailand goes, and after a wander through the hostel I found crazy life - of the good variety! The mechanics of ...