Diamond Cave Resort Krabi

The night before, Albert and Susanon showed us a documentary that was made about the Lisu people and Albert and Susanon's homestay program. It was so interesting, learning about the Lisu people: they are from Tibet, who migrated to the hills of northern Thailand, away from Chinese oppression. The village that we were staying in, outside of Sappong, has only been in this area for the last 50 years. We also learned that it was the Lisu people who discovered the Long Neck tribe (the tribe that h...

We're staying at a place called the Cave Lodge run by a very interesting Australian named John and his Shan wife, Nung. The Shan are one type of people who live in Thailand. The lodge is right on the river, surrounded by trees, and exactly what we dreamed our nature getaway to look like. The first day, we relaxed on their huge wooden deck and read bits of John's new book which talks about his 28 years in Thailand. It was incredibly interesting, ranging from the geology of the area to the deat...

Well, I've made it to Thailand and I'm loving it. My travels were: 8:30am from Kuala Terangannu to Kota Bharu, 9:30pm to Alor Setar, 5:30am taxi to the Thai border, 7:00am van to Hat Yai, 9:30am bus to Krabi, 2:00pm bus to Ao Nang beach. It would have been easier to go up the East coast, but I took the safe way for Anna, Mrs. Swindle and my mother... probably a good idea. Ao Nang was my first introduction to the limestone cliffs sprouting up all over in the Andaman sea. They are a wonderful r...

We moved a little north to stay in a small village near Soppong, right on the north western border with Myanmar. We stayed in a place called Cave Lodge, eight miles up a dirt track from the town. We both had some nerves coming so far from civilisation in the back of a pickup truck, but the place turned out to be great. It was a collection of wooden huts on the bank of a river, run by a mental Australian who had lived in the area for 30 years. There are extensive cave systems in the area which...

Recopilación de datos de Enero a Mayo, ambos inclusives: .- el ofrecimiento fracasado, por parte de Qatar Airways, de cena, cama en buen hotel y 600 Euros/persona! por coger su siguiente vuelo a Bangkok, 12 horas mas tarde; por desgracia, finalmente no hubo over booking .- la incertidumbre de que traera el camarero una vez de vuelta con tu pedido (green curry chicken, phad thai, sweet sticky rice with mangoes, papaya salad, fried rice with vegetables, noodles soup with sea food, banana in coc...

Finally a computer I can upload photos on..... Well, here we are at a little climbers paradise called Tonsai which is a mere boat ride from two different towns...Ao Nang or Krabi town in the Province of Krabi in southern Thailand. On the Thursday night we treated ourselves to a fantastic dinner at the Marriot. There are several restaurants on site and we decided on Thai food. It wasn't a mistake. Wow, the food was incredible. We had to roll our way back to our villa, but very satisfied. We di...

SB: Hat Rai Leh (or Railay) is on the very tip of the Krabi peninsula, and was described in our guide book as 'hypnotic' so we had to check it out. Although it's part of the mainland, no roads lead to Railay so is only accessible by boat and so feels like an island. We caught a longboat from Ao Nang (our first longboat experience) and arrived in gorgeous West Rai Leh, the epitome of honeymoon destination, and as such has several top class resort bungalows monopolising the stunning scenery. Th...

We've had enough of Bangkok. It was too crowded and polluted, and we're ready for some beach time. Our driver picked us up to go to the new airport. Holy ****, it was enormous! The new Bangkok International airport looked really nice and futuristic. It can compare to HK airport. Everything was made of see through glass. More pictures of new Bangkok airport on the last day. Anyways, we checked in at the domestic section and got on a small airplane to head to Krabi. Krabi International airport ...

Monchengladbach (hello in German, see Chapter 1). I've now arrived back in Bangkok after my few days down in the south. The coach arrived here 2 and a half hours ahead of schedule, so I thought I'd take the chance to update the journal before getting on the Airport Shuttle at 7.00 (it's currently 4.45). I initially left Bangkok 19.00 Monday evening. The journey down was pretty decent and I managed to get a fair bit of shut eye. There weren't many people on the bus; the only people I spoke to ...

Well saying goodbye to Ben was certainly one of the hardest things I have had to do, many tears and lip trembling, BUT 11 weeks and counting until he meets me in the South Pacific. After leaving the airport in Krabi I got a cab to meet Amanda and Clare in Ao Nang at a hotel that we stayed at last year when we were with Lucie and Jo called Sabai Mansion. It was tried and tested so we went back for more of the same. The girls had booked their advanced open water diving course so they had lots o...