Lee Gardens Hotel Songkhla

... floating fish farm to watch fishermen trawling for net profits. These floating fish farms reminded me about the Kelong built for fishing off the coastline in Singapore in the eary years. I used to go fishing with my friends on the offshore wooden platform built from Nibong (Oncosperma tigillarium), a ...

... without us. Though we were worried, we were not worried enough to fall for the scam and so we were taken to the bus station were we found out our bus had just left and the next would leave an hour and a half later. An hour and a half later we were told to get in a mini van. We had been driving for a while when Lisa noticed that we had arrived to our supposed destination of Had Yai. We stopped in a minibus depot and were ...

... blisters, which almost exploded when I touched them. Luckily enough this didn't hurt and I took a shower to get rid of some excess skin. Hereafter I went for a walk to Hat Railay West Beach, which was a quite beautiful beach, especially the scenery around it. After a while I wanted to go back to Hat Ton Sai Beach, which I couldn't do anymore without getting my feet wet, because it was high tide now. My burns got better and better and I decided to move on. So ...

Not much to say here...the pictures tell it all...It's an afternoon at the Samila beach in Songkhla, Thailand. The wood 'statues' were unique...it was nice just to hear the waves from the Gulf of Thailand crash in onto the beach....yes, much like those silly peaceful beer commercials! Oh..and in answer to JM's inquiry to me on another email....I did say Charmaine 's mother (Mama Evangeline) had given me the blessing on having ...

... noticed,....the Ronald figure is in the postion of the Thai greeting....they don't shake hands..(although the younger generation is more westernized and do shake) the traditional greeting is a wai they fold hands in front of them and bow...the position of authority rank means the dept of bowing, youth always wai lower to elders . Ok...some pics! We went back ...

... and a roomful of guest including Jove, and Mae Charmaines room mates, Delia Charmaines sister and Analy and Joana ....a nice supper with guest ! We had fish, rice a casserole and a vegstable dish all served traditionally (fish came with it's heads stil on....) It was wonderful!...Charmaine is a fantastic cook...ah...Good looking and a good cook. Mother I found a keeper. :)

... drawing, sleeping, swimming. Got my first ever massage, a Thai massage, which is a bit rough, but was good for me, especially after so many hours on buses. I ate fresh pineapple and bananas and was finally able to relax. Here's the stress though. Friday my card is eaten by an ATM machine. I have 50baht, about a dollar twenty. The ATM is attached to a currency exchange and I talk to the woman working there. She makes a phone call and tells ...

... of winding through a highland road in the monsoon forest, our truck descends into a dry flood-plain. Red dust swirls around in the back of the Mazda. My Indiana Jones fantasies are faltering; the Malay frontier looks a lot like Idaho (no offense Swain!). Mr. Qu pounds his fist on the cab, and we pull to the side of the road near a lone wooden house. "I used to have my own mine in this land," he says as we hop out of the truck bed. "Really, you owned land here ...

Splitting from the family again leaves me with a hollow feeling. I'm adrift again. I face eight hours on a sweaty minibus south to hub, Hat Yai. It's a relief to pass Trang, where the weather turns overcast and cooler. The rubber plantations turn to lush forests towards the border with Malaysia. It's back in prison-like, £3-a-night hostels for me, with squat toilet and ...

Thailand Again Team Sviena must now make their way into the southern Thai city of Hat Yai to catch their next Air Asia flight to Bangkok. Since we were near the Thai border our ferry ride from Langkawi took only an hour to the Thai port of Satun. There, we passed through customs and also passed by a number of shady characters by the wharf all ...