Pimarn Hotel Uthai Thani

Jen and Mike were both born in Singapore, their fathers had been POWs working on the Thai-Burma railway until the war ended in Asia, and in the years afterwards their parents very close friends. So the next 2 days were about remembering their dads and the thousands of POWs and Asian conscripts who suffered and perished in those years during WW2. This part of our time away was a really significant one for Jen as it was ...

Well we last left you in Thailand on the island of Koh Samet, sunning ourselves before we flew back to Australia for Ingrid and Bobs wedding. There was a little white lie typed in the last entry saying that we were going back to Melbourne the next week, when we were actually all ready to fly back the next day for Lindsey to surprise Ingrid on her Hens day. It all went very smoothly flying back from Bangkok with Singapore Airlines, to Melbourne in comfort. We arrived in ...

Due to some odd holiday scheduling, and the fact that the other Westerner that works in my office was going home for the holidays, I got a whole week off before Christmas. My friend Shana had a similar situation, and we decided to make good use of this time, taking a short holiday to some spots in central Thailand. We began our trip taking the train to Ayuthaya, the ancient capitol of Siam. I have taken the train in Thailand before, but never during the day. The look out the window provided ...

We spent Thanksgiving riding a train to Lopburi. This town is not very touristy, but the word is starting to get out and it was listed in our guidebook. It's a cool town to visit just for the sake of its archaeological remains interspersed among the modern architecture, but we were going for another reason - monkeys! There used to be a large troop of macaques that lived outside the city, but the troop splintered, and one of ...

Nach Ko Tao ging es via Bangkok per Zug nach Ayutthaya. In Bangkok Ankunft um 6 mit dem Nachtbus, ab 8 sollte mein Pass mit VIE-Visum im Reisebuero zur Abholung fertig sein. Also erst mal, nach durchzechter Nacht+strapazioesen Tauchgaengen+Faehrfart+6hBusfahrt=Riese nschlafdefizit eine Runde im Park bei den Pennern gemuetlich gemacht, die nicht schlecht guckten, einen Farang zu sehen. Eine Stunde spaeter drohender Weltuntergang mit Tropensturm ...

Sono venuto ad Ayuttaia solo perche', dopo aver girato come un deficiente tutti o quasi i templi di Angkor alla ricerca della famosa statua di del volto Buddha circondata dalle radici di un albero, ho scoperto che quella statua si trovava ad Ayuttaia ( e non ad Angkor ), quindi eccomi qua. Sono arrivato a notte, 4 e tre quarti, col treno da Chiang Mai ...

... your programme. We had a lovely meal of salmon steaks with creamy potatoes (a bit early for lunch but hey!) and we arrived at Bangkok at a reasonable 10.15am. We walked through the airport and ignored the tout which weren't as bad as we were expecting and headed straight to the taxi meter stand and got a ticket from a lady that governs the taxis. These Meter Taxis are governed by law and won't take you passed their friends shop or pretend your guest house has closed down and take you ...

Woke up fairly early on our Jungle rafts, with the mist still hanging over the mountains, the air relatively cool, and just a beautiful, beautiful tranquil setting. At breakfast, watched a few elephants down at the river, bathing themselves in the waters by splashing water with their trunks and by submerging themselves in the waters. They are truly magnificent animals. We then walked up to the H'Mong village and visited a buddhist temple, then walked through the fields ...

Got up this morning and enjoyed a great breakfast and left Bangkok. After about an hour we arrived at these canals and hopped on longtail boats to visit the floating markets. I wasn't looking too forward to this as I've heard that they're yet another huge tourist trap - but then again, isn't pretty much everything? Longtail boats are long skinny boats that hold about 10 people in 5 rows of 2 people each. They wobble a bit. The 'tail' is a propellor attached to a long ...

Went to an absolutely amazing museum, basically where English, Canadian, Australian and American prisoners of war were taken to build the death railway for the Japanese in WW2. We saw part of the track where it was built and viewed messages left by the families of those who died there. There was a massive mountain which the POWs had carved a path through; most of the messages were stuck into the walls.