Last known location: London, England

Archive of posts about Thailand


25
Feb
0

A Week in Bangkok

by Dan & Gem | ThailandThailand | Bangkok

And so to Bangkok. Rather than take the over-long train journey back, we managed to haggle a taxi company down to a reasonable price. All was running smoothly until we hit the legendary Bangkok traffic. One hour and 3 miles later we arrived at our hotel. The Pathumwan Princess was located in Siam Square, one of Bangkok’s shopping districts. Even our hotel had a mall attached to it! Because we were staying for a few nights in the capital we had the chance to unpack a bit and do some washing etc. That evening we had dinner in one of the hotel’s restaurants, on the 8th floor roof terrace next to the swimming pool. We had a lovely dinner with fantastic views over the city. Click here to read more…

22
Feb
0

The Bridge on the River Kwai

by Dan | ThailandThailand | Kanchanaburi

We had a long day of travelling ahead of us when we left the islands and headed back north to Kanchanaburi. First it was a plane to Bangkok, then a trip on the subway into the city, a taxi ride to the river, a five minute ferry to the opposite bank, then lastly a train to our final destination! Everything went surprisingly smoothly, although the train was very slow, stopping in all sorts of places it wasn’t supposed to, and we arrived at least an hour late. Rose managed to pass the time by chatting to locals, including a woman who claimed she was a nun and had left the convent that morning!

Kanchanaburi is best known as the location of the Bridge on the River Kwai, part of the railway line between Thailand and Burma built by Allied POWs during the second world war, and made famous in the book and film of the same name, so most of the tourist sights were connected to the railway and its construction. Click here to read more…

20
Feb
0

Beach Bums

by Gem | ThailandThailand | Phuket and Ko Lanta

From Chiang Mai we flew down to Phuket with the intention of having a few relaxing days beachside.  And that’s pretty much what happened!

Fortunately for us, Mums’ friends Lynn and Bob happened to be staying in Phuket for a fortnight’s holiday.  They had a 2 bedroom apartment in a fabulous resort so we crashed their party for a couple of nights – thanks again for having us guys!  Phuket has some stunning beaches, and after our first night at the luxurious resort we headed over to the beach to spend the day sunning ourselves!  Phuket is very hot and humid, 30+ every day, so we were very happy not to be bothering with any sight-seeing and instead just lounging on the beach, occasionally venturing into the sea when the heat became too much!

We stayed on the beach that evening for dinner, and got to watch another beautiful sunset.  After a delicious meal and a few too many glasses of wine, we headed back to the resort courtesy of Mr Lucky, Lynn and Bob’s favourite taxi driver! Click here to read more…

13
Feb
1

Rose(s) and Flower Festivals in Chiang Mai

by Dan | ThailandThailand | Chiang Mai

And so it was on to Thailand. We couldn’t face the 18 hour bus journey through the mountains, so opted for the 1 hour flight instead. It was my first time in a plane with propellers but Lao Airlines did the job and we touched down in Chiang Mai, the largest town in Northern Thailand, without too much bother!

Thailand immediately seemed more developed than Laos – there were taxis picking people up from the airport instead of tuk-tuks for a start, one of we which we took to our hotel. Rose (Gem’s mum for anyone who doesn’t know her!) was joining us for a couple of weeks the following day so our standard of accommodation was a slight improvement on the usual to say the least! We arrived quite late so there was just time for a quick swim in the pool and a surprisingly cheap curry by the river.

The next morning we picked Rose up from the airport, and since she was quite jetlagged that gave us a good excuse to lounge around the pool in the sun all day, which we happily did, before belatedly celebrating our engagement with some champagne and another riverside dinner! Click here to read more…