Saturday, May 23, 2009

Henry Fashion - Tailor

With all the tailors I am not really sure why I chose Henry Fashion. I had intended to go to one of the bigger and flasher places up the road further.

Every time you walk up any street, you will be approached by the tailors. They will walk up to you with their hand out and being well bred kiwi's we automatically go and shake their hand. Only trouble is they don't release and hold you there asking where you are from, how long are you here for and then the obvious.....come in side...looking is free....we make good suit for you or great dress for madame. The funny thing is once we say we are from NZ they will break out with Kiora mate etc or the Aussie version of Howz it goin mate! but they remember and every night you pass them they will call out the same thing and remind you of how many days you have left. Shane learnt very quickly that if he was caring the shopping then he couldn't shake their hands.... lol...so there is a tip for the men.



Anyway, one night from shopping we were walking back and I said to Shane, the next tailor that stops us, I am going to go in. Now it had been a week and by now they paid us no interest other than to call out hello. So when Raj stepped out and asked me how my day had been and what shopping had I done and had I brought a dress yet. I figured may as well be him. So I said that I hadn't brought I dress as I wanted one made. His eyes lit up and I was ushered into his shop as fast as he could get me in there. Turned on the air con for me and away we went. I already new what I wanted to I drew it for him. He had many books of designs so I could have picked and altered any of them. He like my design - it was a simple but elegant long dress. So he measured me up and arranged for me to come back the next night. For my first fitting. The good thing was how close the shop was. It was directly across the road from our Hotel. With you back to the hotel cross the road to the footpath, turn right towards the beach and its the second shop.

I went back the next night and was surprised to find the dress fully made. But it was way to big. We took it in and made the back split higher. Again I was to come back the next night which I did. It still was not quite right so we took in the front and made the A line of the dress tighter. I went back on the Friday before we left and tried it on for the last time. It fit like a glove. The fabric felt amazing, it clings and moves with your body. I was more than happy.

I would totally recommend that you get a dress made when over. Where else can you get a dress made for you so that it is a complete and proper fit for under $350 and that included the silk shawl. I do know that in Kata they had prices on the doors ... Men's Suits - included jacket, trousers, shirt and tie for 5000bht. That's $250 nz



So here is a picture taken today of me in my dress. I am not done up to go out, I put it on to show my mum and thought I should put a photo on here of it. The picture on the wall is one of our prize possessions that we brought in Karon. The crane represents the Thailand Empress and there are two cranes per piece as they mate for life. We liked the colours and what the whole piece represented. The shop we brought it from us up the road from the Hotel. Turn left away from beach, its up next to the pharmacy. There were many different pictures but this one was our favorite.

I will get to wear my dress soon, as I found out today I am a finalist in the Masters section of Sports Person of the Year.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Fantasea

This was a show that I loved. Shane wasn't so keen and didn't think he would enjoy it at all. This was to change and he did in fact enjoy it.

The show is set on a huge lot. It truly is massive. When you book you can arrange for a pick up to be included in your booking fee. With the show being further away (on the other side of Patong) we opted to get picked up and delivered back.

On the dot of 5pm the Purple Fantasea van rocked up and collected us and continued to pick up excited tourists along the journey to the show.

We were dropped off outside and only 1 person can enter to collect tickets, so I went through and got our tickets. While milling around out side there is a huge water fall that fills a large pond that is filled with huge huge Koi fish....hundreds of them. People were feeding them pop corn while they waited. Next you enter up a large hall/ramp and go through a security screening where they look into your handbag and check pockets. Then you walk through to the actual park. It is a huge carnival and the atmosphere is amazing. There are shops all around with a small theatre in the centre where they have shows to entertain the kids. There is a small zoo to walk through...entry though the jungle shop on the right hand side. It just has a sign saying free entry to see while tiger. But each room has a animal in it and each room is designed around the animal. Its really rather awesome. We didn't have our camera with us as we had read you have to hand it in before the show and I was not keen to pass it over to anyone. I wish now we had brought it.

We then went and found the restaurant. We had booked the meal too. To enter the buffet hall you cross over a bridge that goes over a small lazy river. All the trees are filled with twinkling lights and hall is decked out in gold. Both of us must have looked stunned. When you enter the hall it takes your breath away. It is huge. The whole complex would easily fit on half a foot ball Field. It was broken down to 3 rooms and each room was lined with tables of 10, all plated up and ready to go. The ceilings were all painted in the theme of the park. The buffet food was wonderful. You could chose from Thai, Western or Japanese.

Once we had eaten we went back to a shop I had seen that dressed you up as a Thai Queen. I really wanted to do this so Shane waited around while I got my make up done and my hair. Then we were off around the park getting photos taken everywhere. I then had to select my top 5 to keep. This is one of the 5.



Next it was announced that the show was about to start and so we made our way through the elephant rides to head into the theatre. As we made our way through the large open corridors I noticed people milling around up ahead and wondered what they were all looking at. When we got closer I saw people feeding baby tigers. Shane and I both said...wicked lets do that too. We joined the long queue and while waiting I noticed that there was one bay that no one was waiting for. We zipped up to it and was faced with a much bigger tiger than the others and no one wanted to go near it....more fools them. We jumped in and got to cuddle and fuss over the cub. Then once the photo was taken I had another chance to actually have a cuddle. It didn't feel starved and was not sucking for life on the bottle, just feeding as any baby would. It was such a special thing to have done and certainly not something I had planned to do.



We then carried on to watch the show. It was a huge spectacular show. All your senses are hit.....there are glowing trapeze artists that are on bungee cords bouncing around above your heads. Huge elephants walking through the middle of all the seats, birds flying, goats racing across the stage...even a few roosters too!! The whole show is sung in Thai but with the art of body language you soon pick up on what the story is about what is happening. I left breathless and just buzzing from it. We leave and find our way back out side to where we are collected and are returned to our hotel at 11pm.......the night just whizzed by. I cant recommend this show enough. It is costly depending on all the extras you get but it really is worth it. The other show I would have liked to have seen was Simone (the lady boys show) but Shane really really was not interested. Next time......

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Just some snap shots

These street vendors zip along and toot at everyone. This one was making fruit shakes. We didn't see a great deal of these selling actual food. But I am told now that if we had gone up the street and along the main street we would have seen more of them.


The view as you step out side of the resort and look left. When we first arrived all these shops were open but with in 3 days most had shut. I am told that during the low season it is not worth it being open so they just shut up and come back in September.

This is the view from beside our room. The only places that had walls were the rooms and the lifts. Everything else was open. As you walk past restaurants on the street you think it is one big restaurant but as you go past you can see that there are 7 different restaurants...just no walls between them.


Here is a shot of the floating village as we were leaving. The only thing built on land is the Temple (in gold) and the cemetery. The rest is floating and joined with small planks. They have to buy in their water so flush toilets are a no no.



This one is for the blokes. These boats looked like they grabbed any V8 engine and just stuck them on the back attached a long pole and propeller ... and away they go.

This is the view from on top of the elephant looking down over Kata.


This is the viking cave that is found on the way to James Bond Island. Monks live here still. No one can land so the boats pull in as close as they can. In the left hand side of this photo is a rock formation (hanging between the two boats) it is said to be a dragons head like that of what the vikings had on their boats.


Shane feeding our wee baby elephant. Ok so she's not really ours but we saw her every day and her trainer got to know us really well.

Karon and Karon Beach

I thought now I might add some photos and make little comments as we go.

First up... here is Karon Beach. We have stepped onto the road at our resort, turned left and have gone directly to the beach which is appox 400mts away. The sand does squeak when you walk on it and in bare feet feels really odd under foot. We swam most nights. The water being like a luke warm bath. But it is not a calm beach and is rather "wavey" .. great for body surfing.

Looking left towards the "rock" on webcam
Look Right towards Karon centre.


The main round a bout in Karon
A dragon statue along the beach road walk as you walk towards Karon.
An enterance way to another resort just up the road on the beach road from our resort.





Phi Phi Island

I cant believe I missed this out. Especially after the effort we went through to get this. On our first day we were approached by a really nice friendly Austrian named Frank. He told us that he was offering a special deal to all new holidaying people. So we took the cards and scratched away. He made such a big deal about Shane getting 3 stars (a great performance when I look back..) Any how he was able to give away tour trips to only a few people and so he gave us the free Phi Phi Island Tour. We were promptly put into a taxi and speed away to Patong. Both of us rather wide eyed as we had no idea of where we would end up. We got given another free breakfast and our host was Marley (who thought he was rather shit hot) any how...after 4 hours of total boredom I could finally see light at the end of the tunnel and when it came time to give a yes or no....it was a loud NO and we were shown the door. But they were true to their word and gave me my tee shirt and booked our tour. We had no idea of if the tour would happen but as optimists we got up on Thursday and waited to be collected at 7am.






The boats all getting loaded up to head to Phi Phi Island. There were about 8 boats.





To our surprise we did get collected and along with 3 other couples we headed to the boats. On our boat were 40 other people of all races. Not many spoke English. The couple that fascinated Shane the most was the man from Istanbul who had two wives. They had a baby girl (approx 7 months old) but we still cant work out which women was the mum as she called them both mum. They wore black robes but showed their faces. The younger one had a white head scarf with pink and the older one had a black one. Shane joked that he was offered 2 camels and 50 goats for me...he thought it was a good offer....I thought 3 camels would have been better!!!

Anyway ... it takes 90mins to get to Phi Phi Island. This is where the beach was filmed. On the way they circle around a couple of smaller Islands.




A small bay on the way.



These are I guess hollow is the easiest way to explain and at low tide the small cave entrance can be seen. This is where the sea kayaks can enter. Inside it is lush with rain forest and a small sandy beach. The rocks are so soft that the trees can actually grow threw the rock. The tree roots make their way down to the water and then when the tree dies the roots dry up leaving a hole. Then water runs through this and creates stalagmites that hang into the water and all along the rock walls. It all looks so pretty.






Some Rock formations along the way



We stop and are given the chance to go snorkeling over the coral reef. We jump at this and sadly didn't by an under water camera as we had no idea this was on the tour. It was amazing....I just laid in the water with my arms hanging down...and watched all colours and sized fish swim through my fingers. 40 mins went by so fast!!




The view as you pull up to the wharf at Phi Phi Island




Next we were off again to pull into Phi Phi Island where we had lunch (which was a really nice buffet type) and then were given an hour to stroll and shop. Our main purchase here were DVD's. Paying 100bht each or 6 for 500bht. These are all working fine in our DVD player at home and also in the laptop. They are latest release that are still to come to the movies here.


This shows left and right of "The Beach" on Phi Phi Island

Shane was disappointed when we crossed the island to where the beach was filmed. He thought it would still look the same...but you can hardly recognise it. So we headed back to the shops and brought more DVD's.

It wasn't long til the horn blew on the boat and we had to head back. It was an awesome day and well worth it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

The day to leave

We woke up at 7am and went down for breakfast and slowly enjoyed every mouth full of the most amazing breakfast buffets we have ever seen. Every day they set this buffet up. Fresh fruits, home made yogurt, bays of potatoes, rice meals, fried tomatoes, baked beans, pancakes, waffles, and eggs anyway you want them. I always had omelets.

After eating we strolled back up to Kata as I wanted to buy a necklace I had seen. The plus was we got to see the wee baby elephant again and this time her owner let us have lots of time with her. She is 3 years old and he has had her since she was 2. While we were watching he asked her to lay down and roll over. Like a dog does. I had to video this as it was just the most amazing sight to see an elephant as tall as us rolling around on the ground and each time she rolled she would fart....I mean really FART...so much so that the guard of the next hotel was having hysterics about it.



We then had to go back and pack. We sat out side for a wee while soaking in the street and the warm before putting on our jeans and getting picked up at lunch time.



At the Phuket Airport we had an hour wait so we brought some lunch. As we had spent all our bht we could only get food from one shop as we had to use our visa. So we both grabbed a chicken roll and a drink. The rolls were really dry and mine tasted a little stale. Plus they were not chilled so probably not the best thing to have brought.

As we flew out of Phuket it poured down. Same weather as when we arrived so I figured it was good luck.

We landed at Singapore and spent a couple of hours checking out the airport and using the sky train to transfer between stations. Here I brought the most coolest MP3 player. It has only been released a week ago and not for sale in NZ yet. It clips on to your ears but there are no cables it is held together by a bendy that goes round back of the head. I also brought the biggest CareBear I have ever seen. It is bedtime bear and its for my Grand Daughter.

We flew out of Singapore at 8pm and decided that we will sleep on the plane. Ha!! how stupid am I!!!! with Shane in the window seat, me in the middle and some guy in the isle seat...it was not happening. We tried to sleep but couldn't get comfortable at all. About 4am I felt my tummy start to grumble and hurt...hmmmmm....this felt rather uncomfortable and the guy next to me is sound asleep....about 6am we got served breakfast and it was then that I made my first of many bolts to the loo. I was not well. We landed in Christchurch at 9.30am and had to hang around the airport till 12.30pm to fly home. Neither of us had slept and I was struggling to keep my eyes open...plus I had to check which direction to run...when the urge came.

Finally it was time to board our plane and we arrived home with out any hic ups. Called a taxi and walked in our door at 1.30pm...home has never looked so good. My son had house and dog sat for us and so he was excited about the presents we had brought home. Next arrived Shakara and then Teagan and Josh. I was thrilled to see them and by now we had both woken up of sorts, so we entertained the kids with our stories. We never did get to bed til about 9pm but I slept until 11am the next day. We were both shattered.

Last night for Shopping

Friday night we decided to head to Kata and grab a nice meal and do some last minute shopping. Plus I wanted to see the baby elephant again.

As we were walking up we noticed a large group of people on the beach. As we got closer I jokingly said to Shane "look at the man...hes got a pole through his cheek" to which Shane replied "don't be stupid, it must have just looked like it" WELL Both of us got closer and stood in sheer horror as we saw these were all monks and they all had "things" through cheeks, tongues and arms. Some had been running blades along their tongues etc.....it was like something out of a horror movie. Turns out it was a funeral parade were they bring the ashes to the beach to face the sunset for Buddha to take the soul to him.



We stay and watch for awhile and then stroll along the beach to find a quiet spot to watch the sun set. Tonight looked like it would give us the sunset we had been waiting for. We were not disappointed.



We stood for ages watching this glorious sight slowly dip into the ocean. The colours were just magnificent. What a perfect end to an amazing holiday.

We continued on our way along the beach to find a nice place to have a meal. I looked for the most prettiest place and I have taken a photo of what caught my eye. We sat next to this and had a wonderful meal. I had green curry and Shane had a much needed steak. Awesome food.



After dinner we took our time and slowly picked our way along the shops and bartered as we went. We had both become familiar with all the stall owners and many called out greetings to us and of course, offered us special prices. As we neared the Dino Mini Golf park, I let out a squeal of delight as the wee baby elephant was there so we rushed over and brought her a couple of bags of baby banana's to feed her.




Then after saying good bye to her we set off back to the motel. As we were walking along the street beside the beach I noticed an odd light moving up in the sky. It looked like something on fire but I couldn't figure out what it could be. As we got closer we could see a lady selling good luck lanterns. So we brought one and went down the beach and lit one.



up up and away it goes. These burn for about 5mins. We stayed and watched until we couldn't see it any longer. It was one of the most romantic things we have done.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Bangla Road

Well after our big day shopping we got a taxi home and dropped off all our shopping. We really wanted to "do" Bangla Road but so far had just not found the time as it doesn't really start to get going till between 10pm - Midnight.

We had been told by heaps of people that you HAVE to walk up and down here and watch the Lady Boys, the girls dancing on poles and just the general banter that goes on. So we had got really hyped up for this and were both really excited when we headed back into to Pantong at 11pm.

We got dropped off at the beach end of the road. Every night from 6pm the whole road is blocked off to vehicles so its foot traffic only. We start to head up and were disappointed to see so few people out. Don't get me wrong it was busy but not PACKED. There were almost more hawkers trying to get you go to along the rows and enter the "shows" Free entry, No cover charge...you just have to buy one drink. They don't tell you that your first drink will cost you each 500bht!!!! ok you got me ... we went along to look.

In the words of Billy Connely " I was shocked and stunned and a little amazed!!!

I thought I had seen it all............well I can tell you. These shows were not what we were expecting. I now know that if I am ever out shopping and happen to buy a canary or a frog and have no where to carry it.....I know where to put it now!!!!! AND THAT'S NOT IN MY HANDBAG!!!!

The girls dancing of poles was the thing Shane was really looking forward to.....I think our wee foxy has more life in her than these girls. If they are meant to be inciting you to enter down the rows to drink at their bar...a little effort is required. But the funniest off all. It was not Shane that was getting grabbed by the girls and groped. It was ME!! WTF is up with that?????

We make it down to were there is actually a crowd and find that there a few lady boys out. Dressed in full cabaret style costumes and blowing kisses to the guys. You were not allowed to take photos unless you had paid for them. So I am sorry but we took NO photos of this whole night. We were that disappointed we didn't even bother for ourselves.

So after only an hour we headed for home. I guess in peak season this street is just jumping but during low season there was just no spark. No money, no effort.

A Day In Patong

Today we decided to take a taxi in and spend the day shopping. It was drizzling and looked like it would stay around for the day. So we figured a day in the huge shopping plaza would be the go.

The going rate now for a taxi or tuk tuk is 300bht during the day (400bht at night) so we taxi in just as it starts to pour down. The shopping plazas are an experience on their own. 5 stories high with shops that have non barter prices but around the edge of each level are little stalls that you do have to barter at. So its a real mix.

There are two main plaza's that are side by side (up the top end of Bangla Road and turn right. We spent all day wondering and only saw 3/4 of it. In the end we had to buy a back pack as we were getting weary carrying all the bags of tee shirts and cotton shirts. We also decided to go to the movies and watch "Angels and Demons" Now this was soo awesome. For 500bht each (25nz) we got to sit in a couch chair. Now this was luxury!!! It was made of plush velvet and you just sunk into it. The back reclined and you also had a foot recliner too. Oh the joy, we are both very tall and struggle at movies so to have leg room and head room...oh to just have room - was awesome.

We over shopped on this day but did end up getting presents for all my kids and grand child. So all was not lost.....tee heee

My Tailored Dress

I had always said that one thing I wanted to get myself was a dress made. I had designed it myself but the hardest thing was ... which one to choose. There were 9 Tailors in the street with the motel....let along the other 5 around the corner. In the end in a weak moment when coming back from a shopping stint at the Karon Market, I let Raj talk me into to going inside. We haggled a little over the price and eventually settled on one that I was happy with. He then took all my measurements and the drawing I had brought with me. Once done and a deposit paid he told me to come back the next night for a first fitting.

The next day I zipped across expecting to be trying on the lining..but NOPE...It was the dress...nearly finished. He took it in where I asked, raised the split in the back and changed the neck line.

So I was told to pop back the next day for fitting number two. This time the dress was nearly full completed. I had chosen a shiny Thai silk - plain black and it was so flattering. Again he altered the size and took in a couple more darts and I was told to pop back a third time and the dress would be ready.

Sure enough, I popped back and it was fully completed and fit me like a glove. I am most happy with the service I got. Raj owns the store and its called "Henry's" it is nearly opposite the motel.

Another Lazy Day

Today we thought, why not be lazy. Shane's arms were healed enough to venture our side. We went out and lay under the pool umbrellas(Shane in the shade and me in full sun! ... Shane's arms had healed up nicely. But he was still not keen to get too much sun on them. So I swam in the pool and lazed around reading my book for most of the day until it got too hot to bare and then we retreat to our room for the air conditioning.

At 5pm we got dressed and headed up towards the Karon Market. When you are at the end of the Karon market look out for the big RED bull and the sign on the wall that says - BUY ONE GET ONE FREE - COCKTAILS - 5PM TO 7PM If you reach the Karon main centre you have walked too far.

We became frequent fliers hahahahaa

Oh the Coconut dream was just that.....sighs......



Sunset Stroll

So far we have had a total of two hours day time rain....and even then it still didn't dampen what ever you did that day. All week we had been trying to get a beautiful sunset. But mother nature was not to let this happen. Again it was low cloud and the sun just sets in behind it with no colour at all. We strolled along the beach hand in hand and went back down to the Karon Rock at the end of the beach. This is the rock that can be seen in the live web cam. We wrote a message in the sand for the kids to see (they didn't as it was midnight back here) Again the sunset didn't make it out to much. It was better than most we had seen. I love walking along this beach as it squeaks under your feet. Its a really odd sound.

Again we eat out, this time picking a nice place in Kata. I made a point of eating from the Thai meals but Shane was needing a burger!! After our meal we wonder back along to the Dino Mini Golf and stop to buy two bags of banana's to feed the baby elephant that is there every night.

As we stroll back to the motel we are chorused with "Masaaarge...summmtingggggg for youu Misssttteeerrrr"

There are two shops you will see an abundance of and that is tailors and massage parlors.

Our Trip To Phuket Town

Today we woke up with nothing planned. It was a free for all day. We strolled down to graze over breakfast. If you spend an hour slowly eating all you can, then you really don't need to eat for the rest of the day...its so hot you actually don't feel like eating but you drink lots of water!!

After much debate, we decided to have a wee adventure and take the rickety bus into Phuket Town. This travels from Kata - Karon - Phuket and costs 30bht each. Way better than paying 300bht for a tuk tuk. The bus....well actually a flat deck truck with two bench seats but its covered and dry. It slowly winds its way up over the hills and you do get to have a good look and soak in the sights. When we arrived into the town center, a couple of young guys jumped up onto the back of the bus and seemed to be scanning the people. They were giving cheeky waves and laughing with us all as we thought they were sneaking a free ride. Haha how wrong we were to be. As soon as we got off the bus, this young chap was up beside us with a map being oh so helpful. Telling us the best places to go and how far it was from this street. He then offered to take both of us to 3 markets for some shopping for only 40bht. We took him up on his offer and he raced off to get his mate who had a really nice flash car. We got in and went off to the first "market" ... It wasn't, it was a pearl and diamond factory that did have clearance prices etc. I did end up buying some cheap earrings and Shane brought a dragon statue. Then when we left the rain came down and it poured. So raced off to the next "shop"...this one looked very expensive and I was right. But in the thick of it all, I did find the most perfect ring to set mime off. So it was purchased right away. They then took us to Robinson shopping complex. This was a four story shopping center and it was here I got a vanilla smelling cow for my grand daughter. Then true to their word they showed back up an hour later to return us to the bus. Even though we didn't get to really see that much of Phuket Town, they were a great couple of guys and so we tipped them well.

While waiting for the bus, a taxi driver crossed the street to us an started begging that we allow him to take us back to Karon. He told us he had not worked all week and needed to feed his family bla bla bla. I am a lot harder to the sob stories than Shane but the next thing we have agreed and are heading over to his..ummm...Taxi?? It was a wreck of a car, no bumpers or suspension. He also had no gas and so went and put only 1 litre in it and was watching the fuel gauge like a hawk. He told us that he has 3 kids at college and they need shoes but since the low season there had been no work, so he often slept in his car to try and save money. By now I felt he was genuine...so we gave him an extra 50 bht. But the looks on the security guard when we rocked up in this cab was priceless!!!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Siam Safari

Siam Safari
We were picked up at 8.30am today and taken to Siam Safari for our half day tour. Today shames arms were itching so badly and getting sun on them hurt lots. We went up the road to see if we could find a long sleeve shirt but no shops were open. (they don't open till 9.30am most mornings) So we headed off hoping we could seek shelter as often as possible. The good news was .. the whole tour was under cover...Yaya....We were put into jeeps and taken up the mountain...(up towards the big Buddha) then we arrived at the trekking place.

Our first stop was a monkey demonstration of coconut picking. I got to pat one of the monkeys but he was getting annoyed at so many people and started biting his owner. Lol Then they brought out some huge water buffalo and asked if we wanted to ride them. They also hitched up a cart to them and gave us a ride around the area.



Next stop was how to open a coconut and to show us that there is only water inside a coconut...not milk.



Then we moved on to the baby elephant display. They were so cute!!! they played a harmonica and painted pictures. They danced and also played soccer. I wanted to bring one home, but I dont thing customs will let me....damnit....

Next stop was the Thai cooking demonstration. This was really interesting to see how they make there curries and man foods. And they showed us how they make coconut oil etc.

Then we were taken to for the elephant trek. Our guide was so awesome. He kept stopping and taking our camera to get some amazing photos and would stop and point out different trees eta to us. We did leave a tip for him. We all stopped for lunch were we chatted to another nz couple which was nice.



Then it was back home. By this stage Shane's arms were hurting badly so we stopped off at the pharmacy here and found he was suffering from Prickly heat. So we got lots of creams for him. So he stayed in doors for the afternoon while I went and swam in the pool. About 3pm I went up to the room and decided to go for a run. Shane when to the gym and worked out while I went out and melted in the 35deg heat.......only 5km but if felt like 10km. The men who offer tuk tuk and taxi rides all gave me a hard time as I ran past saying “no tuk tuk for you today” We then showered and headed back to the cheap cocktails....heehhee but not before buying some long sleeve cotton shirts for Shane....who does feel much better now.

So thats it so far. Only 3 days to go and nothing planned. We did want to see the Waterfalls and a few other sites but it so expensive to get to them. We may hire a driver for the day yet...will see how much that will cost.

Our day off



Monday was our day off. I know Shane would have liked to have hired a scooter again but I couldn't take the stress of it. I was awful the first time and I am thankful we didn't end up with the Thai tattoo.....which is a bandage!! So we lazed around the pool and swam. Shane by this stage was quite badly burnt on his arms and legs and was started to come up with a nasty rash....turned out he had a reaction to the sun. We wandered down to the market again at sunset and brought up heaps...tonight we shopped for the kids and a few tops for us. Man you can chew through the money so fast. We then headed to a cafe where I had seen Two for One Cocktails between 5pm and 7pm......so we got trashed and staggered home.....but we did get some photos of the sunset … lol I think....



James Bond Island Tour

We were collected at 7.30am and taken for a one hour drive out near the airport to met up with our boat. When we got there we discovered we had been included in a German tour. There was one other couple (they were French but he could speak English) So we were put down the back with the French couple and I am sure we were the butt of many jokes. The guide was Holga and he was great, so he would speak to us first then the Germans. The scenery was amazing...I have never seen rock formations like it but I have to admit to being very disappointed in the actual James Bond Rock...Size really does matter...and this one was very small...only 14 mtrs high. The movie makes it look huge.


Me holding the James Bond Island


Some of the many market stalls on the wee beach. Behind is were they had the entrance way in the James Bond movie "Man with a golden gun"

Then we raced off to the floating village of sea gypsies. We had lunch here and the got to look around. We saw a man with a pet Eagle but to take a photo cost 50bht so we moved on. As we were shopping a lady came up to us carrying a baby gibbon. Before you could say NO she had the baby in my arms and so we found the price and
Shane took a couple of photos then she took the camera and put the baby into Shane,s arms and snapped off a few more photos....next thing the price had doubled cause we had only haggled for One person and she did two....sighs....so we hand over more money....



Then we cruise back to home. This was whole day and we were shattered. As we walked back to the motel one of the many tailors caught me in a weak moment and so I am now having a beautiful dress made for me. I got to design it and it will be in black shiny thai silk. It cost $5500bth so for $275 I get an amazing dress made specially for me. I cant really fault that.

Fantisea the show...



This was one evening that Shane was not so keen on. We didn't know what to expect really. We were picked up by a shuttle bus at 5pm and taken through Patoong to where they hold the Fantisee . When we arrived it was a huge area and we had to go in one by one to get our tickets and then we had to enter over a huge bridge with scanners and they also checked out each persons bag. Once you entered the Park it was set up like a circus. So many little shops around the edge of it plus there were actors walking around all the time. We were to get a meal so we made our way to were the buffet was being held. On the way there we went into one shop that had a sign “see White Tiger free” so we followed along....WOW.....each room had a different animal in and was also designed around that animal. It was incredible. No cameras aloud so no photos sorry. The dinner was amazing. We entered a restaurant that would easily seat 5000 people. There was a huge buffet with also sorts of meals. We eat lots!!!! then I went back to a shop I had seen where you could dress up like a Thai Goddess. I got dressed in red and was taken out into the park and had many photos taken.

I picked out the best 5 … which I will scan when home. There were elephant rides in the center too. They announced that the show was to start and to make your way to the theater. We wondered over between the two elephant statues. As we walked through we could see people milling around something....as we got closer they had tiger cubs out and you could bottle feed them and get a photo taken.....well I couldn't resist.

We chose the bigger cub and got our photo taken.....I had thought you poor wee thing, must have been starved to be sucking so hard on this bottle but when we hugged the cub and patted it … it didn't feel skinny or starved.) Next came the show. Even though they sung in Thai you could still follow the story. To see so many elephants on stage, trapeze artists above you, animals running across the stage and the set changes were awesome. I cant rave enough about this show and even Shane came out saying wow, that was awesome. We got home at 11pm so it was a long night.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The day of the Scooter Hire

Today we decided to live dangerously and hire a scooter for the day. It costs 200 bht for the whole day. Much cheaper than taking tuk tuks everywhere. This was a very scary move and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not confident on a bike as there are NO road rules....at intersections its who ever pushes in first!!! very very scary.



We zipped off and went up to the Big Budda...wow, what a view and the budda is absolutely amazing. It is huge and looks out over the whole city. Next we raced off down the hill and went up the road further (we didnt want to try and cross the road so was easier to stay in the flow)


The Big Budda

Up the road we found a huge temple Wat Chalong. Here it is said there is a bone of budda. I was only wearing a short skirt and simple top so I had to be given a sarong to wear and to cover my shoulders. This was a beautiful place and you just spoke in whispers as it felt so powerful that it was almost impolite to talk.



Next on the adventure was to make it back to Karon....meaning we had to make our way through a huge round about. But with me on the back doing hand signals we made it without too much fuss. Phew.

Next I wanted to go up to the view point in Kata Beach and find the two gibbons I had read about. After taking a wrong turn....there are no street signs lol...we found the bar (plus it is for Elephant trekking...not hard to miss!)



Once there we saw that there were no one else around so decided to jump on an elephant and take a one hour ride. What an amazing experience that was. The guide sat on her head (dang my was our elephants name) and sang to her and she plodded up the hill, then at the top he got off and took lots of photos of us. Then he offered for one of us to ride her down, so I told Shane to do it and he sat on her neck and road her down the hill.



We were told that the two gibbons had to be enclosed as they were being too naughtly..well Charley was. So we walked up and played with them through the mesh of there large home. They loved being groomed and we could hear them singing while out on the elephant.

Now it is back to the motel to get ready to go to Fantasea. I will write about that tomorrow.

I am burnt to a crisp!!! but cant take the smile off my face.