KRABI

KO LANTA

Caught the ferry from Langkawi to Saturn in Thailand and then a bus from Saturn to Trang and then onto Koh Lanta .... long day but we were so surprised by the quality of the roads / infrastructure of southern Thailand. In fact we have been really surprised by SE Asia in general ..... it is by far the most 'westernised / developed' area we have visited. Everything is just sooooooo EASY !!!!!!

Anyway ... Koh Lanta ..... arrived ... walked for 45 mins before finding a really nice bungalow by the beach with a/c , cable and a really comfy bed ........ relaxation city !!!!!!!

Spent almost two weeks doing pretty much nothing except swimming, eating, walking and imbibing ... interspersed with zooming around every square inch of the island on a Honda city 125 (which I have to admit was quite zippy for an automatic clutch).....

Met up with Carl and Tuulli whom we met in Tibet ...... Carl (being Australian) insisted that we drink as much as is humanly possible (well I might have had something to do with it too). Consequently I threw up EVERYWHERE, broke my glasses into tens of pieces and had a thoroughly bad hangover for the next 48 hours. Pleased to say that Carl faired little better with Tuulli locking him out of their room for drunk and disorderly behavior.

First time Emma has seen me throw up and hopefully the last!

Anyway lots of tourists in Koh Lanta and we definately feel that we have now hit the tourist trail of SE Asia.

BANGKOK

Wow ..... we had NEVER thought SE Asia would be so touristy .... Starbucks on every corner ..... oh so trendy 'travellers' who have seen everything and done everything and 'oh how different Bangkok was last year' .......

BUT ... get away from the tourist areas and Bangkok is lovely ...... it's been a week now and we are still not tired of the place. The river taxis are cheap and quick, the skytrain efficient, the malls indulgent (yes we do feel guilty) and everyone (mostly) speaks English !!!!!!

Our Christmas lights needed some soldering on the joints ..... we found a hole in the wall TV repair shop who did 3 solder points for us and would not accept payment .... how nice is that? Consequently we now have Christmas lights and a 6 inch Christmas tree to decorate our room.... yay!!!!

Best bit is that we were here for the Kings 80th Birthday Celebrations .,.. we have NEVER seen such great fireworks ... boy do they love their King. Whole week long of festivities .... Dragonboat races, concerts, fireworks etc etc ......