Thailand

I think James and I have decided to make it a regular event that we go on holiday during February so that we can get away from the worst part of the winter and find some sunshine to make us cheerful again. This year there was no hesitation in deciding where to go. James' brother Stuart moved to Thailand at the end of last year with only 4 days notice to start a new job. Naturally Thailand became the perfect destination.

We flew into Bangkok where we stayed for the weekend. Inbetween suffering from a touch of jet lag and in James' case some food poisoning we did manage to visit the Grand Palace and Khaosan Road. This is an area visited by backpackers and we met a guy on holiday from Amsterdam and a girl from Eastbourne. We had a great night out in a bar with live music that overlooked the road. Unfortunately for James this inspired his street noodles which he classed as an Asian version of Kebab.

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On the Monday morning we flew to the island of Phuket. We were collected from the airport and taken by taxi the the Lim Han pier where we waited for a boat. The only way I can describe the first sight of The Village Coconut Island is if you imagine what paradise would be. I had heard about the island and seen pictures on the website. However for some reason I was still amazed by how perfect and beautiful it looked. They have a small pier which enables you to walk from the boat, across a white sandy beach, under the palm trees and to a golf buggy which we were driven to the reception in. We were then told about our upgrade. Thanks to Jess who had helped us book the accommodation in the first place we were upgraded to a three bedroomed villa complete with its own private swimming pool. Very luxurious. We did make use of the pool too swimming every day as a way of cooling off in the evening.

Every day was hot and we experienced some fantastic lightening storms during the evenings. The worst was whilst we were eating dinner at a restaurant at the Han Lim pier. This particular restaurant did not have walls only plastic roll down shutters which seemed designed to keep out light showers. Not torrential monsoons like we experienced. Most of the customers had to move seats to the centre of the dining room away from the rain whilst the staff got soaked fighting to keep the shutters in place. We waited until the rain stopped before going to get the boat back to the island. Whilst standing on the pier we saw some stunning lightening that spread horizontally around the sky several times. We found out from Stuart that one of the islands boats had been rescued from sinking and a couple of trees had also come down during the storm. My only casualty was the book I had left by the pool which took the rest of the holiday to dry out.

We went on a few evenings out with Stuart into Phuket and Patong. It was good because after several months living there he knows some good places to go. We ate some great Thai food played some serious Jenga and also had the best muscles I have ever eaten in a Belgian restaurant that specialises in European beers. Having said all that, my favourite food of the holiday was the Thai food on the menu at the Village where we were staying. Full compliments to the Canadian Chef who has been living there 8 years.

On the Wednesday we took a boat to the island opposite Coconut island. The beach there was perfect and as it was also the site of a pearl farm. Thursday we got up early to go on an activity day. In the morning we stopped off at an area to see some wild monkeys before going white water rafting. The rafting was slightly reminiscent of the River Rother Rafting Race. There must have been 30 plus rafts on the river and it was therefore like bumper cars on the way down. As the water level was fairly low in the river small dams had been built to collect water so they could be opened as the rafters go past. It was good fun.

Next was the Elephant treking. James and I were on the same elephant with its driver. However it was not long before the driver got off and let us sit further forward on the elephant. I was at the front and had to tuck my legs behind its ears. It wasn't the most stable I have ever been but the elephant did seem to hold its ears back while we were going down hill as if holding me in place. I was still greatful for James holding me on around the middle. All the elephants used for the tourist trade had been rescued from the logging industry. I think ferrying tourists around the forest must have been favourable to them than hauling logs around all day every day. Last on the agenda for the day was to ride a quad bike around the rutted roads of the forest.

On the Saturday we went for a kayak around the islands next to coconut island. We managed to find a deserted island with an old bar on it that had long since been forgotten about. We also found a empty beach that was worthy of a picture or two. We had been told to get the kayak back to the island by 5pm to account for the tide. Unfortunately we should have got back slightly earlier. We discovered that when the tide goes out the mud it uncovered is very simular to the mud found in Emsworth. Thick, black and sticky. Getting the kayak in did give the people on the beach a good laugh.

Sunday we set off early again to meet a boat for tour of the island at Phang Nga. We motored out to some of the most beautiful surroundings I have ever seen. The water was flat calm with a slightly greenish tint. Small islands rose out of the water almost like mountains. There were lots of them and we got to explore them in kayaks. I can only assume the landscape was the inspiration for the floating mountains in the film Avatar. We also went through some caves that led to an enclosed mangrove which was very scerene. As the tide was high we had to lie down at times to get through the caves in the kayak without bashing our heads. One of the islands was James Bond island which was filmed in 'Man with the Golden Gun'. As there was a small beach opposite it we were able to get some reasonable photographs. The only shame is how touristy the beach had become. It was lined with stalls selling cheap mementoes. The afternoon was spent on yet another beautiful beach where we were able to cool off by going for a swim and drinking pina colada out of coconuts.

The last day we went for a bike ride around Coconut island. Having managed to avoid being bitten by mosquitos for most of the holiday in the space of 2 hours I got thoroughly munched. We cycled (well walked) up the steepest hill ever seen, which is a lot coming from someone who has treked to Everest base camp. When we got to the top we found there was no where to go except back the way we had come. A lot of hard work but the reward was possibly the best view on the island.