Hi,
We have now been back a week, so i thought that,knowing how much i enjoy reading travel reports, that i would write one of my own.
This was our third trip to Thailand, the last one being 4 years ago. We flew qatar airlines from manchester to doha, doha to Bangkok,it was the best airline we have ever flew with, very comfortable,great choice of movies,and good food.
In Bangkok we stayed at our fav hotel the marriott resort and spa, just love this hotel,the ultimate luxury, so clean, and the river is great to look out on to. Had a fab room, great views.
We went to the massage shop in the complex behind the marriott,and also called in at swensons icecream parlour most days.
We ate at cabbages and condoms, our first visit here,thought it might be very hyped up place,with not so good food, but i was wrong, the place was so pretty, lots of lights, very nicely decorated[including all the figures made of condoms!!!!] ,and the food was really tasty and cheap.
We also ate at harmonque, another restarant that gets loads of recommendations. after looking around for ages, we eventually found it down a little allyway, once again a great place to eat,we came here twice.
Also had a meal in the basement of the paragon centre, really good as well[ to be honest,we never had a bad meal in all 24 days in Thailand, some just a bit too hot!! and spicy maybe].
Seeing as we have been to Bangkok twice before we tried to find something differant to do this time, we booked with a company called spice roads, and went cycling. we went on a minibus to the floating market, looked around, really enjoyed it, then we got on our bikes ,and rode around the villages ,stopping to look at temples on the way, it was a great day,really strange, as so quiet and peaceful,yet very near to Bangkok.
We also went to one of my fav MBK centre, and the paragon centre,siam square area[which we had never been to before].
Had great fun riding in the tuk tuks, just agree a price before you get in ,we never had any problems.
We have never timed our visit before to coincide with the famous weekend market,so this time i made sure we were there for sat and sun.
We left the marriott at 8am,and arrived at the massive market just before 9am.It is definatly better to get there early,it was so hot and humid there,and the stalls felt so confined, thought i would faint at one point,but we got some great items, [had to pay excess with air asia ]the craft stalls were really good.
After 4 nights we flew airasia to koh lanta, we have flown with this budget airline lots of times,i always book in the uk,and we have never had any problems what soever. They are now very strict on weight, so had to pay approx £6 excess both trips,which was not too bad really.
Our first time to koh lanta, stayed at the lanta casurina on long beach.its not a bad hotel,but after the marriott,it seemed abit tired looking,but the place grew on us,and after returning from phi pih it seemed a treat to be back. The beach is one of the best on the island,really long[as named!!],nice sand ,and quite wide. Enjoyed some good sunset runs,barefoot down the beach and back .
In the evenings we would often walk down to the end of the beach,and visit the restarants set up on the sand, there were quite a few, and they looed so nice with fairy lights strung from the trees and around the bars.
We hired moterbikes for 2 days,this was great fun,went all over the island,the beach right down the bottom of the island,by the pilimmi [spelling???]resort is very nice,and the beach bar and restarant,same same but differant did some very tasty meals.
We went to the caves, but unless you are quite adventurous and fit i would not bother, it was quite scary having to crawl on your tummy through little gaps, and there were lots of rope ladders to climb down and across,i was so glad to get out.
On 2 days we went out to the islands with a brilliant company called lanta longtail, suzanna,a vey nice american lady,and her thai husband,Son, live in lanta old town,and take clients out on thier longtail boats, we spent 2 excellant days,exploring, bu bu island, koh hai,and various other beautiful little islands.It is so much nicer to go on a trip like this,away from the mass of other tourists, Son cooks a meal in advance,and you eat on the beach, and on out return,we were invited back to their 100ft house built on stilts over the sea, it was really lovely.Alot of these houses were destroyed bu the tsunami, Suzanna and Son had to rebuild most of theirs,as it was swept away.
Koh lanta town was nice at night,we went to some lovely fish restarants , and had some first class food, at such cheap prices.
We got a ferry to koh phi phi for 3 nights, we had been there pre-tsunami,and really wanted to see if it had changed at all. The main village seemed slightly better, still very dirty and smelly in parts, but this island is one of the most natually scenic places we have ever been to,and if you visit the beaches away from the centre,you have peace and quiet,along with amazing crystal clear waters, as warm as a bath!!!.
We stayed at the printithim pp resort, just walked in and asked to have a look at a room, the chalets were scattered up the hillside, we had one of the cheaper rooms,it was ok, fairly basic,and the showeroom was musty and leaked ,but the views were good,and the bed was clean and comfy, so cant complain too much.
Went on canoes,and hiked up to the viewpoint which had fab views of both bays,then went through the jungle for an hour or so to one of the more isolated bays up the coast.
The main village was fun to look around in the evenings,lots of little stalls, we found that the majority of tourists were young backpackers,although everyone was very friendly, and once again we had some good meals over-looking the beach and sea,very romantic!!.
We returned to koh lanta for a couple of nights before going to krabi[ao nang], once again booked a room at short notice, stayed at the best western ban, a farly new hotel on the main road in ao nang.
Once again the bathroom smelt very musty,but the room was huge, very impressed with the large pool area,not such a good view over the main street though!!.
We have stayed at ao nang before,5 years ago ,and really noticed a differance, quite built up now, with lots more shops,and quite a few new hotels.
Had a really great day on my fav island,koh poda,just got the longtail boat across, walked to the back of the island, where for most of the day we were the only ones on the beach.
The water here is so clear,and the scenery so beautiful, it was a lovely relaxing way to spend our last day .
Had a massage most days, there are shops everywhere,at bargain prices,and very professional.
Overall we had a brilliant time, just love Thailand so much,so hot and sunny all the time we were ther,although we did have some tremendous thunderstorms at night.
Hope some of you will enjoy reading this, if anyone would like any more info,just ask,
suzi