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The Saunders Asian Adventure
  • The Saunders Adventures

The Saunders Asian Adventure

33-päiväinen seikkaillu — The Saunders Adventures Lue lisää
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  • The Saunders AdventuresThe Saunders Asian AdventureMatkaaja
    Saigon Airport; view of the city from the plane
    Arriving in Bangkok, then Krabi airportsThe ferry ride over to Ko Lanta; beautiful sunsets from the boatEvening on the beach in Ko Lanta

    Travel day - Saigon to Thailand

    21. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Not too much to report today - left the hotel in Saigon at 7:45am with our lovely driver, who told us he taught himself English by watching movies and using apps on his phone. He works double shifts (7:30am to midnight) so he can pay to send his daughters (who live in a Hoi An) to school to learn English and get a good education! Sometimes, we just don’t realize how lucky we are living where we do!

    Got to the airport in lots of time to board our 10:15 flight to Bangkok, found out our connecting flight to Krabi had been delayed for over 2 hours, so had a 4 hour wait at Bangkok airport 😳! Read my book, played Candy Crush and watched the world go by till our next flight left at 3:30pm! We arrived in Krabi around 5, found our driver then had a 90km drive to Ko Lanta, which is an island, so had to take a ferry and cross a bridge before arriving around 7pm. (And trust me, the ferries are not like our BC Ferries!!

    Got to our hotel, which is right on the beach, dropped off our luggage, then had some amazing Pad Thai at the hotel restaurant. Went for a walk along the beach in the dark - seems beautiful, but can’t wait to see it in daylight! Had a glass of wine on the beach, then back to our little bungalow overlooking the pool and beach for a rest after a long travel day!    Lue lisää

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  • The Saunders AdventuresThe Saunders Asian AdventureMatkaaja
    Walk along the beach this morning
    More beach viewsDowntown Ko Lanta - interesting motorbike cab!Views at our hotel1Sunset; fire show; beach bar!

    A bungalow on the beach!

    22. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    So here we are in Ko Lanta, Thailand - a lovely island on the west coast, staying at a place called Long Beach 🤔😊. We went for a walk along the beach this morning, and with our hotel room being 20 steps from the sand, there really is no need for shoes in this area - there are restaurants, stores, bars, and everything you need within a “no sandal” walking space! We did venture up to the main road, so carried our sandals for when we got to that part of the walk! Lots of hotels, bars and restaurants to check out along the way, and we also checked on renting motor bikes for the next day or two!

    Got back around 11am and headed for the beach! Spent the next 5 or 6 hours soaking up the sun, which was our main plan here in this paradise! We grabbed a couple of glasses of wine just after 6pm, and sat on beach chairs to watch the lovely sunset. We had a bit of a rest, freshened up, then headed back down the beach for dinner. Had some fabulous food at a beach restaurant, and even got to take in a fire show at the bar next door. Walked a little further down for a couple of drinks, then headed back to our hotel - no shoes worn for the entire evening! Love it here!    Lue lisää

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  • The Saunders AdventuresThe Saunders Asian AdventureMatkaaja
    Pitate's Paradise and beaches along the way
    Red clay roads; baby monkeys along the way; interesting construction methods!Lanta Old TownSwinging in the sunshine; biker Dave; Old Town; filling up the gas tank!More gorgeous beaches; resident monkey; road block cow!Lovely sunset; our soccer fan waiter; map of the island (and how we went wrong!); my dinner delivery

    Ko Lanta Bikers!

    23. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    So we rented a motorbike today for 200 Baht (less than $10 CAD) and drove around pretty much the whole island! Our original intention was to go to the national park and lighthouse at the south western most tip of the island, but we took a wrong turn and ended up at the south eastern most tip of the island! No big deal, we ended up at a very cool little place called Pirate’s Paradise at the end of the road on the south east coast, and had a look around there before taking the heavily construction filled road back to where we made our mistake! They are currently building a new cement road along this side of the island and it was interesting to see the building techniques!! On the way back, we also saw a Mama and her baby monkeys on the side of the road - didn’t get too close, but were able to get some photos!

    And fortunately, had we not made the wrong turn we would have missed Lanta Old Town, which was really nice to see. Bit of a tourist trap, with lots of stores and restaurants on the water’s edge, but fun to see. We stopped for a drink and a snack, and went on the swing at the restaurant for some photo opps!

    We got back on the route we had intended to take and drove along past beaches and swanky resorts before reaching the national park. It actually cost us over double to enter the park than the cost of renting the motorbike for the whole day - go figure?! We walked into the lighthouse area and climbed the hill up to be treated to some beautiful views of the park and surrounding beaches. It was very windy though and a bit scary hiking up to the lighthouse!

    We headed back north and stopped at a few more beaches along the way - one had a resident monkey who was scouring the garbage cans checking for bottles with a bit of something left in them! Then when we got back to the road, there was a big cow just hanging out and blocking traffic! We got back to our starting point around 3:30 pm after 6 hours on the road, and were pretty exhausted and wind blown! Went for a swim in the pool, watched the sunset, then got ready for dinner. We had an awesome meal at our hotel - I had the hot plate, which is set on fire before serving, and it was delicious! Dave got talking to a couple of the waiters, and they were watching a soccer game in the back of the restaurant (Man U vs Watford) so he went back there to watch with them while I came back to write my blog! Another awesome day on this amazing trip! 😊    Lue lisää

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    Coffee on our patio; beach pics from Dave's morning walk
    Street views walking to lunchPics from Dave's afternoon walkLovely sunsetELVIS!! Thai style! 🤣🤣

    Lazy day at the beach!

    24. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today was a lazy beach day! We had our hotel buffet breakfast and I headed to my lounge chair on the beach while Dave did some net surfing and went for a beach walk. At around 1:30, we went for lunch at a little side street restaurant and had the most delicious little pizza between us! After lunch, I went back to my beach chair to read my book, and Dave did another beach walk and took a few pictures along the way.

    We regrouped at the pool for a dip to cool off (it’s been about 36 degrees here) and then headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. We cleaned up and decided to walk down the beach to a restaurant we had visited a few nights ago, and had a couple of appetizers and a glass of wine.

    On the way back to our hotel, we noticed that one of the establishments - Hans’ Bungalows - which has a restaurant and bar on the beach, was having “Elvis Night”, so of course we had to stop in! We ordered a drink each, and waited in anticipation for the show 🤔😜🤣. It was hilarious - an older Thai man dressed in a Elvis garb put on a tongue in cheek Elvis impersonation show! Truly the highlight of our evenings here in Ko Lanta - he really played the crowd, and at one point, tired himself out and had to sit down to finish one of his songs! We laughed pretty hard and had a great time - “Elvis” even brought the mike over for me to join in singing “Hound Dog” with him! 🤣🤣🤣. What a riot! Walked back down the beach to our hotel still laughing, and now it’s time for shut eye before moving on tomorrow!    Lue lisää

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  • The Saunders AdventuresThe Saunders Asian AdventureMatkaaja
    Last pic of Ko Lanta beach; ferry line up; ferry crossing!
    Lovely beach and hotelMonkey statues; huge daquiris; view of hotel from the beachPool at night; another interesting statue; view from our dinner table

    Ko Lanta to Krabi

    25. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Today, we left our bungalow on the beach in Ko Lanta, and had a driver pick us up for the 3 hour road trip to Krabi, namely Ao Nam Mao beach, and our next hotel, the Villa Cha Cha!! The reason it took so long is there was a line up at the ferry and we had to wait about 45 minutes (ok, nothing like the BC Ferry waits, but these ferries are definitely not anything like ours 😆😆.)

    We arrived at the hotel around 1pm, checked in and hoofed it down to the pool to catch some rays, have a couple of oversized daiquiris, a bite to eat and a swim. This is a lovely hotel with multiple pools and interesting statues all over the place. It’s close to a town called Ao Nang, which we will explore tomorrow.

    Left the pool around 5 and came back to the room for a short nap - that sun can be exhausting! We decided to just go to the hotel restaurant for dinner, which is huge and beautifully decorated, and there was hardly anyone in it! Had a lovely dinner next to the beach, walked around a little and decided to call it a night. 🙂    Lue lisää

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  • The Saunders AdventuresThe Saunders Asian AdventureMatkaaja
    The centre of town, Ao Nang Beach
    Limestone rocks; more beach viewsStairs up to lookout; overlooking Railay Beach EastMore views of the town; shuttle ride back to hotelPhotos from the pier around the corner from our hotelLast dinner in Thailand!

    A Morning in Ao Nang

    26. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We hopped a cab this morning for the quick trip to the beach town of Ao Nang, about 15 minutes from our hotel. A busy little place, with lots of long boats making trips out to the many islands in this area, a nice beach, limestone rocks jutting out of the sand, and stores selling every piece of clothing, souvenirs, food, drinks and whatever else you’d like to buy to part with your last few Baht! (Yes, guilty as charged!!).

    Ao Nang is just around the bay from where we are staying, and on the other side of Ao Nang Bay is Railay Beach - a popular tourist spot in this area. Took some stairs up the side of one of the limestone rocks to a lookout, which overlooks Railay Beach East.

    For a small town, it’s pretty cosmopolitan, boasting 2 McDonalds, 2 Burger Kings, a Subway and a Starbucks! We spent a couple of hours walking the beach and checking out the stores, stopped for a coffee, walked some more, then caught the free shuttle back to our hotel.

    I headed down to the pool, while Dave went for a walk down to the pier to check that out, then he joined me later. Lazed around in a lounge chair all afternoon, reading our books and soaking up the sun - our last day to catch some rays!

    After a lovely day, we freshened up and went for a great dinner at the hotel restaurant - again, excellent food, which has been a constant for this whole trip! 😋    Lue lisää

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    Cab ride to Krabi; Krabi Airport
    Bangkok AirportOn the way home!On the ferry 😜Yup!

    Headin’ Home!

    27. helmikuuta 2020, Thaimaa ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Travel day today! We were supposed to spend 4 days in Bangkok at the end of our trip, but decided for a number of reasons to give that a miss and bring our sore feet and happy, but weary bones back home!

    We left our hotel this morning and caught a flight from Krabi airport to Bangkok. We are now in the Bangkok airport waiting to board the 3.5 hour flight to Taipei - quick turnaround there before boarding our 10.5 hour flight to Vancouver. Then we’ll book it to the ferry and will hopefully be back in Nanaimo around 10:30 pm Thursday night - which will be 1:30pm Friday Thai time and over 29 hours of boats, planes and automobiles! 😴😴. Updates pending as we travel! 😊

    Just arrived in Taipei, Taiwan after a really good flight from Bangkok. We leave here in just over an hour for the longest leg of the journey - 🙏ing for sleep on the plane! (Wishful thinking - slept maybe an hour!)

    Arrived in Vancouver just after 6, had to wait over half an hour for our luggage then ran out to grab a cab to the Tsawwassen ferry Terminal! Promised the driver a good tip if he got us here in time for the 8:15 boat home, and we’re sailing home after a verrrry long day, but an amazing trip!    Lue lisää

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    Matkan lopetus
    27. helmikuuta 2020
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