Thailand
Ban Khlong Top

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    • Day 87

      🇹🇭 Koh Lanta - Thaïlande

      May 3, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

      🇹🇭 Ça y est on est sur l'île de Denis Brogniart ! Koh Lanta !

      Du coup, avant d'arriver sur cette île on nous a mis en garde de l'ambiance particulière qui y règne, il faut savoir que c'est une île très peu touristique ! En fait, uniquement les français connaissent l'émission et donc cette île, les autres vont préférés aller à Koh Phi Phi ou Phuket dans le même secteur !

      Donc beaucoup de restos ou magasins fermés et des villes très vides. Mais à l'inverse nous avons pu avoir des plages pour nous seuls, des forêts intactes, des singes, des varans, des lézards et autres animaux dans leur milieu naturel ! 🦎

      En fait, cette île nous a vachement reposé contrairement au rythme effréné des précédentes !

      Bref, on a adoré ! Nous avons eu 2 hôtels pour un total de 6 nuits sur place, location de scooter gratuite en échange de quelques photos que nous avons offertes au premier hôtel pour leur site internet ! Et une belle journée snorkeling organisée sur 4 petites îles paradisiaques autour de Koh Lanta !

      Je vous laisse avec les photos !

      Biz à tout le monde ✌️

      (PS : on a vu Némo !)
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    • Day 34

      Day 33 - Are We So Predictable?

      January 12, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      I think we are. We know what we like!

      We got up at the usual time, skipped breakfast, then took up our usual spot on the deckchairs outside Soul Kitchen. I went for my usual run, then went for our usual beach walk.

      Upon returning to Soul Kitchen, I walked towards the bar, when one of the three staff, called out “Big Water”. Exactly what we needed & usually got.

      We had a pre-lunch walk, before walking up into the restaurant, where the staff started giggling & presented us with our usual 2 large Changs. I ordered the Garlic Dhal Set, that won us over on our 1st ever visit & Jackie ordered Tempura Prawns & a naan bread. (She was suffering naan envy!).

      The GDS was as good as the 1st time & Jackie had a mountain of battered prawns so that she could hardly eat any of her naan. I had to assist in that department rendering me unable to order a dessert. The lunch was further washed down with our usual second large Chang.

      The afternoon was more walking, followed by a big water & once Happy Hour arrived, I headed to the bar & was given two small Chang, which we usually order. It was then ‘Same Same’ for two more, then we blindsided them by ordering Mangodaquiri each to end our last day in Khlong Nin Beach.

      We decided our final meal would be at MaMa’s Style, so it came as no surprise to find that it was closed for the night. It was an omen, we were supposed to eat in Soul Kitchen. I ordered Massaman curry for a final time & Jackie last minute chose chicken kebab & chips, which unexpectedly was wrapped in a Naan bread. We ended up having half each. As an unexpected bonus, I was now able to order the mango & sticky rice topped with coconut & sesame. Jackie was only going to have a mouth full, because she doesn’t really like it, but managed to eat half of it, then said we had eaten too much & should skip breakfast.

      We’ll see.

      Song of the Day - Soul Kitchen by The Doors.
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    • Day 35

      Day 34 - Ever Get The Feeling You’ve....

      January 13, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      Been Cheated? Goodnight.

      At the usual time we had breakfast. Well, Jackie had coffee, a slice of watermelon & pineapple each & a mouthful of scrambled egg! The waiter kept laughing at us for some reason, maybe it was my Rockhopper Penguin hairdo or the fact that Jackie turned out to be wearing her vest top inside out.

      We then went back to the room to skilfully pack our rucksacks for the journey home. At 11.15am we checked out of the Clean Beach Resort & sat in reception to await the arrival of our ‘private’ transport, due at midday.

      At 11.45am, a local wandered into reception & enquired if we waiting for transport to Krabi. After showing him our ticket we loaded up the rucksacks into the back of the minibus, thanked the man we booked the trip through, who insisted on shaking our hands, then spread out across the seats. It seemed like good value in upgrading to ‘private’ for the paltry additional sum of £2.50 each!

      However we didn’t go anywhere, it turned out that we were sharing our ‘private’ minibus with 2 others who were in the restaurant having breakfast. Ten minutes later they appeared & we were off, speeding towards Krabi Airport.

      But no, we stopped several times until there were 12 passengers on board & all the seats taken. We were cursing Mr Trip Organiser who when we said “Goodbye”, must have been laughing that he had ripped us off. Stupid Farangs!

      The minibus journey was actually ok. We were the first stop & at 2.40pm, we disembarked at Krabi Domestic Terminal. We were the only occupants of the minivan getting off here & needless to say our rucksacks were at the bottom of a pile crammed in from floor to ceiling.

      Check in at the airport was straight forward & we tested security, who failed, because we sneaked through a bottle of moisturising oil in our hand luggage. Then whilst waiting in the departure lounge the heavens opened & there was a torrential downpour. This was the first rain we had actually seen on this trip. Maybe it is another omen!

      The flight onThai Smile Airways was fine apart from the chinless balding Yank sat next to us who was a bit excitable & kept shouting to his mates behind in a very irritating squeaky voice.

      We took a public taxi to our hotel, Bangkok Panda House, which was actually a hostel, but in a gated community. Jackie booked it. David the owner, who is half Malaysian, half Chinese, took us up to our family room. To our horror we discovered that we had a shared bathroom with 2 double rooms.

      We dumped our rucksacks & went back down to see David for a calming beer, but he had run out. He suggested we go to the 7-11 not much more than a quarter of a mile away on Thanon King Kaeo, which is a busy dual carriageway. He offered us the use of his motorcycle, but told us we would have to drive the wrong way up the dual carriageway, so we should go slow!

      We politely declined his kind offer & walked, doing our best not to antagonise the packs of stray dogs. At one point in the there were 5 dogs in front of us & 5 dogs behind us. In 7-11, we bought 6 large bottles of Chang, which was probably way too much. We then returned to Panda House where David was keen to demonstrate his culinary skills to us.

      David insisted we have his homemade Chinese dumplings, both steamed & fried, containing pork, fermented duck egg & other things & an array of spices. We had a total of 20, all of which were very nice. David was very passionate about his food & insisted we try his homemade sauces & we even tried raw fermented duck egg that had the texture of cheese. It was all an education.

      During the cooking process & dinner we got to say hello to some of the other residents of Panda House who were all sharing a mixed dorm. There was an old bald bloke covered in tattoos that was permanently looking at his phone in one hand, whilst zapping mossies with an electrified tennis racquet in the other. Then there was a skinny girl who walked in & had a chat, who had gone out that day in effectively a white string vest. Then there were 2 young blokes, who had apparently tried to share a single bed & finally another young lad who later that night came out in a pair of long johns & asked us to keep the noise down. Who said we were too old to party!!

      We were having a nice time chatting to David, when our 1st floor neighbours returned from a night out at the Bangkok Ladyboy Show. They were a Chinese mum, dad, son & daughter-in-law. Dad joined us at our table & insisted we join him for a pot of tea. It was made in the traditional way, the first brew thrown away to clean the leaves. Mum, son & daughter-in-law sat at another table & drank coke.

      They seemed a nice family & were able to have half a conversation with them through David. Dad giggled a lot & loudly, which caused the request to quieten down. We discovered they were from Jiuzhaigou in western China, which is just a 3 hour flight away. They were keen to show us on google maps where it was & the images looked stunning.

      It was their 1st time in Thailand & they had stayed in this hostel for the entire week, which is really bizarre because it takes an hour to get into Bangkok city centre.

      At 11.45pm, the wife & youngsters went to bed, we then turned in not long after midnight. We then had to sit in our room, whilst the Chinese were showering in our communal bathroom, waiting for one to finish so we could use the loo & clean our teeth. Their showering continued until 12.45am.

      Song of the Day - No Fun by Sex Pistols.

      2nd Song of the Day - One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head.
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    • Day 170

      Weiter nach Koh Lanta

      February 17, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

      Um unser Inselhopping weiter zu führen ging es weiter zur nächsten Insel „Koh Lanta“. Diesmal startete die Fahrt mit einem alten Minivan, der mal wieder viel zu voll beladen war. Dann in Krabi mussten wir am Büro umsteigen. Das war bisher die schlechteste Reiseagentur. Zum einen waren die Leute dort mega unfreundlich, auch in den umliegenden Geschäften und dem Klo, und zum anderen wurde versucht uns mal wieder übers Ohr zu hauen. Nach einer kurzen Rücksprache unserer Gastgeberin und einem Telefonat mit dem Typen dort, war auf einmal doch der ausgemachte Zielort möglich. Auch die anderen Reisenden waren genervt... 😓
      Nach einer, aber dann doch ganz angenehmer Fahrt, kamen wir an unserer Unterkunft an. Diesmal hatten wir wieder einen Bungalow. Danach gingen wir an den langen Sandstrand, direkt vor unserer Tür. Es war sehr schön. Nur mit Schatten war es schwierig. Also entschieden wir zu einer Bar zu gehen, die hier alle sehr cool aussahen. Wir musste jedoch erst eine Bar finden, die auch Getränke ohne Alkohol verkauft. Wir vermuten, dass aufgrund der vielen Muslime hier, die normalen Restaurants kein Alkohol verkaufen, die danebenliegenden Bars dagegen nichts anderes. 🙈
      Aber wir fanden eine nette Bar mit Liegestühlen und Sonnenschirm. So entspannten wir im Schatten bis die die Sonne schwächer wurde. Danach liefen wir noch am Strand entlang und sonnten uns. Am Abend gab es dann im „Jai Dee“ Restaurant direkt am Strand westliches Essen, Spaghetti und Burger...
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    • Day 33

      Day 32 - Pesky Kids Ruined Our Lunch

      January 11, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      The plan today was to have a decent lunch at Soul Kitchen. After discussions, we agreed that we would go to breakfast, but we hardly ate anything. I had two slices of toast & scrambled egg which was apparently too much. Jackie had a mouthful of toast & egg. Still we would appreciate lunch at Soul Kitchen all the more!

      The Irish tinkers were also at breakfast, but had multiplied to four. They really do breed like rabbits!!

      Out we went to lap our last two days of sun. We arrived at Soul Kitchen to discover it was closed, as were half the other bars & restaurants. Luckily it was quiet & we found an acceptable alternative in Otto Restaurant that had identical deckchairs.

      Having apparently eaten too much breakfast, I went straight off for my run on soft sand due to the high tide. Upon returning to Jackie we went straight off for a walk & discovered the source of the restaurant closures.

      It was another ‘Children’s Day’ in a marquee at the end of the beach. Hundreds of parents with their children at what could best be described as a festival / fair / beauty pageant. There were kids everywhere, sprawling out on to the beach & into the sea.

      We tried lunch at Otto’s which is a German Restaurant & serving predominantly western food. We ordered Spring Rolls & some fat chips to accompany our Changs. It was naughty, but nice.

      In the afternoon, Jackie decided to go down to the waters edge & lie on the sand in everyone’s way, whilst I had a siesta under my book. I woke up sometime later to see Jackie’s sarong still at the waters edge, still in everyone’s way, but no sign of her.

      Forty minutes later, she still hadn’t returned & I was considering getting up out of my deckchair to look for her, when she appeared with shiny blue toenails . Apparently she had had a pedicure & her toenails varnished by one of the little ladies.

      As one might expect, the German bar didn’t have a Happy Hour, so we had a sunset drink instead, before going shopping. We bought our last Hong Thong of this trip & a shed load of crisps & nuts, which wouldn’t surprise me if the purchases pushed us into the realms of excess baggage!!

      We hauled our shopping back to the room, only to discover that the maids hadn’t cleaned our room, instead just left loo roll & water outside our door. I blame the kids!

      I later enquired at reception why our room hadn’t been cleaned & allegedly it was due to sickness, more like pulling a ‘sickie’ so they could go to the Children’s Day. I still blame the kids!!

      After getting ready, we sat on the balcony with a Hong Thong & admired the dire dress sense of our Eastern European neighbours - Ill-fitting vests & shorts. We might’ve donated some clothes to them if they weren’t so glum 🙁.

      We went back to Spicy Spicy, which we now know is officially called Lay Lanta Bar & Restaurant. It turned out to be all about Jackie & her spice - spicy spicy 🥵 🌶. She ordered Mussels & a curry fried rice. The owner got so caught up on how spicy Jackie wanted it, that she forgot to ask me what I wanted. I later ordered chicken curry in coconut sauce. All lovely & bloody spicy. We weren’t allowed to have a pudding, unless we shared, so we decided against it, apparently.

      Song of the Day - Saturday’s Kids by The Jam.
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    • Day 139

      Weihnachtsgefühle auf Koh Lanta

      December 27, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      Was hatten wir nur für schöne Weihnachtstage..?!?
      Vor 6 Tagen sind wir auf Koh Lanta angekommen und augenblicklich wurde uns wieder bewusst dass wir eindeutig Inselliebhaber sind! Unsere neue Unterkunft hat uns auf Anhieb so gut gefallen, dass wir aus 5 geplanten Tagen - 8 machten und mittlerweile ist die Entscheidung gefallen bis zum 02.01 zu bleiben. Wir leben in einem romantischen Bungalow mitten in einer Kautschukfarm eingebettet im Dschungel. Koh Lanta bietet lange und breite Sandstrände, lebendige und spannenden Natur im Dschungel des Landesinneren und traumhaftes Wetter. Die Regenzeit ist endgültig vorbei und langsam trudeln mehr und mehr Touristen ein.
      Es ist ein sanftes Erwachen der allgemeinen Lebendigkeit an diesem Ort und wir genießen sowohl die Orte die zur Ruhe einladen als auch Abenteuer in der Natur.
      In den vielen kleinen Ortschaften finden sich viele gemütliche Strandbars, Cafés und Restaurants in denen wir uns wieder glücklicherweise kulinarisch verwöhnen lassen.
      Wir haben in den vergangenen Tagen beinahe die gesamte Insel erkundet und sind dem Charme und der Vielfalt verfallen. Mal kamen wir an einsamen Buchten an, oder mitten im Nirgendwo umgeben von mehr Kautschukfarmen und dem dichten Dschungel.
      Anlässlich der Feiertage haben wir das Rollerfahren mit Musik in den Ohren für uns entdeckt.
      Unsere Playlist auf Spotify spielte einen Weihnachtsklassiker nach dem anderen und wir genossen die Fahrten entlang der Küste in bester Stimmung uns sangen lauthals mit. Die Insel selbst verwandelte sich zum 24.12 in ein Weihnachtsidyll der anderen Art. Palmen am Strand wurden notdürftig aber auch liebenswert mit Lametta behangen, in den Bars wurde unsere Spotifyliste gefühlt übernommen und freundliche Gesichter sowohl von Touristen als auch Einheimischen wünschten in Bademode "Merry Christmas".
      Weihnachten so losgesgelöst zu empfinden und zu verbringen war vor allem für mich (Hertha) eine besondere und wundervolle Erfahrung.
      Fern von dem Geschenkestress, der Organisation allen Liebsten gerecht zu werden gab es dieses Jahr nur uns beide, das klare Meer, erfrischende Kokosnüsse, heißer Sand unter den Füßen und eine sanfte Meeresbrise - vorallem aber gab es in uns das überwältigende Gefühl von tiefer Dankbarkeit, Liebe und Frieden. Alles was Weihnachten im Kern symbolisiert.
      Und dank Videocalls konnten wir uns auch unseren Familien und Freunden nahe fühlen! Es war ein wundervoller, schöner Tag!
      Am ersten Weihnachtstag haben wir uns Abends mit Oletta, einer Reisenden aus den Niederlanden zusammen getan und sind abends in eine Bar gefahren. Haben gute Gespräche geführt, einer Feuershow zugesehen (die allerdings brenzlich verlief und uns in einen ganz schönen Schockmoment versetzte als mittendrin die Haare eines Jungen Feuer fingen-nahm aber dennoch ein "gutes Ende") und im großen und ganzen war auch dieser Tag ein total schöner! Auf dem Nachtmarkt in unserem Städtchen gab es ein Late - Night Pad Thai und einen sympathischen, spontanen Kochkurs for free.- Das Pad Thai war weniger gut, aber dem warmen Zwischenmenschlichem Moment mit der Köchin trotzdem wert.
      Als gegenseitiges Geschenk gab es dieses Jahr eine Insel-Schnorcheltour für uns beide. Diese fand am 26.12 statt und davon berichten wir im nächsten Eintrag
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    • Day 31

      Day 30 - Inglorious Morning Glory

      January 9, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

      How do we manage to wake up at 2.30am & not get back to sleep again?

      We went to breakfast & had toast & bananas. The coffee was still cheap instant rubbish.

      After breakfast we booked our minivan to Krabi Airport for lunchtime on Monday. It was then down the beach & a brisk walk to the end & back to burn breakfast. I couldn’t see anything on the outward journey other than severe suntan lotion sting in my eyes. Drastic action was required & I had to have a sea water eye bath!

      After the walk, I immediately followed it up with a run along the usual route. Lunch was liquid only. After we did the walk for a second time, then abused Happy Hour.

      The big news is that the Roi Thai sign has been taken down & the restaurant is now trading under the La Marina name only. Did I run Roi Thai out of town with my scathing review?

      The beach had been quieter today, probably people starting to go home for work on Monday. So we went to highly reviewed Jai Dee Restaurant, which has always been full when we’ve previously looked. Lo & behold there was a spare table so we grabbed it.

      What a disappointment. The service was slow, bordering on I think they forgot about us, the 2 different chicken dishes looked & tasted the same & the morning glory was flaccid & tasteless.

      It will be back to MaMa’s Style & Spicy Spicy only for the remainder of our stay in Ko Lanta.

      Song of the Day - Morning Glory by Oasis.
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    • Day 29

      Day 29 - Naughty Jellyfish!

      January 7, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Breakfast wasn’t much to write home about. The only good things were decent bread & toaster & bananas.

      No running today, but we walked the entire beach twice. The only thing of note was on our walk we were approached by a cockney geezer in his 60s with his missus, who said “Can I rack your brains?”
      “Go ahead”.
      “Those purple jellyfish things, are they really...................................naughty?”
      We didn’t know the answer, but we were able to reassure him that they didn’t sting”.

      Lunch became a discussion point about whether we should have breakfast or lunch, because we can’t have both! I favoured breakfast as it’s free. In the end we shared a satay chicken anyway.

      We stayed on the beach until sunset, then got home showered & went out. After we wandered round & ended up at MaMa’s Style for a couple of very fine Massaman curries. Definitely our favourite dish of the trip.

      Song of the Day - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson.
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    • Day 29

      Day 28 - You know You Make Me Wanna.....

      January 7, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      We got up at 9.30am, showered & packed our rucksacks. It was our last night in Paedoville. It wasn’t that bad & in fact I could have stayed on, but Jackie was having none of it.

      After packing, we still had half a bottle of Hong Thong & one can of Coke Zero, so we demolished it for breakfast. Whilst we were doing this on our balcony, a 12 year old paedo victim & simpleton, came over & introduced himself as Adam. He insisted on shaking our hands & telling us about his cut finger. “Jackie grab the bags we are leaving now”.

      We checked out with chubby Alex & told him we were going up the road for a change of scenery. What we really meant was that we were going more upmarket.

      For some reason Jackie had dressed up like Lulu in a short dress, which made backpacking seem ridiculous. So instead it cost us 100 Baht (£2.50), which is actually a lot, to be carried by Tuk Tuk about 400 metres up to Clean Beach Resort. We checked in, but our room wasn’t ready, so we dumped our bags in reception & headed for the beach.

      Jackie was made up with our new accommodation & insisted we had a celebratory Chang at Soul Kitchen. We then walked the entire length of the beach & had a dip in our secret infinity pool. There were a couple of workers, but we didn’t get caught.

      Lunch consisted of Pad Thai & Massaman curry, then we collapsed into our deckchairs for the afternoon. It was the best sunset of our trip so far, so it would have been rude to leave early.

      We finally paid our bill then set off for 7-11 for a bottle of Hong Thong. We returned to our ‘luxury’ abode, got ready & had a quick snifter on our new balcony.

      Next door are a couple of sour Krauts in their 60s who didn’t acknowledge us, even when I said hello. Utter weirdos. He was sat in his swimming trunks & a hat & she came out wrapped in just a small towel.

      We then returned to scene of SpicySpicygate. Funnily enough they remembered us. Jackie ordered mussels - spicy & I had chicken with garlic & peppers, but the star of the show was our side order of Morning Glory. A new favourite. We also ordered corn on the cob, but it arrived after everything else by which time we were full.

      The evening ended with us on our balcony playing Johnny Cash at Glastonbury on the IPad.

      Song of the Day - Shout by Lulu.
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    • Day 28

      Day 27 - Pizza Pandemonium

      January 6, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      After plonking ourselves down in deckchairs at Soul Kitchen, I then went for my customary run along the beach, followed by walks up & down the beach.

      We planned to have a pizza tonight, so we decided to have just a couple of starters for lunch. We ordered Crispy Tofu with Peanut dip & Fried Sweet Potato with Tahini (Sesame Dip). The Crispy Tofu was exceptionally & unexpectedly good.

      The afternoon was spent in our deckchairs right through to sunset, with the usual libations at Happy Hour.

      That evening we went out for our much anticipated pizza at the French Bakery, which gets rave reviews. Outside, Jackie started having second thoughts on whether she wanted pizza, which resulted in us walking up & down the street, before deciding we would have pizza.

      We entered the French Bakery & went to sit at the best positioned table, but the waitress informed us it was reserved. It did have a sign on it to that effect. She ushered us to another, but it was too close to the ovens. It was already a hot night, so we got up & sat at a table on the other side of the restaurant, but decided we didn’t like it because it was near a pool table. SO we got up again & plonked ourselves on a table for six at the front of the restaurant. The waitress who had been monitoring our movements came over & informed us that the table was for 4 or more people. By now I think everyone in the restaurant was aware of our presence & the owner (who had been tending the ovens) stormed over, snatched the reserved sign off our 1st choice table & said we could sit there. He then said something to the waitress that sounded decidedly like he was giving her a rollocking. What a kerfuffle, not the entrance we had in mind!

      Having perused the menu, Jackie came out with the immortal line “Shall we share just one?”
      I was flabbergasted “You are bloody joking, we’ve only had a starter all day”. So that was it, we ordered 2 pizza, a pepperoni for Jackie & a ‘Lanta’ for me.....when in Rome.

      The pizzas came out & were a huge warm disc of doughy loveliness. Jackie spent the next half an hour telling me why we should have shared just the one. It didn’t help that I couldn’t finish all of mine & Jackie ate not much more than half of hers!

      After dinner we took a trip to the 7-11 for some provisions, then returned to our balcony for a game of Cribbage. Jackie won, but only with my assistance!!

      Song of the Day - Pandemonium by Killing Joke.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Ban Khlong Top, บ้านคลองโตบ

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