Thailand
Ban Ko Maphrao

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    • Day 19

      Island vibes in southern Thailand

      November 7, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      After having stayed in Chiang Mai much longer than planned we were very much looking forward to dive into a calm and relax state of mind elsewhere.

      Both of us were longing for some quiet time on a sunny beach enjoying fresh coconuts. 🥥 🌴 🙌 So we decided it was time to fly further south and postpone our plan to visit the great temples of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

      On Monday Nov. 7th our flight departed from Chiang Mai to Phuket with COCONUT island as our final destination. No joke! 😂

      Pascal and I booked us in a good hotel for 4 nights and enjoyed every second of it. Interestingly we found out that in the southern part of Thailand (especially around Phuket) Islam is much more common than in the north (approx. 35% vs. <5%). Therefore, we started to see more and more women wearing hijabs which was a little bit surprising at first. Our taxi driver explained to us, that Buddhist and Muslims live next to each other in peace and respect each other very much. We hope the rest of the world will eventually take this as a good example! 🙏🏻

      As we got to our hotel “The Village Coconut island” at dawn we were surprised how far the water had receded from the beach due to the tides. In fact, the range between ebb and flood was so big the hotel had a very long wooden pier so that ferryboats could bring guests even when the water level is low. This was yet another surprise as we weren’t aware that the gulf of Thailand was also experiencing remarkable tidal activities. 🌊

      Overall, our stay on Coconut Island 🏝️ was very nice even though we had a room with a very noisy air con during the first night and Pascal caught fever on day 2. But after a room change and some sunlight both problems vanished quite quickly.

      Besides of relaxing and enjoying the beach, we didn’t do much, which was exactly what we were aiming for. So, on Nov. 11th we were ready to take the speed boat 🛥️ and move on to our next stop: The island of Ko Yao Noi! 🏝️

      Here we were planning to meet my beloved sister Anni with her we would spend the next couple of weeks. 💃🏻 🥰
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    • Day 20

      FIRE SHOW 🔥🔥🔥

      October 5, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

      We saw the sign for a fire show earlier in the week that would be happening down at the resort beachfront restaurant. So three days ago we booked a table right at the very front of the deck on the beach. Lucky we did because it was busy! And we had the best seat in the house!

      We sat and ate buffet BBQ and cocktails for dinner, then some brownie and Thai sweets for dessert. Then almost as soon as we had finished our dinner, the fire show was ready to start.

      Two men performed for about 20 mins. They were incredibly talented! They used various props - poles, sticks, ropes, poi. The two videos shown were the two wow moments, but there were also a few more that I missed. You could see the sweat dripping off them!
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    • Day 17

      Time to relax

      October 2, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

      Because we had done the Elephant Sanctuary so early in the day, it meant we had lots of time for relaxation 😍 started by having one of our two free massages. A 60 min aromatherapy massage to ease all the stresses of being on holiday 😉

      Then we chilled on the beach with cocktails and bar snacks (popcorn shrimp, camembert puffs, and fish & chips). After a dip in the pool, we went back to our room for an afternoon siesta.

      Our resort has a free laundry service, so we had dropped off all our clothes for washing yesterday, and they bring it to your room the next day washed, dried, pressed, and folded. For free! We'll definitely make the most of that before we leave!

      Chilled out for a bit longer, then went down to the restaurant for dinner. I had lamb shanks with massaman curry and Franks had red curry chicken noodle soup. It was too spicy so we struggled to eat it despite ordering it mild. Either they forgot to make it mild, or their version of mild is very spicy!!! Then sticky mango rice with a banana mocktail to wash it down. Yum!
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    • Day 22

      The final post

      October 7, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      We spent our final night in Phuket packing our bags. Our weight limit for checked in luggage was 25kg, and carry-on was 7kg. It took us multiple hours to figure out how to get everything to fit within the weight limit! Plus my cheap handheld luggage scales broke halfway through packing, so I had to MacGyver a makeshift repair.

      Our tactic was to bin as much we didn't need (packaging, old clothes), then store all the excess weight in the carry-on luggage. Our final weights for Frankie and me were 24.5kg and 24.9kg, but our carry-ons were 10kg and 8kg, slightly in excess. Very luckily, the carry-ons never got weighed at the airports so we were able to bring all the excess home!

      Although, we did have to scoff a whole bunch of our Japanese snacks before the flight to reduce our weights. The Butterbeer from HP World was pretty gross and weighed almost 2kg so very glad we got rid of that!

      We spent our final morning getting ready and then going down to the restaurant for a final breakfast. Knowing it was going to be a long day of travelling ahead, I stocked up and had a hot breakfast, then a sweet breakfast, then a plate of fruit and yoghurt.

      The staff were lovely and took all our bags down to the boat for us. On the other side of the water, our taxi man, Mr. Superman, was waiting to take us to the airport. Mr. Superman had been our loyal taxi driver since Day 1 in Phuket. He took us everywhere we needed to go, and he was very punctual, quick, and honest. He suggested some tourist attractions too, including the Pearl Factory and the karts. It was nice to round off the trip with the same guy who picked us up from the airport at the very start.

      Then began the looooong trip home. At Phuket airport, there was some outage with AirAsia that meant no one could check in. There were over 50 of us waiting in line at the check-in counter for them to address the outage issue. We waited 1.5 hours until they decided to just manually check people in by taking photos of our passports on their phones. A bit stressful, but I knew we'd get on the plane because they wouldn't leave with us and all the other 50 people in the same boat.

      The first leg was only a short 1.5 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. For some reason we weren't sitting with each other, but it was short so we didn't mind. It was just a small plane (6 seats across) which made it pretty uncomfortable with the limited leg room!

      At KL airport, we had a 7 hour stopover which we spent going through security, getting food, charging phones, etc. All the usual airport stuff. In fear of having limited legroom on the next flight too, we were trying to contact all the help desks we could to buy an upgrade to the exit row seats. We tried for a long time, but had no luck so had to stick with our original seats anyway. We boarded the plane and we're happy to see that it was a larger plane (9 seats across) and actually had a more comfortable amount of leg room. BUT - we didn't get any food on this 9 hour flight, and there were no in-flight entertainment screens?!?! Overall not too impressed with AirAsia so we know for next time to pick another airline. We tried to sleep for most of this flight anyway as it was now night time. Got an hour here and there, but it was pretty disrupted sleep.

      We arrived in Sydney the next morning around 10am. This was only a short 1.5 hour layover, so we literally got off the plane, walked in a big circle through security, had time for a quick toilet break, then pretty much had to get right back on the exact same plane again. We were both exhausted now after the poor night's sleep, but we were now only 3.5 hours away from home which gave us hope. The flight was much the same as the previous one. We tried to stay awake this time to sync our body clocks with Auckland time (which didn't really work in the end, our sleeping schedule was still out of whack for a few days after this!).

      Finally, we arrived back in Auckland. Baggage claim took a long time, then we had to declare our snacks and teas, but not too long after, we were ready to go home. Mum was waiting with a beaming smile for us in the parking area and we caught up on the ride home. We had to pick up my car from the Stevenson's house which had gone flat after 3 weeks of not driving. It took us a while longer to jump start the car but we got there in the end.

      Once we got home, Alfie was so excited to see us that he was shaking and whimpering. We had picked up pizza on the way home, so scoffed that and then began unpacking. Frankie took the next two days off work, and I took three days off, which was much needed!

      What an awesome honeymoon we had. It was so cool getting to travel Japan with my best friend. It was a place we'd always wanted to travel to since we first met. And it exceeded expectations! We are already thinking of going back! And Thailand was so idyllic and relaxing, the perfect way to end the trip. Every single day was just packed with so much fun and we have so many great memories that we can look back on. It's hard to pick a single highlight when every day was fun and unique. Shoutout to my travel buddy wife who made this experience unforgettable.
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    • Day 73

      Jet Ski vs. Pingpongshow 🚤🏓🔞

      March 28, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Heute war es mal wieder an der Zeit für einen richtig touristischen Tag!🤦🏽‍♂️🙈😂
      Begonnen haben wir den heutigen Tag mit einem Inselhopping. Natürlich aber kein gewögliches Inselhopping... 😅 Nein... wir haben die Inseln mit den Jetskis abgeklappert... natürlich nicht irgendwelche Jetskis... Wie haben uns für die die starke Motorisierung mit knapp 1700ccm und über 220Ps entschieden. Wow dieses Teil geht ab. 80km/h Topspeed auf dem spiegelglatten Meer! 🔥😝
      Innert 5 h besuchten wir 5 Inseln. Wirklich ein cooles Ereignis mit richtig viel Spassgarantie. Leo und ich sind definitiv auf der gleichen Wellenlänge! Motto: je extremer umso besser. 😅
      Nun wer jetzt denkt, der Tag sei gelaufen, der hat sich getäuscht...halte mich aber kurz:
      Als wir zurück kamen, organisierten wir einen kleinen Apéro auf dem Rooftop Pool. Als wir schlussendlich für den Abend eingestimmt waren, ging es nun erst richtig zur Sache.
      Ich erlaube mir, nicht ganz ins Detail zu gehen.
      Stichwort: Pingpong show/Fuckshow etc. soll genügen... 🤦🏽‍♂️🙈 Nach einer langen und verstörenden Nacht nimmt der lange Tag ein Ende. 😅 (Reel von Leo auf Insta)
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    • Day 6

      Prima Notte in rada

      November 20, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      Prima vera uscita con Tabata, ci fermiamo a Ko Tang Rai, il tempo non è dei migliori, c’è vento e un po’ di nuvole sparse. Per noi comunque è tutto nuovo e da scoprire e ci lasciamo trasportare alla scoperta di questa isoletta. Passeremo qui la nostra prima notte all’ancora.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Ban Ko Maphrao, บ้านเกาะมะพร้าว

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