Thailand
Khao Che Tra

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    • Day 43

      Phuket, Thailand

      November 8, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      Die Ankunft war verwirrend. Es fühlte sich an als seien wir in Vietnam. Die Enttäuschung, dass es mit Hanoi nicht geklappt hat, war nach kurzer Zeit verflogen. Es war alles spontan. Wir hatten kein Hotel, keine Route, keinen Plan. Wir ließen uns einfach treiben. Der Song „Lost“ von Frank Ocean war unsere Hymne und lief auf Repeat.

      Auf der Insel gibt es einen Ort für die partyfreudigen Touristen, aber auch sehr viele ruhige Gegenden mit wunderschöner Natur. Wir haben ein Hotel in Patong (dem Partyort) gebucht, um eine gute Ausgangslage für die Erkundung der Insel zu haben. Am Tag der Ankunft sind wir einfach nur spazieren gegangen und saugten alle Eindrücke auf, die uns nach der Woche Indien über den Weg liefen. Wie Außerirdische sind wir über das Sortiment im Supermarkt hergefallen. Einen richtigen Supermarkt gab es in Indien nicht wirklich, und das Angebot von Getränken und Essen ist ebenfalls anders als wir es in Europa kennen. Auf unserer Schlender-Route sind wir direkt über einen Streetfood Markt gestolpert, der uns wie das Paradis erschien. Fleisch-Spieße, Seafood, Dim Sum, frische exotische Säfte, Crêpes, usw. für’n Appel und ein Ei.

      Am zweiten Tag steuerten wir das Meer an. Zwar warm aber nicht ganz so sonnig, fühlten wir uns eher nach einem Spaziergang entlang des Strandes mit den Füßen im Andaman Meer. Nach dem hektischen und lauten Treiben in Indien, tat uns die Ruhe und Natur richtig gut, die Entspannung legte sich ein. Mit der Natur connected fielen uns jetzt die unzähligen kleinen und großen Krebse, die Einsiedlerkrebse und die See-Egel auf, die sich im Sand unter unseren Füßen einbuddelten oder im zügigen Crab-Walk ins Meer huschten. Wir waren im Entdecker-Modus und versuchten die Meereswesen zu fangen und zu verstehen.
      Am Ende des Tages peilten wir einen anderen Streetfood Markt an und schlemmerten was das Zeug hält. Wir probierten uns durch bekanntes und unbekanntes - mit Ausnahme von Krokodil und Fledermaus. Das wurde Marvin verboten 😂

      Nach zwei Tagen lost and free, machten wir wieder Pläne. Wir entschlossen uns weiter in Richtung Phuket City zu ziehen. Dort angekommen mieteten wir uns einen Roller und erkundeten die überschaubare Insel. Der erste Stop waren budistischen Tempelanlagen. Derya machte den anderen Besuchern ein Ritual nach, bei dem Stäbchen in einer Box solange geschüttelt werden, bis eins rausfällt. Die Zahl auf dem Stäbchen verweist auf das Fach mit Karten, von denen die obere Karte gezogen wird. Eine positive Karte behält man, andernfalls wird sie wieder zurückgelegt und ignoriert 😅 Good News: Deryas Karte war eine gute 😁

      Mit dem Freiheitsgefühl auf dem Roller kehrte eine Tiefenentspannung in uns ein, welche sich selbst durch den Linksverkehr nicht erschüttern lies. Die Weiterfahrt ging lange bergauf, bis wir am Ziel eine große Buddha Statue vor uns erblickten. Buddha wachte im Schneidersitz friedvoll über die ganze Stadt, vergleichbar wie Jesus über Rio.
      Nächstes Ziel unseres Trips war ein schöner, nicht all zu stark besuchter Strand, der uns von einer Thailänderin empfohlen wurde.
      Wir breiteten unsere Picknickdecke aus und aßen exotische Früchte.
      Bevor wir uns auf den Rückweg machten, fuhren wir zu einem beliebten Aussichtspunkt, um den Sonnenuntergang zu beobachten.

      Wieder in der City angekommen widmeten wir uns dem Lieblingshobby Streetfood. Und was wäre ein Besuch in Thailand ohne Massage? Unsere Füße hatten etwas Liebe verdient, eine einstündige, wohltuende Fußmassage kamen uns jetzt genau gelegen. #Welovethailand
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    • Day 18

      Phuket, Thailand

      December 14, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Thursday, December 14. Phuket, Thailand

      The ship docked at Phuket at 6:00pm this evening, giving us one last day at sea for our trip. Quite a relaxing day with an interesting lecture at 10:00am on Singapore.
      After an early dinner at Sette Marie, the Italian restaurant, we set out on a 1 hour bus ride to see the Simon Cabaret. I don’t think any of us had any idea what we were in for. It turned out to be a spectacular cabaret performance with colorful costumes, lively, but very loud music performed entirely by the most gorgeous women you have ever seen…….. except they weren’t women........they were transgender men! Had we not been forewarned, we would never ever have realized that these women were men (or is it the other way around?). What they go through what with implants, surgeries and hormone treatments must be incredible. Following the show, they were all lined up and for a couple of bucks you could have your picture taken with them which many people did. Even being up close to them, you would never ever have guessed that they were men. That was too creepy for me so I didn't move in for a picture..
      On the way back at 11:00pm the streets were all lit up and there were hundreds of open air restaurants, some big, some small and all of them were very busy. Our guide told us that partially because of the heat, not many people cook dinner at home. He also said it’s less expensive to eat out on the street than to buy your groceries. During the day most of the stores and restaurants would be closed and wouldn’t open again until nighttime. Everything was very clean and tidy.
      Late arrival back and in bed by 12 o’clock.
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    • Day 19

      Phuket

      December 15, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      Friday, December 15, another day in Phuket Thailand

      We were berthed today, beside what looked like an enormous ship called Mein Schiff, a German cruise line, but when I looked it up on the Internet, I found it only had 2500 passengers compared to our 490. I thought it would be interesting to compare the size against the Royal Caribbean ship that we had seen previously, that held 4,900 passengers had they been side by side. After researching further, I learned that the ship line was a joint venture between Royal Caribbean and the German owned TUI cruises, who were about to launch the inaugural cruise of their Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise vessel in the world, holding, wait for it……. 5,610 passengers and 2350 crew/staff.

      Up at 6 AM for 8 AM departure for an 8 ½ hour tour to Phang Nga National Park for our cruise around Phang Nga Bay. We took this boat tour in 1993 and it was spectacular so we were hoping it would be the same today for Peter and Heather. Unfortunately, because of where the boat was, compared to where we stayed previously, it came with a 2 hour drive, which we didn’t expect. Fortunately, the bus was very modern and comfortable. The traffic was quite bad leaving the core, but after that, it returned to normal. One of the fun things we saw along the way was pickup trucks on the way to work, with up to 15 workers sitting all crammed together in the truck bed.

      Remembering that Phuket is an Island that is only 21km long, we had to cross the half mile long Thep Krasettree Causway to get to mainland Thailand and the National Park. The park includes more than 42 limestone islands formed over 300 M years ago, jutting straight up from the ocean, to heights of up to 350 feet, and in every imaginable shape and form. Just when you think you have the best possible picture, you round another island only to see an even better view. It is a photographer’s dream.
      The boats are powered by outboard motors that have very long drive shafts which extend out behind the boat, rather than the traditional straight down into the water type. They are very noisy, but besides requiring a fair amount of physicality to control them, allow the boats to move right along while at the same time making them quite maneuverable, a real benefit when in shallow water. Along the way there was a cave/tunnel through the bottom of one of the islands and our driver carefully negotiated our way through the cave that had only about 10’ of headroom at the entrance.
      Another interesting deviation was to slowly motor through narrow channels, lined by up to 30 varieties of mangrove trees with their exposed roots. Mangroves are tropical trees that thrive in conditions most timber could never tolerate — salty, coastal waters, and the interminable ebb and flow of the tide. With the ability to store vast amounts of carbon, mangrove forests are key weapons in the fight against climate change. The largest amount of mangrove coverage in the world is Indonesia where mangrove trees cover some 12,000 square miles which is more than twice the size of Jamaica.

      The most popular island is Kao Ping-Gan, the James Bond Island, with its iconic limestone karst rising straight up between two islands, featured in the James Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun” from 1974. Another striking feature of the island is a huge slab of rock that many thousands of years ago, sheered away from the cliff and slid down onto the beach forming a wedge-shaped passage (it housed the entrance to Scaramanga's lair in the movie)

      The next stop was at Muslim Gypsy village on Koh Panyi. This 200-year-old community was amongst the first to be settled in the bay. They built their village on stilts above the water. During the day, the tour boats bring hordes of tourists to see the village and the temple and have lunch. They are totally self sufficient and have a school, public health center as well as a large floating football stadium that is listed as one of the most fascinating football stadiums around the world. In the middle of the island was an incredibly beautiful Mosque which stood in marked contrast to the rudimentary buildings on the rest of the island.
      The entertainment for tonight was a movie which we had seen before and decided to leave after about the first 15 minutes.
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    • Day 3–5

      Phuket. 1/2

      January 21 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

      Por fin en Thailandia.
      Nada más llegar a Phuket ha sido todo tan fácil que no nos lo creemos.
      Hemos decidido alojarnos en Sirikul Mansion, un lugar muy agusto al lado del aeropuerto al que hemos llegado a pie, así nos hemos ahorrado la timada del tuc tuc del aero o cualquier otra gestión.
      Ha sido salir del aero y en 10min estar en 'casa'.
      Phuket ha servido para coger fuerzas del bache inicial. No hemos querido estresarnos mucho más que ir a comer por la zona y habituarnos a los códigos thailandeses, cambio de moneda y compra de tarjeta sim.
      Aleix choca los cinco con todo el mundo, chupa teta en cualquieir lugar, hace mucha gracia allá donde va y nos ayuda en todo a su manera, hasta habla inglés! jajaja elou, bai bai ,tankiu, bus tu trang, no spicy! feliz de la vida
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    • Day 16 - Similan Islands Christmas Trip

      December 25, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      The 6.45am the alarm stirred us from our alcoholic stupor. Over coffee, I gave Jackie her Christmas card, but the kind gesture was not returned, apparently she had forgotten to pack mine!!

      At 7.30am, a minibus arrived to pick us up, we then collected a family of 3 Americans before having to wait nearly 20 minutes for 3 Thai lads to join us. We eventually arrived at the Check-in Andaman private pier for coffee & breakfast over a short briefing from our tour guide.

      At 8.45am we had collected our equipment & boarded our speedboat. Jackie & I were literally 1st on & we took up seats at the very front of the boat to capitalise on the sun. We were joined at the front by lone a Brazilian girl, who was a bit of a strange cookie, and 5 giggly Thai girls.

      The 70 km crossing took a spine juddering 80 minutes before arriving at Similan Island Koh 9. (Ba-Ngu) for a 40 minute snorkel session in the crystal clear waters. After 20 minutes of looking at mainly little yellow fish, Jackie & I had had enough of our salt water eye bath & mouth wash so we returned to the boat. I did however get some interesting photos of the little yellow fishes swimming between the two of us.

      Next stop was Koh 8. (Similan) the largest island for an hour & 20 minutes. When we arrived it was teeming with tourists from other tours, but as our guide advised they would be gone in 15 minutes & true to his word they were. Leaving Jackie on the beach, I climbed the 150 metres up to Sail Rock which was a stunning viewpoint.

      Once I had returned to Jackie, we had a quick swim then collected our Christmas lunch. It consisted of 2 trays of food each & a bottle of water. It sounds a lot & it was, but it wasn’t overly edible. We had cold very spicy pork with cold rice, cold sweet & sour sauce with cold spaghetti & a couple of chicken wings plus some other bits I didn’t even want to try. During dinner we were joined by a large water monitor that had us abandoning the table when it got too close.

      After a few photos we boarded our speedboat & set off for the next destination. Just a couple of minutes into the journey, one of the crew spotted a whale coming up for air. The boat was immediately brought to a standstill & for the next 20 minutes or so we tracked a couple of Omura’s whales from a distance of just 30 yards with Jackie & I having the perfect viewing spot. I knew we were witnessing something a bit special because the crew were very excitable & were taking photos of their own. It was the perfect Christmas present.

      The Omura’s whale or dwarf fin whale is a rare & little known whale species. It is the most recently identified species of whale and then only from dead specimens in 2003. The 1st live identified sighting of one in the wild was in 2015. They measure 12 metres in length, are super-streamlined, but are so rare that scientists don’t know how many exist. Most sightings have been in Madagascan waters, thus sightings in Thai waters seem to be very newsworthy events.

      Next stop was Koh 7. (Pays) for another snorkelling stop. We both got in again & to our delight it was abundant with fish of all colours, including a particularly a big shoal of the little yellow fish swimming around us. After another 20 minutes, Jackie declared she had had enough & started heading back to the boat when someone shouted that they had spotted a sea turtle. They were over 100 metres away, but this was not an opportunity I was going to miss.

      With mask & snorkel flapping around my head & camera in hand, I attempted to front-crawl & fight my way through the other snorkelers to the turtle sighting. I arrived puffing & panting which made breathing through the snorkel difficult, but I was able to espy the turtle, which I have identified as a Hawksbill sea turtle. It was camouflaged by the coral, but I was able to follow it for several minutes & point & shoot my camera in it’s general direction.

      Elated, I returned to the speedboat before we motored over to our final stop, Koh 4. (Miang) National Park. It was for a 1 hour stop. We walked a trail to the other side of the island where we spotted several brightly coloured Nicobar Pigeons & fruit bats crawling & flying through the trees.

      It concluded our exceptional & highly recommended trip. The speedboat crew were so helpful & pleasant. The Similan Islands were pure paradise, both on land & in the sea. For us it made the perfect Christmas Day.

      We then made the 80 minute speedboat crossing back to the mainland for coffee & ice cream before being bussed back to our hotel at 6.00pm. We were both shattered, but after a shower & rest, we made our customary WhatsApp video calls & messages to family & friends before heading out to dinner.

      Dinner consisted of chicken satay, a Pad Thai & a beer each at Thai Life, then we called it a night. We were just too knackered & full to carry on.

      Song of the Day: Christmas Paradise by Carole King.
      Tales of Brave Ulysses by Cream. (Courtesy of American Dad on our trip).
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    • Day 6

      Phuket (1/2)

      February 1, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      Während der Tage im Sandbox-Programm haben wir verschiedenste Strände und Sehenswürdigkeiten in Phuket bereist. Am Tag 4 haben wir außerdem unseren 2. RT-PCR Test gemacht, der angenehmerweise ebenfalls negativ zurückkam. Die besten Strände, die wir auf Phuket besucht haben, war der Yanui Beach und der Freedom Beach. Den ein oder anderen Strand habe ich allerdings auch übersprungen, um meine Haut etwas vor der Sonne zu schützen. Der Linksverkehr in Thailand ist gar kein sonderlich großes Problem gewesen, die anderen Verkehrsteilnehmer einzuschätzen dafür umso größer. In der Backpackers Bar auf der Bangla Road konnten wir einfach schnell ein paar Kontakte knüpfen.Read more

    • Day 21

      Fiskmassage och nytt boende i Phuket

      November 7, 2013 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      Vår dag började med frukost och ett dopp i det blå. Vi hade inte tid att stanna någon längre stund på stranden för vi skulle checka ut och byta boende. Vårt nya boende Third Street Guesthouse (130 per person och natt) visade sig vara en riktig pärla beläget vid Kata Beach. Fint rum som gick i grått och brunt, trevlig personal och nära till både strand och shopping. Supermysigt! Vi passade på att fråga receptionisten om hur vi lättast skulle ta oss till Soi Dog Foundation följande dag och han var verkligen något extra med sina gester och skratt.

      Vi åt lunch på en trevlig och lite lyxig restaurang och fortsatte sedan vår promenad till stranden och hamnade tillslut på ett fiskspa. Som det kittlades, Uffe skrattade som aldrig förr! För 15 minuter betalade vi 20 kronor, ett kap om man jämför vad det kostar i Sverige.

      Efter någon öl på rummet gick vi ner till marknaden. Uffe hittade en snygg klocka och jag ett armband. Till middag åt vi indiskt och vi var mer än nöjda när vi med fulla magar tackade servitören. Palak Panner är verkligen mumsigt! Om man jämför matpriserna i Thailand så är Phuket absolut dyrast. Stranden och vattnet var inget wow som vi hade trott. Nästa gång vi besöker Thailand hoppar vi det försvenskade Phuket och går direkt på guldklimparna som Koh Lipe. Innan vi gick hem till vårt mysiga rum kikade vi på ladyboys och letade efter djurmat. Imorgon ska vi be vår chaufför stanna till vid en djuraffär så vi kan köpa storpack.

      Vi ser fram emot en underbar dag imorgon på djurhemmet.

      Kramar
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    • Day 6

      Morning Run und Wasserfalltour

      March 29 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Heute Morgen bin ich um 07:30 Uhr laufen gegangen. Gegen 13 Uhr ging es dann auf eine Dschungel-Tour zu einem Wasserfall.
      Heute Abend geht es nach Patong für ein Meeting und um Freunde zu treffen

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Khao Che Tra, เขาเจะตรา

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