Another trip to Thailand (Bangkok + Phuket) - Page 5

**TeeZet** · 11-20-2008

I'm just catching up now while staying in Italy with my fiancee this week.

As per usual you seemed to have had a great experience again, Andrea!
I'm sooo bummed that I'm not in a position myself to enjoy all those wonderful under and above water sceneries personally, but I'm grateful to you for sharing your wonderful pictures.

TAPPY · 11-20-2008

Awesome pics A - I am going to show them to my hubby who is headed to Thailand on Thanksgiving day

Andiline · 11-21-2008

There will be one more installment as the last day is not yet done but I don't know if I will find the time before next monday for doing it.

pitt alum · 11-21-2008

Lovin the pics Andrea. Thought the starfish was really cool. Congrats on dive 100

Seakony · 11-25-2008

Great Repot as usual Andrea.. One question...are yopu responsible for all the protesting going on over there????

Andiline · 11-25-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seakony

Great Repot as usual Andrea.. One question...are yopu responsible for all the protesting going on over there????

No, not really...

I've seen some of the guys on my excursion in Bangkok when we went with the Tuktuk to lunch. When we came back they were gone though. However... I am glad I am NOT there right now.

Andiline · 11-27-2008

Before I write about my last day in Thailand let me tell you that I am deeply saddened by what is going on in Bangkok right now. I am glad that there has been not much of violence used so far. I hope that it stays like that. Right now it is only Bangkok that is affected and I would not have any concerns to go to Phuket right now as it is very likely that they will not be affected at all. I am happy and glad though that all this started AFTER I came home. Wouldn't like to be stuck in Bangkok although most likely I would have taken a bus or taxi back to Phuket and try to fly home from there.

Having said that here is the report of the last day.

At 6 AM that morning I was woken up by a longtail boat. As small as they look their motors are machines from hell. My only thought was 'GO AWAY!!!!!' But since we had an early morning excursion at 7 AM we had to get up soon after anyway. We all met with our toothbrushes in our mouths on the pontoon in front of our huts. Then we jumped into the lake and washed our hair or whatever we needed to wash.

At 7 AM we started our tour with the longtail boat under a clear blue sky. I loved the jungle that we could see... it was so greeeeen.

The landscape was very impressing... and I liked the mirror effect on the lake.

To show you how high those rocks were I got a pic with the houses on it so you have an impression...

We looked out for birds but were not really successful. Took us about half an hour to find the first one that after a few minutes flew over us to the other side of the small bay.

Here are a few more pics of the bird (love my new lense!!!!) and a gibbon monkey...

When we came back to our huts we had breakfast and then had to pack our stuff. I took a pic of the longtail boat that had woken us up in the morning and found out that it was there to take several of the huts away...

Our next adventure was to go visit a cave. There is another cave that had been a tourist attraction until last year when rain in an area that was far away caused a small river in that cave to swell and more than 20 persons died in that cave. Since thai people are very sensitive to the ghosts of the dead they don't like to go back into that cave. So they found a new cave that does not have water in it. What we had to do was to walk over a hill through the jungle after a 20 minute longtail boat ride.

I would have liked to admire the landscape and the jungle more but since the path was very uneven and slippery we had to watch our steps constantly. On top of the hill we found this...

Then we went down on the other side and came to the lake again. I asked our longtal boat guide why we hadn't gone there with the longtail boat in the first place but he told me that we were in a sort of a crater that had the same water like the rest of the lake but there was not entry to it on the water. So we had to take a raft to go over to the entry of the cave. Once there we had to climb another few feet.

The black hole is the entry to the cave...

Isn't it amazing where plants find space to put their roots?

When we came back over the hill to our longtail boat we saw that someone else was out on the lake with it. We heard then that our guide hadn't secured it and it had drifted off. Geee thanks, my laptop was on it...

But we got all our belongings back since that other guy had saved our boat and brought it back. From there we went over the lake back to where our van was expecting us.

We had to drive another hour to go over to the main entrance of Khao Sok National Park. We had lunch there and I liked this house (you can rent it) that was part of the restaurant where we ate.

Here is the menue...

After lunch we went river toobin. I didn't bring a camera but let me tell you that it is different from river tubing in Texas. No one goes toobin in Khao Sok without a guide. There are some areas where you can hurt yourself and the guide helps to avoid that. Our chaos guy Mark Sascha did end up in the bushes once and I laughed when I saw him in the plants at the edge of the river but he was bleeding all over after that. Not so nice. And we saw two snakes in the trees (the guides saw them and showed us). We were on the river for about 1.5 hours which was too long since we had thought it was only half an hour and we didn't have the time to stay that long on the river. But we couldn't go out earlier so we came back too late and then our driver drove like a madman to get us back to Kamala.

It was stress for me for the rest of the evening since it was my last evening and I had to pay all the dives and at my restaurant and had to organize a taxi and pack and and and...

We had dinner at a swiss pub together though and since it was the first day of the funeral of the thai king's sister the bars were closed and restaurants were not allowed to sell any alcohol. Officially the guys drank coke but the smirking waitress unofficially brought coke with rum...

The next morning very early I had to go to the airport... and you know the rest of the story...

THE END!

James A. · 12-18-2008

Your pictures are wonderful, as always. Your underwater photos are particularly impressive, I think.

Thanks for sharing, Andrea.

Thor Henning · 12-20-2008

Thank you for posting all this beautiful pictures Andrea!

Jacko · 12-21-2008

I missed this last installment....thanks, Andrea!

(and toobin in San Marcos, Tx looked pretty dangerous to me....you should have seen some of those folks as they came out of the river!

)

PS...I love that lense too!

Jo · 12-22-2008

I'm at a loss of words here- the pics are breathtaking and so is the country it seems.

And now I'll proceed to throw my camera in the ocean...........compared to your pics mine are just...pale.

Connie · 01-19-2009

Andrea, what can I say? You never disappoint with your trip reports and pics! Thanks so much for sharing.

P.S. I was in Thailand in June (Bangkok, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Kui Buri) but my pics just suck compared to yours

11-27-2008	#67 (permalink)
Andiline añejo Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Cologne, Germany Posts: 9,870	Before I write about my last day in Thailand let me tell you that I am deeply saddened by what is going on in Bangkok right now. I am glad that there has been not much of violence used so far. I hope that it stays like that. Right now it is only Bangkok that is affected and I would not have any concerns to go to Phuket right now as it is very likely that they will not be affected at all. I am happy and glad though that all this started AFTER I came home. Wouldn't like to be stuck in Bangkok although most likely I would have taken a bus or taxi back to Phuket and try to fly home from there. Having said that here is the report of the last day. At 6 AM that morning I was woken up by a longtail boat. As small as they look their motors are machines from hell. My only thought was 'GO AWAY!!!!!' But since we had an early morning excursion at 7 AM we had to get up soon after anyway. We all met with our toothbrushes in our mouths on the pontoon in front of our huts. Then we jumped into the lake and washed our hair or whatever we needed to wash. At 7 AM we started our tour with the longtail boat under a clear blue sky. I loved the jungle that we could see... it was so greeeeen. The landscape was very impressing... and I liked the mirror effect on the lake. To show you how high those rocks were I got a pic with the houses on it so you have an impression... We looked out for birds but were not really successful. Took us about half an hour to find the first one that after a few minutes flew over us to the other side of the small bay. Here are a few more pics of the bird (love my new lense!!!!) and a gibbon monkey... When we came back to our huts we had breakfast and then had to pack our stuff. I took a pic of the longtail boat that had woken us up in the morning and found out that it was there to take several of the huts away... Our next adventure was to go visit a cave. There is another cave that had been a tourist attraction until last year when rain in an area that was far away caused a small river in that cave to swell and more than 20 persons died in that cave. Since thai people are very sensitive to the ghosts of the dead they don't like to go back into that cave. So they found a new cave that does not have water in it. What we had to do was to walk over a hill through the jungle after a 20 minute longtail boat ride. I would have liked to admire the landscape and the jungle more but since the path was very uneven and slippery we had to watch our steps constantly. On top of the hill we found this... Then we went down on the other side and came to the lake again. I asked our longtal boat guide why we hadn't gone there with the longtail boat in the first place but he told me that we were in a sort of a crater that had the same water like the rest of the lake but there was not entry to it on the water. So we had to take a raft to go over to the entry of the cave. Once there we had to climb another few feet. The black hole is the entry to the cave... Isn't it amazing where plants find space to put their roots? When we came back over the hill to our longtail boat we saw that someone else was out on the lake with it. We heard then that our guide hadn't secured it and it had drifted off. Geee thanks, my laptop was on it... But we got all our belongings back since that other guy had saved our boat and brought it back. From there we went over the lake back to where our van was expecting us. We had to drive another hour to go over to the main entrance of Khao Sok National Park. We had lunch there and I liked this house (you can rent it) that was part of the restaurant where we ate. Here is the menue... After lunch we went river toobin. I didn't bring a camera but let me tell you that it is different from river tubing in Texas. No one goes toobin in Khao Sok without a guide. There are some areas where you can hurt yourself and the guide helps to avoid that. Our chaos guy Mark Sascha did end up in the bushes once and I laughed when I saw him in the plants at the edge of the river but he was bleeding all over after that. Not so nice. And we saw two snakes in the trees (the guides saw them and showed us). We were on the river for about 1.5 hours which was too long since we had thought it was only half an hour and we didn't have the time to stay that long on the river. But we couldn't go out earlier so we came back too late and then our driver drove like a madman to get us back to Kamala. It was stress for me for the rest of the evening since it was my last evening and I had to pay all the dives and at my restaurant and had to organize a taxi and pack and and and... We had dinner at a swiss pub together though and since it was the first day of the funeral of the thai king's sister the bars were closed and restaurants were not allowed to sell any alcohol. Officially the guys drank coke but the smirking waitress unofficially brought coke with rum... The next morning very early I had to go to the airport... and you know the rest of the story... THE END! __________________ Life is better in flip flops! Underwater pics Pics from my trips/trip reports Last edited by Andiline; 11-27-2008 at 01:55 PM..

12-21-2008	#70 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 30,889	I missed this last installment....thanks, Andrea! (and toobin in San Marcos, Tx looked pretty dangerous to me....you should have seen some of those folks as they came out of the river!) PS...I love that lense too!

11-20-2008	#61 (permalink)
TeeZet Non-aggressive Dutch dude Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Posts: 8,167	I'm just catching up now while staying in Italy with my fiancee this week. As per usual you seemed to have had a great experience again, Andrea! I'm sooo bummed that I'm not in a position myself to enjoy all those wonderful under and above water sceneries personally, but I'm grateful to you for sharing your wonderful pictures.

11-20-2008	#62 (permalink)
TAPPY añejo Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 21,148	Awesome pics A - I am going to show them to my hubby who is headed to Thailand on Thanksgiving day

11-21-2008	#63 (permalink)
Andiline añejo Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Cologne, Germany Posts: 9,870	There will be one more installment as the last day is not yet done but I don't know if I will find the time before next monday for doing it.

11-21-2008	#64 (permalink)
pitt alum beachaholic Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lake Wylie. SC Posts: 416	Lovin the pics Andrea. Thought the starfish was really cool. Congrats on dive 100

11-25-2008	#65 (permalink)
Seakony añejo Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 16,151	Great Repot as usual Andrea.. One question...are yopu responsible for all the protesting going on over there????

12-18-2008	#68 (permalink)
James A. sandbagger vidiot Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bell Buckle, TN Posts: 3,102	Your pictures are wonderful, as always. Your underwater photos are particularly impressive, I think. Thanks for sharing, Andrea.

12-20-2008	#69 (permalink)
Thor Henning añejo Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Drammen, Norway Posts: 4,131	Thank you for posting all this beautiful pictures Andrea!

12-22-2008	#71 (permalink)
Jo Niiiice!! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: In the cukoos nest.... Posts: 6,217	I'm at a loss of words here- the pics are breathtaking and so is the country it seems. And now I'll proceed to throw my camera in the ocean...........compared to your pics mine are just...pale.

01-19-2009	#72 (permalink)
Connie life=playa Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Klagenfurt, Austria Posts: 829	Andrea, what can I say? You never disappoint with your trip reports and pics! Thanks so much for sharing. P.S. I was in Thailand in June (Bangkok, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Kui Buri) but my pics just suck compared to yours

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