Walbok Walkabout: 2016-March-07 Sydney, Australia: Talking Thailand

Greetings all. Sorry for the delay in getting this blog out. We have been busy bees organising our lives for the next year since we landed back in Sydney in late February.
We will send out a homecoming type of blog in a few weeks once we have settled into our new surroundings but in the meantime let’s talk about Thailand.

Firstly, before we start it is important to say that we treated Thailand as a holiday rather than as part of our travels. We both agreed that we wanted a nice break before we returned to Sydney to set up home there again. This allowed us to travel like ‘normal’ people and stay in hotels, eat out for meals and pay entry fees to sites. It might not sound like much but it was a very different mindset for both of us after nearly 10 months on the road.

Anyway, we flew out of Heathrow Airport on the 16^th February. This wasn’t our best flight as we didn’t have the chance to check-in until we arrived at the airport and the plane was very full. So much so that Jean and I couldn’t get seats together. No major drama however the flight departing late meant that when we did finally manage to arrive in Bangkok we had missed our next flight down to Phuket. With visions of missing the departure for our live-aboard as well, we were very thankful when, after a lot of scrambling between various companies, we did manage to get through on a standby ticket and eventually made our way to our first night’s accommodation in Khao Lak.

The next morning, we were up early, bright eyed and bushy tailed for our transfer to the MV Oktavia where we spent the next three days / two nights.

The route we took on the liveaboard

The MV Oktavia is a live-aboard vessel where you spend time at sea either diving or snorkelling. This particular trip had several good snorkelling sites on its itinerary and we had a fantastic time on board. The staff, food and quarters were all really good, the sea was delightfully warm and the underwater flora and fauna were beautiful. We did an average of three outings each day and didn’t get tired of it once. We spotted several huge Cuttlefish, the normal tonnes of various fish and a real highlight was a very cool Octopus which one of our fellow snorkelers managed to capture with their cell phone (in an underwater housing).
When we had or heads above water we either read or chatted to the other people on board. It was Anthony’s first live-aboard experience and for both of us the perfect way to kick off our time in Thailand.

When we finally got back on dry land, we spent the next three nights at the Nangthong Bay Resort in Khao Lak. We really enjoyed our time there, particularly just being on our own. It was the first time since Honduras since we had managed that and, whilst we loved all of our time with the various friends and family, it was good to have some time to ourselves as well. Highlights of the stay here were the two massages we had. The first of which was cut short when the owner, who was massaging Anthony at the time, said there was a fire in the courtyard out the back and we had to have a 30 minute massage so they could go and put it out. They were all very calm about it and obviously managed to sort it out as we didn’t hear any sirens that day and the place was still there the next morning when we returned for a 60 minute massage.

We also found a FANTASTIC coffee shop called the "Yellow Snail". We went a couple of times and had the best coffees, smoothies, iced coffees and brownies. The ambiance was really comfortable and for motorbike enthusiasts the owners Triumph Bonneville being parked in the café is an added bonus.

We had a really heart-warming experience here when we invited a couple to join our table as the place was full and we were nearly finished. They were from Scotland and we ended up chatting for ages about our trip and what they were up to on their holiday. Their holiday highlight, in my mind, was the tartan suit the husband was about to have made at one of the town's tailors. He had the material on him and he will cut a fine figure in it once he returns back home. We never got their names but when Jean and I went to leave they absolutely insisted on paying for our coffees and cake. It was so unexpected but such a nice thing to have happen and we both felt like we had received a warm hug from the travelling gods that day.

Apart from massages and coffees we spent our time in Khao Lak watching sunsets, having lovely meals in the evenings, getting our feet ‘exfoliated’ by some little fish in a shop near the resort and swimming in either the sea or the pool.

Khao Lak sunset

Eventually it was time to leave and we made our way to Bangkok.

Neither of us had any expectations about Bangkok but we ended up enjoying our time there. On the night we landed we found a beautiful rooftop bar called "Above Eleven". It has spectacular views over the city and we enjoyed some very nice cocktails as we looked out over the neon lights.

View of Bangkok From Rooftop Bar

Returning to the area near our hotel, we tried a restaurant that looked more local than touristy. The place was basic but clean and we were very excited to be sitting on the streets and looking forward to our meal. Sadly, it had so much chilli and spice in it we couldn’t finish it. Both of us like spicy food but this was beyond our abilities. We are still not sure if ‘real’ Thai cooking is much hotter than we get in the West or if we did something wrong when we ordered or if it was just that restaurant's style. Whatever it was, we took a while to get feeling back in our mouths after we left.

The next day we had a late flight out and decided to spend the morning visiting The Palace with the Emerald Buddha. It was beautiful but wow was it crowded! After walking around for a few hours in amazement at the spectacle of it all, we returned to the hotel, grabbed our bags and went to the airport for our flight back to Sydney.