Category Archives: Southeast Asia

Between the rain and heart attacks we were having great fun

Koh Samui - View from Big Buddha area

Koh Samui – View from Big Buddha area

Friday, 6 January 2017 to Thursday, 12 January 2017
It rained… and then it petered out to a drizzle… and then it intensified into an all-out watery attack, and then… so it went in cycles, cycle after cycle, it never did stop raining. We were housebound, I cannot recall ever having done so much nothing in my life.

Yesterday we started watching a Swedish series called 30° i februari which translates to 30 Degrees In February. Continue reading

Rain, Rain, Rain… uh oh oh oh oh… Rain, Rain, Rain…

Crystal Bay

Crystal Bay

Friday, 30 December 2016 to Thursday, 5 January 2017
Today Patrick took us on a magical mystery tour… not to be confused with the Beatle’s tour of the same name. We met at his home in the morning from there we rode down the ring road, through Chaweng and Chaweng Noi, through Lamai, and a kilometre or two past the Lamai Makro we turned right and headed up into the mountains. We were riding along, minding our own business when I suddenly saw Oi’s feet ever so gracefully glide over and past Patrick’s ears. I was rather surprised at her athletic ability but then saw the motive for this act… Continue reading

Celebrating Christmas and happy news… with a six star Christmas dinner

Choeng Mon beach

Choeng Mon beach

Friday, 23 December 2016 to Thursday, 29 December 2016
For some reason I woke up at 03:00 even though the alarm was set for 04:00, which is when I got up, and we

left for the airport at 4:30. Adri dropped me at the airport by 04:45 and by 05:00 I was seated in the lovely open-air departures area of the Koh Samui Airport. I was on my way to fetch our passports in Bangkok which had been returned to the TLS Contact Centre from the French Embassy, with or without a Schengen Visa, that remained to be seen, but we were of course hoping it would be the former. Continue reading

Arriving back home again… back home again on Koh Samui

Koh Samui

Koh Samui

Friday, 16 December 2016 to Thursday, 22 December 2016
Another travel day lay ahead of us as we got up early on Friday morning; we packed, had a simple breakfast and boarded a taxi for the airport. The trip to Samui today proved to be uneventful and rather enjoyable. We flew to Surat Thani on the mainland; from there we took a bus to the Donsak Pier, boarded the ferry and arrived on Samui mid afternoon. The Airasia flight tickets include the cost Continue reading

Dealing with bureaucracy in Bangkok

Flying from Chiang Rai to Bangkok

Flying from Chiang Rai to Bangkok

Friday, 9 December 2016 to Thursday, 15 December 2016
We got up leisurely at 06:30 Friday morning and by 09:00 we were fully packed and loaded into the taxi – the start of our trip to Bangkok – and were dropped off at the airport 20 minutes later. By 10:30 we were ready to leave but the plane was not, it was only at 11:00 that we got underway. By 12:00 we picked up our luggage from the carousel at the Don Muang airport and headed out into the arrivals hall where we were greeted with calls of “Taxi taxi!!”

Continue reading

During our final days in Chiang Rai I found the cure for insomnia…

The singha of Singha Park

The singha of Singha Park

Friday, 2 December 2016 to Thursday, 8 December 2016
I found a cure for insomnia, not that I was looking for one – but I found it nevertheless – and here is the magic formula. Download an audio book, any audio book, onto one of your devices, plug your ear-bud headphones into that device, plug its buds into your ears and get ready for sleep. Don’t worry about the title; it won’t matter as you will fall asleep before the book matter starts to matter… Continue reading

There was a WOOF… but there was no dog in sight

Golden Triangle seen from the hill

Golden Triangle seen from the hill

Friday, 25 November 2016 to Thursday, 1 December 2016
It is now getting close to Christmas and my need for Quality Street chocolates – which is not available in Thailand – is once again prevalent. Before I could give it much thought, as if reading my future mind, I received an email from Lood asking for an address where he could send my Quality Street fix to. As they say, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Not wanting to screw around with wrong addresses I decided to ask Thea Continue reading

I always knew I had a screw loose… but today I lost it!

Choui Fong Tea Farm

Choui Fong Tea Farm

Friday, 18 November 2016 to Thursday, 24 November 2016
We had run out of bread and other breakfast stuff so Adri walked down to the market to get such but she also returned with some chewy doughy deep fried batter balls sprinkled with sugar which contains a less sweet centre of something. It’s the first time we’ve had these batter balls but will surely have them again, simply delicious! Continue reading

It was bound to happen… that long expected nervous breakdown

Chiang Rai - The Black House Art Museum

Chiang Rai – The Black House Art Museum

Friday, 11 November 2016 to Thursday, 17 November 2016
After the news of a Trump presidency I put myself on voluntary exile from the news world for 24 hours, it lasted for 44, it was bliss. This morning I took my first tentative clicks in the news world out there and the very first click I took was Continue reading

Zipping up my boots… going back to my roots, yeah!

Wat Rong Khun - White temple

Wat Rong Khun – White temple

Friday, 4 November 2016 to Thursday, 10 November 2016
It was Friday evening and already dark outside when the hunger pangs drove us to the streets, and more importantly to the street market and its freshly fashioned foods. Adri had been eyeballing the grilled fish for a number of weeks now but each time we were there another dish jumped the queue and onto her plate. It is difficult to decide on a dish when there is so much to choose from, but tonight she was not going to be distracted, she was focused. Continue reading