Koh Samui trip

Koh Samui

One of the big challenges of living in Thailand is choosing which island to visit next. With several hundred of them to choose from ranging from well developed destinations back to empty beaches there is something for everyone.  Koh Samui has long been a favourite destination for travellers so I thought it was definitely time to visit there myself.

Setting of from Surat Thani - Samui is just on the horizon

Buy a house or a 2nd hand BMW in Thailand

How much is that car?

A colleague of mine in the office recently commented that cars are madly expensive here in Thailand. I hadn't really thought about this before, but then I saw an advert for a used 2009 BMW X3 for a "bargain" 2.2 Million Baht!

[Source: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/bmw-x3-new-2009-04-16]

Koh Chang escape April 2013

Koh Chang

Paradise, just a 5 hour bus journey away

So, after a few weeks stuck in Bangkok it was time to escape to an island again for the weekend. Having a long weekend for Chakri day here in Thailand was a good excuse.

I've been here for a few months now and I've only visited 3 leaving about another 1,400 to visit apparently (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Thailand).

Getting there

So, getting to islands is always going to come down to a choice between time and cost. For about £50 - £80 GBP (depending on when you go) you can fly down to an airport in Trat with Bangkok Airways and drastically cut short your travel time or for £5 you can take a 5.5 hour bus journey and then the 1 hour ferry crossing to Koh Chang.

Chiang Mai November 2012

Getting there

3 options, bus, train and plane. Bus and Train are cheap, but take forever! If you're on a relatively short trip then flying has to the way to go.

Air Asia seems to be the main provider, although there are others. Prices are changing all of the time but we managed to get a return trip for 3500 BHT each but I'm sure you could get it cheaper.

Try and visit Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong - amazing lit up  displays everywhere

Hua Hin - 10th to 12th November

Weekend trip to Hua Hin

This blog update is seriously overdue because my new shiny Samsung computer freaked out on me and has only just been fixed.

It was a few weeks ago now, but here's a quick overview of our recent trip to Hua Hin.

Khao Yai National Park 12 - 14th September

Khao Yai National Park

Setting off from Victory monument

So, after a few weeks staying in central Bangkok I thought it was time for a change of scene. Several of my colleagues had told me about this great national park called Khao Yai only a couple of hours away from Bangkok so we decided to get some country air for the weekend.

Me-O and funny adverts

Me-o definitely had some memorable adverts playing on the BTS system during the morning commute

Gotta love the advertising here in Thailand, there seems to be a real focus on making adverts fun and the vast majority of them are cartoon style.

If you do a quick Google for "Funny Thailand adverts" you'll find hundreds of examples

http://www.examiner.com/article/thailand-s-top-5-funny-tv-commercials-they-re-hilarious

Ayutthaya

5 September 2013

Here's a very short (read lazy) write up of a recent trip to Ayutthaya from Bangkok.

One of the most famous sights in Ayutthaya

20th - 30th August Koh Samed

Koh Samed

Koh Samed

30 August

Saw new Brave movie in 3d - it was very good

25 - 27 August Koh Samed trip 

• Koh Samed trip - a great chance to get away from the city for a while. Highly recommended escape from Bangkok as it was only a 3 hour bus journey 
• Fireshow on the beach - very cool 

During our time on Koh Samed we went to a Floating restaurant, just near to the shoreline which promised fresh fish meals and an unusual dinning experience.
It's difficult getting out to the restaurant at certain times of the day so the restaurant has a shuttle boat service that will come and pick you up if you cannot get at the floating pier. Luckily, the time we went to eat we just about managed to get on there.

Once you're in the restaurant you immediately notice that there are no chairs, just cushions to sit on and that each table in the restaurant is Glass topped. When you look again you can see that underneath the glass table it's a sheer drop into the ocean through holes that have been cut in the floor to watch the fish. 

We really enjoyed the meal and the ambience of the place, even though we were quite high above the water I kept having visions of a massive fish diving up to take a bite on my toe! Luckily though, that didn't happen.

The next day we walked along the beach, and I managed to catch Abi looking ever so contemplative

If you like empty beaches visit Koh Samed in the off season - lovely to get a beach all to yourself

• One major touristy beach 
• Nice empty beaches 
• Hundreds of motorbikes 

22 August

Intense workshop on new Salesforce system and e-learning system. Use the office whiteboard to maximum effect trying to capture all of the input and output flows associated with the Salesforce system. We made good progress, but there's a lot more to do!

21 August

Heads down day preparing for workshop on Wed

20 August 

• Adventures with VPN - trying to get UK TV to work with mixed results. Looks like I'll have to watch more Thai TV going forward 
• San Francisco trip confirmed - awesome

Lumphini Park Visit

2nd September  - Lumphini Park Visit