Leaving Thailand for home

 We were up at 3:30 AM (even before our alarms) and were on our way to the airport (BKK) at 5 AM on the airport shuttle.

Thai Airways counter staff were super efficient and soon had us set up for the day (including the Air Canada portion). Because we have picked up souvenirs and some extra things our carry on bags were big and we weren’t sure there wouldn’t be issues bringing them on the plane with us so we “checked” them. There was no charge for this anyway by the airlines and we felt that if our bags were delayed we were on our way home already so no big deal.

Security and immigration were straight forward and after a short delay because of airport congestion we were on our way. 

Our flight seemed to have a lot of Canadians on it. Air Canada is part of an alliance with Thai Airways and this Thai flight to Tokyo has at least two Air Canada connection flights from Tokyo Narita airport (Vancouver and Toronto).

One great thing about heading home eastbound is that due to prevailing jet streams our flights times are shorter. I noted that at one point on the Tokyo flight we had a 140 mph tailwind helping to push us along. Our ground speed was over 700 mph.

I had been hoping to see Mount Fuji when we landed but I think it is too far away from this airport. Too bad.

Upon landing we followed the crowd to the international transfer security line. We passed through security with no issues and then we had a couple of hours to just wander around the secure part of the airport until our flight. As before when we started our trip we are not officially in Japan as we didn’t need passport control (as long as we stayed in the secure area)..

Leaving Tokyo. When I booked the flight a few months ago I took a chance with seat selection (included in the cost of ticket) and chose window and aisle seats and left the middle one open.  It was a calculated chance that the seat would stay open and we would have a row of three seats for the two of us. The plane was packed with hardly any open seats but we got lucky!

About three hours from Vancouver there was a call over the intercom for “a doctor or nurse on board” to help a passenger somewhere behind us. We saw some medical equipment being taken back. Upon landing in Vancouver we were asked to stay in our seats as EMT’s came aboard to check out the person. All’s well that end’s well. The person was okay.

The flight staffed announced before landing that everyone had to get their luggage for customs so we went down to the luggage carousel and waited, and waited with everyone else for the bags. SLOW!!

I happened to glance at my phone while waiting and saw a notice from Air Canada sent 17 minutes before that we DIDN’T have to wait for our bags. They were being sent right through. Now the rush was on and we hurried through the airport and made it with 15 minutes to spare. Interestingly I got a text about 10 minutes before our flight that one of our bags was loaded. I really like that Air Canada notified me. It is a good service. We were now on the plane waiting and the pilot came on and said the plane was delayed for a few minutes as there were 20-30 bags that still needed to be loaded. Right about then I got another notification that our second bad had been loaded. Obviously there had been an issue with baggage unloading/transfer. Our Edmonton flight was scheduled  1 3/4 hours after we landed in Vancouver so there had been plenty of time to get bags transferred.

The Edmonton flight went smoothly and Vanessa and Beckett picked us up. Thank you!

Floating market

 We took the 6:30 AM airport shuttle and soon we were on the train into the city. Once at the transfer station to the metro we made our way to the appropriate location to catch the metro to the nearest station closest to where we needed to meet our tour. A short tuk-tuk ride later we were there and all for a cost for the two of us of $C8.

After a light breakfast at a nearby coffee shop we started the tour.

First stop was the train market. Somewhat similar to the train market in Hanoi this one was PACKED with people and as we SLOWLY navigated our way along the tracks we passed by a very lively market selling all sorts of things including small snakes, fish of many types and vegetables.

We ended up walking the length of the market and then went out to the street to return (just too many people crammed onto the railway tracks trying to navigate the like-minded hoards of tourists).

A signal from the nearby train station prompted all the vendors to roll up their overhead sun screens and remove any merchandise that was too close to the tracks. All the tourists hastily got off the tracks and went into either a shop or a restaurant. The train came by and we were even closer to it than in Hanoi. The train went slowly (unlike Hanoi) and we “high fived” the passengers watching us as we waved to back at them.

Next we went about one-half hour down the road to the “Floating Market” which is a town built on canals and is the last remaining market like this in Thailand. Our guide explained that these markets used to be very common but when the train system came they slowly vanished.

Our tour included a boat ride on the canals. Vendors would come along side us to sell us things. Caro bought a coconut. It was chaotic at times but everything went well. We purchased our lunch there alongside the canal after our ride (awesome as always).

It was 1 PM by now and we started the two hour trip back to Bangkok. We were let off at a big mall where Caro purchased an item she had been looking for.

This building was one we saw before being dropped off. It is now the tallest building in Thailand at 314 meters. They call it the “Lego” building

After a while we made our way to the metro station; rode it two stops; then got the airport link railway to BKK airport and then waited 20 minutes for our hotel shuttle to come get us.,

At the hotel Caro went for a swim while I had a shower.

Time to pack!

From Krabi to Bangkok

 Last night we noted there were many taxi’s so we knew it wouldn’t be difficult to get one in the morning. We had a good sleep and a quick breakfast and by 6:45 AM we checked out of the hotel and were out on the street where we waited, and waited, and waited for a taxi to appear. With nothing happening we went back to hotel reception so they could order a cab. Nope, no can do!  Well SH-T!

Back again on the street waiting, a local transit  mini bus stopped for us. It is a small Toyota truck with  an elongated truck bed in the back, a rudimentary rain cover and two benches (each bench running down a side of the truck box) that sits ten people. Driver confirms he is going to the airport (at least we think he confirms it!) We are passengers nine and ten (and with our luggage). Soon passengers 11,12, and 13 are standing on the purpose built tailgate rack. Most passengers are older kids going to school.

Hmmmm! We are concerned. Did we make a huge error? I pull out my cell phone and check on google maps. We “seem” to be going in the right direction. By now all the kids are gone and there is just one lady and ourselves. The driver pulls into a bus station and the lady gets out. The driver assures us he will take us to the airport and sure enough, 15 minutes later we are there. We are dry mouthed and relieved!. We need to be smarter than that in the future.

On the bright side we did get to see more of the city of Krabi at a slower speed (sarcasm).

I had been concerned about our flight as I never received any e-mail confirmation from the airline so we anticipated needing time in the airport in case things went sideways. I had screen-shot the website confirmation of our flight reservation code when we booked and that was all we needed. Things went smoothly after that. This time it was Caro’s turn to get things more thoroughly checked in security. Also this is the first airport I have been to that really worries (and inspects) cell phone power banks.

The flight was good and in Bangkok we were moved to the terminal via people mover buses. Our bags made it too so now all we had to do was find the hotel shuttle. Turns out this caused us grief. I thought that the hotels would be doing regular rounds to and from their hotels like in Edmonton however this was not the case. We were outside looking for vans from local hotels but after a while it was clear something was different here. After getting assistance from a few different people (and one of them phoning our hotel on his own phone to ask them about the shuttle) we were directed back into the chaotic terminal where we eventually realized there is an area with many small hotel placards attached to railings. When you find your hotel placard there is a person there who somehow is connected to that hotel and they phone the hotel and 15 minutes lates the shuttle shows up. OK, now we know (we are using the shuttle a number of times in the next couple of days).

In mid afternoon we stepped out of our air conditioned comfort into the boiling hot temperatures of Bangkok. Down the street was a nice looking restaurant and we had a great meal. 

This was Caro’s food; a tasty rice, shrimp combo served with pineapple chunks inside a hollowed out pineapple. Yummy!

We had a swim in the pool and then just got lazy. We are up very early tomorrow as we have to be in downtown Bangkok by 8:45 AM (and will use the airport shuttle, the train, the metro and finally a taxi to get to the same place we took the night river cruise about four weeks ago).

Last day in Ao Nang

 Today we did very little.

Caro spent some time at the beach, swimming in the ocean or spending time poolside. I was content to sit on the balcony or in the room. I did venture out to the nearby 7-11 to pick up some snacks and coke and came back with a cold beer for Caro to enjoy by the pool.

This morning I made the last FaceTime (this trip) to Pat catching up on things, and while I was doing that Caro took her IPad down to the pool (which has much better internet) and spoke to all three kids via FaceTime. 

In the afternoon we went to a new (to us) street food restaurant and had a couple wonderful plates of food.

In fact as I write this note we are back in the room after watching the sunset and are still full from this afternoon’s food so will hold off going up for supper until about 7:30 PM

Photo taken tonight.

I am essentially packed for our early getaway to the airport. We have about 15 minutes of time to eat our buffet breakfast and then head off. I want to be at the airport early because once again, we have issues with an airline website and I want to give us plenty of time to straighten things out. When I made reservations I (fortunately) took a screen shot of our ticket code and got confirmation that we had paid but I never received the email with our boarding information etc. Sigh!!

Later: So tonight we went to the same place to eat as this afternoon. The supper was outstanding! For dessert Caro wanted sticky rice, with mango and ice cream. It comes with a coconut syrupy topping that you pour over the rice. To eat you take a spoonful of rice, with a piece of mango and then follow it with a small amount  of ice cream. My goodness but it was good!

We also found a money change place which gives much better exchange rates than we got before (especially US one dollar bills). Too bad we found the place now and not five days ago!,

A VERY Small World

A photo of the main pool this morning (usually full of families in the afternoon). Also a photo of the fish pond

 We decided to walk down the beach down towards the National Park which is to located to the west of us. We walked about 1.8 km to get there (according to google maps).

There were not many tourists at the National Park Headquarters, however lots of locals, As we started back we caught up to a couple of tourist women walking our way back towards the townsite. As we walked past them one said “we’re polite eh”. We immediately said that we were Canadian and where were they from? The one said Kelowna and the other said Edmonton. So after stating we were from Fort Saskatchewan the conversation got quite interesting. Long story short, the Edmonton lady (Ashley Moore)  used to work out of the Century 21 office in Fort Sask, and worked with Fran Glenn and Gary Gordon! We are around the other side of the world with hardly any Canadians around and we run into these two. Small world.

They came over here about the same time we did (just before the cold snap) and go home one day before us. Their thinking is similar to ours in that Mexico is a better place to go (and so close to home). They also had the same experience as us regarding airline ticket costs. We expected MUCH lower one way ticket costs here in Asia than the reality.

After putzing  around for a bit we decided to get Thai massages. Wow-so different than Canadian ones and even with a nice tip the cost for each of us was $C14!!

The afternoon was quiet for me. I stayed out on the balcony or in the room while Caro went to swim in the ocean, and afterwards spent time at the pool.

About 4:30 PM it was time for an afternoon snack so we hoofed on over to a small kiosk type food preparation place (not a restaurant as there is no where to sit). We have been to the same place a number of times and find the food excellent. We shared order of Thai pad chicken ($C4) back on our balcony.

The photo below is of the sidewalk tiles. Quite the illusion as they are flat.

On the way to get this food I learned another.lesson. Money exchanger locations give EXTREMELY poor exchange on $1 US bills. For Canadian $20’s we get 25.3 Baht however for $1 US bills we got only 28.5 Baht (whereas $20US bills get about 35 Baht). As I was waiting to get my pittance in Baht a women waiting her turn behind me said that they had found out the same thing about small bills.Lesson learned!

Tonight we went back to our regular area for our supper. I had pad Thai (again!) while Caro had some kind of soup. She wasn”t impressed with her choice but mine was good.

I decided to upload a google photo of our hotel.

A Very Quiet Day in Ao Nang

 We had a very quiet day; in fact perhaps a bit too quiet. We are used to doing something, or going somewhere.

After another wonderful breakfast we relaxed in the room or on the balcony.

In the afternoon we went for a walk to  see more of the town and the ocean located to the east of us. There is a lot we hadn’t seen before.

In the afternoon Caro went swimming in the ocean followed by time at the pool. I was relaxing on the balcony and had a nap there.

Shortly after 6 PM we went out across the road to watch the sunset (gorgeous as usual). While there we started talking to a couple with two young children who were from Chile. Their air routing to get here was via Brazil, Paris, Doha and Bangkok. Substantially worse than ours. The fact that we had been to their country  made it easy to start a conversation.

Supper was again at the same place as last night. This time we ordered a whole fish, two oysters with cheese and two beer (total cost for that meal was less than $C20)

After our return to our room we played some crib (first time this trip we used our playing cards).

Thursday Feb 1 Part 2 Evening

 Caro had noticed a large outdoor restaurant area yesterday so today we decided to go for supper there. Located a block or so from our hotel after turning right at the road (before we had usually gone left) it is an easy walk. I mentioned yesterday it was hard to find a liquor store however we spotted one on our way to eat (more later on that).

The Ao Nang Outdoor Landmark is a large eating area. Containing about 150 tables it has DOZENS of places to buy many types of food. The idea is that you get your food and take it to the eating area. Once you sit down a waiter/server appears from somewhere and takes your drink order (beer or pop). Super efficient.

This photo was actually taken after we finished but I note that Caro is having ANOTHER beer-LOL. We are sitting near the front and behind is a live singer (pretty good one). 

I started with something called Japanese pizza……PIZZA !!! It has to be good, right? See photo below

Actually it kind of sucked. Not good.

Caro, on the other hand, spent a FORTUNE- probably $C15 (LOL) and got a huge plate of seafood. It was pretty good .

We took a photo of a small part of the food stands where we made our choices.

On the way out we stopped for a couple of minutes to watch the tail end of some kind of Kung Fu type demonstration.

We stopped at the liquor store. We noticed they had sunscreen (not cheap at about $C15 a tube but necessary here). A funny thing happened that we laugh about (especially Caro). 

When I went to pick up the sunscreen (which was placed in a tray with MANY other tubes of sunscreen) I accidentally touched a second tube as I picked out my purchase. Just like knocking over a domino, I accidentally started  the others falling over Oops!!!   FUNNY! Of course the lady a the counter gave me a sour look.

Liquor is very expensive here. Bottles of booze can be way over Canada prices and there is a limited selection here (IMHO).

I found a bottle of some kind of liquor distilled in Thailand at only $C8 a bottle for a mickey. Substantially  cheaper than the other options.

Actually it is not too bad!

Today was a great day. We are winding down our trip now with only one more tour planned (in Bangkok) so I imagine there will be pool time in the next few days.

Thursday Feb 1 Part 1; morning and afternoon

 The hotel has a really great breakfast so we enjoyed it.

At 9AM we were at our pick up point for the tour to the Phi Phi Islands. This is something that was on Caro’s bucket list so we were looking forward to it.

We got picked up in a bus and taken to the local marina.

Yesterday I mentioned about longtailed boats. I took a photo today. These boats are very common here and we could have done the tour today on one,but we chose a tour on a speed boat with three 250 Horse power Honda outboards.

Our tour today included quite a few stops at wonderful beaches.

The first photo above is a screen shot of our location Ao Nang while the second is further south showing the Phi Phi. Islands

Our first stop after 45-50 minutes blasting across the ocean was Bamboo Island. Wonderful scenery here (actually everywhere was wonderful). These islands are top tourist attractions (and we saw MANY people and boats today)

We next went to another island and here we went snorkeling. I wasn’t going to join Caro in the ocean

but I changed my mind. There was some wonderful coral and beautiful fishes there.

Next was lunch on Phi Phi Don Island. This place is large enough to have small hotels, cabanas, and a lot of restaurants and bars. It was a very good meal

At some point after lunch we stop at an inlet called Monkey Bay and yup, we saw a wild monkey.

We went to Pi Leh Bay as well (I think this photo is from when we were entering the location-getting mixed up a bit with so many wonderful places we saw today).

The next stop was probably the best, Called Maya Bay it screams “take photos” so of course we took many. At this beach there is absolutely NO SWIMMING (there are some kind of security to prevent anybody going into the water above the knees). The sand is so powdery many people just remove their footwear before stepping on to the beach. It is really a wonderful spot.

There was a place we stopped for swimming (just Caro actually) and a final stop and photo op at Viking Cave

The tour cost us only $C65 each which included the National Park entry, the snorkel gear, the buffet meal and bottles of ice cold water (much needed today). A great price for what we got in my opinion.

We were back in Ao Nang at our hotel before 5:45.