Missing The Beach No More

We are part way through a fabulous 3-day weekend here in Thailand. Yesterday, May 8th was The Royal Ploughing Ceremony. Earlier in the week it was Coronation Day. There is nothing better than a very short week to help you recharge the batteries in order to make it through the last days of the school year. (We have about 21 school days left - 33 days left til Ben & I fly home to the wintery days of NZ for about 8 weeks!)

But even better than a short week is the opportunity to spend some time at a beach in Thailand. Enter Cha-Am and Hua Hin. We were invited to drive down to Hua Hin with fellow teaching colleagues (and kiwis to boot) to stay at their gorgeous condo at Springfield Beach Resort.
Cha-Am's claim to fame is the being Thailand's longest white sand beach. And I have to say, it is very quiet, very deserted and very beautiful. The water's not blue though but it reminds me of Hot Water Beach back home, the temperature of the water is like the bath!!

An afternoon stroll along the beach was most enjoyable - shells a-plenty, sand a-plenty and of course photo ops a-plenty!

How's this for relaxing?

Island Paradise

Who could think of a more beautiful place to hold a conference for teachers? EARCOS 2009

What conference can you take your children to and it's ok? EARCOS 2009

Although it did take practically a whole day and two flights to get there from Bangkok, the hours of waiting were certainly worth it. We left home at 8.20am and arrived in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo (or Sabah, Malaysia) just after 10.40pm. Our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu was delayed by 90mins of sitting in a stuffy aeroplane while the ground crew worked to fix the communications systems. Finally the airline allowed us to disembark and put us on another plane.

A bus was waiting to take us from the airport to Sutera Habour Resort and our hotel, the Magellan Sutera Hotel. The room was very nice and Ben was ecstatic to see a huge tv (we don't have cable at home). At one point I had to drag him out of the hotel room and down to the pool for a swim!!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops I chose to go to at the conference - Yes, I did actually go to some!

Ben and I visited Lok Kawi Wildlife Park and saw the pygmy rhino, dwarf elephants and probiscus monkeys that are native to Borneo.

On Saturday afternoon when all the workshops were finished we were free to go snorkeling on one of the little islands, Sapi Island. For about NZ$8 we got a mask, snorket, fins, boatride and entry onto the island each. A delightful 1 and half hour was spent snorkeling with an abundance of fish life (we saw rainbow fish, nemo fish, black & grey fish and electric blue fish) in relatively clean water. Ben was like a natural!

But the highlight has to be those gorgeous sunsets. Aren't they stunning?

I just love the way these photos turned out - all nat-tur-ral - no "photoshopping" necessary!

Chinatown

Heading downtown via the RiverTaxis on the Chao Phraya River is one of my most favourite ways to travel in Bangkok. It's even better when the sun is setting too.

Unfortunately that meant by the time we got off at Pier 15 and meandered our way through the side streets into the heart of Chinatown, most of the hustle and bustle of street stalls and tiny shops had closed up for the night.

There was still plenty of action on offer though, as we made our way up and down various streets exploring nooks and crannies, snapping a variety of pictures to document our first visit to Chinatown. The photos speak for themselves.

Dinner was just divine, in a little corner place just off one of the main roads - (don't ask me to find it again on my own though!). Eating on the street is a must - the food is delicious and it's pretty safe as long as you can see it being cooked and it's HOT when it's served to you. And you won't believe the prices! 3 adults and 2 children ate loads for about the same price as having a pizza delivered for two people!! Just check out these prawns - they were just as delicious as they look!

Damnoen Saduak

My friend Silvia was in town for just over a week and what better excuse to visit
Damnoen Saduak, Bangkok's floating market in the Ratchaburi Province. In just over an hour and a half we were zipping along the klongs in a long-tail boat (400 baht each), watching coconut buds being boiled, sieved and beaten into a scrumptious fudge-like substance ....................

............. then weaving our way through narrow, over-crowded market klongs.

Along the way to the Rose Garden Hotel we stopped at a Royal Thai Craft Village. Here we could see the carving of teak wood, the making of mulberry paper and drool over the stunning furniture for sale. The cost of these pieces includes freighting it to your home country. There's a piece or two in there that I wouldn't mind having in my lounge!

Lunch was a delectable buffet before heading over to the Elephant Show and the Cultural Show (600 baht each). I thought the shows were a bit "cheesy" but I did like the way we were shown how the elephants traditionally used to work and they did look very well looked after.

If you're in Bangkok for a short time, I'd highly recommend spending a day with JulieTaxi Tours visiting the Floating Market and the Rose Garden Tour. For 3000 baht we had our personal driver/guide/translator. Jack was amazing! Once again I was impressed by the service and the tour was a great way to spend the day.

Of course Silvia's visit could not be complete with a visit to Chatuchak, Bangkok's largest open market and I could not resist the opportunity to take more photos!!

Kanchanaburi Animoto Style

Animoto is an amazing online video tool!

In just over 20 minutes I was able to make 3 30 second videos of the rest of the photos I took during our 3 day tour of Kanchanaburi, add music (all creative commons too) and embed them on this blog.

All for the cost of $0.00. Gotta love a website that gives you a quality product for nothing. Of course I could have also opted for a full length video for the small price of US$3 or NZD$6.02. Still pretty good value for money I reckon!


Day 1:



Day 2:



Day 3:

Kanchanaburi Province - 3 Days

Wow, I've been so neglectful of this blog - hard to believe that over a month has gone by since my last post. To my dutiful 4 readers ...... (yes Mum that includes you)... my apologies.

We were fortunate enough to enjoy a rather long weekend February 7th - 9th (well teachers had 3 days, kids had 4!!) and I decided it was time for BJ and I to head out of Bangkok and explore one of the neighbouring provinces with our own private tour guide Khun Widrod.

I chose Kanchanaburi, mainly because I was really keen to walk over the Bridge on the River Kwai. It was beautiful - almost what I imagined it would be like. After researching a little about upon our return home - I was a little surprised to discover that it really isn't the River Kwai.

There is a small technical problem with the Bridge over the River Kwai: It doesn't actually cross the River Kwai..! Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original book, had never been there. He knew that the 'death railway' ran parallel to the River Kwae for many miles, and assumed that it was the Kwae which it crossed just North of Kanchanaburi. He was wrong - It actually crosses the Mae Khlung. When David Lean's blockbuster came out, the Thais faced something of a problem. Thousands of tourists came flocking to see the bridge over the River Kwae, and they hadn't actually got one... All they had was a bridge over the Mae Khlung. So, with admirable lateral thinking, they renamed the river. The Mae Khlung is now the Kwae Yai ('Big Kwae') for several miles north of the confluence with the Kwae Noi ('Little Kwae'), including the bit under the bridge.
extract from: The real Bridge on the River Kwai

Nevertheless, it was a joy to walk (yes we walked) right over the bridge to the other side. A most enjoyable thai lunch before hand helped fuel the walk over too.

Our guide was keen to show us the real Kanchanaburi so this was the only real touristy stop we did in the whole weekend. Next time we revisit Kanchanaburi I would love to see Hell's Gate which is the Memorial for the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who's lives were lost in that terrible war.

Our first day of touring also included two car ferry rides, our first ever ride on an elephant .......


....... and a night in a houseboat! (It even had aircon!!)


The thai dinner was as spectacular as lunch and BJ's white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes was a big hit (much to his annoyance) with the locals! The day's sunset was stunning!


Day 2 included quite a lot of driving as we made our way to the National Park -
After visiting Waterfall 4, we set off for the very pleasant walk to Waterfalls 5,6, and 7! (Original names huh?).


The Khuean Srinagarindra National Park was quite different to a New Zealand National Park - it wasn't very green, and it had a restaurant and a big screen tv with a band playing for a couple of hours.
Not at all what we were expecting! However, waking up on the side of a hill over looking the gigantic river and watching the sun slowly rise, was definitely worth a night on the hard ground in a tent!


Day 3 was a drive up to the Srinagarind Dam. The view was amazing and it was a shame that it was rather hazy.


Next time I'd like to take a look at the Erawan Falls - I'm told that they are quite spectacular too. The food up country is just maak maak aroi and incredibly cheap. BJ has discovered a favourite dish:
Moo Dad Deow (หมูแดดเดียว - Fried Dried Pork,Pork One Day In The Sun)


On the drive home we paid our respects with a visit the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.


There's heaps more photographs from our 3 days away, I think I'll put together something in Animoto - I've been meaning to try it out some more .........

Flickr 2009/365 - 35 Days in .......

I am really enjoying the 365 Day Flickr Challenge. Thanks to great photographers and encouragers like CogDog (aka Alan Levine), Dean Shareski, D'Arcy Norman, the 2009/365photos group boasts 214 members. Each and everyone of them, an inspiration to me.

So with a tip of my "hat" to all you 2009/365 challengers out there that blog - why not show off your first 35 days in a flickrslide show


Created with flickr slideshow.

First Visitors for 2009

I was told when we moved here that we might have a visitor or two to stay every now and again - given our location is - Bangkok, Thailand.

Last week we had the delight of two lots of guests - our first for 2009 - and what a pleasure it was. First to arrive on her way home from London was my good friend and online colleague, Allanah K. I arranged for a different taxi service to pick her up from the airport - and what a lovely friendly service it was too from Julie Taxis. That's definitely a service I'll be using again and again! Fast, efficient, friendly and reasonably priced too!

We didn't need a better excuse to eat at our favourite restaurant - The River Tree House and timed it just right to capture the sun setting on the Chao Phraya river. As always the food was scrumptious!

Of course no weekend is complete in Bangkok without the obligatory trip to Chatuchak (and to bribe, whoops I mean even things out, for a 7 year old - a BTS Sky Train Ride to Siam Paragon to visit Siam Ocean World). We ventured into the 4-D experience at the end of our ocean visit - needless to say we all looked hilarious with our 3-D glasses on. The 4 of the 4D is the moving seats and pockets of air sprayed in our faces at varying times during the 15 minute 3-D film!!

What better way to spend a Sunday than a trip down the Chao Phraya river on the River Express Ferry. We got off at Pier15, took a tuktuk (just so Allanah could say she'd had a ride on one)

to Dusit Zoo (Khao Din) . We found the zoo to be a very different experience than we thought it would be. It's a huge place, with many animals and I guess we were all expecting it to be like the Auckland Zoo back home. Unfortunately it wasn't.


After a quick tuktuk ride, with a short stop outside the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall for a photo op,

we jumped back on one extremely packed River Express Boat and headed home.

I have to say I was very proud of Allanah, as she ventured out on her own on her last day in Bangkok (some of us had to go to work!!) armed with directions in Thai on how to return to Nichada. I know she thoroughly enjoyed the Grand Palace and it's temples.

As Allanah set off on her own that morning, our next visitors (friends from my old school in NZ) arrived to stay for 3 days to rest and enjoy hot showers after spending nearly 4 weeks "backpacking" it round the provinces down one side of Thailand. I hate to admit it, but they have seen more of Thailand than we have - so far! It's my goal to change that!!

Flick and Rick's visit saw us venture downtown on a Tuesday night to have dinner at the The Tank,
in the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, then of course we had to walk around the night bazaar - as they had some serious Xmas shopping to catch up on. I had forgotten how busy the downtown traffic could be at 5pm but the trip home was surprisingly quick and as luck would have it we managed to hail a taxi with a driver who spoke a little English AND used to live in the neighbourhood behind Nichada Thani! It's always a bonus when you strike a taxi driver who doesn't want to barter the fare with you.

All too soon our house was empty again. So here we are ...... waiting for our next visitor to arrive sometime in March!

Anyone else need a place to stay for a few days in Thailand?

Proud To Be A Kiwi

This was arrived in my inbox today, and I just had to share it, being the proud kiwi I am!

An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the world.
So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando , thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North.
On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read

'$10,000 per call'.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Atlanta . There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.
She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.
'O.K., thank you,' said the American.

He then travelled all across America, Europe, England, Japan, Australia,
In every church he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same '$US10,000 per call' sign under it.

The American decided to travel to New Zealand to see if Kiwis had the same phone.
He arrived in Wellington and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same looking golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read

'40 cents per call.'

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign.

'Father, I've travelled all over the world and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in all of them the price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?'

The priest smiled and answered,

'You're in New Zealand now, son - it's a local call'.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Downtown City View

I looking through my flickr photostream this morning when I realised in the rush to fly home to New Zealand for Christmas, I'd forgotten to blog about our last night in Bangkok for 2008.

My wonderful friends and I met up the top of the Banyan Tree Hotel, in the Vertigo Bar. You take the elevator (or "lift" as we NZders call it) to the 59th floor, then walk up two flights of stairs.

Behold .......



The stunning view across downtown Bangkok. The hustle and bustle of traffic and the heaviest layer of grey that I have seen so far in Bangkok. As the sun set the scene changed to this .......




As night fell, the view began to look like this .......





What's the view like at your place?