Krabi

As the internet here is SLOW, it takes forever to download pictures. So, again I will regale you with stories....
We are staying at the Sheraton Krabi resort. It is a lovely resort (5 stars), but the food and drinks are EXPENSIVE and it is far from everything. There are a few cheaper restaurants outside, so we mostly go there. We went into Ao Nang one night which is a resort town 15 minutes away, just outside of Krabi town. It was fun with lots of restaurants and bars and some more shopping. Jurgen bought another watch (this time one for me) and I bought a necklace (fake pearls). There was this sketchy part in the back of some of the shops where there were a lot of different bars and a lot of Thai girls hanging around. We didn't stay there long!!
Yesturday we went on a snorkelling trip all around the islands. We saw James Bond Island, Chicken Island, and Maya bay which is where they filmed "The Beach". We stopped at Koh Phi Phi for lunch and even saw Monkey Bay where there really were monkeys!! One even jumped onto one of the boats, but then thought better of it and jumped back into the trees.
There is an elephant who lives at our resort and comes out to play with her trainer to entertain the guests twice a day. She is SO beautiful! We swam with her today, worried that "warm spots" in the water might be elephant pee!
We have two more days in paradise before we take a plane back to Bangkok. We leave on Thursday to come home. As much as we love it here, we are looking forward to coming home. That is the one thing about travel - it makes you appreciate home a bit more.
Looking forward to popcorn, cable TV, and a comfy bed....

Phuket to Krabi

The beach of Phuket abuts onto a forest which is similar to the forests we are used to with evergreen trees.

Outside our hotel there were many little restaurants and bars where you could eat right on the sand. We thought this sign was funny, as it was definately true! "Broken English Spoken here!" and semmingly everywhere we went!!

Despite being sort of cloudy, you can tell that the beach is beautiful. Fresh fish is caught here every day - evidenced by the fishing boats. Jurgen hated the smell, but I thought it just smelled yummy!


This was the little pizza place we ate at the last night. They had a kiln for the pizza (woodfire) which Jurgen said was quite good. I had veal funghi (although they didn't actually have veal, so I had pork) and a glass of wine. Altogether it was 600Baht, which was only $20!!

Now we are in Krabi. After taking a taxi which picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at the next, we arrived at the Sheraton 2 hours later. A full hour earlier than if we were to have taken a bus, and so much easier. This hotel is VERY lovely, but much more expensive. We will take a tour of the islands one of these days, if it stops raining that is.....

Pictures of Chiang Mai and Phuket

This is our resort in Phuket. As much as the room was cheap, the food is pricey and we are far from the towns of Phuket and Patong. Well, live and learn I guess. Still lovely and very relaxed.

These are the ladies from Canada. They were quite a bit older than us, but we still had lots of fun with them swapping stories!

This was the traditional Thai market. Here I am in front of a giagantic display of fireworks! Jurgen really wanted some for next Canada Day, but decided against it.

There are MANY dogs in Thailand. Most just roaming around. These two were hanging out just outside one of the temples - such a hard life. Jurgen said that he wanted to come back as a dog, and the guide thought this was a bad idea. She says you should want to go UP the ladder, not down!

One of the temples in Chiang Mai ( I am not sure which one, they all started to run together).

Chiang Mai to Phuket

I will try to upload some photos soon.... However, in the meantime, I thought I would share some experiences. Our last two days in Chiang Mai was filled with temples (or Wats). We drove up the mountain to Doi Sutep, which they consider the jewel on the mountain. Then went to three different temples and saw a day market. This was a more traditional market where Thai people went to buy everything from food to cosmetics to clothes and jewelery. We enjoyed the Chiang Mai night market and managed to buy a lot of items (man! Jurgen loves to shop here). We met some lovely Canadian ladies who were on all our tours and then on our flight to Phuket. They have been EVERYWHERE! We were enthralled with some of their tales of places they have been.
The Phuket airport was crazy. It seemed much more chaotic and sketchy than in Bangkok. When we finally got a cab, the driver didn't know where our hotel was (although it is quite big and there are not many in the area we are in!), and drove around aimlessly until we found it. Once here, we were greeted with a cool towel smelling of Jasmine and a cool iced tea even before check-in. This is a posh hotel with ultramodern decor in the theme of the old tin mining that used to occur in Phuket. The room was not a bad price (for the luxury!), but the food is still quite expensive. I think this is because it is low season. We asked for a DVD to be put in our room and finally took the chance to see if any of the 50 or so DVDs that we bought for super cheap would actually work. They did!! We watched part of the Mummy 3. I was craving popcorn, but it is no where to be found. Maybe when we go into town...
We are planning to either visit Phuket or Patong city tonight to see the night life and see if we can find cheaper food (and maybe popcorn).

I will post more pics when I find more computers that will allow me to do that....

Having fun, melting in the heat, and wishing you all were here.......

Bangkok and Chiang Mai

There are many monks in Thailand. These were visiting one of the temples, just like we were!

In Chiang Mai, we went on a tour where we saw the elephant camps. We ended the day with a raft ride. The guy let Jurgen drive for a bit - he was surprised how difficult it actually was.

This is us on our elephant. She is an 18 year old ornery elephant who was more concerned with getting more bananas than keeping her eyes on the road! No deaths of tourists today, though!

Before leaving Bangkok, we hired a taxi for the day to take us to Ayuttaya. This is a city with may ruins including this one with a buddha head in a tree!

The ruins were beautiful! So much history and culture here!

Stay tuned.... same bat channel.... same bat time....

Days 1-3

The flight getting to Bangkok was long, over 36 hours to get there. Jurgen took a nap in Minneapolis.
This was the plane to Tokyo. Probably 400 people.

Our first day we went to the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. We hired a tour guide who was very cute!
The next day we went to the weekend market. It was crazy! Jurgen kept saying, "I am not sure what I am looking for, but I am sure it is here somewhere!" I bought less then he did, if you can believe it!

Amazing Race

I am watching Amazing Race 13 (Can you believe there has been 13??). I love that show. The biggest reason is that I love travelling and I can do some of it vicariously through the show. There are places that I never even dreamed of visiting before that now I might, simply because of the Amazing race.
So, now Jurgen and I are about to embark on our own Amazing Race! We leave for Thailand on Thursday. I have never been any where as exotic as that before! We will be travelling all around the country for a total of 3 weeks! I am excited, but also a bit apprehensive. There ar ea lot of things that could happen in a country like that, and I am just a Saskatchewan bumpkin! Good thing I am taking my worldly husband with me!
I just started packing today, realizing that I often repack a couple of times before I am truely ready (yeah, I know that is silly). I have been thinking about what to pack for weeks now. Afterall, it is hot, but it is also a conservative country. I can't just wander around in short shorts and a tank top. No, that would be frowned upon. So, I packed for that.
Well, if you happen to read this, or just tuned in, and you want to see what we are up to on our amazing race, keep looking here. I will be posting pictures and stories from our adventure in Thailand!
Next time on Joelle and Jurgen's Amazing Race.... Bangkok.