It was an early start today on the day we were to take the ferry to Phi Phi Island. My alarm woke us at 5:30 and we were somewhat worried when we heard the pouring rain. Our transfer was at 7:00 and still it continued to come down accompanied by a troubling wind. As I am not a boat kind of girl I was hoping the trip would be cancelled and that we’d be put up in Phuket for another two nights.  But no such luck. We boarded the ferry at 8:30, found our seats and settled down for a rough ride. It was two hours of rocking and rolling on the high seas but it was not as scary as I anticipated. I am becoming braver in my old age! Half the people on board were sick but thank heavens that is not a malady from which I suffer.
It was interesting to watch some brave people stand on the bow of the ship and allow themselves to be splashed by the waves breaking over the boat! Of course they shrieked with laughter.

Our first sight of Phi Phi was stunning. We got off at the pier and then transferred to a longboat. That was fun! Our hotel – Bayview Resort is right on a beautiful beach. We alighted from the longboat in knee deep water and waded to shore. Helpers took our luggage off for us.

View through my porthole 

The harbour at Phi Phi Island

The Pier

The boat that brought us to the hotel

Rather a nice touch to shape the bush into an elephant

After a nap we went to the hotel restaurant and shared a plate of spring rolls. Then we took a walk along the waterfront where there were a variety of lovely shops and restaurants. It was so much prettier and more relaxed than Phuket.

We also had a massage at one of the local salons. It was half of what we paid at our Phuket hotel. I did not like the massage bed – it was just a mattress on a platform so no hole for your face. There were several massages going on at the same time and there was just a curtain for privacy. The masseuse was okay but I would rather go to a hotel salon and pay the extra as you really do get what you pay for.
After our massages we explored a bit more. On this island we noticed a number of stray cats.

Earl felt sorry for them so bought some small fish to feed them. He also bought a small knife to cut up the fish. When we got back to our hotel he tried to feed them but they turned up their noses to raw fish! So he asked the chef to cook the fish for them!
They are used to being fed cooked food by the guests!

Turning up their noses to raw fish

We had dinner at the restaurant and then it was time for bed!

The James Bond Island Trip was stunning but a whole day out in the sun for two old toppies took it’s toll and we were quite exhausted that night.  The next day we slept in late and after breakfast just chilled for the rest of the morning. At 12 we both had a Swedish massage Thai style which was fantastic.
It rained quite a bit in the morning but at about 2:30 Earl felt peckish and wanted to find a place to get a snack. We ended up walking all the way to Patong Beach, not the most pleasant walk because of lack of pavements and hectic on-coming traffic. We found a cafe with a view of the beach and enjoyed a gin and tonic (me) and beer 🍻 (Earl). Our snack was a plate of spring rolls which we shared.

Fun on Bangla Beach – No The Earl wouldn’t let me do it!

Then we walked to Bangla Road – a fair distance –  to catch the shuttle back to the hotel. I was very proud of Earl making the distance without too much of a fuss.

The Original Shipwreck Cafe in Bangla Road – NOT the one in Struisbaai!

It was 5:30 by the time we got home.  We went down for supper at 8. I had sweet and sour pork and The Earl had prawns. I couldn’t finish – far too much food.

I’ve been in Thailand and haven’t been in the blogosphere for three weeks.  I’m back and catching up with reading blogs and doing challenges!

Here are my answers to this week’s Share Your World from Cee

These days every day is good. I didn’t think I was ready for retirement but now that I’m there I’m loving the carefree days doing what I want when I want. However, my perfect day would be something like this.  Get up early, pack a flask of coffee and head off into the bush as the sun rises. The morning chorus of birdsong will be loud and the first sighting of the day would be an owl bringing a mouse to a nest in a tree close to the road. The sightings would continue to be regular and exciting and include lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog.   The day would end as I sit in my camp chair, glass of chilled white wine in hand and as the sun sets gloriously in the western sky.   This while The Earl grills dinner on the open braai which we eat with delicious fresh salad and sweet potato done wrapped in tin foil in the hot coals.   Yes – that would be my ideal day.

Complete this sentence: My favorite place in the whole world…..

See above – The Kruger National Park – any time of the year.

 Kruger National park

Who was your best friend in elementary school (prior to age 12)?

My best friend in Primary School (or as you call it – elementary school) was and still is Jennifer.   We met when we were 7 and were inseparable until her father was transferred to another city when we were 11.  We kept up a correspondence (snail mail) for many years and saw each other erratically.  The amount of time we’ve lived in the same city since those four years at school total only 3 years.   Yet we are still best friends forever  – soul mates.  Email, Skype and Whatsap make keeping up so much easier these days – yet the past systems didn’t stop us.

What inspired you this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

I was in Thailand and the Thai people inspired me big time!  Thailand is indeed the land of smiles.  The people are cool, calm and collected. They never seem to lose their cool and nothing stops them doing something to earn a living.   Imagine rowing your kitchen to work and selling your wares to the tourists.  Or attaching it to your scooter and setting up on the side of the road.  And then cooking the most delicious food in no time at all.  Amazing.

En route to work with fully equipped kitchen

Phuket Island

Overview

We spent seven nights on Phuket Island.  It’s the biggest of Thailand’s islands and is a good place to start a Thai holiday.   It is very popular with South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders.  People come here because accommodation is inexpensive, you can shop till you drop and you can obtain some good bargains in clothing, household goods and electronic items.

It’s also a great place for night life.  So if you’re a party person Phuket is the place to be.

Our hotel provided a free shuttle to downtown Phuket 15 minutes away, on the hour every hour between 9 am and 9 pm.   Be prepared – it is simply a covered van with a bench on each side – no seat belts but great fun to ride in.   It drops you off at Bangla Road and you just need to wait at the same spot to get it back to the hotel again.

Bangla Road

During our stay we did several walks up and down Bangla road – in the daytime!   The Earl was not up to fighting off solicitation at night.  Nor did he wish to see any shows!   But it might have been fun just for the experience – had we been younger – maybe!

We found a rather good barber in Bangla Road where the Earl had a trim and shave.

We went to a few markets and I bought two pairs of harem pants and a dress that Earl really liked.

One can spend hours just watching the traffic and the people in Phuket Town.  There are hundreds of scooters and small motorbikes. Helmets seem not to be compulsory as very few riders wear them and there is no limit to how many people can ride on one scooter.  When mom does the school round she is likely to have all three children on the bike with her as well as the baby on her back!

You won’t starve in Thailand.  There is food available at restaurants and street vendors – enough to feed the whole of Asia and Africa combined.  The food is delicious and inexpensive but I could not persuade The Earl to eat from informal traders.  He was afraid of picking up a bug.

A great way to transport your roadside kitchen

These kitchens were set up along the roadside near our hotel

The food looked delious

People simply sat on mats on the edge of the road and had a great view of the ocean

Jungceylon Mall

The Jungceylon mall is lovely.   There were interesting things to see like a barque in the middle of the shopping mall.  There are fountains and pools everywhere and the shops were lovely.

One evening we went there for dinner and had sushi at the Sushi Box. It was quite reasonable.

At 7 there was a light show at the fountain in front of the sailing junk.   Pictures are projected into the water spray and it’s amazing to watch.   The show depicts the history of Phuket which was originally named Jungceylon.  We also watched some young Thai kids breakdancing.  Omiword they were good.

Jungceylong Junk during the day

The Light Show

Break Dancers

To Be Continued …..

How amazing that this week’s One Word Challenge is Island.  I have just returned from an Island holiday and here are some pictures taken in Thailand.

Taken from the air

On James Bond Island with James Bond 2 in the background.

One of the many little islands en route to James Bond Island

Planning

We received so many suggestions from people who had been to Asia before that it became quite confusing. So after doing a bit of research we decided upon 18 days that should include Singapore and three Thai islands.  As we’d only given ourselves two weeks to plan we decided to hand over the organisation to a travel agent.  Harvey Travel in Bredasdorp had organised flights for us before so we went with them.

Riaan organised a superb package through Thompson Tours and for our first trip to Thailand it worked very well.  There is just one thing I would change next time – and that would be to have less time on Phuket.  Phuket is fine if you want to party, see shows and shop.  We didn’t. Our focus was on sunshine, boats and island life.   However, Phuket is the perfect starting place to visit other islands and to do adventure trips.  There is a lot on offer.

So we spent two nights in Singapore, seven nights on Phuket Island, two nights on Phi Phi, three nights on Koh Samui Island and one night in Bangkok.

Our Thompson’s package included everything from flights to transfers to accommodation.  We stayed in comfortable 3 star hotels on a bed and breakfast basis.  There was one complimentary tour of Phuket Island included.   Diethelm handled our transfers and on each island they gave us a list of trips we could do which they would arrange.  Sometimes we used them and sometimes we went with other options.  There are travel agents on every street corner!

The exchange rate for South Africans is 2.5 baht to the Rand.   Eating in restaurants in Thailand is cheaper than eating in South African restaurants but if you really want to do things cheaply you can always buy your meals from the street vendors.  We did not want to risk tummy upsets but I am positive that we would have been fine.  The food looked delicious.

Flights

Our long haul flights were with Emirates and they were excellent.
We also used Bangkok Airline to fly from Phuket to Koh Samui and Koh Samui to Bangkok and we found them very good too.   They provide you with free coffee and snacks in their waiting lounge.

Hotels

Singapore – Copthorne Kings Hotel:

Very comfortable room.  Provided all necessary toiletries including toothbrushes and toothpaste!

Foyer of Copthorne Kings Hotel Singapore

Breakfast was lovely.  Main restaurant had a buffet of all kinds of delicious food for dinner but we gave it a miss as super expensive @ $60 per person.  No way I can do justice to all that food!   But there is a less expensive A La Carte restaurant which was not nearly as popular but served excellent food.

Phuket – Sunset Beach Resort

Our room was on the fourth floor but had no view.  As we were out most of the time this did not bother us.  It was comfortable, had plenty of space for packing and we were supplied with toiletries.

Pool at Sunset Resort, Phuket

Phuket Sunset

Phi Phi – Bay View Hotel

Lovely room.  NB You may not put toilet paper down the loo – it has to be disposed of in the bin.

The only problem was that we were far from reception and the restaurant. The walk was also quite steep in places.  This could be a disadvantage to older people or those who are not physically fit.  The Earl coped but it was a challenge.

Bay View Hotel Phi Phi – Right on the beach

Our room

The rooms were set among the palm trees

Koh Samui – Ibis Bophut Samui.

Lovely room, with a view, right next to the pool and a hop and a skip from the beach.
It had hanging space in the cupboard but no drawers.  However, as we were travelling light this did not really bother us.

Relaxing on the beach

Also no shampoo provided – only soap in dispensers.

All the hotels provided generous (American) breakfasts of average quality.  The breakfast at Sunset Resort in Phuket was the best.   Although they say it is an American breakfast there are a lot of Asian and continental options too.

Bangkok – Cha-Da Hotel

It was on the fourth floor and very comfortable.  We were able to walk to a nearby mall and did not use any taxis besides the one from the hotel to get to a River Tour.

View of Bangkok from roof of Cha-Da Hotel

Transfers

Having pre-arranged transfers takes all the stress out of travel – especially when you reach a certain age.  The Earl had no intention of hailing taxis, hiring scooters or getting into tuk tuks!

All of the above, however, are perfect ways of getting around.

Our transfer company was Diethelm and they were fantastic.   The drivers do not speak very much English but they know exactly where they’re going and are very attentive to your needs.  A representative met us with a board bearing our names and we were always presented with a bottle of mineral water and a refresher towel each.

At each island they gave us a list of tours we could do and would organise them for us.  The tours are not very expensive but don’t expect a running commentary from your driver. His job is to get you to each stopping place and he gives you a certain amount of time to explore and then it’s on to the next stop.   The Diethelm representative organises the boat trips for you and their drivers just collect you from the hotel and take you to the meeting place.

More about each island and the tours we did in later blogs.

I’ve been away on holiday and have not taken part in any challenges nor have I blogged for three weeks.   To get back into it I’m doing the Stream of consciousness Saturday challenge today.

The prompt is – begin your post with WHEN

When Hubby said, “It’s cold.  Let’s get away from the cold Cape Winter and go somewhere warm.” I thought – yes a game park up north would be nice.  But that’s not what he had in mind.  “Let’s go to a tropical island,” he suggested.   “How about Thailand?” I replied and that’s how we got to be in Asia for almost three weeks.

When we arrived in Singapore I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. The streets were so pretty with tropical plants and flowers flourishing everywhere.

Singapore is an island, a city and a country.  It has a population of 5 million.  There’s virtually no crime, everybody’s employed and the country functions extremely well.  When we arrived at our hotel we asked the concierge what we should do the following day and he gave us excellent advice – Take in a mall, go on an afternoon trip and don’t miss the Light show at the Bay of Gardens.   This was confirmed by our daughter’s friend who lives in the city.

When we woke up the next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then at 10 we took the hotel free shuttle to Paragon Mall and browsed around the amazing shops.  We did not buy a thing but the feast for the eyes was incredible.  I could have broken the bank at Jimmy Choos.   One gorgeous dress I spotted at Prada was $250.  I don’t think so!
We returned to the hotel and then went on a booked tour of the city. A bus collected us at the hotel and dropped as the Bay of Gardens where we met up with the other participants of this tour.  Our guide was a young Chinese girl who was well informed and held our interest with her excellent commentary.   The trip was $34 each and worth every cent. Our first stop was Little India.

We browsed around for half an hour and bought a pair of harem pants for me and a shirt for Earl.   Next we were taken to see the Merlion at Marina Bay – We were given some free roaming time and then it was back on the bus.

From there we went to Chinatown, saw a temple and mosque and then wondered around.

Next stop was The Botanical Gardens – where we spent 45 minutes in the orchid garden. It was fantabulous.

After this we were collected by our various hotel busses and it was 6 o’clock by the time we were back.
After a short rest we got a taxi to Bay of Gardens. We were hugely impressed by what we saw there and at quarter to 8 took in the light show.  It was spectacular.   I was actually moved to tears by its beauty and the amazing music that accompanied it.

Singapore is celebrating it’s 52nd birthday on 9 August and there were songs about their country.
After the show we went to Dine at Supertree and had yam filled spring rolls and crispy duck – delicious.   When we were in Singapore we were truly blown away.