Carol & Bill's Epic Adventure

Our last day there was a rainy one, but even that could not put a damper on a great ten day experience. We truly fell in love with the people and the beauty of this country. If you’ve been following our blog, you know what we mean.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful, loving, caring and adventurous partner. Have no doubt, I am totally participating in every outing, adventure, every day, every moment,,, but Carol is fully LIVING each moment. She can approach any stranger, whether it be a fellow traveller, a shopkeeper, the waiter, backpackers or the children of the proprietor of the wonderful boutique little hotel we are staying in and, wow, a new relationship is built and a new memory is etched. She is simply AMAZING and incredible to travel with.

We are closing out Thailand with a couple “bonus” pictures that answer comments we got like “was that really you Billy on the elephant?” Hope you enjoy them… on our way to Bali, Indonesia!!

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Ever since I booked our accommodation on Ko Lanta, a beautiful island in the Andaman Sea, I’ve been dreaming of staying in our little beach bungalow. So when we arrived a few days ago, and I got to actually see where we were staying, I smiled from ear-to-ear and did the happy dance!!! It was beyond my expectations!

Our proprietor, Mr. Pong, who understands my English much better than I can understand his, is a lovely little man with a wonderful warm and friendly smile. He is so proud of his six-bungalow hotel on a gorgeous beach of pure sand. He’s only been open for 4 years, but he has meticulously taken care of every detail of creating large beautiful bungalows just steps from the beach. Although it’s not a private beach, it does feel like it, because there are so few people around…though other hotels and many restaurants are everywhere.

And the sunsets are just beautiful from the patio of our bungalow…Ko Lanta was to be some of the “chill time” part of our adventure, and it certainly is as we are enjoying much relaxing time at our beach bungalow…including early morning swims in that same 85 degree water!…

As mentioned, the Loi Krathong celebration was so special and included the following traditional Thai dancing as part of the evening festivities on a stage set up on the street by the beach:

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After a long journey and a really interesting, exciting and diverse five days in and around Bangkok, we headed for Ao Nang on the southwestern coast of Thailand. We flew into Krabi and were driven 30 minutes to our beautiful little hotel (called The Nine, because they only have nine rooms!) in this small, cozy little seaside village. Many tourists flock there since it is a terrific departure point for day trips to visit the many incredibly beautiful nearby islands. I had heard that the beach in Ao Nang is not really special, but when we first saw it I was blown away by the size of the beach, the beauty surrounding it, especially the numerous limestone mountains jutting out of Andaman Sea on the horizon, and the water temperature of probably 85 degrees or more! OK, it didn’t have the turquoise waters we would soon see elsewhere, but relative to other beaches I’ve seen, it was spectacular!

As busy and touristy as Ao Nang is, it is tiny relative to the size and extreme traffic of Bangkok and we enjoyed talking with fellow travelers and finding small friendly places to dine. At one small restaurant, The Family Restaurant, we …

Our first stay is over. As we move on to the south of Thailand and its gorgeous beaches and landscape, here are some of the images and impressions we are left with from our stay in Bangkok.

They include beautiful temples and palaces, Buddha, crazy motorbike riders, canals, monks, fellow travelers, elephants and tigers, marketplaces and a very hard working, gentle, respectful and concerned people who adore their King and worry about the non-monarchy politicians.
Goodbye Bangkok … on to Ao Nang!

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After a very long 36 hour journey (with short stops in Chicago, Honolulu and Tokyo) we arrived in Bangkok at 5:30am but we were running on adrenaline! The ambien worked great on our three 7 or 9 hour flights to help us get some sleep, so we were ready to go after checking into our beautiful small boutique hotel on a canal. Bangkok is large and bustling with taxis, tuktuks, and crazy drivers on motorbikes everywhere! It feels like 90 degrees and humid all the time! On our way back from some early morning shopping at a weekend market, we had our first viewing of the large protest rallies against a reputed corrupt Thai government very near to our hotel. The protesters are very peaceful and one TripAdvisor poster said he “walked by a large group of protesters sitting in chairs having a sing-along…it was terrifying!” Really the only impact has been closed roads and even worse traffic, particularly when trying to get back to our hotel.

That first afternoon we also met our tour guide to explore some rural areas and floating markets outside of Bangkok. It’s beautiful and very tropical. Seeing small motorbikes carrying 4 people including a …