More heavenly Sarojin 29/04

Today we booked in for a 2.5 hour spa treatment consisting of a siamese herbal body scrub, aromatic healing bath and massages. The bath was the same as in our room but full of a milky coloured water with pink miniture rose petals floating on the surface. I had a deep tissue massage, so much pain but so so good! And Steve had the Royal Oriental massage, the type without the happy ending :P

Went and had lunch in town, came back and had a swim at the pool here then went to the beach for sunset again. Another day of perfect weather - apparently it rained for days before we arrived so we have been lucky!

Khao Lak and The Sarojin Resort 27-28/04

27/04

We left Phuket via mini bus transfer and headed to Khao Lak to check in to The Sarojin for our 'splurge' end of the honeymoon. The mini bus driver took us to the wrong resort and wanted us to go in and have a look. They get commisions or gifts for bringing in business, like the tuk tuk drivers in Bangkok. We had to tell him several times that we already had accommodation. When we arrived at The Sarojin we were given cool towels, drinks and a bunch of flowers. It was about 35-38 degrees, and beautiful and sunny and not too humid (Bangkok and Phuket had been overcast and very humid most of our trip). The resort has some amazing ponds with lillies that greet you when you walk in, so it already seemed like the perfect day. We got shown to our room which was so awesome. It's got a semi outdoor bathroom with a rain shower and some ferns. Huge cushy king size bed and a pillow menu. I picked a contoured memory foam pillow like my one at home :P

We headed into Khao Lak town to hire a scooter for a few days so we weren't relying on the shuttle bus to get places. I would never get on any kind of motor bike in Australia without leathers etc but somehow it seems ok to be cruising around in shorts and thongs on a bike here. Its been fun cruising around in this weather on a bike.

At around 6.30 we headed to the beach. It is an amazing beach here, the best we've seen since being in Thailand. We watched the sun set pink and orange, totally the perfect evening. Was one of those balmy tropical evenings at the beach. We had a mai thai cocktail at the beach front restaurant after the sun set and headed back to our room for a relaxing evening of doing not much at all.

28/04

Steve's birthday! His last one as a youth in the eyes of the Australian goverment :P Buzzed around on the scooter a bit and picked up our washing before heading back to the resort in the evening for free cocktails with the resort owners and staff. Met some other Aussies and had a chat for a while before we headed to the beach for dinner. My present to Steve was a private dinner on the beach, we had out own chef and waiter and it was just the 4 on us alone on the beach at night. You could hear the waves lapping, and the weather was perfect - still shorts and singlet weather. They set up a ring of lanterns so it was fairly dark. The waiter then showed us the bowls of all the food before it was mixed and cooked. The setting was amazing, the chef had a hot coal fire barbie going and here's what we ate (soooooooo full at the end!)

for starters:
stuffed sweet peppers with deap fried minced pork
roasted fresh chilli dip served with garden vegetables and crispy pork
local fish soup with roasted thai herbs
red curry chicken with betel nut leaf and forest vegetables
steamed jasmine rice and cooked sticky rice

for mains:
satay chicken, beef, pork
marinated fillet of beef, chicken and pork
phuket lobster 500gram (first time we've had lobster and it was so good!)
prawns (best prawns ever)
whole fish in banana leaf
vegetable kebabs
squids

for dessert:
steamed banana wrapped with sticky rice and coconut
thai pastries and truffles

we had a bottle of kiwi sav blanc and a bottle of champas too. Then they gave us these massive paper lanterns which they lit and then we launched them. The hot air made them fly and we watched them for ages until the first one burned out, they were tiny, the size of stars by the time that happened. It was so amazing, one of the best experiences I've ever had.

Perfect end to another perfect day...

Patong 25-26/04

25/04

So Ruth went into the specialist to get her arm looked at and walked out with a half cast, she hurt it a couple nights before and had been to the hospital for X-rays. Hospital had said it was dislocated but specialist showed us the fracture (which was quite obvious on x-ray).

We met Louie, who was the english guy staying in our dorm room at the hostel.

I went out to our favourite bar where Kathy works, one of the best english speakers we have met and all the staff there are great. At 12 they closed and Kathy was leaving and asked if myself and 2 American guys wanted to go back to her aunties place, it was her aunties husbands birthday and they were having a bbq. So we all went back there and ate sooooo much food and drank beer and scotch, was a very random night but great fun.

Steve

26/04

We went on a day tour with Louie to 3 islands, one being Phi Phi. The first island was nice, very small and we did some snorkelling and drank some beer. The second island was just a fishing village basically and we stopped for lunch and saw some 4-5 year olds do some dancing.

From here we went to Maya Bay, where the beach was filmed and we snorkelled some more, there was so many fish it was unreal. Then on to Phi Phi where we had a beer and looked around some of the market stalls etc before heading back to Phuket on the boat.

That night we all went to Kathys bar for dinner and some cocktails and then we headed down Bangla rd to check out some other bars and clubs. Ruth went back to the hostel early and Louie and i went to another couple of bars. Just walking down Bangla rd you have so many people trying to get you into their bar that you can end up with fairly cheap drinks which is good. Ruth and i had to leave at 9am the next day so i left Louie in the company of one of the "locals" and headed back to the hostel.

Steve

Patong 23/04 -24/04

23/04

We arrived in Patong about 5pm on the 23rd, checked into our hostel and then headed for jungceylon to get a camera cable and check out the markets nearby.

We then went to a bar with a 6hr happy hour and had 100baht mai thai's and then to another bar that had a free bbq and had dinner and a couple beers there.

Then it was tattoo time and we both got traditional thai goodluck symbols on our ankles, see pic :)
Next stop was the ping pong show which was ok but thats about it lol, i had a dart shot between legs to pop a balloon i was holding with my knees lol.
Then beer at the Aussie bar and 2 for 1 cocktails at some other bar, hit a club very briefly and headed back to the hostel.

Slept late today and have just been uploading pics etc which can be seen on facebook or for those without facebook we will organise some other way shortly.

Think we are going to look for a day tour to phi phi and muay thai tickets this afternoon and then maybe head down to the beach.

Phuket Karon Beach 22/04

22/04

Arrived at 8am, the bus was actually fairly comfortable (we went 1st class was still only $40 for 12 hours), massive seats, easy to sleep but the food we stopped for in the morning was terrible.

Had brekky in Phuket town and then got the local bus for $1 each (flat bed truck with canopy) to Karon Beach.

Checked in to Karon Living Room Hotel and went to a cool Bob Marley inspired open fronted bar.
Then hired a scooter from the hotel for $8 for a whole day and we rode down the coast to Patong. Driving here is crazy, people rarely indicate, often drive 3 abreast in a single rd, on the wrong side and as we found out today the roads can suddenly become backwards and you drive on the right hand side. Got pulled up by the cops asking for our licence. Steve was driving but apparently Ruth's IDP was enough, they didn't even look at it just sighted it from a few metres away. They were booking some other dude (not sure what for and dont really want to know).

Off to the Scandanavian bar down the road now and then off to Patong tomorrow to continue our journey :)

Bangkok 19/04 - 21/04

19/04

Arrived in Bangkok at 5:15am in the year 2552 and boy was it hot already.
No dramas leaving airport, got bundled up by a cab driver on the way to the bus stop and we went with him to our hotel, cost 400baht (Approx $20 for 30min cab ride) instead of 300 for bus but it was direct and we just really wanted to get to the hotel.

Slept on and off all day and on our venture out learned the ins and outs of tuk tuks and their "stops" and walked around MBK which is like a 10 story shopping mall/market/crazy thing lol.

Saw some kind of cover dancers out side which seemed like a massive deal for the locals. Lots of screaming and singing along.

Asleep by 6pm so missed the night markets that night.

20/04

Went on a full day tour where we met our first random traveller in Larry the American.

Tour started with 1.5 hr drive to floating market and then longboat ride down to a cobra show.
Then on to lunch and the bridge over the river kwai, we walked across the bridge and fed an elephant lady finger bananas, he ate a shite load :P.

Then we headed to the Tiger Temple where we got photos taken patting the el tigres (Pics to be uploaded soon), there was also buffalo and deer and a peacock all roaming around free inside.

Went back to hotel to freshen up and then on to dinner at Taling Pling with Larry and the food was awesome, ruth is even broadening her spicy food horizons. Ate some flower starting with a k cooked with lime and chilli and it was great.
Went to the Suan Lum night bazaar where Larry bought 1000000 pirated cds and we just wandered around.
Next was Pat Pong where we were offered 1.6 million ping pong/lady boy/gay boy shows and had beers at a tacky mexican bar with the campest bar tenders ever. We think the bar tender wanted Larry :P.

21/04

Went to the zoo with Larry and wandered round there, saw a cool show with a heap of trained animals and some not so trained lol.

Then said our goodbyes and headed to the bus terminal for a 12 hour bus ride to Phuket.