Thailand

We spent 3 weeks in Thailand. We few from Johor to KL to Surat Thani. We stayed in a new hotel which charged £10 for the room and £3 for the extra mattress per night. We had dinner in Lucky Restaurant where the staff uniform was a strange school girl type outfit. The food was good and the atmosphere was good. It was busy with locals which is always a good sign.

The next morning we bought bus and ferry tickets to Koh Samui for about £6 per person. We had breakfast in a local cafe while we waited for the bus. They had a strange fish in a fish tank that Winston and Henry liked.

The bus took an hour and a half and then boat took about 2 hours. When we got to Koh Samui, Caroline discovered that she hadn't actually booked the accommodation that she thought she had booked, so we went to a bar to have lunch and book something new.   On a table next to us were 7 20 year old Brits, all on their smart phones, almost no conversation.  Henry and me went to get a simcard. It was quite a long walk.

When we got back, Caroline had found new accommodation and we went to stay at Anna resort in Bang Por . It cost about £110 for a week. It was about 30 minutes and £10 by taxi to get there. The room was quite small, but it was enough. They had a round pool with a shallow level round the edge. More like a big jacuzzi. It was ideal for Winston and Henry.

Breakfast was not included so we bought a kettle and a toaster from Tesco Lotus for a few pounds each. I liked the change of having our own breakfast. Buffets and restaurants get dull after a while and its never as fresh as your own.

We went to a few Café s on the beach. Winston did really like the sand. It was a bit too hot, so we spent more time in our ac room than we would have otherwise.

We hired a car for a day for £20 and drove to see a big Buddha. That was quite boring, but in the Café where we had a snack, she had a pet flying squirrel. It was the first time any of us had seen that.  We drove to another beach which was beautiful and full of tourists. The sea was warm, and there were feet jet flying going on nearby.

We went to a Café on the beach near Anna resort and Winston and Henry played with a fat fizzy drink guzzling local kid. They played on the Tablet together. Winston was patient and good at explaining what to do. Henry liked the idea of a new friend.

For the next week, we moved along the beach a bit and across the road to Bangpo village. It was a 2 bedroom house right on the beach with a nice veranda. It cost about £43 per night... So quite a lot more than our lovely villa in Ubud. Winston still didn't like the sand. Breakfast was included and was nice. The internet was crappy.

Caroline made contact with a Norwegian family due to her blog, and we went to meet them. Hanne and Thor and their 4 kids. Aaron 5, Phillipa 3, Amy 8, and I forgot the 9 year old girls name. Lovely family. We spent the afternoon swimming in the sea with them and eating fruit. Friendly and sociable kids. They sold their house in Germany and are travelling for at least a year. They are living off of Thor's translation work and child benefits and are on quite a tight budget.

Winston and Henry took a while to start playing, and as usual Winston gravitated towards the oldest child.

It was my h better to swim in the sea off Mae Nam beach than Bang Por beach.

We found a great Indian restaurant ran by Nepalese on the way home and also rented scooters from the same restaurant.  The next day we had delivery food from that restaurant. The best Indian food since England... And we spent about a month in India!

We went to Cha Weang on our scooters and to a shopping centre there. We ended up having a family hair cut session. Winston and Caroline had their hair dyed, and Henry and me just had simple cuts. It came to about £70 all together.  In other shops people were having massages and steam treatments.

We asked go stay a couple more days at Bang Po Village , but they were full, so we took the boat back to the mainland. It was easy , just got a taxi to the port and bought tickets their that included the bus part of the journey. So we were glad we didn't get ripped off by asking our hotel go arrange it.

Back in Suratthani we again stayed in Papangkorn House. It really good value. Our stupid berghaus bag had broken wheels and the guy helped me try to attach some wheels I bought from a hardware store.

In Suratthani went to the Central Plaza mall. It was nice and cool, and had a decent playland for kids. There was also a Lego table in the department store that Winston and Henry enjoyed. We had lunch at a hot pot restaurant with a really long conveyor belt we later £7.50 each and the kids were free. We had a bowl of soup on a induction hob each and we could cook as much as we liked. Great fun...I wonder how long until this style of restaurant spreads to Europe. Maybe there are too many rules so it can't.

From Surat Thani we took the overnight train. It should have departed at 9:32, but ended up departing at around 11:30. Sleeping wasn't very comfortable. Next time we should get 3 beds rather than 2.  We arrived in Bangkok the next day at around midday. After checking in to our hotel, we went to MBK centre to get Caroline's phone screen replaced. Winston and Henry were quite grumpy due to the lack of sleep.

We spent the whole of the next day in the hotel. Caroline and Winston went out to 7-11 and street stalls to get food only. Sometimes the kids need a day off to recover, especially after not enough sleep. The hotel and the room were good and they had a pool. We will stay there again when we go back to Bangkok, and we left our biggest luggage there while we travel to Laos

The next day we went to MBK centre again to try to get the camera fixed. We had lunch in a big Thai restaurant with a strange ordering system. We met an Egyptian pilot there and had interesting conversations about planes.

In the area of our hotel were lots of bars where 60yr+ white men can meet younger Thai women. Some prostitutes and some Thai wives. It was a bit depressing for some reason.

We flew to Udon Thani for about £12 each, and went to stay at STC Homestay, a little place outside of the town. The Belgian host was very friendly and helpful and they deserve their 9.4 rating on booking.com . Caroline was I'll, so me and Winston and Henry went for a walk. We caught a random tuk tuk and then got him to take us to Tesco Lotus. They had a great play zone and we had a really nice time. We stayed there for 2 nights for £13 per night.

Christine drove us to get the bus to Laos. It was all easy and straight forward to get the bus, cross the border and head for Vientiane. No queues or complications.

The visa cost $35 for UK passports and $31 for Swedish. We had to fill in a form and attach 1 photo of 35x45mm. It was quick and easy.