We left Bodrum on a flight to Zagreb via Istanbul on 23rd May 2016. After a few days in Zagreb we would fly to Dubrovnik and then travel by bus to Kotor in Montenegro where we would stay for 5 nights before returning to Dubrovnik.
A drive of half an hour or so from Zagreb airport got us to Apartment Balling which is in an old commercial building on the outskirts of the city centre. The building is far from pretty and there are liberal quantities of “street art “ in the area but the apartment itself is excellent being recently renovated to a high standard with high ceilings and an interesting mix of old traditional furniture and modern stuff. A large and very well kitted out kitchen make this a perfect place for people wanting to self cater. We loved it!
Our Zagreb apartment wasn’t in the newest or prettiest of buildings
but it was nicely converted with an interesting mix of old and new furniture
We were met at the apartment by the owner and within half an hour we were off out looking for somewhere for a drink. We went in the first bar we came to only a few hundred yards away an after one beer we were off to the supermarket to stock up on provisions.
We had 2 full days in Zagreb which has a very nice historic cathedral, full of lovely old architecture and the usual markets and European squares with open air restaurants and bars – all very attractive.
There are a number of museums in Zagreb but as museums are not ordinarily our cup of tea and those in Zagreb don’t get good reviews, we passed on these. However, we did allow ourselves, against our better judgement, to be talked into a walking tour around the city and whilst the tour Guide was mildly entertaining we didn’t really learn anything that we hadn’t already read in our Guide Books.
We found 2 days to be enough for Zagreb and we would not return unless in transit to somewhere else. Nevertheless we had a very pleasant time wandering around the city, its squares and botanical gardens (a tad disappointing) and enjoyed a couple of decent meals, one at Vinadol a highly rated local restaurant and very nice too and another at a very acceptable Indian Restaurant, the Royal India – our first curry in months! Otherwise, with breakfast taken in the apartment, our lunches were snacks bought from one of the countless excellent bakeries to be found in this and every other Croatian town we visited. Here are some photos :
Jelacic Square
The Square is always busy and has a great buzz to it.
Cathedral of the Assumption. Like many Cathedrals, this one is apparently permanently undergoing repairs. The right hand tower is currently scaffolded but the scaffold is cleverly disguised, on this side at least, by a canvas with an image of the tower on it.
St Marks ChurchThe city is built on two levels and here there is a funicular railway going from one to the other – the height from one to the other is so small it makes you wonder why they bothered….
Dolac Market – the main city centre green and fish market
One of the main bar streets – wall to wall drinkeries and eateries
The Croats are big beer drinkers. Ozujsko and Karlovacko are the the most common/popular beers and whilst there is some craft beer around, its not that easy to find.
We flew from Bangkok to Dalaman via Istanbul on 25th February. Our Asian travels were done , at least for the time being. It’s 13 months since we left Istanbul in January 2015 and we have had an amazing time but it was good to be back home. The weather is perfect, sunny with temperatures low to mid 20s centigrade and the town, for me, is at its best, very very quiet with very few tourists about. We will be here until mid May when we move north to Bodrum for a few days before leaving Turkey for Croatia and Montenegro.
This would be the first time we would stay in our apartment for more than a couple of weeks and we were looking forward to it. We did intend to use some of the time to travel but we enjoyed our time in Kalkan so much that we couldn’t be bothered going anywhere other than Bodrum except for a few shopping trips to nearby Kas and one overnight trip to Fethiye which is about an hour away.
We had some major home improvements done at the apartment over winter 2014 and this was our first time back since then. This was the first time we had seen the finished article and we were generally delighted with the work done – it was like a new apartment – but inevitably there was a snag list to be drawn up and tackled.Also inevitably Mrs E found other improvements to be done and purchases to be made to improve the look of the place and add to the creature comforts. Unfortunately none of this was in the budget but hey ho……
Needless to say a few jobs remained outstanding even when we left Kalkan on 18th May but this is Turkey after all and the jobs will be done sometime – possibly, hopefully.maybe before we return in September.
We enjoyed this first long stay in Kalkan very much. If it were not for the Turkey visa rules which currently allow a maximum stay of only 90 days, we would happily stay longer. Although we did get a few stormy days here and there we found the end of February onwards to be an excellent time for walking with everywhere quiet and green and with lots of spring flowers to be seen.
For anyone interested, there is superb way-marked walk, the Lycian Way, which stretches around 540 km from near Fethiye to Antalya passing through Kalkan on its way. There is some fabulous walking to be done from Kalkan and there are one or two walking groups in the town run by ex-pats who welcome visitors.Unfortunately Ann’s knee was taking its time to recover following a nasty fall the night before we left Bangkok and so serious walking was out of the question for us on this trip.
This is 3rd April. Kalkan still very quiet but restaurants and shops are now getting ready for the season. The Guy in the middle of the street is whitewashing the walls of his restaurant for the new season. If the street looks a little Greece – like, then it is. Kalkan was originally a village settled by both Greeks and Turks and was once known by its Greek name Kalamaki. Kalkan retains its historic charm with lots of old buildings and plenty of Greek/Turkish Ottoman architecture in the tiny streets throughout the village. There’s more info on our apartment website for anyone interested in the history of this part of the Lycian Coast.
Very few restaurants are actually open yet but happily Salonika, one of our favourites , was up and running. Perfect place for a long Sunday lunch sat in the winter sun.
The apartment is in a quiet residential district of Kalkan and although there is a shop and a couple of restaurants and hotels, all were closed for the winter. No worries, although serious walking was out of the question, an almost daily leisurely stroll into town for mooching shopping and the occasional lunch was a very agreeable way to spend our days.
This is a great time to visit. Kalkan town itself is very very quiet indeed with most shops other than supermarkets and builders merchants closed – the latter because November to May is the only time when construction work is allowed in Kalkan so this is the busiest trading period for the building supplies shops. The same goes for restaurants with only a handful of “proper” restaurants open (Salonica, Aubergine and DoyDoy from memory) although almost all the locantas, eateries selling “local” food, remain open for the locals. This suits us fine. We didn’t expect to eat out a great deal and even when we did it would usually be in places where the locals eat – one of the pleasures of Turkey, especially out of season when the restaurant owners have time to natter.
So the period February to May 2016 in Kalkan was spent doing nothing much at all other than a little bit of walking most days and some work on the garden which needed clearing out and re-planting in places. We also spent a lot of time with Tamer, our Property Manager, getting various works done in time for our first letting Guests of the season in mid May – forgive the plug but the place will still be available for letting in the future – see www.kalkanseaview.com if interested.
Here are a few photos of this visit to Turkey:
Kalkan
Our apartment in Kisla. Picture taken 17th May. The top of Kalkan village can just be seen on the left in the distance.
A lovely quiet valley nearby makes for a nice walk. The apartment is along the track and just over the brow of the first hill with Kalkan Bay beyond it but out of sight.
Rutting season for tortoises in Kalkan. This was taken 30th March in the local “garden centre”
We found this little one on the road outside the apartment on 20th March
DoyDoy , one of our favourite restaurants was open throughout the winter
KAS
Kas is a small town along the coast around 26 kilometres from Kalkan. The drive takes around 20 minutes but we invariably take a dolmus (local bus) which enables us both to enjoy the stunning views which many say are reminiscent of Italy. The bus ride costs less than £2 per person each way.
Kas, like Kalkan, is a fishing, sailing, diving and tourist resort and like most other places in the region there are lots of Roman remains to be seen in the town and the area. We find it a great place to find stuff for the apartment if we don’t want to travel further afield to the bigger Fethiye and usually we aim to get there in the morning, spend a few hours shopping and mooching and then enjoy a nice long lunch with a bottle of wine before returning home. Its a pretty, unspoilt town and there are interesting boat trips to be had along the coast from here, including the Greek island of Meis, which usually start with a coach ride from Kalkan.
A couple of restaurants open on the main square in Kas
But most remained closed.
Fethiye
Fethiye is a port city around an hour or so from Kalkan. Its the biggest town in the region with a population over 140,000 and is a proper working town that is therefore “open” all year around which means that it is generally busy whatever time of year you visit. The harbour area and a shopping area next to it is particularly attractive with lots of restaurants and shops and boat trips to be had to and around outlying islands. Again like many of the towns in this region , there are plenty of Roman and Greek remains to be seen.
One of Fethiye’s main covered shopping streets in the jewellery quarter – we have never seen it so quiet though it is still early in the season for tourists.
Bodrum and the Bodrum Peninsula
We spent our last few days in Turkey at Gumusluk on the Bodrum Peninsula, not an area we have visited before.
Bodrum
Bodrum itself is quite a big town with a nice old castle and lots of history. It comprises a big marina lined with shops, restaurants and cafes and a market area. It’s a pretty town and we had great weather to see it at its best. There was a public holiday on the day we visited with events, markets and exhibitions (vintage VWs was one) taking place and a big stage being set up for music that evening. Vendors selling flags (the Turks are fiercely proud and love their flag which is seen everywhere) and other stuff were doing a good trade. The town was busy with tourists and locals alike even though later, outside of Bodrum itself, the resorts were quiet like Kalkan.
Gumusluk
Gumusluk is a small fishing village on the Bodrum Peninsula standing on the site of the ancient Greek city of Myndos and still referred to as Myndos on some street signs. There is a lot of evidence of the ancient city around the place and remains of paved areas and buildings can be seen in places in shallow water areas near the seashore and particularly in a shallow stretch of water which separates the town from a small island, Rabbit Island, just off shore. You can actually walk out to the island from the town along a submerged ancient street/footpath.
Downtown Gumusluk. This dirt street runs the length of the seafront
An every day sight in Gumusluk. Rabbit Island can be seen in the backgroun
The town itself is very small with a population of only a few thousand and is spread over a largish area. The touristic area is, of course, at the seaside end of town with the harbour overlooked by Rabbit Island. The seafront part of town stretches less than a kilometre with a dirt street running either side out from the central harbour area. The street is lined for the most part with fish restaurants and cafes but with very few shops other than a couple of small supermarkets and a few shops selling pottery, jewellery, textiles, beach goods and the like.
Although the town is undeveloped and actually quite scruffy in places with a very ordinary short and narrow dark sand beach, it does feel rather upmarket and the fish restaurants here are eye wateringly expensive although thankfully we did find an affordable one just away from the seafront. Balic Pirsime Evi is actually run by the owner of the town’s fish market. It’s very popular and does excellent fish and seafood (pick your own to be weighed) and super mezze dishes including many we have never seen before .We would return to Gumusluk just to eat here -we ate here three times in five nights !
There are many expensive seafood restaurants along the waterfront
This cafe, still on the waterfront, is run by the Belideye (Town Council) and provides affordable drinks and snacks at street cafe prices – we tried it one evening for the sake of a taste of something different – very good too.
A pre-luncheon bira in the Belediye Cafe
Enough of that healthy stuff . A night off fish tonight.Instead an excellent meatball sandwich, chips and a few beers….
We stayed 5 nights at the Gumusluk Otel which describes itself as a boutique hotel and is only a very short walk, less than 50 metres from the sea. The accommodation was good and the hotel has nice gardens with a pool and restaurant that serves an excellent Turkish breakfast. The Clientele were virtually all Turkish people when we visited and in fact we got the impression this was largely a resort for fairly well to do Turks.
Gumusluk Hotel, our digs for three nights. Good facilities and a very nice traditional Turkish breakfast
There’s really little to do in this small village other than walk, swim, hang around on the not so brill beach and generally chill out. However, even without a car its really easy to get around the peninsula using the excellent and cheap local buses .
We visited most of the other resorts on the peninsula, albeit briefly, during the course of our short stay and really enjoyed our visit to the area. The peninsula has some stunning scenery and the bus is a good way to see it – some of the roads up and down hills are hairy to say the least.
We liked some resorts more than others but most were far too built up for our liking with resort beaches lined with huge numbers of sunbeds reminiscent of the Italian Riviera and with jazzy bars and restaurants often aimed at an altogether younger party crowd. However, without exception, they were all very quiet at the time of our visit; the tourist season was definitely starting later this year!
Here, in no order, are some photos of our travels around the peninsula visiting Gumbet, Bitez, Tutgutreis, Yalikavak, Torba and Turkbuku.
Gumbet
Some of the swathes of empty sunbeds at Gumbet
Bitez
Turgutreis
One of the biggest towns on the Bodrum Peninsula
Typical beach restaurants
Less typical, Turgutreis Marina has a modern marina with upmarket shops and a very pleasant entertainment area with some nice bars and restaurants.
One of several interesting creations found in a small park area near the marina
Yalikavak
The most upmarket town on the peninsula with plenty of expensive restaurants.
On 23rd May we flew from Bodrum via Istanbul to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia .We will be returning to Turkey in September.
Hua Hin is a large seaside town pretty much devoid of attractions and not on the usual tourist trail but very popular with Thai Tourists and with ex-pats – British, American, Australian and others and because of the large ex-pat community we thought it worth a visit to see if it was a place where we might like to stay for extended periods.
Hua Hin is about 200km south of Bangkok, a three hour train ride or a bus ride a tad longer. We took the train and really enjoyed the experience.
We actually liked Hua Hin a lot and it’s one of several places that we would be happy to “over-winter”. The people are very friendly, it’s a cheap place to stay with cheap transport (tuk tuk rides at 20 baht), lots of nice apartments available on a monthly rental basis and as elsewhere there are some very good supermarkets well geared up for Western tastes. There’s a big night market, nightly and lots of street food available plus lots of inexpensive seafood restaurants. There are the usual red light areas but they are limited to specific neighbourhoods/streets and so its not “in your face” unless you want it to be! Here’s a few pictures from the trip
Hualamphong Station, Bangkok
Free haircuts for the poor at Hualamphong Station. I mustn’t have been looking my best as I was offered a haircut myself!
We’re off !
Arriving at Hua Hin
One of many inexpensive seafood restaurants
Red light district by day – a young girl prays to a small shrine in front of a dodgy bar on a street full of dodgy bars
This was the nicest stretch of beach we saw – a 5 minute tuk tuk ride away from the town centre – there are plenty of modern high rise condos lining the coast road out of Hua Hin
We spent five nights in Hua Hin and would gladly have stayed longer but decided to return to Bangkok for our final few days for some retail therapy before we left for Turkey. We spent five nights at the trendy THA City Loft Hotel in the trendy Ekkamai area of Sukhumvit and really did very little in Bangkok other than eat and drink and shop.
After almost 3 months in Thailand we finally left Bangkok on an early morning flight to Istanbul on 25th February, thirteen months after we had left Istanbul for Christchurch, New Zealand. Doesn’t time fly.
We landed at Bangkok early afternoon but had to wait a couple of hours until our onward flight to Dalaman. Thankfully flights were on time and we were picked up by our transfer service at Dalaman arriving at our apartment in Kalkan, well and truly knackered in the early evening.
Kanchanaburi was on our original travel itinerary for Thailand when we had planned to travel the length of Central and North Thailand from Bangkok to Chiang Mai by train, stopping at various places including Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya, Lampang and others. We ditched our original itinerary but were pleased to get to see Kanchanaburi after all.
On the morning of 9th February, we took a taxi from the Red Planet Hotel Bangkok to Thonburi Railway Station in the northern suburbs of Bangkok on the East side of the river. It took us quite a time to get there in heavy traffic but despite the taxi dropping us at the Skyrail Station instead of the railway station necessitating a second taxi, we managed to get there in good time for our train north to Kanchanaburi.
Hualamphong Station Bangkok en route to Kanchanaburi
A very handy market by the station to buy last minutes refreshments for the journey
We have seen a lot of newly wed Thais couples by now – the brides are invariably beautiful and the grooms look like school boys …
On the train at lastChecked the facilities out – just in case – better than expected but even so fingers crossed the need will not arise !
Last minute opportunity to buy nibbles for the journey…..
The two hours or so journey from BKK to Kanchanaburi isn’t particularly scenic
But there are nice bitsand of course you get to see many temples on the way
and even a surprise churchThe train passes through many small stations on its way to Kanchanaburi
Arriving at Kanchanaburi
Very quiet streets once we left the vicinity of the station
Finally we saw the sign for the Bridge…
Which turned out to be a very nice modern hotel
At Kanchanaburi we stayed at the almost new Bridge Residence on Mae Nam Kwai Rd and during our stay visited the famous Bridge over the River Kwai built by the Japanese using Prisoners of War and conscripted labour from Indonesia and other places in WWII. We also visited the mass graves of some of the POWs who died in the construction of the railway, museums commemorating the events of the time and stretches of the Death Railway where the total loss of life in horrendous conditions is estimated to be at over 100,000.
We had a very agreeable time at Kanchanaburi. The Mae Nam Kwai Rd area where most of the hotels restaurants etc are located is quite handy for the railway station but quite a distance from the town itself. The area has lots of ex-pats and is lively at night and probably a tad Wild West-ish at times. There are plenty of places to eat and drink, both local and western and plenty of massage places – we thought the town had a great vibe and not at all what we were expecting.
Typical scene on Mae Nam Kwai Road. This is quite a long way from the city centre (which we didn’t get to see) but is the main area for tourists quite close to the Bridge on the River Kwai. The street is lined with bars, restaurants, 7/11 Stores and massage places. The town has a great buzz to it and we enjoyed this trip very much – definitely one of the highlights of our time in Thailand
There are lots of western style eateries serving steaks, pizza and burgers to expats and tourists but this was one of the best local eateries. Very popular with locals and tourists as the food is very good indeed though you might not think so from this photo…..
Death Railway Museum and War Museum Kanchanaburi
Most people, especially those of a certain age, will have seen the film and will know the story of the building of the Bridge on the River Kwai although the film makers used a lot of artistic licence in its making.
We are not big on museums generally but we couldn’t imagine visiting the area and not this museum and we thought it excellent with lots of exhibits both interesting and tragic – a very moving experience but a must visit. Going to this museum when first arriving is good prep for a visit to the Bridge and to Hellfire Pass.
The Cemetery is beautifully manicured
The cemetery is the main Prisoner of War Cemetery for some of the Commonwealth and Dutch POWs who died and were buried along the railway. The American fallen were repatriated to the USA but almost 7000 casualties are commemorated here and others lie in 3 cemeteries elsewhere in Thailand and one in Myanmar – the railway was built by two labour forces working from either end of the railway line in Siam ( Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).
The cemetery is maintained in immaculate condition – to say the least. The graves, lawns, flowers and bushes are literally manicured!
The Bridge over the River Kwai
The Bridge was made famous by the film but its worth reading the true story – a brief summary is here
This is one of Thailand’s most popular tourist attractions and as always there is a small army of people based near the bridge providing opportunities to buy refreshments and souvenirs of all kinds, though mostly tacky. There’s a walkway across the bridge even though the bridge is still used to convey a tourist railway.
A Day Trip on the Death Railway and Hell Fire Pass
Hell Fire Pass was the name given to one particular stretch of the railway that was especially difficult to build requiring a deep cutting through solid rock in a remote area.
The pass is noted for the harsh conditions and heavy loss of life suffered by its labourers during construction. Hell Fire Pass is so called because the sight of emaciated prisoners labouring at night by torchlight was said to resemble a scene from hell.
Despite the huge loss of life suffered in its construction, the Thai-Burma railway was demolished after WWII although part of it on the Thai side was later reinstated as far as Nam Tok. Hell Fire Pass is beyond Nam Tok and so it’s necessary to get a train to Nam Tok and then a bus or taxi for the final stretch to HFP. In the event, the train we planned to catch from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok was cancelled on the day we made the trip and so we hired a car and driver to take us. He drove us to HFP and waited whilst we went around the excellent museum and walked along the track. He then dropped us off at Nam Tok Station so that we could get a train back to Kanchanaburi. It all worked out pretty well; it was a long day but very very interesting and once again a very moving tour – there wasn’t a dry eye around the place.
The train journey from Nam Tok back to Kanchanaburi is a scenic one following the river for some distance and of course takes the route worked by the POWs back in World War II clinging to the hillsides in places.
On 12th February we caught a lunch time train back to Bangkok for another night at the Red Planet Hotel before we left on our next trip the next day to Hua Hin.
We flew from Phuket to Koh Samui on 13th January 2016. Our first stop for 7 nights was at the Secret Garden Beach Resort at Bang Rak a small on the beach resort with bar/restaurant literally on the beach. This place was very acceptable and although the rooms were a tad small, they had all the necessaries. Bar and restaurant prices were good and there was live music at weekends with decent good hot/cold buffet.
Bang Rak
Secret Garden Beach Resort
The Beach at Secret Garden Resort
And the restaurant by day
And in the evening
Mrs E enjoying a cocktail as if she was on holiday !
The weather wasn’t perfect for our first week on Samui with the odd heavy shower from time to time but that didn’t stop us doing quite a bit of walking – there was always somewhere to shelter if the heavens opened.
On a particularly grey day we decided to walk to Wat Phra Yai, known in English as the Big Buddha Temple. This is a Buddhist temple on Ko Phan a small island offshore from the northeastern area of Ko Samui only a few kilometres from the airport and connected to Samui by a short causeway. The temple is home to a giant, 12 metre high gold-painted Buddha statue, one of Ko Samui’s main tourist attractions.
Halfway to Big Buddha we were be-friended by a timeshare tout and fearing an imminent downpour and a drenching we allowed ourselves to be persuaded to accompany him to a timeshare presentation in return for drinks, the usual offer of a chance to win a week’s holiday and a lift back to our accommodation. The promise of a lift back was quite appealing and so we took advantage of the offer and went along for a presentation. Five minutes into a 90 minute sell, it became clear to the salesmen that we probably knew more about how timeshare works than he did and we were quickly gone with a free tee-shirt as our prize!
With the sky clearing, we asked to be dropped at our original destination, Big Buddha.
Big Buddha
Another popular place within easy reach of our hotel was
Fishermans Village , Bophut
Fisherman’s Village at Bophut was a few kilometers anti-clockwise on the main circular road which goes around the island. Its a small village just off the main drag and so away from the traffic but with a long main street which for the most part is lined wall to wall with bars, restaurants and shops selling the usual tourist goods. It made for a good walk from Bang Rak and a pleasant place for lunch. On Friday night, the main drag becomes a very popular walking street.
Fishermans Village – a tad busier on Friday when the night market takes place.
Mae Nam Beach
After our stay at Secret Garden, our next stop was at Wazzah Resort Bungalows outside the village of Mae Nam, still on the north coast but east from Bang Rak along the coast road.
Unfortunately, despite glowing reviews, our accommodation here was awful. It’s fair to say the accommodation was cheap but that was no excuse for the poor accommodation. After 2 nights, with no other (better) rooms available we left the place despite a refusal to refund the rent we had paid in advance. Happily, in the event, the hotel subsequently relented and agreed a full refund by which time we were well ensconced in the very comfortable Amarin Hotel on the main road in the centre of the village in a deluxe room at £20 per night. The Amarin was excellent with lovely staff and very good rooms in a great location only a short walk to the beach but for some reason the hotel appeared to be almost empty whilst other more expensive hotels seemed largely full.
We enjoyed our stay in Mae Nam. A nice village with a night market on Thursday night but also some nice shops and restaurants including the excellent Fish Restaurant and a gapped Turkish restaurant, The Roman. The beach is quiet and although it’s narrow it made for some nice walks.
Nice beach at Mae Nam
Mae Nam’s small Night Market takes place on Thursday evening on Soi 4 in the small China Town area. As always there is good food to be found and dinner can be had for less than a fiver for two including a beer apiece.
Nathon
Nathon is a former capital of Samui on the west coast, a tuk tuk ride of about 30 minutes from Mae Nam costing little over a pound each. It’s a busy fishing town and is a ferry port for ferries going to other islands and to the mainland. We needed to visit as Nathon has an Immigration Office and we needed to extend our 30 day visa which turned out to be probably our easiest visa extension completed within half an hour in a single visit!
A few pictures
On the 1st February we should have started a 10 day excursion by ferry to Ko Phangan and Khao Toa but storms started to brew a couple of days before and although some ferries continued to sail, most were cancelled for at least one full day. We heard nightmare stories of the ferry crossing and decided against it. We cancelled our reservations for Koh Tao in time to get a full refund but our Phangan Hotel offered us an alternative stay anytime within the next 12 months which we may or may not take up.
Lamai
Having cancelled our Phangan and Ko Tao trips we decided to spend a few days in the lively resort of Lamai before flying back to Bangkok for a night en route to Kanchanaburi, location of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai, one of the places on our original itinerary which we had abandoned. We stayed in a small apartment at Chaulty Towers in Lamai, a place run by a very very affable Englishman, Steve and his Thai wife
Whilst the weather didn’t improve much (see the waves in the picture below), it did stay dry for most of our short stay in Lamai and we had a very enjoyable few days in a resort which has lots of bars, restaurants and an unbelievable number of massage places and its very own very naughty area with girly bars and more!
Lamai Beach
And Town
There are dozens of massage places here – they all charge much the same but according to our Host Steve at Chaulty Towers, some offer more services than others….
The excellent Shamrock Irish pub – quiet during the day
The Shamrock is an altogether different place at night, at 10.00 the pub rocks to the tunes of an excellent Philipino Band until it closes around 2am when the night clubs come alive….apparently !
Another excellent pub – this one Australian. Good Western food and Chang at 50 baht ( £1)
There are some excellent restaurants
And lots of girly bars….note the girls stood girating on stools inside the bar – shocking….
Chaweng
Chaweng is the biggest and busiest resort on the island and as it’s only a short distance from Lamai we had a day trip there by tuk-tuk. Again the place is full of shops (and at least one mall) restaurants and bars and whilst we didn’t hang around until the evening, the place is said to be much more “in your face” than Lamai.
At the end of our stay in Lamai, we left Ko Samui for Bangkok on 12th February and stayed at the Red Planet Hotel in the Surawaong District. This turned out to be a good choice with the Silom district and also the infamous Patpong red light district only a couple of hundred yards away. We had Sky Train stations nearby and the Chao Phraya River was only a 20 baht tuk tuk ride away with the main Railway Station Hua Lamphong also a cheap tuk tuk or taxi ride away – a great spot.
On 9th February we left Bangkok for Kanchanaburi. Pictures taken in Bangkok will be included in a later post when we return to BKK at the end of our Asia trip before returning to Turkey.
