"Don't listen to what they say. Go see."
Chinese Proverb
On January 13, 2025, Melanie and myself once again hit the road for our yearly winter run-away. This year we began our run-away to the Land of Smiles......
Thailand
I first came to Thailand in 2000 and fell in love with the place, since then I've been back many times. The country has everything that I want when I travel: friendly and welcoming people (always smiling); amazing weather; culture, culture, culture; super delicious food; reasonably cheap prices; fantastic health care (if ever needed); an unbelievable tourist and transportation infrastructure; etc., etc., etc. When it comes to travelling, for people wanting to step out of their comfort zone, Thailand is a good place to start!!
For this trip, the 25 year anniversary 'Return to Thailand Tour', we are going to spend some time down south, before heading up north and then returning to the middle - an up, down, all around and back again type trip!
Thailand, from my province of Newfoundland & Labrador, is pretty much on the other side of the planet, thus making the journey here a rather lengthy process. From start to finish, our journey took us 42 hours, including four separate flights and 12 separate time zones. We finally touched down on Thailand's second largest island........
Ko Samui
One of Thailand's most visited tourist destinations, Samui Island ('Ko' means island) has something to offer everyone - from package resort tourists to budget backpacking travellers. All are attracted to Samui's blend of natural beauty, vibrant culture, and the many activities that are available; making it an ideal destination for anyone seeking a tropical escape to a paradise island.
Our first couple of days were dedicated to lazying around and getting acclimatized to the heat and lifestyle. For instance, we went to a cabaret......
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| Thailand is famous for the 'lady-boys', and they can put off quite the show! Here, they're moving and grooving to America's new national anthem....At The YMCA. |
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"I swear Melanie, I was only talking to her him. I don't even know his her name." |
We had a hotel on Chaweng Beach, so we would wander down to said beach for a gawk and cocktail....
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| Forty-four planes arrive each day. I know.....I counted them from our balcony, which is almost directly below that jet. |
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| Iceman cometh! All the ice that goes into those beach cocktails.....this guy lugged it there, on his shoulders, without using his hands, all 100 lbs. of him and 150 lbs. of ice. |
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Lunchtime! What to have? What to have?
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| How I feel after a big ole feed! |
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| And now a moment from our sponsors, the Selfie Miesters! |
The beaches of Ko Samui are the main reason why the island appears on the bucket list of so many travellers. With over 40 world class beaches, there's no shortage, but alas, Melanie and I are not very much into beaches, so why come here is the question? Well that answer is easy.....Ang Thong National Marine Park. This marine park consists of 42 islands, accessible from Ko Samui by speedboat, and we went there for a full day of snorkelling, kayaking and hiking.
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| The Ang Thong islands are 36 kms. from Ko Samui and it takes a full hour across open sea to reach. |
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| Our first stop is for some snorkelling. There are all the usual suspects...... |
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| ......including Melanie the Mermaid, and..... |
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| .....Nemo and his cousin, Nimrod..... |
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| .....and turtle turtle rah rah rah! |
Next stop at Ang Thong is the emerald lake on Ko Mae Ko island.....
If you want to see this view it requires walking up 465 steps, or downloading it from Pintrest.....
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| .....and if you want to get down to the lake, it is another 465 steps down. |
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| Probably not up to code. Stairs are always interesting when it requires the use of all 4's. |
While in Ang Thong we also went for a kayak.... |
| We walked-a-shore from our speedboat to get our kayak. Is it just me, or does that karst behind Melanie have a big smile on his rock-face? |
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| "Hey Melanie, it's January 17th., what would we be doing if we were back home?" "Not this B!!" |
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| The resilience of nature: the four palm trees are, quite literally, growing out of cracks in the solid rock. |
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| "Dis wat I'm talking bout!" |
Our final task is to climb Ang Thong's highest point on Ko Wua Talap.
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| The trail starts at the park headquarters where some spider monkey's were hanging about waiting to snatch some poor fools cell phone. |
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| The viewpoint is only accessible by climbing the 500 metre trail to the top...... |
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| ....and the view from the top is spectacular! And the view of the islands are pretty good as well!!!!! |
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| And, but of course, what goes up must now go down. |
With our trip to Ang Thong out of the way we can relax, collect our thoughts and zen-out at a couple of Thailand's many, many.......many temples and shrines! |
| And the Big Girl introduces: "B, the tree-hugger." |
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| The 18-armed Goddess Guanyin. I'm pretty sure that's a hamburger in her right-hand(s). |
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| Melanie checking out the 'Big Buddha' Temple and that be the Big Buddha (all 12 metres of him). |
After a week on Ko Samui island, it was time to move on to our next destination......
Krabi (Ao Nang)
We first came to Ao Nang beach, by mistake, nearly a year ago. On that trip, we were supposed to go to Myanmar for a month, but that country had a resurgence in their civil war and we had to divert. Ao Nang (considered part of Krabi) was our diversion for a couple of weeks before continuing our onward journey. The funny thing is we did absolutely nothing our first time here, so we had to come back and see some of the place!
Ao Nang beach in Krabi, thanks to its unchecked development and being huddled in the shadows of stunning karst scenery, is kinda an ugly-pretty town....if that makes any sense.
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| When we were here before we would go to the Reggae Bar to hear some live music. Went back for the same reasons....of course the gin & tonics are also good! |
While in Ao Nang, we took a side trip to the famous island of Ko Phi Phi. So why is Phi Phi famous you ask? Good question! Leonardo DiCaprio's movie The Beach was filmed there and apparently that's sufficient to make it famous.....who knew? I didn't, but now we all know! There are only two ways to get to Phi Phi, either via ferry from Phuket or from Krabi.
With my beach tolerance well exceeded, it was time to move north to Thailand's second largest city......
Chiang Mai
The laid back city of Chiang Mai is an endearing mix of old and new: the moated, walled old quarter shelters ancient Lanna influence temples, while a traveller-friendly scene caters to everyone from culture vultures to the party set. Its gleaming temples and golden Buddhas frame the landscape, serving as a stunning backdrop for the numerous noodle shacks and massage parlours that seem to be everywhere.
Despite being more than 700 years old and filled with 300 Buddhist temples, Chiang Mai means "new city" - and is Thailand's second largest city. The Old Quarter is set within a two-kilometre-square moat and it still retains much of its historical traditions, culture and architecture. We go for a walkabout.....
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| One of the four original gates to the Old Quarter, used mainly now for the Instagramming Glamour Girl shots. |
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| The moat that surrounds the Old Quarter - if you accidentally fell into it, you'd need a tetanus shot, but it certainly looks pretty. |
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| "Run byes, he's about to blow!" |
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| Monk-in-training at one of the many local temples. |
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| The 700 year old chedi of the Wat Lok Moli temple. Notice the tiny Black Buddha perched in the chedi recess near the top. |
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| You'd think da wife would have told me I had my hands backwards!?!? |
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| Another News Year Day celebration for us!!! Here in Thailand they use a lunar calendar, as opposed to the Christian Gregorian calendar that we use back home, so the year here is 2568 NOT 2025..... just saying! |
One of the many things we always wanted to do in northern Thailand is to help at an Elephant Rescue Sanctuary. Now before the tree-huggers start writing me I want to clarify: these elephants are free to come and go and are not tied up or forced to do Elephant 'shows' for the tourist. Many of the elephants are rescued beast of burden from the lumber industry.
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| A dangerous combination: Melanie and a machete! We're preparing the delicious salted sugarcane and banana shoot salad for the big boys and girls! |
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| "Whoaaaa.....wasn't expecting that hey Mel!!!" |
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| Introducing Aloysius Snuffleupagus (age - 39) and his older friend, Schnozzle Woozzle (age - 79). |
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| To quote Cheech and Chong: "Everything goes up his nose". |
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After a good feed, it was time to apply a thick layer of suncreen consisting of mud and elephant sh*t.
" Yeah Missus, a little extra there!" |
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| And we'll end the spa session with a nice bath! |
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And with that he crossed the river, waved goodbye, and headed into the jungle for a well deserved nap.
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| And now a moment from our sponsors, the Selfie Miesters. |
On another day we ventured out of Chiang Mai to visit yet another hill-top temple (we're suckers for punishment). You can see the 700 year old temple, Wat Doi Suthep, from Chiang Mai but what you don't see are the steps to the top!!
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| Oh great more stairs.....Race ya to the top! |
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| 1,000 metres up, the temple air is crisp and clean and the bougainvillea is in full bloom! Life is good! |
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| Two o'clock mass taking place. |
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| Prayer bells......21 of them, all with the same pitch. Bang one or bang them all, still gonna sound the same. |
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| Monk removing an Instagramming Glamour Girl after inappropriately posing in a sacred place. The nerve of some monks.....how dare they. |
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| And now a moment from our sponsors, the Selfie Miesters. |
Next stop in the 25th anniversary Return to Thailand Tour is to the less touristy, more undiscovered city of......
Lampang
Given the town's laid-back riverside charm, a generous spread of attractive old buildings and some of the cheapest prices in Thailand, Lampang should be more popular than it is with travellers.
This was our first time in Lampang, so like ya would, we battled the hordes of foreign tourist (we saw five the entire time here) and went and had a gawk....
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| Melanie navigating her bicycle through the gaggles of tourist in Lampang on the riverside road. |
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| The history of Lampang: in the 1800's it was the centre of the 'teak wood' industry and was run by British Lumber Barons who built elaborate buildings more resembling those in London than Thailand...... |
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| .....such as this elegant mansion of a long-forgotten British Lumber Baron. |
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| The Chiang Rai Temple in Lampang, so called because it is supposed to resemble the White Temple in Chiang Rai.....makes sense! |
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| Lampang's Clock Tower. Don't see many of these in Thailand. |
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| Melanie on our hotel balcony (riverside) watching the carcass of a Ceremonial Boat float by. |
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| During the night we would sit on our balcony and watch the underwater fisherman do their thing. No idea what they are fishing for but the spot in front of our balcony was definitely THE spot! |
Next question is why go to Lampang? Well, I saw a video on YouTube of the Buddha temple Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat or simply put, 'Sky Pagoda', and I wanted to go....true story! There are thousands of temples in Thailand but this one is more unique with the temple pieces perched on top of a dramatic mountain, it's known as Thailand's Floating Pagodas!
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| Yup, we be going up there! |
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| 840 metres up.....nearly a kilometre. All steps! |
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| Only got pictures of Melanie going down as I was too out of breath to take any pictures going up! |
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| Took a wrong path that brought us to this, which is when we decided it was time to turn back!! |
After 1/2 hour of gasping for my breath, we reach the top......
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| All kinds of fun things up here! Since we were the only people around I had no problem practising my moves..... |
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| .....this one was my favourite! |
OK, enough of that! I believe we got our steps in for one day, time to soak the ole bones in a hot tub......or hot springs....or both!
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| Hot springs in Thailand.....who would have thunk it!?!? |
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| Hot enough to cook soft boiled eggs, somewhat similar to a sous vide, but not hot enough to hard boil cook them. So what do the locals do? Bring baskets of eggs to the hot springs to cook the perfect soft boiled egg without the fancy sous vide machine!! Like you would!! |
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| First we give the feet a nice warm soak........ |
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.....and then we soak the entire body in a private bath-house! Felt like a soft boiled egg right here!
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All good things must end. So we hit the road to our next destination, the UNESCO World Heritage town of.....
Sukhothai
Apparently the Sukhothai Kingdom flourished from the mid-13th century to the late 14th century. The remains of that kingdom can be found in the Historical Park which has a whopping 21 large temple sites and four large ponds within its walls, with an additional 70 sites within a 5km radius of the Park.
The Sukhothai site is quite huge and to properly see it requires renting a bicycle (motorized vehicles are prohibited). So we did just that, rented a bicycle and went for a visit.......
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| Melanie checking out the 1960's bicycle.....one gear.....one brake.....one speed! Quite a difference from our eBikes! |
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| They grow mega-sized lily pads around these parts. There's a story of a Chinese Instagramming Glamour Girl who wanted THE 'perfect picture'. She tried to get this perfect pic by attempting to stand on one of these mega-sized lily pads. Gawd, that would have been fun to watch as she sunk into the cesspool! THE perfect picture!!! |
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| The name Sukhothai means "Rising of Happiness", which I thought was the title of a porn-movie! |
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| Stop right there, in the name of love. |
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| Divine intervention OR perfect timing of the sun on the stupa?!? |
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| And then the sun went down....... |
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| ....and the lights came on! |
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| Melanie checking out the main street with the hundreds of lanterns. |
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| It's getting late and it's cutting into beer time, so we mount up and head back to the hotel. |
And with that our time in Sukhothai comes to an end. We grab a 7 hour bus from here to the modern metropolis of.......
Bangkok
"Same same, but different." This Thai T-shirt philosophy sums up Bangkok, a city where the familiar and the exotic collide like the flavours on a plate of Pad Tai.
Home to 22% of the Thai population, its vast urban sprawl is studded with gleaming golden Buddhist monasteries, towering skyscrapers, teeming markets, multi-lane highways and clusters of village-style houses that show just how far Bangkok has come since the first time I came here 25 years ago.
Travellers to Bangkok can expect to have all their senses stimulated - tastebuds get activated to almost euphoric levels by the lavish spices and complex flavours, while the gleaming spires and rainbow mosiacs of Bangkok's temples and monasteries are a fest for the eyes, all the while the ears resonate with the roar of traffic and street music. Even the sense of smell gets a workout from the traffic fumes, incense, cooking meat and sizzling noodles!
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| The view from our rented condo balcony! As a side note: In this picture, on the left-hand side, you'll see a 3-tower skyscraper connected by skybridges - during the Myanmar earthquake of March 28, 2025 (after we had left Thailand), the skybridges separated from the swaying towers and pieces of rubble toppled to the streets below. Scary stuff. |
On just about any trip to Southeast Asia, you are bound to fly into the Bangkok hub, so we've been here multiple times! However being a tourist here, we have not been, so on this trip we decided to see some of the city and our first visit was to Chinatown.
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| A Chinese paifang (ceremonial gate) welcomes all that comes to the madness that is Bangkok's Chinatown. |
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| Chinese lanterns in the thousands hover above the streets like mosquitoes back in Newfoundland. |
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| People flock to Chinatown for the food. I'm not saying you're going to recognize any of it, but chances are it's pretty delicious. |
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| "Hey missus, yer pot's on fire." |
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"Get your snacks here......fresh Khoa Pod Mak here."
"Melanie you want some Khoa Pod Mak?" |
After we had explored the many hidden alleyways of Chinatown it was time to turn our efforts towards royalty and that meant a trip to the Royal Palace for tea and crumpets.
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| The Royal Palace compound is HUGE. The outer wall is nearly 2 kilometres in length on all four sides.....no shade and the temperature hoovering around 38C it was a brutal walk to get to the gate. |
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| First stop, the Reclining Buddha of Bangkok, which is 49 metres long and completely covered in gold leaf. |
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| I be looking at he and he be looking at me between the pillars. |
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| The Royal Palace compound, at 218,400 sq. mts., means a person could get lost in and among these stupas for years! We met one guy who was wandering around lost for 3 years. |
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| Yes! Shade - thank Gawd for small miracles!! |
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| The Royal Palace is no longer used as the official residence of the King, probably because there is no privacy for the family - the site gets over 8 million visitors a year. |
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| "Where did everybody go?" |
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| The roof-top nine-tier Royal umbrella's (that's what they are called) are considered the most sacred and ancient of the royal regalia of Thailand. Probably wouldn't withstand a good Newfoundland windstorm though! |
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| The Royal Palace. No tea and no crumpets......fawkers....I'm not impressed. |
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| A left-over from days gone by - the changing of the guard. I think they were actually playing Waltzing Matilda Thai style. |
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| And the last word goes to this jewel-encrusted golden boy - "thanks for coming along for the ride." |
And with that, our 25 year anniversary 'Return to Thailand' tour, is over. Stay tune for the next winter run-away tour!!
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