Ko Pangan

Now after a week in Kanchanaburi of relaxation I had decided to explore SCUBA diving. I organised some SCUBA courses on Ko Pangan which is the middl island between Ko Tao in the north and Ko Samui to the south. Well known for its full moon parties and now half and black moon parties. Where tourists come to party all night and take illegal substances.

I however had other plans. A week of diving. I planned to complete my Open Water and Advanced Open Water certificates during this time. I had booked accomodation at Chaoloklum Bay Resort which was also where the dive centre was located. Every day I was picked up and dropped off at my bungalow by the dive centre. Lotus diving became my home away from home and I was hooked on diving. My instructor was Thai and had also lived in NZ. Tauranga is where he had lived and had married a NZ lady. Kio was his name and he was awsome.

I also was fortunate to have two swedish girls as my dive masters. They were doing their last assessments for the dive master course. The poeple of the bay are really relaxed and like to speak english which really helps. There are a lot of farang that have settled here also.

Definatly one of the highlights of this trip. Take a look at the snaps and I am sure you will agree. This place is beautifull and has some of the best diving so I am told. I spent the week diving everyday and then returning to my resort to chillout and meet up with the every changing clientelle.

Kanchanaburi - Srisawat

Now I wont repeat myself by telling you about Kanchanaburi again however this time I went a little further north from Kanchanaburi. AL had a voucher for a night at a resort and we thought we would head up there for the night and on his return to Bangkok I would remain in Kan for a further few days.

We left BKK for Srisawat where the resort was. Lake Heaven was our destination. Bungalows which float on the lake. I was dreading the night stay here however it turned out to be alright. There is not much traffic on the lake so minimal movement of the bungalow. The place is beautifull. They have a great menu and is reasonably priced.

On the way to Lake Heaven we stopped off at the Srinakarin Dam which is one of the larger in Thailand commisioned by the King.

Chiang Mai - Mae Sai

Now my tourist visa was not far form expiry so I thought I would take a trip to Mae Sai and jump the border. We borded the bus to Chiang Mai and then purchased tickets to Mae Sai on arrival. The bus would not leave untill the following morning so we had to stay another night in Chiang Mai (sigh) the reason for sarcasim is that every night I stay in Chiang Mai I go to a little bar on the river named La Brasserie and there I see my man "Took" play his guitar. Now I am a mega Jimi Hendrix fan and for me it is like see the legend live. Needless to say the guy can play. Not only does he whale out Jimi renditions but also great tracks from the cream, pink floyd, led zep and countless others. Dont worry he has a CD and I brought it. Only 7 tracks on the unlabelled album however it is nice. He plays every night for an hour from 12pm-1am. There is usually an opening band and they are rather good themselves.

So after a good nights sleep we were off. We had purchased VIP bus tickets for a change as we had had a rough few days. Besides its only 100baht more ($4 for those of you back home) So off we went on our 24 seater aircon bus. Sooo much leg room. After 5 hours and a few stops along the way we were in Mae Sai. After a quick 8baht songtaew ride to the border bridge we went in search of some accomodation. After walking the streets I turned around and stumbled up on Monkey Island (ha ha). Glissening tiled floors rec lounge restaurant and beautifull rooms. The ex-pat owner from England was tops also. 250baht a night free internet (wifi, laptops provided) extensive library and pool table what else would you want? Anyways we had a shower to freshen up and I headed down stairs to have a chat to the owner. Struck conversation with himself and a few buddies of his from Pattaya. Now most ex-pats have a nice little thai or equivalent wife so it is not uncommon to see a 70 year old man with a 25-30 year old girl. Anyhow, we had dinner and talked some more and drank the night away. Now there is more to this story however I will tell anyone who is interested in person.....

The next morning it was over the border to Myanmar (Burma) I spent a total of about 1 hour over the border and then I headed back to Mae Sai. I brought a tonne of DVD's and some little elephants. Now those interested in the border jumping idea heres the deal. 500baht or $10US for a day visa to burma. Then on return the Thai immagration will stamp your passport with another 30days. Kills two birds with one stone kind of thing. So back in Mae Sai I went back to the monkey island and had something to eat before I departed back to Chiang Mai (sigh). As I was chatting to sunny he informed me that another Kiwi who lives in the area was just here and that we should meet up. Nick from NZ then comes back in and we hit it off. He lives in the most amazing valley in Mae Sai directed at the border he lives with his wife who is Karen. We exchanged emails and he said anytime I wanted to stay Mi casa, su casa. So that was pretty wicked.

Now your probably asking...."Where are the pictures!!!!"....well I left the camera at the guest house in Chiang Mai, hence me going back to Chiang Mai and not directly back to Bangkok.... :/......ahhh yeah.

Mae Hong Son

Now after 2 days in Pai I had started to have enough. Losing my phone somewhere along the way I thought it was time to move on. Mae Hong Son was the next place on my list. Marie had decided to tagg along. So we packed up and headed to the bus station. Yet another little government bus.

Arriving in Mae Hong Son it was late afternoon so we booked into a guesthouse and had a nap. Went out and found a nice little pizza place was my first western food for a while, sooo good. Then it was off to my local, crossroads. Was a cool place which played uncle bob and some nice rock.

The next day I got another bike and we blasted up to the fish cave where there are huge karp which lurk around this little cave. Quite cool and you can feed the fish...not that they need feeding.

After the fish cave it was up to the waterfall. Unfortunatly there was not much water and it was a bit of an anticlimax still I could see the potential with a little imagination.

Then it was a 35km trip up to the northern most village of Mae Aw which sits directly north from mae hong son bordering Burma. We had some Tea and noodles and then headed back....now in the ciccanes there was a ute looming.....and on the hairpin it came onto my side and almost blew my lights out. However he shifted over gave me a little room and we had a mild crash with a few scrapes. Luckily it was a low speed slide (veteran now huh guys) anyway the driver stopped picked us up and appologised repeatedly. A little shaken we headed to a resort for a spa and a soak.

The next day we got up early and hiked up the hill to the temple which overlooked mae hong son.

Pai

After the two days in chiang mai I thought I would jump on a government bus to Pai. Now it is spelt Pai however in Thai language there is no p sound. So it is pronounced "Bye". That sorted I was off. Ha ha now the bus ride to Pai is an experience. Small little busses are used and in addition their metric to imerial conversions or something has gone wrong as all the leg room varies and generally is better on the righthand side of the bus. We had had a decent storm the night beforehand and the road was covered in mud. Great stuff.

I was seated next to a French chick and we started to chat. She was a real tourist. Backpak and all. Arriving in Pai we had decided to stick together. An english dude looking rather lost joined the gang also. So Paul, Marie and I headed off to find a guesthouse. Mr Jans had sounded good to me while reading on the bus. So we headed there and found 3 rooms for 100baht each. With hot shower may I add. Now you may wonder why in Thailand you would want a hot shower...well you just do alright?. We then headed to find a bar for some drinks. 50 satang bar would be the place (50 cent bar, and no nothing was 50 cents well maybe the thai vodka but go fourth at your own will on that one). The owner "Pong" was a great dude. He took us up on motorbikes to see his resort that he is building which has a almost 360 degree view of the valley. He was tops. We met up with some people from Belgium...they were amazing. They both could speak 4 languages by the time they were 14. Fabrice and Mia were the couples names. We spent most nights otp with them at various places in the little town. Now the cool thing about Pai is that when one bar closes everyone goes to the next and the next and eventually we all end up at Bamboo which stays open till sunrise. Great.

Chiang Mai - Day two

So after a goodnight....out I got up earlish and rented another motorbike. Deciding to take a trip up the mountain to Wat That Doi Suthep now this is apparently the specticle of tourism in Chiang Mai a must they say....and it is. It was overcast and knowing the weather in Thailand I decided to go past the temple and head toward the village at the end of the road (20km and the bottom of the mountain. Now it had started to spit and the mist was coming in which made things interesting. Arriving at the village it was pretty average, although the surroundings in which they lived in were magic. Dense bush covered the hills as far as the eye could see. Simple living.




After the village I headed back up the mountain to the Royal Winter Palace. Luckily the King was not in residence (January-Late March) so I was able to walk around the grounds and visit the palace itself and also the many other buildings. Not allowed to enter however close enough to them. Scattered with rose, fern and bamboo gardens. It is a good look if you have time. There are Giant Bamboo which stand over 100M.









After the Palace it was back to Doi Suthep, the sun was out at this stage and blistering. Now this temple has the biggest chedi which is covered in gold it is rather spectacular. Not only the Chedi the whole temple and surroundings are great. Dating back to the fourteenth century. They say taht the building site for the chedi was determined by elephant. Budist relics were loaded onto the beast of burden and where it stopped on the mountain the chedi would be built. Not only budist relics but the temple has the best view over Chaing Mai. Like all temples there are steps....this one however boasts over 300 so if your not in great shape take the chair lift.