Epilogue - Sat June 8 - The Journey Home

Flight to Sydney was very uneventful. A bit late leaving and a Flight time of 8hours 20 minutes, arrived Sydney time 9:30. All four of us managed to get a reasonable sleep though sitting in Sydney transit area feeling a bit weary.  Six and a half hours before our flight to Auckland so we had a coffee, had a few hands of cards, browsed the Duty Free shops, no purchases they seem to be very overpriced.  

 We have all agreed to stay awake to try and adjust to the time zones..... Kim suggested she might snooze on the plane. No says Russell, you have to stay awake so we can have a good sleep tonight...... 10 minutes later......

    Russell NOT sleeping at Sydney airport!

Only a couple of hours to go.  We are all very much looking forward to seeing family and friends.

Day 50, Fri 7 June - Our final day in Asia

Well the last day has finally arrived. It was time for last minute shopping and swimming. Kim and Russell had cheese and jam on toast in their unit, Les and Brent had no cheese, bread or jam so went down to the Absolute restaurant and had brunch!

Then it was time for a morning swim, Brent at the beach and the other three at the pool.

Kim and Les decided that there was no point taking Thai money home and there was a few square inches in the bags so headed off towards the Big C shopping Centre.  The boys, having had enough of shopping (can't quite understand why?) decided a cold beer at the Halfway Inn was more their style so girls and boys split for a couple of hours!

Shopping done the girls went back to make sure it all would go in the cases and in triumph headed down to the pool.  The boys arrived shortly after and at 4 pm it was time for the final swim.  Next was a bite to eat and final pack, AND into our travel gear and shoes!!! After 7 weeks it was a bit of a shock.

Taxi arrived at 7pm and an easy hour to the airport. No problems with check in or customs, and three got through immigration easily however ........

Lesley, being friendly when advised that she was leaving on the last day of her visa said "yes, I love Thailand, its lovely and warm and NZ is really cold" Immigration officer says - "ah do you want to stay in Thailand?"  I laughed and said yes that would be good..... Hmmmmmm she started checking and re-checking the passport (other three intrepids are standing pn the OTHER side, waiting, laughing).  Then a senior officer is called over, "you want to live in Thailand?"  Les chuckles and says hmmmm no I must go home but it is lovely over here....... "You have bought HOUSE in Thailand?"  No, no, no,  I am going back to NZ oh dear!  They stamped my passport but didn't look entirely happy.  Note to,self, next time just say nothing!  Intrepid four were in the departure by about 8.30!

Spent the very last Baht on beers and sammies and boarded on time at 9.45pm..... Australia here we come.

Day 49, Thurs June 6 - Packing, playing and preparing to leave....

Today with less than 48 hours to go it was time for the test run of packing the bags, no more hypothetical discussions about whether it will all fit. Turns out both parties have sufficient space and can even squeeze a bit more in..... Shame we are down to the last few Baht.

    Brent and Les are looking good!  Ooooops forgot to put the Suit Bag in the photo!

   Kim and Russell are getting there..... Even room for the biscuit tins!!

While the trial pack was going on it was a chance to sort out any excess items that would not be making the trip back to NZ. We ended up with quite a pile.... From vegemite to face masks, from instant noodles to coconut lollies and instant coffee to novels. While we are not happy to give money to beggars we decided to put the booty into bags and give them to a couple of people on the street when we went out in the evening. 

About mid-day we went back to Song Pee Nong and had a lovely brunch then spent the afternoon reading, swimming and generally enjoying the last of our summer. About 7.30 decided it was time to go to the Barefoot  Beach Shack restaurant (for the third time!!!) for our last official dinner in Thailand. On our way we came across one Mum and toddler on the side of the road and deposited one bag with her.  She looked really pleased and the little girl was straight into it to see what she might find!

   Walking Street...... it gets closed off at night and the bars rage on till the wee small hours.

We continued on to the Restaurant, it was busy tonight but we were more than happy to sit in the cool of the evening having a cool drink while we waited for our delicious meal.

    Ready to order our last beach meal of the trip.

As expected we soon had wee children coming to the table selling flowers.  We didn't buy any but the littlest girl became the recipient of the second goody bag..... it was a delight to see her face when she realised we were serious and she was allowed to have the bag.  The dear wee thing could hardly lift the bag but her smile spread from ear to ear!

    Brent and the happy wee Flower Seller with her goody bag.

Finished the meal and had a lovely walk back along the beach to "home".

Saying good-bye to Day 49......

Day 48, Wed June 5 - The Adventure is nearly done

As day 48 dawns the reality is sinking in. With only 3 more days and two nights on a wonderful Tropical Island the foursome start to reminisce about the wonderful 48 days.

Spent the day doing as little as possible except swimming and reading.  Didn't  even eat very much.... Kim and Russell had lunch at 3.30 and Brent and Les hung out till tea time at 8.30!  Went to Song Nee Pong for tea and it was another successful choice.  Unfortunately no photos today, the boys are going to get fired any day now! So here's a couple of favourites that didn't make it in to previous blogs, just to make it interesting...

    A self portrait in the lift at the Hanoi Guest House - Saturday 11th May

   Three and a bit of the travellers on the way to Hoi An, Vietnam, May 13.

   Beautiful Words on a statue in a Buddhist Temple in Siem Reap - Wed May 22.

   Angkor Wat (no words required) Wed, May 22

   The Fruit market in Phuket Town, Tues May 28

There's plenty more where these came from.  Might need to use s few more tomorrow if the boys don't get busy with those cameras!

Day 48 bites the dust!!

Day 47, Tues June 4 - No Thai Today

Well the Intrepid Four have definitely got into the groove of rest and relaxation. We didn't even make our own breakfast this morning. It had been agreed that we would go to the restaurant at the resort for brunch and have a standard Big Breakfast or Eggs Benedict! After nearly 6 weeks of pretty much Asian cuisine it was nice to have some familiar "kiwi" food. 

    Breakfast Al Fresco at the Absolute Sea Pearl

 After brunch it was swim time which saw Brent at the beach and Les and Kim and Russell at the pool.  We all are very aware that there is only 3 more days before the big trip back to NZ so are trying to cram as much R & R into our last few days.  The books are being read, the sun is being sought and in Russell's case the music is being composed!  

A few discussions today on whether there's enough room in the bags for the shopping so far or whether there is maybe space for more.....

The biggest decision of the day was ..... where to go for dinner????   The tailor has recommended an excellent Indian restaurant so we all agreed that we'd make today our non Thai food day and go for Indian!   

The food must have been good because we forgot to take a photo until after it was all gone!  

    Dinner (table) at the Indian, Parkistan, Arabic, Seafood Halal restaurant take your pick!

Kim obviously decided that there was 2 square inches of space in their suitcase and on the way home from dinner they stopped to do some negotiations.....

Day 47 closing fast.....!

Day 46, Mon June 3 - A Royal day of Rest

After the big night out last night it was a bit of a slow start to Queen's Birthday and the Intrepid Four didn't speed up very much for the whole day.

The wind down to the end of the week has begun in earnest and it was a day of swimming, reading, a bit of golf watching for one (probably no names necessary) and some composing as well as a bit of strumming.

Brent and Lesley favoured the beach while Kim and Russell preferred the calmer waters in the pool.  With the afternoon swim ending close to sunset around 6.30 Brent noted that it was one of the better sunsets of the whole adventure.....

   The view from the Atrium at the front of our resort.

   A local fishing boat in the sunset.

   Patong Beach at sunset.

The penultimate fittings for the clothes was followed by a stroll down to the beach markets in search of some real street food for tea!  

We all went for a Phad Thai, Russell had seafood, Brent had chicken and Kim and Les shared a vegetarian ...... the girls also had a deep fried potato twirl each!  We sat at a table right in front of the food stall and devoured our meals.

   Russell's seafood Phad Thai being cooked.

   Real food on the beach.

Kim and Les did a spot of market browsing while the boys finished their beers then it was a mad dash in the rain back to the Absolute Sea Pearl.

So long Day 46!

Day 45, Sun June 2 - A Visit to FantaSea

Woken during the night to torrential rain and it was still raining this morning. Still a warm 31 degrees but felt cooler with the rain.

The planned part two of the bike ride had to be abandoned as the girls were not that fussed to be scootering around in the rain.  Though Brent did scoot off to Karon Bay to check out a couple of leather shops he spied yesterday with the idea of maybe getting a new bike jacket.  Unfortunately they were both closed!

The rain had pretty much stopped so we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon around the pool and at the beach.

A snack around two for Les, Russell and Kim to stave off the hunger until our Buffett Dinner tonight.  Brent settled for another swim.....Les spent a bit of time doing some TripAdvisor reviews, Kim went in search of the ultimate bargain and Russell and Johnson watched a bit of Golf.

Our 6.15pm pick up arrived at 5:50 and threw us into a bit of a panic but off we went and headed to FantaSea - The Ultimate Cultural Theme Park (according to the brochure).

Apologies for the photos but neither of the boys brought their cameras as the brochure said NO Cameras in the show..... didn't realise there'd be photo ops in the theme park so Les' slightly dated iPhone came to the party.  Surely better than no photos!!!

First it was off to the Buffet!

    Just one of the 8 plus buffet tables.

   Tucking in to the food.

    The dessert table.

    Kim and one of the elephants .... 

Lesley and one of the elephants.

   Very colourful!

    A child's wonderland!

At 8.40 it was time to go in for the 9pm show and it was like a show just going through the process of getting in with baby elephants, a tiny baby tiger being given a bottle, Thai girls in costumes and many other interesting sights.

The show itself was amazing.  Lasting over an hour with dancing, singing, magic illusions, aerial ballet, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, plus we counted 16 elephants on stage at one point, plus water buffalo, doves, goats, chickens..... You've got to see it to believe it.  We all felt that for about NZ $65 to get transfers, dinner and the show was worth while.

   The entrance to the restaurant that we dined in.

   A bit blurry but the entrance to the Palace of the Elephants. 

Day 44, Sat 1 June - Biking to the Big Buddha

It was a warm one today (a mild 32 degrees) so much of the morning was spent re-hydrating from the outside in - in the pool and beach that is!

Decided that yes, today was the day to hire a couple of motorbikes (135cc) and go sightseeing for a couple of hours.  After a couple of wrong turns and one hill so steep that Lesley had to get off the bike and walk we got on the right road to Karon Bay.  Wow it was worth the effort!

    Karon beach.

   The swimmers (and the dumped swimmer) at Karon beach.

We were off the bikes and in the water pretty damn quick.  A bit bigger surf than at Patong Beach and the vertically challenged amongst us couldn't quite get out beyond the breakers and kept on getting dumped on! Even lost her sunglasses (TWICE) and found them again, not sure why she was wearing sunglasses into the surf?!?!?

Next stop the Chalong Pier for a look.  Some rather lovely boats over there and Russell checked out the price of chartering a fishing boat for the day, BHT8,500 (NZ$340 approx).

   Russell and Kim hooning along the pier.  See the Big Buddha in the back ground (next stop).

   What a motley bunch! Russell couldn't get his helmet to stay on straight!

 Now it's off to the Big Buddha, it is still a work in progress but we all agreed he is probably the best looking Buddha we have seen on the adventure.

   Wat Chalong 

  Two sculptors working on a Monk figure under the Big Buddha.

We had a lovely time up at the Big Buddha and got fantastic views over much of Phuket, unfortunately it was a bit hazy.

   View from the Big Buddha.

   A young elephant being fed, the adults were working on the hill behind.

 The dark clouds were gathering so we decided it was time to head for home.

   The wee bikes!  Not quite what Brent is used to riding in NZ!

An hour or two spent downloading photos, having a cool shower and a cold beer.... Then it was time to think about food?  We all agreed it was worth the walk to the restaurant on the beach so that's where we headed.  Fantastic meal.  Kim gave her Tom Yum Hed soup (veggie Tom Yum Goong) a 10 out of 10 so that is saying something.  We even had the chef come out to see us so we could praise him for the fabulous food.  Then a walk back home along the beach watching the fireworks and Day 44 comes to a close.

Day 43, Fri May 31 - Visiting 007 at home?

An action packed day today, pick up at 10 by our tour guide Kim (popular name over here) and off to the mainland to visit the Monkey Cave at Suwankuha Temple, lots of monkeys, and quite an impressive reclining Buddha but after the Monkey Cave at Cat Ba in Vietnam this one just didn't measure up.

    Just one of the troupe of monkeys

    The Reclining Buddha

Back in the minibus and off to the pier  at Phang Nga, a lovely boat ride through the Phang Nga National Park.  Beautiful scenery and quite fun to be racing along in the Long Tail Boat, another mode of transport to add to the list.

  Not our boat but an identical Long Tail Boat

   The lucky travellers

Our first stop on the boat was to Koh Pan-Yee the Muslim floating fishing village and restaurants where we were treated to a very substantial lunch, in fact the most choice of vegetarian food Kim and Les have had the whole holiday.  

   This one speaks for itself....

   Les at the Muslim fishing village

Then it was off to Ta-Phu the Eye of the Crab Island, otherwise know as James Bond Island, which was made famous in 1975 with the making of 007 The Man with the Golden Gun with Roger Moore.  Actually it is a very small Island and not that spectacular but some of the surrounding karsts and islands are beautiful.  

   Our tour guide Kim took this for us - he's obviously done this before.

   Kim preventing the leaning rock of Bond!

We had a lovely half hour on the island and then enjoyed another hour cruising through the National Park and back to the pier for a transfer to the minibus and back to Phuket Island and our Hotel. 

   One of many amazing shots of the day

A full day from 10 am to 6pm for around $35 each was good value.  Once back "at home" it was time for a sunset swim for Brent and Les.  Kim and Russell opted for a cool shower!  Then off in search of food.  We had decided that as it wasn't a BBQ night at the Halfway Inn we'd go and see if Nan could rustle up a good vegetarian red curry?  She assured Kim she could and we waited with baited breath until the GREEN curry arrived.....hmmmm lost in translation maybe.  Never mind we all enjoyed our meal and host Dave was very chatty and so it was a good night.

The intrepid four feel that maybe we are getting a bit soft, it has only taken a week, and a day out has got us whacked!  Time for an early night! The plan for tomorrow is to hire a couple of motorbikes and do a bit of free sightseeing.  More on that tomorrow.

Day 42, Thurs May 30 - Cruisey day in the Bay

We just might get used to this lazing around if we're not careful.  Spent the morning swimming at the beach and in the pool.  Did a bit of planning for the next few days and headed up the road to do some bookings.

Have decided to go to James Bond Island tomorrow rather than Phi Phi, we've been told by several people that its the better option.  And on numerous recommendations we are going to FantaSea on Sunday night, sounds like a bit of a Cabaret, show, circus combined and we're opting for the Buffett dinner as well.... So those activities should give us something to write about and photos to post.

Sorry Brent D for the disappointing blog yesterday.... Yes SIX lines is hardly worth opening the blog for huh???

After making our bookings we visited the food stalls on the beach and of course had to sample a couple of dishes.  Les has been raving about the BBQ potato twirls and the girls just couldn't resist!

   A whole potato sliced in one piece in a continuous twirl and, you got it, deep fried!  Yum!!

The boys had a chicken skewer but nowhere near as interesting so no photo.  K and R decided to continue on the top end of Patong Beach and L and B meandered back home and cooled off at the beach.

Kim and Russell came back with the news that they have found a beach restaurant at the top end of the bay with a great veggie selection so after a further fitting at the tailor for Brent and Les we all strolled up to see if they can live up to our expectations....

   Ten points for ambience.... only metres from the lapping waves.....

    And 8.5/10 for the food so a success!  

Between us we tried green curry, red curry, spicy fried rice, spicy shrimp cakes and Panang chicken and we all agreed it was up there with the best we've tried so far.  That could be because of the influence of the Happy Hour cocktails?!?!?  No, it was great and we've agreed we'll be back.

The bonus of this restaurant is that being right on the beach the intrepid 4 then enjoyed a romantic stroll back along the beach to the Absolute Sea Pearl with no-one trying to sell us anything.  Also there was a bit of action on the beach with fire works, a juggler juggling fire sticks and Chinese lanterns with candles being released every so often which made it a lovely stroll home.

   The lights across the bay.

   Juggling fire .... Don't try this at home!