Hope you had a good weekend. My side, things have been very quiet, being under quarantine and all. At least tomorrow, it's back to work for me and human contact again :)
So to wrap up my holiday news.....
Wednesday 12th:
Up at the crack of dawn to take a tour to the Bridge over the River Kwai - famous in history (it's featured in many WW2 movies). During WW2, the Japanese used prisoners of war as slave labour to build this bridge and railway line over the River Kwai, and through the surrounding mountainous area. Many POWs from Allies nations (Australia, UK, India, etc etc) died from malnutrition, disease and general bad treatment at the hands of the Japanese. When the Allies came in to bomb the bridge, the Japanese made the POWs line up on the railway and bridge, thus earning the railway the name of the Death Railway. We also visited the memorial cemetery of many of these POWs whose remains were never found or never made it home. Then was a trainride along the Death Railway, on an old train. Later, a trip to a popular waterfall area, which was quite packed with local Thai folk enjoying the day, as it was a public holiday, due to it being the Thai Queen's birthday that day. Then back to traffic-jammed Bangkok, and an early'ish night.
POW Memorial Cemetery
The Bridge over the River Kwai
Elephant trekking in the Thai jungle.
Feeding bananas to my beautiful elephant.
Local Thai people enjoying the Queen's Birthday (public holiday).
Thursday 13th:
Up at the crack of dawn again to go out to the Floating Market. Here one climbs in a longtail boat and you go shopping on the canals. Shopkeepers have their wares set up on the water's edge, so when you see something you like, your driver stops the boat, you pull up next to the store and proceed to haggle over prices. Sometimes, old women also drive their boats up and down the canals, peddling fresh local fruit and vegetables. We bought coconuts off a boat like this, freshly hacked open, with a straw stuck inside. Fresher coconut water, you ain't gonna find!
Fresh coconut water!
Then we off to the airport again, to catch a flight down south to the Krabi province, where we were to spend the last few days of our holiday. The accommodation was getting posher and posher, while the atmosphere was getting more and more relaxed, just the way we planned it. We stayed at a beautiful quiet resort on the beach. We each had our own teak villa. Al fresco dining on the beach, amazing sunsets, early morning walks on the beach, AMAZING food, thai massages, sleep, eat, sleep, eat....aaah, what a life!
Fire-breathing dragon cloud
Paradise
Early morning with view of islands in the background.
Friday 14th:
After a day of movies and sleep, we joined a trip into Krabi town, for some local sightseeing, shopping and hanging out with the other tourists.
Saturday 15th:
Idyllic lazy day of doing pretty much nothing at all, except enjoying paradise.
Sunday 16th:
We took a ride on a big speedboat to the Phi Phi islands. Snorkelling in a coral reef with the most beautifully decorated tropical fish and leopard sharks! Something bit me on my thigh at one point, but I couldn't tell what it was, must have been a curious fish! But it was quite swollen and itchy for a full week afterwards! We also visited the beach that was the location for the movie, THE BEACH. Then lunch on another island. Oh, paradise, paradise. I'll let the photos speak for me. My words cannot do justice to all the beauty.
After another awesome day, back to the resort.
Aboard our speed boat - really cool!
Movie location for THE BEACH (Leonardo de Caprio)
Beach restaurant where we ate lunch
Snorkelling...
... in crystal clear water.
Monday 17th:Quiet morning, spent resting and packing, lunch, then off to the airport, where our connecting flight to Bangkok was delayed by an hour, and the luggage took forever to come off, causing us to once again hit the air running on our way to Hong Kong and Korea!
Tuesday 18th:
Arrived back in Korea, and to the news that I had another 7 days to twiddle my thumbs, thanks to quarantine laws. Extra holiday for me, Yippy!!!!
And now it's finally Monday 24th. I go back to work tomorrow, on payday! How cool is that!
Anyway, that's all my news for now. Life should go back to normal now, until the next adventure coming up next month, when I plan to attend a Mask Dance Festival in Andong. This is the closest one can get to Korean culture in Korea. A group of us will stay in a traditional Korean village. Of course, I'll send you ALL the news!
Lots of love,
Have a great week everybody.
And please think of me..... this holiday trip has really made me miss home big-time!
Andrea
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