I’ve now had a few days around Phuket Thailand. One thing for sure is how very touristy it is, the amount of Russians here is unbelievable, road signs are in Russian, menus are in Russian, tour operatours display in Russian. Have moved around the island a little to stay at different beach locations, rented a scooter for the day which took me to a few beaches and view points around the coast. Went on a couple of trips the first took me out to the famous Phi Phi island, scene of ‘The Beach’ film, unfortunately the entire Russian population decided to attend on the same day that i went?
Kata and Karon Bays –
Kata and Karon Bays
View from Phuket Thailand
Busy beaches Russian style –
‘The Beach’ Thailand
‘The Beach’ Thailand
Beautiful bays and not so crowded –
The second organised trip i went on took me up to the famous Phang Nga Bay region, a stunning place with huge limestone rocks soaring up from ths sea. I joined a trip that took you via boat and kayak around some islands and in and under some ‘hongs’. Some of the limestone formations actually have small lakes inside them that are only accessible by kayak through some caves at low tide. We had to lay flat on our backs to get under the roofs of the caves to get into the hongs –
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Phang Nga Bay Phuket Thailand
Me and my Kathrong, my gift to the gods of the seas which we released from the boat at sunset.
After New Year i left my friend Roger and flew up to Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. The north of Thailand is regarded by some as the real Thailand, not too touristy and not developed. Chiang Rai was an old walled city, the capital of northern Thailand many years ago, not very big and easy to walk around within the city walls. Even in a small area there are many temples to see, wanting to get out and about i booked myself on a day tour that covered most of the things in that area. First stop was the amazing white temple, not actually a temple but a work of art, created by a local sculpture it still isn’t finished after 10 years.
White Temple Chiang Rai
White Temple Chiang Rai
White Temple Chiang Rai
White Temple Chiang Rai
White Temple Chiang Rai
White Temple Chiang Rai
Next stop was the Black House ( they like to keep the names simple here), a huge wooden building with huge tables, chairs, buffalo heads, skins and spears. It got a bit stranger as we walked around the grounds, more wooden buildings with more skulls, spears, skins, furs,etc,etc. I’ve never seen so much animal paraphernalia in my life, the artist that created all of it must have had a slightly twisted mind or at least had a fascination with hunting. Didn’t take too many photos of this place, must have been slightly disturbed……
Black House Chiang Rai
Black House Chiang Rai
Black House Chiang Rai
Black House Chiang Rai
From there we headed north to the Golden Triangle, a place where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos met. I thought that it was just a tourist name given to the place but it was called the golden triangle as gold was traded for opium between Burma and Thailand.
Golden Triangle Thailand
Golden Triangle Thailand
After this we go to a place where 5 different hill tribe people live. Many years ago people moved across the borders of Burma and Laos into northern Thailand to avoid various conflicts going on. They lived in a small corner of the country together, not recognised by the Thai country they stayed and lived but at least when their children were born they received Thai citizenship. One of the tribe was the famous Karen Tribe (long neck tribe)
Karen Tribe ( Long Neck People)
Karen Tribe ( Long Neck People)
Another different tribe, can’t remember their name !!
Monkeys –
Baby –
Buddha –
Whilst in Chiang Rai i booked on a combined ATV/white water rafting trip, a couple of hours on the river followed by lunch and then a 40 kms ride through some off road terrain around the hillside. Rafting outside of Chiang Rai –
