YONI MASSAGE, ANYONE? - Relaxation and preparation in Ko Phangan/Bangkok, Thailand

....see our time working at Birdnest in Kl here.......

Our month or so “recovery” in our little hut right on Sritanu Beach on Ko Phangan (east coast Thailand) did us the world of good, and when our sleep patterns returned to normal and the stress dreams/nightmares about hostel bookings ended, we relaxed as much as two people can, and let ourselves feel OK about doing nothing for a while.

By the way, anyone looking for a cheap, easy beach place to unwind over the June/July/Aug in Thailand (when the west coast weather can be horrid), Sritanu Beach has many bungalows for less than 200 Baht a night, a wide range of cheap places to eat, and quite a chilled atmosphere .

"Our" view

Unwinding

Relaxed at last!

Any more relaxed and he would fall out!

Our bungalow

View from bungalow-right on the beach

Sritanu Beach seems to have become one of those places that attract serious yoga types, more than travellers, and we were practically the only people at our bungalows not involved in yoga in some way. The tantric yoga class sounded intriguing, what with the "yoni massages" and the like, but at 300 Euros for four days, well out of our budget! A very chilled out and relaxed vibe surrounded the place, with most people out most of the day at classes and gone to bed early!!

Morning view of one of the neighbours

Didgeridoo healings??!!

Yoga fanatics abound

More healing......

Yogic bread- why not?

The time out was also a great opportunity to slowly start some proper research about the next part of our lives- our trip to India and beyond. Our days spent reading, walking, swimming, sleeping etc flew by, and before we knew it, we were feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world again! It was time to leave and tackle the serious business of getting ourselves Indian visas in Bangkok.

Richard's shell collection

Friends we'd met at the Birdnest, Kuala Lumpur

Storm coming- time to get out of here!!

Last time we visited India, we simply walked into the visa office in Kuala Lumpur, filled in a form, gave them a reasonable amount of money, and went back a few days later to pick up our lovely six months visa. Now, the KL office no longer deals with us lowly foreigners, hence our trip to Bangkok to apply from there. The process now involves planning, great organization skills, huge amounts of money (especially from the evil British passport holders), and a great deal of patience. We won't bore you with the details, but let's just say, when we realized the box marked "visible identification marks" had to be filled in, we knew we were in trouble! We are glad we put aside two weeks for the ridiculous procedure, although it is no hardship to be in and around Bangkok for a longer period of time.

What we needed for our Indian visa in Bangkok!

We were surprised to realize our last time in Bangkok was February 2011- KL really seems to have become our base for the last few years, thanks to Air Asia. We were lucky enough, this time, to be able to spend some time with my sister Jo, and her wifey, G, in their gorgeous highrise apartment, which was a bit of a change from our first week in Bangkok in a cheap hostel. We were quite happy with our room in Banglampu (the backpacker's area in Bangkok) until we saw our stunning new room at Jo and G's place!!

Our guest house room.......

Our room at Jo and G's place

Jo and G's luxurious apartment in Bangkok

Apart from obtaining our Indian visas, there seemed no end to the small last minute jobs we needed to fulfil before leaving South-East Asia for what could be up to one year. We visited Pantip Mall, the computer/tech centre in Bangkok for the first time, and found it quite inferior to the similar Low Yat Mall in KL. However, the amazing Chatuchak market was as varied and original as always, and we spent the best part of a Sunday there, wandering part of the 27 acres, and browsing a fraction of the15,000 stalls. And, as we do every time we visit Bangkok, we loved using the public ferries up and down the Chao Phraya River to get around. For 15 baht (50 cents) to travel right to the end of the line, and watch the changes along the river, it's still one of the best bargains in Bangkok.

Food stall at Chatuchak Market, Bangkok

Foreigner survey, Bangkok park

View of BTS train

What a view!!

Once all our jobs in Bangkok were done, we were left looking forward to the coming trip, and the adventures we will surely have........

Us in the park, Banglampu, Bangkok

.....amazing India next, starting with Calcutta.......

BARMY BANGERS- Bangkok, Thailand

......we last left you celebrating the Thai New Year in Prachuap Kiri Khan......

Bangkok.... well, what can you say?! There's no where that matches it for the backpacker in terms of ease and convenience, crazy sights and lots and lots of fellow travellers. We must have been here dozens of times before, and have seen most of the main "sights", but we always find more interesting things to do and see each time, in addition to our old favorites.

The best find of our time here (take note fellow travellers- if you haven't already found out!), was a great new area to stay in. It's not too far from the evil necessities of the Khao San Road area, but a world away in terms of peace, quiet and atmosphere. No doubt before too long it will be discovered, and taken over by the Khao San crowd, but for now it's quaint, more "Thai" feeling with some old wooden buildings and no hassle. If anyone's interested, ask us for details!

Our new area Bangkok

Funny video of Richard crossing the road

One of our favorite things to do in Bangkok is cruise the huge Chao Phraya river. For 14 baht (around AU$0.50), we can travel about an hour, all the way to the northern most stop, along the way enjoying river life and cool breezes. This time we also discovered the khlong trips (khlongs are small water ways). We were a bit disappointed, however, as apparently the khlongs are basically open sewers, so, understandably, the locals don't want to get splashed, and as a result, there are tarps up the side of the little speedy boats, and we couldn't see a thing!

Khlong boats

We did, however, use the khlongs to get to one of the more unusual destinations in Bangkok- Lai Nert Park. One of the big hotels in town has a shrine set up inside the grounds which, for some reason, locals have begun to worship in the hope of becoming more fertile. They leave phallic-shaped lingams stacked up everywhere as offerings, which is a strange sight to see (in Thailand, that is- in India it would be quite normal!). Sally made sure she touched nothing!

Lingam shrine

So many lingams!

Another odd sight was the restaurant at the local charity Cabbages and Condoms (family planning awareness people) that we dropped in on. They have set up some curious models to promote the idea of safe sex (desperately needed here). We loved the Christmas-y theme to the whole affair!

Rubber man, with condom decorated Xmas tree

Condom decorated Santa

Other enjoyable ways we spent our week in Bangkok were:

• lazing in the park near the river, keeping cool, reading the papers and watching the sunset aerobics (always more entertaining watching other people exercise!)

• visiting the MASSIVE (35 acre/8,000 stall) Chatuchak Weekend Market. Not needing anything in particular, we wandered randomly (very dangerous!) and ended up in the fish breeding area, where huge carps were selling for AU$1000 each!!

• climbing the impressive, golden Wat Saket- a temple with a great 360 degree view, and our only temple visit this time in Bangkok (we know we quickly become "wat-ed out"!)

Pra Athit Park

Aerobics by the river

From Bangkok we took, what must be a record for us, six buses to reach Trat, a coastal town near the Cambodian border. It should have only taken one bus, but that's another story! We spent two nights here before heading to Cambodia.

Funny video of Richard and a kitten in Trat

......and onwards to some adventures in Cambodia......