....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 .
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| "Our" view |
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| Unwinding |
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| Relaxed at last! |
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| Any more relaxed and he would fall out! |
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| Our bungalow |
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| 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!!
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| Morning view of one of the neighbours |
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| Didgeridoo healings??!! |
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| Yoga fanatics abound |
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| More healing...... |
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| 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.
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| Richard's shell collection |
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| Friends we'd met at the Birdnest, Kuala Lumpur |
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Storm
coming- time to get out of here!!
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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.
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What
we needed for our Indian visa in Bangkok!
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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!!
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Our
guest house room.......
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Our
room at Jo and G's place
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Jo
and G's luxurious apartment in Bangkok
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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.
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Food
stall at Chatuchak Market, Bangkok
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Foreigner survey, Bangkok park
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View
of BTS train
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What
a view!!
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Once all our jobs in Bangkok were done, we were left looking forward to the coming trip, and the adventures we will surely have........
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Us
in the park, Banglampu, Bangkok
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.....amazing India next, starting with Calcutta.......
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