Thailand

Merry Christmas from Thailand!! I arrived on 22nd December and met my friends Jules & Whitey on Koh Lanta (ferry trip from Phuket). We spent the next week there, exploring the island by scooter and lazing on the lovely beaches!

It was lovely and hot, which made a nice change from the weather we've been having in the UK! Our toughest decisions each day were which beach to lie on, where to eat next and where to be for our sundowner in the evenings!

On Christmas Eve, we attended a Thai cooking class! There was one other couple there as well, so the five of us were taught how to make spring rolls, a spicy chicken salad, penang curry and tamarind seafood. Best of all, we got to eat the results AND drink wine while we were making it all!

We really struggled with what to do for Christmas Day, as our original idea of a BBQ on a beach somewhere proved to be a little hard to arrange! Also, may of the boat cruises weren't running that day - and we didn't really fancy being in a large group. Eventually, we stumbled across a place where we could hire our own traditional long boat and driver to take us to Koh Bubu, an uninhabited island about an hour from where we were staying! Sold!

Christmas Day was therefore spent lazing in our newly acquired hammocks, broken up by some frisbee throwing in the water and snorkling. We managed to get through some nice bubbly and a couple of G & T's before we headed back. It sounds pretty awful, I know!

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Koh Lanta and head to Phuket where we picked up my friend Pete and then onto Bangkok where Jules' friend Lynne also joined us. Then - onto Cambodia!

View from a restaurant we stumbled across as we explored Koh Lanta by scooter!

One of the beaches further south from where we were staying on Koh Lanta

Bathing the elephants!

The serious business of spring roll making! We did a Thai cooking course on the evening of Christmas Eve

Our boat driver on Christmas day

As we headed out to Koh Bubu for Christmas, our driver stopped for us to feed the monkeys! They are obviously very used to the routine - jumping right on board without a problem! They are amazingly human like - if a bit of watermelon dropped in the mud, they'd walk to the water and wash it off before eating it! They also ate all the flesh first and dropped the skins, but then went back to eat the skin after everything else was gone!

Merry Christmas! As you can see, we had a really miserable time of it on Christmas Day. Just the 3 of us, our hammocks, some snorkle gear, a beach, some bubbly and a couple of G & T's.

View of our hotel area as we left Koh Lanta on the ferry back to Phuket. Our hotel was tucked into the back left.

We realised on the ferry, that my new flip flops may not be authentic Billabong.....

One of the smaller islands we passed on our way back to Phuket.