Return to USA Tomorrow

As usual, I have finished my trip in Pattaya, Thailand at the Marriott here with its lovely pool area and the local beaches nearby and the crazy nitelife. The view from my hotel room here:

For some reason the hotel is filled with many US Marines. I think they are having some sort of military exercise here in the Pattaya area. Some are from the Camp Pendleton/San Diego area. I was not allowed to be told what sort of mission they are trying to accomplish here, but their desert camouflage uniforms look very conspicuous so I don't htink it is a secret.

More Thai kids. These guys are at the fish tanks in which you can dangle your feet  and the little fish will nibble away at the dead skin on your feet. Felt to be good for the health of your feet.

Back in Bangkok; Jim Thompson House

I'm back in Bangkok for several days. Back at the Renaissance Hotel. View from my room is above. The weather has been extraordinarily pleasant: low humidity (for Bangkok) temperatures in the high range of mid 80's (F) and in the upper 60's at nite. The poor Thai people are complaining that it is "cold" and wearing jackets and scarves. I think it is pleasant...just wearing long pants at nite.

Jim Thompson House is a landmark tourist stop is Bangkok that has eluded me during my previous visits. Jim Thompson was a CIA agent during World War 2 that was assigned to Asia near the end. He ended up moving to Thailand and revived the silk hand weaving industry. He promoted the industry and conceived designs. He built his house in 1959 in traditional Thai design...on a quiet side street next to a klong (canal).
It is a quiet interlude in the middle of this busy city.

The canal:

A fish pond next to the restaurant at the House:

Thai Kids

It is very common for younger children to accompany their mom to her workplace as I guess cheap day care is hard to find here. They are usually roaming around the workplace  area especially when it is on the streets where a lot of commerce is transacted...selling prepared food, selling fresh groceries, selling souvenirs and stuff to passersby.  As a former pediatrician, I can't resist these little munchkins.
I like to try to take pictures of some of then as they very cute and interactive:

 

 

Excursion to the Similan Islands

My last day on Phuket was filled with a daylong trip to the Similan Islands National Park. These islands are a 1 hour and 30 minute ride by speedboat from the northern tip of Phuket Island...and I do mean "speedboat" outfitted with three 225 horsepower Honda outboard motors.  It was a surprisingly smooth journey on a smooth sea. The water is clear and beautiful with extraordinary varieties of fish and coral; they are reputed to be one of the premier scuba diving spots in the world. We spent time lounging on a couple of lovely beaches and snorkeling in a couple of different spots.

The weather was cloudy and we passed thru a rain squall on the way out to the islands:

But when we got to the islands the squall was over and we 1st stopped at a beach:

The snorkeling was magnificent. I saw the most fish and the most varieties of fish species any where I have snorkeled. And the amount and variety of coral was the best I have seen.

On the island where we had lunch there was a tranquil prayer house:

It was a long day but well worth it. Tomorrow I return to Bangkok.

Patong Beach, Phuket

After a week at the isolated luxury of the Marriott complex at Mai Khao beach at the northern of the island, I moved down to the Courtyard by Marriott (using some Reward points) at the island's biggest tourist area at Patong City.
This place is not at all isolated. It is a beautiful sweep of a bay and white sandy beach that has groups of hotels, restaurants, clubs, dance clubs, bars...straight, gay and Katoey(ladyboy) areas. One must pick a hotel carefully as noise can continue to 5 am at some of the clubs. There a large number of Europeans escaping winter from Scandinavia, Germany, the UK, and Russia that come here for R&R. Of course, Australians are here as they find anywhere that is fun.  And there are many Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists too.
The water and beach are delightful with warm, clear, calm, clean water, and beautiful sand with opportunities for boat rides, jet ski rentals, parachute flights attached to speed boats or sleeping in a cheap rented beach chair with umbrella.

Khao Sok National Park

Yesterday I took a day long excursion to Khao Sok National Park which is 2 hours north of Phuket Island in Surat Thani province. It is a beautiful area of  jungle/rainforest that is dotted with pinnacles of limestone karsts, slow flowing rivers, and many animals.
Upon arrival we took an hour and half float trip in one of the rivers in inflatable canoes. We floated from one beautiful scene to another.

 

 

We had a very good Thai lunch which was followed in the afternoon by a visit to areas with voracious fish to feed and playful monkeys. It started raining (not unexpected in a rainforest!) when we were ready for an elephant trek so we donned ponchos and get soaked in rain and perspiration...no photos since the camera would have got ruined.

 

After this we got back into our bust to return to the resort. The interior of the bus was decorated in typical south Asian fashion:

 

Cozy, eh? Not easy to sleep on the way back with such bright decor.

On to Phuket Island, Mai Khao Beach

Friday I moved on to Phuket Island a major resort area on the southern coast of the Andaman Sea. I stayed at the Marriott Phuket Beach Club which is in the collection of timeshare properties of the Marriott Vacation Club International. This one shares the area with a luxurious JW Marriott and the features nd amenities are interchangeable.

As you can see from the above photo of the reflecting pool at the JW the grounds are beautiful.

One of the 3 swimming  pools on the grounds:

One of the lawns near a swimming pool:

 

The view from my balcony:

 

A couple of views of the beach:

If you look carefully you can see that there is a rather steep approach down to the waterline at this beach....maybe 10 feet up to the ground level where the hotel lay. This is what saved the hotel during the Great Tsunami of 6 years ago. Sea water and some debris reached the swimming pools but the buildings were protected by their setback from the water's edge and the slope you can see above. The hotel actually was used as headquarters for the rescue and relief effort on the northern part of the island.

This is one of 4 resorts on 10 mile long beach that is relatively protected from development because it is a marine turtle nesting ground. I'll have a week here before I move down to the over-developed Patong Beach for 5 days at the Courtyard by Marriott in Patong City.