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15 November 2004

Gran, Granpa and Brian dropped us off at the airport for our 14h30 flight on Air Singapore. Air Singapore is definitely the best airline we have flown on so far. The staff were really friendly, the first thing they asked as we walked onto the plane was my and Jade's names, and they remembered our names throughout the flight. They spent quite a bit of time entertaining Jade, they even took her for a walk whilst Mom and Dad ate their supper. We were given a menu for dinner, and for pudding we had ice cream on a stick. They came around during the night and offered us crisps and chocolates (Mom said we couldn't have too much). They also had lots of movies to choose from so we watched Ice Age.

As a further demonstration of their excellent service, it is the only airline we have been on where they provided nappies and baby food for Jade.

16 November 2004

We arrived at Singapore at a little after 07h00 local time, but according to us it was 01h00 in the morning. We had to sit around for two hours waiting for our plane to Phuket. They had a kid's playground in the waiting lounge so Jade and I had lots of fun (Mom and Dad had to keep telling us to be quiet).

Even here the people are really friendly and everyone comes over and speaks to us.

We arrived in Phuket and joined a long queue but a really nice man came and took us to the front so we got through very quickly. We caught a taxi to our hotel. Dad says that the driving is almost the worst he has seen, there are lots of scooters cutting in and out of the traffic, the cars don't seem to notice them and so there are quite a lot of narrow misses. The roads are also quite narrow (and very busy) and at intersections it is often the case of the biggest goes first.

The Merlin Beach Hotel just south of Patong Beach was really nice. Our room overlooked a huge pool (there were three pools), there were little islands in the middle of the pool with lots of palm trees. Some of the ground floor rooms opened up onto the pool, you literally stepped out of your door into the pool.

Anyway, the first thing we did after checking in was to go for a swim as it was quite hot. One of the pools had a huge slide which we went on a few times. We then swam under a building to the second pool which even had a bar in it (Dad seemed to like that idea).

We were quite tired after our flight so we went to have an afternoon sleep. We then took a walk around the hotel and on the beach before having dinner at a Thai restaurant.

We went off to bed early as we were still tired.

17 November 2004

Happy anniversary Mike and Lee.

After sleeping for 13 hrs we just made it down for breakfast. We then went back to the pool and spent most of the day swimming.

At 16h45 we caught a bus into Patong Beach. What a lively place. There are lots of small markets all over the place, and everyone wants to bargain. Mom bought a few curios at 25% of the initial asking price (Dad kept saying no and walking away and the price kept coming down). Unfortunately the last bus back to the hotel left at 18h45 so we didn't have much time to explore.

We went off to a really cool Thai restaurant right on the beach. The food was good and it was really cheap.

We eventually got back to our room just after 21h00 and again we crashed.

18 November 2004

It was back to the pool in the morning (we have even created our own spot). Just before lunch we went back to Patong Beach. Dad made us walk a really long way to a Harley shop (Nicky's Handlebar Harley shop) where he bought another t-shirt (he is starting to get quite a collection). We looked at quite a few of the stalls but didn't buy anything except a pink Thai dress for me.

We went back and had an early supper as we had to get up very early to catch a boat to Kho Phi Phi Island.

19 November 2004

We caught another taxi to the harbour. It was quite funny, Dad sat next to a couple who were talking Afrikaans, and they didn't realise that Dad could understand them until right at the end.

The boat trip was quite rough (Dad said we should have rather sailed across the wind was so strong). There were quite a few boats coming across but most of the people were just going across for the day.

The scenery as we arrived was stunning. There are huge cliffs right into the sea, turquoise water around the edges, and lots of small bays with white sand. There are also lots of small islands all over. We booked into the Phi Phi Cabana Hotel right on the beach front overlooking a huge bay. Dad says this is almost heaven and he is thinking of sending an email back to the office to say that he might not be back. He says the views are far better than at the office and they have topless bathing - I don't know what the big deal is.

We are staying in a reed hut quite close to the beach. There is a small village just outside of the hotel which seems really busy. They have lots of small stalls (just like Patong Beach) and also lots of small restaurants.

Anyway we went snorkelling in the sea this afternoon but didn't see to many fish, we will try and go out further tomorrow.

Jade has got an ear infection so she slept all afternoon, Mom had to keep trying to keep her cool. Anyway, by this evening she seems much better and is in fact running all over the place at the moment playing with me.

We had dinner on the beach. Dad had a fresh fish which they braaied for him (he had to go and choose the fish) whilst we had salad. There was a band playing just down from us, they were playing a lot of the Carpenter's songs (Mom told me who the Carpenters were).

We are all quite tired (except Jade) so we are off the bed (if Jade will let us).

20 November 2004

Today we took a walk around the village. There are lots of little stalls and restaurants. There are narrow walkways between the stalls, people drive bicycles quite fast up and down the lanes, we have nearly been knocked over quite a few times. There are no cars on the island, but there are lots of boats. Where ever we go the locals are always asking us "taxi boat", basically they are wanting to take us around the island on one of their long boats with huge engines on the back (see pictures).

We went down another beach and had dinner again right on the beach.

21 November 2004

We decided to laze on the beach. Dad and I went snorkelling and saw lots of amazing coloured fish, we even saw something that looked like a sea snake. Jade is enjoying herself on the beach, she always goes wandering off and Mom and Dad have to chase after her. She likes picking things up and tasting them so Mom and Dad are having quite a hard time looking after her. Jade seems to be much better after her ear infection.

For lunch we went to one of the local stalls, Dad had a coconut shake (which he says is really nice), Mom had a lemon shake, and we had pancakes (Thai style) with honey and chocolate .. mmmmm really nice.

Again we had dinner right on the beach before going home to bed. Jade just collapsed, and I wasn't far after her. Dad tried to update our website but couldn't (he can only send emails), hopefully we can update the site shortly.

22 November 2004

We have moved to another bungalow called Phi Phi Pavillion. Our bungalow is right on the beach, in fact Dad is busy typing this up sitting on the verandah watching Mom and me lying in the sun, whilst Jade is asleep in the room. Mom and I went snorkelling this morning and again we saw lots of amazing coloured fish.

This is a really nice resort, we are right next to a couple of restaurants, and the village is literally 50m's away.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

23 November to 26 November 2004

A typical day consists of waking up, rolling out of bed and onto the beach. We then take a leisurely stroll down to the restaurant on the beach where we have a leisurely breakfast consisting of toast, croissants, fruit, egg, bacon and sausages, coffee, tea and fruit juices. We then take a leisurely stroll back to the bungalow to brush our teeth. We then go for a swim and a snorkel to look at all the fish, and then just laze around or play (Dad covers me in sand and makes me look like a mermaid).

We then get some really nice fruit shakes and pancakes for lunch. We then take a stroll around the village before coming back and playing on the beach.

We then decide where to go and eat dinner (there are so many choices).

On one of the days we hired a speed boat and took a trip around Phi Phi Ley Island, just to the south of our island. The diving was simply amazing, we saw hundreds of fish, they were all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours. There were stripped fish, spotted fish, plain fish, and all different patterned fish, there were yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, turquoise, orange, and all sorts of other coloured fish. The water was so clear you could see for a long way under water (Dad says he wishes our pool water was this clear). The scenery was equally spectacular (see the photos).

We even found Nemo (he is quite tiny).

We are off to Krabi tomorrow so we must go into the village to try and find accommodation there, as well as a boat to take us across.

27 November 2004

Guess what, we decided to stay here and just visit Krabi for the day. Anyway we went off in the speed boat that we hired the other day (owned by Kariem). We stopped along the way snorkelling at various reefs and at various islands (including Bamboo Island, Chicken Island). Again we were amazed by the coral and variety of fish.

Krabi was quite beautiful. We stopped off at Railay Beach for a drink and a bite to eat. Having gone past Krabi we were glad that we had made the decision to stay at Kho Phi Phi. Krabi, whilst stunning it didn't have the character that Kho Phi Phi has.

On the way back we stopped off and did more snorkelling. The sea was quite rough so we didn't spend a lot of time at the places in the open sea.

We had another pleasant dinner on the beach. We are starting to become quite regulars at this particular restaurant, Phi Phi Charlie.

28 November 2004

Jade's birthday!!!! We were woken up really early (Jade must have known something). After breakfast we lazed around and at 12h00 went off to go and get Jade's cake which we had ordered the day before.

We all really enjoyed a slice of the cake, but non more than Jade (see photos).

Mom and Dad went off for a Thai massage in the afternoon whilst I played with Mellie (my local friend) and Jade entertained some of the local ladies.

Tomorrow will be our last day here, unless Mom and Dad change their mind again. We are going to be going back to Phuket before catching our flight to Singapore.

29 November 2004

Our last day on Kho Phi Phi was another typical day. It ended with us having our last dinner on the island at our favourite restaurant where we took a picture of all the waiters and the chefs.

30 November 2004

We got up early to finish our packing, and then left for Phuket on a ferry at 09h00. We then caught a taxi to our new hotel Patong Villa. The only room left was the deluxe "sweet" (Thai spelling) which is in effect a double room. The entrance to the hotel is via a very narrow passage with clothes stalls on either side. We took a walk around the town in the afternoon looking at various stalls. The clothes are really cheap here, unfortunately we have too much luggage so we don't have a lot of room, next time we come we will come with no clothes and just buy here. You can but quite a lot of "big name" brands, but they are obviously fake, they have some nice Ferrari jackets (Kevin would love one).

It is sometime quite amazing the differences in prices, and how low you can sometime go. For example Terry wanted to buy a sarong and they initially indicated a price of 700 Baht (R100). After shopping around we ended up paying 120 Baht (R20). Some stalls will offer better prices than others, I guess it relates to how much business they have done on the day.

The best way to determine the cheapest price is shop around and get a feel for prices, then go into a stall looking at a couple of things, ask the price, offer a ridiculously low price (usually about 20% of the asking price), and then walk out. Sometimes the price drops down dramatically, hang around acting half interested but non committal, up your price slightly, walk away again suggesting that you will come back after having looked around, usually at this point they offer the lowest price that they will give to you (usually about 25% to 40% of the original asking price). That said, there are a few stalls where you don't get much of a discount because the price is already very low (often these are where goods are marketed at the low prices to get you in in the first place).

 1 December 2004

We decided to spend a bit of "quality" time with Hayley because she is often left out because we are so focused on looking after Jade. I took Jade for a walk along the beach whilst Terry took Hayley swimming. Jade fell asleep so I went into an internet cafe and checked on our emails. After I had started responding Jade woke up so it was back to the hotel to see what Terry and Hayley were up to. Terry was grateful to see me because a South African who was living here had "found" Terry. Unfortunately he was rather drunk and so was being a bit of a pain.

We had booked to go and see the Fanta Sea show this evening so we had an afternoon nap and then an early dinner.

The show was absolutely fantastic. There were lots of elephants in the show, lots of magic and lots of music and dancing. The stage set was also pretty amazing. There is a carnival outside of the show but unfortunately we didn't know this so arrived just before the show, and our lift home left just after the show, we would really have liked to spend more time walking around the carnival.

We got to bed quite late (11h30).

2 December 2004

We decided to do a half day tour around Phuket visiting a number of tourist attractions.

We rode on elephants (the kids loved this), we saw a snake show (including the largest king cobra we have ever seen), we saw a monkey show, visited a cashew nut factory and an orchid farm, and then a jewelry store (Mom persuaded Dad to buy a sapphire ring (Dad says it is all the fault of the "boys from Brazil"). Jade was pretty tired after all of this so when we got back to the hotel she just collapsed.

3 December 2004

Today we are off to Singapore. Looking at the airline tickets Dad realised that they were actually booked for yesterday and we had missed our flight (we were originally going to go on the 2nd but Dad changed the flights - obviously the tickets hadn't been changed). Anyway, it was not too much of a problem to change and we ended up catching the flight we thought we were on (also the hotel in Singapore had been booked from the 3rd so we didn't have any problems there).

The story contines in Singapore.

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