BANGKOK AND CHIANG MAI

From our marina in Phuket we flew to Bangkok for an overnight visit. Good hotel with free beer at happy hour. Bangkok is a mixture of modern high rise buildings and wooden shacks on stilts. Very good transport system. Lots of Buddhist temples which are very ornate and the population is mainly Buddhist. Portraits of the king and queen are everywhere and they seem to be well respected. We saw the ladyboys perform their stuff! We then flew north to Chaing Mai near the Burma and Laos borders. This was a lovely town and from here we visited a hill tribe village where the ladies stretch their necks with rings. This process starts at about 6 years of age. The rings cannot be removed as their necks will collapse and suffocate them. We were allowed to pet tigers at a tiger sanctuary and went elephant trecking. These were wonderful experiences. Finally we went white water rafting which was great fun but exhausting. We are now about to leave Phuket and cruise the islands of Ao Phangnga bay.

MALAYSIA TO THAILAND

We had a difficult passage up the Strait of Malacca to Port Dickson and on to Telaga, on Langkawi. Here the anchorages were spectacular. Fishing boats made night sailing especially difficult and hazardous. Many of these were unlit or confusingly lit. Malacca was an interesting town with Portuguese, Dutch, British, Malay and Japanese history. This was a large trading centre. We travelled around by trishaw which were florally decorated. We experienced some fine dining and orchids were in abundance. We needed excercise after being cooped up on the boat and walked to another waterfall. The locals were exceedingly unfit. From Malaysia we sailed to islands off the south coast of Thailand where we experienced beautiful beaches, sunsets and beach bars. Tsunami escape routes are now in evidence as a reminder of the disaster.