This is www.tony-tollitt.com
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TonyT's third Thailand blog:
Page 9
BANGKOK and KHAO LAK
MONDAY 21st: Awake and making coffee by 06:00 and stared sorting out what items to take on board our Air Asia flight to Phuket. This had to be sorted as Air Asia's baggage allowance at 20kg each was somewhat short of Emirates' allowance of 30kg each. So it was a case of ramming in unnecessary items into a holdall and leaving it with our apartments reception. No problem as we would be returning to Bangkok in 10 days time.
A swift breakfast at 07:15 at the restaurant downstairs and was back to finalise our getaway. Our taxi to Don Muang Airport arrived on time and we were on the busy busy road by 08:15, arriving at the airport well in time to check-in for our 10:55 Air Asia flight to Phuket.
LEFT: Waiting in the departure "lounge" at Don Muang Airport for our Air Asia flight.
RIGHT: On the tarmac and in the queue for boarding.
The flight to Phuket last around 1hr 20mins and everything was on time. These Air Asia flights are almost hourly throughout daylight hours. We were no sooner in our seats when the plane was taxiing for take off; they don't mess about.
Arrived at Phuket into hot sunshine, reclaimed our bags and headed off to await our ride 60km to Khao Lak. Alas, there was a bit of a problem....
When we reached the pick-up area outside arrivals there was no sign of our booked limousine. After 20 minutes I began to get concerned and eventually phoned the Mukdara Resort to ask why or ride wasn't here; the reply being "the car's on its way". Finally, it arrived and I was about to ask the driver why he was late when I noticed the placard he was holding for us to identify him stated a flight arrival time of 13:40, not 12:40 as I had assumed. I later realised that I had brought our original flight plan forward to the earlier flight in order to make the most of daylight hours once at Khao Lak. Soft-lad here had forgotten to pass on this bit of information on to the resort.
The limousine was a sleek black big Toyota and the driver didn't hang about, overtaking at every opportunity. This got a little "interesting" when we got to the mountainous part of the coast road with its sharp bends and sheer rock faces. One side was thick tropical rainforest jungle right down to road level the other side a drop onto beaches and the Indian Ocean, quite spectacular actually.
Arrived at Khao Lak at about 14:00 and we were impressed by the greeting the resort reception gave us. All very plush. A nice glass of 'something fruity' whilst we were checked-in. This was followed by an electric buggy ride along twisted pathways to our villa. The resort was pretty much as I remember it from 20007 when I stayed here for a couple of days whilst on a dive-trip from Ranong in the north.
It was very very hot and unbelievably humid. I suppose being at the edge of Thailand's largest area of tropical rainforest had something to do with that plus the fact it was the rainy monsoon season. It was case of get the air-con on full blast and doing some rudimentary unpacking.
Rather than fully unpack, we opted for a stroll around the resort and stopped off for the obligatory ice-cold beer. Then decide to take a walk up to Khao Lak which was about 1-5km from the resort. I had Jack in his backpack carrier but by the time we got only half-way I began to suffer badly from the humidity. Found a shady bit to sit down and take-5 but when we did get to the main road I really did feel unwell. I'm well used to tropical conditions, but this degree of humidity really did take its toll on me. However, after popping into an air-conditioned 7-11 for a spell I did recover somewhat. Armed with some bits and pieces such as 6-litre pack of water and some snacky stuff for Jack we slowly ambled our way back to Mukdara.
Baby Jack hadn't much in the way of sleep throughout the day and when it was time for us to go to dinner he decided on going to sleep. I solved this problem by ordering our dinner vis room service, so it was a case of dining in our villa which was delivered at 21:00.
The villa itself is fairly spacious with an enormous bathroom with a jacuzzi bath. A separate outdoor shower area lay beyond. A good nights sleep put us in good stead for the morrow.
TOP LEFT: The driveway up to Mukdara's main reception.
TOP RIGHT: Reception area.
CENTRE: Our villa.
BOTTOM: Steps up to the villa and a photo out of the bedroom window.
TUESDAY 22nd: Up and about at dawn (06:00) and making coffee and taking a shower.
Unpacked the remainder of the cases and then off for a really good breakfast by the ocean. I keeping with many hotels & resorts here, breakfasts are a self-service/eat as much as you like affair.
After breakfast we took a walk up into Khao Lak’s main-street. Bought a 6-litre water bottle and some ablution items and mosquito spray for the villa.
Mosquitoes are a real problem here in the heat and high humidity. We were all bitten and I realised that most of the bites occurred within the villa at night. This is why I bought a large aerosol can of mozzy killer. I reckon when the rooms are serviced by housekeeping they leave the front door open as they come to and fro and that’s when the little buggers sneak in. From now on, when we leave for dinner, I as the last one out spray the room thoroughly and that put an end to the mosquitoes in the room. Out and about at night we use jungle strength DEET.
By the time we got back to Mukdara, Jack was asleep in Aom’s arms.
The weather forecast for this region was for dark clouds and heavy rainfall….. wrong! Hot, hot sunshine blasted us but the temperature at least stayed in the mid 30’s (35ºC today).
Took Jack down onto the beach to play about in the sand and he loved it. There was a very heavy surf running and larked about in the 30º ocean waves for a time. The beach here is very clean sand but the sea is pretty rough at the moment.
Getting a bit too hot on the beach and Jack was smothered in sand so it was back up to one of the many Mukdara pools. After hosing the sand off Jack he loved splashing about in the shallow water.
Sleep time for Jack for an hour and then back down to the beach bar to enjoy a happy-hour beer or two (two-for-one). Stayed here until 18:30 and then dined in one of the resort restaurants. And back in the villa by 20:00.
BANGKOK and KHAO LAK
A swift breakfast at 07:15 at the restaurant downstairs and was back to finalise our getaway. Our taxi to Don Muang Airport arrived on time and we were on the busy busy road by 08:15, arriving at the airport well in time to check-in for our 10:55 Air Asia flight to Phuket.
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LEFT: Waiting in the departure "lounge" at Don Muang Airport for our Air Asia flight.
The flight to Phuket last around 1hr 20mins and everything was on time. These Air Asia flights are almost hourly throughout daylight hours. We were no sooner in our seats when the plane was taxiing for take off; they don't mess about. TOP LEFT: The driveway up to Mukdara's main reception. TOP RIGHT: Reception area. CENTRE: Our villa. BOTTOM: Steps up to the villa and a photo out of the bedroom window.
TUESDAY 22nd: Up and about at dawn (06:00) and making coffee and taking a shower.
RIGHT: On the tarmac and in the queue for boarding.
Arrived at Phuket into hot sunshine, reclaimed our bags and headed off to await our ride 60km to Khao Lak. Alas, there was a bit of a problem....
When we reached the pick-up area outside arrivals there was no sign of our booked limousine. After 20 minutes I began to get concerned and eventually phoned the Mukdara Resort to ask why or ride wasn't here; the reply being "the car's on its way". Finally, it arrived and I was about to ask the driver why he was late when I noticed the placard he was holding for us to identify him stated a flight arrival time of 13:40, not 12:40 as I had assumed. I later realised that I had brought our original flight plan forward to the earlier flight in order to make the most of daylight hours once at Khao Lak. Soft-lad here had forgotten to pass on this bit of information on to the resort.
The limousine was a sleek black big Toyota and the driver didn't hang about, overtaking at every opportunity. This got a little "interesting" when we got to the mountainous part of the coast road with its sharp bends and sheer rock faces. One side was thick tropical rainforest jungle right down to road level the other side a drop onto beaches and the Indian Ocean, quite spectacular actually.
Arrived at Khao Lak at about 14:00 and we were impressed by the greeting the resort reception gave us. All very plush. A nice glass of 'something fruity' whilst we were checked-in. This was followed by an electric buggy ride along twisted pathways to our villa. The resort was pretty much as I remember it from 20007 when I stayed here for a couple of days whilst on a dive-trip from Ranong in the north.
It was very very hot and unbelievably humid. I suppose being at the edge of Thailand's largest area of tropical rainforest had something to do with that plus the fact it was the rainy monsoon season. It was case of get the air-con on full blast and doing some rudimentary unpacking.
Rather than fully unpack, we opted for a stroll around the resort and stopped off for the obligatory ice-cold beer. Then decide to take a walk up to Khao Lak which was about 1-5km from the resort. I had Jack in his backpack carrier but by the time we got only half-way I began to suffer badly from the humidity. Found a shady bit to sit down and take-5 but when we did get to the main road I really did feel unwell. I'm well used to tropical conditions, but this degree of humidity really did take its toll on me. However, after popping into an air-conditioned 7-11 for a spell I did recover somewhat. Armed with some bits and pieces such as 6-litre pack of water and some snacky stuff for Jack we slowly ambled our way back to Mukdara.
Baby Jack hadn't much in the way of sleep throughout the day and when it was time for us to go to dinner he decided on going to sleep. I solved this problem by ordering our dinner vis room service, so it was a case of dining in our villa which was delivered at 21:00.
The villa itself is fairly spacious with an enormous bathroom with a jacuzzi bath. A separate outdoor shower area lay beyond. A good nights sleep put us in good stead for the morrow.
Unpacked the remainder of the cases and then off for a really good breakfast by the ocean. I keeping with many hotels & resorts here, breakfasts are a self-service/eat as much as you like affair.
After breakfast we took a walk up into Khao Lak’s main-street. Bought a 6-litre water bottle and some ablution items and mosquito spray for the villa.
Mosquitoes are a real problem here in the heat and high humidity. We were all bitten and I realised that most of the bites occurred within the villa at night. This is why I bought a large aerosol can of mozzy killer. I reckon when the rooms are serviced by housekeeping they leave the front door open as they come to and fro and that’s when the little buggers sneak in. From now on, when we leave for dinner, I as the last one out spray the room thoroughly and that put an end to the mosquitoes in the room. Out and about at night we use jungle strength DEET.
By the time we got back to Mukdara, Jack was asleep in Aom’s arms.
The weather forecast for this region was for dark clouds and heavy rainfall….. wrong! Hot, hot sunshine blasted us but the temperature at least stayed in the mid 30’s (35ºC today).
Took Jack down onto the beach to play about in the sand and he loved it. There was a very heavy surf running and larked about in the 30º ocean waves for a time. The beach here is very clean sand but the sea is pretty rough at the moment.
Getting a bit too hot on the beach and Jack was smothered in sand so it was back up to one of the many Mukdara pools. After hosing the sand off Jack he loved splashing about in the shallow water.
Sleep time for Jack for an hour and then back down to the beach bar to enjoy a happy-hour beer or two (two-for-one). Stayed here until 18:30 and then dined in one of the resort restaurants. And back in the villa by 20:00.
