Back to the Land of Smiles :)

There's just something special about Thailand.  It's as simple as that.

After our 3 month stint through Australia, Lui and I headed straight back to Bangkok for a little R&R before making our way to Europe.  The choice was simple.  We have friends in Bangkok, a lot of our luggage was still there and hey, it's kind of on the way to Germany!

14 days later, and needless to say, we were happy as clams.  Thailand is the hostess with the mostest!

Sadly, I have been slightly remiss in keeping my blog updated, especially because soooo much has happened between Australia and now.  This Thailand trip was back in the end of March!

The highlights of the trip was shopping (and plenty of it!), great dining, sightseeing, a few traditional and not-so-traditional Thai shows (more on that later), visiting friends and a fantastic trip to the beautiful island of Koh Chang (see above).  This blog post will really show you the very tourist side of Thailand as we were just being hard-core tourists on this trip.

Well, let's just jump right in it then.  One thing Thailand is known for is its ladyboys.  The word speaks for itself, but these are basically pre-operation or post-operation men who have, well, taken a proclivity for being the opposite sex.  And no, it's not just a hobby.  A world renowned show held in the Asia Hotel, called The Calypso Show, where dozens of ladyboys done up in all manner of costumes and makeup, perform some very impressive song and dance numbers.  Here's a taste.

Afterwards, they had the performers line up outside so you could take your picture with them.  And of course we did.

A few days later we made a day trip to the floating market about 2 hours east of Bangkok.  Despite having lived and worked in Thailand the previous year for 8 months, I never managed to make the trip.  Here are some shots from the day.

Paying for a delectable coconut.

Here's a little video clip going through some of the town surrounding the market.  I made an attempt to convince Lui to drink the river water for a 100 Baht ($3.3 USD), but that went nowhere.

We attended two traditional Thai items on the tourist list: the Siam Nirimit musical performance and the Chao Praya river cruise.  Both were great.  Here are some shots.

After the Siam Nirimit show.

During the dinner cruise.  This is the Wat Arun.  It poured in the last 20 minutes of the cruise, so we docked for a while right in front.  The shots were awesome!

 

With the traditional demon dancer on the boat.

Our 4-day trip to the island of Koh Chang can only be described as Über fun.  We made zero hotel or transport arrangements, which is one of the great things you can get away with in Thailand.  Sure, during tourist season (Nov-Mar) it's good to book ahead, but usually you can score a fantastic place by just walking in.

And that's exactly what we did.  Check out this little video I made of our view from the bungalow we stayed in the day we arrived.

We "scootered" around to beaches, watched the sunsets, snorkeled and, last but certainly not least, did an elephant expedition!  Here are some shots of the highlights.

Buffet breakfast.

 

Our elephant. 

 

Me in the front "seat".

Afterwards, everyone had the chance to go swimming and wash the elephants in a little nearby creek.  Out of the whole group of 15 some odd people, me and some other European guy with a funny accent were the only ones that jumped in. 

 

 An island we stopped by for lunch on our snorkeling trip. 

Well, I've filled you with quite the update today.  A lot to take in.  I've still got tons of news, pictures and videos from our Europe trip and updates on what's happening now.  And I promise I won't have such a big lag between posts :))

I made a slideshow of some of the best pics over our time in Australia and the trip back to Thailand.  I've included it below, along with some final pics from these somewhat recent adventures. 

And the slideshow...check it out!

Thanks for reading!