This time last year...

...I was swimming with sharks!!!

We were in Ko Tao, a beautiful island in Southern Thailand.
Not the touristy resorty type of island, oh no - this is the kind of island where backpackers come to chill...and get there PADI diving certification.

We spent 13 nights here - the most amount of time we've spent in any one place, and with good reason...it was amaaazing! sun, sand and sea...what more could you ask for?

This island was the last destination on our SE Asian adventure, to say it finished with a bang would not be off the mark!

This is the end...

...my friend!

Oh its a sad sad moment. :o(
Time has just flown past! It feels like only yesterday we were wondering what to pack for 6 months of travelling!
It's been a wonderful 5 months - absolutely wonderful!

Back to Bangkok with a bang!

We started in Bangkok - now we're ending in Bangkok!

SO much has happened in between!

We arrived a couple of days before our flight - just so we could sort out our shipping and do some last minute shopping.

On one such shopping trip, we noticed a Mr Singh and his wife - so naturally we rushed over to say hello. Turns out he lives 5 minutes away from us in London and moreover, his daughter was in the same class as Gurcharan! Another example of how small the world really is. You may never meet people that live 5 minutes from your home and you will end up meeting them miles away from home. It was wonderful to meet them and we ended up spending a whole day with them. They we're great company!

Manav, Bobby, Raj Uncle, Aunty, and the 'UK Couple'

Later that evening we were fortunate to dine with another very good mate of ours - Bobby. That's not all, the great Manav SIngh also gave us the pleasure of his company. Manav has his own blog where he posts dilruba lessons! He is a very good dilruba player himself. We only know him through his blog - it was good to meet him in person! (infact, he is single and very good looking hint hint!!!hehe!) ;o) It was quite the party - Manav took us out for some midnight ice cream treat at a 'cool' funky ice cream parlour. I had a ferrero rocher and nutella ice cream! mmmm! they even had...DURIAN ICE CREAM!!!! can you believe that! yuck!

Ban's resort - Ko Tao, Thailand

This cost us 15 pounds a night.
Can you believe it - this luxurious resort for 15 pounds a night?! The views were breath taking. Sitting on the balcony watching the sunset after a hard day's work of diving, sun bathing on the beach or swimming in one of the two pools was divine!

Moreover - this place had a whole other room! Yes, we could actually walk out of our bedroom into a whole different lounge room! We found that very strange as for the last few months we only have one room and a bathroom to ourselves!

The beaches in Ko Tao are some of the best we have come across. The vibe and atmosphere here is great. The water is crystal clear and you can even spot a few fishes near the beacht. The sand is soft white and powdery. It's small enough not to be too commercial - but big enough to have some swanky restaurants.

KO Tao is one of three islands in the south of Thailand. Ko Samui is for the package tourist and too commercial - so we didn't bother going there. Ko Phan ngan is where the infamous Full Moon Parties are held. We gave it a miss as it has more of the party all night vibe, which we're not into.
We ended up spending a whole 13 nights here - the longest amount of time we have spent in any one place.

It was our last destination in the whole South East Asia backpacking trip. It was a great way to say goodbye - it couldn't have been better!

Chinese New Year

Gurcharan looking uber cool at the uber cool Siam Emporium. This is where all the hip and trendy hang out.

7th Feb was Chinese New Year - it is now the year of the Rat. From what I hear, its a good year for romance and for the economy! So either start looking for that special someone or invest in the stock exchange!!!

Me trying to look uber cool!

The decorations for the Chinese New Year were so funky!

The camera man asked for my cheesiest grin! :o)

Khao San Road

Any

Anyone who's been to Bangkok has heard of Khao San Road.
This is where all the backpackers hang out. Its a crazy street with equally crazy set of shops/stalls - anything from bead shops to stalls selling fried crickets, scorpion and worms!

This is where I had my hair braided.

It goes wild here at night when all the tourists hit the restaurants and pubs causing the usual chaos associated with holidaying in Bangkok! A bit too wild for us two oldies, im afraid!
Khao San Road by day

Tiger Temple

You've probably seen the documentary - or read about it.

Me and Tiger

This is the famous Tiger Temple.

Me and another tiger

What is it? Well its a sanctuary for animals. It all started when an injured peacock was brought here to get mended and recover. After that time people from all over would bring animals here to get better and be looked after by the monks.

Three tigers

Soon after a Tiger cub that was bought by a wealthy thai was brought here as it was in a bad condition, the thai chap had paid for it to be killed and stuffed, when the tiger cub arrived it had already been injected and was in a bad way, but didn't die.

After helping the cub to recovery and it doing quite well it died. But people still brought cubs here and after seeing then do so well and breed there were tigers everywhere.

After a long day in a busted and broken mini van we arrived to the temple where after paying our 300 baht we went to the tiger canyon where the tigers are kept. to have pictures taken with the tigers we had to queue in the heat for about 30 minutes then one by one you are led round by one person while another takes your picture.

The whole thing was a bit surreal, and a bit of a production line as you didnt get to spend time with the tigers but only to take a picture then move on. There were some people who were overwhelmed by the experience and there were those that saw it as a money spinner with little disregard for the tigers.

My, my, what big teeth you have!

But, if you get the chance you should do it and decide for yourself.

Lets play dead!

Oh, and before you enter you must sign a disclaimer saying basically if you get eaten you cant hold the temple responsible! haha.. Thailand!

Cute, but deadly

I had to poke the tiger to get him to do that, guess where?!

Tiger Temple

It was a fantastic experience.
Got some really good shots too.

The temple also houses other animals like this deer and wild boar.
Its a huge complex and is continuously expanding

Gurcharan walking through to the tiger canyon.

The monks help look after the tigers.

There are a number of caretakers that help with the running of the tiger temple.

"What's this strange creature touching my backside!"

The Bridge Over the River Kwai

Floating Market

The Floating Market is a popular tourist destination in Thailand. We didn't get a chance to visit the last time in 2006 - so decided to do it this time.

Its mostly the women that row the boats, dressed in beautifully coloured clothes and hats

The coconut man - he sold us a really yummy coconut! :o)

mmmm...it was so sweet and delicious!

Not sure if she's selling those plants or they are to decorate her boat?! She was certainly trying her best to get the 3 point turn right!

It can get pretty congested - packed full of tourists! This market is now more geared towards the tourists than anything else.

Smile for the camera...I said smile! It was a very hot day!

Gurcharan eyeing up some wares!

On solid ground!

Tailor made!

Fatso gets a suit because fatso cant get suits that fit anymore! If you ever come to thailand you will notice the number of tailors and massage parlours dotted around, sometimes two or three in a row.

"Mind where that hands going mate!"

Since the last time i came to Thailand in 2006, i wanted to get a suit made to my specification and made just for me for a price i am willing to pay. So after making a few inquiries i settled on one shop. After speaking to the guys and making sure we were on the same page we made a deal on two suits, two shirts and two ties package.

Breath in!

I just had my first fitting and have asked for some afterations to made, things seem to be looking good. I will let you guys know how it works out when i collect just before we fly to India.

Bobby

Me, Bobby and Preet

Its nice to meet nice people. Esp when traveling, its great going to places and taking in the culture, art, history and architecture, but its really the people that you remember and make it.

While in Malaysia at the Sikh camp (Samelan 2007) we met many people, one of those was Bobby and his brother Sumeet. When we met we exchanged contact details and agreed to meet up once we got to Bangkok, so the other day we did.

We agreed to go to a place none of us had been to called Govinda's which is a vegetarian restaurant that serves italian food, i know, even we thought that it should really be indian, but there you go!

Bobby and his family own a successful import and export business that specializes in furniture, this proved useful for us as we could send all our collected treasures back to the UK and not have to lug them around for the next few months. Thanks for that Bobby!