...well not dry..it's raining heavily as we sit here in the internet cafe of the hotel we're staying at. Clare upgraded us from the New Siam II to the New Siam Riverside, their posher sister hotel. We have a sixth floor room with balcony overlooking the river. After the luxury places we've stayed in so far, it only seemed fitting!

Getting to Bangkok was fairly straightfoward, and we've settled in nicely, checking out the old favourite haunts (I think we came to Bangkok something like five times during our big trip in 06/07).

I've also been the pharmacist to pick up some more ciprofloxaxin antibiotics as I've now got an ear infection in my other ear...oh how fun. Still, stong drugs and singha beer will sort that out before we head home.

Until then, it's more great cheap food and cheap beer to wrap up our trip. Feels a lot longer than three weeks. This is the way to holiday.

See you all soon

Rob x

Definitely our favourite resort of them all. Mukdara was very nice but a little too posh and we were very jet lagged so didn't make the most of it. Quality Hotel was a great place to stopover for the night but slightly bizarre in that everyone stared at us. A lot. And KBR was great but is really set up for divers - the pool isn't that nice. Plus Rob was very ill there so it was never going to be in with a fighting chance.

So - what's so great about it?

1. Food - very nice. Fantastic menu with lots of Asian and Western dishes plus noodles and waffles at breakfast time. All breakfasts should be like this.

2. The pool - huge, empty, swim up bar that serves great cocktails and an 80s soft rock complication playing alllll day.

3. The beer - biggest bottles I've ever seen and it's dead cheap. Plus the barman in the main restaurant now remembers which beer we both like and is very skilled at pouring in the glass without having to tip the glass up. Rob tried it and spilt it all over the table.

4. The grounds - very green and jungley-leafy. Lots of fairy lights at night... jetty by the harbour for watching amazing sunsets complete with bar... spa in resort although have yet to investigate... lots of little winding paths in the foliage all lit up at night...

5. The room - ok, not as posh as Mukdara but still nice and big with some kick-ass aircon that's like a fridge.

6. The beer again - Bintang for me and Ankor for him. Mine's nicer.

7. Staff - sooo friendly. And not in a polite we're-being-paid-to-smile way, but a genuine chatty smiley way. They know our names (Mr Rob and Miss Clare) AND they know our beer preferences!

8. The library - mostly German but they had Bridget Jones - Edge of Reason!!! tried to get Rob to read it but he refused, and he's reading amuch more manly Sharpe book. Ggggrrrrrrr.

9. Shop - sells Cornettos. Nothing more to add there.

10. Ummmmm - the doctor. Weird reason to like somewhere but honestly - he was amazing. Firstly, he was wearing shorts and a T shirt with a doctors coat over the top. Secondly, he brought loads of drugs with him which he just handed over as he saw fit, after writing things on the packets like 'take 2 when u feel like it', thirdly, he said to just call him if we needed anything or wanted to ask anything. He was in our room within an hour of checking in here and Rob was 10 times better by the next day AND the whole thing cost a mere £30 ish. Bargain!

And, I suppose the cherry on the top of all this is that we are paying a mere £45 a day each for all this, all inclusive. Woo-hoo!!!

More pics to follow...

I hate resorts. No, that's not the secret. In fact I'm quite public about why I hate resorts...enclosed within the boundaries of a series of rooms around a packed pool full of shouting kids and drunk parents, towels marking out private boundaries, everyone queueing up for a buffet style supper in their speedos and bikinis before getting drunk on weak and badly made cocktails, and then repeating the whole thing over and over, day in day out, and calling it a holiday. No sir, resorts are not for me.

However, we've discovered a little secret. I thought it was initially that going to low-season places, paying low-season prices and getting low-season attendance (no screaming kids) with high-season weather (we got lucky!) was the secret. But no. This one is far more fundamental.

Because of the ear infection (which is clearing up quite nicely now...never had mild baro-trauma, outer ear infection and middle ear infection at the same time before, quite painful by all accounts)...because of the ear infection I've been forced onto dry land and spent a large amount of time in the resort.

And because it's a luxury resort with a really cool diving operation, everyone who stays here is pretty well off, and therefore more than likely to be into diving, and therefore spends from 7am to 6pm off on the dive boats, leaving me and Clare to enjoy the whole resort to ourselves (apart from the occasional person who is taking a day off or doesn't dive but doesn't want to sit round the pool all day). So, we have a beautiful resort pretty much all to ourselves...a huge pool, all inclusive meal deal, pool bar, sunset views, you name it...and it's empty. If that sounds like it might be lacking atmosphere, it's cancelled out in the evenings when the place fills up, and the excellent manager plays the host perfectly, so evenings have noise and beer and conversation. And when we wake up around 9am and head towards breakfast, we have the place to ourselves again.

So there you have it folks. The secret. Hate the business of resorts but love the luxury? Book a resort that has a large dive operation and attracts primarily divers. Then sit back and enjoy.

Still wish I was diving though.

Rob

Before I came to Lembeh, diving for me was about fish, coral reefs, wrecks...you know, that Jacques Cousteau imagery of colourful tropical fish fleeting about brightly coloured corals with the occasional shipwreck to keep up interest. I'd not really heard of muck diving (apart from in the UK!!) so didn't really know what it was about. Until I came to the Lembeh Strait.

The resort is very nice - lots of wooden bungalows built around a black sand bay with some amazing views. We got here about 2pm after a taxi ride through Manado town and the local area - we saw some very strange and exciting things on the way here but we're going to try and get photos of them on the way to the next place rather than just tell you - honestly, the crazy stuff you see in some places....

So, after we had milled about we went to see the dive people. Everything was very organised - when we learnt to dive you had to set everything up and lug it about everywhere but here everything is done for you, right down to putting your kit in the water and strapping it on to you if you want.

It's an all inclusive deal which includes meals and snacks but not beer - food is very yummy and the beers are huge and pretty cheap for the amount you get (around 600 mls). I'll leave it up to Rob to tell you more about the diving and the worst ear infection he's ever had.

Clare

We had survived our manic transit day - breakfast at 7am (!!!) then a flight to Kuala Lumpur, bus ride, the worst check in EVER, then the final flight to Manado in Indonesia. The terminal we went from basically an old aircraft hangar and it was boiling hot. There were very long queues, made worse by people elbowing their way to the front with a handful of 15 passports to check in together, most of whose owners were nowhere to be found once their luggage had been loaded. Total chaos.

Anyhoo, I saw some cool lightning storms out of the window of the plane once it got dark which was well - less boring than looking at complete darkness. Once in Manado we queued up for our visa and were rather alarmed to see they wanted quite a bundle of cash for it. For some reaosn (probably because we were both somewhat distracted in the lead up to the trip) we'd totally missed the fact we'd need money for an Indo visa and we didn't have enough. So, we had to surrender our passports and I stood there with all the scary looking passport officials while Rob tried to find a cash machine. He had to try and explain his way through customs with no passport, bag or visa as well so I had it easy. Turns out the passport officials were very friendly after all! I was a bit worried - as I was waiting 2 girls had their passports seized and were carted off screaming and crying to a small room round the back... well dodgy.

So, about 20 minutes later Rob came back and we went to get visas only - he'd not managed to get the right money. So - off he went through customs again, no passport... no visa... apparently they laughed at him quite a lot. Mind you, by the time he came back they'd all buggered off so he had to bang on the door to be let back in!!

Meanwhile, I was having a bizarre conversation with an official who wanted to know 'In London - is it like in the movies, with fighting and guns?' I said yes, it was exactly like that, although not in the middle touristy bit, but round the edges - very dodgy. He said very knowingly 'Ah - around the edges, in Manchester and Liverpool yes? They always fight for football'. Everything comes back to football!! He made me promise to take a picture of the gun fighting and send it to him.

We finally got out of there and had the scariest and most impressive taxi ride EVER - FM handles all the way. It was brilliant. Got to the hotel - we were the only westerners staying there so we had a bit of celebrity status and the best service from all the staff. The security man was so apologetic when checking my suitcase (they open them up to have a look inside) a pair of yellow frilly knickers fell out which he caught and then looked SO embarrassed that he couldnt bear to check my other bag and just waved me through. There was a crowd of people behind me and they had been admiring my suitcase but when my yellow knickers fell out I heard a bit of a collective 'oooohhhh' from them. I was well pleased - its always nice when people compliment you isn't it?

All in all, a very entertaining start our time here. :)

Sorry - I meant to do this days ago but have been absolutely flat out what with all the lounging and loafing about, then lunch, some sunbathing... then dinner.... It's an endless hard slog.

So - Thailand then. Khao Lak is on the west side of Thailand - the Andaman coast. We had been planning on ending our 2007 trip there until Rob hurt himself in a row with an airport trolley so it was quite nice for us to begin there this time. I had wanted to go for ages - Khao Lak was the worst hit place in Thailand during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and it's not as well known or as money-up as Phuket, so people tend to overlook it.

The boxing day tsunami killed around 5,000 people in south western Thailand and of these people, around 4,200 were in the Phang-Nga province around Khao Lak. Many of the scenes of television showed Phuket or Phi Phi island as these are the best known tourist areas but Khao Lak, being at or sometimes slightly below sea level along the coast, suffered the worst. There is an official man-made memorial in Phuket but for us, the most poignant example of the force of the waves was the 813 Thai military police boat that was washed ashore. It had been patrolling the waters that morning about 1km our in front of the beach where we stayed and was carried inland for a further 2 km, smashing through everything before coming to rest in a clearing. It's still there - we wandered up to have a look at it and at the small noticeboards nearby.


This bridge was beyond the main road - about 2km from the beach.

In some parts of the coast the waves were over 11 metres high - it's pretty difficult to imagine what that must have been like. There aren't any real signs of damage left now - just the occasional sad reminder and well sighnposted tsunami evacuation route. But - it's not a sad place as many people claim - it's actually really nice in it's own right and we would definiterly go there again, especially to the Mukdara Resort which was FAB! More on that in the next blog, which I shall post later....

Clare

Wonderful forward thinking countries give you free wi-fi. Greedy developed countries (yes UK, I'm talking to you!) charge you extortionate rates to use the internet.

We have actually managed to leave the resort now - we went for a mooch round Bang Niang village yesterday and found a very nice little bar that did yummy chicken satay and cocktails - it'd be frankly rude not to try one so I had two. They were a bit lethal but very, very nice.

It's fantastic weather today - wooooo! There's hardly anyone here - we are pretty much the only people in whichever pool we choose to go in (main or beach pool). It's brilliant!

People generally don't come to this part of Thailand at this time of year because it's the 'rainy season' - the last 2 days have had some sunshine but have been mainly cloudy with really cool rainstorms - good fun if you're already in the pool!

We haven't taken any photos of our resort or our fab room yet, partly because we're still jet lagged and keep falling asleep, and partly cos the first room we had had a mouse already staying in it. We battled with it for 2 nights but then gave in and changed rooms yesterday. The cheeky bugger had been at our complimentary fruit bowl. I thought I could hear something chomping its teeth but assumed it was just Rob with his night terrors again :-)

So, today has been a pool day - we were going to wander over to the mini mart for some more beer but I can't face the daily hassle from all the local tailors...

Where you from sir? (they never talk to me)
We're from England, near London.
Ah London - luvvely jubbly mate!
Um - yes, that's it.
You look like businessman sir - you want nice suit?
No thanks.
You come back tomorrow.
Maybe.
I will wait here for you sir - luvvely jubbly.
Er - thanks.

It's all good - everyone's really nice, as always. The hotel is a great place - even the mouse looked friendly. I'd definitely come here again, although maybe not in the 'dry season' - we've been spoiled by having things all to ourselves!

25 hours travel later and we're safely tucked up in our resort in Khao Lak. I was expecting it to be nice, after all, it's expensive for Thailand, but probably not *this* nice. We'll post some photos (or you can check the link on the sign-post above for the Mukdara Resort) so you can see just how nice it is!

No other news to report except that we are both very jet lagged, about to grab some local food, and I have an ear infection coming on....two years since my last one....and if I don't manage it properly, it'll be no diving for me...so on Monday we're off to find a pharmacy and buy some horse-strength antibiotics as I hope to be diving in less than 7 days!

We're safe and sound in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Well, I say safe, but they were checking everybody's infra-red body heat on the way in checking for swine flu.

Well, it's 22.30pm, we're leaving at 6.30am for a 9.30am flight, and instead of finishing the packing, I'm sitting here blogging instead!

Well, we've just got the give the house a quick once over to leave it in a fairly tidy state for our house sitters, then I've got to do the final bit of packing (I've got all my dive gear, my credit card, a pair of shorts and my passport...surely there's not much more I need?).

I wonder if the neighbours will mind me hoovering at 11pm at night?

Next time we blog, it'll be from Khao Lak. We're heading there as it was the worst hit part of Thailand during the tsunami. The plan is to spend a few tourist dollars with the local businesses during low season, check out a part of Thailand we haven't been to before, and hang out in the Porsche bar for a few beers...yes, a Porsche bar!! Lots of Germans go to Khao Lak apparently, so there's a bar dedicated to Porsches.

You never know though, with Engrish being what it is, it could be a bar dedicated to Porches and Verandas. We'll let you know!!

Rob

So - how have I been doing?

...finally, the plan is set.

Friday 7th August, 7.30am, we fly out of Heathrow and arrive at Bangkok the next day.

That same Saturday, we fly straight down to Phuket and grab a cab up to Khao Lak (where the tsunami worst hit Thailand) for a few days. We're staying at the Mukdara Beach Resort (click the link on the signpost at the top to see their website).

Then it's off to Manado in Sulawesi, first stop Kungkungan Bay Resort for some diving in the Lembeh Straight, then across to the Bunaken National Marine Park and a week at Tasik Ria (see link above).

Then back to Bangkok (via Kuala Lumpur for a few hours) and a stay in our favourite backwater cheap but great hotel, New Siam II for a few days before coming back home to London and work.

We've changed our plans! We're flying out to Thailand on Friday 8th August for a little R&R in Khao Lak - more information soon. We won't get to see Bali but we'll then be picking up the holiday in Manado for our 2 lovely dive resort / spas - yippeee!

29 days until we go! I still have to do the following tasks:

53 days to go and we're still frantically booking up places for our summer trip. Turns out that August is 'super peak' season in Indonesia and the top tripadvisor places are getting fully booked.