Just been to Thailand with Roos and Niek...boy, what a holiday!

We went for dinner on the evening we left with our friend Yvonne who unfortunately had to leave India...a kind of pre-vacation farewell. Then, on the way back, T stepped into a hole and ended up bloody and scratched...he was lucky not break his toe!!! And this was an hour before we had to leave for the airport!

But things got worse...in the plane, Niek got sick...some bug that he caught which made him throw up...in the plane...in the taxi to the hotel...in the hotel (well, it was more diarrea in the hotel)...and then Roos also started... in the top picture they are waiting in the lobby until the room is ready. Poor kids.

Niek was ill during our whole stay in Bangkok, running from table to toilet - still, he seems to have had a good time anyway as the hotel had lots of illegal DVD's that could be watched free of charge..quite a good deal and very amusing as most DVD's have been filmed illegally in the cinema, and subtitles have been deducted from what can be understood, which allows for very unusual translations!

Roos got better after a day and went sightseeing with me the first day. We did Wat Po, we did MBK and we wanted to do Wat Arun but needed to cross the river for that and nearly were ripped off at the ferry where the boatman wanted 300 bath for a return ticket to the other side (the ferry actually costs 3,5 bath for one way, so it is not hard to see why a return would cost a hundred times more). We had a good time anyway and managed to NOT get ripped off!

The second day Roos went sight-seeing with T, as I also caught Niek's bug and stayed in bed. Then,at the Grand Palace, T's wallet got stolen, with everything in it...credit cards, drivers licence and diplomatic identity card. One credit card was abused almost immediately; 20.000 Bath were withdrawn WITHOUT pin code! According to the Postbank this is not possible but there we are! (we have not written the last word about this!)

So the last evening in Bangkok T spent at the police station trying to find an english speaking police officer in order to file the case; I spent the evening in bed being sick and Roos and Niek spent it in front of the tv watching dvd's with funny translations....not quite what we had in mind for our final night in Bangkok!

But then on saturday we flew on to Krabi, where we were met by our good friend Marcus, and all changed for the better. Apart from the occasional shit-experiences (which we started sharing at breakfast) nothing desastrous happened and we went kayakking, elephant riding and snorkelling. Especially the latter was great; one day we rented a longtail boat which picked us up from the hotel and took us to Poda and Chicken islands, with their clear waters, big reefs and many tropical fish. Apart from a sunburn on our backs we came out fine from that and really really enjoyed the hours we drifted face down! In the evening we would hop on our rented scooters and drive to Marcus' restaurant to enjoy fish, fish, fish and for the kids, schnitzel...the only remaining incident was T getting caught in a tropical shower which ruined his shoes and his telephone...oh well. Somehow it was to be expected.

Thailand 2008...shit, fish and schitzel...what more could you want?