30th September 2011
Well my trip to Vientiane, Laos, started off badly (I left my glasses at home) and has now got worse. This morning I went to the Thai embassy here in Vientiane to get a new double entry tourist visa and they told me I could not have one as I had had several before. They showed me a small red stamp on my previous visa (That I got in Vientiane in March this year) which says "Remark: The holder of this passport travels to Thailand under a tourist visa several times which may result in the refusal of a visa in the future" - I had not noticed this remark so I was quite surprised - I had heard that people had been refused visas for having previously had too many visits to Thailand - There is no information on the Thai embassy website relating to this topic. I now have to wait until I return to Thailand next week to see if they let me in.
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28th September 2011
Back in Jomtien after my four day trip to Phuket - the first two days were good and the weather was fine but then the last two days were very wet and stormy. The beaches were all closed due to the high winds and rough seas so I did not do much at all. On my third day in Phuket I caught the local bus from Kata Beach to Phuket Town and considered catching the bus to Patong Beach just to pass time but changed my mind.
The process of getting to the airport from the various beaches is not as simple as coming from the airport - The minibus shuttle from the airport to all hotels at the popular beaches is very simple and a good service but they do not seem to operate in the reverse direction - therefore the only simple way to get back to the airport is by taxi which is expensive (800 Baht from Kata Beach) - there is an airport bus service but it only operates from Phuket Town. You can get the local bus from the beach to Phuket Town and then catch the airport bus but this will take more than two hours. I caught the bus from Kata Beach to Phuket Town but got off close to Central Festival Shopping Centre (a few kilometres out of Phuket Town) and then caught the airport bus from Central Festival Shopping Centre where it stops on the way to the airport. This way the trip to the airport is not too bad and the total cost is 115 Baht.
I am fairly sure I will visit Phuket again and I will stay at Kata Beach. Next visit I will come in the tourist season to be sure that there is little chance of rain (I said that two years ago on my first visit) - I keep forgetting when the monsoon season is as it varies throughout South East Asia.
Kata Beach, Phuket, Thailand
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26th September 2011
Today I had planned to rent a motorbike and drive around Phuket Island - but at around 5am this morning very heavy rain started and the forecast for the day is not good.
Since I arrived the weather had been great even though it is the rainy season. I spent most of yesterday at Kata Beach and just wandering around. Kata Beach, in my opinion, is better than Patong Beach (where I stayed when I visited Phuket two years ago) as it has more sand area and is less crowded. Kata town is much smaller than Patong which I believe makes it better as it makes getting around very easy. There are plenty of restaurants and tourist related businesses. There seems to be quite an Italian influence with several pizza restaurants and coffee shops. My hotel includes a coffee shop, pizza restaurant and also a Gelato shop.
My hotel Case E Mare is fantastic (quite possibly the best value hotel I have ever stayed at - a hotel of this standard in Australia would cost around $150 a night - I paid less than 10% of that) as it is close to the beach, the rooms are as new, there is a 24 hour mini mart next door and my room includes all the features I could want. The hotel is run by an Italian couple which probably explain why it is not just a "Standard" Asian hotel.
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22nd September 2011
I leave for Phuket on Saturday for a few days at Kata Beach and then once I return I will be going to Laos again for a few days. The Laos trip is a "Visa Run" despite the fact that I do not need to do a visa run as I am going to Bali next month and then Myanmar (Burma) the following month.
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11th September 2011
It rained heavily all morning today so instead of going on my usual Sunday "Long Walk" I did the Thailand Photo Gallery - This Photo Gallery includes photographs I have taken since moving to Thailand in 2009 covering Pattaya, Jomtien, Ko Larn, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Phuket, Ayutthaya, Ubon Ratchathani and Chiang Rai.
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9th September 2011
About half of the photo galleries are finished now but the process is taking longer than I would have liked. Over the past week I have completed Pisa and Florence (Italy) - My Solo Flight Around Australia - Budapest (Hungary) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Malta. I still have four trip galleries and three country galleries and the country galleries are the three largest - The USA, Vietnam and Thailand. I hope to finish them all by the end of this month even though that is quite ambitious.
I have two trips this month - first I am going to Phuket on the 24th (to Kata Beach) and then to Udon Thani (Thailand) and across to Vientiane (Laos).
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1st September 2011
Now back in Jomtien after an enjoyable trip to Vietnam. I am a bit sunburnt from staying too long on Nha Trang beach. I stayed in a different hotel on this trip and was very happy with my choice - the hotel's name is a bit confusing as it is called either the Sen Vang Hotel, Sen Vang Guesthouse or the Golden Lotus Geusthouse - the hotel is fairly new and very clean and well kept - it is located at 55 Hung Vuong Street which is in the centre of the Nha Trang tourist area - Single rooms with A/C, cable TV, Free WiFi, Fridge and window are around $10 a night ($12 for double).
I had a BBQ lobster from a beach vendor as planned but the price was more than last year and the lobster was much smaller.
The train trip to and from Nha Trang was OK but if I visit again I will probably catch the plane (as I did once before) it only takes 55 minutes and the price is about double that of the train.
My next trip is to Phuket, Thailand - where I have visited before - I did not really like Phuket as it is too tourist oriented for my liking - I am only going because the air fare was so cheap ($50 return). I have not booked any accommodation yet but will probably avoid Patong Beach.
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