Author: Butty

Arrived OK after a slightly shorter flight than expected due to no big headwind across the Atlantic.

Immigration a nightmare as usual, took about an hour and then another 45 minutes to get the car and eventually arrived at condo in the dark at about 8.30.

Awoke the next morning a bit early and it was still dark.

Once light we went shopping to the “Publix” supermarket over the local causeway and then back for a little brekkie and then a walk along the beach towards Clearwater.

View from our patio

Belleair Beach

Local wildlife

And more

We had a friend for breakfast

We have had trips to St Petersburg , Clearwater and popped in to see our Condo at Itopia

Sun is shining and about 85 degs

Bay Watch ??

Off to Gatwick this afternoon to Acorn Lodge for the night where we can park the car for a couple of weeks before our flight to Tampa for our 2 week stay at Aldea Condos on Belleair Beach, Florida.

Flying out from Gatwick at 12.55 on BA arriving 18.45 at Tampa International.

A couple of weeks ago at Emsworth, Hampshire

Another beautiful day so took another trip inland to Peillon , a fabulous perched medieval village. Hairpin bends all the way up from the floor of the Paillon Valley. (spellings are correct) . The village has a church at the very top and a chapel at the base , both were closed .
Stunning views again towards the coast.

The perched village of Peillon

L’eglise

Chapelle des Penitents Blancs with it’s very old and rather deteriorated frescoes completed by some Italian.

Great but rather misty views towards the coast.

Richard and Joelle coming tonight for a bit of supper so did a little prep.

Beautiful day so decided to head inland just a little a way and went for a 2 hour walk on the ” Tour du Mont Gros” which is behind Cap Martin near Menton.

Cap Martin in the foreground, Menton in the middle and Ventimille in Italy in the distance.

On the other side of the ” Mont” super views over Monaco.

We are at our apartment in Nice for a week just because !

We have hired a car this time so we can get out of town a bit more and do a bit of walking in the mountains assuming the weather is OK . The forecasts seems to be good.

Ron popped in this morning with croissants and with his SA photo album under his arm. Great photos of their trip.

Shopped at Geant for the weeks indulgence ( Irene spied some Foie Gras so had to purchase) .

Walked along Cagne Sur Mer promenade for an hour and finished off with a beer for Me and Jasmine tea for Er.

With a Grappa in hand I will sign off.

Arrived on time at 06.00 at Heathrow after a reasonable 12.75 hour flight.
Great surprise because Tom and Padouk got up at some unearthly hour to greet us at the airport. How nice was that. We had an hour or so to kill before our National Express bus so indulged in croissant and coffee with them . On to the bus and had a speedy three and half hour trip back to Exeter where our chauffeur Brad was waiting to whisk us on our final leg home.

So home sweet home after an amazing trip that Me and Er will never forget.

Thanks to all who managed to read our blog

THE END

Last day of our travels excluding the long 13 hour flight home arriving on the 17th at 06.00

Set off this morning to the Chinese Quarter which was a lot more fascinating than we thought it would be considering we have been to China. Lots of narrow streets with traders selling all sorts but in a lot of bulk as if they are wholesalers as well as retailers. Cloth, beads, bags and trinkets in abundance. The amount of stock they carry is amazing. The Thai population is made up of 20% with Chinese origins.

These dispensaries are for herbal and spicy remedies.

This dispensary was really busy

Take a little lunch while shopping

Happy Birthday Irene. This little cake was left in our room while we were having dinner last night. They must record birth dates from our passports. Nice touch !

We returned to hotel at about 1.00 having arranged a later checkout of 2.00 . At least we could shower again after a hot sticky morning. Left our bags in storage and headed out to the shopping malls for a bit of last minute you know what, returning at about 6.00.

We have to kill some time before we leave for the airport at about 8.00 so are sitting here outside by the river with a couple of our favourite cocktails since being away, Singapore Slings. It is nearly 7.00 as I write this blog for nearly the last time and will have a bite to eat here before we set off for the airport.

Seats 47F and 47 G await us for our final flight

BUT we still have our National Express coach trip to look forward to demain arriving Exeter about 12.30′

Birthday girl

Our last bit of warmth for a while. Sitting here drinking cocktails listening to a bit of jazz from a live trio, AND we’ve checked out!! Better order dinner as we leave in about an hour.

What a journey we’ve had, it almost brings tears to your eyes.

Day in Bangkok, so we decided to hit the Grand Palace first. We started from our pier at the hotel and then to the commercial boats where we were ripped off, but only for a small amount, so I’m sure Paul will get over it! We weren’t sure whether we would think, just another Palace and temple, but it was beautiful. We had a amazing few hours there walking around the most beautiful and ornate buildings. Photos to follow will show how much gold leaf they use, glass beads, glass tiles etc. it was definitely worth the trip.

Our pier in first photo; then the trip up the river

Walk to the Grand Palace running the gauntlets of stalls

Part of the Grand Palace

Gold leaf over part of the Temples

Yet another Temple photo

After the Grand Palace we decided we’d walk to the Reclining Buddah. This one is 47meters long and 15m high. It’s in a complex a little way from the Grand Palace. We walked it, unfazed by touts, tuk tuk drivers etc. we were very hot, so looked for a place to have a bite to eat and drink. Really interesting little cafe. Paul got chatting to a lady who was selling potions, don’t know what for, I’m not sure she did! Anyway Paul bought three bottles, whilst the cafe staffed laughed. They said the lady is a bit screwy!!
After that it was the reclining Buddah, again in gold leaf. The complex had several beautiful buildings with Buddhist shrines in them.

Mainly a day of travelling again to our final stop before Coleford namely Bangkok.
Our prearranged car to the airport duly arrived dead on time for our 40 min drive to Phuket Airport.
Arrived Bangkok about fifteen minutes late and made our way to the recently opened train shuttle the the City. Bangkok airport is a busy place but very few seem to be using this new facility. It is a non stop service to a hub station called Makkasan but there were no more than half a dozen on it. Very strange. Had to get taxi for the shortish drive to our hotel. Argument number three for Butty, with a taxi driver, as we arrived at the hotel. Number one was our first day was with the tuk tuk boys in Beijing. The second was with a lady driver in HCMC who wanted more than the meter reading because she said she quoted me a fixed price and the meter didn’t count. B……..it she got what was on the meter! The third was today when the taxi driver wanted 500 Baht but his meter was not running so how did he know how much it should be? I had and idea it would of been about 300 Baht so that is what he got. He was not a happy bunny and nor was Irene, me making a scene over a couple of pounds!

Went out for a while in the evening to the night market and red light area!

Preparing the meat for the pavement eatery!

Our hotels river shuttle that goes upriver to a main river ferry pier and city sky rail station.

It has been great just to laze about on the beach and around the pool. Although we could have gone on a few more trips, we decided to give them a miss. Some of the islands and coastline does look beautiful but maybe next trip!

Waiting for business. Apparently the tourist season has been very quiet which is not surprising with the EU up the spout and the latest floods here in Thailand.

Tsunami early warning siren

Our hillside resort

Woke up this morning to picture below, fabulous views and hotel great for anyone out there who might be thinking of getting married!

View from patio

Bedroom with biggest bed we’ve ever slept in

View of jacuzzi and it’s view

Our ‘room’ is beautiful. Not too great if you don’t do hills, loads of steps to breakfast, reception etc, but you can get a lift in a vehicle if you want. The room is actually lounge with TV, bedroom as seem with TV, neither have been used yet, (TV’s) , bathroom and dressing area. We have an outside shower, for those who want a bit of a cheeky look at Paul you can see the shower on ‘just for fun’, a jacuzzi and patio and back courtyard. The hotel has lovely spa facilities, so I think I will indulge myself as a birthday treat.

Spent today lazing around. Leisurely breakfast and then down to the beach. Water beautifully clear and great sandy beach. Lunch there and then back for a shower and jacuzzi.

Beach in both directions

Took a walk for sundowners and found the night spot for those in the area. Lots of bars and restaurants behind the beach. Had sundowners and returned to hotel for dinner by the pool.

The last day in KL but we don’t fly out to Phuket until 18.00 so we have a bit of time to kill. Decided not to have breakfast in the hotel so strolled around the park in front of the hotel and over towards the Twin Towers and had a buffet breakfast and coffee in a cafe.
Had to take some more photos of the Petronas Towers.

What an amazing building. Doesn’t look real.

Nice sculptures in the park.

Headed off to the airport about 3.00 which is an hour by bus.

As mentioned before the airport is called the LCCT ( Low Cost Carrier Terminal) which is predominately Air Asia and is it busy.

Arrived on time as have all our flights up to now and found our prearranged car ( another Kelly Cab) for the 40 minute drive to our hotel. By this time it is dark but the hotel looks great.

Went for a bite to eat, Nasi Goreng for me and Rock Lobster for Er.

Last country on our travels but at least we have five days in one place and hopefully relax a bit by the pool or on the beach.

Yet another early start as today we were leaving Siem Reap for Kuala Lumpur. Our flight was 8.30am, so it was 5.30am up, tuk tuk waiting outside at 6.30am for our departure. The hotel loaded us with breakfast, T shirts and we eventually left after having photos taken with the staff, at their instigation. We felt like royalty there during our 2 day stay. Flight with Air Asia, then Skybus to KL all went well. Arrived at our hotel Traders about 2.30pm starving. Dumped our bags and went down to 5th floor for lunch. One Nasi Goreng and one curry later we felt very good. Our room is splendid with a great view of the Petronas Towers just outside our window. Feeling a bit jaded, so walked around the park and checked out the roof pool and bars before loafing around doing this blog!!

Daytime view from our hotel window. We picked this hotel for our last one night stay in KL because of this view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Night view . Absolutely amazing.

Er is kindly pressing my trousers and shirt because we are off to the first hotel we stayed at in KL, The Royal Chulan which is so nice we have to go back and have dinner.