My 2011 sailing trip with my dad and some other Microsofties started with a flight to Antigua, where we spent a couple of days before catching a connecting flight to Tortola.

The flight was longer than expected due to some fuel strikes in Antigua which meant we had to be re-routed via Tobago.  It was the first time I had been on a flight with my dad since I went to Disney World at the age of 11.  Back then, a 10 hour transatlantic flight felt like an eternity of trying to sleep, watching endless movies and waiting not so patiently for the next round of food in tinfoil containers.  Nowadays, I travel to Seattle multiple times per year and have been on 6 10+ hour flights in the past 3 months alone, so the 12 hour flight with my dad (including a 1 hour stop over in Tobago) felt more familiar than a train journey in to London (which I have done way less than flying over the past year).  Back when me and dad last flew together, airports, planes and the whole journey was exciting, now it’s just what it is – not great, not bad, it’s just the journey.  One small difference this time was that I got to take dad in to the British Airways exec lounge at Gatwick (thanks to my frequent flyer card) – that was a great way to start the holiday…

When we arrived in Antigua we were piled in to the back of an air conditioned, but sub-optimally maintained taxi bus.  There was a guy sitting next to dad who was kinda mumbling nervously as we weaved around the roads of Antigua and dodged bikes, cars and pedestrians in the road.  I think the guy was a bit nervous either about the quality of driving or the fact he was in a new country, or perhaps a bit of both.  Again thinking back to when I had previously been on holiday with my dad, I guess I would have previously felt a bit uncomfortable in the back of the cab and in unknown territory.  However hanging off the back of a bus in Thailand, putting my life in the hands of Egyptian taxi drivers in Cairo, and riding in the back of a rickety tour bus driving along the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia has I guess made me somewhat fearless when it comes to foreign transportation.  The trip really felt no less common than a taxi ride in to Reading on a Saturday night (again, something which I have done way less than taxi rides in foreign countries recently).

The hotel was OK, not amazing, but nice enough.  On the beach, spacious rooms, good A/C and nice pool.  The area the hotel was in was fairly baron, plus it was right next to the luxurious Sandels resort which just reminded us that we were in a cheap hotel every time we saw it .

We were directed towards the ‘Coconut Beach’ bar for dinner.  The bar was relaxing in a simple Caribbean kind of way.  Candle lit tables, Bob Marley-esque music and the sound of crashing waves provided a great combination to enjoy our first Pina-Colada and dinner.

The waitress was a black Caribbean accented lady, who was polite, friendly, helpful and welcoming, but in a very chilled Caribbean kind of way, rather than in an overwhelming “Hi, I’m Jenny and I’ll be assisting you with your lunch today” American kind of way.

We sat in the bar for a few hours chatting, with (slightly creepy) warm wind blowing through the trees and bar around us.  The crashing waves were just about visible due to the closeness to the bar lights.  Despite the fact we ate and drank very slow, the staff seemed in no rush for us to pay our bill, to move on or even to order more drinks!  A great intro to the typical Caribbean laid back culture. 

When in Australia, I loved how strangers would always say “Good-day mate”, or some other friendly greeting involving the word ‘mate’.  In the bar, we were greeting by lots of people saying “How’s it going guys?” or “Hey man” – again, just as friendly and welcoming.  I guess in the UK we say “Alright mate”, but perhaps not nearly enough to strangers.

I REALLY don’t mind having to spend a weekend in Redmond when it’s during ski season!

No detailed write up, just some good action video footage – including one of me wiping out (I am going to deny responsibility and blame the guy who (kinda) cut across me)…

Randomly during a walk on the beach to find somewhere to eat one night, we discovered the Coca Garden Beach resort, to the north of Ban Tai beach.

Whilst we were initially planning on having dinner and heading back for an early night, we were absolutely mesmerised by the beautiful sunset which started to form as we finished up our food.  Ed was the first to notice it, but we all quickly followed him down to the beach to get a look (and some photos).  Whilst everyone was scurrying around to get themselves into positions to capture a  photo of the beautiful sight, I simply wanted to sit myself down on the cool, soft, White sand, burry my bare feet, shut out all of the people around me and loose myself in the moment…so did my best at exactly that . 

In our group of friends, whenever anyone goes quiet it does not take long for someone to ask ‘are you alright?’.  This situation was no exception.  I am usually always ‘alright’, but especially when I am quiet in a beautifully relaxed place.  Whilst I appreciate the care and intention of the question each time its asked, I must admit that it usually makes me question (at least in my head) ‘Yes, of course I am alright, why? Do I not look alright? Am I making you feel down by being quiet?’.  I love to have quiet reflecting time.  I must remember this myself next time i am tempted to say ‘are you alright’ or ‘cheer up’ next time I see a friend being quiet.

After watching the sunset, I felt the need for a little more ‘quiet’ time.  I wasn’t feeling down, quite the opposite in fact.  The location and atmosphere so incredibly relaxing and happy, that I simply wanted to peacefully absorb and enjoy it.  I wondered over to the edge of the decked bar area where I sat with my feet swinging free, facing the now detraining sunset, with my back to the bar and chilled (Bob Marley esq) music playing in the background.  It didn’t take long for Ed to come over and join me, but thankfully he did not ask if I was ‘alright’, but instead just sat and enjoyed the view with me.

As there became nothing left of the sunset to look at, I laid back on the uncovered and slightly sand covered decking.  I had accidentally sat below to beautiful palm trees, which perfectly framed a single bright shining star and provided lovely silhouettes to remind me that I was looking at the sky from a special place.  Eventually the rest of our friends wondered over to join us.  After moving us around a little so that they could spread out blankets to avoid laying on the dirty decking, we all chilled and looked at the stars.

I felt so relaxed laying on the floor, stroking Jo’s arm, staring at the increasing number of visible stars and watching the palms trees sway ever so slightly from a light warm sea breeze.  Some of our other friends were trying to preserve the memory by capturing artist photos of various low lit objects around the bar.  Photography is an interesting thing isn’t it!  When looking at a photo of a beautiful beach, a stunning sunset or some other amazing scene, we think of relaxation and enjoyment.  Do those people who spend the majority of the time trying to capture that ‘perfect’ photo actually spend any time enjoying the scene for real?  Can the photo bring as much joy as actually being there?  Not for me.

It was only after 20 minutes or so, and after drifting in to a state of deeper relaxation, that I realised how much I loved laying directly on the decking rather than being in a chair, or similar.  With my eyes closed I could feel the bass from the Bob Marley music being played from a speaker on the other side of the bar.  I could hear and feel the footsteps of the chilled group at the front of the bar as they walked to get more drinks or to visit the bathroom.  I could hear and feel the sliding of drawers, barrels and other things by the bar man as he casually served and socialised with the patrons.  Without having to open my eyes, I felt like I knew exactly what was going on in the bar, I felt like I was part of it, I would even go as far to say as I felt at one with the Coco Garden beach bar and the people in it.  I want more!

When visiting the east side of Railay during the day, we were a little disappointed by the low tide, muddy beach and mess of stranded Mango trees spread along the coast line.  The miss mash of bars, shops and restaurants along the coast looked like they were either still being built, or had been their for a long time with very little maintenance.  There was an eclectic variety of places to explore, however the east side of the peninsular really stood out as ugly compared to the beautiful west coast on which our boat had landed.

At night and at high tide however…completely different story!  We took a different route in the dark which cut through the back of the east coastal buildings and brought us out next to the Mango groves right next to ‘Skunk bar’.  Whilst we were a little sceptical about potential hidden meanings behind the name of the bar, we decided to try out it’s seemingly relaxed atmosphere and sat ourselves down on a raised floor around small 30cm high drinks table. 

Being 9 PM or so when arrived, we were unable to see how far the the tide had come up across the previously muddy and ugly beach.  It was only after we ordered our first of cocktails that we realised we could hear the waves crashing up on the beach, literally metres from the entrance to the bar – at least a few hundred meters higher than they were previously in the day.  As we drank, the tide continued to rise to a point where the stilts on edge of the bar were being regularly lapped by waves.  It was at that point that the east beach started to make sense.  The buildings along the coast were not in a neglected or dirty area, but were built next to or in some cases on top of the water!  The chilled Skunk bar went from being an apparent under maintained establishment next to an ugly beach, to a rustic chilled venue in a unique location to provide a relaxing sound of crashing waves through the mysteriously dark Mango groves during an evening on east Railay beach.

I haven’t seen (and won’t see) east Railay beach during the day at high tide, however I would imagine that either way it’s not really a place I would want to spend my time in the sun.  West Railay provides beautiful sands, nice (and a bit more expensive) bars and restaurants for the day.  East Railay provides a truly unique location to spend evenings either chilling to the sounds of Mango trees being stroked by waves, or partying to live music and loud music in a slightly underdeveloped feeling set of bars and clubs.  OR …west Railay is for holiday makers, east Railay is for travellers…the great thing is that it’s relatively easy to mix the two.

Whilst it should be full of hung over people, desperately trying to get on to one of the few wait list spots for the full internal flights, it’s not.  In fact it’s one of the most relaxing places we have been so far on this trip.  The huge spiral shaped, open air boarding gate waiting area has ample sofas for everyone to relax, chilled christmas music playing in the background (ok they could do with changing that now) and enough space to make it feel empty even with a plane full of people waiting to board.

Our group of mainly Microsoft employees took advantage of the free airport wifi to catch up on emails and tell their facebook network how great the airport was.  This was the first time I had seen a room full of people at an airport who looked like they really didn’t want the plane to arrive any time soon.

This truly was a ‘if carlsburg made airports’ moment

According to the Wiki travel article about Railay, Phra Nang beach is among the top 10 beaches in the world.  It also happens to be in the next bay just south of West Railway beach where are our hotel is situated.  We decided to rent some kayaks for the day, so that we could paddle round to visit the highly rated beach and explore some more of the southern tip. 

We managed to get everyone up for an 8:30 breakfast…not an easy task with 4 guys and 3 girls in our group!  The hotel breakfast buffet included dragon fruit, which I was very excited to find since I have only previously had it at a hotel in Shanghai.  I remembered the fruit tasting similar to Kiwi, but a little less sour.  The dragon fruit in Thailand however really did not taste of much of than water .  I am not sure if my memory of the taste is a little distorted, or whether it simply tastes different in Thailand.  I did also notice that the hotel here cut the fruit in to thin slices, whereas in Shanghai the (expensive) hotel cut it in to large cubes – perhaps that effects the intensity of the taste somehow?  I will try to find some more dragon fruit before we leave in order to find out!

Shortly after leaving West Railay beach, we paddled through the middle of some beautiful orphaned rocks which were no doubt part of the mainland many many many years ago, but have been left stranded by millions of years worth of wave and wind erosion.  It’s kind of humbling to sit in a kayak and drift underneath stalactites and other rock formations which have formed over millions of years.  As we floated underneath the huge rocks which were being slowly undercut by the crashing waves, I couldn’t help but wonder how many more hundreds of thousands or millions of years it would take for each of the enormous structures to succumb to the sea.   The average 77 year life span (in Western countries) of humans really is so insignificant compared to the size of and timelines involved in the rocks we were floating next to.

After traversing the rock islands we headed towards Phra Nang, which was a beautiful sight of soft white sand, backed by dense green palms trees and other forestry and filled with a busy variety of long boats, sunbathers and families playing in the water. 

There is a great sense of freedom to paddle in under our own power, to a beautiful bay is only accessible by mountain walk or boat.  We were more free than the other visitors who had arrived by long boat taxi services, and we could reach the other bays on the peninsular easier than those who had trekked across the mountain to the beach.  As we arrived on the beach under our own power, it felt a little like arriving in Mos Eisley space port, with our own space craft capable of taking us to places not possible for those ‘stuck’ in the port without a means of transport.  Whether it’s space travel, sea travel or long distance land travel – personal transportation really is one of the most liberating things possible.

The beach was beautiful, with stunning panoramic views of the surrounding cliffs, beautiful beach backing greenery and the unique orphaned rocks we had previously paddled through.  A Thai beach would not be complete without the quintessential Thai Long Boats, ferrying people to an from the beach.  Phra Nang beach also had a pleasant surprise for us in the form of floating Thai food take away shops anchored within close reach of the sunbathers…

The paddle to the beach had worked up my appetite, but even if it hadn’t I would have probably purchased something from the Thai food boat just for the experience.  The lady sitting on the end of the boat took the orders and money from the customers, after which she relayed the order to the two ladies sitting in the sheltered part of the boat.  One older lady was doing all of the Thai cooking, and the other lady at the back of the boat seemed be responsible for supplies and general organisation of the cooking space.  Whilst I was a little sceptical about  the state of the chicken which was half prepared in advance and left sitting in the shade on the edge of the boat, the Pad Thai dishes being stir fired on a gas powered stove and serve up on paper plates did look DELCIOUS.  I ended up going for a vegetable spring roll, which was served in a transparent plastic bag with a squirt of sweet chilli sauce which had to try and spread over my roll by rolling it about in the bag.  It turned out to be a good snack and satisfied me until lunch.

After spending just under an hour on the beach, we decided to head further south to explore some of the coves and other formations on the southern tip of the peninsular.  Mark and I were first ones to arrive on a small stretch of sand, which felt truly remote as it was very hidden and completely inaccessible with out a boat (unless you are an experienced rock climber).  We named the beach ‘Moorkin’ (Moore + Deakin) however despite the fact that we had clearly labelled our beach in the sand, Ed and Jo were not willing to  pay the 500 baht boat visitor fee we demanded when they arrived.

We encountered ever increasing waves as we left the protection of the land.  After exploring another deserted beach, we decided to head back to West Railay for lunch.  Our kayaking adventure was fun, surprisingly not too tiring, spectacular thanks to the beautiful rock formations, liberating and a reminder of how insignificant our tiny individual lifespans are in comparison to the scale and age of our planet.  A great way to spend half a day in beautiful Thailand .

Railay is a beautiful peninsular near Krabi which is for all practical purposes an island due to surrounding cliffs which make it only accessible by boat.  We are staying in a stunning hotel situated on the stretch of land between the west and east Railay beaches.  Whilst our hotel would be considered ‘mid range’ on the island, it’s one of the most picturesque and relaxing places I have stayed. 

Granted there are a few quirks (as seems to often be the case with Thai island hotels), such as the seemingly rushed way our beds were made by the cleaners and the serious lack of water pressure in the bath/shower.  However, after the past few weeks where I have stayed in a combination of hostels, hotels and living rooms, this place feels like 5 star luxury. 

Transportation to Railay is most commonly from nearby Krabi via a long boat.  Our luggage was piled up at the front of the boat, whilst we were asked to sit in the centre and to spread ourselves evenly to help balance the ride.  We were sprayed with fine and not so fine splashes of water as the driver sped up the boat to bounce across the waves.  The less than 10 minute long boat ride was the first opportunity we had on this trip to experience truly beautiful Thai beaches, rather than the muddy watered, cloudy skied scenes we had for most of our time in Koh Phangan. 

We are only here for two nights (travelling to Phi Phi next), so we are keen to experience as much as possible whilst also taking the time to relax and enjoy the amazingly chilled environment encouraged  in Railay.  As with every other new exciting place I visit, I was feeling regret on arrival that we were not spending more time in Railay.  On the first night, it felt like I could happily spend weeks relaxing, exploring and experiencing what the beautiful beaches and nearby islands have to offer.  If I am honest however, based on past experiences, I am pretty sure that I would be fed up after 4 or 5 days at most and would be itching to get to the next destination.  Whilst advanced booking of flights and hotels (as we did) does often result in better value for money and more reliable results, I couldn’t help but think about how nice it would have been to simply take a decision on when to leave Railay based on when we were ready to move.

During the first afternoon whilst everyone was taking their what is becoming daily day time naps, I found myself predictably restless, so I decided to do a bit of research on Railay using the web.  I discovered that West Railay beach which backed on to the entrance to our hotel, was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset.  In particular a bar called Cocos was recommended as the best bar in Asia to watch a sunset!  Pretty bold claim, so Ed, Ilona and I decided to check it out whilst the others slept.

Whilst I have seen better sunsets, the atmosphere on the beach mats provided by Cocos to watch the sunset was very much worth the few hundred baht we spent on cocktails.  Unlike the overrated and overhyped sunset at Cafe Mambos in Ibiza, the Cocos sunset was popular but not too busy as to feel like the blanket we were sitting on was in risk of being sat on by someone else if we stood up.  The ambience was relaxing, but not boring thanks to the hustle and bustle of people and long boats.  Unfortunately the low lying cloud prevented a potentially beautiful view as the sun set behind the nearby islands, however the views were still spectacular as the sun sliced through the weaving gaps in the clouds.

As the sun set, I couldn’t help but feel privileged as we laid out on the beach, listening to chilled music from the bar and enjoying the glow from the coke can fueled flame torches which had been placed in the sand.  Long boats left with full compliments of (presumably) jealous tourists who were being taken back to their own resorts after their day trip to Railay.  We simply continued to lay on the beach, drink cocktails and soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible.  It felt like Railay was our home and the tourists were leaving for the day after enjoying OUR beautiful beach and sunset.  For an hour or so, we did nothing more than stare at the stars…beautiful.

Our arrival in to Koh Phangan was not exactly the most organised or relaxing of boat disembarkations I have had.  The 200 or so people on the high speed catamaran which had picked us up one hour late from Koh Samui were asked to dump their suit cases at the front of the boat when they boarded.  During the trip the staff moved all of the bags around,  which resulted in a state of mass panic as everyone failed to find their bags when the boat arrived in the harbour.  We were all asked to leave the boat, stand on the edge of the harbour and wait for a bags to be thrown on to the shore so that we could battle through crowds and hunt for them in the dark.  Not the most organised of systems I have encountered, although if I am honest I’m not quite sure how I would have improved it if I had been in charge – given the resources available.

After helping Ilona find her ruck sack and seeing the others in our group find theirs as they were passed off the boat, I got increasingly stressed and started to focus my efforts on spotting my rather generic grey suitcase in the decreasing number still remaining on the boat.  I am not exaggerating when I say that my case was literally LAST off!  I am also not exaggerating when I describe the feeling of relief to discover that none of my paranoid fears had been realised, such as my luggage being taken by someone else, dropped off the edge of the boat or removed by a stealth alien UFO because they liked my selection of cheap t-shirts from Burton.

Finding a bus from the boat to our villas proved to be the second significant ‘experience’ on the island.  Whilst there were an ample selection of people offering transport as we left the boat, it was again not particularly well organised.  We were greeted by several enthusiastic shouting Thai women, waving island maps in our faces and asking ‘Where you go? Where you go?’.  We told one of the ladies we wanted to go to Ban Tai, she gave us price of 100 baht per person (about 2 English pounds) and we agreed.  We then stood around for 10 minutes as she shouted at bus drivers, tried to pull in other tourists for the same ride and kept saying ‘Yes Yes, Ban Tai’ every time we asked her what was happening.  Eventually she pointed us towards our bus, the roof of which we had to throw all of our luggage on top of, before we climbed in to the military people carrier style seating area in the back.

We were pretty squashed in the back, however she made us wait whilst she herded up some more tourists so that they could hang off (literally) the edge of our bus and get as much money for the ride as possible.  The photo above was taken after the 4 people hanging off the back had been dropped off.

The girl with the coloured square bag was from Australia, travelling alone and trying to find her hotel which the driver really didn’t seem to know.  We ended up dropping her off near a 7 eleven and a hotel which had a similar name to the one she had booked, but which to be honest none of us were sure if it was the correct place. 

Similar to the Australian girl, we were also unsure as to whether our driver had dropped us off at the correct place…and rightly so.  He did deliver us to a set of buildings near the sign for the ‘Garden Lodge’ (which is where we are staying), however a lovely lady at the RESTAURANT  we had been dropped off at went out of her way to get us to the Garden Lodge which was in fact 500 meters away.  She started to give us directions, but then quickly realised that it was going to be far to complicated, so she asked her cook (we think that’s who he was) to give us a lift in the back of their pick up truck!  We tried to protest, but she made it very clear that we didn’t have to pay and she made it difficult to actually say no.  So we ended up piling all of our cases and ourselves in to the back of the truck, as the kind Thai man drove us down the road to our villas.

Arguably it was sensible, although I now feel bad for being suspicious of the Thai’s people desire to help us, particularly since it did not seem to benefit them in any way.  We of course gave the man some money for helping us, however it was a little awkward for Mark to have him accept it and it was clear that he really was not expecting it.  Whilst I think it’s good to have sensible suspicion in certain circumstances , I would also like to get better at recognising situations when genuine people really do want to do something for someone else…just because.

I had a (relatively quick) browse of the Sydney art gallery today.  Whilst there were lots of amazing aboriginal art which I was not allowed to take photos of, I also spotted this exhibit in the Chinese section…

At first glance I thought it was simply a collection of ancient eating utensils which had been dug up somewhere.  However, two things stood out… 1) The utensils were in perfect condition, 2) there was a gap in between the majority of the items and the final two.  These two facts were enough to attract my attention and warrant further investigation.

It turned out that the items were not old at all! In fact the exhibit was called something like ‘What we use to eat with 2009’.  After reading this, I realised that display was not about old items in any way, but was actually highlighting the complicated array of 40+ western utensils which are commonly used to eat with, compared to the 2 used for everything in China (technically you could argue it’s one, since it’s a PAIR of chopsticks). 

Interesting stuff…

You can argue that Chinese need more skill to eat their food, whereas other cultures simply have better tools and require less skill.  That’s pretty controversial if you apply it outside of eating habits and to the cultural differences at large.

I love this city! I love this city!

It was a cloudy start to the day, but it brightened up by midday to provide us with some beautiful sunshine for some jogging, relaxing and a little bit of sunbathing.  It’s now 20:30 and I just about made it down to the Opera House bar before the sky opened up!  There wasn’t much cover on the 20 minute walk down here, so I was pleased to get under the covered sections of Circular Quai before the drizzle turned in to a torrential down pour.

The great thing about being in a city which is designed around outdoor living is that everyone still comes outside in the rain.  Granted 50% of the seating is unusable due to dripping from the edge of umbrellas or rain being blown inside by the strong winds, but everyone is more than happy to huddle under umbrellas clutching their wine and squeeze in to the limited indoor seating offered by the bars running along the edge of the quay.

The Opera house has it’s own set of bars and cafes which sit sunken below on the main walkway and right next to the beautiful Sydney harbour.  The main Opera Bar has live music and an interior cocktail bar, so that is currently (and usually in fact) more popular than the sushi bar and Opera Kitchen further down the strip.  I wanted to get some space to blog and sort out photos so I opted for the Opera kitchen, which is nice, however I also had lunch here today so I feel a bit like I am letting myself down by going to the same place twice…it is raining though, so I won’t give myself too much of a hard time.

The manager of the bar was looking over at me as I sat down, I had the feeling that she was checking to see whether I was simply freeloading and using their internet without buying anything.  Perhaps that was just my recently discovered problem with paranoia showing it’s face again, but either way the metal stand with a big ‘68’on it, indicating the number for the food delivery I had ordered would have reassured her that I was in fact a paying customer.  She came over and said hi (can’t remember the exact conversation), and then later on came back again to ask if I was writing a book.  I told her that I was simply blogging and she asked why I was here, which lead in to Microsoft, etc… I was kind of keen to get some time to myself to concentrate on blogging, so I deliberately let the conversation fizzle out so that she would leave me alone.  I did however appreciate her friendliness and seeming interest in my ‘work’.

I bought a new hoody whilst we were travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide.  Despite the fact that it was not raining when I left the hotel, I felt the urge to pack it in my bag before I left…good decision! It’s not exactly freezing, but it still feels nice and cosy to wear whilst it’s raining   This hoody will always remind me of good times in Australia now

It’s still chucking it down and it looks like most of the people I know/have met in Sydney are staying in apartments/hostels for the evening.  I am going to sit here and continue to capture some of the amazing memories I have gained since arriving in this beautiful country.  That’s it for this post, here is my view looking back at the lights of Sydney in the dark…