Malaysia!

We crossed the border into Malaysia today- a whole new country to explore!

Breakfast, anyone?

 

We learned early on that the "ABF" (American BreakFast) that's included with many hotel stays is not very good- usually a sunny side up egg, and a "sausage" that looks like a mini hotdog. We'd eat the toast, and be thankful for the coffee. Then we realized we sometimes had the option to have the "Asian Breakfast" instead... and Kao Tom, or "rice soup", or "boiled rice" quickly became one of our favorite Thai foods. It really is chicken rice soup, but with LOTS of rice, and flavored with coriander and ginger. Sometimes they throw an egg in it. You can get it with chicken, pork or fish- we usually stick to the chicken. Yumm!

Another Snorkeling Paradise

Phuket is a large island off the west coast of Thailand, and it's surrounded by smaller islands. On Phuket, we stayed in Kata Beach (west coast), and took a snorkel tour to the 3 Khai Islands (Nui, Nai, and Nok) off the east coast. Even though it was a cloudy day, the islands were beautiful. (pictures here)

In the Andaman Sea, we've also spent time in Krabi, and on Phi Phi Don, with a snorkel tour to Phi Phi Ley. (prior blogs)

And off the east coast of Thailand, in the beautiful Gulf of Thailand (not on this map), we spent time on Koh Tao. (with another snorkel trip, another prior blog)

Thai mode of transportation

Family on a saturday night outing

Thai Version of Car Seat Safety

Visa Run from the One Stop Shop

Our 30 day visa was running out, but we weren't done with Thailand, so we booked another tour- the infamous "Visa Run". Sold as a package, they pick you up at your hotel in a minivan at 6 am, and return you to your hotel 12 hours later, with a new 15 day visa in hand.

The drive to the border is about 5 hours (lunch included at a Thai "bus stop" cafeteria). When you get to customs in Thailand, the minivan driver assists with getting your departure stamp, takes your passport, and ushers you onto an old, rickety long boat for the trip across the water

to Myanmar. You don't worry about him having your passport, and you follow his instructions, because, after all, he's wearing a yellow tee shirt that says "Immigration". And you know you're on the right boat, because the person driving the boat is wearing a tee shirt that says "Visa Express".

After an interesting 20 minute boat ride, you're ushered to the customs building in Myanmar, where they shuffle through the pile of passports, holding them up one by one. When you recognize yours, you go to the table, they take your picture, stamp your passport, and give it back to you. You have now

been admitted to Myanmar.

You're loaded back onto the boat,

back to customs in Thailand, where you

are given your new 15 day visa.

Welcome Back to Thailand

Koh Phi Phi

On Koh Phi Phi, we booked a snorkeling trip that went around the island - at each stop, you could snorkel, kayak, or take a long-tail boat in and just lay on the beach...

Krabi

Krabi is the "jumping off" port for the islands off the west coast, but I think it's as nice as the islands. We stayed in a hut in a garden setting at the bottom of a cliff, and there is a long wooden walkway from the beach in town, over a cliff, to the next beautiful beach.