Thailand

Our trip to Thailand. Steve had been quoted $22k in New Zealand no get his teeth repaired (no NHS dentists over here!). He needed 8 crowns, a bridge, 3 root canals 2 fillings and a deep clean - ouch. As this would almost wipe out our house deposit savings we decided to take a trip to Thailand and get his teeth sorted out over there. With flights, 2 weeks in a lovely hotel and the work on Steve's teeth we spent a little over $15k and it meant that I spent my 30th birthday in Thailand where no-one would remind me I was getting old!!!

This is the view back towards Phuket from our hotel balcony. The weather was beautifully warm all the time but we did get the occasional downpour when we lost sight of the hills in this photo:

Our hotel (Amari Coral Beach) was just outside of Phuket up a bit of a hill. Most nights we wandered down into the town to get dinner and drinks and the best and most fun way to get back to the hotel was in a tuk tuk. The cost really varied depending on whether Steve or I was haggling with the driver but it was so much fun we didn't mind paying the $3 :D

We went to an 'Eco-Friendly' Elephant sanctuary for a day out - we learnt about the elephants, their keepers, the way they just have one keeper, and we had a ride on one with a crazy keeper who kept singing and ours kept racing the other elephants. This young lady is called Uno.

We also decided to have our feet nibbled by fish.... well ok I decided and persuaded Steve to do it too. It really tickled :)

Ah yes then there were the cocktails that were more alcohol than anything else... unfortunately they were also pretty cheap

We took a trip out to Phang Nga Bay, again it was really warm - shorts all the time and lots of really refreshing watermelon...

This is the famous James Bond Island- as seen in The Man with the Golden Gun - this is a lovely picture but it took ages to get one that had no other tourists in!!

On the way back we did a little bit of kayaking, well actually Steve and I sat in the boat and Mr. Paddle-Man did all the hard work. We went through lots of caves which were absolutely stunning.

On my birthday we went out for Thai food (surprise surprise), followed by cocktails in the BayBar (a bar out the back of a VW Bay) and of course the obligatory tuk tuk ride home.

We didn't buy any suits, or shirts but if we had.... this would have been the best place to go :D

All too soon and after a lot of dental work for Steve it was time to start packing, remove the stowaways....

and head off back home to NZ - lovely holiday... for me anyway ;)