The name is Pandu.. James Pandu..

The previous post in this series is here..

The first morning in Phuket, we decided to take a trip to James Bond Island. We were told that this is the only touristy place to visit outside of the resorts in that area. We had booked a long tail boat tour for 10 and 7 of us went on the trip. An energetic kid was our guide. He picked us up in a van from the hotel in the morning at 7:30 AM and we drove almost an hour to the dock. There we took a boat ride for almost another 45 minutes to go to the Island.

The island is small and you have four spots to see in total. Given only 4 to 5 boats can stop at the island, as soon as the boat docks, they give the guide a laminated card with the time for leaving. The time allotted for us was 45 minutes. So we had to do a rush rush job at every place, take group pictures, solo pictures, couple pictures and by the time our guide got us out of one spot to the next, he was so relieved.

He even had some plastic guns and fans as props for us to take pictures. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the boat and then on the van to the hotel.

There is a muslim floating village on the way with nice views. There is also a mangrove forest for most of the route but there were no birds or critters we could see. Only exception was some hawks and kites which I barely managed to capture on camera from a moving boat! The boats themselves are interesting.. they have the engine high up and open with only the propeller going into the water from a long shaft.. They move it up and down for speed and right to left for navigation.

We also saw rock carvings which are thousands of years old in caves. Never realized we were so close to Andaman islands till we saw that the ferries were all Andaman!

Here are the photos..

more photos.. the roads in Phuket in this area were all lined with street lights that had elephants on them. Just beautiful!

A video highlights reel of the morning trip to Bond island..

We came back to the hotel and by the time we went from our rooms to the beach, we were an hour late.. and we missed some of the ceremony.. but were happy to jump in the pool with all our friends to have fun.

All the bond girls on our trip were happy and all smiles after this trip. That was good enough for all the Bonds..

Saying bye to Chiang Mai from an underrated hotel

The previous post in this series is here..

It was day 8 of our trip. We were finally going to wake up late or that was the plan. The breakfast folks came and knocked at 6:30 AM. Given we had gotten used to waking up very early the entire trip, I got up and decided to walk to the local 7-Eleven. San decided to take it easy.

After eating breakfast and having Chai we had time to spend till Joy and Goy were going to show up to take us to the airport. We put our luggage at the lobby and did a photoshoot for San. The hotel we stayed in was called Sunny V Hotel and how it gets only 3 stars is beyond me. It was fantastic and grand and the staff were super nice.

After taking pictures we took a photo with Joy and Goy. We defintely miss the guides and drivers the most after this trip. Genuinely nice folks. Would definitely recommend Joy to others for sightseeing in Chiang Mai.

Then we were off to the airport..

A video highlights reel..

We loved our time in Chiang Mai. The place and the people made an impression! Traveling the world may not be everyone’s cup of tea and not everyone is fortunate to do what we do. When we go places our perception of ourselves and others changes. We can see that people are people. Sincerely wish more people in the United States get to travel the world and change their worldview.

Our next stop was Phuket.. the highlight of the entire trip!

Wachiratan falls with three rainbows

The previous post in this series about our thanksgiving trip is here..

We started day 7 with a long drive.. but first we had some logistic trouble. Given the dip in falls and other hiking sessions that involved a lot of sweating, I was clearly out of clothes. The hotel laundry service was minimum 5 days out. Thankfully Joy and Goy knew a laundry service nearby. So we went and dropped our clothes there and they told the owner to drop the clothes back at our hotel if possible. They were nice and agreed to do so before 6PM. After this brief stop, we had to drive close to 2 hours to Do Inthanon national park. We told Joy we were happy his wife was joining us. He told us that she will not be hiking with us. Apparently the hike starts in one place and ends in another. So she will drive the car to the other lot and wait for us there to save time.

We went through the gum tree road.. where the trees are 150 years old to exit Chiang Mai city area. Once we reached the National park, our first stop was Wachiratan waterfalls. I was like a little kid. San promptly told Joy about her brave and stupid husbands escapades in Camodia a few days ago. Joy looked at me and diplomatically said we should go see the falls on our own and come back. He have us 30 minutes. We got a lot of yoga pictures as well…

Here are some landscape photos as well. Taking steady shots to get the long exposure was not easy with the hand with the wind. Enjoyed the falls thoroughly.. We did get wet and were worried about making the cold worse. Then again, we were on an adventure and were not going to miss out on anything!

A video highlights reel..

Our next stop was a drive away to do a hike from the park guide stop to the village..