Michael and I traveled to Thailand as part of our 2007 career break. The following is an excerpt from our travel blog.

[singlepic=475,200,,,right]We left the quiet windy roads of New Zealand, where we were greeted by sheep at every turn, to the tuk-tuk filled traffic of Bangkok, where the King’s smiling face looked down at us from billboards, banners, and even buildings.  Bangkok travel would definitely prove to be a completely different experience.

Having arrived late afternoon, we decided to fight off travel lag by exploring the Suan Lum Night Bazaar for Michael’s first market experience in Thailand. Rows upon rows were filled with fabrics, t-shirts, carvings and jewelry, among hundreds of items. But bargaining would wait for another day as we headed to the open beer garden for Thai food and beer.

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Michael and I traveled to Thailand as part of our 2007 career break. The following is an excerpt from our travel blog.

[singlepic=560,250,,,right]From West Railay we decided that our next port of call and home base would be Khao Lak, which is situated just 70km north of Phuket. All we knew about Khao Lak was it was a great starting point for dive trips to the Similan Islands and that it was the area of Thailand most affected by the December 2004 tsunami.

Curiosity factor did play in part to us staying here, as we wanted to learn and understand more how that tragic day affected the community. One of our first stops was to the Tsunami Volunteer Center, where we got more details about the “numbers” (of the almost 9,000 people killed in Thailand, nearly 5,000 were from this area alone) as well as the various sustainable projects they have set up in response to the immediate and long-term affects of that day. They also provided us some information on some of the “landmarks” that are still there, showing the physical signs of the devastation. We would later spend a day on scooter doing a self-guided tour (see slideshow).

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