Singapore/Thailand

It's another early morning after a late return last night but I'm so looking forward to a speed boat ride!  It's Wednesday and we meet a 8am in the lobby. To test the tsunami emergency loud speaker system, they play the Thailand National Anthem every Wednesday at 8am. Here's a snippet... We drive an hour to Ao Chalang Pier to hop on the boat for our 20 minute ride to Maiton Private Island. They recommend anyone with motion sickness sit in the far back for less bouncing. So I'm sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF THREE OUTBOARD MOTORS! The seas were very rough and by the time we reached the island, Helen (my seat mate) and I were drenched from the spray of the boat but we didn't get sick. We stopped at the dock and dropped off everyone who didn't want to go snorkeling along with some coolers of food. On the backside of this island, the Adaman Sea was calm and the fish plentiful. I didn't go in because I don't do saltwater OR put my face in th...

John Gray's Sea Canoe Adventures Await! The leisurely morning with an 1100 departure for a 30 minute drive to the pier. We start with lunch once the boat is underway and reach an island with interior lagoons for our first kayak adventure. We are told to partner with someone and Roong graciously asked to be mine. Roong is the Road Scholar Asian Director of Tours. She is on this tour to see how it goes since she has been here for only a month and was previously based in Boston. The communication time difference makes efficient working difficult so she will coordinate now from Bangkok. Toy was our kayak paddler and guide. She was personable and fun. At one point, we entered a cave to the lagoon by laying back flat in the kayak and the rock ceiling was IN MY FACE! She kept saying, "Keep eyes closed, Madam. I tell you when to open." When the ceiling raised, she gave me the ok and I was then able to sit up as well. Each lagoon we visi...

Taking advantage of Dome's kindness to show us Chinatown, we rise early again today to have breakfast at 0700 and leave at 0800 for our experience of riding local transportation: tuk tuk, sky rail and subway. Dome spotted us the money and bought the tickets for each of the transports and we paid him back in kind. The sky rail was 30 THB for a one way ticket that we scanned to get on board and then deposited it at the other end to exit. Then the subway was 21 THB for a one way and we got what looked like a black flat chip to scan and then deposit as we did with the sky rail paper ticket. We visited  Wat Mangkon Kamalawat temple which is unique for  Bangkok  as it is the largest  Chinese Buddhist temple  in the city. It is a Mahayana  Buddhist temple  built ttin  Chinese  style circa 1871. It is accessible by a gate just off of Charoen Krung Rd. We learned about the first level into heaven which is guarded ...