Koh Tao, Thailand - Blog by Beverly It is no wonder that some people come to Koh Tao for a few days and stay for a few years. This island is the closest thing to paradise we have ever seen. We go back to Bangkok tomorrow after nine days on the island, far longer than anywhere else on this trip, and we are not ready to leave. Koh Tao is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, north of the bigger and more well-known islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha-Ngan. We had heard...

Greetings from Koh Tao, Thailand! We hope this note finds everyone doing well. We love SE Asia, but we are rapidly winding down, as we leave for New Zealand on April 10th. More to come soon... Miss you all!!! Love, Bev and Sean

We left Bangkok for a four-day stint on the island of Koh Samui. We stayed at the Coral Bay Resort on the northern end of the busiest beach on the island, Chaweng. A five-minute cab ride from the nicest swath of the beach and the bar/restaurant area of central Chaweng, our resort was on the northern, quiet end of the beach. We had the best of both worlds, five minutes from the energy of central Chaweng but smack in the middle of peace and tranquility. We had a...

On our last full day in Bangkok, we got up early and did what all farang must do in Bangkok - shop 'til you drop. We hit Chatuchak, the weekend market that is the best, craziest market in town. Jen and Naresh had a field day and bought some fun stuff. We introduced them to the serious art of bargaining here. There are basically three major tips to get and keep the transaction going: 1) As soon as the price is offered, ask if they can do better. 99% of the ...

Today Jen, Naresh, and I are heading out to Ayuthaya for a tour of the former Thai capital along with a river cruise back into Bangkok. Ayuthaya was the capital of Thailand from 1350 to 1767, and it used to be a bustling, beautiful city filled with historic wats until the Burmese swooped in and absolutely destroyed it in the mid-18th century. After the attack, the city was so bad off that the King of Thailand decided to move the capital to Bangkok, which has been...