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Bang Rak Beach Ko Samui

Sunday, February 2nd, 2014

The taxi at the airport wanted 400 baht to take me 5 minutes up the road to Bang Rak Beach. I just laughed and set out on my own down the road. Next two taxis wanted 300 baht but finally talked the third one down to 200 baht. Good grief, I could have gone clear from the airport 40 minutes to Lamai for 500 baht! They know when they have you!

The guesthouse in the Beach area Doug had found for me to stay in was full. Trudging down the road with my wheeled luggage, probably looking a little forlorn, I waved down a moto taxi driver who took me to the lonely modest but cozy Bang Rak Bungalows facing the water. Just a mattress on the floor but so what. It’s only 500 baht a night and I’m here only two nights before flying into Bangkok.

Good coffee and French Breakfast (hot croissant and French bread) at the French Bakery the next morning made my day.

Alarm went off 4am for the taxi to the airport for the flight to Bangkok. OMG! I thought I wouldn’t make it the couple of kilometers! The “boss” had left for another province so this old guy, who really didn’t know how to drive, took me in an old jeep…changing the automatic shift every 2 seconds at 10 miles an hour I think. And of course a new departures area had recently been constructed. And he had to stop and ask directions twice in spite of the fact that he had lived there for years! “It’s been 20 years since I’ve been to the airport” he said. Whew! Just made it!

Lamai Beach Koh Samui

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Doug flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and spent a couple days with his dad in Pattaya before going back to Samui again to say goodbye to old friends and close down his rented house.

I flew into Samui a few days later on Jan 19th and stayed at a guesthouse he had found for me for 500 Baht a night right on the ring road and near a great French coffee shop and bakery.

I enjoy early morning Pork Rice Soup and chinese donuts at a street stand a few yards down the road each morning. I get there early because by 8am they are “finish.”

It is fun staying in a place you know well. We flew out to Krabi on Jan 26 for a few days…a place we both love.

Back To Chiang Mai

Monday, January 20th, 2014
Stayed in a good location...the ThaiLanna Guesthouse just outside the Anapurn Night Market. Good to be off the Soho bar street except for a couple very loud young Russian women next door. By this time, after an orgy of seafood and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Samui-Chiang Mai-Pai

Monday, December 30th, 2013
Doug had been on Koh Samui while I was in Bangkok having my teeth taken care of after we first arrived in Thailand in November 2013. While there, Doug had taken his boat, that he had just finished refurbishing, out ... [Continue reading this entry]

Family Reunion on Koh Samui

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
[caption id="attachment_2165" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="The Big Deals...Josh, Greg, Doug"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_2177" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Me And Greg"][/caption] It had been Christmas 15 years ago, Josh remembered, when ... [Continue reading this entry]

Doug Brings Electricity To Samui

Saturday, December 8th, 2012
Doug, my son, flew into Bangkok yesterday from Oregon to fly out again two days later to spend his annual several months with his wife, Luk, on the island of Koh Samui. We had a bit of a scare ... [Continue reading this entry]

Back Home in Oaxaca

Saturday, May 29th, 2010
Whew!  What a ride! A week in Vegas, a month in Salem Oregon, a week in Hong Kong, 5 months in Thailand (4 in Bangkok and a month on Koh Samui) a week in Hong Kong again, 2 weeks in ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Month On Koh Samui Thailand

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Wow.  A lot of work setting up a restaurant!  My son leased one on the beach and since he is temporarily in the States it is up to Luk (his wife) her mother and I to run all the errands ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok To Ko Samui

Sunday, January 17th, 2010
All in one day on my street in Bangkok I saw a very good-looking farang (foreigner), who was old enough to know better, in a big wide straw hat...wearing no shirt...showing off his severely "cut" abs...attracting the stares of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Month in the States on the Way to Asia

Sunday, October 18th, 2009
 This mainly for fam and friends... Flew into Las Vegas from Oaxaca the end of September to spend a few days with my oldest son, Greg.  Always a big treat.  My old U.S. Samsung flip phone was on it's last legs ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ao Nang Beach Krabi Thailand

Monday, May 12th, 2008
Flew back from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Krabi yesterday. We are staying in the J Hotel...same one we stayed in last time here...on the top floor with a view of the ocean and karsts for 450 baht...about $14. The karsts are ... [Continue reading this entry]

Asian Travel Update

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Last week Amy, Josh's wife, flew down to Samui from Beijing with a colleague from her international school where they teach history. Four short days but it was a treat to see them!
    Koh Samui to Trang to Krabi
The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Fun For Young And Old

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Young and old revelers hanging off of pickups and sangtaews fling plastic pans of water from a garbage can at the traffic going in the opposite direction. Small children aim at cars and pedestrians alike from the sidewalks. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Koh Samui

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
I arrived on Samui, an island in the south of Thailand, from Bangkok on tuesday. Doug, my son and his Thai wife Luk found me a lovely quiet hotel with a pool right in the middle of Lamai but ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hmmm…

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
I must be getting old. Came across this shocking article in Newsweek describing teen sex taking place openly in public parks in Santiago Chile. Actually I remember being agape at the couples in public parks in Guadalajara Mexico ... [Continue reading this entry]

Family In Thailand

Friday, May 11th, 2007
My sons and daughters-in-law, Luk, Doug, Josh and Amy on Koh Samui in Thailand for a week. Bob, their dad, took the picture. Doug and Luk live on Koh Samui. Greg, in Las Vegas, and I, of course, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bob, Josh and Luk In Bangkok

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
My son Josh is Chef de Cuisine of "One East On Third" in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing. He was sent by the Executive Chef to Bangkok last week to check out some restaurants there. Luk, a delightful Thai ... [Continue reading this entry]

Visa Run Misery

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Burma.gif Every month my son Doug has to cross into Burma and come back into Thailand to get another 30 day stay in the country. If you are late it's a $12 fine per day. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Good-bye To Samui

Saturday, March 4th, 2006
On 1 March I said good-bye to my son Doug and his wife Luk and Ting Tong...their little Shimizu...and caught a Bangkok Air flight back to Bangkok (Bangkok Air built the airport on Samui so they won't let any other ... [Continue reading this entry]

International Night On Koh Samui

Saturday, February 25th, 2006
We're back on Samui and I have rented a brand new furnished one bedroom house for $12.00 a night at "Solitude Resort" on a mountainside about a mile from Doug and Luk's bungalow. The first evening we were welcomed by our ... [Continue reading this entry]

Koh Pha Ngan

Friday, February 24th, 2006
Doug Luk and I took a break from Samui and put the car on the ferry for the two hour trip north to the island of Koh Pha Ngan for a couple days. Almost no car and truck traffic, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Clean Clean Clean

Monday, February 20th, 2006
Luk does the laundry by hand on the tiled shower floor...the water draining down a hole. She uses a brush and scrubs her heart out...twice with plain soap...and then a third time with "smell-good soap"...rinsing after each wash. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Now…Not Later

Sunday, February 5th, 2006
It is typical for Thais to think only about what to do now...not some time in the future. So when Doug was showing me houses to buy next year, we asked Luk where she wanted to go next...her answer ... [Continue reading this entry]

Eurotrash

Friday, February 3rd, 2006
I have learned a new ethnic slur..."eurotrash"...which apparently refers to the white Europeans who come to third world countries claiming to be somebody big back home but selfishly feeding off the local generosity...the word, I think, usually used by the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Visiting Doug & Luk

Friday, February 3rd, 2006
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171154009258.gif Arrived on Koh Samui a couple days ago on Bangkok Air to the smiling faces of Doug and Luk at the small open-air airport on Koh Samui. (Koh means island.) While waiting for ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lucky Luk!

Friday, January 20th, 2006
I called my son Doug yesterday morning. He had just returned from the fish market on Koh Samui with a salad bowl of large fresh gung (shrimp) with heads still on for $1.60 and had cooked up a traditional ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Bus To Trang

Friday, May 20th, 2005
While I was on Koh Samui visiting Luk, while Doug was in Oregon, we decided to hop a bus for Trang where Luk's family lives. This is my second visit here. We stayed in a nice hotel...Luk trying ... [Continue reading this entry]

“Oh New Shoes Lost Me!”

Monday, May 16th, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171163517229.gif After a flight from Bangkok on Bangkok Air, I have been enjoying my 26 year-old daughter-in-law on quiet Khlong Muang Beach in Krabi Province the last couple of weeks while my son Doug is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Post Christmas in Bangkok & Escaping The Tsunami 2004

Wednesday, December 29th, 2004
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171170004499.gif A month in Bangkok On the morning of December 26, 2004, after a bowl of spicy Thai soup on the street outside my Bangkok hotel, I returned to my room and flipped on the ... [Continue reading this entry]