Wir gehen auf Reise!

First off, let me say that the title of this Blog comes across as instant click-bait, which it is. It is unfair to say that Khao Sok isn't a national park just because we didn't see all the animals that are supposed to lurk in its surrounds. But we left it, at least, with some sense of disappointment, considering all that is available to read about it before you come. The biggest "problem", if you might call it that -which is something that all parks have really- is how to get access to what national parks might have to offer. And in Koh Tao, that is something that is distinctly lacking. Practically the only other public access apart from a wide trail along the edge of the park, near the visitor's centre, which goes along the river and to a couple of rapids/waterfalls, is a huge artificial dam- which now looks spectacular due to the kast mountains which spring out of the water. The only way therefore, to do anything on your own- and doing things with small k...

Since we've settled down in Koh Phangan (we have rented a place here for a month), it doesn't seem to make sense to stick to the "Week 1"/"Week 2" schedule we had going as we started this blog. Indeed, this post is designed to give a bit of an insight into how we've found Thailand so far, including how it's been with the kids, and perhaps what we think of how we've done things so far. "Not so cheap" Now this is an only partial grumble, and is almost certainly related to *how* and *where* we've conducted our travels so far. It's also one of the things that I wasn't really prepared for: Thailand ain't so cheap. My appraisal of course is based on my experiences with living in other countries with a large "poor" population (Guatemala and India), and being able to find access to the basics of living a little above those of those poor people. In Thailand, by necessity, things are different: we have two small kid...