Bangkok car fumes beat those of Vientiane
Originally we were only going to stay in Thailand for a week. However, as our passports are filling up at an alarming rate and we want to postpone getting new ones for as long as possible, we decided to stay for the full length of the 30 day visa which is issued on arrival.
New year was a very quiet affair. The country is still in mourning for the King so 2017 arrived without a bang!
We stayed for a week at the beautiful Muse Hotel but Bangkok is not our favourite city in Asia. Walking anywhere in the centre is a health hazard because of the awful traffic fumes.
Luckily taxis are cheap and tuk tuks are fun. And there’s always the river:
As chance would have it, during our Bangkok stay we were contacted by two friends from Leipzig who we’d met on Koh Libong last year. They were stopping over for one night on their way to Sri Lanka and we spent a great afternoon together:
Christina und Stephan
They even brought us a special Christmas present all the way from Germany!
Lebkuchen – yum!
After a couple of weeks we were glad to leave Bangkok behind and head South to Ao Nang where we’d booked a small villa with private pool (Banburi Villa). Far from the crowds we spent a lovely 14 days reading, swimming, organising the visa for our next stop – Vietnam – and just generally enjoying the peace and quiet.
The weather is very different to this time last year when it was too hot to do much of anything. We’ve had sudden torrential downpours much cooler temperatures (25-30℃) but still lots of sunshine in between😀
In a few hours we head off to Ho Chi Minh City for the start of a 3 month stint in our favourite country.
Bye bye Thailand (for now)
Permanent Tourists 
I,too,was enchanted by Thailand & stayed a month.Ah,Christmas in Chiang Mai.We were invited to a pageant at the Catholic School.Kool Ade & cookies & little children singing hymns.
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