Thailand Trip

We stayed at Cape Panwa. It was at the bottom right side of Phuket Island in Thailand. We arrived at 1.30am and then had to drive 45 minutes to the hotel. It was a quiet spot and away from the hoards of tourists who flocked to the west coast beaches like Patong, Kata and Karon Beaches.
Our hotel was over a steep hill. There was a sister hotel on the other side of the hill and a small village called Cape Panwa Village. The Hotel ran a shuttle bus over the hill to the sister Hotel from 9am until 11pm. This is one of the buses, there were some really old ones too which were fun to ride in.
Melisa on the first day and trip to Cape Panwa village in the old shuttle bus.
Cape Panwa Village walkway next to the harbor.
Cape Panwa Village dock area. Longboats are traditional Thai boats and fishermen use them a great deal. They also ferry tourists around but can be leaky and unsafe.

This is our second day and our trip with Captain Mark on his boat the Sakai. This photo was taken from the dingy when we went cave exploring. It is the Sakai.
We got picked up from our hotel at 7.30am and then picked up 2 more couples from the West Coast beaches of Kata Noi and Patong. We got a good look at the area from the van and the crowds of tourists, bars and shops and felt so happy we had chosen Cape Panwa.
Captain Marks Sailing trip was so good for many reasons. One of them was the fact there were only 9 of us and Captain Mark, his cook and 2 crew. It was the perfect number of guests. Captain Mark was originally from Australia and made us all feel comfortable and at home on his boat right from the start. Another reason was we were not jammed onto a large boat like the one in this photo with too many tourists and no proper guide.
At lunchtime the crew brought some fresh prawns off this longboat in the photo. The cook made up the most beautiful chicken and prawn curry and soup. We had great food on the boat all day like fried chicken, tropical fruit, crackers and cheese, coconut sweet cakes wrapped in banana leaves and drinks. We stopped for lunch at a private beach and slept and swam.
This is a hong. We walked through a cave with torches and stalagmites and stalactites until we reached a clearing where there was water and sunlight. This is called a Hong. We visited 4 different hong's on the trip. One of them we was in pitch black and it was high tide so we couldn't get to it. I was so scared because it was dark and we were in the dinghy and Dion had the torch to guide Captain Mark around.
View from the dingy at the beautiful area we explored. We sailed back to the docks and arrived back at the hotel at 7.30pm a wonderful day out exploring hong's and caves. Captain Mark teased us about being Kiwis but was happy we were on his trip. We went with 2 other Aussie couples and an English Couple. We would recommend this trip to anyone planning a trip to Phuket as it was one of our best days there.
Cape Panwa House and Dion. This is at our Hotel close to where we spent the day on the beach.
Lunch on the 3rd Day at the Bamboo Bar at our hotel.
4th Day: Coral Island Day Trip. We took the Hotel speedboat over to Coral Island. It was a beautiful day with no wind. We went snorkeling and saw some beautiful fish. Melisa went on the Banana Boat (the yellow one on the left). They flipped it out in the ocean which was scary but life jackets actually do work.
Coral Island. Wonderful beach and area in the front to go snorkeling.
Coral Island. Looking up the beach.
Our Hotel: This is the top of the monorail. It leads down to the Hotels private beach. It is not a good beach to swim at when the tide goes out so the Hotel puts up swimming times in the lobby. We spent our 3rd Day there. We went down to the beach at 9am to secure a good spot for the day near the pool and beach. Had a relaxing time there and went swimming in the sea and pool.
Melisa at the bottom of the monorail.
Dion at the Bamboo Bar. The Bamboo Bar is right on our beach at the Hotel. We had lunch there the 3rd and last day. It was quite good for Resort prices and the food was delicious.

Having some drinks to cool down at the Bamboo Bar

Tour to DMZ and Panmunjoram

We went on a bus tour with the American Army up to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. It is an hour north to get there and only people from the United Nation Countries are allowed to visit Panmunjoram or the JSA (Joint Security Area) where both Koreas face off each day. South Korean Civillians are not allowed to visit the JSA.

The next pictures are taken at the JSA where we all held our breath.
This picture is taken inside the meeting room where the 2 Koreas will meet when they want to discuss policies. This is the north side of the table and technically in North Korea. Behind the door is the way out to the North side where all their soldiers are.

The top ROK Soldiers of the Korean Army are stationed at Panmunjoram and the JSA. They stand at Taekwondo Stances and wear sunglasses to hide their eyes.

Melisa on the north side of the table in North Korea. This guard was the scary one. He looked like a wax stature and our American UN Guide told us that he had worked with for years but still doesn't get too close to him on duty. If you try to cross in front of him and the UN Flag he would take you out. I was about to do this to see if it was true but we had to go.

This is Sergeant Reardon an American soldier in the UN Force. He was our guide in the DMZ and on the left is the room in the middle of the JSA where the line of tourists are going. This is the room in the pictures at the top.
We had to wait for the second group on the top step. We are directly across from the North Korean Administration Headquarters where a lone North Korean Soldier is. We are not allowed to point, wave or make any gestures at the North Koreans. There are security cameras all over the place and behind the dark glass of the North Korean building nobody knows how many soldiers are over there.

Here is the view of the grey North Korean Building and the South Korean ROK Soldiers.

The North Korean Soldier is hard to spot if you click on the photo it should enlarge and he is on the left side at the top of the stairs. Sergeant Reardon said with the right light they can see inside the dark glass and see binoculars and shapes of other soldiers. It is a real standoff and there is a North Korean guard house to the right of the picture out of shot where cameras were focused on us.

This is the North Korean Village nicknamed Propaganda Village by the South. The reason was they used to have loud speakers shouting messages of hate to the South. Nobody lives there but sometimes people come to do maintenance. Usually the North Korean flag can be seen flying but the day we went there was no wind.

The Bridge of No Return. At the end of the Korean War in 1953 the people from the POW Camps could choose what side to they wanted to live on North or South. Once they made their decision they couldn't go back to the other side. This is why it is called The Bridge of No Return.
Many families were separated after this and today they are still hoping for reunification of the 2 Koreas.

Guard House at The Bridge of No Return. We were not allowed off the bus as there was a North Korean Guard House on the other side of the bridge and the South didn't know how many soldiers were in there or what ammo they had.

This is the 3rd tunnel out of 4 tunnels that the South found on their side of the border. They were dug by North Korea in hopes of invading the South.
Dion outside the tunnel entrance. This was a no photo zone so we couldn't take any pictures going down into the tunnel and the tunnel itself.

Melisa after climbing back up out of the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel from the North.

Melisa and a ROK Soldier at Dorasan Station. This is the last train station in South Korea closest to the DMZ. It empty and quite eerie and had 2 armed guards that we could see.

The same soldier from the picture above.
This is the entrance to the train tracks that we were not allowed to go through.

Korean War Memorial Museum Seoul

This is outside the entrance to the Museum. On both sides read the names of the soldiers from the United Nation Countries who fought and died in the Korean War from 1950-1953.
We looked for New Zealand and found the names of the NZ soldiers.

Here are the names of the New Zealand soldiers who fought and died in the Korean War.







The above photos were all taken inside the Museum in the vehicle area.

Dion infront of the New Zealand Army display from the Korean War.

Directly outside the Museum are all the flags of the United Nations who helped Korea in the Korean War.


The Korean War Museum and Dion at the top on the right.
Outside some planes, tanks and helicopters were on display. Namsum Tower in the background on the left.
The Museum just before it got dark

Wednesday 16 January 2008

On a freezing Seoul afternoon we visited the National War Memorial Museum.