Hole In The Donut Travels

I’ve been interested in Buddhism for years – it speaks to me in ways that other religions do not. So when I saw the sign that said “Monk Chat” at Wat Chedi Luang, I jumped at the opportunity to talk to one of the 700 monks who train at this temple. Just beyond the [...]

My immediate impression of Chiang Mai during the drive from the airport to the hotel is that I am going to LOVE his place! It must be obvious to all my readers that I have fallen in love with Thailand. This is my third visit and I am sure there will be many [...]

The most exciting thing about Phuket was the ferry ride between Phi Phi Don and Phuket Town, when two blokes aboard our boat discovered they had gotten on the wrong ferry. The operators had to radio up the Krabi ferry to come alongside so the two errant passengers could be transferred from one boat to [...]

Tomorrow morning we leave Phi Phi Don and head for Phuket for one day before continuing north to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Today being our last day on Phi Phi we did two things. First, we took a longtail boat to Haad Yao Beach (commonly referred to as Long Beach), a more remote site north [...]

By 5:45 AM I was sitting on the dark beach, meditating while awaiting the sunrise. To my left a skinny young Thai man jogged the tide-washed shoreline. To my right another man, clad only in surfer trunks, lay on his back with his arm over his eyes, his long tangled hair splayed out behind him [...]

What did I do today? Nothing much, and it was absolutely delicious! I slept in, then enjoyed a leisurely brunch at the restaurant while watching the long tail boats motor back and forth with their passengers bound for Long Beach and points north. I walked the dozen steps to the beach, taking only 17 [...]

Despite the fact that the Phi Phi Islands have been discovered and prices here have doubled in the past few years, there is no denying the exquisite beauty of these islands. We are staying on Koh Phi Phi Don (Koh means island in Thai), at 28 square kilometers square the largest of the six islands [...]

The trip to Phi Phi Island was ten hours long and not particularly pleasant. It began with an hour flight to Krabi on the southern peninsula of Thailand. From the airport we got a taxi that took us to one of the myriad tour companies in Krabi Town, where we purchased tickets for [...]

One of the pleasures of Bangkok is the ability to get lost without worry. Yesterday we took the water taxi from the Taksin Bridge, on our way to see Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. We hopped on board and grabbed a couple of seats on the left side of the boat, soon to [...]

They say things come in threes. I’ve found that to be true more times than not, and it certainly was accurate where my most recent animal encounters were concerned. It all started two nights ago, as Joan and I were walking back to the hotel from a night stroll down Khao San Road. We’ve [...]