Jack and Niamh's Sabbatical Adventures

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  • Lake life

    We headed off on an overnight tour to Chiew Larn lake on the other side of the national park

    Our accommodation – definitely the most ramshackle option on the lake . . .
    But nice views
    Wild elephants! Seen through my binoculars
    We visited the Coral Cave named after its coral like stalagmites and stalactites
    Jack’s birthday was celebrated in style

    Then it was back to Khao Sok village for our last few days in Thailand 😭

    Jack was visited by monkeys
    Including a mother and baby combo
    Ramen was unexpected but delicious. I had green curry ramen!
    Neng, contemplating the local street food stall

  • Welcome to the Jungle

    We took a taxi to Khao Sok, a little town on the edge of the national park

    Going on a jungle hike in the daytime we saw a gibbon, some langurs, and plenty of macaques

    On the night safaris we saw some sleeping monkeys, plenty of creepy crawlies, a slow loris, and a family of civets (last photo, upper right)

    We paid a visit to the elephant sanctuary to see a few elephants who they rescued from working in a logging camp, working in the circus, and wandering the streets begging for bananas

    Niamh sheltered from a thunderstorm in a tattoo parlour

    Today we’re off to stay on the lake in a floating hotel, the rainforest is living up to its name

  • Monkeys v Chihuahuas

    Molly was scared of thunder and had to be held

    We went to Bananas Bungalows in Khao Thong and were greeted by their 5 chihuahuas.

    Jo Jo would appear by teleportation whenever food was served
    Rambo was shy but very photogenic
    The monkeys love the hammocks
    But didn’t like to share
    And didn’t want anyone taking their coffee
    Sunsets were quite dramatic here
    Hundreds of bats would fly over from the island a little after sunset
    We went on a kayak trip out to the mangroves
    And tried out some stand up paddle
    I had the world’s most lettucey sandwich
    Jailed for misbehaviour

  • Swimming With Sharks

    We got the ferry to Koh Phi Phi then a longtail boat dropped us off at the hotel beach

    We had a nice little cabin with a hammock and the beach was a minute away down the steps

    There were lots of friendly cats and kittens who would kindly join you at breakfast and tea so you didn’t feel lonely, no other motive

    We did a boat trip to see the monkeys at monkey bay

    Niamh managed to see whilst snorkelling for the first time! All thanks to her skilled engineering

    Which meant she could see the shark! (Apologies for the picture quality). We also saw a baby shark (doo doo – doo doo doo doo)

    We swam in a nice bay

    And visited The Beach from the hit film The Beach. Not pictured: masses of tourists getting told off for breaking the rules about staying out of the water.

    At the end of the tour we swam in the dark with bioluminescent plankton then got soaked in a tropical downpour on the walk home

    I misheard the waitress when ordering drinks and had to suffer through two negronis

  • More adventures in Thailand

    The hotel buffet in Bangkok was insane

    Then we were off to Krabi for one night before heading to Koh Lanta

    A strangler fig in the process of smothering another tree (the pine leaves at the top!). The plant life is incredible here
    Ate loads of street food and enjoyed a drone show in Krabi town

    We headed to the pier the next morning to catch our boat to Koh Lanta

    We’ve got our own little cabin at Lanta Pearl Beach Resort, with hammock and deck chairs
    The mango shake came with a spoon
    This little guy was in the bathroom at one of our restaurants
    Jack fulfilled another dream (fried rice served inside a pineapple) at the sunset beach bar
    We went to Time for Lime cooking class
    The profits go to the adjoining animal welfare centre – they let some dogs in during the day to say hi and get used to people! This is Primrose
    The fruits of our labours
    One of the dogs was absolutely determined to eat raw curry paste

    I didn’t do laundry until too late so am spending today in a sarong by the pool waiting for my clothes 😂

  • Bangkok pt. ii (we are safe)

    We’ve had an eventful day, with one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Bangkok in years. We felt nothing (really! we’re still analysing our day to figure it out but we didn’t notice a thing) and are completely safe

    Our view of Wat Arun from across the river
    It’s so hot here that cats sleep belly up

    The Grand Palace was amazing for sheer opulence, as well as an excellent textile museum

    Secret kisses are as old as time apparently
    Potentially taken during the earthquake we didn’t feel

    The earthquake meant everyone working in a high rise was sent home for the day, which resulted in the worst traffic Bangkok has ever seen. It took us an hour to travel a distance we could have walked in 15 minutes.

    In the taxi we knew we had missed the bag drop time for our flight, so we booked a new one for the next day and a hotel . . . And then got an email that our flight was delayed so we could have made it anyway 🫠 oh well, we’ll just go tomorrow

    We were at the pool by then tbh

  • We’re in Thailand Now

    We got into Bangkok, checked in, and headed to a rooftop bar for some beers and food. The waiter must have thought we weren’t enjoying ourselves because he bought us a set of Dobble to play

    Chinatown has a series of colourful manhole covers to seek out and photograph

    We walked to the snake farm so Niamh could taunt a king cobra

    We found the monitor lizards from Attenborough’s series on Asia

    There’s lots of really nice temples here, they really really love gold

    We fell for the classic scam of talking to someone in the street and within minutes you’re in a tuktuk and then on a boat taking a tour to the floating market (we did have a lovely time though)

    One of the temples has a GIANT reclining Buddha. It’s really hard to explain how big it is (Niamh pictured for scale). Apparently they built the Buddha then put up the building around it

  • Golden Guinness

    We got the bullet train to Kanazawa, most important thing to do after arriving: get the stamp.

    Kanazawa is less touristy than the other cities we went to, it’s got 3 traditional tea room areas and some famous gardens

    Kanazawa is famed for its gold so we took the chance to make some new wedding rings after we both managed to break our original ones. We used little hammers to make the katakata style pattern and Niamh used the mallet to carefully adjust the size of mine
    Tiny bar that has possibly six cats living in it but we only met one
    Probably the freshest fish I’ll ever eat
    Food in Kanazawa was quite varied. Ramen continues to feature heavily in our diet, Niamh’s even eaten some mushrooms
    Went to a small Scottish bar where the barman was very keen to tell us he actually has the Guinness shipped in from Ireland. This was probably the fanciest pint of Guinness I’ve ever had.
    Another bar offered pints that are 90% head and people were actually ordering them

  • Visiting the Onsen Town

    We went from Osaka to Kinosakionsen, a town famous for its 6 public baths (onsens) all within walking distance of each other. They’re all tattoo friendly so Niamh didn’t get kicked out for being a gang member

    The hotel had a traditional style room with paper walls and futon beds. It gave us our pick of yukata and sandals with those weird socks which have a separate compartment for your big toe to wear around town.
    The hotel offered free drinks in the afternoon
    . . . and kept up the weird breakfast theme with a mix of bacon and eggs alongside soup and beef curry.
    But it redeemed itself in the evening with a 7 course beef dinner including a charcoal grill in the middle of the table to cook on
    There was a little shop where you could boil an egg in hot spring water and carefully take the top off to eat it. I absolutely crushed the egg for no reason
    There was a British themed pub in the town, it had ashtrays that I haven’t seen outside an antique shop since before the smoking ban
    We took the Kyoto FC train back to spend a night in Kyoto
    in a hotel with serve-yourself beer/whiskey and soda/sake sour taps then headed off to Kanazawa

  • Bowling, Big Fish, and Burning My Mouth on Takoyaki

    Just before the first strike of a perfect game
    Takoyaki are little whole octopuses fried in batter, they are hotter than the sun and will destroy your soft palate
    Osaka is bright, busy, and loud. There’s nice street food everywhere and cyclists flying around on the pavement trying to murder you
    But we did find some nice quiet places to eat and drink. If you find somewhere selling yuzu pepper you should probably buy some
    ALL YOU CAN EAT skewers for 70 minutes. All you have to do is batter, breadcrumb, and deep fry them at your table
    The Osaka aquarium was the biggest in the world when they built it and it has this totally alive seal
    And a gigantic baby penguin (right)
    And a giant tank with so many fish in including this ocean sunfish (my favourite)
    And the garden eels which got depressed during the pandemic
    And two whale sharks
    And a giant Ferris wheel which Niamh bravely went up in
    The hotel breakfast was one of the weirdest meals I’ve eaten, the mashed potato was squeezed out of a bag
    I got a self-heating eki-bento for our train journey to kinosakionsen, it was disappointingly lukewarm