The Kinos family come to Thailand

OK, so that was the quickest 10 days of our travels so far!
Mum, Dad & Eetu arrived to Krabi in some of the wettest weather we had experienced. After much needed sleep and after the sun had re-appeared, the 5 of us headed to lush Koh Phi Phi Long Beach, Thai bungalow paradise for 4 days. The highlight here was an awesome snorkelling trip - we even saw sharks whilst diving Shark Point, Long Beach. Now that we seemed to be mastering long tail boat disembarkation, it was time travel to nearby Railay Beach for some quality, family pool time.
Our 4th and final destination was Ao Nang Beach, Eetu's shopping mecca.


Exploring wet and crappy Krabi :-)


Wanna see a temple....Naaa!


Lunch snack - cockroaches.



Arriving Koh Phi Phi - somewhat stressful first disembarkation from long tail boat with all our gear.


Kinos' in paradise - View of Koh Phi Phi Leh from our Long Beach home.


Shark Point, Long Beach.


An idyllic sunset sight.




Phi Phi Leh.




Finally some shops on the horizon, for Eetu.



Our very own long tail boat charter for amazing snorkelling trip.



"Expensive hobby" - quote Jukka. Sailing yacht washed onto Maya Bay Beach, Phi Phi Leh, by big wave.



Get these fish out from my pants :-)



Eetu dreaming of shopping :-)



The teeming Andaman Sea off Phi Phi.



Eye ball to eye ball with Sargent Major Fish...



...he brought his friends around.


Eetu - The shark was 'this' big!



Helloooo sailers!



Our 2nd funnel cloud of the travel trip...


...same image with no zoom.


Me with Eetu's shopping.



...Guesses for the name of this island?? Spider, naaa - dog, naaa - chicken, yeah!

Arriving to Railay Beach East at low tide.

Our 14 pound per night luxury resort - was a great find!

This 'little' fellow greeted us outside our Railay Beach Resort...mum was really excited to see the local wildlife :-)

Eetu ordering his 613th banana pancake...

...OK, I also had some. Pancake heaven!


Diamond Cave dodging bat poo!


Happy Hour cocktails at 'Kirppu Hippi Baari' (Flea hippy bar as Solie (Mum) called it)

Family pool fun. Great dive!

These little fellows almost managed to steal Eetu's newly purchased hat.

Me with more friendly locals.

..Before - another Kirppu Hippi Baari (Skunk Bar II)

...After.

Railay West Beach.

This is Soile's hand - brave!

Suvi pest removal services - rescueing panicing neighbours from large gekko.

Bags packed again...this is becoming routine now. Awaiting long tail ride to Ao Nang Beach.

Final lunch before sad goodbyes. Thanks to Jukka, Soile & Eetu for coming all this way to visit....we had a great time :-)

Luzon & Mindoro - Philippines

The Philippines were a daunting and chaotic place to stay. Its fair to say that we didn't manage to relax until finding our way out of Manila where we got stuck for three days. Manila is not really the kind of place where you can walk around safely as a westerner. Security officials & metal detectors guarded the entrances to shops, bars and restaurants. After an attempted mugging by 5 children on me we decided to stay in the safty of a nearby shopping mall until it was time to leave. Apologies that all Manila images were taken from the relative security of a bus. It was far too dodgy to flash the camera here.
Once away from Metro Manila however, we enjoyed a very different Philippine experience. We finally found home for 5 days, amongst western sex tourists, in the dive resort of Sabang, Mindoro Island, 130km south of Manila.


Metro Manila


Philippine poverty never far away.


Reminders of home - highway out of Manila at last.


Time to relax - arriving at our Island home of Sabang on Mindoro.


Our transportation to Sabang, Mindoro.


Our boat deck hand handling his cock - cock fighting was big business in Philippines :-(


Local kids showing off.


Our bungalow vista...thanks for the stitch George.


...another day at the office :-)


Little La Laguna Beach a little over crowded.


Who turned the tap on?


Hey babe, wanna come back to my bungalow.


Our bungalow......right hand one of the 5, center shot.


A throw back from the World War II in Philippines. Jeepneys are the local transport.


Low tide across the bay.


Mount St Clare volcano, back on Luzon, in the gloom.


....another day, another sunset!


Distant thunder storm approaching


Shooting hoops in the local playground.


Me perving :-) - the plane landing at Clark Airport nearby


Classy hotel at last with Gym for much needed excercise.


Were outta here.....rolling along Clark Airport runway with Mount Pinatubo in the background.