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Published: December 23rd 2009
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Happy Holidays to all family and friends! I’m sure everyone’s Christmas plans are in full swing by now; shopping for last minute gifts, cooking dinners and sipping eggnog with family and friends while watching A Christmas Story. Well it’s nowhere near cold enough to get your tongue stuck on a pole in Thailand, but in contrast to the sweltering humidity here feeling chilly sounds amazing. We wish the Abrego, Handley and Robinson clans safe travels, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (Josiah and Emmett’s first!). 2010 feels like it’s going to be swell…..
Our travels to Phuket (Poo-get) and Ranong have come and gone and we’re currently on a bus ride heading further north. We renewed our Thai visas by crossing into Burma yesterday. We didn’t plan on going to Burma but when we only received a 15 day visa upon entering Thailand, plans changed. One thing I didn’t anticipate enjoying as much as I do is all of the adjustments and planning created on the fly. We are constantly configuring the best combination of taxis, mopeds, buses, trains, boats and planes. What leaves when from where, how much does it cost and where to next? Listening to
locals, the web, reading Lonely Planet and going with our gut has worked well so far.
So here’s the rundown of our time in Phuket. The first night we stayed in “Phuket Town” which is a blue collar, industrial style city with cheap shopping. We got a tuk-tuk (taxi) and for 40 baht ($1.15) got a ride around town and met the drivers’ adorable kids when he picked them up from school. They were both cheerful and outgoing and got a kick out of playing with our digital camera. It was sad to hear from their father that they lost their mother in the Tsunami of 2004 (which affected all of Southern Thailand.) Now you see Tsunami evacuation signs posted everywhere and an early warning system was put into place, a not so friendly reminder of the possibility….
Phuket Town wasn’t too appealing so the next morning we left for the beach areas. Patong is the big and overcrowded party/shopping hub so we ducked south to the quieter Karon area which was great. We got a good deal on a small but nice room for 4 nights and spent the first couple days on the beach. Day three
is when things took a twist. We decided to take a short trip up to this massive Buddha monument (the biggest in Thailand) and were pleasantly surprised to hear that while a taxi costs 500 baht each way, you can rent a moped for 200/day. We rented one immediately and hit the road.
About 10 minutes into our trip while heading up this mellow incline and I see two trash bags in the middle of the road, so I maneuvered around them (you know where this is heading). The next turn was a slight left and as soon as I leaned into the turn the bike just flew out from underneath us! It skipped down the road and so did we. We both popped up, I grabbed the bike and we headed to a nearby restaurant to clean up and asses the damage. Luckily both of us were just fine with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. It turns out that no less than five minutes before we came up the hill there had been an oil spill. The trash bags in the street were the first warning they could use, and while we were across the street
cleaning ourselves a crew showed up with cones and sand to clean it all up. Of course we got to the spill before the cleanup crew did. After a month of riding bikes in the much more congested island of Bali, riding in Thailand seemed much slower and safer. It just goes to show that we must be cautious and aware all the time. It has been five days since the crash and we’ve one a good job keeping the scrapes clean with disinfectant and everything is healing well.
So needless to say the next couple of days were mellow. We did make it up to the Buddha the next day, it was HUGE. It was still under construction and will be gorgeous when completed in a couple of months. The view from the hilltop was magnificent; it encompassed all of the surrounding islands and beaches. An added bonus was on the ride up to Buddha we encountered our first elephants! Just off the road six massive ones were hanging out with their trainers who were offering elephant treks through the nearby jungle. We pulled in, got to pet them and take a few photos. The best part
was when we posed with one of them the trainer yells “kiss!” and the elephant wrapped his trunk around Beash and laid a sloppy one on her. The photo is PRICELESS. I paid the elephant a 50 baht donation. She took the bill from my hand with her trunk and passed it to the trainer, pretty sweet. We also checked out Patong that evening, which was chaotic to say the least. Absurdly packed streets, hawkers harassing us left and right offering tailored suits, massages and deals on cheap drinks (not too mention the “Lady-Boys” and working girls). It got really old really fast so after watching a few cheesy performances and one walk up and down the major street we were done. The only cool sight was they skyline from the beach. Literally every ten seconds the sky was lit up by flashes of lightning. No sound of thunder or rain, just huge flashes illuminating the clouds, like Mother Nature was putting on a light show.
The next day we left Karon and headed up to Kamala beach for two nights. We got another great room with AC, a big comfy bed and nice balcony. Kamala is a sleepy, older town with nothing but a small strip of restaurants and shops. We enjoyed a couple nice dinners (cheap fresh seafood) and some needed R&R while reading and watching TV (for the first time since home) in our room. TV over here is hilarious, weird commercials and programs but I guess they’d say the exact same thing about our shows in the US. Yesterday morning we checked out, caught a couple buses and after six ours of travel arrived in Ranong.
The “visa run” experience was hectic and stressful. We met a guy on the bus who helped us out with negotiating the tuk-tuks and “longtail” boat (super loud and slow) to Myanmar. The problem was we had to rush to make it over the channel and back before the Thai immigration office closed. After paying a couple people and 20 minutes on a boat we made it to Myanmar which looked drab, dirty and depressing. Two stamps later we rushed back and arrived at Thai immigration in the nick of time. We saved a bit of baht because if you wait until the last day of your visa they charge you much more because they know you have no other option. We were relieved once it was over but having to move so quickly with people rushing you speaking only Thai was mentally rattling.
Now that we have a new 15 day stamp the plan is to lay low for a few days in a small town called Chumpon before heading over to the islands of Kho Samui and Kho Phagnan. Beash and I both agree that the travelling sessions are long and tiring and it’s best to not constantly bounce from town to town.
We will locate a solid internet café and email the family regarding a good time for a Skype session in the next few days, it’ll be really nice to see everyone’s faces. That’s about it for now, typing on this bus is giving me motion sickness! Once again, Merry Christmas and we love you all!
Cheers,
Marcus and Beash
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