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Published: January 18th 2009
Hello there. It was ages since I last did a blog so I might have some trouble remembering it all but I'm sure fine detalails don't matter too much! Since the last time I blogged we were about to embark on our journey to Burma to get 15 more days in Thailand stamped on our passports. The journey was pretty tedious. It started on a night boat that just had mats along the floor where everyone had to sleep right next to eachother. I didn't have it too bad as I was between some decent Irish guy and Jay but Jay was between me and a fat Russian fella, bad times. Either way it still felt like a refugee boat! Once we got to the mainland in the morning be got some food and were put on a cramped mini bus that was taking us to Burma. After a few hours of driving we got to the Burma border and went through all the checks. The border felt really dodgy. After getting stamped out of Thailand we got on a longtail boat that goes for about 30 mins (and gets you really wet) and arrives at the Burma immigration. When the
boat stopped a couple of kids jumped on the boat trying to sell me things such as Viagra, Ketamine and whiskey. I told him I wasn't interested on this occasion but pointed him towards an older man that looked like he might go for it, I think he did actually.
Burma looked crazy, after we got stamped in and then out of Burma Jay and I asked if we could walk around for a bit but the bores on our boat were to frightened to go in and said they wanted to go back. They only let us have 10 mins but it was quite fun, just in that space of time we met a few characters and the whole vibe if the place was intriguing. Anyway we had to go back and after a fiasco with mini bus places we were on our way back. We were heading back to Koh Samui where Jay's dad was on holiday to we were going to meet him for a few days. The round trip from Ko Pha-Ngan to Burma and back to Koh Samui took about 24 hours. The crazy thing was that we could see Ko Samui from our
place on Ko Pha-Ngan but it took us 24 hours to get there! Atleast we had 15 more days to see the Thai islands though.
On Ko Samui we stayed in the same place as Jay's dad, Ian. It was areally quiet area right on the beach which was really nice after all the partying and hecticness on Ko Pha-Ngan. Ian payed for our stay there and insisted on paying for all our food and drinks, I found it a bit funny at first but then began to love it as we were being proper treated for a while! On the last night he even bought us a t-bone steak, it was glorious! It may not sound all that great to you guys but when your diet consisted on budget, noodles, rice and curries, it was truly glorious. Another great thing about Ko Samui is that the Southampton vs Man Utd Fa cup match was on whilst we were there and so Jay, Ian (who are saints fans) and I went to watch. It was great to smash them up as Jay always supports who ever Man utd is playing when we watch. Other than that we didn't do
alot on Ko Samui, just lazed on the beach and chilled out. The weather was getting better but we still wanted more sun.
After 3 nights on Ko Samui we got the boat the the mainland. We asked for a ticket to Surat Thani and the lady gave us one and pointed to the boat. When we got there we asked where the bus station was, the lady said it was 80 km away as we didn't go to Surat Thani at all, we were in a place called Donsak...great! After a while of cursing Thailand for a bit we got on with it and got a taxi to the bus station in Surat Thani. From there we got on an old goverment bus to Pha Nga. Pha Nga is on the west coast mainland bewteen Phuket and Krabi. There's only one reason to come here really, its to go on the amazing boat trip. It's famous for going to an island which they call James Bond island because a James Bond scene was filmed there and also to a Muslim village on stilts in the sea.
The boat we were on was a long tail boat. We
were with about 4 different people, 2 from England, 1 from Spain and 1 from China. The boat started going though these crazy mangroves, it was like something out of a horror film, really cool. We went by some sights on the way like the rock formation that looks like a dog, ancient carvings in the rock face and other sights on the way. Our first stop was at a cave on an island. Everyone got flashlights and we went through, was was pretty impressive. Out the other side was some amazing views aswell. Also you could see bats sleeping as it was day. After a bunch of pictures we got back into the boat and headed for a desert island. The boat stopped there and it was like something from a movie. It was this untouched island with a pristine beach. Here we got off and had lunch that consisted of seafood fried rice and pineapple. We stayed there for a while and had a swim and a tan sesh on the beach, amazing place. This was the day the weather finally started being really nice and hot. Next on the trip we went off the James Bond Island.
There were some amazing sights there also that were quite famous but sometimes it felt really touristy with people always taking photos and suvenier shops on one of the beaches. After a while we headed off to our next and last stop on the Muslim village on stilts called Ko Panyi. We got off the boat and walked around the mazey cutways. I always find it incredidle to see these kind of places where the way of life is so hard to comprehend. The school with its little football pitch made of concrete and a great backdrop behind the goal, but when those kids get older they must lose alot of balls in the sea! We went around and tried some local food. One thing I think consisted up chilli paste, peanuts, small shrimp among other things, it was really good. The good thing was that the village was really authentic, sure there were stalls catering to tourists but you expect them to take advantage of the tourism a bit but on the whole it was really authentic and fun to see. There was one weird thing though, a lady had a monkey that she carried with a nappy on
that she would try to hand to toursits and then take a picture of them for money. It freaked me out and I stayed well clear. After we got on the boat and went back to the port. We got in the truck to go back to town and as we got there the bus to Krabi was leaving so we jumped out the truck and got in the bus just in time. Can't get my pics on here for all that but their on facebook.
We were staying in Krabi one night so we could get the boat to Ko Phi Phi in the morning. Once in Krabi is we were told that the last day of the new years celebrations were still going on (they love new years here!) so we headed there to get some food and check out whatever else was going on. The food there was really good, had some good sausages and and then a soup that had chicken, peanuts and a bunch of other stuff in which I have no idea what it was...but it was good! In the morning we got on the boat to Ko Phi Phi. We had heard
alot of conflicting opinions about Ko Phi Phi, some said it was one of the most beautiful places in the world, some said it was horribly touristy and way to busy. So we were excited to find out for ourselves. As we approached the island on the ferry you could see the beauty already. We had booked a room before because we heard it was pricey and really bust at this time of year but we shouldnt have, there were loads of guys on the pier selling rooms, we should have just done what we usually do and just rock up. We got to our room and headed straight for the beach, another gorgeous day.
The beach was great, it was a bit busy but not too bad and the scenery made up for all that. Later after booking our snorkelling trip for the next day we headed to another beach. There, there were more beach bars and a slightly smaller beach. We met some girls there from Australia, their names were Sheila, Sheila and Sheila...ha! Not really! They were cool though and gave us loads of info on Auz. Later they suggested going to a resteraunt called Ciao Bella,
for us any restaurant with a french or italian name was out of our price range, but nevertheless we decided to be social and met them there later. Before that though we decied to catch sunset at a place called view point up at the top on one of the hills. It was hard work getting up there but very much worth it as we got there just in time for sunset, I've seen a lot of great sunsets since I've been away and this was definately up there.
So later we met the girls for some dinner and ended up going on a bit of a night out with them, Phi Phi isn't exactly a party place but it did have some cool beach bars with dudes chuckin' fire about. The next morning we woke up to do the snorkelling boat trip. On the trip we would stop at loads of places to do some snorkelling and also beaches on Ko Phi Phi Leh which was the smaller island by Ko Phi Phi Don where everyone stays. On Ko Phi Phi Leh is an amazingly beautiful places called Maya Bay where the movie 'the beach' was filmed. Ofcourse
it was touristy as all the boats doing trips go there but it was just amazing. The scenery was breathtaking and the water was really clear to do some snorkelling and swimming off the beach. The jungle of the island was pretty cool so we checked that out. Like I say it was toursity there but I could easily accept for the surroundings.
On the way to Maya Bay we stopped to do some snorkelling off another side of the island by some rocks and cliffs. The fish and things I saw there were just incredible, like I've never seen before, so many different kinds. It would have been great to have an underwater camera for that! After Maya beach we went back to the main island and came to Monkey beach. Noone stays here and there are plenty of monkey's to marvel at. I've said before but I will never get tired of monkeys, they're so cool. There was this baby one I got a picture of that was really cut but also very protective of his corn. Also there was the daddy of the monkeys there, he looked pretty bad ass! You could buy a bag or
corn to feed them, once a guy tried to feed him a peice of corn, the money was like 'screw that' and grabbed the whole bag, funny stuff.
After leaving monkey island we went to our final spot called Bamboo Island. The sea here was the clearest I've see in the whole trip. I used to think that pictures I'd see of the Thai island must have been photo shopped to make the sea look clearer but they just havn't those pictures were real. This water was crazy, my Brita filter at home couldn't make clearer water! Anyway, we stopped on the island for a bit and saw some crazy things. Alot of cool fish, some swordfishies and aslo some seas snakes under rocks, one in which I got too close and it came out and opened its mouth, needless to say I swam away quicker than Ian Thorpe. The boat trip was amazing and very tiring.
That night we went out for a few beers and saw live entertainment. This guy was great, played some of my favourite sings too, I want him at my birthday! That night a few beers turned into a proper big night
out where we didn't get back till about 6am! Met a crazy American girl and a couple Slovenians too, they talked like bond girls...I liked that.
The next morning feeling slightly worse for wear we hopped on the boat for Ko Lanta. Again it was nice to be somewhere more relaxed. Not alot to say about Ko Lanta really other than we did alot of relaxing on the beach. One day though we rented a moped and went around the island checking out different beaches and visiting old town. In old town we had some lovely crab but had to get the nice lady to help us crack open the crab, nice lady. The last night we were there we went out for a quiet beer on the beach but then all of a sudden we saw these guys at this little beach shack bar. We went over for a beer, they were good lads, apparently the two Engish lads ran the bar...well someone was losing money as we got loads of free drinks, it was great. Such a random night. Loads of people from all over the world there too...most on space cakes!
The next morning, again
worse for wear we got on the 6 hour boat to Ko Lipe which is right at the southern tip of Thailand. The first night there weren't many places to stay so we stayed in a tent on the beach, on a beach that was pretty secluded. That night when we came back we attempted to walk through the jungle and sea gypsy village without any light...that didnt work. SO we went back to town and got a flashlight and tried again, it was freakin scary walking through there. We got to the sea gypsy village this time and they were doing some dances so we joined in a little bit hoping they werent bad gypsies ha! They were really cool and pointed us in the direction of our places. Was glad to be back at that tent, it was freaky going through that jungle at night.
The next day we got a bungalow closer to thw main little town. The beaches on Ko Lipe were the best we have been to I think, the water was great and you could rent snorkelling gear to check the place out. We went to the same beach most days as it
was pretty much picture perfect.
Ko Lipe was different from other islands as it had a community of Chao Leh or sea gypsys. Ofcourse they were settled here now but in the past were seas gypsys. They were such nice people and were very happy to be in pictures if we asked before and also were very happy for us to explore their village. It was really cool. The problem was we watched the Borat movie not longer before and so were conctantly saying 'dont play games with me gypsy'. But the Chao Leh were really welcoming, nice people. I think Ko Lipe was one of my favourite islands, it had everything from pristine beaches and clear seas to local culture to explore when you weren't at the beach.
From Ko Lipe we got the boat to the mainland and came to Hat Yai where we stayed for the night. Then yesterday we crossed the border to Malaysia and are in Kota Bharu, I very Muslim town which is a change. Parts feel alot like India, really interesting. Tomorrow we get the jungle train to Teman Negara in the middle of the jungle so escited about that. We're
sad to leave Thailand but we were there for a very long time and it has been absolutley fantastic, plus we're looking forward to whats ahead. Speak to you soon. x
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