Crossing the Gulf

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Well, as we feared, the bus was late, about an hour, and this meant missing the Ferry, luckily though Ko Samui, being so busy has pretty good transports links. We left Phang Nga on a local bus only to be dumped in Surat Thani, which turned out to be about 20K away from where the ferry leaves from, why they don’t build their towns/cities nearer the sea intrigues us, it seems such a waste, almost everywhere that you get the ferry to/from is actually nowhere near the sea. No hopping off like Weymouth, Portsmouth or any port in the Western World really. We were now on the eastern side of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand having said goodbye to the Andaman Sea. The ferry plonked us on Ko Samui, in a town called Nathon. Most people who go to Ko Samui will hardly see it as the transport picks you up and whisks you to your delightful beach destination, but as we were only staying 1 night, the town was fine for us. We had a quick look round a busy working town, complete with obligatory night market selling ‘not so cheap’ dodgy dishes and lots and lots of what seemed like ‘grockle’ shops but judging by the locals dress sense were probably their version of Next. We did manage to find a Tesco (Lotus) and inside yep it was just like any other small Tesco. A quick trim in a local hairdressers to stop Chris turning into too much of a hippy and, with onward ferry tickets purchased, that was our Samui experience. Those familiar with Thailand may realise by now that we haven’t stopped in any of the well known places, The Phuket beaches, Ko Phi Phi and now Ko Samui, the reason is that these places are like an Asian Benidorm with European Benidorm prices and why would you when there are so many other great places to visit.

The next Island for us was going to be Ko Phangan the only problem is that we had not considered the phases of the moon when planning our trip and it turned out Full Moon was in two days time and Ko Phangan hosts 20,000 revellers from around the world to a huge party complete with copious drug and booze filled celebrations. This probably wouldn’t have appealed 25 years ago (unless Madness were playing) but giving this island a swerve seemed smart. So on we headed to Ko Tao. The ferry trip was, well, complete madness as the service starts on the mainland and calling at Samui before taking myriads of revellers to the party island before it finally dumps us oldies at Ko Tao. The process for getting on the ferry was utter chaos. As it arrived at Samui to pick us up, all the bags already on board were dumped onto the dockside (thousands of them), those staying in Samui had to find their bags amid the chaos but also those remaining on board also had to get off, find their bag and get back on again along with the rest of us trying to get aboard. This resulted in the ferry pulling away from the dockside while a couple of individuals still searching for their possessions then looking up bewildered as their transport left without them. Thai ferries wait for no man/woman.

Ko Tao is best known for its diving, with over 50 dive schools on the Island it qualifies more PADI Open Water divers than anywhere else in the world. And this was the main reason for us coming here, with water 300% warmer than Weymouth bay we decided that this was the place for us to learn as well. Wrong. Unfortunately, age is again intervening and Lisa managed to injure her back and Chris’s knee hadn’t yet sufficiently recovered to allow us to follow in the footsteps of Jacques Cousteau, Hans Hass, Karl Harmsworth and all of those other famous underwater adventurers. Oh well off to the beach then. This is when we discovered that the full moon party on the neighbouring island had restricted our choice of accommodation here as well. Being full blown travellers by now we hadn’t booked ahead (not that you can most places) so we found ourselves in a pokey little bungalow in an admittedly OK resort and right by the beach but at about £7 a night what did we really expect. The following day was the day of the party so the island suddenly emptied and we were able to move into somewhat more luxurious lodgings and settled in for a few more days on the beach. The first thing that you notice about Ko Tao, as you are coming in on the ferry, is how beautifully clear the water is, the visibility is awesome, I guess this is why it’s so popular. We were staying on Sairee Beach, Ko Tao’s main resort, and it is only a short (and shallow) swim out to a lovely reef with colourful coral and beautiful fish. What also made this a great choice of resort was, when walking through the main street, a bar with a Guinness sign and showing premier league games, guess where that night’s venue was going to be. Settling in, a pint of Irish Heaven ordered while perusing the menu when tragedy strikes, “No Guinness until next month Mr”, “You want Chiang?”. Which to those of you who ‘know’ will understand it is rather like saying “Yes we know we put Dom Perignon on the menu but would you like Asti Spumante instead”. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that we left that establishment rather quickly before an international incident ensued. Chris was almost inconsolable until a very long shapely pair of legs approached him and invited him to see her dance, never one to turn down a kind offer, we set off to watch the free cabaret. The sign over the door saying ‘Welcome to the Queens’ Cabaret’ probably gave it away, as if the pug ugly head on top of the shapely PR legs didn’t; it was a lady-boy cabaret. Well what can we say, entertaining in a distinctly awful car crash type of way, shocking, not really, because there was no mistaking the sex of the performers, even the ones with bodies that the ladies would kill for, as they still had the faces of punch drunk boxers. The most shocking thing was a young child (about 5/6) dancing in the crowd who obviously frequented the joint because she knew all the moves off by heart. Lady-boys is probably offensive too, these were queens of the campest order. But fun all the same.

The following day, another doing pretty much nothing, we got an email from our Canadian friends from Ko Lanta, Carmen and Steen, turns out they were on the Island as well and the quiet night in plans were shelved for a reunion and catch up, happy days.

Ok we felt it was time to see what makes this Island so special and because we couldn’t dive we decided a day trip by boat round the Island, snorkelling was in order. We were picked up by taxi, well actually a pick-up truck with a seat like framework thrown in the back. We then traipsed all over the Island picking up our fellow day trippers only to be deposited at our destination - a 2 minute walk away from our resort !!! We opted for the ‘big boat’ trip as we were promised more space and time and this turned out to be completely true, there were only about 12 of us, all kitted out with mask, snorkel and flippers on a large ex-fishing boat with a truly larger than life captain for our guide. Off we trolled, for the first time getting a chance to see all of the huts, bungalows and luxury resort dotted around the coast. A large number are built on stilts on top of the rocky shoreline and cliffs, fantastic location but not much beach. Our first stop was Thian Og Bay or Shark Bay, despite the impressive name our first stop was a bit of a disappointment, most of the coral was dead and hardly any fish to be seen let alone the bays namesake. Not a great start, everyone was back on board after about 15 minutes of our allotted hour. We continued on to our next port of call at Aow Leuk Bay, donned the gear again, hopped in and WOW, what a contrast, 20 or 30m of visibility, beautiful coloured and huge corals and some fantastically coloured fish, some about 3ft long. Suddenly you understand why it’s so popular, who wouldn’t want to spend time in this underwater wonderland, even snorkelling you lose yourself in the world before you, forget about time and troubles and just marvel at what nature offers up. Fantastic. All too soon we had to move on, next stop Mango Bay on the North of the Island, beautiful and quite remote and yet there is a thriving resort here, not a bad shout when you view what the sea here has to offer, rich colours, diverse marine life and beautiful clear blue water. Our last stop was an Island called Ko Nang Yuan, a young friend we met in New Zealand, Ali, tipped us off that we shouldn’t miss this and she was so right. A pair of Islands, joined by a stunning white sandy beach, one side set aside for shallow water dive training but the other free to simply swim and again marvel at Neptune’s domain. It is picture postcard perfect, whether it stays that way now some lodgings are being allowed on the island remains to be seen. We hope so. All too soon our trip was over but what a great day and yep we will certainly return and, hopefully, be able to explore without having to stay on the surface next time.

The following day back to the madness that is Thailand’s transport system, the plan was simple, catch the 10:15 ferry from Ko Tao, arriving in Chumphon at 11:45, a quick trip to the Chumphon station will let us catch the 12:45 train to Ban Krut, a little destination that Lisa had picked out for us. Simple, in any other country that is! Firstly we had forgotten about the hordes of post Full Moon Party revellers, now sobered and rested, heading back to Bangkok for their weekend flights back to Europe. The 10:15 ferry left at 10:45, OK probably still be enough time, that’s when we were told our ETA was 12:30 and the ferry dock was 30K away from Chumphon, aaaaaaarrrrrggggh. Fair enough we are flexible traveller type people now so we got to the town, asked at the travel agents about onward transport to Ban Krut, which was met with a blank stare. We tried Ban Krud, Ban Krot, Ban Kroot, “ahhh, Ban Krood” she said, accompanied by a look that said why do you want to go there! No joy there so we walked to see ‘Suda’ the best ‘fixer’ in town according to Rough Guide. She helpfully suggested that we follow some directions, walk to find some buses and take any one going to Ban Krut, nice. We walked, and walked and walked and walked, trying all of the bus stops she recommended, and realising that, as all the bus signs were in Thai, and as we struggle with English let alone squiggle, we were probably shooting in the dark. OK, we decided to head for the station and simply wait for the next train (about 5 hrs away). More walking and by this time Lisa had seen the downside of packing an outfit for every occasion, as had Chris who was now lugging 2 heavy rucksacks, finally the station. As we are about to buy a ticket we find out that we had missed a train by about 5 minutes, again aaaaaarrrrrgh. Luckily just before we purchased a ticket for the evening train a scooter taxi advised us that we would be better off going to the ‘big bus station’ where every half an hour there was a bus to Bangkok that would drop us at Ban Krut and he, of course, would take us there on his scooter. Now it’s been a while since I rode a bike but 3 adults, 2 rucksacks and 2 backpacks will never go on the equivalent of a Honda C90. OK a tuk-tuk then. Turned out the ‘big bus’ station was 12K outside of town. Dumped at the station, again with only Thai signs, we walked around saying “Ban Krut, Ban Krut” and eventually a seemingly helpful chap suggested we wait and a bus would be here in a moment. The problem was that a bus did arrive but by the time it got to Chumphon it was full, so when we asked the driver “Ban Krut, Ban Krut”, we were greeted with “Mai, Mai, Mai” and given the brush off. OK another one in ½ an hour, yep full, another ½ hour, yep packed to the gunnels. Finally just as we were about to return to the train station a bus driver kindly agreed that we could have the last 2 spaces. Nightmare over. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful until we got dropped off/thrown off by the side of a motorway with the kind driver shouting “Ban Krut, Ban Krut” and driving off, I’m sure he was smirking. Luckily Chris had armed himself with a Thai sim card so called the resort we had booked, luckily we didn’t take any chances this time, and they promptly arrived to escort us to our next home.

Finally we arrived at the Bayview Beach Resort in Ban Krut, and yep it was worth the hassle, a golden beach stretching as far as the eye can see, edged along its entire length by palm trees and not a soul in sight. Although not surprising given how hard it is to get here. The owner, Linn, tells us even though it’s only 3 hrs south of Bangkok (by Car) and on the main rail line south (although only 2 trains stop) most Thais don’t know it exists, which is a shame because this little gem is without a doubt one of the best beaches we have seen. The resort is quite up market for us as a treat, complete with pool rather than river, air-con rather than a fan and brick walls rather than bamboo, luxury. Our first night and dinner was accompanied by a load of students and their lecturers from one of Thailand’s famous Universities turning up en-mass and then, while still sober, singing the worst karaoke renditions of already awful songs imaginable. Friday nights at Dorothy’s has got nothing on this. When you wander down to the beach and look left at the end of the beach is Khao Thong Chai (Thongchai Mountain), not really even a large hill, but plonked on the top is the magnificent Phramaha Chedi Kao Yod or nine-spire pagoda, built by the people of the district (taxpayers) to honour the Kings Golden Jubilee. They really love their king here, and it is quite spectacular. Built in 1996 it’s still quite new but no less dazzling for all that and up close it looks great, shining, out but it’s when you step away and view it perched on top of the mountain that it quite takes your breath away.

Yep it’s been a lovely couple of days to end a lovely month wandering slowly, there is no other way in Thailand, through Southern Thailand. We could wax lyrical about the beaches, the people, etc but we won’t it’s great, just don’t try to get anywhere in a hurry or on time.

Onwards to Bangkok before we set out to Cambodia so this will probably be our last blog for a while as the laptop is staying in secure storage while we travel out into the unknown. We hope all of you that have stayed with us are enjoying the journey and speak to you all soon, hopefully.

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Photos

need a lift
sure beats queueing in Westham Road

home sweet home
our 2nd Ko Tao home

Bride to be
watch out fellas, you might bite off more than you can chew !!!

Beyond Beyonce
beyond belief more like

Undersea Garden
Alan Titchmarsh couldn't do better

feeding time
and what a sight

Doesn't do it justice
the lovely island of Ko Nang Yuan

Ban Krut Beach
loads of sand and no people, heaven

Another climb
but worth it for the great view

Us
Kind of obvious if you've read this far ...

Caption Competition
i'll leave it to you because i'm too scared

great detail
quite new but beautiful all the same

Happy Fella
well you would be too, stuck on top of a hill in the blazing sun all day

Contemplation
of the great view probably