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Published: March 3rd 2009
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The trip in China finished abruptly. It was very cold, I didn't meet people I was supposed to and a new year eve was not well planned. I had the chance of being with two Chineses girls who took me around Shanghai during my short stay. I had to head for warmer climate quickly. Looking at it now, I should have headed south toward Thailand while I was in Kunming instead of going north in Chengdu and Shanghai. The center of China was cold and houses didn't have heating system and also most of the tourist site were too cold to go.
I was not well prepared for Thailand. They don't speak english as well as I was told. I would have gotten a translator program if i knew. The typical tourist route suggested in lonely planet is more expensive than expected. Even more expensive if you travel alone. Here there not hostel just guesthouse or bugalow with individual room. For 100-200 bath you get a tent on the beach, for 300 bath you get 4 walls and a roof no mosquito net and not well located (noise), for 500 bath you start to have a nice bugalow whiout hot
water or air con. It is not the best way to meet people with your room, your table at the restaurant and your spot at the beach. Wihtout common area to meet people your are on your own. To make matters worst short term tourist are using Lonely planet so you hear German, Swedish, finnish one more obstacle to socialize with them. Since they are there for fews weeks they come with their friends in group mainly for party. I found backpacker more open and sociable but it was hard to found them and meet them.
I stayed 2 nights in Bangkok and that was enought. Koh Sang road is not the best place to stay but since I didn't know any other place I stay in this area. At the airport, I shared a cab with a america that knew a good place off the road. During my stay, I did meet an australian girl eating a pad thai in the street and we visited some few tourist sites together.
The logistic of travelling can be exausting. YOu get so many warning about travel agents that you don't trust any of them which make transportation harder. I
went to then official bus terminal out of the city to realize that the bus to Koh Tao is 12 hours later.
In Koh Tao, I stayed from febuary 5th to the 16th. I finished my PADI open water and did my advance open water. Finally there I got the real info about raining season. It was not the good time yet to be in the east coast. But It was the best tourist period because scandinavians have holiday during december and january. Unfortunately, the sea was rought and visibility in the water very poor. Best time would be in april. On any island you are a bit stuck in your area since there are only expensive taxi. With the heat and humidity a mountain bike don't bring you much futher than a walk. I didn't rent a motorcyle because I heard so many bad story (scam and accident). On this island I met two finnish and on danish.
After Koh Tao I went to Ko Samui to meet Sachiko a friend from Japan who had 10 days holiday in Thailand. We stay 5 days there at the main beach. Nice place but we realize that behind the
touristic beach road there was a real town with cheap food, night market...a bit far walking distance so well hidden for those who don't have transportation. To discover futher,we rented a car for a day to discover this island. Again trying to know what kind of insurance cover you have is hard. We took the risk of renting with no 3rd party insurance and a deductible of 2000 bath. Everything when well we stay in country side area. During our stay We also did some hitchiking because of lack of public buses and that worked pretty well. Local people
are nice when you are outside to tourist area. We were pickup both time at a seven eleven store. YOu just need to ask when they stop a the convienent store and they seem happy to help you.
After Ko Samui we took a bus to Kao Sok national park half way between Koh Samui and Phuket. There we met some backpackers more friendly since this is definitly out of the normal tourist circuit. We took a package 2 nights 3 days in the park. It cost 2500 Bath it was worth it even if I was sick (fever) and
I couldn't go to any activities. I sleep in the park and did some canoe. The group went to hiking, caves, night jungles and morning boat ride. Sachiko was not expecting such destination she didn't pack exaclty the right cloths but we managed. I think she liked it.
After thoses days I was still doing fever and couldn't transport my backpack so we stay 2 more nights at the park entrance. We had to skip Surin and Similand islands snorkeling and diving trip because of the lack of time. We headed for Phuket and choose to stay at Katan beach which was a good choice. We had a nice bugalow with hot shower and aircon. January 28th Sachiko tooks her plan back to Japan leaving me alone to continue my trip. I had to get an visa extension for 1900 bath which got me 7 days extention. I had to make my way to Malaysia faster than expected.
After Phuket, I did again the islands Koh Phi Phi which was very nice quiet and small enought to walk. There was a hostel there with dorm so I have met more people. At a point one whole dorm was
filled up with Canadien (8). It was fun but it was too much canadian at the same place. On the island there was party on the beach but not everyone was there for party so the ambiance was good. I did one dive and it was very nice, water was clear and calm.
Then I went to Koh Lanta which was not very nice because the island was big and difficult to get by without a moto. There was one big road going around the island and many road toward resorts or guesthouse. I didn't see town or city center.
I stayed one night on a guesthouse on the side of the main road and left for Koh Lipe the following day. Again Koh Lipe is a small island had a good ambiance with cool people not just looking to get drunk. We did some snokelling with shark for 100 baths on a remote beach. I did went fishing one day for 1900 bath divided by 2 but we didn't catch anything just one kilo tuna by luck.
After all this travel it was already feburary 7th so I headed toward Malaysia.
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