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Published: December 18th 2006
It's been a while since I posted a proper blog, but I'll do my best to get up to date. Sarah and I parted ways after staying at Haad Mae. I went west to Krabi province on the west coast, and she went to Ko Tao to do her diving course. I caught a ferry boat over to the mainland, then waited a few hours before catching a bus that took me to Krabi. I was greeted by the bus driver holding three red plastic chairs. I looked at him inquisitively, he handing me one, and I went aboard. Sitting shotgun with the bus driver was a Canadian who I had met in Chiang Mai. When we got to Krabi, him, myself, and his travelling buddy, hopped in a taxi (with a group of Austrailians) and made our way to a nearby hotel. I attempted to get a single room, but they wanted far too much. Fortunately, the Austrailians were travelling in a group of 5, so we paired up and got a room. The next day we took to Railay beach.
Railay Beach. The most expensive place I have been to in all of Thailand. Everything from accomidation, to
food, to internet prices were through the roof. We stayed for....was it 2 nights? Yeah, it was. While the prices are outragious, the view was quite nice. Limestone cliffs all around, and an amazing sunset as well. Although, and I've found this to be a pet peave of mine, there was much much construction going on. On the main beach thre were many long tail boats (I'll post a pic), which I can handle, but there were also two massive barges, loaded with bricks and wood for construction new bungalows and resorts. That sort of kills the natural beauty of a place. I continued rooming with the Austrailians while I was here. Sometimes it can be challanging travelling with others. In this case, it was because they were on a 2 week holiday. People tend to spend money differently when they are vacationing as opposed to backpacking. However, we compromised well, and had many good times. The first night we got there, we chose to cruise the bar strip. The Canadians had arrived at about dinner time, and it was one of their birthdays. After having a couple Changs at a few bars, we made our way down to a
place called "The Last Bar." When we arrived, we found a crowd gatered around a thai boxing ring. Inside was a thai man, with the spookiest expression, almost in a trance, staring down a 4 foot cobra. The thai guys head would snap from side to side while staring down the cobra, dodging the strikes it made at his provoking . Then he we be still....slowly move in...and plant a big kiss on the cobras face. Truely fascinating. So the two candians are out, one of the aussie boys, and one of the aussie girls. Now, the one austrailian girl hadn't seen a lady boy yet, and I thought I'd point one out for her. Now, by point out, I mean subtlely glace, but instead, she literally points, then makes a few comments. The lady boy then comes over, and hair whips her...I don't know how else to describe it, but this lady-boy was mad, real mad. But before I go on......
Lady-Boy: A Thai transvestite; Often a very convincing transvestite; Unfortunately often prositutes. Usually nice people, but often quite mad at the world.
So...this lady-boy calls in her lady boy backup. Now I'll tell you, there's no
Mmmmmmmm
Packaged french fries complimented by a packet of ketchup. Deeeelicous.one I'm more afraid of than a posse of lady-boys. For one, many thais know Muay Thai Kickboxing. Secondly, many lady boys probably have a certain level of angst. Thirdly, you can't hit a girl, can you? Well, this girls were lookin angry, but with enough avoidance of eye contact we were able to calm the situation a bit. However the next night....I walked home alone (and while this isn't even close to the first time it has happened to me, this may have been the funniest......) and someone steps out from a nearby bar and says, possibly the most classic line ever:
"Where you gooooooooo?"
*sigh*
"I go to sleep"
"I come with you"
"No, I sleep with roomate, big boy, no room for you"
"We sleep on beeeaccch"
"No"
"We go to Jungle"
"Uhhh? No. I go to sleep"
*little sleeping hand gesture*
Who this person was? The angry lady boy from the night before. What a coincidence.
The Austrailian guy I was rooming with was rather sick for a few days and by the time we decided to leave Railay (after 2 nights) I was catching whatever he had. I didn't know if I
wanted to go to Koh Phi Phi, or Ko Lanta, but I made the right choice in going to Ko Phi Phi, because it is absolutely impossible to rent a room unless you have a roomate (or a lot of baht).
Ahhhh Ko Phi Phi. Why did I have to be so sick. This place may be my favorite place so far in Thailand. There are no motorized vehicles in the streets, 95% of the people at under the age of 35, there's a good mix of partiers and backpackers, a laidback attitude, and unlike Haad Rin on Koh Pha Ngan, there are many Thai people, which adds that dose of culture that I'd been truely missing. Up until I came to Krabi provice, not once had a I paid more than 150 baht for a room ( 1 can dollar = 30 baht, so my room's have usually been arounds 5 dollars). Since I have arrived, I have not spent less than 10. Ko Phi Phi is no exception. The rooms were quite expensive, but unlike Railay, which is far to expensive for what it has to offer, the price of everything else on the island makes up
for it. Food is cheap (and good), partying is cheap (I think I had like 3 free drinks last night due to bar promotions), and the internet is a reasonable price. Wow, and I actually got a beer chang for what I call "7-11 Bangkok Prices", which works out to be 40 baht for a 600ml Beer Chang. Sidenote, Beer Chang translates into "Elephant Beer" and for good reason. These things pack a punch. Apparently they are unregulated, and it doesn't take many Changs to accept that possibility. I'll have one, okay. I'll have another, same. Maybe another? same. But then...the next...different. Same same but different. Unregulated beer means percentages ranging from 6.5 (minimum) up to the 10+ range. And one wonders why they call it a Changover.
So, with my sickness getting worse, I mostly slept during the day, and went out (but took it easy), by night. Which is unfortunate, because the little time that I did go out in the day, I enjoyed myself. I'll have to take one point off this island for it's lack of beaches though. They really are nothing special, probably the worst set of beaches I've been to (Although, in all
fairness I never really explored too too much, and it is a big island.) However, this may be due to the Tsunami. Right, for those who don't know, Ko Phi Phi one of the Islands hit by the 2004 Tsuinami. I'm actually looking at a massive photo hanging on the wall in front of me showing the devistation of the disaster. While the place is almost back up to par, there is still some minor constrution going on. The first night I was here we went to a place called "The Regge bar" There I met up with a group of English girls that I've been seeing periodically throughout Thailand, most recently at the Full Moon Party. They were sharing buckets and getting right down to business. Meanwhile, I was enjoying the amatuer Thai kickboxing. In this bar they have a Thai Kickboxing ring. Here, random foreingers (Farang) from the crowd stand in the room and the referee promotes him and searches the crowd for challangers. If they each survive three rounds, they get a free bucket. Haha, nothing better than amatuer kickboxing. Some girls fought, some big boys fought, and the guy sitting with us fought. Now, he had
fought a few nights before, and he says he's good, so I do the Thai thing to do (at least this is how I taught to enjoy a thai kickboxing match), I make a few bets.
"Hundred Baht on Blue"
"Who wants red?"
"Come on now, who wants red"
Now, you need to understand, Red was a big big Israili dude, but this guy I was betting on from Leeds looked rather skilled. So, a few buddies around me decide to take up my bet and the match is on. Wow, in all the Muay Thai matches I have watched. I have NEVER seen someone so vicious. He flew out of his corner, tossed a flurry of punches, then proceeded to land knee after knee to the Israili guy's face. Long story, (short match), made shorter, I won my bets. Haha, later that night I was eating some pizza at an italian bakery, and one of the guys I bet against was standing outside looking in. Taunting him I say: "Maybe a little out of your price range without that 100 baht you once had." He had a good sense of humour, we actually went out partying the
next night.
Next day Myself and the Aussie arranged a boat tour around Ko Phi Phi (actually Ko Phi Phi Don, because there are two Ko Phi Phi's). It was so amazing. We took a long-tail boat. A long-tail boat is a fairly long wooden boat that carries up to 12 passangers and is propelled by an extremely long shaft/propeller. Well, we went to about 6 different locations. At about 3 we went snorkelling. I'm pretty shoddy at the whole snorkelling thing, but I made an effort. It was so amazing to see all the wildlife down below. So many colorful fish, so much coral, it was just beautiful. While travelling from place to place we saw some different wildlife as well. We cruised by a pack of Dolphins and on our way back home I spotted several flying fish (they actually fly, and at first I mistook it for a bird. We stopped on one beach called "Monkey beach." So fitting. Hoards of monkeys were on this beach, pigging out one food given to them by tourists. I think my favorite sight was one monkey sitting in a tree just slamming back a can full of Fanta. From
there we went to Phi Phi Leh. We cruised about it, saw the "Viking Cave," Swam in a beautiful lagoon, and then went to......wait for it....
The Beach. You know the one. Made famous by the 90's movie starring Leonardo Dicaprio about a secret backpacker society on a secluded beach. Well, there it was, well preserved, with some very nice paths and senery inland. Although, you do realize that it took many different camera angles to create the perception of the beach you are given in the movie.
We got back, fairly knackered, the aussies went out for a pricey meal, but I wasn't feeling so swell, so I just took it easy and wandered about.
Their trip almost over, their next destination Phuket, the Austrailians left the next morning. By then (which was yesterday) I was starting to feel a little better. So, I decided to find a room. As I said, almost impossible alone, so I took to the dock.
"My Friend, you travel alone? Come with me, I know good place for you."
is what I started with, but after a while I realized the thai approach wasn't working, and I actually
ended up rooming with the very last person to come off the boat.
Name: Soona
Country: Denmark
Trademark: Womanizing stories
All in all a good guy with a good travelling attitude. So, him and I went out last night, met up with the English girls from the kickboxing match a few nights before, and we took it pretty easy.
Today I woke up, feeling a lot better (but still with a mean little cough), packed my bags, and came down here to use the internet. I've booked a ticket down to a nearby island called Ko Lanta. To be honest, I'm tired of travelling with groups of people, compromising, always having to do Something. I just wanna relax, read a book, yeah....take it easy. So, Ko Lanta seems like the spot to do this at. Not sure how long I'll be there, but yeah, I'm leaving today.
A worthy mention, that I couldn't integrate into my blogging about Railay beach, is an excursion I took to a nearby, slightly hidden, beach. Here thre were hoards of monkeys, baby ones, big ones, all so very friendly. Then, after playing with the monkeys for a while, I went
to a nearby cave that seemed to have some offerings. The sign on the wall read:
"Before the fishermen went out, they would pray to princess pranang for luck, if their fishing went well, they would return and leave an offering." I'll post a picture, and see if you can figure out what the offering is.
Oh right, I got a couple of Tatoo's while in Railay, I'll post those as well.
Take Care.
P.S. I posted a load of photos of when I went to the "Fun Park" Dream Land in Bangkok, but I put them in the wrong posting. The story is in the posting "Back In Bangkok", but the pictures are in the blog "Kings Birthday." Definately check them out, they're well worth a look.
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Dad & Donna
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Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!!
Hey...we are back...had a fantastic time....we are all tanned and tired....you would have had a blast....Garrett was there with a couple of buddies and they enjoyed everyday to the max....we have lots of pictures..... what a georgous place......We could go back there again.....We have been home for 2 days and getting used to the time change has been fun....getting up at 2;00 and it feels like 6:00...oh well I`m back to work for three days and then off to Launi`s for Christmas....It is Kira`s first one so thought we would enjoy watching the kids on Christmas morning....Christmas woun`t be the same at Nonnie`s without you...and us...but We hope you are with good friends having a great time and not having a chang over........Sorry to hear you were feeling sick and glad to hear you are doing much better,...sounds like your trip is all you thought it would be...and a bag of chips....so keep on exploring and We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a lot more fun in the New Year....... no making fun of the man girls.....stay safe.....Love Dad & Donna xox