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Published: June 23rd 2007
Well hello once again. This latest installment takes us from Koh Tao on to Koh Phangan, then to Phuket via Surat Thani, Phang-nga and finally Krabi. Quite a lot of travelling in the last week or so, firstly we took the boat to Koh Phangan the morning after our last blog. We decided that we would head for the north of the island to a place called Hat Khuat, or Bottle Beach to the farang. It sounded a bit more chilled out than Hat Rin where all the partying is. The only way to reach Bottle Beach is by boat, so we took a taxi up to Chakara-something and then hired a long tail boat for 100baht each. Bottle beach is a bay about 800m long which has three bungalow hotels along the beach front - Bottle Beach 1, Bottle Beach 2 and Bottle Beach 3!! We went for Bottle Beach 2. Apparantly they are all owned by different members of the same family.
The bay is very nice, i dont think there were too many other people staying there though boat trips bring people for a few hours each day, presumably from different places on Koh Phangan. We
got a few hours sunshine each morning so we worked on the tan a bit. There were four restaurants altogether and although they are run by the same family they just about manage to be different enough - except for the music that is. We like Jack Johnson but when each of the four options all have the same album on repeat for most of the day it gets a bit boring. They really love Jack Johnson! By the end of the day i was even happy to hear a bit of boyband love songs! How bad is that!
On our last night there (we stayed for 3) we were invited to join in a drinking game with some Finnish lads and we then also recruited a couple from New Zealand. And the bar staff of course, who were also smoking thai weed. Anyway we were crap at the game and ended up downing pints of lager and i got stoned enough to throw up (think i might avoid it from now eh mum?). I went home first but Donna managed to avoid the heavy stuff somehow and survived a lot longer.
Next day we went to
check out Hat Rin. This is where the full moon parties are and although we weren't there at the right time you can still tell what the main focus of the place is. All around town are flyers and signs and it would have been good to go but we really dont have that much time left in Thailand so wont be seeing it this time. All of the bars in Hat Rin had dvd's playing all day so we watched Jack Ass 2 which is very stupid and very funny. Not much else apart from that, it didnt seem to have much else to offer so we jumped on a boat to Surat Thani the next morning and then caught a minivan taxi to Phang-Nga bay.
Well we were supposed to go to Phang-Nga bay. Thats what we paid for and thats what the travel lady wrote on our ticket but for some reason the driver took us straight to Phuket! Phuket is about an hour further and it would have cost us more to get back to Phang-Nga so we just stayed there. We wanted to see Phuket anyway and apart from changing our order of sight-seeing,
and putting up with the guy who kept farting in the taxi, and the girl who had nits, it didnt really matter.
When we arrived in Phuket town it was absolutely pouring down so we ran into a bar to have a drink and wait til the rain slowed down a little but it didnt so we had to run with our backpacks to a hotel. The hotel was so nice and even had a bath and a mini bar much to Lauries delight and he thought it was fantastic that it was restocked daily!!!
The next day we just felt like chilling out so we went to see what English films were on at the cinema, the only film in English was Fantastic Four which was pretty good for a kids movie. That same day we got lost twice and ended up walking just about everywhere in Phuket town. Laurie usually seems as though he has a sat nav built in to him and never gets us lost but this day i do not know what went wrong. That night we weny for an italian which was very nice although the cheeky swines had watered down our
red wine. After we were going to go bowling but we ended up being lost again and walking around for about an hour and a half!! By that time it was almost midnight so we decided to call it a day and try and find home, which we did eventually.
The next day we got a taxi driver to take us to Tonsai Waterfalls which is about 20km north of Phuket town. It cost 200 baht each and then we began a 2 km hike through the rainforest and to see the waterfall, it was along a nature trail which pointed out things like fungi, termite mounds and these red crabs which looked animated as you could see their faces so clearly and their beady little eyes.
It was pretty cool even though we had to climb up parts of the waterfall and it was really slippy, but we made it. We had ants crawling everywhere - even after we got back to the hotel!
That night we went to an Irish bar and played pool, darts and joined in the pub quiz which we did not do very well in as 2 of the topics were Harry
Exploring the rainforest
Tonsai Waterfalls, PhuketPotter and Lord of the Rings. We had a few beers and had a chat to some guys who were working there as English teachers. We were starving and decided yet again to go to mcdonalds for our tea so we hopped on a moped and it was so funny, there was the driver, me in the middle and laurie on the back racing to get there but it was closed and i actually thought laurie was going to cry haha but we went the next day to make up for it.
We had decided against going to Patong where the main bulk of the tourism is in Phuket. We had already spent the last two days in English type bars and restaurants so we caught the bus to Phang-Nga. Phang-Nga, just like the book says, is a scruffy little town in a beautiful spot. All around the outskirts are huge limestone cliff faces covered in greenery. The trees seem to grow everywhere, as you can see in some of the pics from Phang-Nga bay. Our first stop off was to Mr Satay - a little fast food type restaurant serving pork, chicken and prawn satay skewers. Donna finished
Paddling Pool?
Tonsai Waterfalls, Phuket off the prawns and i munched my way through 24 sticks of chicken and pork. They were so nice with the peanut butter sauce!
In ther morning we took a boat trip to Phang-Nga bay to see the islands and caves that reach out in to the sea from the bottom of the river. The trips starts about 1kn up the river and you pass a small muslim fishing village. The entire village is built on stilts which sit a couple of metres above the water. It seems that a lot of the village is designed for the tourists as there are loads of shops selling the usual crap and about four big restaurants along the front which are abviously not for the locals. It wasnt too busy at the time but i can imagine how many visitors it gets in the high season.
Along the tour we stopped off at small islands that had caves inside the rocks that make up the island. The boat driver gave us torches to light the way. There was only us two on the trip so we could take our own time (he didnt really seem to care) to explore. We
waterfall
Tonsai Waterfalls, Phuket stopped off at James Bond island, the famous spot where Ursala Andress walks out of the sea. It is basically a tiny little spot with a tall rock in the middle of the bay. The Thais have pounced on the opportunity and built wooden shacks all across the small beach to house their little souvenirs and all the usual things. On the way back the driver guided us under a little cove and took us through a section of the mangroves that are all over this part of the coast. The trees look strange the way they have large branches poking down into the water like really big roots.
When we got back we had an easy night by the guesthouse playing cards and had a couple of beers. There isn't a great deal to do on a night time in Phang-Nga. And that brings us to today. This morning we went to Poon-Chang Cave (not sure about the spelling). This means 'Belly of the Elephant Cave' in English!. The cave is inside a huge cliffed mountain that looks kind of like an elephant lying down. This was a great little excursion. It only takes a couple of hours
but you enter the cave with your headlamp and they sit you on an inflatable canoe and you enter the cave. The cave itself is pretty big, i reckon it is about 30 or 40 feet high in some places, and comes right down to 2 metres in others. All along are stalagmites and stalactites, strange bum shaped rocks that were formed from ancient waterfalls and many other funky little shapes.
Unfortunately they do not allow photography inside the cave but our guide spoke good English and pointed out different bits that they believed were elephants or mothers holding babies. Some of them were really good likenesses. He also said that as we are inside the elephant the water must mean we are in its stomach, nice. After the canoe you change on to a bamboo raft which i guess they use to get through the narrower parts. Its pretty difficult to climb on but was actually quite stable. Some poor thai lads have the job of wading through water up to their chests all day long pulling and pushing these rafts! Once the water is about knee height you get off and walk the rest of the way
Turtle?
Phang-Nga bay yourself. We had our trainers on! Great move. I think we were the only people - everyone elsed must have known what was in store? At the end of the cave there is the grand finale, a white elephant which sticks out of the rock about 20 feet up. It looks so much like an elephant it is almost suspicious, with a perfectly formed red circle for an eye. mmm? You could physically go further but the roof came right down and the passage narrowed so we werent allowed. Maybe this was the entrance to the intestine and there was danger of being spat out the other side??
Along the ceiling of the cave were hundreds of bats. You could see some of the bigger ones snarling at us as we all shone our torches at them. Must be really annoying when your trying to sleep! I think we were the unlucky two as both of our torches ran out before we got out i used the guides and three of us made our way out with one torch! All good fun. We also have one of those cheesy pictures that they take for you at theme parks. A
snapshot of us in our canoe about to enter the unknown.
One bus journey and an hour later we are in Krabi. Another destination and another hotel. I have lost count how many places we have stayed at now. The next couple of days should be really good fun. In krabi there are loads of excursions - elephant trekking, white water rafting, rock climbing, Quad bikes, Thai cooking courses. We are going to do them all! Busy busy busy. Its really cheap here and our money has lasted really well. We went a bit over budget after the diving but now, without cutting back at all, we are in front again. We want to do all of things before we leave Thailand as Malaysia is slightly more expensive, and we want to get back to the beachlife on the Perhentians where the sun will be out (fingers crossed). It is cloudy here at the moment and it isn't likely to improve too much, so we can do all of our thrill-seeking stuff while its not too hot.
Thats all for now folks, stay tuned......
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Lauren & Jamaine
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Looks sooooooooo nice!!!!! You two are very adventurous going in the caves I would be shitting myself! Donna i can't believe you went diving, I thought you hated fish? All the taxi drivers over there seem to be right wierdos! Continue having a fantastic time and kepping us updated. Lots of love Loz and Jamaine xxxxxxxxxx