Khao Lak - Thai New Year

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April 13th 2008

Published: April 22nd 2008

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joeandmon

Sunrise on the bus

The bus from Surat Thani to Khao Lak

We arrived at around 5am at the port town of Surat Thani. From the little we saw of it, there was nothing pleasant about the place and we were glad to be leaving immediately. We were met by a rep from the company we had used who then attempted to load 11 people into a pickup converted into a taxi with 2 benches and a frame with a roof along with our large packs. He managed to cram 8 of us poor tired sardines in before we mutiny occurred and we refused to let any more in. He tried to argue that it was only a 5 minutes and the other 3 could hang on the back (which is actually not unusual to see the locals doing) but we weren't having it and argued that if it was only 5 mins he could do 2 runs. The irony that he had spent 15 mins trying to cram us and our packs in seemed to be lost on him... He eventually conceded and did 2 trips.

We were soon our bus snoozing and watching the sunrise on Thai New Years Day for year 2551. We trundled out of the town and

Our shitty bus

You can see the conductor underneath getting dirty! I thought mercs were meant to be reliable... German efficiency? Ha!

into the country side passing through lots of small towns along the way picking up and dropping off locals as we went. The driver was pushing the aging bus to its limits and the bus wheezed and crunched its objections along the way. We stopped at one town and there was a particularly loud crunch and the bus lurched to a halt... And then there was silence. The bus crew climbed out with a paper bag full of tools and spent a few minutes peering in to where the engine and gearbox lived while thoughtfully smoking cigarettes. Soon one of the guys had his shirt off and was covered from head to toe in thick black grease. Some seasoned bus riders got off at the first sign of trouble and hailed the next passing bus, climbed aboard and were soon roaring off. We felt a slight pang of jealousy but were confident our conductor/mechanic was on the case. Also, we didn't realise that was standard procedure if a bus broke down and you didn't have to pay again or anything which we later learned. We sat on the bus for a while as more and more passengers started to get

Plums on tour

If the windows weren't open, we'd be licking them.

off and wait under the shade outside. We got some deep fried banana fritter things and a coke from a local stall. Not the healthiest of breakfasts but nice. Eventually our faith in the conductor/mechanic started to waver and soon a young local boy informed us it was game over for that bus so we got off and waited under the shade for the next bus. It arrived and all the remaining passengers just managed to squeeze on with no empty seats left and us all scattered around the bus. We had been in an old 2nd or 3rd class bus and this was a brand new 1st class bus, so effectively we got a free upgrade. Although the fact we paid over the odds in the first place AND had an hour and a half wait in the middle did take the edge off that small victory.

The countryside was really nice with mountainous jungle all around us. We passed through Khao Sak national park on the way which is meant to be a great place for trekking and waterfalls and that. The jungle is what is left of an ancient rain forest which predates even

The countryside out the window

These shots were taken through a window from a moving bus so they are a bit ropey but still worth a look!

the Amazon and has many different rare species of mammals and birds as well as a large lake surrounded by massive limestone cliffs. As we passed through small towns, we started to notice groups of people cruising around in their pickups with large barrels of water armed with bowls, buckets and large water pistols. There were also groups gathered around barrels of water beside the roads and in their front gardens and were similarly armed. Any time a car, moped, pedestrian or any other form of transport passed by they were doused in a generous amount of water and wished a happy new year. When a pickup approached a group beside the road a small water battled ensued in which all parties ended up soaked. Thai New Year (Songkran Festival) occurs at the very hottest time of the year and the water fight celebration is embraced by ALL. Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the Water Festival as people believe that water will wash away bad luck. Everyone gets properly involved and has lots of fun.

A roadside crew wait for victims

This is a view from the bus, so we were safe. For now.

Thais try and bring a little bit of fun to everything and this is a perfect outlet. Our bus did not have windows that opened but the outside of our bus was soon soaked. On such a hot day we actually wouldn't have minded a good soaking. Little did we know, our time would soon come. We stopped for lunch at a little service station and were soon pulling in to Khao Lak were celebrations and soakings were in full swing. Within 2 minutes of being off the bus we were fully soaked along with all our worldly possessions despite our protests for our back packs there was no mercy. Someone commented after that had just soaked us “You picked a bad day to arrive!”. But it was all good fun. We walked for miles looking for a guest house that had been recommended to us with regular soakings along the way. We eventually found the place, checked in, had a shower and beer then headed out with shorts, vest and our water proof diving bag into the midst of it... We bought a water pistol and then had a look round town exchanging water with people as we went.

Locals getting down

Hip hop with an indian flava!

We found the dive shop we were doing our live aboard with but it was closed for new year. We carried on walking down that road and got to the beach which was lined with many posh resorts and was actually quite hard to get to without walking through a resort. We found a way through and paddled and walked along the nice beach which looked like it would be good for swimming although it had quite a strong tide coming in and out. We then cut through one of the resorts and back on to the main road. Half of it had been closed and a large marquee had been erected on it and a DJ played bangra-tinged hip hop to a motley crew of drunken locals. We found a little outdoor bar and plotted there to down a few Singhas and watch the fun. As we drank there was some sort of disagreement between what seemed to be 2 local gangs and it looked like one young guy was being reprimanded 'internally' by his own boys (with the occasional slap) while the other gang looked on and clearly were eager to get hold of the guy themselves. Most

Joe getting a soaking

This guys name was Ning and he was a proper soldier throughout the day, He taught us all we know about soaking people. NO EXCEPTIONS. NO MERCY.

of it was just posturing though. There were a few scuffles but the crowd soon started to break up and disperse with no major trouble. We'd consumed a few beers by now and it was quite good entertainment. The owners missus came over and started chatting to us and told us they had to tell the boys to get lost as it was bad for business. She was lovely and chatted to us for a while as we consumed more large bottles of Singha which was going down a treat. The DJ had now been replaced by a band playing rock and reggae standards, but without a front man. There was a guy who came on occasionally and sang but he was not really trying. Mon actually had to stop Joe from going and offering his services when a couple of Red Hot Chili Peppers numbers came on. Everyone's loss...

In the mean time a small soaking crew had assembled near by with a hose pipe on hand and two big buckets and a selection of smaller buckets and pots. The hose pipe kept the 2 big buckets full which were used to scoop water out of into the

Ning on the run

smaller ones which in turn were used for soaking passers by. There were also a few high powered water pistols on the firm for good measure. We were soon drawn into the water fight when a guy called Ning came over and started soaking us and we were soon thoroughly soaked. Once we had all got bored of soaking each other we turned our attention to the rest of the town... We had quite an efficient operation going on in the end and every person/moped/car/pickup/bus. No one was given any mercy. We got properly into it and were giving people a full on soaking whether they liked it or not then wishing them a happy new year. Eventually the owners wife came over and told Joe off as apparently there are a few little rules... Like no soaking old people, babies or authority figures such as old bill or monks. We spent the next few hours having the most fun since we were about 8 and steadily getting more and more drunk. Everyone took it in the spirit in which it was intended although one local woman did throw a bit of a hissy fit, got off her moped threw

Mon getting a good soaking

her (wet) jacket on the floor and generally having a tantrum. We wished her a happy new year and got on with the job in hand. By about 5.30 or 6.00 we started seeing the “taxis”, which were all converted pickups with benches and covered frame with the sides totally open, coming by full of people all dressed up ready for the evening (mainly tourists from the big posh resorts). Without exception the drivers all slowed down and motioned for us to get their passengers. There were a few pissed off people and a few “fuck yous!” and fingers. Which made it all worthwhile. The owners wife gave us some delicious thai snacks which were like stuff on toast which made us realise we were quite hungry so we decided to call it a day and dry off shower and get some food back at our guest house. After freshening up and eating we headed back into town but things were wrapping up and we soon headed back. Khao Lak is not what you would call a 24 hour party town.

We had 1 and a half days until our live aboard was due to leave so we hired

The local kids having fun in the waterfall

And washing their hair too!?

a moped and had a look around the surrounding area. We had seen some signs for waterfalls from the bus on the way and found a couple of these which were beautiful and really refreshing after a bit of a walk in the sweltering sun. At one of them, there were lots of kids playing in the water fall and washing their hair (?) as well as sliding down some of the smoother parts of the waterfall. When they had gone Joe had a little go at this and managed not to hurt himself. The other waterfall we had to walk a couple of kms to get to and it was and it was lovely to cool off in it. There were lots of little fish in the water which started nipping our legs and feet! We spent about an hour there then suddenly realised the moped had to go back and rushed to get it back on time. We then went to see the diveshop and pay and confirm details then back to our guest house to pack what we needed for our 4 day diving trip.

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