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Published: October 7th 2008
Nan Guyan
Paradise off the coast of Ko TaoThe next leg of our journey took us back to Bangkok, allowing us to delve deeper in this exotic city and then further south to the islands of Southern Thailand.
It was a good feeling being back in Bangkok, generally knowing the area, knowing the scams and touts and knowing which street food is the best and which is best avoided. We arrived back with an air of familiarity that we aren't really used to anymore. Knowing the city better now also allowed us to utilise the cheaper public transportation the city has to offer. The barge formed the backbone of many of our journeys around this time as it was super cheap. So long as we didn't fall into the toxic sludge on which it glides!
Having ticked off all the big tourist spots it was time for us to have a look at a few other areas and experience the different sides of Bangkok. One of the first things we visited was the National Museum - just a few minutes walk from Khao San Road. The museum is the largest in South East Asia and chronicles the country's historical and cultural beginnings. The area is huge, and
housed in many different ornamental buildings crammed with antiquities from clay pots and pans to huge funeral pyres and gold carriages.
One of the more interesting sights that we visited was the Snake Farm. Located conveniently behind a hospital, the farm is an exhibition and research centre providing anti-venom for local hospitals. Thailand is home to many species of poisonous snake so the farm plays an important role in ensuring measures are in place incase someone gets bitten. The centre has a great exhibition room which gives information on snake anatomy, breeding, historical and cultural significance. They also have a daily show, where visitors can see a snake being 'milked' for the anti-venom. Other species of snake such as Cobra's and Pythons were shown to us, allowing us to get really close. I got the chance to hold a Burmese Python, which was great fun - until it began to wrap itself around my neck. The python is renowned for its constricting method of killing its victims!
We also embarked on a day trip out of Bangkok to see a few of the surrounding sights. In one trip we saw the floating markets, the Bridge over the River
Kwai and a rather large Pagoda. The floating markets, whilst now more of a tourist trap than a working market was interesting to see. Scores of vendors are crammed along the banks and on the water of canals selling tourist tat, fruit and vegetables or noodle soup from long-tail wooden boats. The variety of the produce is startling but it all combines to create a colourful experience.
The Bridge over the River Kwai was good to see. It was built by South East Asian prisoners of war, held captive by the Japanese after they had steam-rolled through the area. It was a vital link in the so called 'Death Railway'. It gained this name because of the amount of people who perished building it. The Japanese wanted a railroad built, linking Thailand and Burma to help ferry arms and equipment in their plight to control all of Asia. Prisoners of war from Britain, Australia, India, Malaysia and other South East Asia nations were put to work for long hours to build the railroad.
The bridge was a strategic part of this railroad and was bombed many times by US pilots. On one particular attack, Japanese soldiers ordered prisoners
View of Bangkok
From Baiyoke Skytower to walk onto the bridge and wave at the attacking pilots in an attempt to force them to halt their bomb runs - it didn't. We walked over the bridge and back, not realising at the time that it is still a working bridge!
After this we were on our way to our final destination of the day - a pagoda centred around a huge stupa. Unfortunately the stupa was encased in scaffolding, but nonetheless the stupa was impressive in the cool evening light. Buddhist statues encircle the stupa and the smell of incense wafts in the air.
We had seen the Baiyoke skytower many times during our various times in Bangkok. It stands taller than all of the other skycrapers in the area and is a very distinctive looking building with a BMW advert on the side announcing that they are a 'brand to look up to' - very clever considering we always had to crane our necks to read it. The tower consists of shops, offices, a hotel and bars. The top two floors are accessible to the public and tickets to the top include a free drink in the bar. After we had sipped our
pina colada's whilst taking in the sunset over the city we made our way to the highest point - the revolving sky deck. The whole floor was outside and slowly spinning around providing us with panoramic views of the entire city, which was quite spectacular at sunset. It gave us a great view of the vastness of the city and the urban sprawl that rolls on as far as the eye can see. The platform slowly clunked and whirred its way around and was alarmingly noisy!
At this point we had our first (and probably last) visitor on our travels, and so from now on this blog will guest star Amanda! We spent some time showing Amanda the best bits of Bangkok, which also allowed us to marvel once again at the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha, Wat Pho and Bangkok's gleaming shopping malls.
In amongst the shopping malls, next to a busy road and sky train intersection lies a shrine called Erwan Shrine. This really does typify the rest of the city as the glitz and glamour of the city meets traditional Thai religious values. The shrine is incredibly atmospheric, we spent a couple of hours here
watching the light fade and the shrine begin to dazzle bright gold against the night sky. The shrine is the spirit house of a hotel-come-shopping centre and is a place where people can pay their daily respects to Buddha. The centre shrine is awash with incense and garlands making it very colourful. Hundreds of Thai's file through the gates to pay their respects, give gifts and light incense. The smell and sight of which is so thick in the air it is almost choking.
As well as this we made our way over to Wat Arun, also called the Temple of Dawn. This was one we had been really looking forward to. From Wat Pho we caught the ferry across the river entering the grounds of the temple. From a distance, the temple looks quite dull, like a stubby truncheon protruding from the earth. However as we got closer we began to appreciate how intricate it was. The central stupa requires a steep climb up a couple of flights of steps, upon which we had a great view of the city and the four smaller stupas on each corner. The temple is also incredibly colourful and is made up
of hundreds of pieces of crockery of such amazing intricacy that it can only be fully appreciated up close. The temple is best appreciated at dawn (hence the name) but is just as impressive at dusk.
More time in Bangkok also gave us time to take in one of Bangkok's jazz bars - Saxophone, which we were taken to by our very obliging Bangkok guide - thanks Rob! Saxophone was an excellent jazz bar with a live band so good we went to see them 2 nights in a row. The bar is very atmospheric and successfully recreates a murky but traditional atmosphere. The food at the bar was also the spiciest we've tasted since being away. It was a kind of chilli shredded chicken salad which nearly blew our heads off (again, thanks Rob!) We enjoyed a couple of great evenings here and after our second evening we went on to experience Bangkok's seedier side - Ladyboy bars!
We entered a concentrated area of neon lit bars where the ratio of middle-aged men to young Thai women (or men, who knows?) was particularly high. There are a wealth of bars to choose from, each showcasing boys, girls
and...something in between. The one we found ourselves in to, er, widen our cultural perspectives, was made up of a seating area facing a platform with ladyboy's covering the stage, dancing around poles and trying to catch customers' eyes. It was quite a spectacle - some were clearly men, some were unbelievably men - their bodies and looks were that feminine. Victoria and Amanda were quite jealous of some of their figures! But not the hairy scrotums that some of them sported clearly beneath their bikinis. What followed were a few awkward, yet ultimately humourous encounters with a few of the ladyboy's in which they decided to reveal a little too much to Victoria.
After an eventful, eye-opening and very colourful time in Bangkok we were ready to make our way to the Southern beaches. We had train tickets booked from before we went to Hong Kong (how's that for organisation) for the journey to Surat Thani. However, whilst we had been away politically motivated violence in the city had caused a 'state of emergency' to be introduced. Whilst this didn't affect us, and we didn't really notice any change in day-to-day life when we were in Bangkok it
Wave Power
Amanda was no match for the power of the waves. Constantly. was the cause for the cancellation of our train. We only found out about this an hour or so before the departure time. We arrived at the train station at about 6.55pm - managed to get our ticket refunded and booked onto a bus for the journey which left at 7pm - crisis averted! Thanks again go to Rob for ensuring this was a smooth enough process.
The journey was an uncomfortable one overnight by bus, then a change onto a truck, then another bus, then a boat before finally arriving on our first island - Ko Samui. We stayed in an area called Lammai beach, which is the next one south of the main beach - Chaweng, which is where most of the honey moon resorts are located. Unfortunately our budget did not stretch to any honeymoon suites! Lammai in low season felt like a ghost town during the day but came alive with thumping music and girly bars at night. The main strip is littered with massage parlors, internet cafes, restaurants, girly bars and shops.
Lammai was good fun at night with Thai women packed into and dancing in customer-less girly bars and the smell of
Mike getting washed away
Instead of helping, Victoria decided to take a photo. street food floating across town. The street food was excellent here - more varied even than what we had experienced in Bangkok. All the hawkers setup in one area and served a multitude of dishes from seafood noodles, roti bread, fried chicken (or in Amanda's words 'deep fried, re-fried fried chicken') and shrimp, fried rice, thai curries and so much more.
The food was cooked in a wok before our eyes with all the fresh ingredients tossed in when required - the red curry was probably one of the best I had in Thailand. The chocolate Roti was also to die for. Best of all, it was all super cheap. Many of the restaurants along the main drag we're amazing seafood eateries. Each displayed a fresh platter of fish, squid, prawns and shellfish at the front. An irresistible pick-n-mix opportunity.
The beaches are the main draw to the islands of Southern Thailand, as well as the slow pace of life. Lammai beach did not disappoint and was blessed with soft white sands, palm trees and clear warm water. It was quite a commercialised beach and so came with the comforts of many sunbeds, restaurants and offers of pedicures
or massages every 5 minutes. Never have we felt more ashamed at having dry skin on our feet!
At one end of the beach are the famous Grandfather and Grandmother rocks, which were quite a funny sight. They are two rocks that have been naturally sculpted in the shape of male and female genitalia. Nature really does have a sense of humour!
After a few days in Samui it was time to hop to the next island to the north - Ko Pha Ngan, location of the Full Moon Party. The Catamaran journey was only about 20 minutes but it was a queasy one. The boat lurched and dove up and down on the waves ensuring we all felt sick when reaching the other side. We booked into a resort on the Western side of the island with
its own private beach called Haad Son. Compared to the lively town of Lammai (at night anyway) it was very peaceful. The beach was gorgeous, and despite being much smaller than Lammai, was deserted much of the time. The sand was glorious and coconuts fell on the beach for guests to enjoy. And by enjoy I mean smashing them against
Victoria and Cock Rock
Otherwise known as Grandfather Rock a tree trunk in an attempt to open one for ages. Unsuccessfully I might add. It was picture-postcard perfect and played host to some spectacular sunsets during our time there.
After a couple of nights here we made our way to the famous Full Moon Party - a beach party of epic proportions. About 10,000 people turn up for this event in peak season, held at Haad Rin in the South East corner of Ko Pha Ngan. I didn't get a chance to do a head count however, but it was the biggest party we'd been to. There is a great atmosphere here and various bars along the beach are pumping out different varieties of music from chart to trance. Buckets and beer are the main drinking options. For those of you unaware of what a bucket is - well its just that. You buy a small bucket into which is mixed your choice of drinks - vodka, whiskey, rum, coke, juice, red bull - one or all of them! Two things ensure their popularity at this event - they're cheap and they're strong! On top of that the red bull is 10 times the usual strength, ensuring we
were up until the early hours of the following morning.
Pyro-entertainers provide a lot of the fun in the night as they throw flames around themselves and in the air to the thumping beat of music. Even sometimes dropping their fireball near a member of the crowd, who were usually so drunk they found this near death experience hilarious. At one part of the beach a fire-limbo competition was setup where anyone could try to limbo beneath a fire stick. I did it a couple of times without singeing my sculpted eyebrows but when it got to about 3 foot off the ground I gave up - I think I needed a lot more buckets for that. Apparently 1 in 3 people end up injuring themselves at this event. So relieved were Amanda and I when a bamboo flag pole fell on Victoria's head and even more annoyingly knocking my drink flying. The stats never lie.
As the night wore on the huge crowd showed no real signs of thinning, but many people who had drunk a little too much began to scatter themselves randomly over the beach. A walk along the beach was like running a human
More Street Food
Lammai beach, Ko Samui gauntlet of bodies. People just collapsed where they stood waiting for sleep to cure their ill feeling. It looked much like an the Omaha beach landing in World War II. How these people managed to sleep in the noise is still beyond us. Avoiding a nights sleep on the beach however, we made our way back to Haad Son at around 7am having thoroughly enjoyed our Full Moon experience.
After a couple of recovery days in our resort we made our way to the final island to the north of Ko Pha Ngan - Ko Tao - the least developed of all the islands. The diving and snorkeling at this island is supposed to be some of the best in the world and its also the cheapest place to get the PADI Open Water diving qualification - an opportunity I couldn't not take advantage of. And so whilst Victoria and Amanda enjoyed the snorkeling Ko Tao has to offer, I went back to school. The course was spread over 4 days with diving in open water at various depths and theory work. The theory work was much like a physics and biology lesson, learning about pressure and nitrogen and
its effects on the body at depths combined with learning how each piece of equipment works and safety procedures.
The dives were awesome! Swimming around coral with hundreds of fish floating around was an exhilarating experience. Seeing stingray's, parrot fish and nemos up close was fantastic - they're the only one's whose names I can remember anyway. After 4 days diving, theory and a few tests I am now a certified PADI Open Water diver which means I can go down to about 18m/60ft. I can't wait to check-out the dive sites in Australia and Borneo now, both are apparently beautiful.
Off the coast of Ko Tao there is an absolutely beautiful island called Nang Yuan. This island personify's paradise. We caught a taxi boat over to the island on which the beach looks more pristine and the water bluer than anything we'd seen before. I did a dive off this island, at an area called White Rock, which was incredible, so the surface had a lot to live up to! It didn't disappoint.A rickety walkway links the pier to the island and the main attraction. The island is made up of 3 separate hills connected by a
sandy causeway. We trekked up to the hill top for a panoramic view of the islands. The climb was not easy in the intense heat and we were dripping with sweat after a few steps. On top of this the route seemed to be infested with famished mosquitos! We were constantly being attacked, repeatedly swatting away their relentless assaults. When we finally reached the top the view was breathtaking and certainly worth the effort as we took it in through sweat-stinging eyes.
Finishing off our activities on Ko Tao we decided to hire a couple of Kayaks and paddle along the beach. The kayaking was great fun and really quite tiring. Despite paddling quite far out the water remained calm and crystal clear. The sandy bottom gave way to deep blue water with coral dotted across the bay housing an abundance of marine life. It was a great way to finish off our stay on the island before making our way back to Samui.
As well as having to say goodbye to Amanda, we're also saying farewell to Thailand, a country we have become quite attached to. And so we spent a final couple of final days in
Sunset
Taken at Haad Son, Ko Phan gnan Krabi before heading further south to Malaysia.
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mum
non-member comment
ouch!!
Another fab blogg guys. Have looked at all the Thailand pics on facebook and they are absolutly amazing,def some to be framed there. Sorry Victoria but i lol'd when i read the bit about the flagpole and your head,its the way Mike writes it. Love and miss you both, Mum xxxxxxxxxxx