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Published: October 12th 2008
So it's been a while since we last blogged: we last left you in Hungary, and since then made our way overland through Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey, and now find ourselves back in the restful bliss that is Thailand. I'll endeavour to do some back blogs to fill in the missing bits of the trip, but for now we wanted to share some pictures of our new home!
After arriving into the sweltering heat of Bangkok we opted for an aircon room to help the acclimatisation process. Mediterranean Europe and Turkey had been hot, but Bangkok was hot
and sticky with all the sweat-patch, frizzy-hair inducing humidity.
After a couple of days in the Khao San road environs, we headed south to
Pattaya, probably one of my least favourite places in Thailand, but the draw card there was catching up with our friends Grainne and Petri who we met last year in Hong Kong, and their gorgeous new addition baby Niamh.
Pattaya is famous for sex tourism and lady-boys and consequently has a rather seedy element, attracting all sorts of social and economic opportunists - I still can't get used to seeing crusty old 80
year old western granddads walking arm and arm with 20-something gorgeous Thai girls - it just makes my skin crawl. Grainne and Petri live outside of the madness in the quieter ex-pat suburb of Naklua, and they have pool which we made good use of!
On their recommendation we headed on to
Koh Kood, an island to the east of the gulf, pretty near to the Cambodian border. Our ferry ticket stated that the boat would be a
"Clean, Comfort and Safety First Boat: Max 40 passengers" which turned out to be a coffin-like death trap that reeked of petrol and was packed full with 63 people and associated baggage that filled the aisle and blocked any escape route. But we made it! Koh Kood's not a place that a lot of independent travellers make the effort to go to, the island attracts mostly Thai package tourists and there's not a huge selection in the budget accommodation range, but that meant less people overall and long stretches of white sand beach all to ourselves!
We stayed in Ao Bang Bao and aside from a Spanish couple on our first night, and a Thai group on our last two
nights, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. It is just the start of high season, so it was quiet, restful and peaceful and we felt like we had really escaped living a basic island existence in our little wooden bungalow. I have a feeling though that in "high season" it would pretty much feel the same, though there might be a few more people to talk to over meals.
We filled our days swimming, reading and chilling out in the hammocks. From the safety of our bungalow deck we watched as the staff constructed a pier in just one day! It was a hilarious comedy of errors as we watched people falling in the water, being hit in the head with planks of wood, mishaps with the hammer, and a couple of electrocutions.
Seeking a bit more of a party atmosphere in which to celebrate my birthday we headed north to
Koh Chang and meet up with our Australian friend from Ireland, Renee, who had just arrived to Thailand. We headed to Lonely Beach which is quieter than the over-developed package places further north. Lonely Beach attracts a more independent, budget type traveller and is pretty
laid back, social and cheap! We were in luck the night we arrived, as there was a "beach party" happening, so we took the opportunity to celebrate my coming of age with (too many) vodka buckets and being entertained by the live fire twirling on the beach!
Our days on Koh Chang were spent in pretty much the same way as Koh Kood: swimming, eating delicious Thai food, sunbathing, reading, and socialising. We also indulged in the added luxury of massage, reflexology, foot treatments and pedicures! Ah, Bliss!!! We're loving our new Island home!
Our Route TURKEY: Istanbul > THAILAND: Bangkok (by plane) > Pattaya (by car) > Trat (by bus) > Koh Kood (by boat) > Koh Chang (by boat).
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Sinead
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Islandbliss
WOW....That looks absolutely AMAZING!!! Quite a different 'island' from the green isle! Loved Renee's lil friend too, not sure id sleep too easy with him in my room tho:( How long are you guys stayin there for? Thats another destination il add to my list! Lovin all the photos, cant even choose just 1!!x