Southern Thailand

---

Krabi, Ao Nang & Railay

We arrive at the Krabi Bus station - pretty small & no taxis in sight - after our 12 hour bus ride overnight from Bangkok which was surprisingly good. The bus had a TV which played a sort of slap stick show which we couldn’t help smiling at even though we didn’t understand a word! The bus was comfortable with air con & reclining seats. The driver was organised & turned everything off by 10 so folks could have a quiet sleep. We must have been tired as we did pretty well. We were given some food & drink to start - basic bun & juice which we hadn’t expected for the 680B each we paid. At 12.30 all the lights & music come on for a food stop & comfort break - even though we have a toilet on the bus. Plenty get off for food - we resisted - partly because, as in China, we hadn’t a clue what some of the stuff was on offer!

We catch a local sawngthaew (local mini bus) to Krabi Town some 4 kms away. We then look for some digs & are recommended by one of the full hostels to try K’s Guesthouse around the corner. (Travellers note: as hostels/guesthouses are so cheap & plentiful turn up & find something. Hostel bookers only have expensive stuff on show!!). K’s was a lovely place for 350B with fan & ensuite. Pojana the person who was running it was great - very good English & knowledgeable about the local things to do & best value approach.

We decide to go to Railay, where Louise had been a couple of years back, famous for it’s beauty & awesome sunsets. So sawngthaew to Ao Nang
for 50B then long tail boat to Railay beach in the afternoon after a street-side BBQ of Siamese chicken & a scrumptious mango pancake - our first but certainly not our last. We get to beach at about 3.30pm but unfortunately by 4.30 it’s about to chuck it down so we give up & go back to AN where at 5pm we get a mini van back to Krabi. However, looking back across the bay at about 6pm we notice the skys around AN looking red with the glow of a beautiful sunset. Lesson of the day - be patient & the rain will disappear & normality will be restored! Ah well, another time or we can admire Louise’s pictures on her bedroom wall.

In the evening we walk down by the riverside to the local night market which is a large area of local food stalls in the open air. It reminds of the night market in Marrakech, Morocco but on a much smaller scale without the jugglers & snake charmers but full of local life. The cooks are mainly women from the Muslim community which predominates in this part of the world. We try things from different stalls to give us a better variety - fried mussels - fantastic, Hokkien noodles with seafood, & Fried chilli Rice with chicken & seafood all yummy & at about 0.50p a dish. Amazing value & we finish off with a pineapple pancake - good but mangoes are better.

Ko Phi Phi Don

We set of the next day to catch the 10 am ferry to Ko Phi Phi Don (KPP from now on). We got a booking for a place which in the LP guide got a good write up - via K’s guesthouse for 700B per night. Boy were we disappointed. Whilst the resort is by the sea front, unless you take the expensive bungalows it’s a place we’d recommend you avoid. It was worse than basic. So another lesson learnt as we couldn’t cancel & get a refund (we’d have to do this with the travel agent - K’s guesthouse - in Krabi which we aren’t going back to other than to rush through on our way to Ko Samui). So we grin and bear it.

KPP is a lovely looking island from the shore & it has a beautiful emerald green sea surrounding it - the Andaman Sea, but other than that it’s pretty non descript - the centre is largely a cluster of spa hotels, cheap hotels, souvenir & clothes shops, dive centres (the big attraction here is the snorkelling & diving), travel agencies, eateries, and massage parlours. A very mini Costa del Sol off the Thai coast. There is no motorised vehicles (but loads of folks on bicycles which have to squeeze or “screech” past in these very narrow streets, as a result of total lack of maintenance or oil) & things tend to be a bit pricey as the island is dependant on all food & necessities being shipped in daily. KPP was the first island in the way of the 2004 Tsunami & most things got wiped out & 1000s of folk died. It’s now getting back to it’s former glory and is still a building site in parts. There are many prominent Tsunami evacuation points now.

It is definitely hot & humid here - about 30 degrees. The two main local beaches are Ao Ton Sai Beach where the ferry stops & is a bit polluted with rubbish & has only small stretches of beach area & on the other side across the narrow isthmus is Ao Lo Dalam which is much nicer but very shallow & when the tide goes out you can walk into the sea for a km & still only be up to your ankles in it - not much fun if you want to desperately cool off!!!
We take a 30 min walk to the islands best beach for swimming - Long beach - which was glorious & we spend the best part of a day there getting grilled & the sea was beautiful to swim in. The highlight however, was that on the way back weaving around the rocks & ducking trees M actually got bitten on the back of his neck by a big wasp - other than the initial shock, he lives to tell the tale!

We take a snorkelling trip around KPP & nearby islands on a largish cruiser. The highlights of the day are snorkelling stops at Phi Phi Ley - Maya Bay where they made the film The Beach, Long Beach or Shark point, Bamboo Island & Monkey Island. The fish were quite colourful but not as in abundance as in Zanzibar & The Maldives. It was a fun day out all in all & we also tried some Kayaking - not very successfully.

Ko Samui

We catch the 9 am ferry back to Krabi where we get a bus to Surat Thani & then onto Sea Tran ferry to Ko Samui arriving at about 6pm - a long day. We catch the local Minivan (60B each) & get to Hat Bo Phut where we have decided to stay - it’s in the North of the island. It has a totally different feel to KPP. Unfortunately we are dropped off about a mile from where we should have been, by the Fishing Village (a euphemism for tourist trap really). Not much fun when its humid & we have to carry our backpacks in the dark. This is not the last time as we discover, as they assume that as a backpacker this is where you want to get off. However, we get to the Free House Bungalows where we are booked in & it’s a little oasis by the sea for 500B per night. We have a fabulous meal in K-Siri restaurant around the corner - Barracuda in lime sauce and Shark with Thai herbs - both are the best food we have had in Thailand. What is surprising is how little variety of dishes the Thai cuisine actually ( at least in this part of the world) has at a basic level with either fried rice or noodles, curries or soups & it can get a bit samey (the only variety is the type of meat, vegetables or seafood, with or without cashew nuts or greens)!!

After a good nights kip we are looking forward to exploring the island on a bike (there are bikes galore to hire at 150B (just over £2) a day. The roads are better here though but some of the driving a bit manic) - but it’s thundering & we have a monsoon down pour which goes on all morning. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same - so we decide we’d be better off going back to Bangkok & await our GAP tour of Indo China and catch up on a million other things we need to do including sending off our blogs etc. We can also do with some down time as things have been very rushed since we left London & sometimes the travelling has been less enjoyable - not what we set out to do in the first place. We also wonder if the excitement of this leg is diminished by us not having organised any voluntary work?

We also hope the weather will be kinder in Bangkok. We spend a few hours in Chaweng (the main beach area in KS), and it’s really gross & very overcrowded & developed. Pizza hut, Starbucks, Macs & BK all here. (We did try a Burger King though - just for a change - it was ok, not spectacular). It’s like a bigger version of Faliraki or Malia!

We decide as a treat to take the Lomprayah high speed Catamaran (it‘s a bit more expensive but with added benefits), which leaves at 8 am stopping at Koh Phangan (home to the big Full Moon party - Louie’s favourite haunt!), Nang Yuan - a lovely little island off the bottom of Koh Tao & KT itself. KT seems very different in look & feel to KPP & KS. Louise did recommend it but we didn’t have enough time to fit it all in though we wish we had. We get to Chumporn & hop onto an air con bus to Bangkok. They show various English films which are amusing but the sound not brilliant so we have to assume what was going on. Anyway it helps pass the time. The countryside is lush green, tropical, with palm trees, coconut trees, paddy fields, banana groves etc. The small villages & towns we pass are reminiscent of developing countries - rural India, Morroco etc though most of the houses we see are of block construction and in good condition; we see very few shacks. We get to Bangkok at 8.45 pm - a long day. It’s off to the New Siam 1 guesthouse again, the 7 eleven for some cold Singha beers, some street food on the Khao San Road before hitting the bed for a good nights sleep & lie in ………..Bliss!!

General

Southern Thailand is home to a large community of Muslims (ex Malay or Chinese sea farers). The main manifestations of this are the odd mosque & the women who dress with their heads covered - though they don’t cover their face. The vegetation is very tropical & in parts resembles Goa & Kerala in India, and the karst limestone hills are reminiscent of the hills in Guilin, China. There are many beautiful tropical plants - they seem to have a variety of every flower or plant we have seen in our last 10 months of travel. This is added to by the colourful butterflies & a variety of multicoloured & some musical birds.

The people are generally very polite, gentle & respectful. People seem to be generally active & whilst their lifestyle may appear poor, there is a distinct lack of absolute poverty we have noticed in other countries such as India, Nepal & Myanmar. What also seems at odds is the number of Lady Boys as they are referred to here, largely transsexual men who co-exist happily with the local community. There are also significant numbers in Bangkok but then one can understand them blending into the diverse & cosmopolitan blend of people there.

We are struck by the high percentage of young Israeli visitors to the islands who have a way all of their own - once experienced in Mexico. We’re not sure if they are demob happy having survived their national service or are making the most of it before going into the service, either way they could do with making an effort to be more agreeable.

---

Comments

[orr]

hi
HI... I am orr from Krabi,the south of Thailand. I am so happy that you have a good memories for our province. please come again, Bye