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Published: August 5th 2006
Deck chairs on Don (Ko Pi Pi)
Ko Pi Pi Don. Our first good day in Thailand 5 days after arriving in SW it was monsoon period but after that it turned out nice again.Ricardo Fergosso Galbrini says:
Ciao. What are you lot still doing here? You must be bored if you still keep coming back for more of what basically is a long extended holiday slide show!! Anyway here's a brief glimpse we've been doing.
1. Meeting up with family and friends which was really lush.
2. Frolicing, bumming (not literally!) and mooning (full!) on beaches with the aid of Big Changs
3. Laughing in the face (well from a safe distance) of deadly snakes and tigers.
4. Learning to cook thai food.
5. Celebrating my native Italia winning the World Cup!!!!
Lets have a look at the photographic evidence! We are leaving North Thailand now for Laos. Arrivederche.
Ricardo
PS Thaks for all your coments on previous journal as it is called here! We love getting them and alway keep it surreal.
Rebeki Mario Burtoni's more detailed slog says:
Hi all!
This edition of our spawn blog covers the last month of our travels, in which we have been mostly sunning ourselves on various lush beaches, and indulging in the local liquor (Big Chang!) with Lucy W and Mart, Belle and Ben and our Dunc
Pi Pi Viewpoint
The isthmus got totally wiped out in the tsunami. and Clare. However we have managed some snake baiting, tiger fondling and temple molesting along the way. We've also clocked up a good few ass-numbing, connection-missing, wallet-emptying nightmare journeys courtesy of Thai travel agents just to remind us that travelling isn't all lush! But it is still better than work. Obviously.
So, first stop in Thailand was the Andaman coast, where there are any number of tropical beach paradises to tempt the sun loving traveller: Koh Lanta, Phi Phi, Lipi, Krabi and Phuket etc.
We travelled for a whole day to get to Koh Lanta, our first stop. It was pissing it down when we arrived and didn't stop the whole time we were there. When we asked our taxi driver and hotel bloke if the rain ever stopped, they literally laughed at us!
Our beachside resort overlooked an angry grey sea with massive waves (the hotel fella said we couldn't even think of going in!) and a beach strewn with debris chucked up by the sea as it was monsoon season so tides v strong. We stayed a couple of days, were all set to sack off the SW coast and hotfoot it over to the
other side where the weather is better, but met some Ozzies at breakfast the day we were leaving who said that they had just been on Koh Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed) and that the weather was OK there. Bonkers since it is only like 40 kms off the land but we gave it a go. Thank heavens - weather was lush!
Phi Phi is a really beautiful island, sadly it is the island most devastated by the tsunami. You could totally see where the wave swept through, the most built up area of the island is also the flattest so it was clear how easy it was for it to take everything in its path. We were really conscious of the fact that everywhere there was brand new, a good and bad thing, heartening as it shows that life does go on and rebuild but slightly dark when you remember what happened and also the fact that, if it ever happened again, the outcome would be the same as buildings are still closely packed together and no system can really protect a whole town.
We met up with Dave and Danielle (who we met sailing
Our "Boat Boat" Longtail Taxi Driver
with car engine straped to the back taking us to Leh. -where "The Beach" was filmed. We all cut ourselves loads scrambling over coral to get there. the Whitsundays in Oz), and Dave's mum and brother on Phi Phi, and had a couple of boozy games of poker and also got hammered watching the England Ecuador game and did lots of dancing on the beach and asking for Queen (!) from the DJs. Nice.
Next stop, Krabi. We headed straight to Railay, which is a lush peninsula just off Krabi. Weather was amazing, hired a kayak and paddled round the peninsula, admiring beautiful limestone cliffs (karsts) and squeezing through little caves etc.
From there we headed up to Bangkok (stinking night bus ride - totally ripped off by tour operator, but we fared better than Dave's poor mum and bro who got sold tickets for a taxi boat that never came, tickets for a flight that didn't exist and rooms in a hotel that was fully booked when they arrived. Plus Danielle's bag got pilfered on the bus out of Railay so we mustn't complain!). Met up with Ms Lucy Tete Blanc and her Bollywood actor boyf Mart.
We all appreciated the lush caf outside our hotel, called "Oh my Cod". Enjoyed baked potatoes (heaven), pie mash and gravy and read the Sun. Classy.
But it was worth it
Deserted "Beach" - Ko Pi Pi Leh with D&D We all went on a day trip to see the famous floating market outside Bangkok, where little old ladies pole barges along the river selling all manner of fruit and spices.
We also managed an unplanned visit to a snake farm, where mad Thai blokes find snakes in the garden then fight them. We saw a mongoose having a fight with a cobra too. Not very PC for animal lovers but it was v interesting to see a small ferret-like crittur bashing up one of the most venomous snakes in the world for its dinner.
On the same day we went to the Bridge over the River Kwai, a sombre place where, nevertheless, retarded tourists take snaps of themselves beaming on the bridge etc.
Finally we got to the best bit of our tour, the tiger temple. Years ago some locals found an orphaned tiger and took it to the local Buddhist monastery for the monks to look after. Years on, all stray or orphaned tigers get taken there, and one old monk looks after them. They are sort of tame and you can go watch their afternoon exercise. It's a completely bonkers experience as they're
Becky on "THE BEACH"
Ko Pi Pi Leh. No Leonardo for the ladies - only me and Dave and his bro so what more could they want! not chained up - at least 2 fully grown tigers are completely free at any time, and you can get your snap taken whilst stroking them. Quite an insane experience as they are really playful, and stretch, purr etc like other cats - except that their stretch or patting at you could kill you, and their purring is ROARING! Just as I was having my pic taken with an unchained tiger, the monk SQUIRTED WATER IN ITS FACE. Obviously all cats love that, and mine got quite antsy. Brown trousers time. Good pics though!
We all watched England go out of the World Cup (boo) and at about 2.30am after lots of Changs I ordered and drank a bucket of whisky and coke (why? WHY?). You can guess the rest. Quite good sequence of pictures below. Happy First Birthday to Lucy's niece Maddy May. It was all her fault we got so wasted.
Belle and Ben arrived soon after, we had a busy couple of days visiting (and getting lost in) Chinatown, eating duck skin instead of lovely crispy duck and going to another snake farm (this one run by Red Cross to generate venom for antivenin research
so slightly less gratuitous. But not much). Highlight was a slide show and lecture where they showed how they had trained coblas to eat PORK SAUSAGE (the guy LOVED saying it!) instead of other snakes. We all held a python too. Also went to see Patpong (red light district where ladies of the night do lots of dodgy things with their nether regions - Rick and Ben LOVED it), the Grand Palace (shiny) and some Thai boxing (bonkers athmosphere with lots of Thais betting against each other - betting is illegal in Thailand so lots of covert hand signals etc).
After a quick sojourn in Cambodia (see other facinating blog entry!) we hot footed it straight off to Koh Pagn Ngan with Dunk and Clare in tow, in the Gulf of Thailand, for lots of beach bumming, big Changs and chilling in our local caf, Haitus.
Full moon party: managed a late start so saw it through till morning. Magic mushroom shakes, buckets of vodka, Rick chatting to an undercover policeman and asking if his badge was real, Rick and Ben chasing each other round like madmen at 6am and Rick dancing on a table and hitting himself
Kayaking in Rai Lay (Krabbi)
Weird limestone karst formations. and look at those guns, you can tell i've been working out! with his flip flops at 6.30. Nuff said.
After a days' recovery, we bade farewell to Dunk and Clare who were off to Borneo to dive Sipadan (lucky people!) and Belle, Ben and us embarked upon the journey from hell to Koh Tao. What should have been an easy trip via taxi to the port, then a 3 hour boat ride between paradise islands was a torturous back of truck in pouring rain, queuing in torrential rain and barely making it on a barely-together, totally packed, puke-filled nightmare boat, feat of endurance! We and our bags got completely saturated. We also all got stinking conjunctivitus and the weather was crap till poor Belle and Ben left. Lush. Luckily we got in a good day's snorkelling so it wasn't all bad, and after little sis left we got better and did a day trip snorkelling the best spots of Tao so that was cool too. Oh yes and spashed out on a villa overlooking the sea with massive decks to chill on etc. Life is tough.
Had another nightmare journey to Chang Mai from Tao, this time got bumped off our bus to Bangkok as they had overbooked it,
B Kayaking in Rai Lay
or canoing i dont which is which. All I know is sit at the back so the other doesnt know you aren't paddling! had to wait for a public one and got to Bangkok with about 30 mins to spare before our overnight train to Chang Mai. Jumped into taxi,who took us to the bus station. Ran lots of red lights and finally made it to the train station, where he charged us 3 times what we had agreed to pay! At least we made it!
Lush cookery course in Chang Mai (Thai feasts await when we get back!), then off to Pai where we got a SUITE! It was like heaven! Lots fo chilled out hippies there and we got me I-Pod mended. Phew.
Another stinking day long bus journey and we were at the border ready for our Laos experience.
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Heather
non-member comment
Looks like you guys are having a fab time and are making the most of your travels...I'm not jealous at all!! Sounds like Cambodia was amazing and I remember all the cheeky antics of the Thai travel agents, worth it though isn't it. Great to hear you went to Pai - I love that place! Have a fab time in Laos. H x