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Published: November 23rd 2008
Sunset - Ko Samet
Our Sunset cruise was rewarded with this great SunsetWhat better way to beat the Autumn blues in London than a cheeky holiday in Thailand for 12 days to top up the tan, get the feeling of sand between my toes and touch briefly on the traveller lifestyle of a few years ago. Sky and Matt, two American friends who I had met in Santiago, were doing an even better job than I had done of procrastinating getting into the real world and getting "one of those career things" and were teaching English in Thailand for a year. As usual I needed no second invitation to book a plane ticket and was soon over there!
Stepping off the plane direct from London, Bangkok seemed a bit more intense than the last time I was there - but that was to be expected. I was soon back in the groove among the street vendors, food markets and backpackers of the Khao San road and started sampling the Thai food that I loved and was to become a highlight of the holiday!
Next morning we struck out east towards the island of Ko Samet, our arrival unfortunately coinciding with strong winds and heaving seas which our crowded converting fishing boat/ferry
Matt, Sky and me
The bright lights of traveller ghetto Khao San Road struggled manfully to overcome. We got completely soaked on the journey with waves washing overboard, but it added a certain adventure to the trip!
Ko Samet turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. The part of the island we were on had four main beaches running from north to south, with the party beaches at the north and at the south and things getting more chilled out towards the middle. We were at a little guesthouse on the smallest of the beaches - only 3 guesthouses along its length - and unsurprisingly I influenced our choice of accommodation based on the fact it had a massively recommended beach restaurant.
The first few days it was a mixture of sun and showers - with us often having to dive for cover in the guesthouse or a restuarant to avoid a downpour. The weather soon settled and we were treated to days of unbroken sunshine and scorching temperatures. We soon got used to the routine of chilled out beach life, great eating and ice cold beer Chang by day, before selecting one of the beach front restaurants to choose from the wide range of freshly caught sea-food
Sky Bar
We searched out a funky bar in one of Bangkok's upscale hotels. that was laid out ready to be BBQ'd to perfection. Not a bad change of direction from London!
Unfortunately, towards the end of our time on the island, the searing midday sun took on my my not too well developed "base-tan", and there was only going to be one winner there!! The end result was me glowing red for the rest of the trip which might be evident from the photos!
In between all the eating, swimming and sun bathing we managed to do a few activities including a great sunset cruise round to the west of the island to enjoy some sundowners, and a spot of jet-skiing, which was something i had never done before and was an absolute hoot.
Even though almost every day we said that we had to leave the following day, and never did, eventually we had to leave the island and after another rain affected journey that took longer than expected, we had to layover in Bangkok before continuing west to Kanchanaburi the next morning. Here I got to do a bit of great "throw some money at the situation" travelling, as we were negotiating a fare to the bus station
Jep's restaurant
The great seafood platter that we got used to eating at the seafront restaurants. with the taxi driver he was giving us a huge spiel about how far the bus station was and that it would be a slightly steep 300 baht to get us there. However, a bit of negotiation later, and for 800 baht he would take us the 2 hour drive to our guesthouse in Kanchanaburi instead, which proved an absolute winner!
I had visited Kanchanaburi on my last trip to Thailand, but not got to see everything that I wanted when I was there. Many of the attractions are hugely sombering as they revolve around the atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation during World War II, and the building of the "death railway" to connect Bangkok and Rangoon which includes the Bridge over the River Kwai and many cuttings hacked through the mountainside by POW labour in horrendous conditions.
However, first up I wanted to return to the Tiger Temple, a sanctuary run by monks which had taken in orphaned tiger cubs and hand-reared them from a young age, meaning that in the afternoon Sun - after they have been fed and exercised and are looking to nap - they are docile enough to be petted and stroked (and
Ko Samet
Our beach obviously have your photo taken doing the same!). While the premise may seem a little distasteful, the results of the breeding programme they have been undeniable, with the "relaxed" atmosphere the tigers are reared in leading to over 20 successful births in 2008.
The operation had become more commercial in the four or so years since I had been there, with it now featuring in all the major guidebooks, and tours running to the temple from Kanchanaburi and Bangkok (when I had first visited it wasn't featured in any guidebooks and was something you found out about from other travellers along the way).
I was determined to retain as much of the independent spirit as possible, and so we hired a moped and scooted up to the temple on our own wheels rather than in a tour bus. Once there it was again an incredible experience, but slightly tinged by the fact that it had become so crowded and popular.
Our moped also allowed us to explore the slightly sprawling town of Kanchanburi with ease - apart from trying to negotiate through the myriad of sidestreets and markets - visiting the Allied War graves and JEATH war
Tiger temple
Rubbing the belly of the beast museum before handing the keys back.
Our final afternoon spent visiting the most infamous of the death railway cuttings, which was know by the POWs that worked on it as Hellfire Pass. The conditions that the cutting was achieved in were horrendous. Workers had to hike through swamp-like terrain for an hour to get to the cutting, then once there, holes in the rock had to be hammered out by hand, explosives packed in and the resulting massive shards of rock lugged away by hand and thrown down the hillside.
Getting to the museum and memorial at the Hellfire pass site was great fun, as we flagged down a local bus that we knew was going along the highway that passed close by and I tried to explain to the conductor in my very best Thai where we were heading too. He didn't seem to be able to make out my demented ramblings, but luckily one of the passengers caught my drift and was able to step in and let the poor conductor know where these crazy westerners wanted to get to!
The memorial and museum were very well researched and beautifully presented, providing a fitting tribute
to the POWs who had been through such terrible events.
Leaving Kanchanaburi, there was only a brief stopover in Bangkok before I had to catch my dawn flight back to the UK. It had been a fantastic break away in Thailand, a chance to re-kindle some of the fun of travelling and strike out to the places that I'd wanted to visit last time around but not had the chance to.
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