Advertisement
Published: April 18th 2009
Okay so I am a little behind in my blogs but should be able to catch up over the next few days! Travelblog crashed the other day and apparently all the photos in my previous blogs are now black squares. I have to re-load them all again.. wont bother doing that until I get home now.. too hard!!
Missing the Flight
Sooooo where was I?! Thats right.. we had just had our last night in Chiang Mai and were due to fly out at 10.05am the next morning.... OR so I thought! I don't know what possessed me but Reety got the flight time wrong! I know! Uber-organised Reety!! I had it in my head that our flight was 10.05am for days and for whatever reason didnt bother checking the itinerary. Amelia was out partying so I had decided to have a massage and a quiet night in... and was engrossed in a book... Anyway the alarm went off at 7.00am and we set about getting ready. Our plan was to head to the Airport about 8.30am with a fellow guest at CM Blue (Rob) who also had a flight around that time.... At about 7.45am I
was sitting doing my makeup when all of a sudden I had one of those sick feelings that our flight was earlier.. I dont know what made me think it, but I quickly got up and checked the itinerary! Our flight was 8.25am with Air Asia and their check-in closes 45 minutes prior! SHIT!
I raced downstairs to the front office and frantically tried to call them... but they didnt open until 8.00am. We threw everything in our backpacks as quickly as we could, paid our bills and with barely a goodbye we were off... down the road trying to find a tuktuk... now usually the tuktuk's are EVERYWHERE, on every corner hassling you for a ride... but today.. nope not one to be found... after about 5 minutes of fast walking with 20kgs on my back we came across one and headed to the airport. I approached the counter and tried to make up some stupid excuse (even now I cant remember which one I used) but it was no good. We would have to buy a new flight... I was so mad.. Usually Air Asia have cheap $25 flights but we had paid over $100 for these
flights due to Songkran!
We went to the other end of the airport trying to find the Air Asia office... again I tried it on there... but nope they were going to cost us 2500 baht each! ($100) for a new flight! Grrrr! I refused to pay it and tried Thai Airways, Nok Air, Fly 12 go and Bangkok Air.... Fly 12 Go was the cheapest at 2100 baht but they are a dodgy airline that we used on our first trip and they had a big crash at Phuket about 6 months later! I refused to pay $20 less for the sake of $20.. my safety is paramount... especially when it comes to flying!!!
We went back to Air Asia where I was going to reluctantly part with another 2500 baht.. until the guy said 2750 baht... what the?! You just told me 2500?! His reply? "yes but that man over there just bought a ticket" pointing to some random guy... What the?! So you are going to charge us an extra 250 baht cause he bought the 2500 baht ticket!? NO WAY! I stormed away and ended up buying a ticket with Bangkok Air for 2850
baht! Bugger him... at least I would get fed on the plane with Bangkok Air!! LOL...
Another Thailand Hospital Visit
We had some time to kill as the flight now wasnt until 2.15pm. I decided now was a good time to head to the hospital as my leg wasnt getting any better and we were just about to spend 3 days in the remote jungle of Khao Sok without medical assistance close by. We hailed a tuktuk and headed to the RAM hospital.. scene of my 'poo adventure' last year! As we travelled along we realised that we were vulnerable to the water fights that were STILL going on around Chiang Mai... shit! Luckily the hospital was only a short distance away and we successfully managed to avoid all but one bucket, which barely got us!
At the hospital I was taken into a room by a nurse who measured my blood pressure and took my body fat measurements! I am officially OBESE with 33%!b(MISSING)ody fat and 26 BMI! :-( A great way to cheer me up when I think I am about to lose my leg! The doctor than saw me and told
me that he thought it was some kind of bite that I had a reaction to.. yeah no shit sherlock.. now what?! He gave me some oral anti-histamines and anti-biotics and told me to continue using the cream the Pharmacist had given me. I went out, paid 900 baht, collected my medicine and off we went. We caught a red bus back to the Airport hiding at the back of the open aired area hoping that nooone would spot us and hail us with water! We made it back unscathed! Yay!
Bangkok Air - You Rock!
Once back at the airport we had some breakfast (burgers and Pepsi!!) then waited to check in.. once we checked in we were told we could go hang out in the Bangkok Air 'lounge' ... when we got there we were super impressed.. lounges, tv, free internet, free tea/coffee, free juice and free food! Yay! Time to get our monies worth! LOL We spent the next couple of hours internetting, eating and drinking! Soon it was time to board the plane.. I was nervous as all hell as usual (some things just dont change) but settled into the flight pretty
Khao Sok Paradise
Wait for the photos in this blog! My favourite place in the world!quickly... as soon as we were in the air we were served drinks, a yummy chicken salad roll and biscuits! Yay for Bangkok Air!! LOL I am so used to flying cheap airlines that I was excited over free food/drink.. sad huh!!
Bangkok - Quiet as a Mouse
Upon arrival in Bangkok we were expecting some drama... the situation with the 'Red Shirts' was in full swing... we had heaps of worried messages from back home about the scenes on TV and that we should avoid Bangkok... but let me tell you... we saw absolutely nothing... the only thing different to any other visit was the two Military dudes walking around the train station with machine guns! Kind of cool actually! The taxi driver said that everything had calmed down and from what we witnessed there wasnt alot going on... the papers in Thailand were full of really cool pictures from the protests and yes it did look big and scary... but travel in Thailand is SO safe. I have never once felt unsafe here.. even though I am apparently in the middle of a 'state of emergency'. They are not targeting tourists or any tourist attractions/destinations... if you avoid the political areas you are fine! Once at the train station we settled in on the floor to wait for our train.
Cockroach Hell!
For this trip we had decided to go for a 2nd class fan sleeper. Usually I have travelled in air-conditioning and the standard is really good (apart from the toilets!). We got onto the train and I was thinking 'bad move Reety'. It was REALLY run down in the fan section... and stinking hot. The worst part was before I had even sat down I saw a baby cockroach on the floor where my feet should be. I quickly squashed it. I said to Amelia "I think we should try upgrade". Her reply was "This is Thailand, toughen up!". A bit of a slap in the face, since I am the queen of slumming it, but I thought maybe I was just being too precious and shutup! I went to the toilet and there were about 3 more small cockroaches in there.. at this stage I was really feeling uncomfortable. I sat back down and was opening my dinner when Amelia jumped up. A cockroach (not so small) had just run across her lap! LOL She was like "yep ok lets upgrade!!".
We had about 20 minutes until the train was due to leave. I got Amelia to mind the bags while I sprinted down to the ticket office, desperately hoping for an upgrade! We were in Carriage 9 of about 30 carriages so it was a long HOT sprint!! Everyone was staring at me, but I was determined to get there in time! LOL... I got to the ticket office and BEGGED the man to upgrade us... 2nd class air-con or even 1st class.. ANYTHING!!!!!! We were put in Carriage 1 in 2nd class air... by the time I sprinted back to the carriage Amelia was standing on top of the metal rail that holds the bags and said she had seen about 9 more cockroaches in that time! GROSS!!!! Imagine trying to sleep in that!!
We grabbed our bags and raced to the front of the train... with about 10 minutes to spare... an upgrade cost me 440 baht and it was worth EVERY cent! We then settled in for a long night of eating, reading and sleeping! At about 7.00am we arrived in Surat Thani, and as soon as we got off the train we saw the Govt bus that would take us to Khao Sok already there and waiting! We jumped on, paid 110 baht each and settled in for the 3 hour trip! By this stage we were dirty, smelly, exhausted and amazed at all we had done over 24 hours!
Sometimes Stubborn is just plain Stupid!
After about 3 hours the bus stopped and we got off at the entrance to the National Park. I had remembered (or so I thought) that the distance from there to our guesthouse wasnt very far. A guy (the only guy... ie taxi MAFIA) approached me and wanted 100 baht each for the small journey. I tried to barter in jilted Thai and said "paeng bai sip baht" (too expensive... 10 baht) ... he came down to 50 baht but wouldn't budge... so nor did I! Off we set walking!! Well it was probably about 3-4 kilometers in the end... and a HOT walk.. especially after the previous 24 hours! Very picturesque I must say in my defence... but in that heat I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower by the time we made it... and with 20 kilos on my back and havaianas on my feet... well you get the picture!
We arrived at Arts hot, sweaty, hungry and exhausted! Anyway Khao Sok is another adventure altogether so I will love and leave you all.... Oh and my leg is much much better!! Hasn't fallen off!
Love to all
Reet xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0297s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Lorree
non-member comment
WOW!!
Great blog reet!!! Enjoying every moment and feel like I'm there again!! Would love to do a trip with you one day!! :) Take care and have a few cocktails for me!! :)