Thailand and Malaysia (again)

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Three weeks before we were due to fly to America we entered Thailand on foot after being dropped off by our bus from Siem Reap. Checking our passports after going through immigration we found that we only had 15 days in Thailand instead of the 30 days that we thought our visa free entry would allow us. This shouldn't have been a surprise, we had just chosen to forget reading that page in the Lonely Planet. No worries, one of the joys that we are revelling in at the moment is the flexibility we have afforded ourselves on this trip.

Once in Thailand we boarded a mini-bus for a three hour drive to Bangkok, but stopped at a restaurant five minutes later to give the driver a rest. After half an hour of nobody ordering anything it must have sunk in that he wasn't going to get any commission out of us so we got back on the road. Sadly we didn't have two seats together, so whilst Claire enjoyed sitting, reading one of the instalments of the Twilight saga and listening to the i-pod Rich had to endure three hours of being used as a pillow by the Japanese man sitting next to him. Still, for US$8 you can't complain - at least he got a cuddle!

After spending what seemed an age finding the place in pouring rain, we checked into the Royal View Hotel. Compared to the hostels we had been stating in, for the same price this was absolute luxury. Tired from the long day of travelling we purchased a DVD from a perfectly legitimate street seller, ordered room service and stuck the disk in the player in our room and watched Ironman 2.

The next day we had the treat of going to watch Chelsea play a pre-season friendly game against a Thai Premier League Select XI. At this point let the records show that it was Claire who chose to buy these tickets...

With that part of the story now straightened out, we decided to turn up early because the tickets were free seating and, after finding the correct stadium, managed to get some decent seats. With the stadium seemingly half empty and no players in sight with only a minute left until kick off it dawned on us that due to an unfortunate time zone miscalculation we were in fact an hour earlier for the game than we had intended. Worry not, as the stadium filled the excitement level of the local crowd grew and some plyers arrived on the pitch. The game did eventually kick off and as with any pre-season game the quality of the football was not the greatest. That said, Chelsea still ran out 4-0 winners and it was a good afternoon being a nice change to what we had been doing of late. 

The next few days in Bangkok we spent completing a couple of the walking tours suggested by the Lonely Planet guide. The first took in a Buddhist temple and the surrounding Chinese part of the city. The guide book suggested that the best way to experience Chinatown was to get lost and it would appear that the walking tour map provided in the book aided in this pursuit - we passed a number of other tourists clutching the same book looking more than a little bit perplexed! To her eternal credit, Claire did manage to navigate us around the route and it was a great little adventure through winding narrow streets which seemed to have shops to satisfy any whim (including an interesting array of cowboy hats!). To coin a cliche it was a feast for all the senses as good and bad smells, a rainbow of colours and an orchestra of noises  lead us on a sensory roller coaster. 

The other walking tour that we did was around the outside of the royal palace (we didn't go in) and along the river. Without the shade of any narrow streets it was sweltering and much harder going. Taking it at a much slower pace the highlight was not the palace but the markets that we walked through: an amulet market; a street of bric-a-brak stalls; and a commercial food market with huge piles of bright red chillies. 

Ending back at the railway station we caught an overnight train to Surat Thani, from where we caught a bus and a ferry to the island of Koh Samui. A much larger island than the Perhentians that we had visited in Malaysia, Samui offered an all together different beach experience. To accentuate the difference between the two, even though we based ourselves at the quiet end of Chaweng Beach (the main beach on the island) we were within easy striking distance of dozens of restaurants; pubs; 7/11's; a couple of McDonalds; numerous other global fast-food brands; and were treated to pickup trucks driving past every 15 minutes playing adverts over loudspeakers for nightclubs on the island that had "real European and Russian girls" on show. You get the picture - quite different!

As the name of the game was relaxation, our five days in Samui were spent just chilling out. One day we did a ten kilometre walk over a number of headlands to another of the islands large beaches (Lamai Beach), where we had lunch; took in some views of the pounding surf; and then walked the ten kilometres back. Other days included getting up early each morning for a five mile run along the beach; lying by the pool; reading books; blogging; and sometimes going for another five mile run in the evening.

On our last night in Samui we walked along the beach and picked out what looked to be the most exclusive resort on the beach as the place to have dinner that night. Dressed up versions of our Thai favourites went down very well, but sharing a quiet beach front location with just one other couple made the evening special. That, and the very cute resident cat of the restaurant whose eyes pined longingly (unsuccessfully) for its share of the Phad Thai.

From Samui we headed north to another island, Koh Tao. Much smaller than Samui and only a couple of hours away by boat, Tao was much more to our liking. More orientated towards the backpacker crowd, the level of development on this island was comparatively understated. The two main beaches on the island only have a couple of roads running parallel to them, with low rise restaurants, bars, hotels and resorts. The place had a much more relaxed feel about it. More like what you might imagine a little port in the Caribbean would have felt like a couple of hundred years ago - save for the fact that the pirates have been replaced by scuba divers...

And that is what we had come to Koh Tao for - scuba diving. A bit of a dive mecca, Tao issues more dive certifications each year than anywhere else in the world. Clear blue seas; warm water; an abundance of marine life; and one of the best places in the world for spotting whale sharks meant that there was a lot to look forward to.

However, before we could do any diving (and before we had actually find anywhere to stay - we turned up with no booking) we had an unexpected surprise. As we started the walk from the pier to the beach we wanted to stay on we randomly bumped into Michael -  the guy that we shared our Mongolian tour with.  We originally planned to meet up again in Hong Kong but had unfortunately missed each other by a matter of hours, and so it was nice that through this chance encounter on a remote (if not deserted) island we could meet again. What a crazy small world.

After eventually choosing a place to stay and having a little explore we met up with Michael and his girlfriend (who had now joined up with him for the Southeast Asia and Australia legs of his nine months off) in the evening for dinner and a few drinks. It really was great enjoying a beer; sitting on giant beanbags in a beach bar; and exchanging stories about our respective months spent in China and adventures since. After missing out this time, their stories of Laos only reinforced our desire to go there next time we are over in this part of the world.

After they left the next morning our attention shifted to the scuba diving. Claire's instructor in the Perhentian Islands (who coincidentally we also randomly bumped into on the island) had recommended that we dive with an outfit called Davy Jones' Locker. Unfortunately, despite the positive testimonial it really was a bit of a let down.

What we saw on the two dives that we did was actually quite nice. The water was warm; the visibility was good; and literally swimming through a school of a couple of thousand yellow tailed snapper will provide a lovely memory. However, the overall dive set up was what was upsetting.

Without wanting to go on some overly long rant, the quality of the equipment was probably the largest component of our dissatisfaction. As anybody can likely imagine, when diving you need to have confidence in the equipment that you are using. Here we did not - it just felt that the gear had seen a few dives too many...

The boats that took you out on the dives were also not dive boats, but were fishing boats that had been crudely adapted for diving purposes. To get aboard everybody going on the dive needed to clamber across the decks of another three such boats. Although uncomfortable to achieve, it is more the "everybody" element of that comment that is most pertinent as each boat carried about 30 divers! 

Ironically, some of the dive masters wore t-shirts with the slogan "Help us preserve paradise". On our second dive we counted at least five "dive" boats tied up at the dive site. The maths is easy, what's harder to accept is that number of divers in the water at one dive site at once. However, perhaps saddest and most amusing of all in equal measure is the fact that the irony was clearly lost on everybody sporting the t-shirts...

With the dive shops running four dives a day at a minimum; not investing in new equipment or boats; and employing too high a percentage of people on their scuba equivalent of doing a ski season (as old as that makes us sound) it all smacked a little bit too much of maximising profits with too little attention paid to customer satisfaction. And despite all that, its still probably fair to say that Davy Jones' Locker is one of the more professional dive outfits on the island.

All told, this presented us with a massive conundrum - would we come back to Koh Tao? Despite the let down of the dive set up, the draw of what you can see underwater; the laid back feel of the streets; and another beautiful beach (also good for morning and evening runs) can all be listed in favour of Tao. 

After three days we had to leave and continue on our travels, but on balance we decided that we would come back. We'd just splash out on a more expensive resort; find a dive shop with a better set up; and have to ignore the other 150 divers in the water. That wouldn't be so bad...

Our next destination was Penang on the west coast of Malaysia. After a few nights in £15 a night fan rooms with no hot water we thought that we needed a bit of luxury, and therefore checked into the Park Royal Hotel in Batu Ferringhi (the beach area in Penang) for three nights. 

Conscious of the fact that we would soon be in the US "suffering" American sized portions and driving everywhere, we decided to keep on our fitness drive of late. Taking advantage of the four star facilities, we went for swims and had double gym sessions each day. 

Food wise, after each morning gym session we gorged on the huge selection available in the very good buffet breakfast. Lunch was pretty much skipped (save for a muffin smuggled out of the buffet), but dinner was another feast. 

With plenty of Malay, Chinese and Indian influences, Penang is a great place for foodies. Perhaps the best way to experience what is on offer is to visit the hawker food stalls, and that is what we did. Each evening we would wander down to the stalls, chose whether we wanted satay; fried kway teow noodles (a Penang speciality); spring rolls; chicken tikka or any other of the multitude of options available. Each dish is brought to the table and you pay each vendor the £1 or £2 that each dish costs. Simple, very tasty food!

We enjoyed it all so much that we extended our stay at the Park Royal for another couple of nights and kept up our little routine a while longer...

Before we left Penang we spent a night in Georgetown, the historical centre of the city. Although we didn't do any seeing of specific sights, it was nice just to walk around and appreciate how downtown Georgetown recently made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage list. After Battambang in Cambodia, this was a proper exhibition of what old streets lined with colonial style buildings should look like.

After all that it was time to catch a night train (our last, and sadly our most disappointing) to Kuala Lumpur so that we could catch our flight across to America. 

Crazy to think, but after three and a half months of travelling we are now heading to our last country. After recharging our batteries, we're ready to make it an amazing last five weeks of this adventure we're on...

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