Advertisement
Published: October 11th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Finally we arrived at the beach. Another long overnight journey and dropped off at the wrong place but eventually we arrived in Ch-am but not after a U turn, a bus change and a taxi!!!. We stayed literally right on the beach road. It is about 3 hrs from Bangkok on the South Coast and is apparently a favored Thai getaway place and where the King sometimes take his holidays.......we were on the lookout but he did not appear! We had a very unusual send off in Chiang Mai at the Green Tulip Guest House. We were given hugs and kisses by all the staff and then they all stood outside on the pavement and waved us off. This impressed the other passengers in our tuc tuc who obviously were not as popular!!! We have been lucky and stayed in some really nice places lately, its easier when there are two of you and you can share the cost I suppose. We stayed at the Golden Guest House in Cha-am - I checked the reviews on the internet and found it. I have nabbed the double bed again while Joe is in the single, ha ha. We have cable TV here
too!! and a FRIDGE, which as Joe pointed out goes off when the key is removed which is a bit pointless.
I have now started reading Harry Potter - the first book "The Philosophers Stone". This was a present from Joe after his amazement that I have not ready any of the books and of course I am now hooked. I am loving Harry and will have to make a point of watching all the films over Christmas !!!
I have also done all my budgeting and you should all be pleased that I have planned to make my dosh spread very thinly so I will not need to borrow but we will see......lots to do in Australia. I have also now heard of a new place I want to visit called "Lady Elliot Island" off the East coast near Bunderberg in Oz. Apparently it is amazing for snorkeling and diving but you can only fly there in one of those little planes and stay in posh places - 2 nights cost about 400.00 but I am going to try and go there after I have done my diving course and do some exploring!!!! Just gotta figure out what
Cha-am
The Beach I can leave out or try slumming it somewhere or work in the hostels for accommodation. I may not do the 3 Day Whitsunday Sailing tour as my past experience of boats has not been pleasant and I really dont want any more Fun D moments!!!!Aaarggh its so hard to choose.
So we just chilled out here for a few days. We had a lovely French owner who one night recommended us a restaurant and before we could say okay he had insisted on taking us there on his scooter!!! Both me and Joe all squashed up together with me sandwiched in between a Frenchman and an Englishman....random!!! The experience was my first on a scooter and was a bit mad as there were loads of people about, the funny thing was the amazing seafood restaurant was closed!!!!! Hence to stay we ended up eating in the same place for the whole 3 days. We were actually in Cha-am when there was some sort of festival on which involved a lot of ear deafening Thai screeching / singing and lots and lots of gorgeous amazing food stalls. These appeared to be all the local hotels showing off there specialties
Cha-am
Food festival and I had THE MOST amazing roasted pork here, there were also lots of other interesting things to eat, battered and fried baby chicks which I was a bit disturbed by and some fried COCKROACHES (a variety in fact)..... yummy.
I also managed to see the most bizzare thing that I have seen for years - We were walking past some of the souvenir stalls etc. and saw what I thought was some cuddly toy rabbits as they were dressed in frilly dresses! They WERE real baby rabbits and there were loads of them, it was really strange to see them all hopping about in these tiny cages in dresses. I was slightly disturbed about this for the rest of the evening and had to take photos to prove this was actually happeing in the world???
We left to go to to the famous Floating Market in Damnoen Saduak about 60 miles from Bangkok. We stayed in a place recommended by the Lonely Planet - it got it wrong. The place we stayed at was called Noknoi Hotel and it was a big place but we were the only ones staying there and it felt really weird -
Cha-am
Food festival I kept seeing some little bugs on the bed (not bed bugs thankfully) and that was it I couldn't rest. I didn't sleep that night and was glad we were up at 6am to get our boat to the market. The only good thing about this place was how close it was to the river. This was good considering it was absolutely pouring with rain. Luckily we had a boat with a cover and didn't get wet!!! the market is supposedly an iconic image of wooden canoes laden with multicolor fruits and vegetables paddled with Thai women in straw hats etc etc. We were advised again by the Lonely Planet that the time to go was about 7am as that is before all the Bangkok trips arrive. I must admit it was slightly disappointing, maybe it was the weather but it seemed very quiet and not the manic chaos we hoped for. It was a good experience but nothing like it was portrayed in the Lonely Planet (again, not to be trusted) and not really worth the detour or the sleeplees night (sorry Joe). We then left for the smog of Bangkok!!
We decided to splash out a little
Cha-am
The Beach bit in Bangkok and stay in a really nice hostel in the business area of the city and not the scummy Koh San Road area, however I think the prostitutes in Thailand are unavoidable and are everywhere. Anyway the hostel - HQ Hostel was really good and it was reasonably quiet so i got to make good use of the free internet. I shopped til I dropped in Bangkok and did little else. The shopping is great and we were only a couple of stops from the main shopping centres so it was very handy. I managed to buy some Christmas prezzies and for obvious reasons cannot disclose what I bought. I did however spend 100.00 quid on a fake Jimmy Choo bag, I know I know - A fake for 100 quid but it is amazing and is very very very good quality anyway.
We stayed for 2 nights, Joe left on the Sunday morning for his China experience and so I was on my own for a day as I was flying to Bali on the Monday morning. That evening I decided to take myself to the cinema and watched The Time Travelers Wife. I wondered what
Cha-am
Joe Cooling down???? the hell was going on when I dropped my ice cream spoon and when i went to pick it up everyone was stood up, I was very confused but decided I best stand too. I then realised after watching a montage of the King of Thailand on the screen - They were standing for the King. The Royal family are worshiped in Thailand and apparently this happens at every cinema / theatre etc. very bizarre...
This was the first time I have ever been to the cinema on my own and I really enjoyed it. Afterward I was looking for food and I was seriously getting to the point were I could not take any more rice or noodles and found an amazing Gourmet Food Market in the Siam Centre. I bought French Bread, CHEDDAR CHEESE (which I was ecstatic about), marinated olives and salad. I think it was the best meal I have had so far in Asia or so it seemed when I was eating it, it also blew about 3 days worth of my food budget but was worth every penny!!!
I had to be at the airport the next day at 4am for my
Cha-am
The Beach flight at 6am so I didn't book the hostel for that night and decided to stay awake, I was absolutely knackered but kept awake by using the free internet for a few hours before I headed to the airport for my last two weeks in Indonesia, sadly my last part of my Asia journey.
Coming soon...........Bali!!!!!!
xxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.173s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.1172s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
deb deb
non-member comment
Loving the floating market!
Hey backers, I'm loving the floating market - it reminds me of the James Bond film, when they are speeding through it on a speed boat. I can't remember what the film is called though? I would of loved it there and yes the extra large straw hats are just so you. ha! ha! ha! Secondly i too am very concerned about the bunnies wearing dressings! I feel like ringing the RSPCA - i am sure this is cruetly to animals. Do they cook and fry rabbits? And i really hope you didn't try the fried chick delicacy - i'd find it difficult to forgive. Changing the subject, you'll never guess what arrived this morning. The postcard from Broome! Can you believe it. I did get 2 postcodes last week from Asia (one with the monks - likey, likey!), so they arrived before the austrailian one? How bizzare! I have quite a collection now - very impressive!!!!!! You should be in Bali now and i hope it's living up to it's expectations. I'm going to have to go and get ready - i'm due at the dentist in 50 minutes and need a bath - not enough hours in the day! But i will email either later today or tommorow. Fill you in on what's been happening in the stylish, hip, fun, swinging town of Wigan. Watch what your doing and i'll speak to you soon! Miss You! Chunky Deb Deb xxxxx