bkk - surat thani - ko lanta - phi phi

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Well we are days behind on this blog as whenever there is little to do there is no internet, and when there is plenty to do wifi can be found everywhere! Typical! We shall try and backtrack a little....

Saturday 9th jan
Night train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, (2nd class a/c sleeper 12 hours , app 650 km app 18 quid each)
All very organised and a really comfortable trip!! Within minutes of boarding our train, a man came round and offered us beer, food and asked whether we wanted to order breakfast? Wow , how different to Indian trains!! We boarded about 8pm and by 9.30pm a young man came down the carriage and made everyone's bed for them! Clean sheets and pillow cases and hung curtains up so those walking down the aisle could'nt see you dribbling, I had the top bunk, Dave the bottom and for once Dave actually got some sleep tho its possible that some sleeping drugs and beer were involved. The bar tab was a yard long by the morning!!

Sunday 10th Jan
Although quite a pleasant trip apart from one local woman who had a problem with her volume knob and had to be hushed by Anna, we arrived in Suran Thani only a couple of hours late, slightly groggy but still with no firm plans. The options were numerous and our inclination to make a decision strangely slow to emerge: go north east to Ko Samui, Ko Tao etc or head west across country to Krabi and the Andaman Islands.............so had a smoke.........moved to a cafe and ordered lemon tea in the hope that this would bring inspiration. I think a map was involved then another fag and a conversation with the tea lady and before our tea had gone cold we were on a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi. This was a normal public kind of bus thing but had a/c and comfy seats even with a surprising amount of leg room in a land where the average leg length is much shorter than in the west (not intentionally un pc). Costing about 5 quid each for 120 km we were reasonably happy with the value for money so far. This ended abrubtly with a vile little person driving a glorified pick up truck who charged us a quid for a ride to our digs and dropped us a mile away because we argued about the price!
Anyway we survive the red hot hike to the glorious KR “Mansion” (NB pound sign not working so will use $ for now although prices are in GBP) $7 for double ensuite with fan and personal drummer in local school who conveniently played a 2 hour solo throughout what we considered siesta!!
Krabi town is not to be confused with the resort of the same name and we found it to be an ok little
place with some nice restaurants and bars but sadly very few patrons. The locals attribute this to rain ( a one hour monsoon like burst) but we thought the town almost apologised for the fact that it is basically a travel hub or stepping stone to the other islands and resorts.
Great noodle soup at street vendors though at a whopping 60p a portion! Fresh gingery taste with loads of crunchy veg and even a bit of meat.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: unsurprisingly beer prices get cheaper when you leave BKK!! From $1.80 for a half pint bottle in Sukhamvit you can get an ice cold pint for a quid further south!

Monday 11 th january
Krabi to Ko Lanta
Although most of the staff at the KR place were pretty gloomy, the bright chatty young fellow on the travel desk turned out to be full of useful info. Via him we booked a ferry to Ko Lanta which was recommended as a quiet island by a rather grumpy in Krabi. We also booked a couple of nights digs through him and hoped for the best.
Ferry including taxi from hotel ($7.00): all very organised and quite a nice sail through the Andaman Islands passing many beaches that reminded us very much of early days in Goa. Deep blue/green seas and white sands, yeah yeah yeah heard it all before but it really is quite pleasant.
Met up with honeymooners Frank and Kelly who were staying at the posh end of the island. We shared a bit of a giggle then went our separate ways at the end of our 3 hour sail. True to our young agents word, a pick up was waiting and trundled us south for about 20 minutes to Kan Tiang Bay where we were alotted our lodgings. Being well accustomed to beach hut style dwellings we were impressed with our tenner a night deal; a sturdily built affair with attached bathroom, fan. New mossie net and an excellently sprung mattress. This had a sideways view of the bay which was also quite pretty. We dumped our gear and headed to the bar for a well deserved beer, it's thirsty work this travelling lark!
This mini resort had 4 - 5 restaurants, a 7-11 ( similar to our little tescos) and a couple of shops and travel agents, everything you need but not in your face. The beach was lovely, sea clear and blue, but you couldn't run into the sea like a nymph as there were quite a few rocks.
We stayed here for 3 days soaking up the sun really, the first relaxing part of our trip. On the first night we happened upon a little local restaurant at the top of quite a steep hill where the resort ended. Great food, an introduction to Thai whiskey (called samsung this was banned in uk as is laced with speed!! wahey!!), a couple of guitar players and Dave was away! He was asked to get up and play a few numbers....which were well received, that is... until he broke a string! Bearing in mind this is an island, not a music shop in sight, and Dave had said an hour earlier, 'God what do they do when they run out of strings'?. The bar went silent,Dave hung his head in shame, I climbed under the table and listened to the bar and guitar owner saying 'its ok, its ok, don't worry'. The thing is, the next night after the owner proudly presented with a different fully strung guitar, Dave got up again and broke another sring, finishing his set with a five stringed version of “Take a walk on the Thai side” all very embarrasing indeed!

We decided to head further north to the middle of the island..Klong Nin, where we were recommended some digs.. The Paragon Resort..little did we know that attached to this would be The Mong Bar.... (see photo of drinks menu if we can get it up ).yes exactly as you imagine it be....the only bar of this ilk on this stretch of beach and were staying there! The beach really was lovely, very Goa in its beach shacks and beanbags. Had a great meal out laying like romans and returned to a very quiet Mong Bar, good news. We had decided to rent a scooter the following day so wanted an early start. Awoke at 0100 to loud pumping dance music and raucousness, (with compimentary drunken brits on tour) think it finished at 3ish.......

Changed digs first thing and got on the road, 6 quid for a bike for 24 hours, not bad. We headed north first to see if we could locate the honeymooners who we met on the ferry, we had exchanged emails and said we would drop in on them if up north. We found them easily in their rather posh hotel and they arranged to come down to us for dinner. Well we had a nice day, covered the island pretty quickly as it is only 27 km in length and about 10 across, good roads, not much traffic, some good views of the ocean but not much else really. A good meal with good company at “louis” then a few whiskey's on the beach finished us all off nicely. Frank & Kelly, all the very best if youre reading this!


Sunday 17th January
Boat from Koh Lanta to Ko Phi Phi

Well, I must say that Franks description of Phi Phi almost put us off but we went for it anyway. The ferry ride costing 6 quid each was okay and the approach to the island seriously pretty. Not quite as “mobbed” as we'd expected which was good but as we wound our way through the narrow streets (no traffic other than bicycles) it all looked quite quaint until our noses were invaded with the rank smell of sewerage. This was worse in some places than others but in one place close to the centre of “town” there is an area which can only be described as an open storage for drainage albeit partially masked by a few flowers and reeds. Not a good start!!!
Anyway, not being the type to dwell too hard on negatives even if they are gut wrenching, we find clean comfy digs (with the bonus of no windows) and explore the quite spectacular beach front. Some very upmarket resorts front the affair then give way to quite impressive tree house type thingys above a cove which start at 20 quid and go upto a ton a night!!!
Deciding against a flirt with the thao propery ladder we trundle off overland and find a lovely almost deserted beach called Lo ma dee or something similar. All very eco friendly but deck chairs were available for a quid a go!! All seemed well until the sand flies attacked and we had to beat a retreat through the hills. I reached the first summit ahead of anna and after consulting the position of the sun (and unbeknown to anna) a local woman who appeared to be peeling barnacles from a small boys crotch, I proudly tell anna that I have worked out a route home............mmmmh! Anna although fully trusting of my orienteering skills raised an eyebrow and followed me up hill after hill after hill on afilthy track hemmed in by piles of every kind of cr....debris imaginable. Then.......all of a sudden dusk was upon us and anna yelled...we were completely engulfed by swarms of mossies. I sprayed myself with 100 % deetand anna put on somethng more eco friendly but all to no avail; they chased us all the way home and left us both fully polka dotted from head to toe. Barrrstewards!!!
Every cloud has a silver lining and that night we found the best little eatery ever. A small back street affair with plastic stools n tables but tastes and portion sizes that I still struggle to describe (Ted, speak to Anna about the penang and massaman curries) Got to cut short now........to be continued
Number of sharts so far ; nil
Sleep lost through dogs nil
Biggest number of bites on one portion of a limb: 38 on Daves left lower leg.

More to follow soon love D & A xx

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Photos

Bongos on Ko Lanta
After breaking strings twice, Dave thought
it safer to play the bongo's!

Lo mah di beach, phi phi
Last picture of Dave and Anna before being eaten alive...

Mong bar menu!
A bangh Lassi will set you back about 8 quid!