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Published: November 3rd 2007
Kota Bharu in South East Malaysia took the form as a means to an end for us as both the terminus of the Jungle Train and an opportunity to sort out our Thai travel visas. With these the goals, we were not overly disappointed to find there wasnt much else to do in the town apart from be scrupulated by the locals.
In Kota Bharu, the curiosity and wonder was as subtle as a brick in the small of the back. Engaging some local eyes, it was funny to watch these folks trying to fathom: "WHO the....?", "WHERE the...?", "WHAT the...?", in their brains all in the same instant. The kids were funny too, giving me long once-overs and then second-overs to be sure, with slack gummed expressions the same way that kids back home do when they see "Shrek" for the first time in cinemas.
Crossing the frontier over the Harmony Bridge from Malaysia into Thailand was quite a novelty. We took a taxi to the Malaysian side then walked through the exit immigration there, then over the bridge and into entry immigration on the Thai side. Once our passports were all stamped up, we made our way to the train station at Sungai Kolok, just inside the border. We took a pedicab to make this 1km trip as the heat was sweltering but the poor old dude taking us there was knackered after about a minutes worth of pedalling. We said we didnt mind walking but he insisted on taking us there, presumably worried he'd loose his fair.
We reached the train station in good time and walked past the heavily armed police guard towards the ticket office to buy our tickets to the city of Hat Yai, about 4 hours away. Little did we realise that we'd crossed a time zone coming over the Harmony Bridge which lent us an additional hour. The combination of gaining an hour partnered with our 3hr late arriving train meant we had a 4hr wait on the platform. I thought 'Fiji Time', where things happen when they happen was bad but it's got nothing on Thai Rail.
On the platform, we got chatting to a couple of equally bemused travellers, Eli and Jessica, from Wisconsin in America. It turned out that our seats were behind their's so we got blethering away. The journey was really nice and the
countryside very picturesque and it was also cool to stop off at little towns along the way. These Americans were really friendly and soon invited us to dinner that evening. Before we knew it, we were checking into the same guest house in Hat Yai and heading out for what would become one of the hottest curries we have ever meddled with! By the end of the meal, my cheeks were flushed red, Trung couldnt feel his tongue properly and poor Eli's eyes were watering so much I was certain he was going to start crying. After dinner, we wound up in a bar together for a nice evening's drinking and chatting.
Hat Yai was actually the first city we've been to in SE Asia that really felt the way I had expected Asia to be and although it's a fairly unremarkable destination, I was really happy to see a more authentically Asian city. From there, we took a bus to the port town of Krabi, on the West coast so we could take a ferry the next day to Ko Phi Phi, a small archipelago in the Andaman Sea. When we got off the bus, we checked into
an extremely basic accommodation that set us back about three pounds between us and the following day, we took our bags on a local bus (a truck with it's roof removed) to the port.
It was strange at the port as from rarely seeing any other Western tourists for the last couple of weeks, there were loads here, the majority looking to reach Ko Phi Phi Leh via Ko Phi Phi Don, where the film
The Beach was filmed. We were not that bothered about that and so stayed the next 4 nights on Ko Phi Phi Don. It really is beautiful here, although following the devastating tsunami that flushed the island on December 26th 2004, there remains a great deal of reconstruction going on to rebuild the infrastructure, which was effectively wiped out. The spirit and resolve of the people is remarkable on Ko Phi Phi given how many souls perished on that Boxing Day almost three years ago.
As we're moving around countries, we're finding that it costs a lot of cash to do this travel malarky so we're becoming increasingly on the look out for bargains or money-saving opportunities. Something thats happening quite a lot
now is people challenging us to play pool for beers. We're having some pretty cheap nights at the moment and enjoyed some more pool success, this time against a couple of Swedes in our hang-out on Phi Phi called The Rolling Stoned bar. On another evening, we went to check out some Muay Thai kickboxing with a Welsh dude we met and got yakking to in a restaurant. It was pretty full on and if you want a sample, then check out the short video clip at the top of the page.
Once our 4 days had drifted past on Ko Phi Phi, we checked out of our hostel room (a twin, that came with complimentary cockroaches) and took a ferry to the island of Phuket, a tourist central destination for 'Brits Abroad'. From the port, we were taxi'ed on the back of mopeds the 15km ride to Patong Beach, a random choice which turned out to be a bit of a seedy Sin City type of place. We relied on the moped taxi dudes to recommend a decent place and they came good by dropping us at a nice hotel that was just off the risque' main drag
and what appeared to be a really good sanctuary for the next few nights. We felt we were due some sort of reward for slumming it recently (cold showers for the last week) so we got a room each and lived in 4 star luxury for about 15 quid a night - pretty good value...
Patong Beach in Phuket fulfilled many of the dodgy preconceptions I had of Thailand's reputation but I didnt really expect to encounter this side of it until Bangkok, where we fly from in 6 weeks time. The main drag is full of bars, the majority of which include female escorts, whom saddle up quickly and engage you in polite chit-chat, a preface to the more seedy underlying business that is later offered, which explains how many male tourists (ages 18 > +60) were walking around Phuket with Thai 'girlfriends', who sometimes accompany them around for the duration of their holiday's. On our way home one night, Trung and I had the strange realisation that Patong Beach's lady-boy contingent hung around where the main street meets the top of an alley leading to our hotel, so we had to do the "lady-boy gauntlet" whenever we
went out for drinks at night. I'm a polite guy but these girls/dudes/girl-dudes just dont know how to take no for an answer and on one occasion, I had to resort to the "Look, I've told you 10 times 'No!', so will you just **** off now?" The strange thing is that the prostitution on the streets is 24hrs a day. It's strange to leave your hotel at 12:30 in the afternoon, walk onto the main street and the first thing someone says to you involves, well... if you've ever seen the infamous "Five Dollar" scene from "Full Metal Jacket"...
The other thing I didnt warm to in Phuket was the constant situation of folk trying to get business from you. I understand that they're trying to make a living but as a tourist, I found myself every 10 seconds (thats not an exageration) saying 'No, no thank you, no...NO!' and it was impossible to even hold a conversation with Trung in some parts of town. The prostitutes (apart from the lady-boys) are actually OK once you decline but if its not someone trying to shake your hand and sell you a suit, then it's a tuk-tuk or moto
ride, and if it's not a massage, it's pirate DVD's or some trashy men's tourist t-shirt's, the sort that have an arrow pointing to the crotch and the slogan "Playstation" above it.
After our three nights of R&R there I was quite happy to move on, realising that Patong Bay is certainly óne for many tourist's, but not for me. Patong Beach itself looked lovely, a long crescent of sand along the coast but with rain on most days and overcast skies, it just wasnt beach weather. It was time to depart crazy Phuket and sample another aspect of Thailand, on the little island of Ko Samui off the East coast on the other side of the country. We were looking for something a little more chilled and relaxed; in saying that, the notorious monthly Full Moon Party was taking place on the island just next door, so anything could happen...
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