Krabi to Ko Phi Phi to Phuket and back to Bangkok

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Of all Thailand cities Krabi has been the best simply because its extremely built up but Thai style not Western style like Ko Samui and extremely slow paced and chill not like the mecca of Bangkok...the food was amazing, cheap and locals beyond friendly. Graeme and I got a room with air con for a mere 700 Bhat ($23, split 2 ways $11.50 each) we tried to bargain (just for fun) and I'm sure we would have been able to get it even cheaper except if we didn't decide to walk the couple of kms with our backpacks from the bus station into town showing up at the hotels door step completely drenched in sweat, panting and about to collapse in exhaustion from the heat. Now the reason why we decided to walk was once we got off at the bus station we were bombarded with taxi drivers offering lifts to their "special" hotels...one guy even had the gull to tell us that they moved the ferry pier out of town to a new location 4 Kms away. We laughed at the thought of moving a pier...who moves a pier, I mean really, come on, do we look that much like a tourist.

Well...evidently they actually moved the pier! But back to the hotel...after we saw the 2 rooms and asked if there was anything cheaper she said yes but on the 4th floor (with a smile) as she looked at us with our t-shirts clung to our bodies...at that point we took the 2nd floor room, and took long over due showers. Its funny how fast one gets accustomed to local bathrooms (the standard Thai bathroom has a sink on one wall, toilet on the other and shower head pumping out only cold water for an exhilarating shower on the third wall) and feels pampered and in awe in some western comforts like actually having my first bath tub shower in 2.5 weeks.

Then we hit the streets for a late dinner and found an outdoor mom and pop Thai restaurant that was serving cheap beers and cheap and very tasty authentic Thai food, complete with local Thai's singing karaoke songs in broken English.

The next morning we were off to Ko Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi has by far been the most beautiful island I've seen to date. Not the best beach mind you...that was probably Hat Yao on Ko Pha Ngan but the scenery around the island is simply unbelievable. The island itself has pretty much become a tourist suitcase totting island with tons of resorts and a lot of couples. We found out that a couple of years back this island was more for young back packers but that's changed to older folk looking for a vacation destination.

Over the past 3 days we spent a lot of time in the sun, ate at several different Thai restaurants where Graeme continued to amaze the locals at the degree of spiciness of the food he ordered and consumed. The highlight was the restaurant on the last day where Graeme proclaimed "I like it really spicy" causing all three women working the restaurant to run into the kitchen giggling to prepare real authentic spicy food and having them stare in amazement as Graeme devoured the food but not before adding extra hot sauce to it. One Thai girl was so impressed she started hitting on Graeme and wanted him to come back that night for a special dinner! Wink wink, nudge nudge. But Graeme broke her heart by proclaiming that we were leaving that afternoon, so sad (doing worry Susanne Graeme only has eyes for you).

During the 2 nights on the island we ended up at Reggae bar, the one with a Mauy Thai ring in the middle and having tourists fight each other for buckets of booze. Now the best fights were by far on the second night. The first fight of the night had 2 friends that obviously studied Kung Fu for several years that sparred with impressive technique and skill. Then they had local Mauy Thai fighters fight but this was boring since they were holding back and faking going down (Thai style WWF)...but the 2 most interesting fights were when a normal tourist "farrang" decided they wanted to fight a real Mauy Thai fighter. The first fight like this was with the Kung Fu fighter at the beginning of the night that won his match, now I wish I video taped it because when the fight started, about 10 seconds into the match, the Kung Fu guy did some cool moves but then the Mauy Thai fighter simply took one step back and let loose a full force round house kick connecting squarely with the head of the Kung Fu fighter. Now the Kung Fu guy was wearing a full head guard for protection but the force of the kick was so substantial that the Kung Fu guy almost went down! 10 seconds later the referee ended the fight since it was supposed to only be for "fun".

The second fight with a farrang against a Mauy Thai fighter was a bit more disconcerting since the farrang was some little punk that had all his friends by the ring egging on the Mauy Thai fighter (mistake number 1). To make matters worse at the end of round 1 the bell goes and the farrang gave the Mauy Thai fighter a cheap shot when the Thai fighter started to walk way (big big mistake number 2) causing his friends to erupt in cheers and jabs. Mental note, you do not want to piss off a real Mauy Thai fighter. The second the bell rang for round 2 the Mauy Thai fighter completely let lose on the farrang with combinations and kicks sending the farrang into the ropes...instantly the referee paused the fight, spoke to the Mauy Thai fighter, and in round 3 the Mauy Thai fighter took a dive and lost the fight...that was really sad to have to see that when that punk farrang deserved a far greater beating.

The second day on the island was by far the highlight since we took a sunset snorkeling boat cruise that dropped us off on the same beach that the movie the Beach was filmed. And I have to say that no matter what all the tourist books say about how it's not the same as how it was in the movie it is still a breath taking sight!

The last day after a couple of more hours on the beach in Ko Phi Phi, Graeme and I hopped onto a ferry over to Phuket where Graeme was catching a plane to Bangkok and then off to Japan and I was planning my trip to northern Thailand specifically to Chiang Mai to meet up with Abi and Bianca (Laura flew home to surprise her boyfriend) and joining them on the same 3 day trek through the jungle where we sleep in local tribe villages.

But before I headed off to Chiang Mai I decided to check out the city of Patong in Phuket where Graeme and said good bye and made a last attempt to convince him to have a real cultural experience but Japan was calling him (though personally I think he got tired of mosquitoes that are no longer afraid of bug spray). Anyways, Patong is the original sin city of Thailand so I decided to stay for one night since I was already there (when in Rome, eh). Got in about 6pm, dropped off my stuff and made my way into the town to check out the "sites". Surprisingly, the city is a hodge podge of high end resorts and very sleazy "go-go" bars. Every street I walked down I either had guys wanting me to see a ping pong show or girls grabbing my shirt as I walked by saying Sawadee Ka (hello in Thai). The town had been so built up that maybe at one point it was a true mecca of sleaze but now it's more G rated since I saw whole families (mom, dad, little Jack and Jane) all sitting on stools in one of the go-go bars watching the dozens and dozens of girls dance and prance around.

The next morning I woke up to hit the beach for one last time to get a couple more shades of brown since the rest of my trip is going to be to search out true cultural experiences. A little over 2 full weeks of sun, sand, and ocean was enough to finally slow down to Thailand time. So I made my way to the Phuket airport, landed in Bangkok, and booked my flight to Chiang Mai leaving in a couple of hours to meet up with the UK girls. I was really looking forward to taking the night train up there but it was sold out...then again the flight only cost me $60.

What's interesting is seeing Khao San Road in Bangkok for the second time for a couple of hours before I leave for my flight to Chiang Mai. It was like looking at the area with new eyes...I was no longer that lost tourist memorized by the sites but now Khao San Road seemed like a Disney land version of what I first experienced. What's funny is that all the locals that hounded me when I first landed 2.5 weeks ago no longer tried to sell me stuff but talked to me about their day, I guess speaking a little bit of Thai and being as dark a local also helped. 😉 Plus after 7 days of seeking out real authentic Thai food with Graeme (really spicy) I found myself asking for hot sauce and curry powder to get more flavor in my food...I can now tell how diluted the food has become in the area to make it at the Western level.

Ok, I got to run since my taxi to catch my flight to Chiang Mai leaves in 5 minutes and I'm about a 10 minute walk away back to the travel agency. But I wanted to post this and I'll have to put up the pictures later since I'll be off the grid for the next 4 days or so in the jungle.

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Photos

Ferry to Sura Thani
Graeme and I took the ferry from Ko Pha Ngan over to Sura Thani then 2 buses over to the West Coast from the East Coast over to Krabi

Comments

[candice]

best story so far... the fight!
nothing is more exciting than a live fight... i also wished you got that on vid!!!!! why didn't you join in?

[Wandering Hungarian]

Fight
I would have but I didn't want to make the other tourists look bad ;)

[Carrie]

Just went on the 31st to watch some Muay Thai fights nothing like those authentic!! I would have loved to see the Ram Muay** there!!! **Ram Muay is the way to show respect to the teachers and the trainers. The fighter first performs the Wai Khru, circling the ring three times before kneeling and bowing three times as a sign of respect to god and man. He also bows to Buddha to ask for protection for himself and his opponent and for an honourable fight. The fighter then performs the Ram Muay/Wai Khru, whose simple movements demonstrate a fighter's control and style. Each fighter performs the Ram Muay on each side of the ring to demonstrate his prowess to the audience. The Ram Muay is a personal ritual, ranging from the very complex to the very simple, and often contains clues about who trained the fighter and where the fighter is from.

[Wandering Hungarian]

Ram Muay
I wasn't that impressed with the Ram Muay...they did that before each fight and pretty much did the same thing. It was ok, but wasn't worthy of video taping or taking a pic of.