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Published: April 19th 2008
Us on an elephant
This is a real photo...Sorry about the lack of pictures but the computers here are a little dodgy and we dont want to risk another virus on the memory card! Will put them up when we get home.
We caught a Ferry to Ko Phi Phi from Phuket on the morning of the 6th. It took about 2 hours to get there but the views were amazing. We were slightly annoyed when we found out that we had been overcharged for our tickets! However we did make some news friends on the Ferry, Jen and Jill from Canada. When we arrived we all shared a Longtail Taxi boat to Long Beach to search for some cheap accommodation.
We found a place that had some beach huts, they were the cheapest on the island but weren't all that cheap really (500B). Ours was set up in the trees and our Canadian friends were next door. The hut was basically just a room with a bed, a fan and a mossie net, but what else do you need? As soon as we had put our things inside we headed off to the beach. We spent the afternoon sunbathing, swimming and snorkeling, getting very excited when
we found Nemo! The water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature with a reef just 20m off shore.
That evening we took a walk into town along the beach to have some food. By the time we finished the tide had come in and we were pretty much stuck. Luckily we found a taxi boat to take us back. We had a walk on the beach and paddled in the sea before sitting outside the huts with Jen and Jill before heading to bed. There were lots of little kittens running around and a little black one took a liking to us and followed us around all evening. This turned out to be very luckily and she ate all the horrible bugs that kept trying to get into our hut. We were about to go to bed and Joe popped out to get some water when about 6 giant Cicadas flew in through the door! They were making a horrible noise and it took about half and hour to get rid of them! Throughout the rest of the night they kept throwing themselves at the door!
The next 2 days were pretty much the same, laying in the beach and snorkeling before it was time to get our Ferry to Ko Lanta. One of the touts on the boat was offering accommodation for 300B a night at his resort. It looked pretty good from the leaflet so he gave us a lift there to check the place out. We were pleasantly surprised to find it was really nice. The only downside was that they only had 400B a night rooms left, but we managed to get away with paying 350 (5 pounds 60!). We couldn't really believe that we had paid 500B for a hut with a filthy shared bathroom and we were now paying less for an en suite room with a balcony and swimming pool right on the beach.
On our second day in Lanta Kim managed to catch a cold so spent the next 2 days in bed reading and sleeping! So nothing much to write about for those days! When she was feeling better we hired a scooter for the day and went to explore the island. The scooter guy didn't tell us how to start it or anything, he gave us the keys and said it was the green one! Since neither of us had ever driven a scooter we had a little practice in the car park first!
What we forgot though was that it was Thai New Year that day (April 13th) and they have a ritual where everyone throws water over each other. It wasn't too bad in the morning, just a few kids with water pistols. So we went to Lanta Old Town and saw the old houses which people still live in, built on bambo stilts over the water. There was a small restaurant on top of a hill which gave great views of the island and the sea so we stopped for some lunch. We wanted to find a bookshop in Ban Saladin (the main town) but soon found out that getting there was going to be impossible. People were lining the streets throwing water at you! We were soaked and worried about the camera getting wet (again) so turned back. The main problem was the holiday makers who joined in. If you didn't want to get wet, you can hold your hands up and say no, and generally the Thai people won't get you wet. However the holiday makers didn't care and would throw as much water at you as they could. This wasn't fun while trying to ride a moped and dodging the cars who were stopped! We pulled over by the side of the road at one point to consider walking, but when we decided to head back the bike wouldn't start! After a few minutes of slight panic a Thai guy started walking over to help and it suddenly came on! We managed to make it back safely (if a little wet) and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool.
We got up early the next morning to get into town without getting wet! We looked around for a bookshop but the only one we found wasn't great. We had breakfast, served by the most unfriendly waitress in the world and then headed back to return the bike. That afternoon was spent in the pool....
The next few days were retty uneventful as all we actually did was either lay on the beach or by the pool. We got through all the books we had left and resorted to reading our Thai guide book again. On our last night we did get a slight bit of activity as we had a power cut and the resort plus all the shops etc i the local area were out of power. The excitment didnt really last long as without out power we had not fan which meant it was extremely hot in our room. We tried to sit on the balcony but the cicadas were going mental so we ran for cover. We spent the next couple of hours trying to read by candle light and writing postcards. Exciting! We luckily didn't have to suffer all night as the power came back and we got the fan back! Woooo!
On Thursday, the 17th, we left Ko Lanta to travel to Krabi. We decided to get the bus as it was cheaper than the ferry and we were crammed in like the proverbial sardine! It included 2 of the dodgiest ferry crossings in the world but we did make it alive! We arrived in Krabi at around 2:30pm and found a nice guesthouse. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the town before getting some food in the night market conveniently located down the road.
The next day we had booked an Elephant trekking trip! We got up and had breakfast before being picked up at 12:30. Although Thai food is really good, they aren't that great at breakfast unless you want the Thai breakfast of noodles and shrimp! We found a veggie cooked breakfast and had visions of the cooked breakfast from the Artful Dodger cafe back home in Burnham and were rather dissapointed at our meagre eggs and toast with about 8 baked beans. And no, we're not exagerrating! There really were about 8 beans! Anyway, we were picked up for our trip and it was a 30 min drive.
We arrived at the elephnat centre and were greeted by some very friendly staff who told us all about the elephants. They were very well looked after and had plenty of shade and food. Each elephant (there were 10 in total) went on 3 walks a day, were "groomed" and went for regular swims in the river. Our elephant was a 25 year old male and the tallest of the lot! He was called Kamoto and was very playful. We went for a walk through the jungle pretty much going wherever Kamoto wanted! The elephant was very well trained and knew the whole route, when the trainer did have to get him to move on (he liked to eat everything that looked tasty) he would only have to press his toe lightly behind his ear or use a verbal command. The handle got off to take some photos for us and the elephant thought it was really funny to not let him back on. The handler gave the command for the elephant to lower his head so he could get up, so the elephant lowered then just when the handler was about to get on he moved out of the way so the handler fell over! The elephant found this hysterical and would give a trump of laughter! Eventually however he did let him up and we were back on our way. When we got back to the centre we got to feed him some fruit, which he very much enjoyed! Next we went and watched one of the smaller elephants having a swim in the river.
One of the other staff took us on a short walk through the jungle to a small swimming hole that we could paddle in. We then got back to Krabi and spent the remainder of the afternoon avoiding the heat until it was time for tea! We went back to the night market and Joe foolishly ordered a curry..... It was quite amusing to watch the sweat roll down his head and him turn a nice shade of maroon! He says it was like eating fire.
Our last proper day in Krabi was spent wandering around the town before going on a tour on a lontail boat. The guide took us to Khan Kanab Nam, which are 2 limestone outcrops in the Krabi river, where we went into a cave. This was used a couple of years ago to film The Swiss Family Robinson. We were about to climb the steps to the entrance when 2 monkeys swang past in the trees. The stairs were a little wobbly but we made it safely up. There were a few resident bats squeeking in the backgroud as well as a scary wasps nest! It was a magnificent cave with huge stalactites and stalagmites. Next stop was a tour along the mangroves to see the resident monkeys. They came right up to the boat and ran along the trees following us. After that we were taken to a traditional fishing village built on the water before returning back just in time for it to pour with rain. We took shelter for a few hours and admired the lightening before venturing out to find some food.
Off to ko Samui tomorrow!
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