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Published: December 24th 2006
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Merry Christmas, we wish you were all here with us
we take a moment to think about Christmas Back home, before heading back to Chaweng to listen to Christmas carols in Starbucks. Anybody with an interest in the 1990's Manchester music scene, would have been as pleasantly surprised as I was to see who jumped into the back of our minivan as we left Koh Lanta bound for Koh Samui. No.....not Sean Ryder, Bez or even Morrisey but Tim Booth - the lead singer of the band James. Me and Tim had a good chat, although he wasn't for discussing Rock 'n' Roll and 'Madchester' , mainly I think, because he had his well to do wife and little son 'Lukes' in tow. But he took a great interest in our trip and gave us some good advise about open water diving courses (as Carla is now wanting to take the natural progression from snorks to scoobs when we reach Koh Tao). The journey became even more bizarre when just before we dropped the Booths off at the airport in Krabi, Tim turned around and told a fidgeting 'Lukes' to 'SIT DOWN'.
This was to be our first full days travelling since we left Bangkok nearly 4 weeks ago. The minivan to Krabi town, a pick up truck to the bus station, followed by a bus to Surat Thani, ferry to the
Looks nice, but the water were freezin
The Jungle clubs Infinity pool, calls out for some Sun to raise its temperature pier in Koh Samui and another minivan which dropped us off, 10 hours after we left Koh Lanta, at a sign for our next home 'The Jungle Club'. "It up there, very far" said the driver as he sped away leaving a pile of bags and 2 tired travellers standing in the dark. We could see a group of lights halfway up the mountain, so I walked five minutes until I found a taxi and pointed to the lights telling him where we needed to go. "Very steep, my taxi not make it - you must call them and they come pick you up". The only place nearby I could see that would have a phone was the 5 star Marco Polo Resort and as I walked into the plush reception I think they must have smelt me coming and let me use the phone just so they could get rid of me as soon as possible.
Back at the pile of bags, we both waited until a jeep appeared with the words 'Jungle Club' across the windscreen. Our driver Jac introduced himself and told us to hold tight as he guided the jeep up the pitch black mountain
Home # 37 of the trip
complete with double bed sized hammock and pet Ghecko named 'Charles' side, and 10 minutes later parked up and told us to follow him into the bar, "Welcome to the club" he said as we pulled our bags from the jeep.
The place blew us away, hanging over the mountain with all the lights of busy Koh Samui 130 metres below it reminded me of some Bond villains Hide away with large exposed boulders, stylish furniture and moody lighting. Our simple yet stylish bungalow was our 37th home of the trip and pound for pound (11 quid a night) the best so far. Add to all of this good food, a natural infinity pool built into the side of the mountain, funky chill out music and a raised chill out/DVD area and you have got one hell of a place to loose yourself for 4 days - a little piece of travellers heaven.
The owners of the club live on site - 'IT', a young wealthy Thai and Valerie (or Madame as the staff call her) a young French documentary maker, now married to 'IT' and with 2 kids who speak Thai, French and English.
But it is their small staff of 3 who make the place even more special.
If we build an airport, they will come
The 'big buddha' waves of another plane full of sunburnt farangs The Manager, Ang, is more like a character you would find in the East End of London than the East coast of Thailand; Jac is the cool jeep driver/waiter with an expert knowledge on English football and Bok is the young pretty boy, guitar playing, dogsbody who clearly has a soft spot for Madame. Apart from a Cjech woman and her 5 year old son Micha, we are the only guests for the first couple of days and we feel pretty put out when 2 Dutch surfers turn up on day 3 - like we hoped nobody else would ever find out about the place. "We survive purely on word of mouth, people come back year after year and some writers come and stay for months on end... we are ever empty and rarely full - but we like it that way" Valerie tells us after we explain the place had been recommended to us by someone in the UK. The only downside to our stay is the weather (grey and windy) but as the staff ply me with free beer to get my guitar and we all stay up late singing Oasis songs , it doesn't seem to matter,
All Bar One Koh Samui
You see the same faces as the one in Milton keynes, but you lie on the beach and play connect 4 with the local kids especially when Ang dances around the Christmas tree doing his best Liam Gallagher impression.
It's a hard decision but we decide that some time should be spent in one of the many beach resorts, so we move to a place Ang used to work at on Chaweng Beach, but not before booking a return visit to Jungle Club after Koh Phangan. It will be the first time that we have returned somewhere on the whole trip but believe me the place is worth it.
Chaweng Beach is a shock to the system. It's our first major package holiday location and even though the weather hasn't improved beyond high winds and light drizzle the whole place is in swimwear and lined up on sunbeds waiting for the smallest gap in the clouds. We sit in a Starbucks listening to Christmas carols, stock up on toiletries at Boots and even visit Tesco to buy some cheap wine to consume over Christmas. Sort of stuff we would be doing back home about this time of year. So lets just say it's not been our most memorable stop on the trip so far. But it's comfortable and pretty easy going and the
"200 bht from the red barrel, please"
however westernised Koh Samui may be, you can still get cheap watered down petrol from a boy and his barrel sort of place that if we had come away for just 2 weeks we may have left thinking was OK (well maybe).
The comparisons to home continue when on our second day we bump into 4 people we know from Milton Keynes, Rob, James, Matt and Dawn have been travelling for about 4 weeks and bumping into them here doesn't seem that strange, which sort of sums up the place Chaweng is - unlike anywhere else we have been - you almost expect to bump into someone from back home!
We decide we need to see more of the island and so rent a jeep for a tenner and head off in search of deserted bays and a taste of Thailand.
We don't find it - tourism and land development have taken over this island that for so many years survived on the coconuts the monkeys plucked from the trees. We visit a couple of waterfalls and the gaudy Big Buddha, where the toilet which hangs over the sea throws everything back over my legs when a large wave crashes against the side of it and just when I think the toilet situation in Thailand can't get any
Koh Samui or Kingston ??
" a fine year" well at 200 baht, it was the cheapest option. worse, towards the end of the day my stomach starts to churn and I am forced to pull the jeep over at the first available convenience - a screened off hole in the floor in the corner of a garage forecourt...with no toilet paper!
We spend the evening with the MK massive at a nice beach bar without too many Millwall fans around. On the following day I have a tete a tete with some long haired Italian over posession of a sunbed (it's still not even sunny) and we realise it's time to move on.
Our private speedboat to the 5 star resort on Koh Phangan picks us up tomorrow morning and whisks us away to the 4 nights of luxury my parents treated us to before our journey began (thanks again Winn et Mozza) lets hope they do a good turkey dinner!!
Merry Christmas to all the people we love and miss back home - and all the friends we have met on the way.
Peace M&C
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Chris-tmas Parr-cel-y
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ha ha what a weener mum is. You made her cry!!!!! Looking forward to speaking to you both tomorrow. I have opened the presents you sent and didn't like them so have put them in the bin!!! Not really... looking forward to 'opening them with you tomorrow'!!!