Thailand Part 2....... The Islands

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Hello again! Mark here.
Ok where were we? Bangkok. I was so flipping excited about the overnight train! I'd booked a "first class" sleeper compartment, which was a private 2 berth cabin. I was under no illusions, I knew that first class meant, the best of the three classes available, as opposed to actual Orient Express first class. Verlie had been sceptical about the train ride, but I'd persuaded her it would be awesome. We found our platform and carriage very easily (Verlie loved my Prince-Air Guitar joke "Purple Train, Purple Train!!" As we had arrived half an hour before take off, I had a chance to grab a few beers on the platform at normal price, before I started to get fleeced by the on-board services. There was no restaurant car, so we'd decided to have ourselves a little picnic. We went out earlier in the afternoon and bought, a lovely selection of pastries, some kettle chips, and Krsipy Kreme Donuts! I was loving our little compartment in the train and found myself in a very happy mood and the first three cans of beer slipped down a bit too easily, and I had to nip back to the platform for a few more before we left! Verlie made her worried face as it was about 5 minutes to lift off and I don't think she was too happy at the thought of being on her own in Koh Samui. right in the middle of our picnic, the stewardess came in and said "there you go, some fruit and orange juice" and placed a plate of fruit and 2 orange juices down on our table. Awesome I thought, thanks very much, complimentary fruit and drinks, that's first class!!!!
We pushed back out of Bangkok station and started our 12 hour 1900km overnight journey south to Surat Thani, the nearest town to the island of Koh Samui, and our transfer point to a bus and finally a ferry to the island. We started off quite slow and stopped frequently at first, after an hour or so we were rolling though the Thailand countryside on a stormy evening, watching the lightening. A steward came in and transformed our sofa into two beds and took our order for breakfast, eggs and bacon at 100 baht ($3) each, bargain........ we slept well considering, and rose to the alarm at 6am for our brekkie.
We ate our breakfast which to be fair was rank, it was then I was conned out of money for the first time in my life.
Half asleep and a little bit hungover having not yet had my morning caffeine intake, the stewardess from the night before produced a bill for 600 baht. I asked what it was for as I thought the breakfast was only 100 baht each, "Fruit and orange juice, 400 baht" I told her that as she'd just came and delivered it to us, without us asking for it and without mentioning a price, she gave a VERY strong impression it was complimentary, she smiled, possibly the smuggest smile I've seen in my life "Oh no, sorry it's 400 baht"
I then fought an inner battle with myself.........."calm down Mark, it's only 13 dollars, not worth the hassle"........."it's not the money, it's the principle!!!!!" .........."calm down mate, causing a scene wont do any good"................."but she's just done me for $13 and we didn't even eat or drink it, it was rancid!!!" Those readers that know me personally will know I'm not a violent person, but I can tell you I was very close to punching her in her flipping smug grinning slimy con woman face.......I rationalised that I was on my way to an island paradise and being met by the Thai police at Surat Thani station and spending time in a rural Thai police station, wasn't on our itinary, so like a good poker player, I folded, paid up and just walked away, 100% certain I couldn't win.........
For the rest of the holiday, everytime a waiter or someone puts down something I haven't specifically ordered, water, nuts whatever, I ask "is that free?" Verlie gets the hump with it, but there's no flipping way I'm getting caught like that again.........

(Verlie)
Once we were off the train, we had to negotiate how we actually got to Koh Samui. We were immediately bombarded by boards and people advertising their preferred methods of hoarding people across the water. We settled on a bus and ferry for the grand cost of 250 baht per person so that’s $8 AUS each. We were particularly worried about storing our bags in the hold under the coach as they are notorious for thieves. Usually a small Thai person hides in the hold and then goes through luggage seeking out anything of value. Mark and i leave NOTHING of value in our backpacks just clothes, toiletries and my make-up. The only thing i would have been upset about if it was stolen would be my electric toothbrush, i doubt any Thai people would fit our clothes. The bus journey took an hour and a half to the ferry port, something we were unaware of. I ended up dozing off dribbling contently on Marks shoulder.

> The ferry was a smooth and pleasant crossing I’m pleased to report. Those of you that remember Marks best mans speech may recall he does not fare well on rough crossings. 45 minutes later we had arrived on the beautiful island of Koh Samui. It was blistering hot, both of us carrying a backpack weighing approx 18kg each and a rucksack each of maybe 7-10kg each it was a sweaty walk from one end of the pier to the other, not to mention the annoying taxi drivers who all want to rip you off in the process. We made our way to the information desk, both of us harassed and ratty i tried to get Mark to call our accommodation but he had decided that a taxi would be better grrrrrrrr. After 2 weeks of being in eachothers pockets, mark and i will both admit that as much as we love each other we were in need of conversation with other people! As the great cheesy rock ballad 'Hard for me to say i'm sorry' goes, even lovers need a holiday! We bartered for a taxi, we bartered very hard in fact and still paid 400baht for the 20 minute ride to our accommodation. The taxi drivers make out that the petrol on the island is so much more expensive than on the mainland hence the higher prices, this you tend to believe until you start your journey in the taxi to discover it is barely anymore expensive!

We arrived at The Boardroom Beach Bungalows, gave the taxi driver his money, he even appologised to us. We were met at the gate by Apple the owners wife and taken to our bungalow. It was great, a large room with bed, desk, wardrobe huge fridge and fully functional and very clean bathroom all for $27 a night not to mention the beach was at the bottom of the garden result!
On our first evening we headed over to The Boardroom's chill out bar where we met Chris the Australian owner of the bungalows, the barmaid Noi, along with some expats & locals. We got chatting to Tim a guy from Adelaide who was happy to direct us to a local Thai restaurant which was cheap. It became one of our favourite places and we ate there almost every night, for $3 you could buy a curry and rice and be very satisfied.

We spent the rest of our time on Koh Samui, relaxing, after Bangkok we were suitably worn out so we read, relaxed on the beach, made great friends and ate great local food. Our plan after Koh Samui was to go to Koh Phangan then Koh Tao and then to Singapore to see some friends. A problem arose in that our friends in Singapore seemed to have disappeared. After confirming our stay with them they’d not responded to our e-mails and from what we could see neither of them had been on Facebook. We had to decide if we were going to fly to Singapore still or cancel the flight and make other plans. Singapore is very expensive in terms of accommodation and living. We managed to find a cheap hotel which was in the red light district of Singapore, the room had no windows and a rubber mattress according the reviews, we booked it. That evening we cancelled it! The thought of being miserable in a hotel room for 4 nights without much to do in Singapore that wouldn’t cost the earth it seemed like a better idea to come back to where the fun was and swallow the $400 we had spent on our flights or try to claim them back via our insurance. We are still concerned about our friends seeing as we still have been unable to make contact with them.

After 6 nights of tropical bliss on Koh Samui we headed to Koh Phangan. Chris dropped us at the pier different to the one we arrived on where another ferry would take us across to the island. We gathered our bags and made our way towards the boat. The pier was literally scaffolding poles stuck in the water with wooden slats across. As the 30 or so passengers made their way toward the awaiting ferry the narrow pier swayed side to side. As you can imagine everyone was quite relieved to have made it aboard without falling off or through the pier!
Koh Phangan..................we were quite concerned when we arrived at the sturdier pier on the other side and were confronted with a barrage of party advertisements. Koh Phangan is famous for it’s Full Moon parties which wasn’t until June 16th so we were quite sure we were avoiding it but it seems as though the Thai people have decided to cash in on all lunar movements with half moon, black moon and other moon event parties. We found our transfer vehicle, a pick-up truck with two benches in the back a few scaffold poles with a cover over to keep the sun off. Off we went on a rollercoaster ride comparable with a Universal Studios Ride in Florida, twisting and turning around the mountainside keeping everything crossed that we wouldn’t crash into another vehicle coming the other way whilst we drove on the wrong side of the road or go off the side which had no barriers! What is it about Asian driving!
We arrived at The Milky Bay Resort, another excellent choice by Mark. Another bargain accommodation too but a little slice of luxury all the same. We were taken to our Standard Bungalow to find that we were totally on the beach and no one else was! It was wonderful every night we fell aslepp to the sound of the waves. Milky Bay Resort was in the middle of nowhere, Mark had planned this given that on the islands there isn't much to do or see unless you are into diving. Once again we spent our timne relaxing, it wasn't a bad place to sunbathe looking out towards Koh Samui, white sands and warm water Zzzzzzzz

We soon learned that there was a half moon party going on the night we arrived. Taxis would be leaving the Milky Bay at 11pm if you were interested. We weren't. We ate amazing wood fired pizzas and watched the lightening across the sea before falling into bed and listening to the waves. I also discovered that at night crabs would emerge from the sand and begin scurrying about, I'm not sure why but I became quite fascinted by them and would stand still on the sand waiting for them to come up. Mark thought I looked bonkers but hey I got a picture or two which was pretty good considering how fast these little critters were. After the Half Moon party it became pretty quiet at The Milky Bay with just a few couples enjoying the great food and peace and quiet. If anyone ever goes to Koh Phangan please ask for bungalow A1, it is small but beautifully placed.

We decided then that after Koh Tao we would come back to Milky Bay and then back to Koh samui in order to break up the ferry journeys. Koh Tao really isn't worth mentioning, it is primarily for divers so minimal nightlife. I'm petrified of the sea so the chances of getting me to dive are pretty slim but my curiosity is growing so maybe one day i will.

Back to Koh Phangan for a few more nights in our fabulous bungalow A1 and then back to Koh Samui. By this point we felt as though it had been weeks since we had been Koh Samui even though it had only been 10 days. As the boat pulled up we were aware that we were going to have to walk the plank once again, Mark even decided to film me swaying! We walked to the Bungalows just a few hundred meters away. It was a little like coming home. Apple greeted us with her huge smile, we were in the same bungalow and happy to be back. We soon met Debs who was in the next bungalow to us. Debs lived in Leeds, was a family lawyer, she is single has a 19 year old son at University. She decided she wasn't really enjoying her job anymore so after reading Eat, Pray, Love a book by Elizabeth Gilbert a writer who after a rather difficult divorce took off to eat the foods of Italy, pray in an Ashram in India and find love in Bali it gave her the inspiration to ditch it all in, pack up in search of a new career and life experience, what a woman.

We had a great few days in Koh Samui, we were well past sunbathing and decided to hire a car and explore the island. Chris found us someone who rented us a fully insured Honda CRV for the day and i planned the route. First stop, a spot of breakfast and then Big Buddha, you'd have thought we were templed out by now but as we could see this one from the beach we paid a visit before driving off to the Magic Garden deep in the centre of Koh Samui. Up in the mountains a man-made beautiful garden around a small waterfall. As we arrived 10 people left and we had the garden to explore all on our own. We had great fun walking through the water, climbing the rocks and exploring, we could have been 5 years old again. Back at the top we grabbed a cold drink just as 4 trucks full of tourists arrived, woop woop! Next was The Mummified Monk at Wat Khunaram, the story goes that this Buddhist Monk died whilst sat in his meditating position, he'd already forseen his death in 1973 and prior to the date ate nothing but tree bark to dehydrate his body from the inside. Now he sits fully dehydrated in a glass box at the temple sporting a rather lovely pair of RayBans for everyone to see. A little bit freaky it has to be said but to be honest he's not doing badly having been dead for over 30 years! Our freakish curiosity over we headed to Grandmothger Rock and Grandfather Rock or Hin Ta & Hin Ya, two rocks which sit in close proximity to eachother replicating somewhat suggestive human organs. We saw the signs and pulled into the car park or so we thought. Then we were told to walk 7 minutes through some rocks to find Hin Ta and Hin Ya, seemed a little odd but off we went. It wasn't an easy walk, clambering over bolders, using ropes to pull yourself up and steady your step down. Once we arrived we realised that had we driven just 100 meters further we would have made it to another car park where we could have strolled out to the point where these rocks are stood. We were so hot by this point that we headed straight for a street vendor for a couple of cold drinks, he also sold us an ice cold flannel which was more than needed, you can see from the pictures just how much i enjoyed it. A few later and these rather bizarre formations and we headed up the easier path back to our air conditioned car. We headed in the direction of Bophut Beach where we began and popped into Tesco, we don't have Tesco in Australia but Koh Samui has Tesco and it even has Macro. By this point Mark was feeling quite unwell, the heat and gotten to him and his best efforts to rehydrate still left him feeling sick and headachy. We decided to go back to the bungalow and head out later to watch the sunset at Silver Bay.

Mark slept for a while and sadly the rains arrived meaning our planned sunset trip was aborted. It was our final night on Koh Samui, after dinner we headed to The Chill Out Bar for our final night with the crew, one too many vodkas later and a very fun evening we made our way back for our last night on Koh Samui before our big adventure to Vietnam began.

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Photos

Look at his happy smiling face, l
Little did he know.

Even Monks need to travel rain or shine.
Not sure a flannel is going to keep the rain off mate but good effort.

Comments

[Paul Barker]

Interesting Reading.
Look forward to these blogs and have a little chuckle at Mark trying not to loose it with being stitched up i can see him now.It makes good reading for us here at Til 'B',think you should put it all together and write a book when you get back. Paul.