Rumble in the Jungle (Day 108 -110 by Chris)

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Saturday 2nd January 2016

We were leaving Koh Lanta today to make our way over to the Island of Koh Samui, which is situated in the Gulf of Thailand and on the east side of the country. As we were currently on the west side of the country this would require a number of different transport methods in order to get there.

We checked out of the hotel at 7:30 am and waited for the mini bus to pick us up to start the first leg of our journey. The journey would be as follows; minibus to Krabi on the mainland, change to a bigger bus to drive to Donsack where we would then take the ferry to Koh Samui. A journey consisting of 3 different vehicles and a 7 hour journey. Quite simple really. This being us, and us being in Thailand, this isn't quite what happened.

We were collected by the minibus which was already rammed with people and luggage taking up other seats. Gemma had to sit at the back of the mini van and I was at the front sandwiched between lots of bags. Feeling quite annoyed that this would be the situation for the next 3 hours of this leg, we then pulled into the pier after driving for literally 1 km. We were then told to get off and board the boat. Relief is the feeling that we then had as we realised we were taking the ferry to Krabi rather than the minibus which would allow for a much quicker and more comfortable journey. After 2 hours we arrived at Krabi, collected our bags and left the port. We were given stickers with our destination written on them as were the rest of the people on our minibus, approx 15 of us. We then had to wait for our big coach to arrive to take us across country to Donsack, but of course this didn't happen. After 20 minutes a small pickup van which Thai's use as taxis arrived. The driver threw all the luggage onto the roof and we all squeezed into the back. After 5 minutes we were dropped off at a small travel office by the side of the road. So this is where we were catching our coach from? Wrong! after waiting for 45 minutes another pickup truck taxi thingy arrived and without asking questions our group got in. After only a 5 minute drive we arrived at a small bus station. So, this is where we were catching the bus from? Correct! although, there were at least 70 people here all with stickers on of different colours with the same destination (Koh Samui) written on them. We were told by someone who worked there to leave our bags on the pavement and check in. We did as we were told and after checking in were given another set of stickers and a couple of tickets each. After waiting for about an hour in the hot sun with all the seats under shade being taken a huge double decker coach arrived. There was a buzz of activity from all the prospective passengers and the lad working there had to tell everyone to back away from the bus to allow passengers off. Thankfully I had collected our bags about 5 minutes before the bus arrived, so as soon as the lady told us to line up with our luggage in single file, we didn't have to leave our prime spot towards the front of the queue to collect luggage only to then end up at the back of the line. We manged to get some good seats on the coach, but as the bus pulled away there were over 30 people still queuing who didn't get a ride and as we pulled away one guy was giving the conductor lady an ear full. All I can say is at least we manged to get on!!

Our next 3 hours were spent on the road, all of which Gemma slept through on account of selecting 2 seats that had about 8 feet of space behind us, allowing the seats to recline. They were also broken which meant that they pretty much reclined to 90 degrees even allowing me to get some shut eye and I always struggle to sleep on transport. At 4:30pm, for those of you keeping track of the time, we had arrived at Donsack pier already running late of the projected arrival time. We left the bus and joined over 100 other people queing, or should I say pushing and shoving to get aboard the hugh speed catermaran. We finally managed to get onboard and were pleasantley surprised by how new and smart it looked. They had a little cafe in the centre of the boat and lots of seats set out like a plane. The ride was only going to take 45 minutes and with the sea being relatively calm from what I could see out of the window, it was also going to be a smooth journey - wrong! after a smooth 10 minutes the catermaran hit top speed of something like 50 mph and was bouncing off every wave. If you'd paid for this at Alton Towers you'd have seen the funny side, but no one on board did. Thankfully we werent sick, but there were a few peole with green faces having to step outside of find the toilet. The staff started walking around offering plastic bags to be sick into. There were babies screaming and adults crying. It wasnt a dangerous journey, just a bumpy one on account of the speed it was travelling, but the trade off for a quick trip is a bumpy one and for those that get travel sick, its clearly not very nice. At one point a child was sick and the whole cabin carried a horrid smell. We were happy to have arrived at Koh Samui on time 45 minutes later.

Now gone 6pm and 3 hours behind schedule we had to get from where the pier was to Chaweng beach where we were staying. If you imagine a clock face, we were dropped off at 10 o'clock and had to get to 2 o'clock, so this shouldn't take long/be far given that we were on an island - wrong! the travel time took another hour by minibus and we arrived at our hotel almost 12 hours after we got out of bed. Its been a while since we've done a whole day of travel and we were shattered and sweaty.

We checked into our new hotel for the next 3 nights, a place called Little Jungle Resort. It was on the Chaweng beach area which is one of the more lively areas of Koh Samui. The place is run by a friendly Italian guy who owns a cat, dog and a monkey, all of which were quite lively when we arrived. He told us that he had good news for us and that the room we booked was currently occupied as a guest who was meant to check out begged to stay one more night and this meant that we were going to be staying in a bigger room, but would have to change rooms at 9am the next morning. I failed to see the 'good news' in this, but tired, smelly and hungry we took the other room. It was never going to win an award for cleanliness, tidiness, homeliness or value for money, but it had a bed and a shower so we made do.

After washing we headed out to find food. We settled on a seafood restaurant where for roughly £10 we ate BBQ fish with some rice and vegetables along with a beer. After this we decided to go and watch some Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) as the Koh Samui stadium was right next to our hotel. The first of 6 fights was on at 9pm and we had to pay a whopping 2000 THB each, about £20 each to enter. Deciding that if we didn't do it now we probably wouldn't at any other time, we paid and entered. We spent the next 3 hours watching 6 fights between a mixture of Thai's and foreigners. The highlight for us was watching an English guy and a Swedish guy. The English fella looked like a rough one from the east end whereas the the Swede was much more lean and obviously better trained. It was a great fight to watch with the English fella running in and taking some big hits and the Swede just battering the crap out of my countryman. The match finished in a knock out and the Swede won. All the fights were different with a mixture of weight classes and styles/levels of skill. The whole place was buzzing and the great seats we had allowed us to be very close to the action. The whole arena had a strong aroma of tiger balm (think vicks) which the fighers are covered in. It was a great night for all the senses. At gone midnight and very very tired we headed to our bed and fell asleep within minutes.

Sunday 3rd January 2016

We were woken by a knock on the door at 8am by the hotel owner. He called to tell us that our new room was ready (the room we were meant to have) and that we had to vacate this one as new guests were arriving and it needed cleaning. We had been pre-warned about this but were annoyed that we had to be out so early due to someone arriving so early. We changed rooms and were put in the room below on the ground floor with patio doors looking onto the pool.

We went out at about 9am on the scavenge for breakfast. This shouldn't have been too difficult, but as it was early and a Sunday everything seemed closed. After about 20 minutes we found a good old Irish bar where we sat and watched some UFC on TV (or I did at least) and ate our ham and cheese toastie and drank coffee.

We left the Irish bar at 10am and headed round the corner to the beach. We had chosen to stay in the Chaweng area which has a really nice beach, if not busy with holiday makers, resorts, bars and restaurants. We spent the morning and early afternoon sunbathing and swimming in the choppy water occasionally. We had lunch at about 3pm ( not sure if that counts as lunch) consisting of fish cakes, chicken satay and some spring rolls. They hit the spot and we returned to the beach until sunset which was about 6pm.

After a shower we realised that the air con in the room only blew out hot air, so we reported it to the Italian owner. He is a really friendly guy and always cracking jokes. The problem he had though was that he was too laid back and didn't see the problem with anything. We explained that he would need to fix the air con but he said it was too late tonight to call out a repair man so they would have to come in the morning. He gave us a fan to keep us cool. Not ideal, but better than nothing. On leaving the room to get dinner I was unable to lock the door. I turned the key many times but it just kept turning without locking. Again I explained this to the owner and his assistant (she seemed more helpful and understanding). He took a look and like us, was unable to lock the door. He said "it's fine, I will stay here all night" and stood to attention like a guard outside the room with a big smile on his face. We gave a half smile of haha but it needs fixing! Again, he said he'd have to get someone to look at it in the morning. With that, we collected our electronic and any valuables and took them out with us for safe keeping. We had dinner consisting of another Thai curry and soup, but not being very hungry we didn't finish it all.We returned to the room and the owner had gone home for the evening. We headed to bed concerned that the door couldnt lock and slept with one eye open.

Monday 4th January 2016

Up early again we planned to head to a beach further down the east side of the island (we were at the north east) and would need a motor bike for this which we hired from the assistant to the hotel owner. She told us that she had already called the repair people about the door lock and air con and it would be fixed whilst we were out. Happy with this, we packed our valuables into a day bag and took it with us to the beach.

We drove for about 25 minutes south to a beach called Lamai, which according to what we had read was a bit more relaxing and less busy than Chaweng, although the sand is more rocky than fine floury sand. We located the beach, parked the bike and headed into a coffee shop where we had breakfast of coffee and a cinnamon roll, something that we dined on quite a lot in Japan and Korea and was a welcome treat.

We headed down to the beach and found a spot which we made ours for the day. After resting in the sun for a few hours and occasionally taking a swim in the much calmer waters we had lunch at a beachside restaurant. We were joined by a very noisy bird who seemed to have hundreds of little sounds and tunes to whistle. We then returned to our spot on the beach at lunch and didn't move until the sun had gone behind a tree and that was our sign to return back to the hotel.

We drove back amidst some busy traffic and gave the keys for the bike back to the hotel owner. He told us that he had good news and that the lock had been repaired. He gave us a new set of keys and demonstrated for us how to turn the key and lock the door. He also told us that the air con man hadn't been yet but was on his way. It was already 6pm and would be dark in half an hour. After taking a shower there was a knock on the door and the hotel owner told us that the air con was going to be fixed. After a couple of minutes he knocked again to tell us something which was in his broken English. I wrongly assumed that he was confirming the thing had been fixed but I was wrong. After another half an hour I complained to Gemma that the air con was still blowing out warm air. I took a look outside and there was no sign of the repair men. I popped to reception and the owner told me that it was too dark for them to work so would return tomorrow. I explained to him that we leave tomorrow at 6:30am as we were catching an early ferry to Koh Tao. He said that was fine then as he wouldn't need to disturb us when the repair people arrived. I explained that wasn't good enough as we wouldn't benefit then. I walked away shaking my head and he chased after me apologising. He offered us a free breakfast the following day but again I had to explain that we wouldn't be there for breakfast. He just kept apologisng but seemed more annoyed that I was annoyed. This was a clear example of someone who had bought a ready made, if not very run down, hotel but had no experience of customer service. Gemma and I currently have very low expectations of what makes a room suitable for sleeping in and we have stayed in some pretty rough hotels, hostels and guesthouses. All we wanted here was to be able to lock our door and keep cool. Surely these are absolute minimum expectations for a hot country?! The owner though said that it was fine as we were only staying here for 2 nights so not a problem for us. Shocking!

We decided to head out for dinner still a little annoyed and were soon cheered up when we popped into a restaurant just around the corner. It was a themed restaurant and made to look like a mixture of a Japanese garden and jungle, a theme which I think is pretty unique. It was a small place with only 5 tables and as you walked in you stepped over a little foot bridge that was above a fish pond. The seating area of this restaurant was above a fish pond full of all different fish all of different colours and sizes. The food we ordered (another curry) arrived quickly and a white fish roughly the size of my hand swam up next to my chair. It just sat there stating at me I dropped in a few grains of rice and it swallowed them whole. I then held a little bit of rice between my fingers and lowered it slowly towards the water so that Gemma could film it eating. Surprising both of us, it jumped out of the water and grabbed the rice, biting my fingers in the process. Finding this hilarious, we did the same again. It was a great way to take our mind off the ridiculous hotel we were booked into. The restaurant had a great theme and lovely food which arrived very quickly and we would definitely return should we be in the area again.

We went back to the room and packed our bags and were in bed for 10pm. We had to be up at 6am the next day, as we were being picked up by minibus for a drive to the pier to head to our next destination; Koh Tao.

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