Thailand is where the family is!

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12/10/09

On arrival at in Thailand it is strange to think that this is third world with a lovely state of the art airport and a system that is regulated and ordered.
Met Varun again and we headed to Bangkok to where I had booked my accommodation at Kaohsan road which turns out that booking is not necessary as there is plenty of accommodation at lots of prices as well as less than I paid.
The hotel was again not amazing but the aircon worked very well in fact I had to turn it off it was like a meat locker and I felt like a side of beef!
Went for a sleep so I could refresh before heading out to see the sights with Varun who has been here before and knows where everything is.
Had my first street food and was surprised that it was so good and very cleanly made I think I will be having some more so long as I don’t catch anything.
Varun had a Thai friend called Niel who we met and then with his help we headed out and went to see some of the tourist sights however we had left things a little late and all decent things were closed with the common problem of shorts and sandals not being accepted at most of the palaces and temples.
Back to our respective hotels for some sleep before going out at night. Went to a few clubs but I was so exhausted and after a while I went back to my hotel , the previous few weeks and days of travel taking its toll and Varun needing to head to Koh chang in the south at 530 am!

14/10/09

Spent the last two days relaxing and getting things arranged for going to Cambodia , Vietnam and Laos and now just killing time till my bus at 9 pm tonight.
It seems that in all areas of the world where there is tourism , the taxi drivers are out to screw the tourist. One would think that if they quoted a reasonable price all the time they would do better however I think that those that don’t just lose out on a job!
So after being quoted 300baht to go to the bus terminal I finally got one that did it for 89! I stand by the fact that if you don’t speak or read a language of where you are travelling then make sure you arrive early as you are going to get lost or in my case not know what the signs say and so spend your ever diminishing time searching for the bus platform.
Once I had found the correct one and boarded the bus I was rather happy to know that I was only 1.78 cm as they had me seated right at the front of the bus where you cant stretch out your legs and when I tried to explain this it fell on deaf ears , the sign said no feet on the front so that was the end of the discussion.
The bus trip was ok except that it was not really a sleeper bus as they kept turning the lighs on and waking you up to take wet towels, which were not needed in the bus whose aircon was on full!!
Arrived at 5am instead of the advertised 7am and took a motor scooter to the first hotel which was too much per night but after going to another two that were closed returned to the first and went to sleep.







15/10/09

Woke at around 10am and got ready to go and see how to get to the islands.
Had this slight pain in my chest but was not worried about it and headed out , however this time only paid 20baht to get to the market in town.
After walking through town for about half an hour I saw very few Europeans but did manage to chat to them and found that you take a taxi for about 15baht and this takes you to the pier where you get the boat to the islands.
At the pier I got talking to a guy called Marcus from Austria who advised that I should go to an island called Ko Phayam and stay at a place called Long beach so I decided to do that tomorrow. The whole time I was chatting to him however I noticed that the pain was absent. After turning down another chance to get ripped off by the ever present taxi guy I caught another bus ( basically a pickup with seats in the back) and after walking to my hotel went back to sleep and during a dream where I was back at the house in Boksburg , even though in the dream it belonged to the new owners I saw Deedee my dog in the tv room and it was then that the pain I felt was because I was missing having a friend to share my travels with , I felt lonely mainly only in countries where I cant engage anyone in conversation due to the language barrier. Hopefully I will meet some friends in Ko Phayam and it would also be great to find someone to travel with.
Went out for a meal and after trying to convey that I wanted a sea food Thai stew I three prawns and a beer for 220 baht , I really need to learn a bit about how to order food so I can stop getting gouged. Got an email from Angela apparently it is much better in the south of India but with her needing to get visas when she arrives here I feel that we will miss each other on this stint of our travels so looks like ill see her in Hong Kong in December.

16/10/09

Took a motor scooter taxi to the ferry for 830am and realised on arrival that you should always check the departure time yourself , fortunately I was early by nearly two hours and so just waited with the ever growing amount of passengers for the boat that was inevitably going to be late anyway. I seem to be getting good at this as the boat didn’t leave till nearly ten as it waited for freight to be loaded which could have been done while it was waiting for the last few hours but it seems that it not only Africa where things are done at the last moment!!
The boat trip was fine and I was even unphased when the captain stopped the boat and with the engines still running but out of gear I hope a crewman dives into the water to remove something from the props!!

The pollution that you see in the water around the cities extends right out to the outer islands and I hope that the island I am staying on Ko Phayam has somewhere that the muck does not spread to.
On arrival to the island I am greeted by a youngster who tries to organise a taxi for me but no one seems to want to take me to Long beach bungalows as they need to ride on the beach and as it was high tide that was not possible , however I decided to go to another resort also on long beach and they didn’t have a problem.



I ended up at Coconut beach resort and got a lift with the owner who drove on these concrete roads that crisscross the island and with me hanging on with my backpack , rucksack and twelve bottles of water I had this feeling that I was like Alice in wonderland weaving down these roads , I almost expected to see a yellow brick road!
On arrival at the bungalows I was shown two places of which I chose the first and practically went to sleep waking at about 5pm to meet some people with whom I watched my first sunset on the Indian ocean , I feel that I am very likely to take a few hundred photos of this area. Ended up at another group of bungalows that had free wifi so I was able to make brief contact with family and friends it did appear to be overloaded and only skype would work. Went to be and slept till 11am.

17/10/09

Woke at ten but felt so tired I just took my time to get up and so managed to only have a fruit salad at around 11 before heading back to my bungalow and sleeping some more,
Met Kirsty , Rachel , Andy and Michelle again and just chilled out for the whole day with a short break to go and swim in the sea with the girls and in the distance the ever present trawlers that fish in the day and trawl for shrimp at night , their lights burning bright all night.
Ended a great day off with a lovely fish in a sweet chilly sauce that only cost 200 baht including the rice , which was a good thing as there are a large amount of dogs here that are malnourished and seem to be only fed when there are tourists here so tonight they at least had some good food I only hope that I am not prolonging their life for some ill to happen in the future.


18/10/09

Went to sleep late last night and was woken by the rats chewing something in my room , so as I was worried it was my stuff I woke up turned on my torch and had a look. Fortunately it was not my stuff but I found out where the large turds were coming from that I saw each morning as on my ceiling was the largest Geko I have ever seen. Went back to sleep to be woken yet again by the rain which was torrential and I was worried about my laptop so up again to make sure that it is properly protected , only to fall asleep and be woken again by rats running up and down my bed and so after a very bad nights sleep I woke up and decided to go for a swim and when I put my swimming pants on a large spider hurriedly exited my right pant leg.
My new bungalow costs a bit more but so far there are no problems let see how tonight is.


19/10/09 - 21/10/09

The last few days have been a bit of a blur with the highlights of trying to learn to Kayak in the surf which proved to be much mirth for anyone watching from the shore especially when the Kayak had a tendency to swing one side into the waves and compounded by the fact that I kept paddling on the wrong side!!


The second highlight was when I hired a scooter to see the rest of the island and promptly found a better beach on which to chill called Buffalo bay , however I was not too upset when I realised that the cost of the bungalows was nearly double what I was paying at long beach.
I had met Marny a couple of days earlier and she had kindly sewed my button on my shorts back on and so was equally surprised to find her on the same bus but getting off first especially as she had left the day before us. She was at the beginning of a years travel , I remember when only five short months ago I was in a similar situation.
We all decided to leave the island together and headed to Krabi so that we could ultimately go to Ko Phi Phi island , however once we were on the bus to Krabi I decided to not go to Ko Phi Phi and then head to the east coast later.
On arrival at the bus station we were told that there was no bus to Krabi that day and had to take two busses and eventually arrived at Krabi at around 8pm where we found that where we wanted to stay was full and had to go to where our taxi driver suggested. After much changing of rooms myself and Andy ended up with an aircon room with Rachael and Kirsty with a fan.

22/10/09

Woke after a night of freezing with the aircon having only an on or off position and set very low to another lazy day where we met another guy called Andy who came out for ten days to Thailand and has now extended it to be about a month.
Went down to the quay and ended up going to another part of the mainland only accessable by boat which was lovely but I had not been prepared and so did not swim , I did however get eaten alive by the ever present sand flies the little bastards!
Finished the day by having some Thai food at the quay which only cost 120 baht for a large beer and two dished of food ( cant believe we paid more the night before at a restaurant) then it was off to watch a movie at a local bar. Changed rooms with Rachael and had a better nights sleep.

23/10/09

Decided to not do much today after a long day in the sun the day before but whilst out at a backpackers for breakfast we saw a Kayaking deal and booked it for tomorrow as well as checking into the backpackers that decent aircons in the rooms that could be adjusted.
The day passed rather well and I even managed to get my sweet corn fix at the market!
Had another trip to the quay for some more seafood which is very good , even saw some prawns for sale for 100 baht per kilogram , that’s two pounds a kilo !!

24/10/09

Had my own room last night as I knew that today was going to be fun as well as tiring as I had not done serious Kayaking before and it was to be a long day.
Started at 8am so had an early wakeup. Have decided that Andy from Germany is th be called BFG big friendly German and Andy from UK The Stig.





After quite a drive and some stops to pick up various groups we arrived at our start point and after having a couple of coffees we headed out towards an island and the mangrove swamp area with a few other groups and guides with our guide Tom.
It was great to have a waterproof camera as the guides were in great from and also knew how to use their paddles to drench the unsuspecting tourist.
After much fun and games we returned to the start position after much work as the Stig and I were not with professionals , as BFG used to Kayak for Germany and he had Kirsty and the Guide had Rachael so as amateurs who were also unfit it seemed that we had a lot to learn.
At lunch I learnt that I was allergic to pineapples which some people have as there tongue ie mine swells up.
After the Kayaking we were taken to a sinkhole filled with water called the swimming pool where we had a lovely swim. Apparently some Swedish divers had dived there to over 200m.

25/10/09

Had a real relaxing day with us all deciding to go to Ko Jum a small island off the coast , however with us spending the whole night out drinking buckets of the local booze and the local red bull which has something in it we were rather tired and had to arrange our own way to the island which when done worked out cheaper than the normal route!!
Ended up at Joy bungalows where the menu was rather limited but very good anyway!
Sharing a bungalow with Andy aka the Stig!

26/10/09

After readjusting to island life I woke up at 11am and headed out for some breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was not the last person up with that going to Andreas.
The day was spent walking down the beach and swimming near what I believe would have been the most expensive bungalows on the island , I believe that they even had Aircon!! Sellouts!
On our walk back we were met by Allison who had only arrived on the island that day.
Had some lovely seafood and rice but ended up going to bed to early and just could not sleep but was rewarded with a bonus when I woke at 4 am and went out to watxh to phosphorecence in the sea as the waves crashed on the beach and the lovely lightning show presented on Gods canvas the sky.

27/10/09

A complete veg day where I was up early and decided that sun lotion was not necessary on my lily white body, well I was wrong and got lots of burn even though I was only out for half an hour. The highlight of my day was swimming in the very warm sea whilst there was a thunderstorm , however everyone thought I would get struck by lightning so that had to end as well.




At night we were a somber lot as it was indeed our last night and we were splitting up and going on in our own directions once we were back in Krabi with Andreas flying to Bangkok and taking a dive star hotel , Kirsty leaving on the 31st and Rachael going to Laos with me and the stig going to Laos a day or so later than Rachael.
It is definitely sad to realise that these specific conditions of a group travelling no matter if we meet up again will never be the same again , fortunately I have made friends that will be friends forever, just wish they could give up cigarettes!!


28/10/09

Another veg day with the only thing being done was the trip to Krabi where when we arrived we decided to take a taxi to Good dreams and were royally gouged when we paid 400 baht to go about 2 km , just take the bus as it stops at the pier !!
Spent the rest of the day at the Good Dreams hostel waiting for the bus to fetch us to go to Bangkok and with the BFG leaving first and flying to Bangkok we were soon only four.
The bus trip was uneventful but could have had more room with me even having a problem with my 5.11 height!


29/10/09

Arrived at Bangkok to a hotel that Arun recommended and promptly went to sleep till 11am when we went off to kill time at a local bar and met Josh from Tasmania who was at the end of his world tour and trying to rationalise the fact that he was soon to be at home. Last night with Kirsty so after actually having four previous last nights this was to actually be the real deal!
Andy and I have decided to go to Laos as we are travelling together and he has only got another week so we have booker onto the same overnight train as Rachael so the leaving party is only for Kirsty.
The party kicked off in The Club in Kaosan road and we were finally in bed at 3am and was woken by Andy aka the Stig who thought that we should all know that he was actually 41 and not 35 we didn’t care , however it has given melots of ammunition.


30/10/09

After another long lie till 12pm we headed out and had some breakfast and relaxed with Kirsty while we all waited for our respective trips to begin.
At 6pm we said our goodbyes to Kirsty and got a taxi to the station for 61 baht in a metered taxi , but not before some taxi driver tried to get 300 baht fixed price for the same thing , I am always surprised at the chances that these guys seem to try on us Farang but believe they only do this as there are some idiots who think that this is actually cheap.




I had this confirmed when we arrived at the station to see some other Farang ( name for foreigners in Thailand) got out of a non aircon Tuk tuk and paid over 100 baht for the same thing as we had just done hahahahahahahah! Silly farang.
Boarded the train at 745pm and found our beds , it is a narrower carriage to the ones in India and therefore the bed setup is slightly different with the beds being parallel to the path in between but the beds were not made so we went to the saloon car that India didn’t have either and had a beer at a slightly inflated price but still a beer on a train!! And Singha nogal.
At around 10pm I went to bed to find it had been made and that it had curtains as well and the guy Jeff below me was reading the last Harry Potter book and told me about a series called the Wheel of time then I went to bed. The clacking of the wheels on the track lulling me into a deep sleep and only waking at 3am to go to the loo , but I was so comfortable that I only made it to the toilet at 5am!!
I think that I will try to get a sleeper train back to Bangkok on my return from Cambodia as it is so much more relaxing.

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Photos

Second bungalow
left first one as thefirst owners the rats wanted me evicted

the beach
better than the original