Blogs from South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 911

Arriving in Ko Samui, we were bombarded with overpriced drivers at the pier. Vivienne knew they were overcharging and refused to give in. They were charging from something like 200 Baht to 400 Baht per person, it was crazy. We managed to get to Chaweng beach for 50 Baht each. Although it was raining heavily, the songtheaw driver sure was speeding in the rain. I’m surprised to find Vivienne falling asleep beside me amidst the bumpy ride, she must be really tired. I just opened my eyes wide and took in the sights of the island, and whatever that hit me in the face (including the rain of course). The kids and locals gave us curious stares, eventhough they should be quite used to travellers like us. The songtheaw drove fast in the rain. I ... read more

It is a beautiful morning and I am eager to get going, yet still we are late for the morning assembly at nine, the fact that I didn't catch much sleep last night probably had a lot to do with that. Our group has already transfered to the diving ship and departed, but one of the guys at the beach sticks us in his long boat and we give chase. As we catch up with the ship outside Ko bangu, or number nine, we join in on an improvised breakfast of some kind of fish porridge and toast with strawberry jam. We spend the morning making a few stops around number nine and the northern side of number eight. The amazing colour of the water is even more stark here. We return to the camp to ... read more

The highlight of the trip, today we'll make the trip into the Andaman Sea and the Similan islands. There is always something exciting about remote islands, and even though the popular nature reserve will hardly be deserted it promises to be something else. We get up early and pack up our things and check out of the hotel and sit down in the lobby like two zombies waiting for our transfer to pick us up. A white minibus arrives a little bit after 7.30 but it turns out it is not ours, and some other guests jump in. This scenario repeats a few times and since I imagine everybody is going to the Khao Lak docks it seems mighty inefficient. A glance at the watch and our transport is now more than half an hour delayed ... read more

After having checked out from the hotel at noon and having a rice dish for brunch at a nearby Thai restaurant we start to think about today's agenda. The plan is to arrive in Khao Lak a bit up the coast north of Phuket island and before we've really given it a lot of thought the answer appears in front of us in the shape of an old little man who offers to drive us around Phuket for the day, and drop us off in Khao Lak for the evening. Perfect! I would like to go down to the Phuket Aquarium by the pier southeast of town, but he tells us the aquarium is currently closed for repairs and offers to take us to the Phuket viewpoint instead. This being a tourist area in Southeast Asia ... read more

Today we begin our trip south. After packing my things Kay picks me up at the hotel and we transfer to Don Muang airport. There's not a whole lot to do over at the domestic terminal so while we wait we visit the stand of a travel agent to check if he has any good lodging in Khao Lak, where we intend to go in a couple of days. He tells me accommodation is pretty much fully booked nearing the New Year and gets on the phone to talk to a colleague of his, presumably over there. The call begins to drag out, and he asks us when our plane departs. I tell him no problem, we still don't have to leave in the next 20 minutes. Well, the time starts flying, and he picks up ... read more