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Published: July 20th 2010
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Hi zusammen,
die letzten zwei Wochen haben Elaine und ich in Sued Thailand verbracht. Unsere erste Station war Ko Tao, eine Insel im Golf von Thailand. Die ersten vier Fotos geben euch einen kleinen Eindruck von der tropischen Landschaft dort. Die meisten Touristen auf Ko Tao sind Taucher, die generell ein hohes Reisebudget haben. Das fuehrt dazu, dass die Preise auf dieser Insel leider (relativ) hoch sind.
Von Ko Tao sind wir zurueck aufs Festland gefahren zum National Park Kao Sok. Wir haben dort in sogenannten Dschungel Huetten uebernachtet. Am Tag der Anreise haben wir Waesche gewaschen, die wir dann ueber dem Gelaende der Terrasse aufgehangen haben. Kurz nachdem wir fertig waren ist der Affe (siehe fuenftes Foto) ueber unsere gesamte Waesche gelaufen, die somit wieder schmutzig wurde! Nicht zu fassen, zumindest haben wir eine Fotobeweis :-)
Am naechsten Tag, haben wir dann an einer Boottour (siehe sechstes Foto) mit anschliessendem Trek zu einer Hoehle teilgenommen.
Die naechste Station war Krabi, ein Ort an der Westkueste von Thailand. Hier mussten wir feststellen, dass wir uns in einem der Gasthaeuser bevor, oder auf der Faehre von Ko Tao, Bettwanzen geholt haben. Die Stiche sehen aehnlich aus wie Moskito Stiche,
jucken aber erheblich mehr und bleiben zwei bis drei Tage. Die Biester koennen in Stoffmaterialien leben, also haben wir unsere gesamte Kleidung zur Reinigung gegeben.
In der Umgebung von Krabi gibt es tolle Straende, wie zum Beispiel auf dem siebten Foto.
Der letzte Ort, den wir in Thailand besucht haben, war die Insel Ko Phagnan. Unter Rucksackreisenden ist die Insel bekannt fuer die monatliche Vollmond Party. Als wir da waren war kein Vollmond, allerdings gibt es dort jeden Abend Parties. Authentische Thai Kultur sucht man hier vergeblich, stattdessen gibt es Strandbars die toedliche Whiskey Eimer auschenken (Mekong Whiskey, Cola und Red Bull), Feuer Shows (z.B. Feuer Limbo oder Seilspringen mit einem Feuerseil(!)) und Pool Parties.
Viele Gruesse,
Patrick
Two weeks later, and we've got very little to show except tons and tons of beautiful Thai beaches. Having spent time in northern and central Thailand in May, we headed south upon our arrival from Laos.
Our first stop, Ko Tao, was a tiny and beautiful island off the east coast (picture 1). Unfortunately, upon arrival, we discovered that the island has quite a "resort" feel to it. But what could we do other than
shrug our shoulders and head to a resort. We found a decent one for an OK price which also allowed us the use of the resorts two private beaches, one of which is shown in the second picture. I usually prefer public beaches, but as Patrick and I often had the beach entirely to ourselves, I can't say that I didn't enjoy the peace and quiet just a little. As diving was not exactly a budget activity and you can only lay on a beach for so long, Patrick and I spent our days hiking (really bush-whacking) our way from one beach to another and cycling around the island. However, as the island turned out to be very hilly and our bikes had no low gears, we spent just as much time hauling the bikes uphill as riding them down. Another excellent biking experience!
From Ko Tao we headed west to Khao Sok National Park for some jungle trekking. To get there, we had to take a boat through the night to get back to the main land. Our first night boat ride (on the way to Ko
Tao) had been a little unfortunate as I wasn't feeling well
and we simply weren't well prepared. I was determined that our second night boat would be better. Despite being ready, the boat trip started off
badly with the boat being absolutely packed, myself having a very up close encounter with a rat, and the seas being extremely rough. Patrick and I (as well as many others) spent our waking hours with our
heads stuck out the window sucking in fresh air. And, to top it all off, it finally happened....we picked up bed bugs!! I knew those sheets had never seen a splash of soap in their lifetime!
Before becoming aware of the bug situation (not enough bites the first two nights), we spent some time at Khao Sok National Park. We had a nice big room and decided to do a ton of laundry. Not a great idea as
the ~15 monkeys who lived around our bungalow thought it amusing to leave monkey paw prints on our clothes (picture 5) and throw them to the ground whenever we weren't around. Our first day was spent on the poach in a defensive stance watching our clothes dry. Other than the monkeys, Khao Sok offered pretty challenging hikes into the
jungle and a beautiful lake with mountain tops jetting out from the water
(picture 6).
Onwards west to the coastal town of Krabi. We were lucky enough to arrive during some sort of food festival, so Patrick and I were treated to a variety of delicious and complementary Thai snacks as we
strolled around the city. The last picture is of a cliff very popular with rock climbers that overlooked one of Krabi's neighboring beaches. It was also in Krabi that we figured out and dealt with the bed bug situation by machine washing absolutely EVERYTHING in our bags. Ewww!!!
Zipping back all the way to the east coast, we were able to visit the infamous island of Ko Phangan. This island is renown for its full moon party, which sadly we were not able to squeeze into the schedule.
But there was definitely a pretty good beach party every night we were there that, in addition to whiskey buckets, involved fire shows, fire jump rope, fire limbo, fire everything! Definitely not the safest option, but still great entertainment.
Take care,
Elaine
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Dad
non-member comment
As usual, a very entertaining account. It is a sure sign that you are having a great time. Does Patrick ever get a tan? Dad