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Published: December 27th 2006
On arrival at Bangkok airport, we were hit with a whole different Asia. It was easy to see that we were no longer in the highly sanitised, heavily westernised Hong Kong. Having chickened out of getting a bus, we stood in line for an airport taxi, willing to pay the exorbitant fares, just for an easy life. Not surprising the taxi reps in the slightest, we stated our destination as Khao San Road, and soon we were winging our way to the backpacker haven.
As we stepped out of the taxi, the full effect of Khao San Road smacked us square in the face. The heat, the smells, the people, the noise. It was incredible. The first night was spent finding a hostel, finding food and then finding bed. The sightseeing and jetlag had caught up and all I wanted was sleep.
The next day, after finding a cheaper hostel and moving into yet another windowless cube, we set out to do some sightseeing. Bangkok seems to be alive with markets. No doubt mostly frequented by backpackers, we did our bit and bought tie-died sarongs for the beach and bed sheets. Franny also decided that to look more like
Tuk-tuk deathtrap
We had just stepped off this and were feeling a bit woozy!travellers we needed dangly earrings, so having bought a couple of pairs and the requisite backpacker headbands, we definitely now fitted in. Khao San Road was crawling with tourists and everything they could ever need. You could get your hair dreaded, threaded or braided; get henna and real tattoos, depending how daring you are; piercings on any part of your body; you can get drunk at any time of the day or night; you can choose from many types of food; you can dance the night away, and of course there is, as always, the Irish Pub. It is quite a scene. A backpacker's Benidorm if you like. Whether that is your sort of thing is completely up to you.
We took a tuk-tuk towards the palace but found we were not appropriately dressed, so we took a wander through the streets, passing hawker stalls and markets and made our way toward the river. From here we took a longboat ride, and due to the time of day, we ended up getting the boat to ourselves. There was no tour guide and our driver did not seem to speak English, so as we sailed down the river we took
in the scenery but did not really know what we were looking at. Every so often, the driver would slow the boat and shout at us to take pictures of various things, but did not actually say what they were. All very pretty nonetheless and the journey was mostly relaxing, although there were some tuk-tuk moments when we were certain we were going to crash and be plunged lifejacketless into the tea coloured water.
We made it out alive, but after some more meandering, we had both decided we had had enough of the big city, and would probably like a bit of laidback island life. We booked our tickets to Koh Samui, an island off the east coast of Thailand, and spent the next couple of days taking in the sights of Bangkok, but with our hearts not entirely in it.
Our second tuk-tuk journey took us to the train station. Wisely we had bought sleeper seats for the overnight journey, and although there was no A/C, there was a fan that moved the hot air about. Franny was slightly concerned by the cockroaches in the carriage, but we settled down for a few hours sleep before
waking as the train arrived in Surat Thani. I have never been too well equipped for weeing standing up in the hole-in-the-ground toilets, but I have to say, my efforts were not helped by the movement of the train, so I was not the happiest of people stepping on to that station!
A coach and a ferry trip later and we arrived on Koh Samui. It was a beautiful place to be, and after finding a beach bungalow to stay in for the night on Chaweng beach, we walked up on to the main street. Life seemed slower on the island. It was so much more appealing than the dirt and noise of Bangkok. There were dogs lazing about everywhere. They just laid down in the middle of the pavement and honestly looked like they were dead. I resisted temptation to kick them to make sure, as Franny would have probably kicked me back harder. A lot of the people also seemed to seemed to sit around, not doing very much. I am sure that, in fact, they were actually very busy, but they just managed to make it look like lazing. There always seemed to be far too
many staff in the restaurants and shops. At the supermarket
there would be three people at the checkout: one to scan your items, one bag them and one to smile at you when you were leaving. However, no matter how many waitresses were hanging around at the bar or restaurant of your choice, all of them made a conscious effort not to catch your eye.
Most of the people we met in Khao San road were obviously other travellers, but in Koh Samui, it was mostly tourists we saw. There were a lot of families and couples, and big groups of men looking to party. I had previously read in our guidebook that if you are a male going to Thailand, then you will have beautiful women throwing themselves at you round every corner. However, if you are female, you should get used to being largely ignored. I did not believe this before I arrived in Samui, but within a day, it became pretty blatant. Thai women lined the bars and clubs, trying to entice western men and their money inside, while completely disregarding all western women. At every turn there were western men and Thai women out on
dates. Not once did I see a Thai man and western woman together.
The only times we were not overlooked were when someone was trying to get us to buy something. Which, at Chaweng beach, was roughly every couple of steps. You begin to lose your identity as people stop calling you by your name, and instead greet you with the product they want you to buy. It could be tailor-made suits or dresses, dvds and cds, dinner, or rides in tuk-tuks and taxis, among many other things. The phrase "Hello, masssaaaaaaaage?" will go with me to my grave due to the frequency and high pitched tone at which it was shouted at me. Honestly, all the time.
The thing that struck me most about the island was the driving. It is apparently not the done thing to use indicators or mirrors. You do not need bother to look behind you when you are pulling out, but if you do look and there is a vehicle coming, you might as will pull out anyway. Whole familes seem to ride on scooters together. The largest number of people I saw on one scooter was six: 2 women and 4
small children. I also saw a mother driving a scooter whilst holding a baby and an open umberella. There also seems to be no limit to the amount of people allowed to ride on the back of a pick-up. Helmets are rarely worn, and usually carried in the basket on the front of the scooter, but I would not imagine they would give much more protection than an upturned mixing bowl placed on one's head. Horns are honked for no
apparent reason and with great frequency, especially when overtaking and undertaking, or when the driver sees a pretty lady.
We decided against hiring a scooter.
We stayed in three different hotels on Samui. The first was beach bungalow, which was really rather lovely but a touch too expensive at 6 pounds each a night. We moved into the second guest house on Soi Green Mango ('soi' means road) on our second day. When we had viewed the room it had been during the day when all was quiet, and although there were bars and clubs round about the hotel, it was stated that they closed at 2am. It turned out that as an added bonus to staying at
this hotel, you actually got 20 different sets of music being blared into the room until about 7 oclock in the morning. It is amazing what you can actually block out. All the songs merged in one giant noise that was quite easy to get to sleep to. We even stayed a second night. After that, we found a fantastic guest house further along the beach above a travel agent called Baan Chaweng Guest House and we would highly recommend it. The ladies who ran the hotel and the travel agent were the friendliest we met on the island, the room was clean and well kept, and it was a steal at only 3 pounds a night each. Franny was very pleased with herself with that find!
We took an organised tour of the island, as we had no transportation. It was a tour of the usual tourist traps taken by air-conditioned minibus. The first stop was at the Grandfather and Grandmother Rock, which were rocks in the shape of naughty bits where you could pray for fertility. We also had our first refrigerated coconuts at that stopoff. The cold coconut milk really did the job in the sweltering
lunchtime heat. We visited a mumified body of a monk who had died 20 years ago whilst praying in the lotus position. He was wearing sunglasses. There was a stop at a monkey show, which proved that Thailand really does not have the same animal cruelty laws as we do in the UK. This was also the reason we declined the crocodile show (for an extra 600 baht of course), and the ride up to the waterfalls on an elephant (another 400 baht) and decided to climb up using our own legs. There was also lunch on the seafront at Nathon beach and some more stopoffs at the Big Buddha and Plai Leam Temple. So we got to see the main tourist attractions of the island, and while it was enjoyable, we do know that we should have maybe made more of an effort to find the real Koh Samui.
The beaches were gorgeous. They looked like a Bounty advert, 'the taste of paradise' indeed. We mostly enjoyed doing some sunbathing and playing in the sea by day, and hitting the bars by night. I had originally planned to learn to dive but unfortunately I caught a cold. I
am the only person I know who can catch a cold in 30 degree heat. But I did not let it stop us having fun. On one of the nights we went to a beach bar that had chaise longues for lounging on while we supped Mai Tais. After this we went to our first, and probably last, outdoor rave. It was an experience and really was mildly amusing, but it turned out to be a bit glowsticks and house music for the self-confessed hip-hop freaks that we are. Needless to say, we did not last til closing at 9am, instead wimping out at around 5.
We stayed on Samui for just over a week, and both really enjoyed our time there, but travelling is the name of the game, so we decided to go next to Phuket. Phuket is an island on the opposite coast of Thailand which, along with Koh Phi Phi, was hit by the devastating tsunami 2 years ago. We took a ferry and then a minibus to the island, as it can be accessed by land. The minibus picked us up from the hotel in the morning and drove us 45 minutes to the
other side of the island. Here we were told to get out and on to another bus and driven 15 minutes to the ferry port. Once there, we were told to get out again and walk on to the ferry ourselves. After a shorter journey than the one taken to get to the island, we got back on the bus and were driven 30 minutes to what I imagine is the Thai equivalent of an M6
motorway services, and were told to get out and wait an hour and a half for another bus to turn up. We waited out the time by having lunch, but everyone including ourselves seemed to be a bit dubious about eating the meat, and opted for rice and vegetables. The next bus was obviously late, and we were all crammed onto this minibus, to drive 5 minutes and then ordered to get out and buy taxi tickets to be used once in Phuket. We politely declined and got back into the bus, again. We managed to drive for a whole hour before we stopped again. We were not sure, but we think the driver was lost. After pouring ourselves back into the minibus, we
finally set off for the long 4 hour stint to Phuket. Twelve hours after leaving our hotel on Samui we finally made it to our hotel on Phuket. We had been told by the travel agent it would take 7 hours, but nothing, it seems, is easy on Thailand.
After our initial night at the Montana Grande hotel, we moved into the 4 Seasons for the remainder of our stay. From Bangkok being incredibly cheap, then Samui being slightly more expensive, we had now arrived on Phuket in high season and everything was, by Thai standards, very expensive. We stayed on Patong Beach, again a very touristy area. Where we had found Bangkok too busy and loud, and found Samui to be slightly coupley and quiet, Phuket seemed to be somewhere in between. There were a lot of tourists, all families and party kids.
Our days on Phuket were spent doing very little. I enjoyed taking time out and found it easy to laze on the beach, sunbathing and reading, but Franny found herself getting a little bored and restless (although she did finish her gruelling book Battle Royale, finally!). The scenery and beaches were lovely and the
nightlife was good, and as long as you did not expect too much, then Phuket did not disappoint. I would imagine that if you put more in to your stay on the island, then it would give a lot more back, but we both really were not that interested. The tourist attractions advertised were fairly similar to those we had experienced on Samui, and in the searing heat I did not feel the need to stray too far from the beach. Franny got a little of the Asian Food Effect (as termed by Jon on an earlier travelblog), so was not feeling her best.
By the time we left for Singapore, we had both had had enough of the Thai lifestyle, and again were longing for something more substantial with which to occupy our time. We had enjoyed our experiences in Thailand, but were looking forward to being busy again and the sights to see of Singapore.
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Krysia
non-member comment
your photos are gorgeous, this is such a cool way of keeping us updated, well done girls. it looks lovely where u are and your intent on making me very jealous is working wonders!! hope you've both had a great christmas in the sun (weird !!) and look forward to ur next entry. love youu xxxx