Thailand - Bangkok to Phuket

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It’s strange to think that the first part of our trip has already come to an end and we have to say good bye to the faces we have been with for the past few weeks. The crossing from Cambodia went fairly well, even if the Cambodians & Thai armies were taking pot shots at each across the border that day... we also enjoyed a fairly long journey to the hotel as the driver was trying to avoid the mass demonstrations that were taking place in the city. However despite all that first impressions of Bangkok were very good. It’s not quite the shanty city we were expecting, indeed compared with the dusty dirt tracks of Cambodia it was weird to be driving on normal roads again. Bangkok is much the same as most cities, high rise buildings, shopping centres but when you scratch the surface you see that it has an underbelly of very vibrant traditional street stalls, markets & religious customs which makes it a very unique and wonderful place to visit.
We spent our final night together in a lovely side street restaurant where they kindly gave us our own section with air conditioning (we have now reached the kind of temperature where this is very much needed!). The food was delicious, especially the pad-Thai, which we had been looking forward to for weeks... After dinner, Komphak lead us through a series of small alley ways where in the distance, the sound of ‘thud thud thud’ could be clearly heard getting louder and louder. There was no mistaking that we were about to walk out onto the one and only, Khao San Road... For me, it looked exactly the same as I remembered from my first visit... bright lights, music, market stalls, noise, backpackers and the odd person who had clearly had too much to drink. There was talk of finding somewhere quiet to have a drink but unfortunately, that just isn’t possible on the Khao San! We eventually headed to an Irish bar (they really are everywhere) this one incidentally was where I spent St Patricks day’s four years ago and it hadn’t changed it all. Massive beer towers ... a pool table for the lads and a resident Thai band that played some old favourites. They were actually pretty good and their Oasis efforts were fantastic. It has been decided that ‘Wonderwall’ is the song of our trip as we have heard it literally EVERYWHERE!
In the morning, our Aussie friends bid us farewell (again) and headed to the airport to catch a flight to Phuket. However we were going to be meeting up again in two days time as we are all heading to the same place... After they left, it was just me, Mark and our newly adopted daughter Diane. (It’s kind of a running joke that Diane has called herself our daughter as we took her in and she stayed with us while she was on her own). We also bid farewell to our New Zealand friends (although again, we will see them in a few months which will be great!)... So for one day before we ourselves moved on, the three of us took some time to stroll around Bangkok and especially the Khao San road. There we enjoyed possibly the best pad-Thai we have ever tasted from a local street vender and it cost less than £1. Therefore, we decided to live it up as ‘budget backpackers’ for the day before we moved on again... cheap food, cheap drink, cheap clothes- what more could we possibly want?!
As we understand it the journey to Phuket is a fairly simple one... first we board an overnight train to Surat Thani, then from there we catch a coach to the port and finally take a boat into Phuket... so that evening we headed to the train station to get the first part underway. Diane and I changed into our leggings (to stop the mozzies) and then once we were all set we headed to the bar to kill some time. The most bizarre thing happened while we were sat there waiting though, as the clock chimed 6pm the Thailand national anthem started playing from all the speakers... everyone then stopped dead in their tracks and got to their feet to salute the king who had appeared on a massive monitor. It was all very patriotic stuff but being the unknowing tourists that we are we had no idea what was going on so remained seated. It was only when several angry Thai men started shouting at us that we realised our mistake and quickly jumped to our feet to pay our respects. We also saw a man with the best beard we have ever seen... it was unbelievable and at least 4 feet long!!
Before boarding the train, we bought some more beers for the journey and took up our seats. The train itself is as good as the trains in China; it’s clean, has plenty of space and also has a disco cart. It’s also very nice because you can actually see around the train and talk to people rather than being locked away in a compartment like in Vietnam. As we got underway we started talking to an older guy opposite us who has been travelling for years. He was a retired teacher who goes away for a couple of months every year around Asia and just loves to travel. He reminded me of my granddad for some reason (I’m sure he wouldn’t take that as compliment though... he was just so sweet looking!)... Eventually, the beds on the train were bought down which means the two seats at the bottom become one bed and another is pulled down from the ceiling. With that, I decided to go exploring to see if I could find the disco cart. I only got into the next cart from ours and behold-there it was!! It’s not quite the disco cart Mark was expecting, there was no disco ball or dance floor and in fact it was pretty much the same as all the other carts except there was a bar and music being played... ah well it would do nicely anyway... so the three of us moved in and started drinking a few more beers with no plan other than to drink the bar dry. Before long we started chatting to a group next to us who also happened to be English. However these guys were teachers who lived in Thailand and were taking a group of students to Koh Tao (not sure where they had left their students??) but we had a good laugh anyway. The disco cart closed around 11.00pm so we headed back to our beds. I wish I could tell you more but there was a lot drunk and things get a little hazy.
The morning came around quickly and with it so did the sore heads. As we got ready to depart the train we talked about getting breakfast and what we fancied having, “Bacon sandwich...no! EGG and bacon sandwich...NOOOO! BIG fry up!” in the way only a person with a hangover can appreciate.
We decided the best thing we could do was have breakfast and then get the connecting bus to Phuket. It should be simple and take no more than a couple of hours. However things it seemed would not be that simple... firstly there was no time for breakfast as a coach was departing straight away... so much for bacon and eggs. Secondly after a couple of hours on the coach and a quick nap we stopped, jumped off ready to go only to be told that we had ANOTHER two hours to go... Thirdly there was no boat... somehow after another two hours we woke up in Phuket?? How we had crossed the water I still do not know to this day but somehow we had ended up on the island?? By this point things were looking desperate... we were ill, had no breakfast and were sat on a magic flying coach... what on earth was going on. Finally after four long hours we were nearly there, we had booked a taxi to take us on the last leg to the hotel and were slightly shocked when the coach pulled up on the side of the motor way and kicked us out with our bags?? There we sat not knowing what to do, when our taxi pulled up and collected us... you have to smile here in Thailand, when you’re trying to get about you just have to take it on faith that the tour companies know what they are doing... 9/10 they do and you get exactly to where you need to be... however not once on the way have you got any clue what the hell is going on!!

Phuket
After our rather hung over arrival it was nice to get into the hotel to sort ourselves out. First thoughts on Phuket were that we slept too long on the coach and somehow ended up in Magalof. It just has neon bars everywhere and that unmistakeable feeling of tack... Also much to my amusement you couldn’t go two feet without someone jumping in your face and saying in very bad Thai “Ping Pong Show??” (for the parents reading this I won’t explain what that is)... but all in all Phuket is a good place.
The hotel is basic but cheap, the beach and water is lovely and you can get a cheese burger easily enough so things are looking up.
We have come here really to meet up with our friends the Aussies who are staying in a 5* resort about 400 yards down the road for the week. The plan is simple... spend all day using their pool and facilities then at night all go out for dinner... we also have Kate & Denny staying nearby too so most of the old group has met back up again which is great. After spending the last few weeks constantly on the go, moving from place to place it’s lovely just to chill out.
The island of Phi Phi is also only a boat trip away too so one day we made the most of it and went to take a look. Phi Phi is just stunning and on our boat trip we were taken to the actual beach where the film ‘The Beach’ was filmed. In the film it is shown as a beautiful secluded lagoon but when you actually go there is a massive gap in the rock and there are just hundreds of tourists everywhere, so although cool to see, it looked better for Hollywood. We also spent a good hour snorkelling in crystal clear waters off the coast before hitting the beach bar for a cocktail. When snorkelling the guys running the boat would throw bread around you for the fish to eat and before you knew it you have literally thousands of colourful fish everywhere!! We both agreed we would have loved to have spent a few days on Phi Phi but it was so expensive so it was just the day trip for us... We also heard that Kate & Denny were bungee jumping so decided to all go along and support them. However as fun as it looked there was no way we were heading up there to do it, maybe in NZ? Or maybe never!
As we came to leave and head on to our next destination, we again said goodbye to everyone (this was the third time now) but we would be seeing them again in Melbourne before you know it. The plan now is just to cross country to the Island of Koh Samui and then Island hop our way back up through Koh Phangan and then finally to Koh Tao before heading back to Bangkok.

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