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Asia » Thailand
November 12th 2011
Published: December 8th 2011
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Our 6th border crossing of the year. Our first via boat across the Mekong River, the natural divide between Laos/Cambodia and Thailand, from Huay Xai in Laos to Chiang Rai in Thailand. Not wanting to hang around as we'd been on a rather uncomfortable overnight bus to get to the border and were starting to feel weary, we jumped straight onto a minibus and headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. Not that you'd know it staying there! Our guesthouse was run by a really friendly Swiss guy called Roger (who Rhian reckoned fancied me...we won't talk about that), but he helped us with every need we had, from the best place in town for pizza to where the tourist police office was (ipod loss), top host! We had arranged to meet up with one of my best mates Rich and his girlfriend Ally, which I was more excited about than I care to mention as we'd not seen any familiar faces for 6 months!! We met in an Irish bar so we could watch the football, but instead we just talked for ages about what had been happening in both our worlds in the last half-year. That was until Saints vs Derby County randomly came on the TV! Amazing!
We spent the next couple of days hanging out, visiting a hill-top temple via sawngthaew which is a kind of pick up truck with a roof and benches, and the Sunday Walking Street Market which was awesome. I could have furnished my (imaginary) house with the stuff on sale whilst dining on pad thai and banana fritters 😊 We had planned to get the overnight train across central Thailand to Bangkok but Mother Nature put a stop to that! We had been following the news of the floods as best we could on Thai TV which Roger helped to translate for us, and we thought we might just get away with the trains still running but after a visit to one of the tourist information centres we discovered that the track was under 3m of water and the buses were taking up to 36 hours to make the journey... By plane it is then! A ridiculously cheap flight later and in just over an hour we were in Bangkok!

With no thanks to the out-of-date Lonely Planet suggesting getting the airport express bus, we had to get a taxi into town which turned out to be ridiculously cheap. I've sinced learned that Bangkok's taxis are amongst the cheapest in the world, as long as you can convince the driver to use the meter. Blood from a stone etc. I had already booked our guesthouse near but not too close to the main tourist area, Khao San Road. A crazy street containing all the buying and eating demands of a tourist to SE Asia in a 500m stretch. Think Hangover 2 but more crowded! I had secretly been in cahoots with Rhian's parents about planning a massive surprise for her by organising her mum to fly out to meet us here, and all the efforts to keep schtum, which I almost wasted on one occasion but played off as absent-mindedness, were totally worth it to see the look on Rhian's face as her mum walked down the stairs of our guesthouse! The whole plan couldn't have gone more smoothly, even the guesthouse staff were in on it! Thank you Sam Sen Sam! We spent the whole week with Lu in Bangkok doing more sightseeing than we'd done in aaaages which felt really good. We visited the stunning Grand Palace, a complex of golden, bejewelled temples and buildings including Wat Phra Kaew in which the Emerald Buddha, a precious statue on which the strength of the city is dependent according to Thai custom, is housed. We also went to Wat Pho which is home to the giant Reclining Buddha. It is seriously massive. Obviously this statue is the main draw for Wat Pho but wandering around the more tranquil areas of the complex is more rewarding with several other temples of impressive beauty and craftmanship who see less visitors and thus give you time to stand and appreciate them.
Day 2 we walked to the north of the main centre to visit the residence of the King and the surrounding parkland but of course it was Monday so it was closed.. But within the park is Dusit Zoo which we thought would be a random but fun day, and it was! A surprisingly good park compared to my stereotype vision of a Thai zoo! And Rhian was happy to be doing anything as her mum was there!

We decided an excursion was needed to show Lu that we didn't just sit about in city cafe's all day (umm...). So we went on the train to Kachanaburi, more famous as the home of the Bridge Over the River Kwai! The floods were really starting to affect the daily workings of Bangkok now and our taxi couldn't make it all the way to the station so we had to jump on a specially comandeered bus to get to our train with minutes to spare! A really nice train journey through the countryside of Western Thailand got us to our destination, and we had decided to have a bit of a history lesson before visiting the bridge. The fantastic Death Railway Museum opposite the main cemetery for all those that died building it under Japanese rule gave us a complete history of the railway that runs from Bangkok to Burma, used to transport materials for the Japanese war ambitions. We then went and walked across the bridge which was a strange feeling after reading all the terrible sufferings of the enslaved builders, but still felt kind of cool to walking across this famous landmark.
Rhian's mum left us after 5 great days and on our last day we just wandered around the town, and ended walking over the main bridge across the river and witnessed the full extent of the floods. There were people packed into small boats with their possessions making for the centre of town where the flooding was less. The navy were even helping out some of the older people. But importantly everyone still had a smile on their faces as if the worst flooding Bangkok has seen in 100 years was just a bit of rain!
Right then, enough rain let's go to the islands!!



A visit to Bangkok train station highlighted the effects of the flooding at the time we wanted to leave for the island of Koh Tao. The train line connecting all destinations south of the city was under water so the only means of travel was by the dreaded overnight tourist bus and then boat across to the island. We were assured by the guy in the 'offical' travel agency that the bus was VIP sleeper, showed us pictures and everything...

...One sleepless night later on a cramped noisy bus with the most arrogant and annoying American 'Rockstar' sat in front of me, and we were literally dumped on the side of the road at 4am in the middle of nowhere along with 6 other confused travellers. With no one having a clue about what to do, we were greeted by a random guy who pulled up in his car gave us all a coloured sticker to put on and then told us to wait. Shortly whisked off on the back of a sawngthaew and then on the boat, we arrived on Koh Tao mid morning feeling very weary, and were glad to have pre-booked our accommodation!

Our choice of guesthouse was a good one, Sunshine Bungalows should you ever go to Koh Tao. Fantastic, uninterrupted views over the bay below us from our cosy wooden bungalow, and decent food all prepared by Mod who runs the whole setup by herself! She was one of the nicest hosts we've had and turned out to be a real hero to me.

The place was a bit far from the main populated area of the island, requiring a 30 minute walk but we didn't mind. The island itself is a SCUBA diver's Mecca, with a plethora of centres along the beach front offering various courses from beginner to master. This being the case, we weren't really enticed by anything else on the island, resulting in us walking around for miles until we realised we'd gone a bit far from our guesthouse so decided to hire a moped. Excellent! We could now zip around the island sweat-free! This fantasy wasn't to last long when in true Lake male fashion I lost control going around a corner and ended up ploughing into a load of terracotta plant pots and a brick wall. Smooth. People came rushing to our aid (Rhian got very lucky and had no injuries) and helped me up along with the scratched up bike. Conveniently the clinic was across the street and I was still in shock so until the nurse sadistically lathered my leg with iodine I hadn't felt any pain. I'm sorry if I seem to be going into a lot of detail but this is the first major incident of our trip! 😊 As a result of my attempt at being Valentino Rossi, I was banned from going in the water for a few weeks until the wounds had healed. No diving for me then!

I mentioned earlier that Mod had been a hero to me, and this is because the following day she taxied me around to get my bike back from where i'd crashed it, try and get it repaired to no avail, and then follow me (yes i had to get back on..) back to the shop we hired it from where I was hit with a hefty bill which she managed to get me 20% discounted from! Legend.

Seeing as there was nothing keeping us on Koh Tao, we decided to hot-foot it across to the opposite coast of Thailand, which plays host to the Andmaman Sea.
Our first stop was Raylay beach, whisked there by longtail boat and helped onto the shore by the driver with my bandaged leg hoisted up in the air! We checked into a room and headed straight out for a walk to the famous West Beach. Stunning. This is seriouslly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. A perfect curve of white sand with a backdrop of tall rock formations and overhanging palm trees protecting the worshippers from the intense midday sun. We had arrived quite late so missed out on some sunbathing but we more than made up for it the next day. Rhian assures me the water was as perfect as the beach to swim in. Lots of little bars and cafe's sit upon the East side of the island where we were staying and were perfect for chilling in after overdosing on vitamin D during the day.
Our next stop was Koh Lanta, a bigger island but still relatively untouched in terms of tourism. We stayed at a complex of beachside bungalows that included a swimming pool, all for 10 pound a night!! :D We ended up staying a week here as Rhian had decided she was going to do her PADI which I was very proud of her for and insanely jealous at the same time! The 4 days seemed to rush by and she always came back excited about what she had done that day either in the pool learning theory or out on the open ocean amongst the turtles and fish! I spent the 4 days just lounging by the pool, making good friends with two English girls, Sasha and Laura and drinking Singha beers!

I entered Thailand with a pre-conceived idea about what I would find and experience but I've come away after 4 awesome weeks with that idea completely dissolved. Thailand is awesome.

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