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Published: April 2nd 2007
Bangkok Train Station
This is the Bangkok Train Station... What more can I say? Preface:
This took a very long time to get posted. It seems to be getting harder to do the furthur we get from Bangkok. We are already in Ayuthaya and will get to that, hopefully, sometime soon. Here is the blog from our time on the beaches.
LINDSAY
We got to the train station in plenty of time to catch our train to the beach so we decided to head to MBK (the giant 6 story mall full of cheap things) to buy James some shoes. At home I cannot find shoes that fit me and here James cannot, however, he is in lov with all the shoes here so it is painful for him. He is experiencing what I experience at home all the time. I have yet too be all that successful in finding shoes here either though.
MBK was a bust for shoes so we headed back to the train station to catch our second class fan-cooled sleeper car. The air con was sold out so we had to go with the fan cooled. The windows were open and there was a fan so there was a nice breeze and it really was
Monk in a Crowd
A Monk standing in the midst of the hussle and bussle of the Bangkok Train Station. not that bad at all.
Next to us was a young Thai woman with the cutest 1 1/2 year old girl conversed with us in a combination of Thai and charades... and then it was time for sleep.
Sleeping on the upper berth of a train is kind of frightening. I kept thinking about falling out of the top bunk of dad's motor-home, while sleeping - While the thing was stationary... let alone moving like the train would be. However, I found out that there are at least straps to hold you in and so it was alright.
The night train turned out to be a good option because it saves you from wasting an entire day travelling and prevents the bordom as you sleep through almost the whole thing. The day train would have been cool as well though as you would get to see some of the countryside. We did get about an hour of that before it got dark this time. Mostly we saw little shanty-style houses made from some crazy combinations of leftover scrap wood and metal roofing. But also some countryside as well.
We caught a boat after the train to
German Influence?
There seems to be some influence left by many other countries here in Bangkok. Here seems to be one of them. take us to the island of Ko Pha Gnan. On the boat we watched a Jim Carrey movie dubbed into Thai. Interesting... From there we caught a ride into a small town near the beach to await someone from our guesthouse to pick us up. James noticed that we were in the exact same spot he waited for a ride 4 years ago to go to another beach. He had not noticed at first as a big new 7-11 and a pharmacy have opened up on that corner over the last few years.
There are 7-11's on almost every block here... and I am not exaggerating. You can literally walk 3 blocks and hit 3 7-11's. Much the same as here they sell mainly junk food but here you can buy seafood mayonaise or seaweed flavoured chips and Fanta (which I tried the other day and am not all that fond of).
Anyway, finally our host from Haad Khom Bungalows (on Haad Khom beach... well Haad means beach, so more like Khom Beach in English) picks us up and we were off to the first of two unbelieveable roads. In Winnipeg, we have our fair share of potholes
Housing
This is a photo taken from the moving train. It is kind of an example of how much of the housing in constructed here. but this is insane. The road was at times almost completely vertical, going up and going down. The tires looked like they might be swallowed up by the giant holes and portions of crumbled, unpaved roads. It was jerky and hot but it had some incredible scenery.
Haad Khom was a quiet, sleepy little beach with only a few companies offering places to stay. The beach was sandy and the ocean in from of our place was rocky and full of coral, making for good snorkeling. I saw a crayfish-like thing building a home in the sand underwater, while a fish guarded his door and ate the bugs he stirred up. I met a fish with a defiant and challenging gaze who stared me down. He was harmless but they were everywhere and they looked fierce. There were sea urchins everywhere so you had to watch your feet so we bought floaties so we could skim the top of the water and enjoy the view. There was a lot to see and some things I would rather not see (Sea cucumbers are gross! - think giant, dead-looking leeches).
At Haad Khom we met two Canadian girls, one now
Woman & Child on The Train
This is the woman and her 1 1/2 year old we met on the train to the islands. living in Blegium and the other in Taiwan. The place was full of Germans, and a few french guys, one of whom had been there for 4 months. Mostly they smoked the Ganga and played chess.
James tried to practice his Thai with the kitchen staff only to find out that they could not understand anything he was saying to them, not because his Thai was so bad but because they were all Burmese and had been in Thailand mere weeks.
Our bungalow was nothing special. It was very close to the beach and yet tucked away and private. It was functional, however, it only had electricity for a few hours a night and therefore was both dark and hot (the fan would cease to blow over night). It was a little musty and the water a little smelly. We didn't spend much time there anyway, prefering to be in the water, reading in one of the beach huts or having a snack in the open air restaurant.
While playing scrabble in a beach hut we had our first rain. It was the most refreshing thing ever! We were under a roof and only got the spray.
Young Thai Boys Playing
Rural Thai sights from passing train. There is no hot at home like there is here. Roxy used to talk about coming home to Winnipeg after being at the lake and not being able to breath. Although she was always saying it was the pollution, here it is literally heavy with hot moisture.
When we left Haad Khom James said "I wouldn't write this off as somewhere to come back to at the end of the trip" - And he meant it. We had a great time, it was quiet and relaxing... But then we got to Haad Sai Daeng and Coral View resort. I think we immediately decided that this is where we would come back to in the end.
Haad Sai Daeng is on the Island of Ko Tao. We caught a high speed catamaran into the main port and the people from Coral View picked us up at the pier. We picked up a woman before heading to the resort who spoke very good English. She told us the road into Haad Sai Daeng was worse than the road into Haad Khom... we did not believe her, we scoffed. She was not lying! This road is often even more vertical than
Haad Khom
A view of the beach at Haad Khom during the day. By late afternoon the large stones in the water are completely exposed and a peninsula appears as well. the one to Haad Khom and is also narrower, more filled with gaping divets, sharp turns and is almost completely unpaved. This would make one afraid of oncoming traffic except that as you are travelling about 5km/h, if you hit another vehicle you'd hardly notice. I cannot imagine this in the rainy season.
The advantage to having roads this bad is that it has helped these beaches remain relatively unspoiled, more quiet and remote. It also seems to attract a certain kind of people. If you want to catch the "full Moon" type party scene, you won't pick these places. We left Ko Pha Gnan just in time to miss the full moon party - When thousands of people descend on the island to drink, do drugs and end up lost and vomiting in the jungle. Good for some people... not our scene.
Coral View is a spawling property on a rocky, jungle hill. There is a 2 level open air restaurant (the lower level mainly with cushions and short tables for playing games, hanging out or reading). It has a pool table and a small library of books people have left behind. There is a beach bar,
Lindsay in New Sarong
A sarong is a useful thing... it can be used as a towel, a cover-up after a swim, a dress, a blanket to sleep under or sit on and can be used to protect things wrapped up in your pack. a dive shop / school, kayaks for rent, internet and great staff.
We spent a lot of time reading here. We also went on a couple self-guided kayaking trips around the beaches nearby and did some snorkeling. The first time out we kept getting stung by something in the water. At first I thought it was in my head but it started getting really bad so I mentioned it to James and he was feeling the same thing. We headed for shore. We were certain it was the very little clear jellyfish that we were seeing but upon asking in the dive shop were informed it was a form of plankton that comes and goes. It is sometimes there and sometimes not. Though completely harmless it made being in the water quite uncomfortable and a little creepy. So we took the kayak out to Shark Island, juts off our beach, to see if it was better there. It was awesome!
We never saw any sharks at Shark Island, we are told they don't like the bubbles of the many divers that are constantly over there. However, we are told that if you snorkle in the area closer to
Haad Khom Restaurant
A view from the beach at Haad Khom, looking up to the open air restaurant. the island of Ko Tao you are more likely to see one of the Black Tip sharks that live in the area. Don't worry Ma! They are only little sharks... ones that will not try to eat me. Anyway, I am not sure I want to see one... I might freak out.
Speaking of animals... There are geckos all over this country. They are cute and make cute sounds and we even saw a huge one! Our first day at Coral View we had one that remained in the same position over our door for the whole day. I tried to convinced James to try to touch him and after much coaxing he did. When the thing's head bobbed up and down like rubber, we deduced that he was dead. He remained there, dead and decaying for our whole stay.
Our room was on a steep hill and had a porch, 24 hour electricity and naturally heated water. It was much nicer and cleaner than the last place... and because the restaurant is so high up, the breeze (which there is more of here) flows through to cool you off for most of the day. As laid back
Burmese
These are two of the Burmese staff members at Haad Khom Bungalows. They were laughing and joking around with James until the camera was pointed at them. as the other place was (and cheaper), it just doesn't compare. The view here is rather idealic - it is what you would imagine a place like this would be (or should be).
So far neither of us has burned ourselves very badly (knock on wood) and the mosquitos seem to come out for a total of maybe 30 minutes a night. We have only used bug spray once.
Anyway, we are off to Ayutthaya, just North of Bangkok.
Hope you are all well.
JAMES
On a South bound train...
We left Bangkok on a night train south to Surat Thani. It was cool to see some Thai suburban life as the sun set and our train rumbled out of Bangkok. We stopped for a bit on the outskirts of town. Lindsay and I watched kids playing badminton on the tracks, and two with toy guns shooting at each other and everything around them. Our favourite part of the train ride however was the woman with her baby who were seated next to us. This baby was hilarious. She had the air of people a miniature adult - she spoke in full sentences, never
Scrabble
Playing scrabble on the beach. cried, and just generally comported herself in an adult manner.
We managed some sleep on the train which was nice because we were in for a two hour wait in Surat Thani before the boat left, and then a four hour ride with one stop-over before arriving at Koh Pha Ngan, our island destination. We quickly found out on the ferry that you can sit in a VIP section on the upper deck of the boat for only on additional 30 baht ($1), a small price to pay for larger, more comfortable seats and a poorly transferred version of Johnny English blaring on the TV. Luckily some of the scenery was nice to watch and I got a couple of nice photos of fishermans huts built on stilts in the sea.
Thong Sala, the port town of Koh Pha Ngan, has changed so much in the four years since I saw it last that I truly believed we'd arrived at the port on the southern side of the island which I'd never seen before. I'd made arrangements with the owner of the beach huts we were to be staying at to pick us up from town, but as
Sunset
A sunset at Haad Khom. There are some Squid boats in the distance here if you look closely for the florescent light that attracts them. I now believed we were in fact on the opposite side of the island, I got us into a Songthaew (pick-up truck with bench seats in the back), to Chalok Lum, the next nearest town to our destination.
It took Phan, the owner of the Haad Khom Bungalows 30 minutes to pick us up - I was about ready to find a boat to take us instead. Phan looks like he was a bit of a Thai lounge-lizard in the late-seventies...and still thinks that it's the late seventies. He has Gibb brothers hair and a moustache that belongs in a Sergio Leone flick. He's a fairly trim guy all around except for his gut which has (very gradually I'm sure), grown to resemble a small, brown beach ball. He pulled up in one of those giant-tired, off-road pick-ups that I associate with truck and tractor pull fans and guys who like to impress other guys, and I wondered what I'd gotten us into.
We soon realized that the macho truck wasn't just for show as we had our first encounter with the more remote Thai island roads. After being jostled about a bit side to side, we found
Our Hillside Hideaway - Haad Sai Daeng
This is our place high up on a hill at the Coral View Resort at Haad Sai Daeng. ourselves on the sort of ascents and descents that have you wondering how much steeper the pitch has to get before all the rules of traction become redundant and the only applicable law becomes that of gravity.
Shaken and stirred, we arrived at our secluded beach hide-away. The tide had gone out so the beach looked a little less impressive than it could have, but still we were pleased with what we saw. We were shown to a little beach bungalow slightly off the beach from the others and higher up the hill, but nicer for the privacy.
Our next three days were spent snorkeling in the early morning when the tide was in and generally lazing about beach-side in the afternoons and evenings. There were a couple of little thatch-roofed, open air huts by the beach that were perfect for reading and playing scrabble. We quickly got to know our immediate neighbors. There was a couple of Maritime Canadian girls taking time off from teaching abroad. One was particularly outgoing - her name was Darlin. She was a sort-of hippie Newfie. She wandered about the beach topless a lot, which was a sight that could be missed.
Lounging at Haad Sai Daeng Restaurant
Enjoying some quiet time on the lower floor of the Coral View Restaurant. There were also a bunch of stoned Germans and French guys who seemed to do nothing all day but smoke dope and occasionally play chess - these had all been on the beach for 4 - 6 months. They truly possessed an impressive lack of ambition. they weren't even interested in checking out what their small island had to offer. Our favourite people at Haad Khom were Phan's two Burmese employees. There was a woman, whose name I've sadly forgotten, who did all the cooking, breakfast until late night snacks, and her helper Tu. They'd only been working there for two weeks when we arrived. On our first morning I started asking Too some questions about the menu items in Thai and he just stared at me. I figured my appalling Thai was to blame, and so I persisted, trying to improve my pronunciation, but Tu only smiled at me and shook his head slightly. Finally, after a good laugh, one of the Frenchman informed me that Tu was Burmese and couldn't speak Thai. These two were always smiling and laughing and ready to do anything for you from the crack of dawn until late in the night. They were
Haad Sai Daeng
This is the beach and the restarant in the distance. a lot fun. The woman would call me into the kitchen while she cooked and have me taste things and show me how she prepared different meals. I got a picture of me with them before leaving and quickly found out that the only time Burmese people don't smile is in photographs. They couldn't look more grave...and there I am grinning away like a fool between them.
Lindsay was smart and brought a decent snorkeling mask from home...but I was not so smart. The cheapo masks that the guest house provided weren't working so well, (I was drowning in the mask), so on morning one we went into town to find me the real thing. I bought a good silicon mask and tube for around $30 Canadian and Lindsay thought that it would be a good idea to get some inflatable tubes as well, so we hunted down a pair of those as well. After this we were snorkel ready.
We saw quite a variety of fish in the waters of Haad Khom and some less than inviting sea urchins that look like balls of spikes with eyes. Sadly, I don't know the names of any of the
Birds' Eye View of Haad Sai Daeng
View of the beach from the restaurant on the hill above. There is a great view from every angle up here. fish, but they were of the colourful variety...and they swam.
After our three days on Koh Pha Ngan, we took a high-speed catamaran to Koh Tao, and were again happy to spend the extra baht for air-conditioning and large reclining seats. Kay, an eager and happy employee of the Coral View Resort was at the peer to pick us up with a sign that read JAME. He had to wait another hour for another ferry so we took the time to wander the town and have some lunch. Koh Tao immediately appeared to be more upscale than Pha Ngan. The building were permanent cement structures, most with sliding glass doors and aircon inside. There appeared to be a great deal of Italian restaurants as well, though sadly we never did get a chance to check any of them out.
When we got underway with Kay and the Resort's owner, we were warned that the road would get bad on our way. We laughed at this after our Pha Ngan off-roading. Well, this was worse. Thank God we were sitting inside the cab this time because had we been seated in the back like on Pha Ngan, I don't
James on the Deck
James hangin' out on our deck at Coral View. think we'd have remained in the truck.
The layout of Coral View impressed us greatly upon arrival. I felt that it had a bit of a Thunderball sort of feeling to it - all it needed was an outdoor casino. We did more snorkeling and spent a great deal of time reading and playing cards on the veranda below the restaurant (which was a good 60 feet above the beach). Lindsay and I saw a huge fish one morning...about 3 feet long and thick and ugly. He just sat in the rocks looking at us mournfully and apparently wishing us to go away. One day, after Lindsay had left the water, I became surrounded by a school of fish feeding off the surrounding coral and sea floor. They were larger fish, around a foot and a half long, and of a variety of colourings. There were easily a hundred of them and they appeared completely oblivious to my presence. I just floating in the four feet of water and watched them for a few minutes before they disappeared as unnoticed as they'd arrived. We also did some kayaking. One day we took the kayak out and around the bend
Goofing Around
Just us having a goofing around... to the next beach where we thought we'd stop for lunch until we realized that we hadn't brought any money along. Another day we kayaked out to shark island, a small outcropping of rocks just 500 meters off the beach, where we tied the kayak to a buoy and snorkeled about for an hour before heading back.
We had good fun with the local pets at Coral View as well. There was a large, male Golden Retriever who would walk around in 3 feet of water on his hind legs like a human while you swam in the shallows. He appeared especially happy when you held his front paws and danced around the water with him. The two Coral View dogs liked to hang out on the veranda's roof, which extended out from the restaurant's floor, and would make us nervous while we ate that one day they'd fall off. Then there was lucky, the Coral View kitten. Lucky liked to attack you when you were reading, or get up on your table while you were having your dinner. It was similar to eating at home for those with undisciplined cats. Lastly was Bernie. Bernie was a gecko that
Mini Gecko
This was the smallest gecko we have seen. He was about 2 and a half centimeters long and lived in our bathroom at Haad Khom. died while clinging to the wall above hut's door the first day we arrived, and continued to cling there in atrophying death for the remainder of our stay. Oh, and there were toads everywhere in the evenings - what a racket they made.
Lindsay got hit in the side of the head by a giant flying beetle one night while we were eating dinner. In the ensuing flailing fracas to remove the beetle from her shoulder where it had crash-landed, Lindsay managed to whack her coke bottle over the restaurant railing and sent it flying onto the veranda roof with a crash. The excitement didn't end there either as some of the staff thought it prudent to send one of the younger Thai kitchen staff onto the veranda roof to retrieve the bottle. The adolescent lad was halfway over the railing when the owner's daughter appeared and kiboshed the would-be ill-fated mission. We were glad of this. We didn't want to be responsible for the death of a Thai adolescent who'd fallen 50 feet onto rocks in a failed attempt to retrieve our wayward coke bottle.
We were sad to leave Coral View but have already decided to
BIG Gecko
The biggest Gecko we have seen. He was about a 40 cm long and liked to hang out on the ceiling of the Coral View lounging area. return at the end of our trip for five or six days at which time I plan to take my P.A.D.I. open water scuba diving certification. I had a few chats with Robert the Resort's Dive Shop owner about it. I'm excited to return!
Well, it's time to investigate some of Thailand that wasn't designed to trap tourists! Not originally anyway.
James
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Stinky Leee
non-member comment
depressed
well these pictures made me DEPRESSED. Next time you go, bring me, will ya? You guys are luckyyyyyyyyyy. and Lindsay you look beautiful:)