Phuket & Trang

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The flight from Medan to Phuket was quick, cheap and Air Asia, who else! The 45 minute journey was long enough, however, to be sat next to a funny old man who mumbled and groaned throughout. Han managed to escape to the toilet but I was left listening to his bitter tales of living in Sumatra and travelling Thailand. "I had two dogs in Lake Toba, they cost me a lot of money you know, when I left I gave them to a Batak family but when I returned they had gone. They'd eaten them I think. Bloody Bataks. Greedy people you know" I had to suppress my laughter. He also told me of how he had been on Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan, the famous southern islands, twenty years ago before all the tourism came. There is now a McDonald's on Koh Samui not quite the deserted island paradise it once was or that we wanted.

Eventually (it seemed) we landed in Phuket where we withdrew some money in yet another currency, Thai Baht this time, and headed out of the airport to be greeted by the hordes of taxi drivers. After establishing that we weren't going to the Marriot Hotel or any fancy resort like most people there we managed to get a taxi to Mai Kaow beach where we could camp.

The driver knew about as much as we did as to where this campsite was. Mai Kaow was a long beach and it was dark. So he just dropped us by the beach and said "you camp here". It wasn't a campsite but after getting confirmation from a security guard, we pitched up. It was a good spot, under pine trees with only the beach in front of us.

With our tent up we went to a small restaurant just off the beach to have our first taste of Thailand, a great green and red thai curry with prawns. The flavours are so good especially when washed down with
Thai beer. We had to drink Singha which I had to explain to Han was like watching another rival football team. You don't hate them but you just don't support them. We had no choice however as Chang was
unavailable.

We woke the next morning, after a swelteringly hot night, to see the sun turning the mill-pond sea a beautiful pink. We were in Phuket and camping right between two of the most expensive resorts for free. We were laughing all the way to the sea for our morning swim. Getting into Phuket town proved to be difficult however. Only taxis plied our area so we had to walk to the main road to try and get a bus. After
waiting for a while whilst cars, jeeps and mopeds sped past, but no bus, an Englishman picked us up in his air conditioned jeep. He lived and worked in Phuket, as many foreigners do, and was happy to take us to the nearby bus stop where we caught the next one to the town.

Phuket is a rich persons playground with marinas at every cove and resorts to go with it. The town however is less 'built up' and we were able to get some cheap street food whilst we wandered about. There wasn't a lot to see however so we did internet things and ate more street food before we went to the infamous 7Eleven store to get some picnic food for dinner and the holy Chang, of course.

Getting back from town without the help of our Englishman was even trickier. The bus driver said he would drop us at Mai Kaow beach but when we got nearer he didn't know where it was and so had to rely on some schoolchildren to tell him the way. It was a long journey.

That evening we enjoyed our crisp sandwiches and slightly warm Changs watching the most beautiful of sunsets. Hannah being Hannah had also bought some cakes from a bakery (a treat for us travellers).

After the hardships getting into town the day before we had a day by our tent and on the beach. When camping we tend to wake with the sun (a surprise to all that know our sleeping habits) and so a full day of swimming, playing chess and lounging in the hammock was had as well as planning our next destination. One of the best things about travelling is planning where to go and how to get there the cheapest possible way.

So having decided we wanted to go to the island of Koh Tarutao, a less touristy place on the Andaman coast, we caught a morning coach to Trang which was the nearest town to the islands. Being so far out of town and having two very heavy (after 5 months travel) bags to carry a helpful taxi driver took us to a police checkpoint where he said we could catch the Trang bound bus with help from the men in blue. The
Thai police didn't let us down and promptly signaled the bus to allow our boarding. Perfect!

Four hours later we arrive in Trang, everything takes longer than it looks on the map, where it just so happened to be Chinese New Year Eve. Big grandstands and stalls were being laid out in preparation
around us and it turned out to be the ideal time to be in Trang.

We had not planned to stay but with Chinese New Year upon us it seemed the best option. The party atmosphere was amazing with street food stalls, and beer stalls, lining whole streets and Chinese performances on the big stage. We wandered up and down, sampling the different foods and beers, whilst merry locals toasted to us. It felt good and more 'real Thailand' than Phuket. As the clock moved closer to midnight, and the Runrig-like band played on, it wasn't like the midnight pinnacle in England. People slowly streamed away as midnight came and went and so did we in the end. I guess they were in for the long run as the party continued the next day.

Trang and Chinese New Year was so good we decided to stay another day. It was actual Chinese New Year now and this meant more celebrations. It also happened to be Valentines Day. That evenings party was even more lavish with parades, dancing dragons and a teen pop band playing on stage that we had seen on T.V. We lapped it all up amidst fireworks and more drinking. 'Happy New Year'.

It felt really good to be in Asia for Chinese New Year and to see how the people of Trang celebrate it. An unexpected treat in Trang before we headed for Koh Tarutao.

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Comments

[mouty]

Steeped in culture
HI, I am sitting here in Villandry after another epic journey, not unlike some of yours except for the cost! First Great Western seems to think it is operating in India or worse 2.5 hours late. Your Chinese New year was good and my feeling is you are becoming steeped inthe culture. Great lol m