Advertisement
As usual I have gotten way behind on the travel blog. We've been in Thailand now for a week and a half and it has been pretty hectic. Thailand is an amazing country and we are having so much fun here. Not to say anything too bad about Malaysia, but we should have come to Thailand way sooner. At the moment we are all the way up to Bangkok, we've been here for the past couple days and I seriously love this city. Never a dull moment. I doubt I'll get all the way caught up now but I'll do my best.
We left Penang island shorty after I left off the last blog. Yumi needed some cheering up after Japan got knocked out of the world cup. We caught the ferry back over to the mainland of Malaysia and booked a train up to the border crossing with Thailand. Had some time to kill so we ate our last meal of Malaysian food. Pretty relieved actually as I was getting sick of mee goring. This time around the border crossing was a lot less imposing than the Singapore/Malaysian one. The train stops at a tiny station which is separated
in two. The border control dudes are sitting at desks and stamp our passports without much fuss. We had a Thai visitors Visa sorted out before hand so we didn't need to get a visa at the border, which is beneficial as visas at the border are only valid for 15 days.
We booked a train onwards to the large-ish city of Hat Yai in the south corner of the country. The feeling across the border was immediatly different to that of Malaysia. Thai people are far warmer and friendlier than their southern neighbors. It was really late when we showed up but the train station was right in the town center and we easily found us a guest house. Compared to Malaysian accommodation, Thai guest houses are great value and way cleaner. It was nice to not get eaten alive by bed bugs while sleeping.
The next morning we found a guy who uses his van as an unofficial bus service to Phuket island. The price was right and that decided our next destination. We shared the ride with a friendly Indonesian family who took advantage off my presence to force their son to practice his English.
Elephant Ride
note the nice flip flop tan lines Took us about six hours to get to Phuket, which is the largest island in Thailand. Most of the beaches are pretty pricy so we stuck to Phuket Town, the main town on the Island. At the moment it's the rainy/low season in Phuket and we got an incredible deal on a nice hotel in the town center. Weather wasn't even that bad, with exception to the first day when it rained non stop. I made a hilarious joke to Yumi and said that they should re-name the island from Phuket to bhucket cause it's raining buckets. She didn't laugh though, the humor must have got lost in translation.
The next day we met up with one of the local "travel agents", Joe, who gave us a tour around the island in his private car. The tour was insanely cheap, but he gets a commission for everywhere we stop and spend money. Good deal for us. Nice to have a personal tour guide who can answer all your stupid questions. Firstly he took us to an elephant safari riding tour thing. I think riding an elephant is one of those things that is overly touristy, but everyone who goes
to Thailand ends up doing it once. Afterwards we watched the Cobra show. Basically the show was some insane people in a ring with poisonous snakes who make them irate by poking them with a stick and then playing chicken. Finally we ended up at the beach town of Patong. Patong is truly a tourist town. 99% of the business are geared to tourists and walking down the street is an invitation for countless touts trying to sell everything from massages, pirated clothes and cds, tailored suits and everything else that we do not need.
To get away from the crowds we did a boat and snorkelling tour of some of the other islands in the area. The scenery in the smaller islands is second to none, with white beaches and granite cliffs set against crystal clear water. The first place we stopped was Maya beach, which is the beach from the movie "the beach." Unfortuneatly much has changed since the days of Dicaprio and that beach has been reduced to one of the most terrible tourist traps I've ever seen. The rest of the day was much better with snorkling off the boat on some seriously nice coral
reefs. Makes me wish I invested in a water proof camera. Snorkelling came to an end rather abruptly when several Jelly Fish showed up and Yumi got a bad sting on the neck. She said it was painful but she turned down my offer to pee on it. Some people are so ungrateful.
That pretty much sums up the visit to Phuket. Spent a lot of time lounging around on beaches and sipping on cool beverages. I am starting to have a huge love affair with Thai food as well. I can't get enough green curry. In general, Thailand is wonderful, and so cheap. I am starting to feel a little guilty by how much quality and hospitality we get for such a bargain price. Malaysia was inexpensive as well, but the guest houses were disgusting so it didn't feel like as much of a bargain.
I'm gonna cut it off here for now. I'll probably do a Bangkok update shortly...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0754s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Aunt Karen
non-member comment
Now I want to go there again!!
Well Brian, I liked your Bhuket pun. I thought it was very Duane-Brian-Allison. Of course you have to ride elephants. And what do you have against "pale toursists? Are we not just as good as the swarthy sorts?