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Published: January 5th 2012
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Sunrise Beach
Our view from Castaway Resort. Packing for Thailand is great! Shoes? - don’t bother. Jacket? - nah. Pants? - one pair max. Socks? - only if you plan on wearing them with your sandals… bad idea! Which leaves room for extra bottles of sun-screen, after-sun lotion (because your gonna burn, no matter how much sunscreen you pack), bug spray, beach towels and a bottle of Sparkling for New Year’s Eve. 30-day visa stamp upon entry and just like that we have said good-bye to the winter of China and hello to the heat of Thailand.
Thailand is the first place Kelsey and I travelled to together back in 2005 before we started University in Melbourne, and has always held a special place in our hearts. We came back in 2008, after the Philippines, and had a great 2-week trip with Kelsey’s parents, and now we’re back for a 3
rd time, looking to visit a few new islands that are a little more far reaching. For me Thailand operates on a very successful equation: cheep beer + unbelievable food + relatively inexpensive accommodation and transport + gorgeous scenery and beaches + loving, hospitable Thai people. Better then Einstein I reckon!
Bangkok is always hectic, and
Boat, Boat, Boat
Longtails in the waiting... this time we really noticed the excess of traffic clogging the streets, but we still love it and we still rock up to the backpacker area of Khao San Road even though we are no longer 23 years old! If only for a $1 Pad Thai from a street vendor that can only be eaten on a dirty street curb being harassed by street vendors and washed down by a Chang beer from the 7-11 - a very vivid and fond memory of our first trip to Thailand, relived on every return.
In Bangkok we visited the Weekend Market, I measured up for a couple new suits from the place that made my suits 6 years ago, we bought new Chinese Visas at the Chinese Consulate for our return to Shanghai, watched the latest Twilight Saga while we waited for the Visas and gorged ourselves on great Thai food.
Then in the wee hours of December 20
th at 3am, we left Khao San Road, still packed with drunk backpackers and lady-boys on the prowl and headed back to the airport where our 6am flight took us to Krabi (southern Thailand), where we then took a chicken bus to
OUR Cabana
Castaway Resort Krabi town, then a 2 hour mini-van ride (including 2 vehicle ferries) to Koh Lanta, then a four-and-a-half hour speed boat ride (that ran out of gas 2/3 of the way and had to refuel with jerry cans), which dropped us off on a floating platform because our destination has no pier, where we were then picked up by an overloaded long-tail boat and dropped off on the beach, where we then took another long-tail boat 20 minutes to the other side of the island where our resort was located - Castaway Resort, Sunrise Beach, Koh Lipe. It was 14 hours since we left the trance music of Khao San Road and now were happily checked into our beautiful “Comfy Bungalow” where we would call home for 9 nights, including Christmas. As it’s the Christmas holidays, there are a tonne of families out and about and seeing the kids playing on the beach reminded me of the pictures of me and my parents in Hawaii when I was 3 years old and it reminded Kelsey of her family’s summer trips to the Okanagan - fun, fun, fun! Koh Lipe was our Christmas gift to each other, as we did spend
a little more then we usually do, and we booked it (on a recommendation from our friend Megan at Sonora - thanks Megs!) during a crazy-busy September at Sonora when we needed a little extra motivation to push us through.
It was mostly R&R in a covered cabana on the beach, reading our books, Pad Thai for lunch, swimming along the beach, then happy hour(s) at the bungalow (with our self-constructed mini bar) with a couple hands of crib played, then a 10-minute walk to the main beach for delicious BBQ’d seafood dinner (squid, mackerel, king fish, barracuda, and prawns) with our toes in the sand, then a walk along the beach and back to the bungalow. It was AWESOME! Total unwind, lots of time to do “nothing”. With that said, we did go for an exploratory hike around the island (probably about 5 clicks and just as many empty water bottles), we did a day-trip snorkelling at neighbouring islands and a short kayak paddle to an islet just off of our beach… nothing too vigorous that’s for sure!
Nine days on Lipe was perfect and Sunrise Beach is definitely the best spot on the island, then on
On the boat to Lipe
Yellow means get off at Lipe! Dec 29
th we packed up and got back on the speed boat that took us half the distance back to Krabi, about 2 hours, to another island called Koh Mook where we are now staying at Charlie Beach Resort in a very basic, but nice, bamboo bungalow on the beach. This is another beautiful island in the Trang Island Group, off the coast of southern Thailand, near the Malaysian boarder. Koh Mook has half a dozen resorts and a couple other accommodation options, but it’s main industry is rubber tree plantations that leave the mountainous centre of the island lush and green (I always think of Jurassic Park). It’s the first time we’ve seen the basic harvesting processing of latex from rubber trees - similar to maple syrup, but the latex is not actually the sap of the tree, but a resin the tree secretes to try and heal the intentional wound.
Last night was New Year’s Eve and the resort put on a fabulous Gala Dinner with a massive buffet, games for the kids and adults, traditional Thai dancers, hilarious performances by the various departments of the resort (props to the staff!), multiple bottles of wine (including the
Sparkling that we’ve been packing around), fireworks at midnight and open-flame paper lanterns for all the guests to light and release to bring luck in the New Year. We both really enjoyed ourselves and it was a fun way to bring in 2012.
January 1
st is looking like a full day of rain (the first of our travels) and a great day to write a blog…
Happy 2012 to all our friends and family!
Until Next Time…
(Scroll down to the very bottom for more pics!)
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John Watson
non-member comment
WOW!!!
You two are so full of adventure I find it unbelievable.Keep the blogs coming.. They are so interesting and informative. I'm a little jealous because I know I would have a tough time with the things you seem to take for granted. See you soon!! John & Jay Watson