Day 29 & 30 - Onward to Bangkok

Our last morning spent on a Thai island unravelled, appropriately I think, on the beach! We had to check out of our guesthouse at around 10 am so unfortunately our time with sand between our toes was cut short. After a swim, we showered, packed, and had to figure out a way to kill a few hours until our ferry left for Chumphon. Luckily, we found a really cool cafe and wasted two hours warming their chairs and sipping our lassi shakes very slowly!

At 2 pm, we caught a lift to the pier with our backpacks in tow (there was no ways we were walking it again after our experience the first day!) The ferry ride had beautiful views and we found ourselves on the deck just trying to take it all in - crystal blue water, uninhabitable islands dotted on the horizon, and little fishing boats in the distance. We arrived a Chumphon on time, surprisingly, and hopped onto a bakkie to the train station. I was dreading the long night of train travel ahead. I've always harboured a very romanticised idea of train travel but I knew a 9 hour overnight train across Thailand into the capital would not be fun. It turns out, despite the lack of sleep, it was okay. We had wisely booked bunks in an air-con cabin.

We arrived in Bangkok at around 6 am. A dark, humid, and smelly city greeted us as we stepped out of the train station. All we knew was that we needed to find bus #53 to the Banglamphu area where hopefully we would stumble across Khao San road where all the backpackers are. We found a bus stop and waited. The sun was now starting the rise. Our expectations of another wonderful Asian city like Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was increasingly retreating as the city woke up. But we hoped this was just our lack of sleep!

We found Khao San road eventually after riding the bus for a good hour or so (we probably missed the stop a couple times). We didn't book accommodation in advance and were turned away at a few places that were full (or maybe it was because we hadn't showered?) I was getting annoyed and grumpy so Phil left me at a cafe while he continued the search. After 20 minutes, success! The place wasn't great but it would be fine for 1 night until we found something else. We showered and changed. I felt human again!

We went onto the internet for a bit, grabbed a map, then headed off to find Lord's Tailor. For a long time Phil has wanted a tailored suit and Bangkok is apparently the place for this. The city is a mission to navigate and the bus routes are confusing. On top of this the roads are named in a strange way. Basically, a main street will called be Thanon So-and-so and all the side roads off it will be called the same thing just prefixed with Soi and a number; for example, Thanon Sukammvit will have multiple Soi Sukammvit streets coming off it. Lord's Tailor was between Soi Sukammvit 12 and 14. We found it! Phil picked out material and got his measurements taken. It would be ready in only 2 days!

When night falls Khao San road really comes alive. We just walked up and down taking in the scene. We enjoyed some street food for dinner. After a very full day, we called it an early night. I was thankful to be sleeping in a bed and not on a train!

Until next time,
Luisa

Day 28 - Snorkel Day!

This morning we picked up a pair of snorkels for a meagre R12.50 each (our cheapest yet) and head to the furtherest corner of the beach away from the 'parked' taxi boats. Turns out Phil's snorkel set was as leaky as a sieve, but somehow he managed to wrap the thing so tightly around his head that it worked! Unfortunately this tactic left him bloodshot eyes and red marks across his cheeks. We snorkelled for the better part of the morning. It was sad to see that parts of the reef and coral had been damaged by all the boat traffic - but despite this there were plenty fish! I love trying to spot the camouflaged ones who bury themselves in the sand or snugly against rocks. The water was warm, visibility good, and we soon were exhausted.

For the rest of the morning we lay on the beach reading. After some sandwiches for lunch, we took a long walk along the beach and checked out the scene at a couple of the beach bars. We surprised ourselves when we opted for iced Ovaltine drinks from 7-11 (a malt drink similar to milo) over a couple beers and cocktails. (I think the Full Moon Party indulgence a few nights back may have been responsible for this!) More laziness followed, and the only other exciting thing we did was to watch Limitless (just for you, Bruce) after our dinner - which was Thai curries, of course.

Until next time,
Luisa

Day 27 - More Walking!

After singeing most of my arm hairs off trying to light the gas cooker to make some coffee, we had our beach bag packed and we were ready to go and then it started raining. Luckily we had our friend the TV. The rain didn't last to long so we headed off to the beach. Rhe tide was higher than the previous afternoon and we found a great swimming spot. Our morning was spent doing as little as possible. 


One of the more unique vendors on the beach was a guy who had a long pole and on one end there was a basket with mangoes, bananas, pineapple and corn and on the other end was a small bbq. If all the lazing about made you hungry then you called him over and ordered something. If it was corn he would heat the fire up and quickly cook it for you - very convenient. 


At around lunch time we decided to walk the 1.5 km to the main town as we wanted to buy our ferry tickets direct from the companies office. We decided to take the beach foot/scooter path. The walk was really nice untill the last 500 m - it was hot! We found the office and chatted to the lady who informed us that we could book through our guest house at the same price. For the 2nd time in 2 days trying to save a couple rand has cost us in sweat (no blood and tears... Yet). We did manage to find a streetside stall that sold amazing chicken rolls for R10. It almost made the walk worth it. On the way back we found a shaded stretch of beach to read our books and wait out the heat.


Koh Tao is world renowned for it's diving and had hundreds of dive schools. It issues the 2nd highest amount of diving certification in the world after Cairns in australia and most people come here because of this. The only problem is that if you are not doing a diving course it is quite an average island. The beach is nice but there are up to 50 boats from water taxis to dive school boats which ruin the scenery and disturb the peace. After Koh Phangan we were not hugely impressed so we decided to only stay 3 nights.

Day 26 - Koh Phangan to Koh Tao

We were very sad to leave Koh Phangan today as we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on the island. We hopped onto the ferry and headed towards our last island in Thailand, Koh Tao. The A/C on the ferry was not working so we were very happy to get to our destination. On arrival we had to under go all the offers of "Taxi for you sir" and "I have velly nice guesthouse for you". After a cold drink we approached one of the taxi drivers and began the bargaining process. He was having none of it! We knew that the main beach with all the accommodation options was only 1.5 km away so we decided to walk it. After about 10 minutes we realised we had made a mistake as it was seriously hot. At one point a taxi filled with smiling backpackers drove past, in that moment I'm ashamed to say that I fantasised about the taxi bursting into flames.

Finally we arrived at the main beach and the first couple accommodation options we checked out were full. Eventually we found a room that had a comfy bed, a fridge and much to our joy - a TV! When you haven't been able to watch TV in a month this is a treat, even though there were only two English channels. We headed down to the beach later in the afternoon and went for a swim. After finding some supper we collapsed into our bed, switched on BBC world news (one of the 2 English channels) and relaxed.

Phil

Day 25 - Last Day at Haad Salad, Koh Phangnan

Last night was the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach and we only got to bed at 5am this morning! So, as expected, we spent most of today relaxing and sleeping. We woke up only at around lunch time when we were too starving to put off getting out of bed any longer. Then we swam at our beach a little, played some pool, read our books and swapped stories about the night before. It seems that the island really does only come alive at the full moon.

That was pretty much all we did. And we were satisfied. Koh Phangnan has been such a wonderful mix of relaxing, partying, and taking in the wonderful Thai life. Tomorrow we are taking a 3 hour ferry to Koh Tao - our last island in Thailand (boo hoo!).

Until next time,
Luisa

Day 24 - Full Moon Party!

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, we had the good fortune (or misfortune) of having our trip to Koh Phangan coincide with the notorious full moon party. It originally started off in the 1980's (according to wikipedia) with about 20 - 30 travellers having a good time and has now evolved into a huge all night rave party with 20,000 to 30,000 party goers descending on a strip of beach with about 8 different bars playing different types of dance music. We didn't even know there were that many different types of dance music!

We spent the morning on the beach and made sure to stock up on some drinks. That afternoon we had a good sleep so that we didn't fade early and we also had a strong cup of coffee. Our taxi to the party was only leaving at 10:00 pm so we had some time to spare. When we walked to the shops to buy some ice we noticed that everybody was decked out in bright lumo singlets and matching pants. They all looked totally ridiculous but the peer pressure was starting to get to Luisa and I caught her asking the lady in the shop how much one of the vests were. When we got back to the bungalow we filled a plastic bin with ice and put all our drinks in there to cool down. It didn't help much so I just started drinking the beer over ice. The guy in the bungalow next to us was playing guitar and occasionally he would break out a recorder and play some haunting tunes. After one rendition we decided to give him a round of applause and invited him over. His name was Valentine and he was from Austria. He had been travelling in India for 6 months and that's were he learnt to play the recorder and where he learned to smoke hashish. Very interesting.

We left for the full moon party and in the truck with us were 6 guys from Singapore. They were really friendly and we had lots of laughs on the 40 minute drive to the party - we made the wise decision in staying on the other side of the island! When we eventually arrived in Haad Rin there was an amazing buzz in the air and it felt like New Years Eve. Everybody was in party mode  and the streets were absolutely packed with people (all wearing lumo clothing of course). We made our way to the beach and when we eventually found it, it was madness. There were literally thousands of people in various stages of inebriation dancing on the beach and on stages and generally having a good time.

   

We walked up and down the beach just to get a feel for the place and every now and then we would dance to a song or just watch some of the goings on. The beach was also lined with small stalls selling "buckets". These are basically small plastic buckets that they pour a nip of your poison of choice, red bull, a can of coke and then top it up with ice. A great way to get you into party mode. We decided to give them a skip. Apparently there were also stalls selling magic mushroom shakes.

Another favourite place of ours was the bars that had some form of fire jumping. This is a ring of rope that they douse with paraffin and light and then hold it up for some of the braver party goers to jump through. We liked it because not everybody was sober enough to make it through unscathed!

At some of the bars, especially those playing the more hectic dance music, some people looked they were on cloud 9 and there were some really strange people floating around. At around midnight it started pouring with rain. We danced in it for a while until we were sopping wet and then decided to protect the camera and find some shelter. When the rain stopped we would just take strolls along the beach to watch all the very amusing antics. Hours flew by and at around 3:00 am we decided we were ready for our beds. Our Singaporean friends had said that they would organise us a lift back with them and as we were wandering around the streets we spotted them. They were very well oiled and gave us a huge hello and then broke into Shakira's Waka Waka song. I think they thought it was the South African national anthem.One of the guys was a fire fighter and grabbed both our arms in a firm grip and said ""it is my duty to preserve life and property and I will lead you to safety!". He then almost dragged us to the spot where the van back to our beach was.

It was an awesome night and we collapsed onto our beds knowing that what we had experienced was a once in a life time party, or once a month if you live on Koh Phangan :)

Phil

Day 23 - Exploring Koh Phangnan

This morning we decided to hire a scooter for the day and explore the island a little more. We headed  first to Mae Haad beach which is renowned for it's snorkeling. It was high tide and still early morning so our expectations were very high! The beach was absolutely beautiful and aside from a few bungalows it is largely undeveloped and uncrowded. There were only a few other young families and a small group of  scuba divers. We took off into the 'great big blue' and soon found ourselves floating over an incredible coral reef teeming with schools of fish and other marine life. We were out in the water for so long that we got all wrinkly and when we finally surfaced we discovered we were so far from shore! I was exhausted! I had a little sleep on the beach and Phil tried to walk across to another island - unsuccessfully though as it was still high tide.

Hopping back on the scooter we decided to head into the main town to book our ferry tickets to Koh Tao. The ride took about 40 minutes but was absolutely beautiful. The road hugs the coastline the whole way and we were compelled to stop several times just to take in the breath-taking views from of the hills! We drove a little in-land too and most of the houses are traditional wooden stilted Thai huts with bamboo walls.  There doesn't seem to be much agricultural activity on the island except for a couple palms that the yummy coconuts are harvested from.

In town we found a Tesco and bought a big box of cornflakes and some long-life milk (sorry to disappoint you, Bruce and Bird) - we thought this should help with our daily struggle to find breakfast! We drove back to our beach, Haad Salad, and slept through the afternoon heat waking up only to do some more snorkeling. It was quite challenging though because the tide had gone out quite a bit. We mostly saw sea cucumbers!

For dinner, we decided to head into town again. The sun was setting and the view I had from the back of the scooter was unbelievable! We found the night food market and gorged ourselves.

An awesome and relaxing day before the madness of the full moon party tomorrow...

Until next time,
Luisa