Here I am six weeks into my travels, and just in case you haven’t picked up the subtle hints from my Twitter updates, life out here is Pure Awesome.
I’ve been in Bangkok for a few days now, after leaving the comfort of my Phuket haunts behind to venture towards the as yet uncharted North, where I check into Spicythai Backpackers tomorrow morning after a 12 hour train journey over night. – Seated sadly as all the beds were booked up. My fault for leaving it too long before booking the seat.
So since my escape from the Wat Suan Mohhk Meditation Retreat, I’ve been to the Full Moon party on Koh Phangan, where too many Mushrooms was the common theme among the group I was with, of course in my case I enjoyed it! It was a fun weekend which was an cloud of music, lights, dancing barefoot in the sand, buckets of drink and random conversations with strangers. To be honest, it was too busy to be my normal scene, and many of the people were exactly the people who go to all the clubs I avoid back home, but I was with Awesome people (Well, before I got lost in my Mushroom trance, and after I found them the next day!) and it’s another Thailand activity ticked off the list.
Here in Bangkok I’m staying at the Hostel International Sukhumvit (HI Sukhumvit) which is a wonderful place, less then 5 minutes walk from the Sky Train station which has allowed easy access to tons of sights, considering in the past I’ve not really ventured far beyond Khaosan Road I now feel like I have visited Bangkok properly. I’ve been to several of the big shopping centers such as the MBK Center, Siam Center, Siam Discovery Center, MBK been the most interesting, much more of an indoor market type feel in parts, more traditional shops and fast food (Thai style) in other parts, the other malls been much more western in look and feel, with known brands and prices that pretty much match what you can find back home with little effort on the Internet.
My more random adventures involved meeting Chris – A fellow traveller from Phuket Backpacker – within seconds of getting to the hostel, so I checked in, and walked right out the door to take a trip to the big weekend market, which was huge though much of the stall contents is identical shop to shop, there were some unique items here and there, and I found it very worth visiting.
Yesterday on the way back from getting tickets I found myself and Ruth – Who I’d just met at the Hostel, also needing tickets to Chiang Mai, so we headed off together – faced with a Tuk Tuk ride to the Sky Train stop we wanted as our plan of walking rather then getting the Underground didn’t really work! We were offered a cheap fare of 10 bhat each, but would need to visit a Tailor on the way and spend 10 minutes there, so, it’s basically a scam, but I was impressed the guy was up front about it, and hell, we had noting better to do, so we agreed, and bounced around busy main roads, down back streets and wound up at the tailor where the guy seemed to focus on getting Ruth to buy a suit set rather then me, I suspect my look suggests I am not really one to be buying suits, but who knows. He was asking about £50 per item, so jacket, trousers and skirt for £150 which you could easily get down to £120 if not less was actually a really good price, to be honest I really wish I had enough money to get a suit made up before I headed home as it would be very handy for interviews! Anyway, we played along and then decided we’d done enough to head out, and on the way the Tuk Tuk driver did try and take us to one more stop, we firmly declined, and insisted we go to our requested destination of the MBK center, and to his credit he smiled and agreed without hassling us any more.
Last night was also the inauguration of President Barack Obama in America, and I was pleased to find that as we arrived back at the hostel the small TV in the corner of the lobby had CNN’s live coverage of the event, so we added into our plan of drinking a few beers on the roof time to watch the event unfold later in the evening – Washington D.C been 12 hours behind we had a few hours to drink and banter with the girls we discovered already up on the roof, and at about half 11 when much of our group decided to turn in, I picked up my laptop and settled down to watch history unfold.
There was an eclectic mix of people watching from the lobby of this Bangkok hostel, a few Americans – Included a woman who was a proud Republican – Which stood out as most Americans you meet travelling are committed Democrats, or at least that’s been the way things have seemed to me so far – Australians, and various Europeans. Some people clearly cared deeply about what was happening, others were just having a beer and watching the ceremony just because it happened to be on. Personally, I was fairly moved to see so many people taking an interest in the event and was impressed with President Obama’s inauguration speech, and now if anyone asks “Where you the day Barack Obama was made President of the United States?” I’ll know exactly what I was doing: Drinking beers on a roof top garden in Bangkok.
I finally made it to Koh lanta – Though getting here is a tale in it’s own right.
I wasn’t really feeling Bangkok, it was pretty much exactly how it was last time I was there, the only real difference been that while last time there were black and white banners mourning the loss of one of the royal family, now yellow flags in support of the PAD stand. No one I’ve spoken to has been put off by the recent protests, but looking up and down Khoasan Road there are plenty of bargins to be had as hostels try to pull in trade. I decided to play safe, and headed to New My House, having been there before, though no bargins to be had there, not surprising given how popular the place is, and no single rooms, so wasn’t as cheap as I’d like – but after two days of travel, and only a few hours of sleep before I left, I just wanted to crash.
It’s actually quiet mild in Bangkok at the moment, even at midday it’s a very pleasent feel to it – If you discount the smog that taints every smell in the air.
After two nights to catch up on sleep, and have a bit of a look around, but not venturing far, I booked the night bus to Koh Lanta, leaving at 6pm and ariving at midday the next day. Of course, this is Thai time, “midday” is a very different thing to 12pm in the afternoon.
The journey gives a perfect example of how travel works in Thailand however, and it went like this:
Starting at the travel desk at New My House, I ask for a ticket to Koh Lanta, the girl makes a quick phone call and writes me out a receipt.
At 6pm a people carrier taxi picks me up, and calling at two other hostels to collect other people we get to the bus stop at about 6:20pm where a whole bunch of people by the side of the road. Here the hostel recipit is exchanged for another ticket. As you get onto the VIP bus they check where you are going and seat you acordingly. Why is a mystery, as everyone gets of the VIP bus at the same stop.
VIP Buses are coaches with air conditioning – if you are traveling any distance in Thailand you always want to make sure you are on a VIP Bus.
for the first leg of the journey the light are dimmed, and a couple of pirated films are played from a VCD player. I mostly doze though. It’s actually pretty chilly on the bus so I curl up under the provided blanket, and sleep as best I can, at about 11pm we stop at a roadside cafe, allowing for drinks and food to be picked up and as we head of again the lights are turned fully out.
I get some sleep, but not much, in and out as my body clock is still way out of whack, thankfully there is no one in the seaat neck to me so I can shuffle about trying o get comfy easily.
At 6:30 in the morning we get to a tourist office which quiet frankly appeared to be in the middle of no where, everyone gets on the bus and exchanges their tickets for a new one.
Minibuses start arriving at about 7:30, picking up various groups of people, but myself and the Hungarian couple also heading to Koh Lanta don’t get picked up till about 8:30. The mini bus takes us to a near by town about 15 minuets away, and get off told the bus leaves again at 9:30, and sure enough just after 9:30 once another passenger turns up, and a big white box is deelivered, we set of, again we pick up a few people from hostels, hotels, what looked to be a school, and what seemed to be jusst some guy on the side of the road.
along the way to Krabi,the various Thai passengers are dropped off at road side gateways to personal residences, the box at a road leading to a small open air system of huts just of the road, the marker for which seemd tto be a cow (Yes, a real live cow, big skinny brown cow with a rope to a nose ring, standing on the edge of the road, with a big golden cow bell around it’s neck) oh, and at some point a bag of cogs are dropped off at a road side kitchen.
We get to another tourist office outside krabi at about 12pm. Here, my ticket is exchanged not for a bit of paper, but for a tiny square yellow sticket which the lady writes “1.15″ apparently, that’s when the next mini bus is to pick us up. i exchange shrugs with the hungerian couple, and get myself a pot noodle and enjoy a free satsuma. While waiting, the travel desk woman grills me on where I’m going to stay, and my shrugs and vauge answer of “Oasis” didn’t cut it, and to be fair i didn’t really know where the hell I was going to stay, so I see what options they have to offer – To honest, all the places were out of my price bracket, but I opted for the cheapest costing 500bhat – since it included free taxi pick up, the extra cost worked out just about okay, and I figured a bit of luxury wouldn’t hurt.
Another minibus turns up pretty much on time, and along with some other people who turned up while waiting, we head on off to Koh Lanta, it’s almost disapointing that this time there were no random errands along the way. and one long drive, two short ferry trips on the mini bus and we pull up at another tourist office, expecting there to be a taxi to pick me up, it turns out they pick you up from the peer aftert the crossing not where the min bus finally stops – not here, and trying to explain the confusion to either the driver, or the guy pestering us for a taxi ride get no where. The hungarians are int he same boat, so frustrated and tired we all relent and pay for a taxi onwards to our respective hotels. It felt a bit like a skam, but I think it was more a miss comunication. I actually expectd the end point of the minibus ride to be the peer, not further into the island, so I’ll be more careful in future.
When I get to the drive way of the New Lanta Beach resort, a child of about 13 helps me with my lougage, hefting the backpack that I grankly strugle with onto his pack, we head the short walk to recpection, all the while he’s smoking away like a pro.
Once I check in, and try to explaine the confusion about my pickup (Which hopefully got through, and they phone the guy, else who knows how long he’d wait!) I get to my room “Pool Side” rather the the more expensive “Beach Side” apparently doesn’t mean it actually over looks the pool, but it’s close by, and insdie the room I find a TV, airconditioning, a fan, and a mini fridge. Sure it’s nice enough, but to be honest, I don’t feel like it’s worth the extra cash, still, at least it’s somewhere to sleep, and there is a wifi connection here. Though at 100 bhat for 70 minuets I’ll be using the credit sparingly.
This post needs editing but I’m running out of credit! Oops.
For the last couple of weeks I’ve ventured out of the UK for the first time, with my first passport obtained just a week or so before departing on the 12th and headed off to the Far East to join a group of friends who were traveling in and around Thailand.
I can’t really it call it traveling or backpacking as we only ended up going two places: Bangkok, and Ko Chang (Koh Chang) we did originally have plans to head further north into Kanchanaburi for the second week of our stay but by that time we had met so many people we were getting along with and a few different trips and parties were coming up that it made sense just to stick to where we were comfortable, particularly since everyone of my group had decided we were going to come back for several months at the end of the year and travel seriously, so there wasn’t any feeling of missing out on anything.
12th March – Manchester To Doha To Bangkok
We flew out with Qatar airways from Manchester which at the time was hit by sever gale force storms, so there was a question as to weather the flight might be delayed, or if we would even make it to the airport as they were closing motorways all over the place as high sided vehicles were blown over in a number of locations. Then with a quick change over in Doha we flew into Bangkok we arrived about 7am on the 13th (local time)
13th March – Khaosan Road, Bangkok
Thankfully it was fairly overcast and smoggy when we arrived so the heat wasn’t too intense, but all the same we were thankful to get onto the air conditioned bus that took us to Khaosan Road where after a bit of milling around we met up with our friend Kate who got us sorted out with rooms for the night at My House (On Soi Camasongkrum) so after settling in, having my first encounter with cold showers and a bit of a nap we set out into the day, had some food, mooched about and did a bit of shopping for the day before finally calling it a night late on ready to catch the early morning VIP bus to Ko Chang.
14th March – Khaosan Road, Bangkok to Lonely Beach, Ko Chang
This was our first real taste of travel in Thailand, which consists of starting at one location with a slip of paper of some sort, which as you go from vehicle to vehicle gets changed for other slips of paper as you travel along. The bus journey took perhaps six hours to get down to the pier near Trat, and then with a short wait we were transfered to the ferry, and then hopped onto a Taxi on Ko Chang which took us along to Lonely Beach, where a short (But hard) climb up the hill got us to the Oasis resort, one of the highest sets of guest huts in the area lead us to meet up with the rest of our friends, and the group of travelers they had hooked up with. After catching up and sorting out rooms and what was to become the usual pattern of lingering getting ready, eating, and then out to party we hit our first taste of the islands full flavor when we went to the Half Moon party at Siam Huts on Lonely Beach. Which was amazing night and really set the pace for our two weeks on the island.