Voyage Of The Odd Essay » Transport

Valentines Day Trip Back To Thailand

Paul Freeman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:14:05 +0000

It’s the day after Valentines Day, Sunday the 15th of February, about 8am in the morning and I am woken with a start by the voice of the girl who was sleeping next to me who’s name I never did find out asking, “Are we there?”

I had no idea, but after 15 hours on the over night bus from Luang Prabang in Laos down to Huay Xai the border town where I first entered the country I really hoped so, and I looked still shaking sleep from my eyes to the seats in front of me where my travel companions sat, unlike most of the westerners on the bus we had an advantage, Pong speaks Thai, and joining him on his trip between Spicylaos and Spicythai in Chiang Mai made this the easiest trip I’ve made.

I still felt a little like sheep in a flock just going with the flow, but this time I feel like at least we have a shepherd who knew what was going on.

I didn’t really notice it was valentines day to be honest, unlike back home where every shop seems to be selling you something seasonally related, out here in the east it’s just another day. Though a few girls in the hostel decided to treat themselves to cheese and wine, an oddity in Asia generally but in Laos a welcome legacy from it’s years as a French colony but for me the 14th had a different meaning, my last day in Laos, by 5:30pm along with two friends we were paced onto the local V.I.P bus and set off on a gruelling journey.

When we first got on the bus I chatted briefly with the Canadian girl next to me, pleased with myself for been able to pick out her nationality more by the phrases she used then by accent alone. But it wasn’t long before the sun was setting and they turned the lights out on the bus, and a lull in the conversation lead to ear phones in and music on. I listened to the new Sigur Ros album which I was happy to have picked up from an Icelandic friend during my time at Spicylaos, but disaster struck when my batteries ran out soon after the album had finished and so my in motion entertainment was cut sadly short.

Two things stand out about the journey, firstly the bus was filled over capacity, and 4 or 5 people were sat on little plastic stools that were placed in the aisles as needed, keep in mind this is a 15 hour sleeper and you’ll see how hard work that must be for the people sitting in them, who ended up slumped in half sleep leaning onto and over the seats either side of them.

The other thing you notice once away from the cities is just how poor the roads are, the route already weaves through the mountains but the bus constantly needed to drove from side to side to avoid pot holes, and in parts the road was all but non-existent. When people back home moan about where all their road tax and the like goes they should be thankful they actually have roads. thinking back to my trip down the Mekong where you pass villages with no road access at all and a picture of just how little development there has been in much of Laos.

Getting back to Thailand I felt much more at home, once again ATMs were with in reach and seven-elven was there to make shopping for the essentials easy. Though a day later with the inital buzz gone I find that I miss the more relaxed pace of Laos.

Overall Laos was an interesting experience for me, I intended to just chill out but actually ended up been busier there then any place previous, thanks to the people I met there

As a traveller one of the most difficult decisions you have to make us when to join new found friends on their route as they move on, or continue on your own path. I backed out of my original purpose of goign tubing, and decided against returning to Chaing mai via the plain of jars and instead stayed an extra couple of days and return straight to Spicythai, a place I think of as home away from home right now. So far I feel like I’ve always made the right choices.

Koh Lanta Misadventrues on a Moped

Paul Freeman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:49:53 +0000

They really will let anyone get on a bike in Thailand, and it’s not even expensive. For 250 bhat (about £5) you cab get an automatic 125 mope/motorbike for 24 hours, manual gears are cheaper still! You have to leave your passport by way of deposit, and then off you go, even if you’ve never really ridden a bike before as was my case.

I actually think that because everyone from 10 and up seems to be riding around on bikes they don’t actually realise how tricky it is, though when I asked the woman at the bike shop if many people fall off, she did reply with “Oh sure, every day”. Good to know. And I feel less silly about dropping mine now… Yes, I dropped mine, right in front of them, within about 10 seconds of getting it, yet they still let me just pick it up and head off down the road.

Now, riding is actually really easy, Koh Lanta is supposedly nice and flat, and getting a bike avoids some expensive taxi fares to the next towns, handy in my case as I was actually on a mission to track down a pharmacy and pick up some skin cream.

The problem really comes in getting on and off the road, there is normally a good inch or two drop where the tarmack ends and the roadside begins, and pretty much always either gritted, or dusty, which makes control a little tricky, and worse when you want to be on the other side of the road, and of course to keep it interesting the road to my hut is down a long winding dirt track.

However, I did see some Ace sights on my road trip: A Tuk Tuk with a monkey on the back. A roadkilled snake spread flat across the road oh, and a huge hill that would seem more at place on Koh Chang, see, it turns out Koh Lanta is not flat at all, it’s actually on a very slow climb as you drive south, up until you get to one massive, and frankly terrifying road down hill.

Though I started down the hill, from the top it doesn’t seem so bad at first but as you go down each corner seems to lead to an ever steeper decline and I was incredably thankful there is a hillside cafe just before it gets really steep, and I pulled in there, hand a pineapple juice and some fried rice for lunch, and decided it would be safer to return the way I came. I really would not have been happy going the rest of the way down.

In the end, I decided it would be best to return the bike early, the road trip was really good fun and certainly an experience, but it’s not one I’d recommend to anyone. Well, not while it’s so fresh in my mind anyway… But I did get what I went out for, and I’m happy I did it when I did and can now rest easy knowing that I shouldn’t even contemplate getting a bike again after dropping it and various points of peril on the road.

Bangkok to Koh Lanta – An Example Of How Travel Works In Thailand

Paul Freeman — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:55:38 +0000

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.

Thailand Holiday Overview – Getting To Ko Chang

Paul Freeman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:09:28 +0000

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.