Voyage Of The Odd Essay » Travel

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.

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.

Getting Started: An Update From Doha

Paul Freeman — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:14:24 +0000

I’m in Doha, capital of the state of Qatar in the Middle East, sitting in the airport (DOH) connected to a free wifi hub. Which to be honest sucks so far, but then it’s free and I have 5 more hours before I can board my flight to Bangkok(BKK)so it’s not like there is a huge amount to do here. It’s improving over time as people try to get some sleep and fly out, so able to post now.

First, to bring my progress upto date, long story short with all the protests aginst the now ousted government in Thailand my flight was delayed and finally rebooked for the 9th, but some where along the line that actually got booked for the 8th, so last night at 3am as I was about to finish a late night coding session and decided to check in online, found it telling me the flight was the next day, and had a mad panic to throw everything together leaving a lot of mess in my wake (Sorry Mum!) I had a nice easy day in mind to just tie the last few things together and going for carvery, but instead here I am, sitting in Doha tapping out a blog post.

So far it’s all been a bit dull to be honest.
Manchester Airport: Seen it before.
Fly to another country on my own: Done it before.
Doha Airport: Seen it before.
The Dark Knight in flight movie: Seen it before.
Hancock in flight movie: New!

Yes, so far the highlight of my trip has been watching Hancock, which was surprisingly good, and i’d recommend giving it a watch.

When I finally make it into Bangkok this afternoon I still haven’t decided where I’m going to head on the 11th, it might be a little close to the full moon to head to the party on Koh Phangan, so perhaps my initial track of heading to Koh Lanta – one of the quieter islands to the South West of the gulf of Thailand – might be the best option to get some sea air and just chill out for a few days while I chill out and plan some more wild adventures and work on some website stuff.

Oh and the food in Doha Airport is terrible, not because it’s strange, but because the quality just seems very poor – I’ll have breakfast on the next flight though, and worst the coffee chain in residence is Costa Coffee, which I loath. Why couldn’t it be Starbucks?! And I have no idea what the exchange rate is or anything, so just avoiding buying anything here for now.

Plan B(tm) – Alternative Routes Into Thailand

Paul Freeman — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:29:11 +0000

The protests in Thailand don’t seem to be showing much sign of running out of energy, so at this point unless there is an end to blockade at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport by tomorrow evening I’m going to start putting an alternative travel route into action.

My plan is head into South East Asia via Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, hopefully without any additional cost (Qatar Airways have been very helpful so far, so I’m optimistic) spend a few days there, and then fly north on a regional flight to Phuket with Air Asia – A budget airline who’s flights don’t appear on flight search engines like Kayak, so check their website directly for route options.

So I’m continuing to look at this as an opportunity, rather then a set back, though it is making it a little harder to get my head around travelling, I was on a very gun-ho just grab my bag and go momentum for the last couple of weeks since I moved out of my house, and finished work last Friday, but now I’ve had a little more time to organize the final details of my packing and better sort out the couple of boxes I’m storing at my parent’s house that rush has been lost.

The Adventure Doesn’t Quite Begin

Paul Freeman — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:16:09 +0000

A week ago I was thinking about how today I’d be updating my blog from Manchester Airport with the first post of my travels, however as it turns out, due to the protests in Thailand that have closed the airports, I am instead sitting at my parents house about to head out for another last chance meal with friends.

The plan right now is to fly out on Thursday, Qatar Airways have been very helpful and rebooked my flight without question, so now I am hoping to fly out at 2:05 pm on Thursday the 4th,the only real down side is an 8 hour stop over in Doha.

So this leaves me with a few days to do some final packing, something I was going to have to rush yesterday, and it means I might catch a few people I didn’t quite manage to in the last couple of weeks.

I’m also going to work out an alternative route, probably via Malaysia, so if the delays continue, I can get moving – One way or another I want to be out of the UK by Friday.

It’s all good fun though, and I’m just going to sit back and see what happens, and has meant instead of a quiet night out Friday and just showing my face at last nights antics in town, I’ve been able to have a great night out and see 2Many DJs, and a Awesome night out in town.

Mini Update From Sweden

Paul Freeman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:13:18 +0000

I’m on the second leg of my Sweden trip now, arriving in Stockholm by train from Gothenburg yesterday following spending time there exploring the city and the Way Out West music festival.

As things stand currently, I have a bit of a back log in entries I may or may not post in the end, and will leave photos until I get home because the little EeePC is really struggling with the size of them. (I’m only using the very smallest, first gen 700 series)

Gothenburg was an awesome city and I really got the hang of the trams as a means to getting between locations in the center, the hostel and the festival main stages which allowed me to see an act, and get back in town for a museum visit or some such.
The hostel I stayed in – Interpoint YMCA – wasn’t that great though, it did the job but the atmosphere was a little strange, though I can’t put my finger on why, initially I thought it was me, but having settled in to the Hostel here in Stockholm everything is much more how I had hoped, and last night after starting early evening watching the Olympics with some other travellers, we ended up making a swift visit to the supermarket for some beers and progressed to playing cards, flip cup and then trying to head out into a club in town, which turned out to be a bit of a let down as the clubs close early on a Sunday here. Still, we hooked up with a couple of locals who took us to a pub that was open, and after a round of drinks we all headed home via mcdonalds, as again the plan of going to a kebab shop failed when everywhere we looked for them was closed.

More updates will follow as I get into a pattern a bit better, my paper based journal is almost upto date now, finally, so I should get my focus onto my online output soon. Or I’ll end up drinking with who ever arrives in the hostel today could go either way.

Finding Cheap Airfares

Paul Freeman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:52:02 +0000

Wired News is carrying an interesting article about Tracking Air Fares and systems to predict ticket prices. It’s a fairly interesting read and highlights the key things to do in order to get cheap flights, but it doesn’t offer much more then the common knowledge that is already circulated around many travel resources and blogs.

Personally, I’ve been using Kayak to search for tickets as they have some very handy features that make repeated searching easy, and in the search results offer a chart of pricing history which you can use to help pin point when the cheapest times to travel are.

The two most important things to keep in mind when looking for cheap flights are simply be flexible about when you travel, and when you see a cheap flight, book it right away as it won’t stick around for long.

Even using Kayak’s email alert system to get emails about cheap flights I find a lot of the tickets I get told about have raised to a higher price by the time I get to them, so if you are planning on traveling, just looking for tickets isn’t enough, you need to be ready to grab the bargain when you find it.

Six Travel Blogs I’m Currently Following

Paul Freeman — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:00:12 +0000

Brave New Traveler

I can’t recommend reading Brave New Traveler enough, while many of the blogs I have in my reader I just read the articles as they come, I will specifically look for new items from here daily.

Sample Article: Travel Is About Who You Meet, Not Where You Go

BackPackers.com

I haven’t been reading BackPackers.com for that long but came across it following a recommendation on Ask Meta Filter, there are some interesting articles from time to time, and if you’re interested in festivals around the globe they do mention a healthy number of them.

Sample Article: Doer, Watcher, or Wanderer: What’s You Backpacking Style

Vagabondish

One of the first travel blogs I started to read at the same time as Brave New Traveler, regular postings and some really good information keep me coming back time and again to read the articles in this blog.

Sample Article: A Practical Guide to Vagabonding and Long Term Travel (Part 1)

The Travelers Notebook

There is more of a commercial slant to some of this blogs posts, dealing with aspects of photography, bloging, podcasting and such, but that doesn’t mean it’s not got some interesting and useful entries for anyone interested in travelling.

Sample Article: Five Rules for Recognizing and Avoiding Travel Scams

Other Blogs

Gridskipper: The Worldwide Travel Blog

I actually came across this one while sorting out the links for this post, but it looks interesting so I’ll be following it from now on.

The Life Less Traveled

While not just travel related, this new blog focuses on people doing extraordinary things, and shows a lot of promise which I am following with interest.

Thailand Holiday Overview – Last Days On Koh Chang And The Trip Home

Paul Freeman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:32:14 +0000

Our last few days on Koh Chang were in many ways the most interesting and struck a nice balance of getting out and experiencing new things, hanging out with friends old and new, and going out partying in epic style.

23rd March – Easter Sunday

Rather then partying on Lonely Beach as a group we’d been invited over to join some of our Thai friends at their bar to have a BBQ and watch the Liverpool vs Manchester Utd football match. Now to be fair, this isn’t my normal kind of night out, but I was no less keen to go see what the craic was, as much as I don’t watch football I can drink beer and eat BBQ happily!

The BBQ was a sort of hybrid between a traditional BBQ with hot coals in a iron bowl with a fondue like top with oil/stock around the rim and a raised center where the meat was placed to cook and we had a whole selection of sea food, meats and vegetables to cook on it. Defiantly the most random meal we had for the whole holiday, and also the most fun. In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have chosen to eat like this normally, but I’m so glad it was all prepared for us and we got a chance to experience some real Thai food away from the restaurants and cafes we’d been pretty much living in.

We rounded of the evening with a drink in Treehouse and then another in Ting Tong bumping into a few of our friends from around and about in passing, but not really staying out nearly as long as I would have liked to as we had a big day trip out set for early the next morning.

24th March – The Boat Trip

The everything provided boat trip was an epic 24 hours, meeting at Coconut a little bar just opposite Ting Tong the boat trip was mostly just our group and a couple of friends who we got to know pretty well in our last couple of days, and turned out to know friends I’d already met – it’s a pretty small world out in Koh Chang I guess!

The boat trip took us out from Bang Bao to spend the day out at sea visiting a couple of different sports snorkeling, and a short stop over at a beach before heading over to the tiny little uninhabited island where we would be spending the night, all the while being fed and kept with beer in hand.

From a personal point of view this was the only time I actually went swimming as well, which for me was a huge achievement since I don’t swim at all. – I know how to swim, I just haven’t since I was probably about 12 – so when we had to get from the boat, to the island we were staying at, I figured if it was the perfect time to just jump in and give it ago. Getting to that point took some encouragement from my friends, but they were a great help to me once I was in the water, and with them to hand and the fact the water was warm and calm, and didn’t do badly at all, and we I managed to do a bit of swimming, a tiny bit of snorkeling and got to the shore without any major issues, though I did struggle at one or two points my friends were on hand to straighten me out. Which I will be eternally thankful for.

Our time on the island was very chilled, just sun bathing, chilling in hammocks, playing travel guess who, spinning poi and so on, and we finally settled down fairly late in the night to sleep on the beach, after enjoying a spot of hermit crab racing by the fire side.

We were woken up fairly early in the morning just before dawn as we got caught by an incoming burst of rain fall – leading to everyone leaping up and scrambling into the tents to avoid getting soaked through – not the best way to be woken up, particularly as the tents didn’t have the rain hats on so they leaked, so there was a degree of faffing about but we survived.

Swimming back to the boat was not nearly as fun as getting to the island, the water was a lot more choppy and not as warm, combined with a rocky area where I tried to cross just didn’t work out as well. But if anything it made me more determined to learn how to swim properly when I’m out in Thailand for a good amount of time.

25th March – Last Night On Koh Chang

Once we’d all made it back from our over night boat trip we did the usual round of napping and food, before late in the afternoon heading out to Coconut to start the night off by getting Tattoos and a beer.

I’d been eyeing up my particular tattoo for much of the holiday, and the last day on the island it came to a now or never choice, and I really wanted it doing, so went of to get it done ahead of the girls who between three of them had all chosen to get the same Thai word (For Paradise) in various locations but I wanted to get in first so mind was out the way, in short I got it done, and while it wasn’t that uncomfortable, I did quickly down two beers after it was done. I’ll write a bit more about my tattoo in another post though.

We went on to have some food, and start the night early bumping into most of the people we’d got to know on the island over the last couple of weeks on the way, and so a very busy, hectic and drunken night. By the time I got back to my hut and said my final good byes to new friends it was well past dawn, and I was well set to abandon going home and just stay on the island for a few more weeks – However, since my bank account was already empty that wasn’t really an option – so I went to catch a couple of hours sleep before we needed to get up for the bus to Bangkok.

26th March – The Journey To Bangkok

Wednesday morning is a blur to be honest, the short version is the trio of girls I was traveling to Bangkok with were still in Ting Tong drinking at 9am when we had planned to get the bus. I wasn’t to worried by this, there were other buses, in fact really I think I was more thinking to my self I should have stayed up myself, if I’d know the girls were up at that time still I would have joined them much earlier. Some few drinks later, and maybe some food we ended up on a Taxi and getting the ferry to the mainland, nicely timed to get the 4pm bus to Bangkok, which we all slept though and crawled of blurry eyed and not really fully awake at about 10pm in Bangkok East Bus Station.

To find the police standing next to our bags wanting to inspect them, I’d been told by a number of people that this happens fairly frequently so I wasn’t particularly worried, I don’t smoke anything for the most part so nothing to worried about in my bag, and every one else I thought knew not to carry stuff on them for this very reason.

Turns out, that not everyone in our traveling group did know that, and got caught with a very small amount of green in their bag. At which point, things get interesting to say the least.

We were led over to a set of benches in the center of the bus station forecourt, and sat down with our bags while the various police officers talked among themselves, and would tell us (Or more specifically the girl who had the weed) that we would have to go to the police station and a few other comments along the lines of “Your in deep shit now” however, they then mentioned we could just pay a fine of 40,000 Baht (About £500) to which we said we’d love to, but simply didn’t have that kind of money as we were at the end of our holiday on the way to the airport – which of course, was all true. This went on for a little while, and we essentially haggled with them for a little while, the girls were getting particularly scared and I think it showed, as when I made an offer of 5,000 Baht (About £85) they accepted, gave us a folded bit of newspaper to put the cash into, which we placed to one side on the bench, got our passports back, grabbed our bags and jumped into the first taxi we came across to head to Khaosan road.

The plan was do go shopping for gifts in the few hours we had before heading to the airport, but the girls didn’t feel to well after the trauma of nearly getting arrested, and all my spending money had gone on bribes so we caught a couple of hours sleep at My House in the room Tansy had taken for her self since she was staying over night to catch a later flight, and we headed off to the air port about 3am, to make our final journey back.

27th March – Going Home

The flight back went pretty smoothly, a few minor delays and some niggles with annoying kids on the second flight, but all in all it went as well as could be expected, the food was okay, we all managed to get some sleep for parts of the journey, and while the first flight was the most basic we had of the four flights for the whole amount of travel we did, we also got the most sleep on that one, so it worked out in our favor.

And that’s pretty much it for my very badly written holiday overview – I’ll put together some better posts on specific events and places over time, the overviews are mostly to keep in my head what happened when while it’s still fairly close. There are a number of things missing that don’t need to be placed in context, or don’t need to be shared on a public forum, but for now this little set gives a good idea of how things went down in Thailand for an epic two weeks around Easter in 2008.

I’ll certainly be visiting Koh Chang when I head back out on travels of my own (I considering holidaying, and traveling to be two very different things) and who knows, maybe I’ll bump into some of the people I meet this time around when I’m globe trotting around.

Travel Plans 2008

Paul Freeman — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:05:21 +0000

Looking ahead to the rest of the year (I’ll finish my Thailand updates later in the week) I have a pretty healthy set of destinations in the line up for the rest of 2008 and beyond:

July: Suffolk, England – For Latitude Festival
August: Amsterdam, Holland – For A Friend’s Stag Do
October/November: Helsinki, Finland – To Visit My Sister While She’s Studying There
December onwards: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam etc. – Traveling South East Asia for Six Months

I’d really like to go to a music festival in Europe too, so there are too options on the cards currently:

July: Open’er Festial in Poland. (Friends are going)
August: Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. (Sigur Rós are playing)

Given that Sigur Rós are my all time favorite group it’s likely to come out on top, they are playing at Latitude as well, but I’d leap at the chance to see them twice.