Bangkok |
Koh Samui – Lamai | Koh
Samui - Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan
- Haad Rin | Krabi
Bangkok
- 7th - 17th Oct 2000
We
crossed the border with little difficulty and we were
in Thailand. A waypoint on our trip if there ever
was one. We immediately found a 7-Eleven and stuffed
ourselves with familiar junk-foodstuffs. There was
an immense amount of relief at getting here after
the difficult travelling in China, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Though I never have been a fan of the ‘beach’
holiday, arriving in Thailand made me realise that
that was just about all I wanted to do at that time.
A chance to sit and do nothing seemed bliss. However,
first we had to deal with Bangkok.
The border is about 4-6 hours away
from the capital itself, so we tried to book ourselves
onto a minibus service. After 2 hours of hanging around,
we got pissed off and grabbed a tuc tuc to get us
to the coach station where we found a bus leaving
immediately. It was dark when we reached the bus terminal
in Bangkok and we had to take a taxi to the area we
wanted to get to. Unfortunately, though being able
to speak good English, the taxi driver only knew one
location to take backpackers to – The Khao San
Road. He couldn’t seem to understand that we
wanted to go somewhere else. Eventually, after much
discussion and pointing at maps we seemed to get to
an understanding and we made it to road and we booked
ourselves into a room in the hostel. Unfortunately
the hostel was a bit like the one that Leonardo DeCaprio
stayed in for the film of the Alex Garland novel,
The Beach. It was hot, uncomfortable, and noisy and
I was sharing a small, sweaty, double bed with Ben.
The still ill Paul went to the doctor
who diagnosed a case of mild dysentery and gave him
a load of drugs to take which sorted him right out.
In my first couple of days we ventured into the polluted
air of one of the world's most notorious cities and
had a look around. We took the river taxi service
up into the centre of town and wandered about in the
blazing heat. We took a trip to Siam Square, a shopping
precinct where we found a tower records and a cinema.
So we brought lots of music and went to see a film
(Charlie’s Angels). Before the start of any
film in Thailand, you are required to stand and pay
respects to the King whilst a montage of photos from
his life is projected and the national anthem (that
the King himself wrote) is played. It felt a little
odd, and I’m pretty sure that the same practice
would not go down too well back in England.
The Khao San Road, of course, received
several visits but for some reason the picture I built
up in my head of it was nothing like what it actually
was. I was expecting some huge wide dusty road with
stalls dotted all over it selling everything and anything
and street bars and restaurants perched on the side
of the street. In reality it is a narrow, short, tarmaced
road, there is constant noise from the hi-fi’s
blaring out this weeks bootlegged music and both pavements
absolutely crammed with stalls selling fake clothes,
sunglasses, lighters, CDs, Student Cards, Disco Glitter
Balls (bizarre), flags, hammocks, backpacks, vaguely
ethnic souvenirs…anything. Seeing as I had been
wearing the same clothes for 9 weeks by that point,
and was getting pretty pissed off with them, I splashed
out some cash for a couple of new threads and a pair
of sunnies.
By about the third day there I was
starting to feel a bit ill and was suffering from
a lack of sleep nausea, and diarrhoea. It looked as
if I was coming down with what Paul had. Soon enough
I was unable to do anything except lie on my bed or
sit on a toilet. The nights were the worst –
especially when sharing a bed. Ben, Greig, Paul and
Ruth were all getting a little tired of Bangkok and
decided to leave after I insisted that I would be
fine on my own for a bit. They headed off to Kanchanaburi,
a small town famous for one reason – it is the
location of the Bridge over the River Kwai, constructed
under order of the Japanese by prisoners of war and
enslaved locals during WWII. I stayed in Bangkok,
but moved into a room with air-con and my own bathroom
(a definite need at the time).
During my rehabilitation, I really
did very little. I browsed the stalls on the Khao
San a bit more and ate out in bars showing movies
in the evenings. During the days I read a lot and
occasionally made a trip up the river on a water taxi
to the centre of town. The others returned from Kanchanaburi
and we made plans to head down to Koh Samui. We needed
to meet our friend Max who was there and were desperate
need of some beach action.
By the time I left I had formulated
my opinion of Bangkok: Nothing seemed real. Although
the city was very dynamic and exciting, it was so
frenetic that it left me with the feeling of ‘what
was all that about’. But I suppose as a city
for travellers, it is a means to an end. You can fly
to anywhere in the world from there or make it down
to the beaches and islands, but I doubt many travellers
go there for the city itself. Unless, of course, they
are a sex tourist.
TOP
| Bangkok | Koh
Samui – Lamai | Koh Samui
- Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan -
Haad Rin | Krabi
Koh Samui
– Lamai - 17th - 20th Dec 2000
Being Thailand's third largest island,
and arguably the most beautiful, Koh Samui has attained
an almost legendary status amongst travellers in Asia.
Ringed by beautiful white sand beaches and fringed
with coconut bearing palm trees, it is pretty much
an idyllic setting. But for one thing - tourism. It
has completely transformed the island in the past
5-10 years. A road system has been built and even
an airport for those package tourists who simply can't
stomach the 2-hour boat trip from the mainland. However,
we were there during the low season and the island
was almost empty and we were able to enjoy Christmas
there.
After their return from Kanchanaburi,
Greig and Ben decided to stay in Bangkok for a bit
longer. Paul, Ruth and I however were keen to move
on. So, from Bangkok we took a very comfortable overnight
bus down to Surat Thani Town, a port on the South
East side of Thailand. There we took a Raja Ferry
boat 15kms over to Na Thon, Koh Samui. Finally we
hitched a lift on a Song-Thu to take us to the resort
town of Lamai. Starving and very thirsty, we found
ourselves in a Swedish restaurant eating steak sandwiches,
when Max strolled past.
Max was another friend from Brighton
who had decided to meet up with us in Thailand. We
were about a week later than he was but due to judicious
use of email we had been able to establish that he
was in Lamai. After group hugs and a bit of story
swapping, we tramped over to where Max was staying
- The Amadeus Bungalows, just behind Lamai beach.
Seeing as we were expecting Ben and Greig in a couple
of days, we moved into a large bungalow called the
'Big House', but which we renamed the 'Rat House'
after our first night there. The evening started well,
with drinks on the large balcony that surrounded the
bungalow. Some people Max had met joined us until
the small hours, after which we started flaking off
to bed. It was then that I realised that my mattress
was slightly damp and smelled of piss. Being too drunk
and tired to care I tried not to think about it and
attempted to sleep. Some scuffling noises started
up and, upon inspection with my flashlight, I discovered
that the room was crawling with rats. There was a
beam running across the room above my bed at about
head height upon which there were several rats commuting
to various parts of my bedroom. Judging by the high-pitched
screaming coming from behind the paper-thin walls
next to my head there also appeared to be a minor
rodent war ensuing. Luckily I was too far-gone to
really care that much, so I eventually passed out.
Unfortunately Paul and Ruth did not share the luxury
of unconsciousness and were freaked out enough to
move out that evening to different accommodation.
Next day we discovered Paul and Ruth
in their new rat-free accommodation and went out for
Full English in an 'English' Pub. Although very contrived
and a little bit weird (it was quite a realistic simulacra
of an English Pub, even down to the smell and the
choice of beers), the food was not too bad, if ridiculously
expensive for our meagre budgets. Despite not being
that bothered by the rats the previous night, I found
a market stall that sold me a hammock for about £2.
Back at the 'Rat-House' I strung my new bed up on
the balcony and slept there in peace for the following
three nights.
On our penultimate day in Lamai four
of us (for those that know them, Ben, Greig and Max)
rented motorbikes and decided to do a circuit of the
island (about 50kms). I, being the only one without
a drivers license, and never having been in charge
of a petrol-powered vehicle before, was a bit nervous
about this but it turned out to be pretty simple really
and after 10 mins was buzzing along at a frightening
90kph in a T-shirt and shorts with no skid-lid. And
of course, being the only one who had never driven
a motorbike before, was the only one not to crash.
All three of the other supposedly competent drives
lost control of their steed. Max, whilst aborting
a doomed overtaking manoeuvre. Ben whilst doing a
U-turn at full throttle. Greig, whilst watching a
local lady and not the road, and almost slamming into
the back of a pick-up truck. No one sustained any
lasting injuries though, just a few minor grazes.
During the day we managed to do a
complete circuit of the island, taking in some of
the highlights of the island. First stop was at the
Big Buddha, a relatively peaceful place on the coast,
populated by monks and tourists. From there we drove
on to Chaweng, the main party place on the island.
Ben had been here about 7 years previously and we
tried to find a bar that he remembered, the Reggae
Bar or Bob Marley Café or something. It took
us some time to find seeing as the whole town had
radically changed since Ben's previous visit. After
that it was around to the North of the island to try
and find Mae Nam, another place Ben had visited on
his earlier trip. We found the same bungalows he had
stayed in and decided to head here the following day.
TOP
| Bangkok | Koh
Samui – Lamai | Koh Samui
- Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan -
Haad Rin | Krabi
Koh Samui
- Mae Nam - 20th - 27th Dec 2000
Leaving Lamai turned into a bit of
an escapist episode. Max returned his motorbike to
discover that the rental shop wasn't entirely happy
with the massive crack on the faring. So, Max told
them that he would come back and pay for the damages
later in the day. The rest of us had checked out of
the rat house, telling each of the staff that we had
paid the other the money we owed them, thus not actually
paying anybody anything. We then congregated in a
hotel on the main strip for few more cocktails and
waited to catch a bus to Mae Nam. Unfortunately the
motorbike rental bloke spotted us and began demanding
his money. Whilst Max distracted him we flagged down
a bus and loaded all of our stuff onto it calling
for Max to jump on and make out escape. This he did
and we set off, only slightly perturbed that the,
now somewhat angry, motorbike rental bloke was pursuing
us on a bike of his own. He initially seemed pretty
determined, weaving in and out of the traffic, waving
his fist and shouting at us to stop, but he seemed
to tire of his pursuit after about ten minutes and
dropped back. Much relieved, we continued our journey
around to the North of the island and Mae Nam.
We were dropped off on the main road
leaving us with a 5 minute walk to the beach and the
lodgings we had chosen the day before whilst cruising
around on our bikes. At the end of the road were the
Rose Bungalows and the Friendly Bungalows. Both were
cheap and looked the part, though the Rose Bungalows
were defiantly more 'beach hut' like. We got checked
into our rooms (one each) and started to relax proper.
After Lamai, Mae Nam was a breath of fresh air. The
bungalows were pretty much ON a narrow, white sanded
beach. Hammocks were strung between palm trees. My
room wasn't infested with plague carrying rodents.
There really seemed to be only us there. Swimming
in the warm sea. It was bliss. Ultimately, we were
to spend five days there. This included Christmas
Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
We spent most of the days reading
or playing chess under the shade of palm trees on
the beach, or sipping cocktails in the nearby hotel,
just along the beach. When the mood took us we would
hire a motorbike for the day and zoom off to one place
or another.
Christmas was marked by a slap up
breakfast in a nearby café followed by a day
on the beach and an evening meal of pizza in a restaurant
just on the outskirts of Mae Nam, where we exchanged
the 'secret santa' presents we had bought each other.
A couple of nights were spent in
Chaweng meeting up with Duncan and Kate, old school
friends who were living on the island during the time
we spent there. One particular evening we managed
to find ourselves in a foam party in one of Cheweng's
clubs leading to a very messy and late night out.
Ultimately, it took us five days
to try and rouse the enthusiasm to try and leave for
a different island, but leave we did. Whilst Ben,
Greig, Max and I were headed for Koh Phangan, Paul
an Ruth decided to skip down through the rest of Thailand
quickly and get through Malaysia and on to Borneo.
The plan was to meet up again somewhere before Australia.
As it turned out it was about 5/6 weeks before we
managed to meet up again in Bali.
TOP
| Bangkok | Koh
Samui – Lamai | Koh Samui
- Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan -
Haad Rin | Krabi
Koh Pha Ngan
- Haad Rin - 27th - 30th Dec 2000
Koh Pha Ngan is a beautiful island
just North of Koh Samui. It was relatively unknown
by western travellers until the late 80's when a few
tourists started holding small impromptu parties on
the beaches every full moon. Eventually these parties
grew in popularity and fame until they reached the
notoriety they receive today. The 'Full Moon' parties
now attract thousands of revellers from all over the
world, all seeking the perfect setting for hedonistic
abandonment.
Dancing on Sunset Beach, Haad Rin, Koh Phangan.
Click for more images of Thailand
We took a ferry from Na Thon on the
West coast of Samui, and rode the choppy seas 15kms
to Haad Rin, a town on the South Eastern peninsula
of the island. The peninsula, and Haad Rin itself,
is framed by two large and attractive beaches, the
easterly Sunrise Beach, and the westerly Sunset Beach.
We arrived 5 days before New Years Eve (another predictably
huge party night on the Koh Phangan calendar), and
the place was already gearing up for a crusher of
a party.
Because of the influx of tourists
for the new year's eve celebrations, we discovered
that there were precisely zero rooms available in
the whole of Haad Rin. We spent several hours launching
missions to various parts of the town trying to find
anywhere with a spare room or two, but to no avail.
We were on the verge of giving up the hunt and bedding
down on the beach when a guy strolled up to us and
asked if we needed somewhere to stay. Seeing as we
didn't really have any other option, we agreed. We
were shown to a kind of open fronted shack masquerading
as a bar called the Purple Haze. Above the bar was
a trap door leading to a room in the eaves of the
palm fronded roof. There was one mattress between
the four of us and, only a mandi shower. This is where
we slept (collapsed is probably more appropriate)
during our time on Phangan.
The amenable proprietor of the Purple
Haze (a chap called Mars), kept his bar open until
about 4 or 5 am, but it never really shut. People
just seemed to come and go as they pleased. Quite
often random people would be found in the morning
asleep on the cushions that lined the floor or in
the hammocks that were suspended from the beams. One
of the main problems with the Purple Haze, and many
other bars and cafés in South East Asia, was
that it seemed to only have one CD which was played
non-stop for about 18 hours of the day. An album I
used to enjoy myself until I was subjected to it on
loop every night until 5am whilst I was trying to
sleep. The album - Bob Marley's, Legends. It got to
the point when I really didn't care if he shot the
sheriff or not. I can't help but cringe when I hear
that album even now.
A standard day in Haad Rin seemed
to pursue the following itinerary:
- Get up around 3pm after a fitful
mornings sleep in the roof of the 'Haze.
- Find Max and Greig still asleep.
- Wander around the town and maybe use the internet
for a bit.
- Return to the 'Haze to find friends.
- Drink a beer or two.
- Relocate to one of the many bars showing films all
afternoon.
- Watch between 2 and 4 films.
- Occasionally drink a beer or eat something.
- Head down to the beach about 11pm.
- Drink a lot of Sang Tip whisky/rum mixed with coke,
ice and red bull cordial.
- Drink another. Then another.
- Dance.
- Fall asleep on the beach.
- Wake up, find friends. Fail.
- Return to the 'Haze.
- Speak to the assortment of freaks accumulated there.
- Retire about 6am to the roof.
- Sleep and repeat.
After 3 nights of revelry I gave
up. Too many years of practising the civilised life
of a computer geek had obviously taken its toll. I
decided that I wanted out and booked a ticket (without
the Ben, Greig or Max who were staying to the bitter
end that would epitomise new years eve) to Krabi on
the other side of Thailand.
TOP
| Bangkok | Koh
Samui – Lamai | Koh Samui
- Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan -
Haad Rin | Krabi
Krabi - 30th
Dec 2000 - 4th Jan 2001
Knowing full well that the journey
from Koh Phangan to Krabi was going to be a long haul,
I tried to get some more rest than usual. This was
shattered by Max traipsing in to the roof at some
unearthly hour and deciding that we should all wake
up and have some fun. So the following morning I awoke
shattered and with only an hour before having to be
on the other side of the island to catch a ferry back
to Koh Samui. I had a ticket for the connection between
Haad Rin and the port at Thongsala, but no idea as
to what the medium of transport was. I was directed
to a café and waited for half an hour before
an already overflowing pickup truck lurched towards
me. People were literally hanging off the sides. I
squeezed myself onto the back of the thing and it
lurched off again. If it had been a nice tarmaced
road to the port, then it would have probably been
a relatively calm journey. However, the road was a
lumpy dirt track, which looped up and over the mountainous
ridge on the east side of the island. The truck vigorously
bounced along the track, dodging local pets and other
animals at high speeds, whilst I pulled several muscles
trying to hold on. During one particularly steep ascent,
the wheels started loosing grip and we all had to
jump out and give the thing a push. The scenery on
the way though... Ahh. The joys of travel in Asia.
Made it to the port with seconds
to spare and sailed back south to Koh Samui. A few
hours there and I boarded another ferry for the 4
hour crossing back to the Thai mainland, and Surat
Thani. Then I was directed to a bus, which took a
further 4 hours to get from the East to the West coast
and Krabi. I was able to pre-book a room in a hostel
en-route, which was good news seeing as I didn't expect
to arrive until about 10:30pm.
I arrived to a comfortable little
bungalow at the Garden Hostel about 20 minutes walk
North of Krabi town itself, to discover that the man
on the other side of a thin partition wall was enthusiastically
entertaining an lady of doubtful reputation. Lucky
either his funds or his stamina failed to stretch
to more than a half-hour service.
The next morning left me able to
explore Krabi itself. The coastal province main attractions
are located largely along its extensive coastline,
which contains National Parks, several well-known
beaches and numerous off shore tropical islands. Seeing
as the village of Ao Nang, and the famous beaches
around it were about 20Kms from Krabi itself, I decided
that I would need some personal transportation. So,
again, I hired a motorbike and went out to explore.
I picked up a map of the area, plotted
a course and headed out. The 30 minute drive was fantastic
as it wound around huge cliffs until the white sands
of the Ao Nang bay opened up. The bay is populated
with dozens of impressive limestone islands which
tower over the waters of the bay, looking like the
lairs of a James Bond Villian (in fact, I think one
of the films was set in this area). I spent three
intensely relaxing days riding about the area, finding
some of the most attractive beaches on the planet
and popping back to Ao Nang for some food or to use
the internet.
I spent New Years Eve with a crowd
of people who were also lodging at the Garden Hostel.
A group of them from Surrey appeared to be holidaying
with their Thai brides whilst another pair were doing
a spot of travelling after having been recently discharged
(a point of contention with them) from the Army. Initially
not the best company, but after a few dozen tequila
shots, I declared them pretty fine gentlemen. We wound
up in a club for the countdown itself but found ourselves
thrown out just after midnight. We tried to find some
other open establishment but failed. Most of the evening
is very sketchy from there on in, but I do remember
finding myself behind an unattended bar raiding the
shelves for rum, sitting down to have a drink to discover
that the pillaged bar belonged to the very hostel
I was staying.
Back on Koh Phangan, Ben, Greig and
Max had an altogether different New Year's eve. But
that's a story that doesn't belong here. A story of
which only the protagonists know the truth. A story
that has already passed into legend.
After a few days, the others (less
Max who had returned to Bangkok) joined me in Krabi,
and we started to arrange the trip out of Thailand,
South to Malaysia. The last night in Krabi was marked
by Ben and I spending an evening on a beachside bar
watching the sun set spectacularly over the sea. A
good way to end a fantastic month (except for the
dysentery bit) in a beautiful country.
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| Bangkok | Koh
Samui – Lamai | Koh Samui
- Mae Nam | Koh Pha Ngan -
Haad Rin | Krabi |
