Day 27 – Round the World 2008
So, time to leave the allegedly tranquil but mostly trolleyed Phi Phi. I have to admit I’m not too sorry. The place looks amazing outside of the hedonistic and decidedly manky drinking centre and the weather’s far from rubbish but there’s only so much beach I can take, and I think I’ve taken it. Cat also seems to be following my line of
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Day 25-26 – Round the World 2008
The next couple of days on Phi Phi were a pretty lazy affair, highlights being swimming around the cool little bays, eating far more food than any human needs to survive, drinking enough alchoholic liquid to threaten aforementioned survival and scoffing a few more clandestine pancakes.
Day 24 – Round the World 2008
Our second day in Ko Phi Phi and the sun was blazing. I staggered from our dank little room into the glaring sunshine reasonably early to have a little scout around for somewhere nicer to stay. An added bonus to this was that I could buy a sneaky little banana and nutella pancake from one of the many stalls and eat it on the way. Normally I’d have to bypass the amazing little things because they all serve peanuts and there isn’t exactly much in the way of cleaning between each serving, but with no nut-averse Cat around I could chomp away! I did feel a little guilty, but sorry to say it only lasted as long as it took the first forkful to hit my mouth. I walked on in a daze of banana-chocolateyness.
I looked around for ages trying to find somewhere nice for under 1000 bhat but eventually after about 2 hours gave it up as a bad job. I had come across a place earlier in the morning, though, that was pretty luxurious compared to our usual pads and thought it might just be worth the extra outlay. I walked back to our current lodging, picked up a Cat and went back along to give her a look. 30 minutes later and we were moving our bags in, 2400 bhat lighter but revelling in the first Air-con we’d experienced since Bangkok and a room three times the size of our previous.
After laying around for a good couple of hours enjoying the cool air we decided to head back out into the sun in search of a quieter beach than yesterday. We’d chatted to a guy in Ko Tao who had told us about a suitable candidate by the name of Long Beach – a quieter stretch of sand with a couple of restaurants and a beach bar which could only be reached by long-tail boat. We had heard there was a walking trail round the coast though which we thought worth a try so we packed up the bag with towels and sun cream and headed east along the sand. The trek was quite good fun actually, following steep trails through the forest and passing random little collections of huts along the way. It took nearly an hour and culminated with a pretty sheer drop which had suspect looking mud and tree root steps cut into it. We gazed out from the cliff at the amazing beach, decided it was worth it and then spent 20 minutes lowering ourselves down the crazy staircase. I only landed on my ass a few times though and we exited onto the beach with barely muddy shorts and smiles on our faces.
We spent the afternoon there drinking fruit smoothies and swimming around in the ridiculously warm water. I rented a snorkel and had a go paddling around the bay but my snorkel was slightly defective and I gave it up after my third lungful of water – The fishes had swum off ages ago anyway after my first sea-water induced coughing fit, but at least I’d seen a few bits of weird coloured coral.
After a suitable amount of skin-damage we packed up the bags and made for home. We discovered that we could make our way around the rocks of the coast because the tide had gone out a little and it ended up taking us only about half an hour to get back. I was loving it too, looking in every nook and cranny for crabs and beasties like the big 10 year old that I am. I don’t understand people that talk about growing up, kids have far more fun than us. Does jumping around on rocks ever get less fun?
That night we headed into town for our now-standard meal of 1 Thai Curry I haven’t had yet and 1 meal that wont kill Cat, ie. Pizza. In anyone else it might have become an annoyance only having one choice every evening, but Cat’s appetite for Pizza is boundless. Phi Phi’s supply of ham, pineapple and dough continued to be decimated as we scoffed our way on.
That night we found a new bar down a previously unexplored alleyway after hearing some hugely loud and pretty good music from the other end. We made our way down and discovered a pretty large place with a huge stage at one end, looking a bit more like a pure music venue than a bar, but it was free in and the music sounded good so we grabbed some Big Changs and found a seat among the hordes. The band, “Made in Thailand”, turned out to be awesome and we stayed a good 2 hours listening to their mix of covers, from old school rock to new metal. They did some crazily accurate covers of ACDC and Guns and Roses before moving onto some amazing, slightly changed versions of Ramstein and System of a Down. They were asking for requests the whole time and must have known a ridiculous amount of songs – nearly every time they played the requested band straight off. A highlight near the end was Rage against the Machine’s Killing in the name of. The 20-stone, long haired tatoo freak who had been shouting, “Rage! RAAAGE!” for the last half hour promptly jumped up, surged to the front and proceeded to decimate the mosh pit, hurling man and woman alike onto tables, through chairs and dangerously near the feet of the singer. Everyone was loving it though and the singer laughed his ass off and only sang harder.
After the gig we staggered home, ears a-ringing and singing away to the tunes still playing in our heads. I had decided that I’d forgive Phi Phi it’s stupidly busy beaches and unashamed sales pitch as long as it kept feeding us the Thai boxing bars and crazy rocking bands.
Day 23 – Round the World 2008
And on we went to Ko Phi Phi. Although we almost didn’t when I went off to get some cash and the ferry transfer bus came and went in the meantime. Not to fear though, some pleading with the hotel staff ensued and the bus came a circle back to pick us up.
Day 22 – Round the World 2008
We awoke this morning with a sense of trepidation – we were back on the ferry in a matter of hours and our last trip hadn’t exactly sent us to the booking office clamouring for more tickets. We got a taxi back over to the pier this time, not really fancying an hour walk in the sun with the dreaded ferry on our minds. The taxi-cum-pickup-truck dropped us off at the pier and we trudged up it’s length to join the 50 or so other people, all looking at least as miserable as us at the what the next couple of hours held in store.
In the event though it was fine. It wasn’t much less rough really, maybe a little, but having survived the previous trip we realised that the ferry wasn’t going to fall apart any time soon. Cat and I sat and watched the movie on the TV at the front of the boat listening to folk heaving up their guts the whole way, and happily neither of us got sick. The movie might have helped, although simply because we were concentrating on following what was going on despite the fact that there was no sound. It probably doesn’t say much for the movie’s calibre when I tell you that we managed with no problem. It was a slightly implausable tale about a implausably good looking teenager who turns up at his new school to find that, in order to fit in, he has to fight his way to the final of an implausable and illegal cage fighting tournament which, despite being illegal, looked like it was being held in a pretty swish, well decorated and amazingly well lit nightclub. And of course, as one of the unofficial prizes of this tournament he wins the heart of the high school hot chick.
Anyway, at the end of this masterpiece of cinema we left the ferry and jumped on the bus waiting for us outside the terminal. It was rickety little VW camper type wagon but despite appearances it turned out to be highly efficient and dropped us off at the main bus transfer two hours later. When I say main bus transfer mind you I do mean a dodgy little cafe in the middle of nowhere where the owners tell you that you ‘might as well eat something from their well placed restaurant as the bus isn’t leaving for a couple of hours yet’. So, dutifully we ordered small meal to keep up going during the wait, and only minutes after we were delivered our food the bus driver turned up and announced he was leaving in 5 minutes. When are we going to learn…
After wolfing down a piping hot Thai curry and incinerating my tonsils in the process we set off on the longer leg heading south to Krabi. The scenery was pretty amazing on the way south – initially we cruised through rainforest and palm plantations but they eventually gave way to ridiculously beautifil sea-scapes and weird and wonderful rocky outcrops. I’m not sure what caused them but the south of Thailand is filled with rocky columns, sometimes precariously thin and sometimes village sized in width. Always though they are hundreds of metres high, sheer sided and topped with a thick growth of trees and bushes. When you see them all lined up on the horizon, the sun glinting off the tropical sea you can easily see why people keep coming back.
That night we got ourselves a room at the Village Hotel, just outside the centre of Krabi, and ventured in for a bite to eat. Krabi didn’t seem anything special but it was a nice enough place to spend the night waiting for the ferry. We discovered a cool little market in the centre of town with dozens of food carts selling dirt cheap dinners and snacks so we grabbed a couple of samples and, as usual, it was far better than most of the asian food you get in a restaurant at home. Afterwards we nipped into a tiny little bar on the way back to the hotel and discovered a geordie sitting in the corner playing guitar for drinks. He was setup with the full kit – amp, microphone, etc – but the place was so small he didn’t need them and he was just chatting to the small crowd in the pub and taking requests. He was a damn good singer though and we spent an hour or so there singing along to some geordie accented covers before hitting the sack in preparation for making out way to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow.
Days 20 – 21 – Round the World 2008
The next couple of days in Ko Tao pretty much merged into a blur of beachside relaxing and sun-kissed beer consumption. One night we discovered a bar which was offering a BBQ – only a couple of quid for a stick of meat along with baked potatos, corn on the cobs and other treats – so we got stuck into that straight away. I managed to wolf down about three sticks – some prawns, beef and squid – while Cat, in an effort of ladylike-ness, made do with two of the huge kebabs. It was amazing though and we ended up going back the next night too.
After the BBQ we went along the beach for a few drinks and in one of the bigger bars we saw the most amazing dog ever…
I should clarify a bit, because it’s probably not something anyone else would remember, but Cat’s pretty much obsessed with our slobbery canine friends so it came more to our notice than it would to any normal person. She gushes over dogs the way most women do over babies, and I must admit to a bit of a liking towards the furry little critters too, so we’ve been loving the fact that in Thailand you can’t walk 20 yards without falling over about 5 mutts. They’re mostly strays obviously, but for some reason the majority of them still look really well kept and they’re all of this Thai mongrel breed that’s pretty cute. So we’re always looking out for them and giving them a clap as we pass by.
Well, might as well get my money’s worth out of that rabies jag eh?
Anyway, that night we saw this dog that was just amazing and obscene in equal measure. I’ve seen fat mutts, but this thing was crazy. It was litterally like a little hairy barrel with four tiny little poles propping it up. From the straight legged waddle as it walked you could tell that it was so fat that it’s knees were actually inside it’s body. It lay down and you could actually see the ripple in the top of your pint. We spent a good hour gazing open-mouth at the canine behemouth before having to leave and I’ve seen it again today, shambling along the street. Who would have thought a dog could find so much food…
I discovered at one point over the last two days that the local aussie bar, Choppers, did free wifi so a couple of mornings in a row I was down there scoffing milkshakes while abusing their connection. I’m actually still enrolled on a distance education course at Napier while out here so I’ve got a bit of work to do from time to time. Those two days were conveniently right around my group project hand-in so I was typing away, sucking on my mango float, gazing out at the beach and the palm trees while simultaneously taking the piss out of my fellow group members for being in an office in Edinburgh. This is how work should always be done, I thought.
So time to go. We’ve ended up staying a day longer than we had planned simply because it’s lulled us into a huge pit of laziness, but it was a great wee place to visit. It’s totally quiet and tranquil enough for relaxation but had enough good little pubs and restaurants when you want to get out and have a wee drink. Plus, the diving’s easily cheap enough to give you something to do if you get bored with the beaches. Next time… I reckon I’m going to come back and do a dive course here – because of the free accomodation with every dive course it’s not much more to fly here, do the course and fly home compared with learning to dive in the UK. No contest.
And that’s pretty much the end of our visit to Ko Tao. Tomorrow we have to brave the high seas again – we’ve decided to go South and chance the monsoons simply because we can’t not go and see Ko Phi Phi because of a bit of rain. We’re Scottish for god’s sake, I’m surprised I haven’t dried up like a prune in the last week for lack of it. So, it’s on the ferry of doom for a couple of hours, a drive accross country to Krabi, and then another ferry to Phi Phi. Here we go again…
Day 19 – Round the World 2008
We awoke early this morning ready to face a day on the high seas. We had decided to book ourselves on a snorkelling trip around the island thinking that we could see some of the reportedly amazing diving sites around Ko Tao, as well as scoring a visit to some of the secluded bays that we hadn’t dared risk out scooter off-roading to yesterday. We were picked up in one of the ubiquitous pickup trucks that everyone in Thailand seems to own – literally about 75% of the cars you see on the road here consist of these huge, way out of my price range, 4×4 beasts which I was surprised to see in a supposedly relatively poor country.
The truck picked up a few other folks before despositing us all on a well used dock next to an even more well used looking sea vessel. It was a pretty big boat for the meagre 7 customers they’d managed to pick up, but the less than beautiful weather – looming grey clouds and gale force winds – probably accounted for that. We were accompanied by a couple from Holland, a couple from England and an aussie guy, all of which seemed pretty friendly.
After our nightmarish ferry ride only a couple of days ago we were slightly apprehensive about the sailing around, but the boat stayed pretty close to the coast the whole way and we arrived at the first stop without having to feed the fishes. So, this was where we’d see some of the best diving in the world apparently. The Lonely Planet and various other sources had told us that Ko Tao was among the top rankers on earth when it comes to reefs, marine life and underwater playgrounds, so I sqelched into my flippers, donned my mask and snorkel and leaped excitedly into the sea. After about 2 minutes of thrashing around trying to clear my mask I began to think that, perhaps, we’d been had. My mask was as clear as it got, it just happened to be the sea that was dirty. It turned out that our monsoon dodging had been successful by way of avoiding the rain, but the crap churned up by the storms in the sea takes a lot longer to settle down. The 7 of us were flippering around, bumping into each other in the murk, straining to even see the seabed never mind hide nor hair of a fish. It was warm at least though, and in the end we did see a stunted little fish or two, but the ‘best place to see sharks, sharks all over the place!’ as the guide said – methinks not.
In all fairness, the next stop was a fair bit better – it was a lot clearer and there was plenty more to see. You couldn’t exactly call it a secluded spot though as we were joined by around 5 or 6 other snorkeling boats and even though you could see 10m or more through the water we were still bumping into folk every 2 minutes through sheer numbers. The reef was amazing though and the fish even more so. Who’da thought you needed that many colours to make up one creature. The needle fish were cool too swimming around in big shoals looking like a big bunch of shiny straws arrowing through the water.
It was obviously a popular spot because we saw a number of divers poking around the bottom too, but from what I could see they weren’t getting much of a better view than us. I’d love to go back and do my diving qualification there at some point though, and it’s pretty bargainous at £90 for your open water certificate including accomodation.
After the second stop there was another pretty dissapointing visit to a supposedly great little bay, but it was the same as the first and we blindly swum around for 45 minutes occasionally seeing some dead coral through the haze and the odd evil looking littly spiky crab.
After the third snorkelling stop we sailed off in search of a lunch spot. When booking the trip we’d been promised fresh fruit and water all day, along with lunch at half time. At that point we’d had plenty of water but the fruit had yet to transpire, and when we saw them preparing what looking like food my mouth began to water. The ‘lunch’ however turned out to consist of nothing more than a polystyrene box each filled with plain rice and topped with, of all things, a fried egg. This might have provoked a bit of complaint among the lot of us as we’d already been moaning about the rubbish conditions and the lack of snacks, but the boat crew pulled an obviously well rehearsed masterstroke by parking up for lunch in a nice open bay, conveniently exposed to some of the best swells the Gulf of Thailand has to offer. Each of us looked with anger at our pretty sub-par lunch, took one bite, stood up to complain and then turned aside to vomit said bite over the side. Any thoughts of lunch pretty much dropped out of our heads then and I concentrated on just keeping breakfast down.
After lunch the schedule had us heading over to Ko Tao’s little brother, xxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxx is a tiny island only a few miles to the west of Ko Tao, which is actually 3 even tinier islands linked together by a central sand bar to make a kind of island version of the mercedes badge. It was the stereotypical tropical paradise, two of the islands shooting up with steep cliffs and surrounding the central sandbar which formed three back-to-back pristine white sand beaches. The remaining island housed a hotel and a beach bar and that’s pretty much it, the whole was probably less than half a mile accross but you could see that people came here to spend a week and just sit on the beach. It was pretty amazing, but I have to say I got pretty bored after spending 3 hours there never mind a week. We climbed up to the top of one of the mini-islands and were treated to an awesome view of Ko Tao and it’s surroundings, but after that and a little swim we headed back on the boat.
As I said, we were scheduled for more snorkelling after that but noone was particularly bothered about it after the morning’s adventures, and as it turned out that the skipper headed for home straight away in any case. I was torn between annoyance that they were pretty much ripping us off by finishing an hour early and relief that we wouldn’t have to spend another hour peering through silty water at sweet f-a.
We’d got on pretty well with the lone aussie, Jared, during the day so we met up with him that evening for a bit of food and some beers. After a pretty average Italian meal we found a nice little bar right on the beach pumping out some old old tunes which, surprisingly enough, got better and better as we graduated from beers to shorts to multicoloured buckets. The night ended with the Cat, I and the aussie throwing some horrendous shapes on the sand surrounded by Thais and tourists alike. The buckets strike ag
Day 18 – Round the World 2008
Happily we woke up on our first day in Ko Tao to blazing sunshine so it seemed we’d sidestepped the end of the monsoon. What we hadn’t avoided though were the man-eating mosquitos and along with the blazing sunshine I also awoke to itchiness of nightmareish proportions. For some reason the blood-sucking little bastards were
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Day 17 – Round the World 2008
We arrived at the ferry port around 6.30 in the morning after a completely useless night’s ‘sleep’ on the unluxury bus. The whole lot of us trooped down the stairs looking just as bad as we felt, and everyone was straight into the little cafe to empty them of their coffee stocks. Then around 7.30 we were loaded onto a pretty shabby looking
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Day 16 – Round the World 2008
Today was the day we would escape the noise and the niffs of Bangkok and head for the sun, sand and sea of the Thai islands. Yesterday we had booked a bus to the Island of Ko Tao, a tiny little place just off the east coast of Thailand, to start our 10 days of island hopping. We had heard rumours of continuing Monsoons in the southerly
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