We had heard so much about the Krabi region on the west coast on our first trip through Thailand so we decided that we should definitely go there. On a couple of occasions we had heard about an island called Koh Lanta near Krabi so we decided to go there after some good reports from various people. We travelled from the Perhentia islands on buses and arrived in Krabi Safe and sound. We got booked into a hotel for an evening so that we could suss things out the next day with regards to getting to Koh Lanta. The woman at the hotel found us going to Koh Lanta very amusing as it was the low season and she siad we would probably be the only two tourists there! Anyway, we ignored her and went on our way....... needless to say it was very quiet and we only spent a few days there before we turned tail and got out of there! It would be a lovely place in high season but in low season its basically a building site and most things are cloased down. Never mind!
After our disappointment on Koh Lanta, we decided to go for what we knew would be good: A place called Railay beach (a tourist and rock climbing hotspot with nice beaches and stunning lime stone backdrops). We had heard many good things about it. This was the Thailand I had always pictured in my mind before we visited. The area is near to Krabi and forms part of the mainland, although you can only get to it by boat due to the large sandstone cliffs surrounding the area which make it impossible to get to any other way, which is quite cool. The bus that we took from Koh Lanta to Krabi dumped us off at what turned out to be a travel agency. After doing what we normally don’t do, which is buy tickets from a travel agent for a hotel at another destination (we only ever rarely deal with hotels on the phone prior to getting somewhere and most of the time just look at hotels when we turn up), we were bundled into a taxi (the whole journey was also organised by the travel agent) and then onto the all important boat.
We arrived on the east side of Railay - on to a beach dotted with mangrove type trees beneath the high tide mark, with sheer limestone rocks puncturing the water and greenery on either side. Along with the taxi boats moored up in the shallows, it made a great picture.
We landed and tried to track down the hotel that we had been booked into. We were told by the woman at the travel agency that there were only two resorts on the east side of the beach. There were at least four, and when we tracked ours down it was at the wrong end of the beach, past a building site and it didn’t smell or look great in the surrounding area! Nice. So we got onto the phone to said travel agency bint (or more like Dipi did) and said that we were going to another hotel because she had lied to us and there were more reasonable and better looking places to stay. She eventually promised to refund our money after a little bit of bull. We then checked into a decent enough place with a nice restaurant and all that for the cost of 300 baht which is about 5 quid (half the cost of the place we had booked). We then went to check out the ‘west side’ of Railay which is only a 5 minute or so walk from the east side. After a close encounter with some funny looking monkeys.......
.....we came out at the classier side of the beach which was peppered with higher class resorts and what have you. It was a much nicer beach which received better sun throughout the day given its western aspect. It was nice enough but a little more expensive than the cheap seats on the east.
We had a couple of days to kill here before we headed east to Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao so we sorted out some rock climbing at a place called Hot Rocks. This was more Dipi’s idea but she really wanted to do it so I went along with things on that front. The rest of the time we were just intending to chill. So, in between chilling, we had a morning of rock climbing. I am man enough to admit that Dipi completely whipped my ass on the rock climbing front and everyone else’s whilst we were there. She did one more climb than anyone else managed for that matter.
Me learning how to keep the instructor alive by not letting the rope go at the wrong time.....
Me being a pussy.....
Dipi being hardcore......
She even went so far as to rip most of the skin off her fingers.... the rocks were sharp. After my poor efforts and Dipi’s heroism we went for a great massage. It was an expensive few days but a good few days regardless.
THE BIG RIP OFF..........
Something else we had already sorted out before we got there, with our beloved travel agent, was the 4 hour bus trip to the east coast and the 1 ½ hour ferry to Koh Pha Ngan. This is where we got stung. Whether it’s the driver or the original travel agent that instigates the rip off we don’t know, but it goes a little something like this:
We bought our ticket, leaving Krabi at 11 am and allegedly arriving in Koh Pha Ngan at 6 pm. The ticket included the bus and the ferry trip. We bought it from the travel agent and it didn’t exactly have much detail on it (something you find out in retrospect of course). The bus driver had our balls in his hand as soon as we set off - We got to the east coast and the driver stopped outside some other travel agent and stated that he was not going any further as the boat was leaving from where we had stopped at 6.30 to get to Koh Pha Ngan, which would get us there by 10 or 11pm! Not what we had paid for... Then they offered to take us to another port which had ferries leaving earlier that would get us there around 7, the same time we would have got there under the original deal with the original travel agent. Thing is, we had to part with another 350 baht to get “another” taxi to take us an hour down the road to the other port. So, after us protesting at the obvious bullshit that we were being fed and after lots of shouting from the Thais, we sadly parted with the money in order to get on the road again. As we suspected, they loaded up our bags again into the same taxi and not another one! But what can you do? We either stayed and waited for some ferry that may be when they say and take how long they say to get to wherever, or we departed with the cash to get on our way and get there at a decent time. Like I said, they had our balls in their hands . Bastards. In the end, and we are pretty sure, we ended up at the port that we should have done, later than we should have done, 700 baht lighter than we should have been. The final insult and confirmation was that we saw someone on the boat that had been on the very same small boat back from Railay to Krabi in the morning and he had gone to another agent and had sailed through the whole journey for less money than we had paid for the original ticket! We even met some dudes on Koh Pha Ngan that we clocked in the same travel agents and they had a similar story to ours, apart from someone in their party ending up rolling around with the Thai bus driver in the dirt! So beware dudes, there are some rackets out there! It happens to everyone at some point.
Sorry if that’s a bit dull to read but that’s what happened.
ANYWAY....we ended up in Koh Pha Ngan again, somewhere we have fond memories of, mainly because it’s pretty chilled out. It was strange to go back to a place instead of being somewhere new, but it’s also nice to have some familiarity. We checked into Sandy Bay bungalows which was not far from the place we stayed at before on Haad Yao. We got a great bungalow, slightly up the hill and it was for the same money as we got a right dive for way back in February or March. So that was cool.
The main reason for going to Koh Pha Ngan was to chill, and only to chill, which was a nice thought. It pretty much turned out that way for 6 days. We got to go back to our favourite little spots and met some nice people.
To anyone out there looking to go to the east coast of Thailand we would recommend Koh Pha Ngan any day of the week. You can either get involved in all the full moon furore (for which it is famous) or you can simply stay in the north which is way more chilled out. Only thing is, if you stay up north, you have to navigate the very steep roads in order to get into Haad Rin (full moon area) if you want to go, which can be literally fatal (and quite often is). But we only went there once during the day so it was not too bad, although we did it on a scooter in the pouring rain! You can get some great food on Koh Pha Ngan which could be in the shape of awesome western dishes at the Eagle Bar or some great local food at JB Huts and the Kop Shop (the guy who owns the latter is called Kop and he’s a complete character).
We spent a few days here and again it was really good. We also had my birthday here (which was the intention) and Dipi did her best to make the day special with a little birthday cake and some small gifts. I also spoke to my parents and got texts from back home, so thanks to all for that.
After a few days here sitting in the perfect sunshine we headed off to Koh Tao to be reunited with some friends that live there. Koh Tao was again much fun. Although things had changed rather a lot in the short amount of time that we had been away, some for the better, much for the worse. It was great to rekindle some friendships on the island and also make some new ones. We spent much of the time having fun and eating well!!
We also did some great yoga again and it punctuated how much fitter we are now in comparison to our first visit!
Lastly, Dipi got her tattoo touched up. This time by the traditional bamboo method.
Bangkok again.....
We then needed to head to Bangkok for a week in order to sort out our visas for India. The thought of spending a week in Bangkok was quite painful in the first instant, but during our visit to Koh Tao we found out that we would have some company for the week in the form of Lud and Dominique. We had not seen Dominique on the island this time round so we were chuffed when we found out we could hook up.
We got a ferry and overnight train to Bangkok and headed to Soi 11 as we had been recommended a place to stay by our yoga teacher, Kester, and also Lud and Dominique were staying in the area too. We got checked into Suk 11 without too much fuss, apart from having to take a room with no bathroom, it was a cool place with lots of character. There was also a cool little street bar, Cheap Charlie’s, just a few yards down the road. We managed to get an en suite bedroom sorted after two nights so that was good too. We went about the business of sorting the Indian visa over the course of the week, there aint much to say about that until the day we picked it up, but more on that later.
Bangkok this time round was a much better experience than the others based on almost everything really. The place we were staying at was way nicer than the one on other visits (cheaper too with pleasant clientele), the area we were in was way nicer than before and we had mates just round the corner. Sweet!
During the week we had a couple of things we wanted to do as Bangkok is a good place to stock up on stuff and also have a little bit of fun in the process (also some stress let me add). The shopping is mostly stressful because of the sprawling chaotic malls that you have go to (MBK Centre being the maddest, you can buy anything, fake or real, here), with the exception o f the Siam Plaza, which is proper posh and quite a place, selling anything from noodles and delicious ice cream to Cartier watches and Farraris, doing it all in a very nice and well built environment. We ended up going to see Dinosaurs 3D there in the week at the I-max on the top floor. It was novel to see my first proper 3D picture and the 3D effects were great, but the programme itself was not that amazing. They could have done much better considering it is the dinosaurs we are talking about here!
We had planned a night out during the week to let our hair down and go to a club. Lud suggested that we go along to Bed on the Wednesday as his friend was playing there, so we agreed on that one straight away. Lud managed to sort us with guest list and free drinks for the evening which made the evening go off with a bang! Coupled with the 6 or so Gin and Tonics at the street bar before hand, we were all well happy. The club itself is cool and nicely done inside.
We hit the bar and the fun and sillyness ensued.....
We rolled out of there at closing time which was around 2am there. I know it’s proper early but that’s how it is here for some strange reason. I think there is also some rule in Bangkok that you are not allowed dance floors so therefore you end up with tables in the middle of the dance floor just in order to technically rule it out as a dance floor. Weird.
After the club, we wandered around a 24 hr super market just along from Lud’s place which was a treat of western delights! You have trouble being confronted by good blue cheese for the first time in months, then olives, then French bread, then wine........ you just want to fill a trolley up! (Which of course would mean GREAT expense). So we just went for some olives, crackers and blue cheese. A nice little post club treat!
Bangkok Cycle Tour.........
Another thing that Lud had suggested for us to do was to go on a cycle tour around Bangkok with a Dutch company that operates there. Dipi was pretty keen on this and we arranged the trip for Friday of that week.
We arrived at the cycle place via a taxi at 8.30 or 9.00, got acquainted with our tour guide and headed off.
Dipi and the Guide.
A school we visited.
This shot was taken when we were waiting to get a small boat across the river.
It came to the time to have a little rest and grab some food. We sat down and tucked into some very good local Pad Thai and chatted for a bit. Then all of a sudden the penny dropped and Dipi looked at me in shock. “The visas!” she exclaimed. What with all the fun and frivolities of the week we had managed to book a cycle tour on the same morning that we needed to pick up our Indian Visas! Dumbasses! So after a little bit of panic, we calmed down and tried to remember what times we needed to be at the embassy. We were on the other side of the river on a bloody push bike! So our guide called up someone for the embassy number and we spoke to someone there to find out when we had to be there. The time we needed to be there was one and it was 11ish! We needed to make it back to the river by a certain time in order to get a boat that would give us some chance of getting to the embassy on time! So the cycle thingy was cut short and we made it back to the cycle place with enough time to take some snaps and get on our way to the embassy via a taxi! We made it with half an hour to spare. Again, I will say, dumb assess!
We managed to keep our flight date clear of any other stupid bookings and needless to say got on our flight to India without a hitch.
