After watching an entertaining few
boxing matches Felipe & I returned back to our bungalows just before
midnight, it turned out several hours before some of the other revellers
returned in dribs and drabs throughout the night. As a consequence I had a pretty good
night’s sleep.
So fast forward to 7am and the last
breakfast together. There were some fairly bleary eyes being nursed as people
wandered up to the main building to dump their packed bags ready for the trip
to the airport, and have their breakfast, consisting of the now familiar fried
eggs, toast, mini frankfurters, and a strong coffee!
Before we left the complex, Katie
asked us to fill in a short questionnaire about our holiday experience and
gathered our contact details.
All too soon that task was done and
we loaded the two mini vans for our trip to the local airport, where we were to
fly back to Bangkok. From there the party would split up – most returning back
to Blighty via Bahrain (which included a 6 hour change ), but the “original four”, Catherine,
Christophe, Daniel and myself were to stay on for another night but thankfully
were to catch a direct flight back to Heathrow the following morning.
We were dutifully driven in our
comfortable air conditioned mini-vans to the local airport, and fairly sombrely
checked in around 8am. Our
flight was due to take off at 10, but in the now familiar “Thai style” time
keeping, we took off an hour later, sitting in our plane waiting for an engine
to be fixed!
The flight didn’t take long, and we
were soon at Bangkok, where we picked up our bags and said our goodbyes to each
other – all hugs, smiles and promises to keep in touch!
With 4
remaining, we took one of the multicoloured taxis back into Bangkok city, this
time to our chosen hotel, the Shangri-la.
Our first
night and last nights in Bangkok couldn’t have been more different. The second visit was way more relaxing
and in comfort & luxury. We
were escorted to our rooms; mine on the 14th floor in what must be the fastest and
smoothest lifts I have ever been in. I can’t recall many lifts that I
would actually write about (after all I have a life!), but these were a pleasure to ride. Equally my room (at a reasonable £80
per night), was kitted out to the specification any European 4-5 star hotel
would be proud of. Catherine
plumped for the slightly larger more expensive room with a balcony, but I was
perfectly happy with my choice, particularly when compared with some of our
accommodation at the start of our holiday!
After a little time to ourselves, a
wash and change of clothes, we all made our way down stairs to the outdoor
swimming pool, where we had a staggered lunch shading under parasols watching
the world go by, both in the pool, and on the river that flowed by beyond the
low stone wall of the hotel. Catherine plumped for a last bout of Thai
sunbathing, while Daniel, Christophe and I all separately wandered around the
local streets, taking in the last day’s sights and sounds of the vibrant,
aromatic city.
I met up with Daniel and bought
some water before returning to the hotel in the late afternoon, where we had a
very nice (but expensive!) drink. We decided that we’d go out that evening, and
asked the concierge to recommend us a good traditional Thai restaurant.
After changing into our evening
clothes, we hired a taxi, and made our way to what turned out to be a splendid
Thai restaurant that was recommended earlier. Being our last night, we spoilt
ourselves on a meal costing 1000 baht. In the grand scheme of things, 1000 baht
equates to about £15. And is a pretty cheap meal, but we were used to spending
a tenth of that on the usual meals, so this was luxury
We hailed a tuk-tuk to take us back
to our hotel after the feast feeling rather full but not ready to call it a
night. The tuk-tuk driver
was clearly pleased with the business, and after a small amount of haggling, we
were taken on what was yet another fantastic tuk-tuk journey. Storming through
the streets, the driver weaved around the road, pulling the occasional wheelie,
and generally giving us a laugh. The mad-man/driver even let me “drive” the
tuk-tuk by holding on to the handlebars while stretched over his shoulders from
my rear seated position. It’s
not every day you can be a backseat driver!
Un-shaken but stirred & laughing, we returned to the hotel in no
time.
We all piled back into Catherine’s
room and, with what drinks we could muster, sat out on her balcony for the
remainder of the evening, watching the city go about its business and reflected
on our time in Thailand.
Breakfast For once I woke up at a fairly reasonable time, refreshed and relaxed and ready for whatever the day was to throw at me.
The sun was, as ever, roasting hot even at 8:30 in the morning, but by now after spending more than a week in such conditions I was finally acclimatising – ironically on my last proper full holi-day. My breakfast was spent quietly on one of the many wooden seats looking out from the covered but essentially open air eating area looking out onto the lush gardens that were in full bloom. Although my breakfast was largely unremarkable, I had two domesticated, though very cautious, cats for company. Although essentially healthy, the cats didn’t look particularly well fed and I’d assumed that they lived largely off scraps. My offered segments of frankfurter were eagerly accepted, and right there and then I’d made friends for life – or at least as long as the food kept coming
Literally as I’d passed my last scraps over to my new friends,
some slightly older ones arrived. Firstly Elin and Adam, followed shortly after
by Felipe and Katerina entered the dining area. Whilst they tucked into their
respective meals I spied Katie wandering up the gravelled drive.
Now I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the sounds of footsteps up a gravelled drive sounds distinctly different on a hot summer’s day? Perhaps it is the memory of a walk on a beach or something, but the sound of movement on gravel, be it tyres of a car, bike or in particular footsteps, but the sound emotes hot lazy days to me, and this day reinforced that association.
The previous day Katie had organised an opportunity for a Thai cooking lesson for those who didn’t wish to go diving. Helen and, in particular, Jude had showed interest in the cooking option when offered the previous day, I suspect in part because they had already done a try dive before.
As Katie approached us, a covered pick-up truck entered the Mild
Bungalows drive and out jumped three bronzed Europeans; our diving instructors
for the day. It turned
out two of the three were the owners of the local diving company and originated
from Germany. The third was a chap from Newcastle, and possibly like so many
before him had fallen in love with the whole diving experience and the locality
and made Thailand his diving home.
Because of the previous nights revelling, it was a no show for
many of the crew, and in the end Laura was the sixth and last person to join
the diving party. We climbed into the van and set off for the beach a mile or
so down the road.
The Dive As we reached the shore, we helped load one of the local small boats with all the diving gear. Unsurprisingly, some of the bags (containing the weights and gas canisters) were quite heavy! We climbed on board the small boat and set off on a half hour trip to some of the local islands that had a great reputation for good diving and beautiful scenery.
It must be said that, as so often the case with such craft, may of the wooden boats in Thailand look barely seaworthy, and invariably have an engine mounted at the rear that looks extremely oversized for its task of propelling the boat. Spewing noxious fumes and making a racket these engines drive a propeller that’s barely a foot in diameter on a drive shaft that’s at least three meters in length. I guess it’s a simple design that’s easy to maintain, rather than efficient and eloquent. I think because of the Thai law that only permits locals to own and pilot boats means that ease of maintenance is key to the success, of what are effectively tuk-tuks on water!
The short trip was my favourite boat trip of the whole holiday. Possibly because I was really looking forward to the dive and I was more relaxed after a good night’s sleep; Possibly because we were right on the water and as we sped along the water occasionally splashed us in the boat, but I would like to think that this trip was more how I imagined the whole Thai experience was going to be? Experiencing things ‘low-fi’ and less as a cosseted tourist.
As we reached the shore of our target island we noticed that we
wouldn’t be alone. Although not busy, few beaches actually were busy, this
clearly was geared for the swimmers and divers. There were designated areas for swimming and
clearly marked areas for the boats to come and go – which was reassuring. The beach itself was littered with a few people
and a couple of boats were tethered to the shore, but mostly we were aware of
the grandeur of the setting. The beach
was a horseshoe shape with tall cliffs encircling the beach, lined with lush
green vegetation clinging to the sides and where the sand turned to sandy soil
by the rocky edges. at the foot of the cliffs. Barely visible in amongst the trees was a
hotel, which presumably was owned by the island owners as often seemed the case
on the Thai islands.
Praparing for the ‘Try Dive’
After unpacking the six of us (Laura, Felipe & Katarina, Elin & Adam
and I) were given a quick tutorial on how to use the equipment. This was only
going to be a “try dive”, so we were only allowed to go a few meters
down and had to buddy up with one of the instructors. As there was only three,
we were told we would only be diving for 15 minutes – which seemed
desperately short. Laura and I
went first.
We put on out equipment, including our flippers, mask and
breathing gear and of course the weights. We were shown how to regulate the breathing,
and how to inflate and release air from the straps that helped maintain
buoyancy. Then we set
off into the water.
I wish I
could recount a wondrous visual experience, and list all the fish I saw while
swimming around in
the water, But to be honest, although I found it very easy and natural to
breathe in the water, I found myself concentrating on trying not to breathe too
deeply. For the first few minutes I found myself bobbing up and down in the
water while I gulped in the air from the tanks. At first I was stunned at how my swimming depth
was maintained by one lungful of air, but as time wore on I started to take
more shallow mouthfuls of air and started to swim more naturally.
After about 30 minutes of swimming around my
diving buddy had finally had enough of me bobbing around and we returned to the
shore. Laura too, returned
looking very happy with her time in the water. Only when we got to the shore and took
the equipment off did we realise that we’d been down for nearly twice as long
as originally planned. Clearly
because only half of us turned up we were allowed a little longer in the
water.
By the time we dried off Elin and Adam had been kitted up and had entered the water for their turn. By now the sun was almost at its zenith and I sought some shade by the top of the beach by the palm trees. I looked down the beach and soaked up scenery and the relaxing atmosphere.
In what seemed no time at all Adam and Elin had returned from their ½ hour session giggling and clearly happy with their experience. While they were out Felipe had bargained a proper diving session with one of the instructors as he had previous diving experience, so while Katarina went for her session around the shore, Felipe and the other instructor took a more advanced swim a little further around the coast. Now dry Laura Elin and I walked along the shore and had a look at some of the caves that had formed in the rocks around the water’s edge. One of the caves had a set of large phallic icons which seemed a little out of place, but provided much amusement to the girls!
Eventually Felipe returned after what seemed like an hour
(Katarina had already done her ½ hour session and was dry by then), and we
packed up and set off back to the mainland after a happy morning diving and relaxing
by the water’s edge.
The trip back was spent in a reflective mood as we all were in our
own thoughts – possibly trying not to think of the trip home the following
day.
The Afternoon We returned to a warm welcome from the rest of the party, who had spent most of the morning lounging on the local beach (other than Jude and Helen who’d been on their cooking course).
After a quiet lunch, Daniel and Felipe hired two bikes and drove
into town, while I returned to my ‘bungalow’ for a shower and a change of
clothes, as well as topping up my sun tan lotion as I had definitely caught the
sun that morning.
I’d agreed to wander into the town about an hour or so after lunch
with Christope to look round the market. Later still we had arranged to meet up with Daniel
and find an internet café to book three rooms in the Shangrila Hotel in Bangkok
for our last night as we’d decided not to return to the hotel we visited on our
first night.
The afternoon was a chilled out affair as Christope and I wandered
through the market streets that followed the beach taking in the sun drenched
scenery. Many of the
stalls offered linen, silks and the usual tourist shopping trappings –
such as T-shirts, sun glasses and mementoes, plus the inevitable fake (but
reasonable quality) designer watches going for a song. We popped into a couple
of air conditioned shops to grab some water enroute, as well as buy some sweets
to bring back to our respective offices.
After wandering round the shops, we’d met up firstly with Daniel
(where we managed to book our last night’s hotel), and later with Catherine and
Rob and made our way back to the Mild Bungalows resort.
Our evening was spent in a sushi themed restaurant. We were seated at a long table outside in a
courtyard of the restaurant, being entertained by a couple playing pop covers
from the eighties. Although
the music was recognisable and generally well received, it had the production
qualities and polish of someone who’d just bought their first Casio keyboard
and wanted to impress their grandparents at a Christmas party.
Our last supper together was a feast of our chosen main meals,
plus a sushi platter from Katie and some of the meals cooked earlier by Helen
and Jude, which turned out to be really good!
After we had our food, we posed for photos together and made
little speeches telling of our favourite moments throughout our time in
Thailand.
Most moved
on to a bar in town, while Felipe & I returned to the Mild Bungalows along
with Katerina who was feeling a little poorly – possibly too much sun that
day. Felipe and
I chose to stay close and go literally round the corner and watched a
Thai-boxing tournament.
Ao Nang After a disturbed night, I packed my bag and bode farewell to a relaxing stay in Khao Lang.
Our ferry back to Krabi was a relaxed few hours, soaking up the
early morning sun on the top deck of the boat. From the port we took a short
mini-bus ride to our last hotel together.
The Mild Bungalows resort, a mile or so back from the sea front,
was a series of chalets set in a picturesque layout of lawns and fruit trees,
almost like a Thai style orchard. The bungalows themselves were cool and
comfortable on the inside with plenty of room and facilities. On the outside
the bungalows had a small veranda with a chair or two outside, as with most of
our accommodation; the chairs acted as a good spot to dry our towels.
We arrived at lunchtime, so took the opportunity to unpack and
grab a spot to eat before we took our next excursion, this time to do a spot of
kayaking.
After a short drive we arrived at a sheltered shore that faced a
long island about ¼ mile away, that presumably was the source of the shelter
from the ocean beyond. Once again we buddied up, as it was two people per
kayak. This time Christophe had pulled the short straw, and joined me. Each
kayak took some bananas and a couple of bottles of water in a dry bag, the
water was for us, but the bananas were not.
We crossed
the open water at a leisurely pace, some of us getting about half way before we
realised our guide had yet to start. We didn’t have to worry for long as he
soon caught up with us and we all made our way to the island. The actual island
was actually smaller that at first it appeared, and was a series of rocks and
smaller islands bound together in a mangrove type of swamp. We followed the
guide leisurely into the mouth of what looked like a small river, but in fact
was a clearing of mangroves that channelled us into the heart of the island.
At first the kayaking was easy. We paddled in single file, taking
it in turns to follow behind the guide, although kayaking came easier than
others, in the main part we negotiated most of the twists and turns with ease.
As we continued into the mangroves, the water became shallower and the roots
more pronounced, making any manoeuvring more difficult. Occasionally we would
snag a paddle against a root, or run too quickly and miss the best angle to
make a good turn, and having to back paddle – much to the disgust of the people
immediately behind!
As we ventured further still inside the island, the guide took us
to an opening, not dissimilar to the pirate’s hideaway we had seen the other
day. As we turned a corner round a particularly steep rocky outcrop, we moved
into an enclosed rocky area that was sheltered and utterly peaceful (no
Japanese tourists here!). We took in the scenery for a little while, and some
grabbed the opportunity to take a drink. Although the kayaking wasn’t hard
work, it was still very warm.
We moved on, exiting the same way we had entered the sheltered
area, and weaved our way further round the island.
Suddenly we
weren’t alone. Through the trees we spotted at first two macaques who clearly
knew better than us what was to follow. The guide suggested we toss a couple of
bananas towards the monkeys. One caught the banana in mid air, while the other
missed the poorly thrown banana and dove into the water to retrieve the fruit.
Word had got round and within seconds all their friends had joined in.
Fights soon broke out, with squabbling and snatching left and
right. A few more bold macaques jumped on to our kayak and grabbed my poorly
defended bunch of bananas. With a successful smash and grab raid, I’d hoped the
thief would return to his tree, but alas, decided that staying on the kayak was
safer! More macaques followed suit and made similar moves of several other
kayaks, as well as two more joining the first on our kayak in attempt to steal
the bananas from his friend.
The chaos almost stopped as soon as it had started once the
realisation that all the fruit had been taken. One macaque remained, and as it
turned out was well known to the guide and tame by comparison to the others. He
stayed much longer with the boats as we made fast our escape, with a few of the
troop following us through the trees a little further before they lost interest
and disappeared – presumably making plans for the next batch of tourists!
The friendly macaque eventually was let off near a tree, and as we
continued the mangroves made way for more rocks as we negotiated our way out of
the labyrinth back into open water. Recognising our way back, some of use
powered ahead (unofficially racing, but more realistically just unwinding) back
to the shore from where we started a couple of hours or so earlier.
Once back on dry land, some of us took a quick shower, and
gratefully accepted some water melon before we jumped back on to the vans that
would take us back to the Mild Bungalows.
Not all of us had chosen to go kayaking, but on our return, Katie
shepherded us all together to go down to the beach front to a fish bar for out
evening meal.
The restaurant did serve more traditionally prepared and served
food, but at the front was a well presented selection of fish that you could
point at to ask to be cooked the way of your choosing. Alas, I think everyone
wimped out of that more “interesting” option, and instead stuck with the
options on the fixed menu. We were seated in a open air part of the restaurant
that was on stilts and sat slightly in the sea. If it was daytime, we probably
could have seen the water lapping under our feet through the cracks in the
wooden floor.
Thankfully night time saved us that view, but there was surprisingly
little air movement, and the atmosphere was quite humid. The owners did put out
a number of fans which helped a little. The food was ok; I chose shark steak
that was fairly unremarkable and too similar to cooked tuna to feel special but
was better than some choices. Felip on the other hand chose to have a shellfish
platter with Katarina that had everyone taking note. They shared oysters for a
starter course, followed by a mixture of prawns, mussels and calamari that I
could see for their main meal.
After the meal, we all split up and wandered round the local
market taking in the local sights and sounds and finding a few bargains along
the route. Some left about 23:30 to return to the Mild Bungalows, while others
enjoyed the rest of the evening after they found a bar. I chose not to go for
more drinks as tomorrow was the scuba dive, and I was certainly not going to
miss out on that.
The Islands An early start the next morning offered us the opportunity to go snorkelling round some of the nearby islands.
Along with around forty other people we took a similar ferry that
had arrived the previous day out for a couple of hours further down the coast
to our first destination of the day. Along with a few other ferry boats, we
stopped at a remote island location. These islands stood as limestone towers
covered in lush vegetation which precariously clung to the sides. The water
around the islands was shallow with some coral.
We were all issued with life jackets (which most of us took) and
snorkelling equipment. As the sun was beating down on us I chose to keep a
T-shirt on and at first the life jacket too, and swam with the many shoals of
fish that swam almost oblivious to the flailing and flapping swimmers around
them. I soon discarded the life jacket, as I chose to dive deeper into the
water to try and get closer to the coral that lay further down.
The water, much like back in Khao Lang, was pleasantly warm but
salty. The water however was full of stinging plankton and if you moved around
too vigorously, you tended to be stung. A couple of people on our boat seemed
to be allergic to the tame little stings, and after they emerged from the
water, had noticed that their skin had reacted and come out in little bumps
where they’d been attacked!
The coral
itself was fairly disappointing, much of it seemed dead within the boundaries
of where we were supposed to swim, but further round the island we were closest
to was a slightly better view – having said that, I only saw three types of
fish, a couple of star fish and a bit of lifeless choral.
All too quickly we were all called back on board, and headed
further along to our next destination. When we arrived we saw several other
boats moored near a watery cave. We were supposed to swim into the cave, but
the high tide had beaten us, so the captain decided to take us to our lunchtime
destination and perhaps try again later.
We soon arrived at another island, but this time a privately owned
and inhabited island. This island was the type of island you see on postcards.
Crystal clear green / blue waters, white sandy beaches and people sun bathing
and swimming. Our boat purposefully beached itself so that we could climb out of
the boat and walk on to the beach with only getting our feet and ankles wet.
Due to the island being privately owned by the hotel we couldn’t
venture too far, but we didn’t really need to, for the “boat staff” had erected
a makeshift kitchen on the beach for us. They served a welcome vegetable stir
fry buffet style of a meal with a selection of cold drinks, which were eagerly
accepted by all.
I wandered along the beach a little looking in vain for a toilet,
noticing that much of the beach had similar wreckage just off the shore line
into the trees as I had spotted on our own island. Some of the concrete
buildings looked either abandoned or were being squatted in, which seemed a
shame considering the beauty of the island itself.
After our meal, we swam in the waters for a while, generally
soaking up the beauty and tranquillity, before we were called back to our boat
for our second go at the cave.
En route we stopped off at another island to do a further spot of
snorkelling. This time we had more fish and I think people were more willing to
venture further from the boat to find something to see.
We only had about 15 minutes in the water before we were taken
back to the cave.
Many more boats had joined us by the time we had arrived, but
thankfully the cave was safe now to enter, and it looked like some of the other
tourists had already been in and were coming back out.
It was our turn as we all donned our life jackets and in single
file we followed a rope into the dark. At first the cave seemed very dark, and
it was clear why we had to closely follow each other through as the cave was
pitch-black. Looking back to the entrance once dark I could see the reflected
light bouncing off the walls and sea bed turning the water an ethereal luminous
green which would have been a superb photo opportunity had I had a camera!
As we followed each other’s voices often touching life jackets of
our comrades and strangers alike, and occasionally hitting the walls or sides
of the cave, we felt our way through into the open air and in to a welcome
surprise. It turned out we had encountered a well known pirate’s secret lair.
The watery cave had led us into a completely enclosed rocky amphitheatre. The
limestone walls rose vertically for over 200 feet with only a little green
vegetation which held on to what little footing it could find, leading to the
blue sky roof.
Inside the area had a sandy shore to one side that had some trees
hugging the edge. The water and beach was populated with very excitable
Japanese tourists, who filled the space with laughter and shrieks of delight.
We all angled for some obvious photo shots, one or two of us being ushered into
the Japanese group shots as well!
All too quickly it was our turn to leave the hidden gem, and make
our way back to the boat and after the two hour journey back to our Hotel on
Khao Sok.
On our return we decided to unwind in our own way; many of us had
caught the sun and chose to have a shower and cool down. Some retired to the
pool.
In the evening we returned to the restaurant we had visited the
night before. A long day on the boat had tired us out too much to venture into
the town itself, so we reasoned that the restaurant was a short walk to a known
and reliable eating establishment.
That evening Katie didn’t join us for the meal, but we had agreed
to meet up later at the hotel to go into town for a drink. However, literally
as we had finished the meal, the heavens opened and a thunderstorm with
torrential rain enveloped the beach area. We made a dash back to the hotel, but
some stopped and made shelter in a Rastafarian bar. I made my way back to the
bar to meet up with Katie, but of those that did go to the restaurant and
returned with me, decided to retire to their chalets, I suspect because of the
long day in the sun. When Katie arrived (with umbrella!) it was soon decided
that the trip to the town was off, so I escorted Katie through the torrent of
rain back to the bar for a drink with the others, before I too decided to call
it a night.
Khao Lang Ironically, even though I’d gone to bed fairly early, I didn’t have a great night’s sleep. Another warm, sticky night that I thought would have been a little fresher after the previous evening’s thunderstorm. Admittedly the storm didn’t last for more than 40 minutes during our evening meal, but it did rain quite a lot in those 40 minutes, and it should have freshened up the air. It didn’t.
I rose without the need of an alarm, even though we needed to get
up early for our latest move this time further south to Ko Lantra Island.
I had a light breakfast, and cleared our rooms by 7am. We took two
mini buses for the three hours’ drive south to Krabi Port. We’d left Tree Tops
at 7am because the drivers suggested it would take three hours. Clearly the
drivers wanted to beat that time, and like men possessed they made the trip in
two – much to the shock and horror for some of us, as they took risk after
risk, passing vehicles on blind corners, and were regularly speeding. One of
the two mini busses (thankfully not the one I was in) nearly had an accident,
and had to do an emergency stop!
Halfway
Katie instructed the drivers that we weren’t particularly happy with the
driving, and to be fair the rest of the journey was far less eventful. Yet
again we passed some wonderful scenery on our way down to Krabi, and the two
hours passed fairly quickly. Once at the port we climbed out of our air
conditioned mini buses and were hit by 9 o’clock sun. Our ferry to the island
wasn’t for a while (because we were early), so after checking in and putting
our bags behind the reception, we wandered around the port complex, opting to
either sit in the shade, or sunbathe. With Felip, I first walked outside the
port, hoping to actually see the sea, for the complex was covered by trees and
you couldn’t actually see the water from where we were inside. The found the
water’s edge, a little dirty from the swampy mud, but we both tested the water
with our feet to find it deliciously warm.
For the
remaining hour, we returned to inside and sat an lounged about, until it was
time to get our bags and head down the pier to where the ferry would take us to
our next stop. The ferry was about an hour late (“Thai style” time keeping),
but we were relaxed and didn’t care that much, being happy to just sit and soak
up the sun’s rays.
During our two hour ferry trip, we saw many beach resorts, with exotic huts and
reasonable looking hotels offering what looked like a reasonable amount of
luxury and comfort. We caught a few swifts flying like fighting kites, battling
with each other for air supremacy, and also saw a number of flying fish darting
away from our speeding ferry.
At lunchtime we had reached our port, which was full of a number
of similar sized ferries to our own. It seemed a busy little port, full
of tourists and little fishing boats. It definitely felt as if we’d
reached a back-packer’s paradise.
As we were
taken via truck to our new home for the next two nights, we noticed some
detritus along some of the beaches, and a few buildings in various states of
build. We all realised that this coast-line must have been hit by the
fateful Christmas tsunami a couple of years ago.
Our hotel complex was a sight for sore eyes. After a few
nights of discomfort and hygiene issues, we looked upon our chalets with a
sense of relief and joy. Now the rooms were fairly anonymous in styling,
but were cool, clean and bug free, along with a reasonable standard of
facilities, such as a proper air conditioning, mini bar / fridge, television,
safe, and a place to hang your clothes. I just knew I would sleep well
here! Straight away we unpacked some of our stuff, and headed for the beach,
which was adjacent to the hotel. This was (for us) luxury!
I took the opportunity to firstly wade, then to swim in the warm
sea water. The water itself was surprisingly salty, and I found later
that I had been mildly stung a couple of times by plankton As the
water came to land (crashing would be too strong, but it was more than lapping)
it stirred up the fine sand, and made the water’s edge brown rather than clear.
After the brief swim I had a lunch in the open air restaurant area
of the hotel that looked onto the beach. I decided to ‘spoil’ myself, and
the Thailand cooking theme, and went for a burger and chips. Not a
brilliant choice, but it was the first time I had had red meat in nearly a
week, and was getting withdrawal symptoms!
After a relaxed sit down, I chose to lounge in or by the pool for
a couple of hours before we headed out for our evening meal.
The restaurant we chose to go to was based a few hundred yards
along the beach. The seating, as usual, was based outside, with a thatched roof
offering possible protection from rain. Most evenings it seemed to rain
for a little while, and often at the same time of dusk.
We all sat on one long table, and enjoyed a reasonable selection
of food. The menu was largely fish based, with a few chicken curries
mixed in. During the meal, Katie passed round a paper lantern for us to
write on a prayer or wish each.
In between the main course and desert, we were given an impromptu
display of a professional poi-poi dancer. He juggled with flaming poi and
pugel sticks, which in the darkened breezy beach setting made for a wonderful
spectacle.
Once dark, after the meal we took the lantern onto the beach and
lit the candle inside and when warmed up, we let the lantern lift gently into
the sky. We watched for a while as the lantern steadily rose higher as it
drifted along the shoreline before the light finally was extinguished five
minutes later in the distance.
Rainforest by Elephant It was the best night’s sleep so far. Nearly eight hours sleep, despite it being a warm night. I guess the lack of sleep had finally caught up with me, and in a comfortable bed I had rested well. The mosquito nets seemed to have done their work as I hadn’t a single bite despite the animal life in our room – I’d covered myself pretty well in Deet too which must have helped. Daniel seemed to be more phased by the bugs generally, and he said he’d been bitten during the night.Because of our early start (as per usual) to do the day’s activity I’d woken at 06:45 for a refreshing hose down and breakfast. Daniel had stayed out a little later the previous night, so he’d opted for a few extra minutes in bed, but we all managed to make an appearance at the communal area for breakfast. The owners had put on a reasonable spread of toast, cooked eggs and frankfurters, and fruit. I just chose a coffee and an egg on toast. The bread wasn’t particularly good, but considering the Thai don’t really do bread, it was good enough!
Elephant Trek By 08:30 we were whisked off in two trucks for about a ½ hour drive into the hills. Most of us had opted to sit in the open backs of the two trucks, taking in the warm morning sun, and letting the passing breeze keep us feeling fresh if not cool. It turned out to be a good choice to be in the open back as we passed some great photo opportunities of the rugged limestone and jungle scenery.
Group Photo in the mountains
We stopped
about half way up the hills, for a wonderful view looking down into the rainforest,
where we posed for a group shot.
It wasn’t long before we reached the park, where we were to do our day’s main event – our elephant trek. We climbed up some steps onto the wooden platform, where we could comfortably reach our seating positions. In pairs we were ushered onto the elephants. Each chair was roped onto the elephants which looked comfortable with the load
Elephant Jungle Trek
As passengers, we were pretty comfortable too, although we had to
try and keep our load in the centre of the chair if only to make the position
comfortable for the elephants, which was only fair enough! Slowly but
surely we were taken along a stream deeper and deeper into the rainforest,
passing what looked like banana and rubber plantations.
As the trail got a little steeper about half an hour later we came to the
destination, which was a secluded waterfall with a deep pool, where we took
full advantage of and jumped in for a cold and refreshing dip.
We didn’t have too much time to hang around as other parties both in front and
behind were clogging up the spot, so we quickly dried ourselves off and climbed
back onto our sure-footed grey 4x4s.
On the way back we were offered the chance to ride the elephants properly on
their necks.
I was buddied up with Catherine, and she took the helm first. She looked a little uncomfortable and rigid as she clung to the elephant, but soon adjusted her position and moved with the elephants shoulder motion. However the experience was short lived for Catherine, as she suggested I have a try (where she could retire to the comfort of the seat!). As we swapped positions I moved forwards onto the shoulder of the elephant, and placed my palms of my hands on the surprisingly spiky hairs on its head. I could hear Catherine’s laughter from behind me as I clung on to my ride; trying to keep my legs from getting in the way of the elephant’s ears and still holding on, probably looking more rigid than her. It took me a while to relax and adjust my sitting position so that it was both comfortable for me as I suspected for the elephant. By now the sun was at its zenith and at full strength. I didn’t mind risking getting a little sun burnt, as I was really enjoying the ride back through the trail to the base camp where we first started.
Upon our return we bought some bananas from the trail organisers to feed the elephants, who eagerly but carefully took the fruit from our hands. In the background we saw some of the elephants getting a much appreciated wash in the stream that we had followed all through the morning.All in good spirits after the elephant trek, we returned to tree tops for lunch and a swim in the river located just behind the lodge buildings. Some chose to sun bathe and others just chilled out.
The concrete river crossing which we used on returning from our trail the previous day, also acted as a damn or sluice gate, so one side of the river was considerably deeper than the other as it made its way down the hillside. As a consequence up stream of the structure, the water was suitably deep enough to swim in. The local children who seemed to use the river as their playground had constructed a rope swing enabling them to swing and jump into the deepest part of the water, which we also took full use of!
Macaques At 4pm most of us got together and took the offer of being taken a couple of miles up the road to a monkey temple. The original temple itself was set into a cave at the foot of one of the limestone hills, but there were some modern buildings of what we assumed to be the living quarters of the monks.
From the driveway entrance, trees were separated in what looked
like a controlled manner – almost like an orchard. A troop of macaques soon spotted our entrance
and made their way either on the ground or via the trees to greet us.
Even before we’d left the van which had taken us to the site, the monkeys had
started to congregate round the vehicle (and some on its roof). Although
we never felt threatened, we were aware of reaching arms ready to snatch
anything we might have for them.
As we
climbed out of the van we were handed some bananas to feed the troop. The
somewhat inevitable reaction to the faces of the animals reminded us of our
evolutionary connection. The similarities to hierarchical structures, the clear
and distinct personalities, as well as their squabbles were soon on show
as the fruit was handed out. Some very gentle accepted and some snatched
at the handouts. After
feeding the monkeys we walked into the cave, going deeper in behind the
effigies and into the darkness hoping to find something special. We
didn’t, but we did spot a bat and a toad.
We lost interest in the cave, and wandered out and up a series of
metal and concrete steps that followed the contours of the hill about 50 feet
up above the tree line, where we could see the full extent of the local area.
Some opted to take a photo or two of the great view.Soon, though, we returned
to Tree Tops and got changed for our evening out. We walked into the town
(perhaps that’s a little generous) to a local restaurant for our evening
meal, during which we swapped stories and reviewed who had the worst sun
burn. Rob seemingly was out the longest in the sun, and by his own
admission perhaps a little too long – but he seemed to brown really easily,
much to the disgust of some of us!
By 10:30, after the meal, everyone except me moved on to a bar opposite the
restaurant where they stayed for the rest of the evening. Most danced all
evening, fuelled on beer and juice. MC Daniel took his position behind
the decks and seemingly ran the show. Katie displayed her proficiency at
flaming poi dancing, and offered several of the party their
opportunity to have a go.
I
chose to leave early in part because I was still tired, and mainly for the next
day’s early start, where we were to leave the lodge and travel south to our
ferry at Krabi.
As we were taken into the Tree Tops complex, it was clear that the rainforest had been slightly sanitised. For a little town has sprung around the tourist set up, with some shops, bars, restaurants, and even an internet café. This didn’t seem to really matter much as it wasn’t particularly built up, just a number of buildings dotted around either side of the river on the road leading up the hill to a series of rainforest lodges to house numerous parties of tourists.
Our lodge was set in the
trees, with a couple of small office buildings and a shop, and the main
building that acted as our main communal area. We would stay in our own huts, usually
two to a hut. These huts
were raised off the ground on stilts. Some
further off the ground than others, but all looked nicely appointed and
presented with a little veranda next to the entrance.
Daniel & I shared one such hut (key 103). Ours, closest to the communal building, looked a fairly new structure, and on approach looked very promising. Inside the bedroom was clean with twin beds and a stone floor. There was a fan working hard to keep the room fairly cool, although on closer inspection was actually fixed into one position making the act of cooling the room (and us) more unlikely.
We tossed our bags on our
beds, and checked out the room in a little more detail. We counted three
mosquitoes in the room, which wasn’t a promising start (the area isn’t listed
as a high risk malaria region, but being bitten isn’t fun regardless). We’d worked out that our windows had
netting on them, although the netting wasn’t particularly secure. The doors had large gaps underneath
too, so we assumed that the doors and windows weren’t particularly secure from
bugs, but that wasn’t our biggest problem.
As there was no protection
from the little beasties outside, we asked for (and in fairness got) some nets
to go over our beds. The
nets weren’t new and actually covered in plasters to cover the tears, but they
served a purpose (nearly).
Our big problem was when we
went into the toilet (technically a wet room). We were horrified by what we
saw. We found the toilet broken with yellow water in the cistern. Ants were all over the wall by the
open and unprotected window, with several lines of ants marching into the sink,
along with at least one other mossie that we could see. I later also spied out a gecko – but
he was hiding behind the toilet – presumably sleeping off a meal of ants.
We later took turns taking a
shower, but found it useless. I’ve
sweated faster than the water that came out of the shower head. We found a hose that was designed to
wash the wet room down (much like on the train) on the wall by the toilet and
was the only really functioning water source, so even though it was very cold it became our only means of
washing!
After a relaxing lunch in the
communal area we were invited to go for a trek into the rainforest with a
guide. There were various
routes open to us, but we all chose a 2km walk up to a waterfall.
We were told to put on proper
boots, walking shoes, or trainers as sandals weren’t appropriate, and it was
suggested that we put on trousers as well, although because of the heat some
didn’t. We later found out
why.
Firstly the
guide took us to a tree house. Literally a house in a tree, that presumably
acted as one of the accommodation huts when the complex first opened, but I
guess is now deemed a little unsafe to use. We all climbed inside to take a look,
and were surprised at how comfortable the hut actually was!
From the tree house, we moved
further up the hill and into the rainforest proper. Much of the trail was
well marked and some sections had concrete steps, which slightly spoiled the
effect of being in a wild jungle environment, but the jungle came to us
nonetheless.
Leeches
Apart from it being incredibly
humid, we quickly lost interest in the jungle trek, for we were set upon by
leeches! These horrid
little brown worm-like invertebrates usually were on the ground with their
bodies waving freakishly in the air hoping to latch on to whatever moves close
by (such as a foot). Within
our first sighting of a leech (and screams from Katie), we sadly paid more
attention to our feet and that of the person in front than the incredibly lush
and varied vegetation that we were walking through..
River Bridge
We stopped several times when the
guide spotted something of interest, such as elephant or boar/pig tracks,
camouflaged geckos clinging to leaves or tree bark, and one very poisonous
spider.
Halfway
along we traversed a rope bridge over the river that flows close to our huts
further down the trail, which was very wobbly and a welcome break from leech
watching!
The trek, although
interesting, was very hard work both in terms of the heat and for concentration
levels on leech spotting. A
few of us had actually got bitten by leeches, but their bites were painless and
had occasionally gone unnoticed – particularly by me. I found two hungrily feeding on my
blood, even though I thought I was being vigilant. Stephen, Rob and Adam had also been
bitten, but had managed to knock off the leeches fairly quickly, but still
required plasters. We later
found out that our guide had a number of leeches in his shoe!
Upon our return we all
checked for the leeches, and eventually rested with an evening meal and a game
of cards. Some of the gang
took the opportunity to have their trek fatigue removed by what worked out to
be incredibly good and cheap body massages.
We arrived at the station around 4pm after a short trip in
two comfortable mini buses through Bangkok. Armed with all our bags and an
optimistic view for the next stage of going south to the rainforest, we were
hoping that the holiday was really going to start from here. Bangkok we felt was a prelude to the
real adventure.
Our train was waiting for us at the station, and although the platform was fairly busy, it didn’t seem particularly crowded. The station itself was a bit of a blur as we quickly made our way to our carriage, although most stations look reasonably similar – plenty of concrete, airy space filled with the sounds of hundreds of people rushing to and fro. The shiny metallic carriages with a blue stripe on their side spanned out of sight down the platform, and our carriage was about halfway down.
Although thankfully we all shared the same carriage, we weren’t alone. We soon found our rail accommodation to be far more packed (cramped) than we had envisaged. When we got inside, we found that the carriage was actually an open area with brown seats on either side – room enough for only one person each, although at a squeeze (and it was a squeeze) you could get two slim people sitting together, as long as you didn’t mind fighting for shoulder space!
Katie dished out (fairly randomly)
the seat tickets and we quickly found our seating and stored our bags on the
shelves close by. We noticed that several of us were split from the main party
further down the carriage, separated by a number of Thai travellers and a
Japanese family. Katie,
Daniel, Stephen and Robert were all further down, and mixed with some people
who contested the seating arrangements. There
could have been an ugly scene, but they (Stephen particularly) seemed to dodge
any unpleasantness, and while Katie tried to sort things out, joined us for the
start of the journey.
As the train jolted and made its
way from the station, we watched the Bangkok scenery quickly transform from
inner city buildings to suburb slums, which seemed to stretch on endlessly. The
train was clearly in no particular hurry, and within twenty minutes (and not
clearing the outer reaches of Bangkok) stopped, to allow an express train
hurtle past. I wasn’t
counting, but we must have stopped quite a few times through the night to allow
other trains past which was a little frustrating.
While on our way, the railway staff came round and from under each seat, pulled out a table for each set of chairs, which they clipped (precariously) into the floor and wall. These proved useful later for the food and playing cards on, although we accidently knocked at least two over during our evening.
Throughout the first part of
the journey, vendors (some sponsored by the train company) walked up and down
the carriages, attempting to sell fruit, drinks and food, some clearly looking
less official than others. Hunger
got the better of a many of us who ordered the cooked food, which turned out to
be quite good. Others
plumped for the safety of crisps and other junk food they’d found on or near
the station.
While eating, I noticed that my
“partner” seat was taken by a smartly dressed Thai lady, who looked more
foreign to the grubby beige carriage than even we were, and I had dismissed her
as someone who wasn’t going to stay on the train for long – particularly as she
had no luggage. I was wrong. For
by 8pm, she had organised her seats to be made into the lower bunk-bed. Leaving
me somewhat stranded for somewhere to sit. My bed as part of the process was also
made, but I didn’t fancy going to bed quite that early so I mingled with the
other gang, and finally settling with Katarina and Felip for a game of Uno for
an hour or so.
Inside the converted carriage
By 10pm all the beds were made for us, and we had no option to wind down our evening, although “lights out” wasn’t until 10:30 (lights didn’t actually go out!). The sleeping arrangement was simple and although not as private as I’d hoped, comfortable if a little cramped (particularly for anyone taller than 5’10). Unlike sleeper trains I’ve been on in Europe, the sleeping arrangements weren’t in cabins, but were open to the floor, parallel to the walkway, and only a curtain for privacy. The air conditioning was ok while awake, but when trying to sleep, most found the atmosphere too muggy for a comfortable night’s sleep.
By halfway through the night,
I’d dismissed any modesty and slept with nothing on and only the thin sheet to
protect me from the night.
The train although wasn’t
especially noisy, had a consistent clatter and a fairly jerky motion from time
to time which didn’t aid sleep that much, but eventually tiredness got the
better of me and I fell asleep.
Our stop was supposed to be
at about 4:30 in the morning, so none of us got a good night’s sleep, although
I must have slept a few hours. I
was awake first. Katie had promised to come round and wake us 20 mins before
our stop, but 4:30 came and went, so I got out of bed and headed to the toilets
first to relieve myself, and then to find Katie to see what was going on.
The Train toilet was a sight I shall never forget. I’ve seen train toilets before, and rarely are they a pleasant place to be, but this was a new low. Stainless (yeah right) steel throughout with a metal seat (I was never going to sit on it). There was a hose on the wall which presumably was for flushing not only the pan but the floor, which is good in principle, but when you enter the little room the floor is wet and smelly, and you doubt that the hose has been used much. As to look into the pan itself you realise that there is no bottom, for you see the rail tracks passing by below… nice. I didn’t linger.
After washing and cleaning teeth, I found Katie. She’d changed clothes, but hadn’t bothered to even go to sleep. I guess she’s done the journey plenty of times before, and knew how little sleep she’d get, so didn’t even try! Apparently we were nearly two hours late, so I went back to my bunk fully clothed for a snooze.
At 06:20 our train pulled up at our stop which was unremarkable in every way. Apart from the actual platform (little more than a block of concrete) we spied out a single street of dilapidated shops and a café – which turned out to be our breakfast stop.
I couldn’t face much food, but we all tucked into various combinations similar to scrambled eggs on toast with 7up to wash it down. We didn’t linger too long, but a few of us managed a whistle stop tour of the street, and took the chance to pop into a 7-Eleven to get some food or sweets before we went into the rainforest.
By about 07:30 we’d packed our bags into the two minibuses that would take us across into the hills and into the rainforest. We passed much jungle and rugged scenery en route, but thankfully the roads were pretty decent and were a comfortable ride. At 08:30 we’d reached our destination and our home for the next two nights, the “Tree Tops” resort in the Khao Sok National Park.
It was 6:15 when I awoke, or more precisely
realised I’d fallen asleep. I
found it really difficult to get to sleep, despite being really tired. But with a noisy and inefficient air
conditioning unit, a karaoke playing outside my window and not having a pillow
all contributed to a difficult night’s sleep. However I must have slept at least 4
hours in total, which was possibly the most I’d slept in the last three days,
so I welcomed all the sleep I could get.
In the end I manufactured a pillow from my towel, which although hard was better than nothing. I rose tired but optimistic for the day ahead, and plunged into the shower for a refreshing wake up. Mercifully the shower was warm and powerful, and it somehow managed to shake much of the sleep from me. So after a shave and a brush of the teeth, I dressed and made my way down to floor 1 (Ground floor to you and me), where I spotted breakfast being served at the restaurant.
Although the room seemed fairly
busy with both staff and residents, the room was barely 3rd full. I quickly scanned the floor, but
not recognising anyone, I made my way to the breakfast buffet. There “American”
and “European” breakfasts were being served. Now I’m not entirely sure what the
Thai’s consider an American breakfast, but it closely resembled an English
breakfast, so I plumped for that menu. The
eggs of course were recognisable, and the bacon passable as such, but a
frankfurter sausage certainly isn’t (in my book anyway) a proper sausage,
especially for breakfast. However with a hash brown (nearly) and some beans, my
plate looked reasonably complete, so with a juice I made my way to a table,
where I spotted Christope hiding behind a column tucking into his food, so
I joined him.
Soon after most of the posse
entered the restaurant, and chose seats close by telling their own tales of the
night. Most had some sleep
of one sort or another, but Catherine seemed to have come out the worst, for
she had a mouse come and visit her via the air conditioning ducts during the
night!
The “original four” (Catherine,
Daniel, Christope and myself) all were due to return to the hotel for our last
night in Thailand as we were to take a later flight than the rest, but
following our mixed experiences of the hotel up to that point we vowed that we
would consider another on our way back.
By 08:30,
as instructed by Katie the night before, we were ready in the reception area
for our first escorted day full of activities. Katie had organised four tuk-tuks to take us to the Grand Palace and
neighbouring temples, which were less than a mile away. We squeezed onto the
tuk-tuks and speedily made our way.
Tuk-tuk racing
Tuk-tuks are great fun, and I vowed there and then to take every opportunity to ride them again! For as we made our way through the streets, blissfully ignoring signs, white lines and narrowly missing pedestrians, cars and other road obstacles, we raced each other, sometimes four abreast. Bangkok streets it seems are the racing domain of the tuk-tuk!
The complex we visited first was of the Wat Phra
Kaeo and the Grand Palace.
The whole complex was encircled by a high white wall, with ornate golden gates
with a couple of armed guards and a barrier at the main entrance. Once inside we walked past a well
manicured lawn and trees to our left. Beyond the lawn was our first glimpse of
the Temple of the Emerald Budha (Wat Phra Kaeo). To our right were some less
inspiring if dowdy buildings of the Offices of the Royal Household.
follow the umbrella!
It was quite clear from the moment we entered that this was a major tourist area, largely populated by Japanese tourists (of which we’d see more of later in the trip) and some younger European tourists, of whom the majority I assumed were like us or backpackers.
Although, not even 10am when we
first entered, it was already getting particularly warm, so it was clear that I
needed water, and so took the first opportunity to dive into a gift shop (of
which there are numerous) for a bottle of cool water. I wasn’t alone in getting
stocked up on water, but I felt as if I was suffering more than most. As the morning progressed I ended up
seeking every source of shade as we traversed through the compound!
Katie, armed with her umbrella (in
the colours of the Union Flag) took us round the complex, showing us the
highlights of each temple. In particular we were shown some of the 178 panels
of the murals of the Ramayana, which depict every blow of an ancient story of
triumph of good over evil painted in gloriously deep red, gold and white paint.
Apparently because of the damaging humidity these panels are constantly being
maintained.
After the temples and museum, we
took a look at the Chakri Mahaprasad Hallwhich was the main
residence of the king until the mid 20th Century. This building looks more
European in design, and with good reason. The then King Rama I commissioned the
building after he visited Europe; however he insisted a traditional roof to
symbolize the Thai King at the top!
After a short break, we moved on to
another series of temples, this time the temple of the Reclining Buddha. The highly impressive gold plated
reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to
illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. In the building to one side were many potsthat
you could ‘donate’ coins for good luck.
We soon hit lunchtime and to be
honest I was both weary of the heat and somewhat “templed out”, so I was
thankful for the break. We were taken by Katie out of the complex and through
the streets to the river, where we had lunch on a restaurant built of wood that stretched on stilts into the
river. To the untrained eye the restaurant didn’t look particularly sound, but
seemed sturdy enough to hold 14 Europeans and many other eating guests!
After the meal (a theme that would continue throughout our trip was emerging of egg fried rice and chicken or Thai green curry), Katie had organised a river trip up the Chao Phraya River. We were taken onto a reasonably sized tourist boat that had about forty blue leatherette seats, a roof and a large car engine powering the propeller, although no windows. As we made our way along the river, we welcomed the cooling breeze, as well as some of the fumes from the engine, making a welcome change from the now accustomed smells of the streets of Bangkok. Smells that consisted largely of cooked fish, sweet spices, and various unmentionables.
While on the boat we passed some notable landmarks, and in particular the Royal docks that contained ceremonial barges richly decorated in gold. We stopped a couple of times en route to firstly buy fruit and bread and then to feed the fish that live in the river. I must admit I was amazed when I saw fish in the water, as I’d assumed that the water must be heavily polluted, but considering the amount of large healthy fish in the river, the water can’t be that bad?!
After about an hour on the boat we
returned to land and walked back to the hotel, which was little more than a 10
minute walk away.
We couldn’t really hang around as we were checking out that
afternoon, for our 16:30 departure on the overnight train trip south to
Phunphin, which would lead us to our next stop, the Khao National Park – the
rainforest!
We’d arrived at the
Viengtai hotel Bangkok ready to collapse in our rooms and recover from our
trip, either by taking a shower or just sleep for a bit. Unfortunately we
were in for a bit of a shock.
Catherine, Daniel, Christophe and I
complete with all our bags approached the reception desk anticipating a warm
welcome and a seamless booking in. I approached the young lady
behind the desk and announced our arrival expecting anything but “sorry sir we
don’t have any of your names listed here”.
The news of our names not being
recognised came as a shock to say the least. Catherine immediately pulled out
her mobile phone and began dialling the Adventure Company’s contact
numbers. Of course we were 6 hours
ahead of the UK, so we wouldn’t expect much response from the UK numbers as it
was only 2 in the morning there, but we had been given a local emergency
number, which unfortunately drew a blank. We needed to recover, and
we knew we had the right place. It turned out that my name (but only
my name) had been booked, but only for the return leg at the end of the
holiday. So we organised with the reception for four new rooms. Daniel
agreed to put the rooms on his account, and we decided to sort things out
afterwards. We later had got in contact with the travel company, and
the hotel rooms were reimbursed – but we weren’t to know this at the time.
Finally with room keys handed over, we
were escorted up to our rooms.
The rooms didn’t match the glossy web pictures, but were acceptable, and to be honest
we might have even have settled for less considering the length of the
day. The décor was a grubby white and green. The curtains
looked particularly man handled and had clearly seen better days, and the walls
were covered in woodchip wallpaper that looked sticky. The bathroom
was the same dingy green and white, and really looked like it hadn’t been
touched for a while, but all the surfaces were clean and in
particular the bed looked clean and fresh.
I locked the room door and dived into
the shower and just stood there for a few minutes cooling down and taking in
calming deep breaths.
We’d agreed to meet up at reception at
12:30, so I had plenty of time for the shower, to unpack the essentials and
have a sleep for an hour or so, which I gratefully accepted.
After my rest I changed into some
lighter clothes and went downstairs to meet up with the other three. Daniel
slept the longest, but by 1pm we had found our feet, and were ready to explore
our little corner of Bangkok.
We soon found that Bangkok is hot,
crowded, bursting with people who want to sell you something and full of
“interesting” odours. We must have walked around for about an hour
before settling on a street closed to motor traffic for a proper look at the
market stalls, and finally to sit down and eat at a fairly reasonable looking
bar/restaurant; which turned out as a good choice as it served cheap and tasty
food.
By this point we’d already
spotted (and visited) our first 7-eleven in Thailand, as well as noticing a
McDonalds, a Starbucks, and even a Dunkin’ Doughnuts. I must have gone through
3 litres of water on my first day out in the city. As soon as I had emptied one
bottle, I jumped into the nearest shop (including a Boots and another 7-Eleven)
to buy a fresh bottle.
Meeting up with the rest of the group
We returned hot but happy back to the hotel and finally met up with our other ten fellow ‘adventurers’. We made our introductions and were soon taken into a back room of the hotel where we all were taken through the itinerary for the next 10 days, and collected the money for the guide and a pool for the tips. Our guide was a lady called Kannicha Passompakornkij or “Katie” for short, who as it turned out was doing her last tour before she was to move to England to be with her English boyfriend.
After the holiday overview and official
introductions, we had a break before setting back out into the busy streets for
a bit of shopping and an evening meal.
Katie recommended that we try an
interesting fish restaurant1 buried deep in a complex of market
stalls and shops for our evening meal. Like a little oasis, the restaurant was
an open air (but covered with a canopy) square with tables and chairs in the
middle and the actual kitchen area to one side. In full view was an
aquarium, filled with unsuspecting shrimp, fish and other sea-life that would
turn out to be on our plates later!
1 I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was something like “Yong Tun Kun”
The food turned out to be plentiful and
tasty, and was washed down by several beers and bottles of lemonade. After
the meal we wandered back to the hotel, some stopping for a quick massage!
That night I struggled to get to sleep in my hot and noisy room, despite being really tired. Unfortunately the pillow was way too big and firm, bending my head almost at right angles. So that was thrown out. Instead I plumped to rest my head on the mattress, where I eventually fell asleep.
