Been thinking for a few days that it’s about time for another blog post, but it’s hard to get motivated when you’re doing nothing! But now we’re bungalow-bound by a late afternoon tropical rainstorm and I’m all book-ed out today so thought I’d do some blogging…
Last time I wrote we were in Northern Thailand, and now we’re about 1500 km south on the Andaman Island of Ko Lanta. From Pai we headed back to Chiang Mai on another very wiggly bus journey over the mountains. We stayed a couple of nights and had some cheeky bimbles around the city and to the shopping centre to try (again we failed) to get a wee snappy camera. We had a couple of good nights out – one at a funky reggae bar with good live bands and the following night, quieter but much more entertaining… Rosie had visited a café during the day who invited her (and us) along that evening for an open mic night with free food for someone’s leaving do. We all thought that open mic would mean some dudes and guitars singing away. Nope. This open mic night was poetry and readings. Hmmm – not really our cup of tea and not great when you’re expecting live music. But we politely ate some food and quietly chatted at some tables outside until an American couple turned up and the wife was pretty drunk already. She stumbled over to us and asked (pretty loudly) why everyone was whispering and wasn’t it supposed to be a party? We explained that there was a poetry reading going on to which she laughed and shouted out loud “F**k poetry!” Needless to say they didn’t stay long, and we stayed long enough to politely finish our drinks and eat free food!
After a tasty banana pancake breakfast, we caught a tuk tuk to the bus station to take a 7 hour bus ride south to Sukhothai – the ancient capital of Thailand. We arrived in Sukhothai around dinner time and after about 5 minutes realized that it’s not tourist central and there’s not much to do at night… So we had dinner, did some internet-ing and had an early night in preparation for a long day in the sun ruin spotting the next day. Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand (well Siam, whatever) in the 12th-13th century but is now a large area of ruin temples much like those at Angkor in Cambodia that we visited in October. The site is very well maintained and so large that it’s recommended to hire bikes to visit all the temples. So we jumped on our red old lady bikes hired for 60p for the day (minus basket grrr – I’ve come to appreciate the basket when it’s so hot that wearing a backpack means instant sweating). We then spent the next few hours bumbling around lots of different ruins with Angkor towers and Sri Lankan chedis and lots of Buddha statues.
I had a better day at Sukhothai than Angkor, but the blue blue sky helped and there were hardly any tourists around at all. There’s not much else to see in Sukhothai so the following day made the trip back to Bangkok (nearly missed the bus as we’d left our passports etc in the hotel safe – Chris had to jump on the back of a motorbike taxi to get them – thank god we remembered before the bus left!). So, almost two months, 4 countries, at least 30 forms of transport, countless guesthouses, pancakes and spring rolls and we’d made a complete circuit back to Bangkok! Was very odd coming back into Bangkok now that we’re a lot more travel savvy (and tanned) and straight away we avoided being bussled into a non meter taxi – we strode on past and got in line with the Thais for a proper taxi – take that tourist hawkers! We found Bangkok a lot easier to deal with – it was a lot cooler and less humid, we weren’t jet lagged and we knew our way around so that we did all we wanted to do in one day (i.e. finally bought the elusive camera…). So after 24 hours in the capital, we caught the night train south to head to the beach. The train was a great experience – the one we went on in Vietnam were 4 berth sleeper cabins and we only shared with other members of our tour group. We had 2nd class sleeper seats in Thailand – had 2 seats facing each other during the evening and then at sleep o’clock, the guard came round and turned the two seats into the lower bunk and pulled down the top one from above our head where the sheets, pillows and curtains were stored for both beds. As if by magic we had beds complete with curtains to block the light and people out! Was very comfy and we got ok sleep for being on a train and arriving at 5.45. 
We got off the train near Surat Thani to get a bus to Krabi. But the first bus just picked up the train people and deposited all of us in a weird café/tourist office/waiting area next to the river about 30 mins from the station. Bizzare, but we’ve learnt not to question bizarre-ness any more and just assume that there is a plan, but we’ll not be told what it is. So we waited there for an hour until the Krabi bound bus appeared. That bus took 2 hours through palm plantations and sandy villages. We then got to another similar waiting area place on the outskirts of Krabi to have to wait another hour and a half until the Ko Lanta bus turned up. Yawn. But after another 3 hours and two car ferries on the Ko Lanta minibus, we finally arrived and checked into our bamboo beach hut 22 hours after leaving Bangkok. That was the 21st December, and we’ve been on Ko Lanta since (partly because we need a break from packing and travelling – my clothes are in a wardrobe at the moment which feels like the height of luxury!). 
We’ve basically been spending most days lounging on the beach, swimming, reading and eating. Perfection. Christmas Day, we hired scooters and I jumped on the back of Chris’ and Rosie on the back of Pete’s and drove down the island until we found a really quiet beach to have a break on. We had enormous BBQ-ed prawns for xmas dinner accompanied by copious amounts of Thai “whiskey”. 
We also went on a boat trip around nearby islands for some coral reef snorkeling and also visited a cave where we had to swim through the cave in the pitch black (all in a swimming conga line clinging to each others life jackets) to reach a lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs eroded by the monsoon rains to create a big hole in the middle of the island where there’s also a wee sandy beach. Would have been pretty spectacular had it not been for all the other tourists there, but that’s what you get for visiting interesting places I guess… 
We had a good New Year’s Eve – started the evening with a wee balcony party – me, Chris and Rosie and our newly acquired iPod speakers and some Spy wine cooler for us girlies and beer for Chris. After dinner, we headed to the bar of our guesthouse, Funky Fish, where one of the most popular Thai bands (Job 2 Do) were playing. So we drank some overpriced cocktails buckets and danced our little hearts out to reggae covers and sang along to our favourite Thai song which is Job 2 Do’s new single – do do dooo do do Chang… Chang chang chang chang mai! (the words are not those at all but it sounds kinda like it). There were more people there than we’ve seen in one place in Ko Lanta so far, and a good mixture of tourists and Thais. Was a fab night dancing on the beach, watching fireworks and singing Thai pop music :-D
We’re off to Ko Jam tomorrow – a small island between here and Krabi. Hopefully a couple of days away from the Swedish families who are gradually taking over Lanta!
Happy New Year!
Last time I wrote we were in Northern Thailand, and now we’re about 1500 km south on the Andaman Island of Ko Lanta. From Pai we headed back to Chiang Mai on another very wiggly bus journey over the mountains. We stayed a couple of nights and had some cheeky bimbles around the city and to the shopping centre to try (again we failed) to get a wee snappy camera. We had a couple of good nights out – one at a funky reggae bar with good live bands and the following night, quieter but much more entertaining… Rosie had visited a café during the day who invited her (and us) along that evening for an open mic night with free food for someone’s leaving do. We all thought that open mic would mean some dudes and guitars singing away. Nope. This open mic night was poetry and readings. Hmmm – not really our cup of tea and not great when you’re expecting live music. But we politely ate some food and quietly chatted at some tables outside until an American couple turned up and the wife was pretty drunk already. She stumbled over to us and asked (pretty loudly) why everyone was whispering and wasn’t it supposed to be a party? We explained that there was a poetry reading going on to which she laughed and shouted out loud “F**k poetry!” Needless to say they didn’t stay long, and we stayed long enough to politely finish our drinks and eat free food!
After a tasty banana pancake breakfast, we caught a tuk tuk to the bus station to take a 7 hour bus ride south to Sukhothai – the ancient capital of Thailand. We arrived in Sukhothai around dinner time and after about 5 minutes realized that it’s not tourist central and there’s not much to do at night… So we had dinner, did some internet-ing and had an early night in preparation for a long day in the sun ruin spotting the next day. Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand (well Siam, whatever) in the 12th-13th century but is now a large area of ruin temples much like those at Angkor in Cambodia that we visited in October. The site is very well maintained and so large that it’s recommended to hire bikes to visit all the temples. So we jumped on our red old lady bikes hired for 60p for the day (minus basket grrr – I’ve come to appreciate the basket when it’s so hot that wearing a backpack means instant sweating). We then spent the next few hours bumbling around lots of different ruins with Angkor towers and Sri Lankan chedis and lots of Buddha statues.
I had a better day at Sukhothai than Angkor, but the blue blue sky helped and there were hardly any tourists around at all. There’s not much else to see in Sukhothai so the following day made the trip back to Bangkok (nearly missed the bus as we’d left our passports etc in the hotel safe – Chris had to jump on the back of a motorbike taxi to get them – thank god we remembered before the bus left!). So, almost two months, 4 countries, at least 30 forms of transport, countless guesthouses, pancakes and spring rolls and we’d made a complete circuit back to Bangkok! Was very odd coming back into Bangkok now that we’re a lot more travel savvy (and tanned) and straight away we avoided being bussled into a non meter taxi – we strode on past and got in line with the Thais for a proper taxi – take that tourist hawkers! We found Bangkok a lot easier to deal with – it was a lot cooler and less humid, we weren’t jet lagged and we knew our way around so that we did all we wanted to do in one day (i.e. finally bought the elusive camera…). So after 24 hours in the capital, we caught the night train south to head to the beach. The train was a great experience – the one we went on in Vietnam were 4 berth sleeper cabins and we only shared with other members of our tour group. We had 2nd class sleeper seats in Thailand – had 2 seats facing each other during the evening and then at sleep o’clock, the guard came round and turned the two seats into the lower bunk and pulled down the top one from above our head where the sheets, pillows and curtains were stored for both beds. As if by magic we had beds complete with curtains to block the light and people out! Was very comfy and we got ok sleep for being on a train and arriving at 5.45. We got off the train near Surat Thani to get a bus to Krabi. But the first bus just picked up the train people and deposited all of us in a weird café/tourist office/waiting area next to the river about 30 mins from the station. Bizzare, but we’ve learnt not to question bizarre-ness any more and just assume that there is a plan, but we’ll not be told what it is. So we waited there for an hour until the Krabi bound bus appeared. That bus took 2 hours through palm plantations and sandy villages. We then got to another similar waiting area place on the outskirts of Krabi to have to wait another hour and a half until the Ko Lanta bus turned up. Yawn. But after another 3 hours and two car ferries on the Ko Lanta minibus, we finally arrived and checked into our bamboo beach hut 22 hours after leaving Bangkok. That was the 21st December, and we’ve been on Ko Lanta since (partly because we need a break from packing and travelling – my clothes are in a wardrobe at the moment which feels like the height of luxury!). We’ve basically been spending most days lounging on the beach, swimming, reading and eating. Perfection. Christmas Day, we hired scooters and I jumped on the back of Chris’ and Rosie on the back of Pete’s and drove down the island until we found a really quiet beach to have a break on. We had enormous BBQ-ed prawns for xmas dinner accompanied by copious amounts of Thai “whiskey”. We also went on a boat trip around nearby islands for some coral reef snorkeling and also visited a cave where we had to swim through the cave in the pitch black (all in a swimming conga line clinging to each others life jackets) to reach a lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs eroded by the monsoon rains to create a big hole in the middle of the island where there’s also a wee sandy beach. Would have been pretty spectacular had it not been for all the other tourists there, but that’s what you get for visiting interesting places I guess… We had a good New Year’s Eve – started the evening with a wee balcony party – me, Chris and Rosie and our newly acquired iPod speakers and some Spy wine cooler for us girlies and beer for Chris. After dinner, we headed to the bar of our guesthouse, Funky Fish, where one of the most popular Thai bands (Job 2 Do) were playing. So we drank some overpriced cocktails buckets and danced our little hearts out to reggae covers and sang along to our favourite Thai song which is Job 2 Do’s new single – do do dooo do do Chang… Chang chang chang chang mai! (the words are not those at all but it sounds kinda like it). There were more people there than we’ve seen in one place in Ko Lanta so far, and a good mixture of tourists and Thais. Was a fab night dancing on the beach, watching fireworks and singing Thai pop music :-DWe’re off to Ko Jam tomorrow – a small island between here and Krabi. Hopefully a couple of days away from the Swedish families who are gradually taking over Lanta!
Happy New Year!
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