The minivan ride to remember

A few hours, some toast and some electricity to charge the laptop and we ready to go, a little more wandering around the stools and shops littering Khaosan road with everything a tourist expects to purchase while in Thailand then off to the airport in our last but probably most exciting minivan on the trip. As we left there was one last passenger to jump in, an american with some McDonalds and we were hungry, fortunately he has a super hippy and quickly offered us most of the chips before going on to ask us about our trip and tell us all about his and his life and girlfriends. We found out many things about him including that he used to be a policeman in New York, he now worked as a spirtual leader in a retreat in Koh Samui and that he had a few adult children and a few very young ones all over the world. After showing us some pictures on his phone he then said why is was late and that his Chineese girlfriend living in Bangkok was now pregnant and that he had been meeting her to say congratualations but now might miss his flight so had to call his other girlfriend in Koh samui saying why he might be late. At this point things were getting a little crazy for us to then find out that one girlfriend was then going to call the other to congratulate here too and that she was also trying to get pregnant and that they might live together. David (fairly shocked to find he had such a usual name for such an extrovert character) then went on to told me he had a book and the easiest way to contact him if we wanted to staying touch was through the website for it, the books name – “Avoiding Capture” the book is all about relationships – Think this may be one of the best names I've heard for a book for a while, although he says he hasn't done so well at following this and has ended up being married 3 times.

Phuket to Bangkok

Arriving at the bus station on the other side of Phuket we soon realised thast is was as coordinated as many things here in the way that there are a few guys running it but with little communication between them and even less to you chaos isn't far off. Eventually we find a bus and pretty much play musical chairs until the conductor finally decides which ones are correct for us and the french couple that had been collected from Patong with us, it seems that although the tickets have numbers these don't correspond with the seat numbers.

The bus leaves and we head north and quite quickly too, especially when you look out side and realise how rough some of the roads are although the seats were quite comfy and you could lean them back quite far. After a few hours of some of the weirdest television known to man - some sort of a cross between “who's line is it anyway” and Xfactor and we arrived at their version of a service station. No burgers and old food here, just loads and loads of small fixed stools selling exactly the same, rice and omlette with your choice of meat of vegetables. After some pointing at signs I had some pork omlette, rice and chilli sauce, yummy unfortunately I hadn't taken into account that although Becky felt ill that wasn't enough to reduce her appetite and I wasn't able to have quite as much of the dinner as I may have hopped. Another 5 hours and we are back in Bangkok a whole 15minutes ahead of schedule. Now pretty much out of Baht it was time to see how readily US dollars were accepted, except for the official taxi drivers working on the meter it seemed all were perfectly happy having any money so some haggling later and back to the centre for some wandering and some breakfast.

Phuket

Another minivan later and we arrive at Patong beach, this accommodation was booked with STA at the start so is actually a hotel, About 10minutes walk from the beach and a little further to the area of down with all the shops and bars. Most our time spent here was spent on the beach although we did have to check out the pool and I think probably for the safer side of things, the sun had been having quite an effect on our pasty white skin, so escaping under an umbrella for the middle of the day gave us some well needed rest for our sunburnt shoulders.

We decided that we had to go and check out the night-life even if we wouldn't go for drinks or such to save some money for later in the trip. Most of the streets seem fariyl ordinary with the standard variation of sports bars at the time showing mostly Manchester United games who are quite well supported here or the tennis. However if you continue southerly along the beachfront road you quickly come to the busy area marked by the yellow lights above the road. Then the whole area and atmosphere starts to change into something else, the streets are lined with bars either side all of which have girls dancing on the tables or on poles. Then there are the black fronted strip clubs and sellers lining the seat trying to sell everything and anything from glowsticks and light up things you might find on fireworks night to lapdances and pingpong shows.
Another morning trying to fill up as much as possible on the breakfast and fill the lunchbox for later and then a few hours on the beach – a coconut for a drink and then back the the hotel to be picked up and taken off to the bus depot.

Phi Phi to Phuket

Fairly sad to leave the island so soon, there is a lot to do on the island ,even though it is very small, and we have barely scratched the surface which seems to be a common these so far on this trip, quickly hopping around does have it's downsides. On leaving the wind has picked up which is a nice change and helps with cooling in the mid day sun, not to a lot but with a big kite and large board kitesurfing between all the islands could be unbelievable. A school here would be amazing especially as there is no competition although I’m pretty sure the wind would be rather light the majority of the time so lots of theory and day one lessons. The ferry crossing is fairly uneventful and calm as expected with only the slight obscurity at the start when a couple of small boats catch us up to bring along those that had missed it at the pier or were being brought from activities that ran late.
A few jam sandwiches and some proper sized pineapple chunks on oversized cocktail sticks later and Phi Phi's great cliffs are fading behind the sea mist into the horizon. Around another small island and Phuket Pier is in sight, looking rather more industrial than the huts perched on a hillside that we have left, it's time to head out of tourist serenity and into the urbanized wild streets and the cabaret shows of Patong road.

Phi Phi

An Hour or so on the ferry was fairly pleasant, a relatively flat seas, lots of stunning islands either side and small Thai fishing vessels at work kept us occupied, along with trying to work out which island had been used in which film.
On arrival at the port we found an islander with a sign for the accommodation they led the way, we headed continuously upwards through the town. The newest hut in which we stayed overlooks the town and a little of the bay with banana plants and palm trees everywhere. We checked out the town and then the two beaches either side of the island only separated by 100m strip of land at their narrowest point. A swim to cool off and in search for food, getting ever nearer to our budget for this section we have to be ever more incentive to find a cheap meal. Bread & Jam found to see us through a few days of lunches it was time for chick pea vegetarian curry and a few portions of rice for us to share...Probably the best vegetarian food I’ve ever had although a tad spicy for Bex I think.
Back to the room then I leave Bex blogging away while I go in search for tomorrows activities. On my return to the huts we met some more South Africans and a British girl, this time when swapping stories we found they were English teachers from north Korea all on holiday for a week, another snack and off to check out the night-life we had been told so much about.

Well that is something special! The night life down by the beach is how I would imagine Ibiza to be if all the locals could dance with fire. Every bar has something going on, raised dance floors from the bar out into the sand with everyone partying all the way down to the water. Limbo competitions, and displays taking part left right and centre, our favourite bar was Slinkys but one down the other end had a sand stage and a whole team putting on a show with Fire Sticks and Poi. Even nature decided to join in with a tremendous tropical storm going off on the horizon, huge fork lightning exploding over the mainland and lighting up the sky creating an atmosphere a spectacular sight wherever you looked. If ever I return to Thailand or others go a night out in Phi Phi is clearly always a great option.

Krabi

It was nice – finally we understood why people say to get out of Bangkok asap, beautiful beaches, sea mist surrounded islands and far less people, this is the true Thailand.

One point that I found very confusing in Krabi is the sheer number of Italian restaurants, yes there are still a large number of tourist & local shops but even many of the Thai restaurants also have Italian food. There are even about 5 pizzerias which on a street with less that 100 shops that is an achievement, there may even be more that there are suit shops.
To test why and how Thai + Italian worked together with food I ordered a thai green curry with shrips on spaghetti.
Verdict – I don't know how or why someone first tried this, possibly in the great noodle shortage of 2005 but it's amazing and a nice relief from the mass of rice and noodles that I had been eating. After a fairly warm night with the fan in the room merely pushing around the hot air and an electric socket that made my laptop continuously shock me, I awoke early for breakfast / Lunchbox filling time and transport to the ferry.

The moving bed & quick friends

We boarded the train south and found our seats. It wasn't a good sign when for the first 15mins the train seemed to not go far above jogging pace. After finally picking up pace and everyone settled in we spoke to a group of South Africans and heard about their stories of previous trips & their most recent one to Laos where they were coming from. Around 10 the staff came round putting all the beds down and converting the chairs. At 3.00 the others arrived at their stop so we said our fair wells and I realised how quickly friends could come and go while travelling. Another 5hours later and we arrived at Surat Thani to be greeted by a volley of shouting of place names all seemingly coming from 1 man trying to coordinate the travellers off the train. After being herded onto quite a nice coach we went for about 20minutes to what could only be descried as a sorting area where everyone was stickered and sent to their appropriate transport. Boarding the second and unfortunately back to the low standard coach that we had come to expect we went further south and onto Krabi. Becky tried braving the toilet but was quickly back in her seat and looking a little paler than previously. (check her blog for full descriptions) 4 hours later and another processing through a sorting area (still no hat used) and we were off in a mini bus this time finally arriving at our place to stay 16 hours after leaving Bangkok.