Journey to the province of Krabi

We spent a night in Bangkok to break up the long trip between Koh Chang and the province of Krabi. We didn't mind at all though since we all grown a love for Bangkok. Personally I feel better when I'm in the cities. Don't get me wrong... I do love the peaceful beaches, but something about the noise of the city has always been comforting to me for some reason. We spent the night hanging around the Rumbuttri area... You guessed it... Drinking buckets.

The following evening we boarded an overnight train that would take us to Surat Thani. We considered flying but the train was only $30 and felt like it needed to be part of the adventure. Besides it was overnight and didn't really waste time. The overall experience was entertaining. Everything from the lady who sells beers on the train trying to get everyone hammered, to these weird friend guys playing drinking games, to the snobby hipster dude with a ridiculous mustache. We drank a few beers and watched Talladega Nights on my iPad before passing out for the night. The beds were kinda cool. A dude would come through each car and convert the seats to sleepers. It was a tight fit but kinda cozy as well.

My sleeping quarters for the night.

The next morning we were woken up by the yell of the guy who reminds people that their stops are coming up. We had preordered breakfast the night before so we all got up to eat. I really wish I just slept in because the food was disgusting. My fault though. I wouldn't eat pre-packaged food at home, so I'm not sure why I thought it would be good here. We arrived at the Surat Thani train station shortly after and were herded onto "VIP Buses". The travel agents here have a different definition of VIP then what you would expect. The buses were something in between a city bus and a greyhound. Stuffy, cramped and frequently picking up/dropping off locals. If this was VIP, I'd hate to see what the regular buses look like.

Images appear much nicer when taking on my iPhone

The bus trips aren't that bad I guess. However I could do without the constant transfer from bus to tuk tuk. I'm always paranoid I'll lose my bag during the switch. The last transfer was to our hotel in the beach town of Ao Nang. As we drove it you could tell it was a tourist hub. The streets were very clean and lined with hotels. We arrived at the ascot hotel and were greeted by Apple. She was awesome, as was Sun and the other girl who didn't have a cool name. Erin and I settled in quickly and headed to the beach.

The beach was beautiful. It was very clean and had a ridiculous mountain backdrop. We spent quite a few hours there and at least a few sunsets.

The rest of the time was spent hanging out at the night spots, eating street food or the day trip to Railay Beach. Actually we did take a speedboat tour to the Phi Phi islands, but I didn't have my iPhone. We have some crazy snorkeling pictures but they're on a digital camera right now. I'll upload those once I get home.

I must have eaten 10 chickens and 20 shrimp 3 days.

Longboat to Railay Beach

Everything looks like a postcard here.

Railay Beach at sunset

We were only going to spend 3 nights in Ao Nang but extended it because it was so nice. We lucked out actually. The place was pretty much booked solid but we managed to keep our room. Our nest stop after Ao Nang would be Koh Lanta.

Koh Chang: Oasis

After a short taxi ride we were dropped off on another small strip on the island. The taxi actually dropped us off at the wrong spot, so we had to walk back until we found the "Oasis" sign. Ah well, luckly he didn't drop us off too far. Now I figured Oasis was going to be a hidden away in the jungle, however I didn't count on the 300m hike up a super steep hill. In the end it was worth it though. Even if we had to walk up the hill every time we ventured into town.

The lobby was beautiful. It blended in with the jungle backdrop and was fun to hang out in. The view overlooking the jungle made it very relaxing.

As we entered we were greeted by the young Dutch couple who own/operated it. They immediately made us feel at home, welcoming us with a food menu. I pretty sure I ate most of my meals here actually. The menu was a split between traditional thai food and western style food like sandwiches and fries. Its nice to eat food your familiar with once and awhile... Especially egg and bacon breakfast went you're a little hungover from the night before.

The only downfall of this place was the long walk to the beach. As I mentioned earlier the hill leading into the jungle was pretty brutal. Especially on hot days. One of the days Jordanna convinced me to rent motorbikes so the hill would be easier to conquer. I won't say much more, but we returned them shortly after because of a small accident. No one was seriously hurt but since the rental place held your passport as collateral I wasn't going to risk messing my trip up a week in.

We originally booked the deluxe bungalows five days as we planned on sticking around the region for a bit. This needed up getting extended because Erin and me got sick. Again, the Dutch people were awesome and did everything they could to make us feel comfortable. In the we didn't end up needing the extra day as we recovered quickly, but the we stayed anyway because we loved the place... And it's staff.

One of the last nights we were in Koh Chang we took a stroll down to the strip looking for somewhere to drink the infamous buckets. We ended up meeting a hilarious gay couple from England and drank with them until the early hours. Definitely one the most memorable nights. I really need to start documenting these people in my pictures, so you get a better idea of their personalities.

A couple days laters and we were back on the road to Bangkok to catch the train south. I was going to wrote an entire blog about our mini-bus experiences, but I don't want t worry the folks ;) Lets just say the road rules in Asia are loosely followed and I'm not sure I've ever driven at speeds as I have here. It also helps if the driver can stay awake. In the end we made it back safely and stayed the night in Bangkok before the fun but grueling 20 hour trip to Surat Thani.

Koh Chang: Bailan Beach Resort

I can't say we've been roughing it up to this point. Actually I think we've been over spending a little by choosing comfort over budget. We arrived at Bailan Beach Resort after sunset so we couldn't really see what we paid for. We got the key from reception and headed to the room. It was obviously designed for families as it had it double bed and a bunk bed, but it was really nice and cozy. After we settled in, we all jumped into our bathing suits and went for a late swim. The swim was very peaceful. It was one of those infinity pools that overlook the ocean. Plus with no light pollution you could see the stars perfectly.

After the swim Erin and myself took a stroll up to the "main street" of the beach area. It wasn't really a street, just a road with a few small mom & pop businesses. We found a small store and bought a bottle of vodka (reoccurring theme here for us), and went looking for a place to eat. We found a small restaurant called Coconut Hut. The family running it was very nice and inviting, as the Thai people usually are. You'll hear me say this a lot... The food here is never bad... Well maybe in Pattaya... Anyway, we found ourselves back here again during the visit to this island because it was so good.

Once we got back to the room we took the bottle of vodka to the beach for some late drinks. The beach wasn't great for swimming because it was kinda rocky, but this was especially true at night because you couldn't see the rocks. Jordanna (as usual) wanted to swim but the staff advised against it. She did end up walking out on the rocks with a flashlight to explore though. Turns out there were tons of hermit crabs walking around along the shore. You could actually hear the clicking of their shells. I really wish I had a better pictures but they all turned out dark and blurry. About halfway through the bottle of vodka we met our first foreign friends. They were a young Russian couple named Julia and Prussia. Prussia or by his other names Pablo or Paul didn't speak any English, but luckily Julia spoke pretty good English. She did an awesome job translating the conversations for the entire night. We talked a little hockey, music and compared cultures before heading to bed for the night. Before going seperate ways, we agreed to meet the following night for drinks at a beach club down the road.

We woke up the next morning, and I was pretty hungover from finishing the bottle vodka. The girls were fine though. They decided to go for a swim while waiting to me to pull myself together. About an hour later they came back and told me that the place was beautiful. By this time I was ready to head out for breakfast, so we all headed out together. The place was amazing (Well except for the construction that started at 7am, but I don't hold it against them). I quickly at breakfast and headed to the pool.

The pool was just as refreshing as the night before. Maybe even more since it was now 30+ degrees. We also took a dip into the ocean. I can't say it was the best beach I've swam in because of the rocks, but it was still nice no less. The rest of the day was spent being lazy and eating at the Coconut Hut.

Around 9pm we met up with Julia and Prussia as we planned the night before, and caught a taxi to the next beach strip. I guess they had met a dude a couple days before who was DJing at this party and wanted to check it out. The party place was a bar overlooking the beach. Pretty awesome backdrop really. There we're even Thai dudes fire dancing.

However, the music was horrible. I expect that we'll be hearing a lot of electronic music over here, but this was early 90's school dance shit. Ah well, I can make the best of anything with some drinks. Since no one was really dancing we sat around a shot the shit. Turns out that young Russians have a lot in common with young Canadians. Jobs, wages, living conditions, vacationing and even political views. They weren't all 1 for 1 but pretty close. We took turns buying shots of tequila, trying to outdo each others generosity. I don't think anyone really won that battle... Unless you count the hangover he next day. Once the alcohol took over we headed to the dance floor (which was really just the sandy beach). It was a pretty funny experience. Erin and myself were dancing in front of the DJ booth almost in a mocking way. The DJ was oblivious to us being dick though and thought he was the shit instead.

By this time it was close to 3am so we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. We said goodnight to the Russians and setting a meeting time around 11am the next morning. We're checking out and heading to another resort in the morning so we wanted to say goodbye and thanks for the good time. Sadly I think the tequila ruined that moment. They didnt make it to breakfast. I can't say I blamed them because I felt like death and was barely able to keep my food down. We hopped into a taxi around noon and headed to our next destination... Oasis.

 

Journey to Koh Chang

I guess I should give a little background to Koh Chang. It's an island located in the province of Trat, in the northeast area of Thailand. We'll actually have to backtrack a little later on in the trip, but decided it would be best to start here to avoid the end of wet season in the south.


Transportation options are limited to planes and mini-buses in this area of Thailand. We didn't bother looking into flying since Koh Chang was only a 4-5 hour trip by mini-bus & ferry. Plus the buses are more like large vans but super comfortable and air conditioned.

The buses stop along the way letting people off to use the washroom or smoke, but mostly just to refill gas. The vehicles are strange here come to think of it. I'm not sure if they use for fuel here but the tank is under the hood opposed to the side, like in western countries. The also drive about 130km on highways. It felt a little dangerous but everyone else on the road seemed to drive the same speed. If we didn't stop for gas and pee breaks we likely would have made the 4 1/2 hour trip in 3 hours.

I wasnt sure what to expect once we reached the ferry, but it looked like something you would see on the smaller islands in BC. Not the huge ones that go between Vancouver and Victoria, but large enough for passengers and their vehicles. Erin won the bet on that subject. Jordanna and I expected smaller boats for some reason. We departed around 5:30pm just as the sun was setting. It was pretty stunning. In someways reminded me of home, but with different species of trees.

The ferry trip was a lot shorter than we expected. We were told it would take an hour but I would say it was no longer than half an hour. That was great though. All of us were exhausted from travelling all day and relieved to get out of the cities. The thought of reaching our jungle huts near the beach was becoming more real. As we approached the island we could see the "Welcome to Koh Chang" it the distance. We lined up the exit in anticipation with the other travelers and rushed off once the gates opened.

As I mentioned in my last post, the tuk tuks are always waiting to take you to your destination. Unlike Pattaya the experience wasn't overwhelming though. We piled into the back of the truck with the rest of the travelers and headed to our resorts...

Pattaya

Disclaimer: Keeping this updated has been more challenging than I originally thought. The following actually happened a couple nights ago. I'll try harder to keep it updated in real time going forward.... It's kinda hard with the daily hangovers though :)

We decided to stop in Pattaya for the night on the way to Koh Chang. I can't say I liked it there much. Although it might not be a fair assessment of the city since we stayed directly next to the red light district. It wasn't something we planned on, but since the bus dropped us off there we decided to stay in the area. It's always overwhelming being dropped off in a new city. Thailand isn't unlike Mexico or Cuba in the sense that Taxi drivers swarm tourists immediately. I always feel like they're trying to take advantage of me (and they likely are) so we dodged into an alley by a McDonalds to regroup and try figure out what to do next. As we were trying to find a free hotspot, we noticed a hotel at the end of the alley called the Lido. It looked out of our planned budget, but we figured there was no harm in inquiring. We entered the lobby and spoke with the lady working the desk. Turned out our suspicions were right, the rooms were $50 CDN per night. We asked if there were and double rooms to reduce the cost, but they didn't have any oddly enough. Since we were a little overwhelmed by the city and tired from the bus ride from Bangkok, we voted on staying and splitting the cost of two rooms three ways. We got the keys and made our way to the rooms. Let's just say I'm not sure how $50 is justified. The rooms were musty and smelled like no one had stayed in them in awhile. That's when I realized we might be the only people staying in this fairly large hotel. It creeped me out to be honest. Have you ever see the episode of Vice Guide to Travel: North Korea where they stay in a large fancy hotel, but since it's North Korea they were the only ones there. It felt like that... Crossed with the spookiness of the hotel in The Shining.


We were getting hungry so we decided to try find something to eat. Usually we wouldn't eat anything but Thai food since its fucking delicious, but since we were in the red light district the food was less then desirable looking. McDonalds it is! The menu was pretty much identical except for a few items like hot wings and spinach pies. After that we grabbed a beer and headed to the seawall that overlooks the ocean. Jordanna really wanted to go swimming, but by this time it was dark and didn't look safe. She ended up heading back to the hotel instead, while Erin and me checked out the red light district.

The red light district or the official name "Walking Street", is roughly 2km of bars filled with working girls and creepy old men. The scale of some of these bars was surreal. They were literally filled with hundreds of women. It was kinda sad but very interesting for people watching. We must have been offered Ping Pong shows 1000 times in the two hours we walked the strip. If you're unfamiliar with ping pong shows... Well it's probably better that way. I'll let you find that out on your own.

In between the brothel bars and ping pong shows there were bars with muay thai boxing rings in the middle. This seemed interesting to me so we sat down and waited for the fight to begin. As we waited I quickly caught onto the scam. The staff would herd people into the place and serve them a red slushy drink. Once the place filled up the fights would start, but they were ridiculously staged WWE fights ... That wasn't the scam though. It was the bill for the drink. We paid $15 CDN for red bull and vodka!!! I'm assuming the others paid outrageous prices too because everyone immediately got up and left after the fight.

The next morning we couldn't wait to get out of Pattaya, but we had to wait until 12:30 for our bus to Koh Chang. We wandered around the streets looking for something decent to eat. The city was completely different in the day. It was actually pretty nice and a lot more calmer. We walked down the beach and drank fresh coconut water.

12:30 rolled around and we jumped on our bus to Koh Chang...

 

Buckets are the devil

It's 11pm Bangkok time... And I probably shouldn't be blogging. We're about 6 buckets deep right now. If you're not familiar, buckets are a pint of liquor (your choice) and in our case, soda with red bull. They look like the buckets you build sand castles as a kid, but 1000% more lethal because of the insanely higher content of alcohol.

Tomorrow will likely be spending the day recovering. We're hoping to reach Koh Chang in sometime Thursday.

Jetleg is a myth

We arrived in Bangkok at 2am last night. The cabby dropped us off in a weird spot so it took a few minutes to figure out where are hotel was. After maneuvering through giant puddles created by a earlier typhoon, we finally found Erawan House. It's a pretty basic room, with only enough room for our 3 beds. We dropped off our bags and decided to explore a little (even with fatigue setting in.

We met some fellow farangs and chatted for awhile. So far the people have been super nice. Got pretty tipsy from 3 giant beers and shot the shit till the sun came up. We even ended up sneaking into a temple to see what the monks were up to. At this point I realized I should get some sleep.

We woke up around 11am local time and honestly felt fine. Jetleg is a myth to me. After a 21 hour journey, a few beers to help me sleep, I feel perfectly fine. Even with 5 hours sleep.

Today were gonna do some exploring around Khao San Road and see what the other whiteys are saying. Apparently there are some Halloween parties going on, so we'll likely be hitting something up tonight.