A quick disclosure. My back is absolutely killing me. Not sure what I have done to it, but I am hoping it goes away and is not too serious. This was to be our final stint in Thailand for the trip and would just be some bumming around in Bangkok followed by some beach time down on the Andaman.
The train ride into Bangkok from the border passed through a lot of nice scenery and at one point we almost thought the train might be ontime. We grabbed a McDonalds as it had been a long time since we could and went to out old hostel from the 4000 times we have stayed in Bangkok. When we arrived we almost didn't recognise it as they had replaced the two almost dead computers with an entire internet cafe. Impressive for 3 month's work. They had also replaced the staff with a useless old woman who took about 3 hours to check us in. Oh well.
The next day we did virtually nothing. We went to the same laundry guy we used last time. Disabled guy one road off Koa San. Amazing laundry every time. My clothes are still fresh if I take one a week later. I then did a lot of writing as I was catching up with all the stuff I hadn't written for Vietnam and Cambodia. We watched Gangster Squad, which is quite good and then we met Rob for dinner. It was good to catch up again and we went to the same restaurant we ate in last time, because Cannelle had missed it. It was like a greatest hits tour of the city. Only this time we walked a lot more and enjoyed the canals. We were comparing whether Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City is the better city to live in. Not sure. I like both.
The next day I did a lot more writing and then exchanged some books. I finally managed to buy some hiking shoes from Wenger. Annoyed me a little to buy shoes with the same name as the Arsenal manager, but they seem good so far. We decided that we probably wouldn't have the money or time to do Papua New Guinea on this trip, so we will start the next one there and have 6.5 months for Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines which seems about right. We then got a night bus down to Krabi. I am sure we paid far too much again due to naivety. I hate it when we do that. It cost us 750 baht and I am sure if you go to the bus station its much better. We got rounded up like cattle and driven out to where the bus would meet us, while I hummed the Rawhide theme. I fucking hate the tourist transport. We must have got rid of them by now. Well I hope. Bali is the only super touristy place left I think. Well with the zombie tourists anyway. There was even a real life Barbie and Ken doll couple on our bus. Awesome. We watched Expendables 2 and I think it was watchable. I think a lot of the in jokes are lost on people not familiar with the action films of the 80s.
In the morning we arrived in Surat Thani where we were transferred into a shit bus to Krabi Town. Its a nice place at first impression. We got transferred to a supposed upgrade, but it seemed a bit shitter albeit with a private bathroom. We walked to the bus station to book a ticket for Sungai Kolok for the monday morning. There is an overnight bus, but I wanted to watch the Spurs game on the Sunday. Its cost 468 instead of the 650 in town, so they have some large mark ups. We did the little mangrove walk, which is nice and takes you close to the two limestone hills that are the landmarks of Krabi. We ate in a great Italian restaurant. Really authentic. Then we chilled out and I finished my writing.
The next day we found a place that did welsh rarebit and porridge for breakfast. We were eating really well in Krabi, though it wasn't cheap. We took the local truck to the fossil and it cost only 50 baht to go all the way, as its the last stop. It was super expensive. They wanted 200 baht per adult. Mental, but we had come all the way there. In the end they let us pay just 200 baht for the two of us. I guess the prices depend on how much money they think you have and there are a lot of rich tourists here in the South. The fossils themselves are nice, only because they are unique. In and of themselves they are not that special. We grabbed another truck back to Ao Nang for 20 baht and went for a walk along the beach. Its nice there, but I am glad we stayed in Krabi town. Its much more pleasant. We were bumming around with a holiday in the middle of a holiday. We walked to the national park at the end and waded across a narrow part of the sea over to an island. It was cut off, but not really. We enjoyed a swim there, grabbed some pancakes back on the other side and tried to get a truck back to Krabi for 40 baht. Three came and went before we had to accept the price of 50 baht. Damn it. We watched Argo in the cafe with films and grabbed the burgers there. They are as good as they claim. The film was good, but the ending seemed unrealistic to me, as it didn't make much sense. It seemed to be added for dramatric value and when I checked the review afterwards I could see that it was indeed added. It cheapened the film for me as I felt it was illogical (not calling the control tower or using jets to force it to return etc). Oh well.
The next day we went to Ko Phi Phi. We had booked the tickets for 280 baht each. The island is menatl expensive to stay on, so we decided to just stay for one night. On the way there by boat we saw lots of giant pink jellyfish that looked like huge floating brains. Cannelle was really happy and also loved the birds following the ship. She was a little nervous on the boat, but was getting more comfortable travelling on the sea. While boarding the ship there were some people so lazy that they wanted someone to carry their bag from next to the ship on board. Fuck sake. We were going to be with that kind of tourist. Eventually after nearly 2 hours we arrived and dodged having to pay the 20 baht cleaning fee. Reviewers of our hotel had said it was miles away and up a hill. Yeah fucking miles. I almost thought about putting this review on tripadvisor:
Be very careful. This hotel is miles, I mean miles away from the port. We had to walk for at least 10 minutes. I mean 10 whole minutes. Then we had to walk up at least 15 steps. 15 fucking steps. Not 5...not even 10 which would be just about acceptable... but a whole 15 steps. Fuck sake. No human being should ever have to walk up 15 steps. Its just too much. I may send them my medical bills.
I am sure some of these idiots who use tripadvisor would not detect the sarcasm. It always amuses me how many people complain on that website about things that are clearly written on the hotel description. Perhaps if they read the stuff before they booked it they wouldn't have so many problems. Anyway we arrived and were met by a 'friendly' island local who showed us a map and then took it away when he realised we had a place already. In the end I just grabbed it out of his hand, to which he angrily asked what my problem was. I was sure he could work out that he was the problem. Oh well. The people on Ko Phi Phi are not very nice. Thank God the island is so good you won't care. We checked in and went up to the viewpoint. Wow. Just wow. This island is truly stunning. Cannelle said that she could now understand the hype for the South of Thailand. This is what everyone raves about. The colour of the water is really special and you have the cliffs as well. The view from the top of the two bays (one green, one blue) is really cool. Its really spectacular. We stayed up there for about an hour and a half just looking at the view. Anyone who knows me will know that that is enough of a recommendation. We then went to the beach and swam a bit while listening to two totally moronic American girls talking about super taxing topics. You have to love people who say stuff like:
"People keep telling me I have an amazing body. I mean I feel sorry for Jody because she has to hear people saying that to me all the time right in front of her".
Very true. Her body was not that amazing for the record. Cannelle likes to watch people who lack self confidence trying to pretend that they do. In the evening we ate at Breakers (food is shit) and then went and sat on the wall, looking out over the sea listening to music, just like we had done in Korcula. Eventually we headed back into town and watched some people fight in the Reggae Bar (tourists beat each other up to win some alcohol). Then we saw some people playing beer pong. While we watched a Russian guy drunkenly chatted at me in Russian for ages and then got upset when he found out that I didn't drink alcohol. We eventually found a party out on the beach at Slinkys. They had a lot of shows on, including fire limbo. Cool, but not as good a DJ as Bangkok. Still if you play Everybody Dance Now, everyone will dance. There was a girl who loved herself entertaining the crowd and lots of couples dancing. Unlike the Gulf of Thailand islands, this place had a lot of couples. This was where my back started hurting and it has continued ever since. In fact I feel a little sick while I am typing. Might have to see a doctor in Singapore if it doesn't clear up by Saturday.
In the morning we had decided to take a trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh (location for the Beach) and we had signed up for a tour. God help us. We were picked up in the morning and carried to the loading bay, where the local guy whistled at us and clapped his hands to get our attention. Impressive. We were now so low that people were not even bothering to speak to us. I love the people here. We would take the tour with a bunch of morons. A few couples, an Austrian guy who had been beaten up in the Reggae Bar the night before and recommended that I fight there and some idiotic Americans who loved the monkey feeding. We set off across the Bay and across the sea for 7km in our little longtail. It was a little choppy and it made Cannelle feel uneasy. We went past an average cave, went to a very pretty cove where we could swim a bit. Next came the highlight as they stopped at the far side of the island for some snorkelling. They didn't have a mask quite big enough for me so my nose would suffer, but we saw a lot of fish. Cannelle loved it and had three things as highlights from her time in Ko Phi Phi. We descended through a shoal of colourful fish and saw Angel Fish a Lion Fish and many other colourful fish. It was really cool. Afterwards we went round to the famous Maya Beach. Oh my God was what one of the Americans said. Not because its beautiful, which it probably is, but because it was swarming with people and boats. What a parody. I found it funny. You can almost imagine what it must have looked like and believe me you will need to 'imagine' as you won't 'see'. You can see all the touch ups the film crew did to the beach, including importing trees and using sand bags. The irony lies in the fact that it is the antithesis of the film. They use this beach to escape from the touristy places and find their own place. This then becomes the idyllic beach, so everyone wants to go. So they do and then it gets so full of people that you can't even move. Oooh the delicious irony. Alex Garland was so very right lol. For our final destination we went to Monkey Beach, where the boat crew feed the monkeys and give them bottles of coke to make sure they will pose for the tourists. Bit disgusting really. We stayed on the boat out of a mini protest as it was a bit sickening to see the crack addict monkeys. They are total monkey junkies. So hooked on coke are they, that they will degrade themselves and do whatever they have to in order to get it. One even had coke poured on his head. Its like a monkey version of Requiem for a Dream, only none of them have to cut their own arm off yet. If the tourists ever stop coming these monkeys will die as I am not sure they even remember how to live like monkeys. Very sad, but all the other tourists on our boat loved it. You can see who we were on a trip with. Quality people. Afterwards we got a boat back to Krabi. The seas were quite rough on the way back, but we had only paid 250 for the return trip. Ironically if you go to the port you will pay 300, so something is very wrong with the transport. Its a stunning place. Probably the highlight of Thailand. The people are shitty, but the island is stunning. Its expensive, there are too many tourists, the people are shit, but you still have to go. Its that good. We decided to stay in the place with the films and watched Leon in the evening. Still a classic. We didn't have enough money to go to Railay as we didn't trust the boats, so we should have gone the next day but we had one day to kill. It was time to have a rest.
We did nothing much with our last day. Went to the breakfast place and had welsh rarebit again, then went to the Italian. Bummed around all day, spoke to my mum and watched Django Unchained in the evening, which I really liked. Spurs drew 1-1 with Manchester United in the evening with a last minute equaliser. The luck may be with us this year.
In the morning we walked to the bus station and took a bus all day long to Sungai Kolok. We left at 9am and arrived at the border around 7.30pm which was just in time to cross over as we weren't aware that Malaysia was an hour ahead. We were in Malaysia at last and symbolically for me onto the second half of the trip, though I think when we get to Sumatra its the real halfway point.
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