Sunday, November 29, 2009

Hello from a weary traveler in Trang!

Today we came from Kho Phangan to Trang on no less then 2 mini buses, the back of 2 trucks, a ferry and a large bus - including several stops along the way. All this while recovering from a head cold has made me a very sleepy fairy!

The last week or so have been amazing. After hectic Bangkok we decided to head south and see what happened. We took an over night train to Surit Thani and make a decision in 5 seconds once we got there to take one of the many buses waiting to ferry tourists places - and bought tickets to be bussed and ferried over to Kho Phangan. Once on the ferry we met a group of 30 Canadians - and much beer was drunk in the sun. Through these Canadians we scored a free lift from the ferry terminal into town and said our goodbyes. In our semi drunken stumble we started the task of finding cheap but comfy accommodation. We met a man (obviously who worked for a hostel) who said to follow him on his motorbike for a place for 400 Baht, like following the white rabbit we slowly ambled down the street after him - whilst asking every hostel along the way about prices. We found a place and 6 hours later (keeping in mind we arrived around mid day) we awoke in a hotel room with all our things around us - with a hazy memory of the preceding events. But with a very good feeling about the place. This happy feeling was continued when we met fellow travelers who had apparently searched the whole area - just to find this one was the best. Thank you metaphorical white rabbit (although he didn't seem to happy that we wandered off from him...)

The next day we hired out a scooter and explored the islands west coast. Agreed by both of us that is one of the high lights of our trip so far. We went inland to a waterfall and climbed it until we could climb no more - will upload pics at some point. Then followed the actual track back down. All up i think we climbed about 1.2km up.... there hasn't been much rain so there were plenty of dry rocks to climb on - and it wasn't too steep. From there we just went for a ride for a while until dusk was coming and we returned the scooter while we still had our lives (dodgy roads at the best of times!)

That night we met some random Swedish guys and drank buckets on the beach - enough said. The next morning we all woke up with texta all over us to remind us that we were all meeting up for breakfast - also Daz felt the need to draw a cupcake on one of them. That day was spent mostly flaking out - i was beginning to get a head cold and Daz felt generally ill. We headed out to a 'shiva moon' psy party for a few hours that night - seriously great setup! But we both headed home early due to impending sickness. Was great just to check it out though!

Yesterday we spent on the beach, swimming, having water fights, reading and generally doing nothing. Next time i have a cold can someone please take me to a sunny beachy island? That would be lovely. Thankyou...hahahaha 

Today - as mentioned we made a tremendous journey to Trang - which really isn't that far away - it was just a bit of a pain of a journey. Before we left however we were awoken at about 4am by 2 British guys and the girls they had bought home from the beach - all of whom were VERY drunk - esp the Brits. After about 10 mins of them yelling and carrying on i knocked onj their door to ask them to keep it down to a dull roar. When the door was opened, the 2 boys were laying face down and topless with 2 asian girls (one of whom had opened the door - standing over them. the next thing we heard (leaving a lot to the imagination) was one set of people leaving. A lot of *ahem* noises, and then the Brit who had left knocking on his room door to be let back inside. Which was met with a very loud 'Don't come in I've got my cock out'... to which Daz and i laughed hysterically - in only a way you can when you're sleep deprived. I think it was at this point they understood that when i said earlier we could hear everything - i meant EVERYTHING.

Anyway - it provided us with many giggles, and we had to be up 30 mins later to start our epic journey anyway.

We have found ourselves a hostel for a whopping 150 Baht a night (approx $4-5AU) between us - which i think is our new record - so all in all - life is great - just have to kick this cold!
Tome for bed for this sleepy fairy - have much exploring to do tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

First update for on the road

Greetings from hectic Bangkok! We are beginning our third day in Bangkok and we've managed - thus far to avoid being scammed (we think). Yesterday we went for a walk around all the major touristy things - we decided that we'd do the whole thing on foot - because getting lost is half the fun. It also adds the hillarity of people trying to scam you evey few hundred meters! People will come up to you with opening lines of 'oh are you looking for *insert land mark*? you need to head *insert direction*.' followed by 'I am a school teacher on a break/ on holidays from *insert other city*. The place you wnat to see is closed until *insert time*, but *insert other monument* is open for free to tourists today only, usually it is *insert price* After *insert landmark* you should go to *insert several other landmarks*. you should hire out a government tuktuk for 20 baht.' and suddenly a tuktuk shows up. no joke, this happened 3 times before we got to our first tourist attraction for the day (the massive gold standing buddha). Luckily we were onto it straight away - so we got as much info as possible from them and then insisted we were walking everywhere - which we did. 

After a while i decided the reason we kept being targetted was due to the Thailand guide book that fell into our hands while we were in Seam Reap. So we bought a map of bangkok (so we didn't have to keep looking at the guidebook map) and from there things wern't so bad. We headed into the china town market and the thieves market - the former was sooooo hectic, never mind a flow - it was a fast running river of people moving in every direction - well worth a look though! 

After 6 hours of walking around the city we decided we'd had enough for the day and decided to retreat to the less hectic area of our hostel. Last night we drank at a bar that was a kombi van parked in a street with some tables and chairs playing dubstep (of the very wobbly variety), heaven. 

Seam reap was great also. Good to revisit people i met there and the temples as well. The 12 hour bus ride from there to bangkok was not so great - but no dramas. The boarder crossing took about 2 hours but other than that everything was great. 

Thinking about heading south over the next couple of days for some beachy goodness :D