After doing much research in the many tourist offices of Trang, we decided on the cheaper option with 'Andrews Travel'. This we were told would be a minivan journey to the local port then a 40 minute longtail boat ride to the pier of our island, Koh Mook, at which we will have a motor cycle taxi waiting to transfer us to our resort. Little did we know that "Andrews Travel" should of been called "Trotters Independent Travel", the minivan turned up an hour late (even this is bad for Thai standards), but we evntually got on our way to the port. The longtail boat was waiting for us and we both managed to get on board without breaking anything or getting wet! We had a beautiful journey passing little islands and impressive limestone crops, it was a very calm crossing and we quickly arrived at Koh Mook pier. Disembarking on the other hand was quite the opposite! As the pier was busy our longtail boat had to moor up against the local ferry which was much bigger than our boat. We had to clamber up a good 4ft onto the local ferry and then across to the concrete pier. This seemed to be a good spectator sport for the locals! After a long walk down the pier with all our luggage we found that "Trotters" had let us down and no taxi was waiting for us, in actual fact there was nothing there not even any other tourists. We later found out if we had booked the crossing with our resort we would of been dropped right on our beach!! Luckily, a motorcycle taxi spotted us looking lost and ferried us across the island, over the dirt tracks and through the rubber plantations.
We arrived at our resort and were given a very welcomed welcome drink and shown to our bungalow. It was a lovely room and our bungalow was nestled in the trees of the rubber plantation, only a few minutes walk to the picturesque beach. We were here for the Christmas period and our neighbouring resort had a party on the beach on Christmas Eve, so we took a couple of beers down to the beach and gate crashed their celebrations. Luckily for us we got there just in time to see Santa Claus arriving on Koh Mook by speedboat!! He even had time to give us a rendition of "We wish you a merry Christmas".
We had a great Christmas day, very different from the norm and it made us think about our families and friends and of course Roast Turkey!!! We filled our day with some swimming and exploring the nearby rubber plantation. Our Christmas dinner consisted of 2 Mai Thai cocktails and as our hotel had shown off their catch of the day, a 10KG Marlin fish to us, we decided to have a bit of that.
Boxing day came and we were on the move again, off to a sleepy town called Satun and as always the journey was an interesting one at that. Longatil boat - minivan - 3 hour wait - Tuk Tuk - Bus - Tuk Tuk - KNACKERED!!
Satun is a quiet place on the Malaysian border, clearly just used for stopovers and not used to many tourists. Its quiet but very friendly, all the kids wave and say "Hello", we finally think we are famous or perhaps they are following our Blog or have heard of our legendary longtail exploits! We have spent our time here usefully, getting Malaysian money and getting our laundry done. Clare's bra was missing and we did wonder if a small Thai child was using it as a hammock, but we did eventually get it back!! Adam also braved a Thai Barbershop, it was a proper 'Sweeney Todd' style shop, too many sharp objects for his liking!
We are off in the morning to the Malaysian island of Langkawi, a proper ferry this time... or so we have been told!
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Monday, 22 December 2008
23rd December 2008
It's been a busy week since our last post! We arrived by ferry and a longtail boat to Koh Jum with all intentions of staying there for Christmas. It was a long walk up the beach to our resort in the blazing sunshine, but luckily we got met half way with a Thai man pushing a cart for our bags. After a lovely welcome drink of fresh watermelon juice, we were shown to our bungalow, which was very beautiful, it looked like it was from a picture postcard. Made from woven bamboo and dark teak wood, the bed was under a large mosquito net and we had a nice large veranda.
It was a lovely looking beach (although not the best for swimming as it does contain sea lice which do give you a nasty sting!), we enjoyed early morning strolls and beautiful sunsets and some nice tasty thai food.
As Koh Jum only has electricity for 4 hours a day, powered by their own generators,which quite often ran out of fuel well before then. We did find ourselves eating our dinner by candlelight. As romantic as this sounds and remembering that Koh Jum is mostly uninhabited, we did find ourselves having some uninvited dinner guests! On one occasion a flying beetle decided to take a dive into Clare's beer! We think he must have told his friends, as we were joined that night by two of his friends inside our mosquito net, which as you can imagine, in the pitch dark it caused quite a stir!!
After an enjoyable 4 nights we decided that it was time to move on, as there wasn't a great deal to do on the small island and in the words of Adam, "I'm not sure I like the great outdoors".
So after our interesting journey back to Krabi Town, pillion on a motorbike, longtail boat and then mini-van (cheaper option, folks!), we found ourselves back in the Phi Phi Andaman Legacy hotel for 2 nights enjoying their air-con and planning our next steps.
Yesterday we took a 2 hour mini-van ride further south to a small town called Trang. It is a quiet little place, not the friendliest we've been to as I don't think they get many 'farangs' around these parts. There have been quite a few stares in our direction! Not to worry as we are leaving today for another island destination. We are off to an island called Koh Mook, where we are staying for 3 nights over Christmas in a resort called Rubber Tree Bungalows (http://www.mookrubbertree.com/).
It was a lovely looking beach (although not the best for swimming as it does contain sea lice which do give you a nasty sting!), we enjoyed early morning strolls and beautiful sunsets and some nice tasty thai food.
As Koh Jum only has electricity for 4 hours a day, powered by their own generators,which quite often ran out of fuel well before then. We did find ourselves eating our dinner by candlelight. As romantic as this sounds and remembering that Koh Jum is mostly uninhabited, we did find ourselves having some uninvited dinner guests! On one occasion a flying beetle decided to take a dive into Clare's beer! We think he must have told his friends, as we were joined that night by two of his friends inside our mosquito net, which as you can imagine, in the pitch dark it caused quite a stir!!
After an enjoyable 4 nights we decided that it was time to move on, as there wasn't a great deal to do on the small island and in the words of Adam, "I'm not sure I like the great outdoors".
So after our interesting journey back to Krabi Town, pillion on a motorbike, longtail boat and then mini-van (cheaper option, folks!), we found ourselves back in the Phi Phi Andaman Legacy hotel for 2 nights enjoying their air-con and planning our next steps.
Yesterday we took a 2 hour mini-van ride further south to a small town called Trang. It is a quiet little place, not the friendliest we've been to as I don't think they get many 'farangs' around these parts. There have been quite a few stares in our direction! Not to worry as we are leaving today for another island destination. We are off to an island called Koh Mook, where we are staying for 3 nights over Christmas in a resort called Rubber Tree Bungalows (http://www.mookrubbertree.com/).
Monday, 15 December 2008
15th December 2008
So we are now in Krabi Town, getting here was an experience to say the least. The Bus was due at 8.30pm, but in true Thai style came over an hour late. Not too bad really, but as we had to check out of our room at 12 noon, there was a lot of hanging around.
Unfortunately the picture of the bus they showed us, didn't really live up to our expectations, as we saw it chugging into the bus station. As the bus began it's journey in Bangkok, getting our backpacks into the luggage compartment was very difficult, they looked at us in amazement as we think they wanted us to carry it on as hand luggage! So after climbing over many boxes and bags we got on to the bus, only to find people sitting in our seats! Clare put paid to this and we ended up ejecting a father & his young son into their appropriate seats. We hope a lesson is learned here! Our 9 hour journey began well & seemed comfortable at first, but as the time went on and the aroma from the toilets grew, sleep seemed impossible and the journey for the most part was pretty unpleasant! This was first class travel apparently! Next time we'll be going V.I.P. for 200 Baht more, maybe the 2nd Class option with no toilet would have been better in hindsight!
We arrived in Krabi tired at 7am and our hotel kindly came to pick us up. They only had a pick-up truck so we had to sit in the back with our backpacks. This was really a blessing, not only did it wake us up, but it got the horrible smell out of our clothes.
Our first hotel (K.R. Mansion) was not exactly as expected, I think they use the word 'Mansion loosely! So we are now staying in a very nice place with our own balcony.
We've been mooching around the town, taking in the delights of the night & day markets and relaxing down by the piers. We've been making use of the nice & cheap food and pleasant bars around town, although last night we did get an inkling that we may have been in a Gay bar. But the beer was nice & cheap and the music was good, so who cares!
We are catching a ferry to a very small island called Koh Jum tomorrow and we are staying in a wooden beach hut called Woodland Lodge (http://www.woodland-koh-jum.tk/). The plan is stay here for Christmas, but who knows. Today we bought some tinsel to decorate our room, so Clare is very excited.
Updates me be a bit slow from now on, as they only have electricity for a couple of hours a day!
Unfortunately the picture of the bus they showed us, didn't really live up to our expectations, as we saw it chugging into the bus station. As the bus began it's journey in Bangkok, getting our backpacks into the luggage compartment was very difficult, they looked at us in amazement as we think they wanted us to carry it on as hand luggage! So after climbing over many boxes and bags we got on to the bus, only to find people sitting in our seats! Clare put paid to this and we ended up ejecting a father & his young son into their appropriate seats. We hope a lesson is learned here! Our 9 hour journey began well & seemed comfortable at first, but as the time went on and the aroma from the toilets grew, sleep seemed impossible and the journey for the most part was pretty unpleasant! This was first class travel apparently! Next time we'll be going V.I.P. for 200 Baht more, maybe the 2nd Class option with no toilet would have been better in hindsight!
We arrived in Krabi tired at 7am and our hotel kindly came to pick us up. They only had a pick-up truck so we had to sit in the back with our backpacks. This was really a blessing, not only did it wake us up, but it got the horrible smell out of our clothes.
Our first hotel (K.R. Mansion) was not exactly as expected, I think they use the word 'Mansion loosely! So we are now staying in a very nice place with our own balcony.
We've been mooching around the town, taking in the delights of the night & day markets and relaxing down by the piers. We've been making use of the nice & cheap food and pleasant bars around town, although last night we did get an inkling that we may have been in a Gay bar. But the beer was nice & cheap and the music was good, so who cares!
We are catching a ferry to a very small island called Koh Jum tomorrow and we are staying in a wooden beach hut called Woodland Lodge (http://www.woodland-koh-jum.tk/). The plan is stay here for Christmas, but who knows. Today we bought some tinsel to decorate our room, so Clare is very excited.
Updates me be a bit slow from now on, as they only have electricity for a couple of hours a day!
Friday, 12 December 2008
13th December 2008
Well... we've been sorting out all our visa's & doc's in Hua-Hin for the last couple of days. Our main priority being to change our return journey from the 19th of December to the 2nd of June next year. So, you'd think this would be simple but we found ourselves calling the airline for 6 hours yesterday only to be greeted by an engaged tone!! Eventually we called the UK office, which cost us an arm and a leg, but we managed to get it sorted.
After phoning a guest house in Krabi Town & being greeted by yet another permanently engaged tone, the penny began to drop... Yes, that's right, we'd been using the wrong dialling code all day... after discovering this, we thought we'd try the airline in Bangkok again and yes, you've guessed it, they picked up straight away! The joys of foreign dialling codes!!
As you might have guessed, the plans have changed! We are now travelling down South Thailand to visit Krabi Town for a couple of nights & then on to the tiny island of Koh Jum. So we are catching the overnight bus tonight at 8.30pm and are arriving in Krabi at 5.30am tomorrow.
After phoning a guest house in Krabi Town & being greeted by yet another permanently engaged tone, the penny began to drop... Yes, that's right, we'd been using the wrong dialling code all day... after discovering this, we thought we'd try the airline in Bangkok again and yes, you've guessed it, they picked up straight away! The joys of foreign dialling codes!!
As you might have guessed, the plans have changed! We are now travelling down South Thailand to visit Krabi Town for a couple of nights & then on to the tiny island of Koh Jum. So we are catching the overnight bus tonight at 8.30pm and are arriving in Krabi at 5.30am tomorrow.
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
10th December 2008
Hi everyone! Hope you are all enjoying the frosts and getting ready for Christmas.
Well... we arrived in Bangkok on Saturday the 6th of December and actually landed at the main airport with absolutely no sign of any troubles or yellow t-shirts. We had a good flight apart from 2 things, a very drunk bloke sitting next to Adam (who thankfully fell asleep after the first hour) and Clare coming down with the stomach bug that Adam kindly donated to her last week.
The roads were empty on the way to the City Centre from the airport, so after a short taxi ride, we both arrived at our first hotel, Suk 11. The word Hotel is used in the loosest of terms, it was a backpackers hostel, but one of the prettiest we've seen. Individual rooms all made in a traditional style from teak... not sure it'd pass the health and safety laws in the UK though!
We arrived tired in our hotel, which was in a very nice & quiet area, but the stomach bug had started to get a hold on Clare, so for the first time in her life she had lost her appetite & didin't even fancy a Chang Beer! We had planned to stay only the one night in Bangkok, but as Clare was clearly not well enough for travelling anywhere, nevermind leaving the hotel room, we stuck it out for an extra night. We had no TV or any entertainment, so Adam ended up reading Clare's book in a day, while popping out for the occasional bowl of noodles.
After loading Clare up with immodium we decided to embark on a 3 hour journey to Hua-Hin on Monday morning. It was a pleasant journey with not a huge amout of legroom (I think they make these buses for the Thai people not westerners) which only cost 3GBP each.
We are staying in a nice hotel called the Chaba Chalet which is a stones throw from the night market and a short walk to the beach. Luckily for Clare she is feeling much better now & is finally getting her appetite back, so watch out night market tonight!!
We are planning on staying here until Friday the 12th of December and getting a little R&R while we are here. Then we are off back up to Bangkok for the night & planning on travelling East to Cambodia via Trat. We'll keep you posted on our movements very soon!
Well... we arrived in Bangkok on Saturday the 6th of December and actually landed at the main airport with absolutely no sign of any troubles or yellow t-shirts. We had a good flight apart from 2 things, a very drunk bloke sitting next to Adam (who thankfully fell asleep after the first hour) and Clare coming down with the stomach bug that Adam kindly donated to her last week.
The roads were empty on the way to the City Centre from the airport, so after a short taxi ride, we both arrived at our first hotel, Suk 11. The word Hotel is used in the loosest of terms, it was a backpackers hostel, but one of the prettiest we've seen. Individual rooms all made in a traditional style from teak... not sure it'd pass the health and safety laws in the UK though!
We arrived tired in our hotel, which was in a very nice & quiet area, but the stomach bug had started to get a hold on Clare, so for the first time in her life she had lost her appetite & didin't even fancy a Chang Beer! We had planned to stay only the one night in Bangkok, but as Clare was clearly not well enough for travelling anywhere, nevermind leaving the hotel room, we stuck it out for an extra night. We had no TV or any entertainment, so Adam ended up reading Clare's book in a day, while popping out for the occasional bowl of noodles.
After loading Clare up with immodium we decided to embark on a 3 hour journey to Hua-Hin on Monday morning. It was a pleasant journey with not a huge amout of legroom (I think they make these buses for the Thai people not westerners) which only cost 3GBP each.
We are staying in a nice hotel called the Chaba Chalet which is a stones throw from the night market and a short walk to the beach. Luckily for Clare she is feeling much better now & is finally getting her appetite back, so watch out night market tonight!!
We are planning on staying here until Friday the 12th of December and getting a little R&R while we are here. Then we are off back up to Bangkok for the night & planning on travelling East to Cambodia via Trat. We'll keep you posted on our movements very soon!
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