South East Asia - Week Four

Monday, up and out for our collection for the boat. This is when i realised that my sunglasses were missing, i had thrown them away last night in the beg with the beer cans. I sprinted back to the bin, hoping that it hadnt been emptied, but it had. Damn. Another new pair of goggles needed! We met a couple in the van who were from the uk and really nice and spent a few hours with them. Being away means that when you get the chance to talk, you cant help but talk for england. Well i cant.We treated ourselves to Starbucks to use our Ringits before leaving Malaysia and then got the ferry. The ferry first goes to Satun which is an immigration point for Thailand. Our immigration man was a comedian. We already had Thai visas sorted but we couldnt remember how long for. He told us that we had 15 days which is the standard issue you get on entry, which worried us because we wanted to stay for longer. We thought we had 30 days so asked him, only to find out he was joking and in fact we had 60 days. He was wetting himself and must have thought he was the funniest man in the world, he wasnt, it wasnt even a good joke. We needed a cash machine to get some Thai Baht and included in our ticket was a trip into Satun to get some cash. This is important because there are no atms on Ko Lipe, its still a small and undeveloped island, bliss. Turned out that we didnt have this included in the ticket and that we had to pay for a taxi. Our boat left in 20 mins and we found out that the nearest atm was 8km away. Argh panic, frustration, a few strong words and 200b down we had to take the taxi and pay. The man drove like a maniac and got us there and back in time for our speed boat. 5 mins to go and we boarded, only to be the only ones on there, all that panic for nada. The speedboat over gave us another opportunity to sleep and when we arrived we had to take a long tail boat from the pontoon to the shore. Koh Lipe was amazing. It is known as being like Phi Phi before 'the beach' an the tourism that followed. There are however a lot of building works going on and is the only island in the Koh Tarauto national park where development is allowed. Im sure that in 3 years time it will be unrecognisable to what it is today. We got a bungalow which although it was one of the cheapest on the island, was lovely. It was called Seahorse and had a hammock hanging in the porch. Ko Lipe has no public transport and nothing but mopeds fly around the few roads there are. We walked through to the other side in 15 minutes. It was picture perfect. Not much to do but relax, people watch and swim in the azure blue sea. We brought some goggles, being cheap skates and not going for the full mask and snorkel kit. Tom broke his within a minute trying to get them over his head, think we may have brought kids ones! We managed to return them and even got a refund. This was the first place we have seen where they do tattoos with the bamboo way. We watched one being done, very interesting. Tom was crisping well due to his Malaria tablets so after a few hours sun we went home and got ready for night time. WE found the cheapest restaurant on the island and had our traditional thai dinner, som tum and green curry. It was lovely. We brought beer and sat on the beach. The atmosphere here is so different to Malaysia. Malaysia is almost repressed a little, maybe due to the mix of religions in the country, here though, well anything goes and thats what we love about Thailand!

Tuesday was beach day. Our last day in Ko Lipe and we planned to spend it on the beach planning our route for Thailand. In the UK, I worried about having a plan to save time, worried about always needing to know where we are going. Now, we havent got a clue where we will be tomorrow and just guess as we go. Its great. Hmm, think we are getting so laid back we are horizontal. WE hired masks and snorkels for today and made use of them off the beach. There were loads of fish about and we spent ages dodging the boats and burning our backs. We should have learnt from Pad and worn our rain macks in the water to prevent snorkel back, damm. At lunch we ate homemade crisp sandwiches and were joined by a dog who got a bit 'excited' around us. We were soon finished with our lunch. After further crisping we went for some shade and had a beer in our hammock. Before we knew it it was dark, we had snoozed and it was time to get going out. We had decided to get over to the other side of Thailand and to Ko Tao which we didnt manage to get to last time so we walked the whole street (of which there is only one) pricing up the cheapest way stopping enroute only for some grub. We only had 2 more days budget with us and all quotes were more, it also seemed that no one took Visa which made the hunt for cheapness an absolute necessity. We managed to find one man who priced it for us, cheaper than anywhere else. We emptied our wallet and found we were 50b short, a pound. So cheekily we asked if we could book with him for all we had in our wallet. He laughed, but accepted. We were grateful and offered the 15b in coins we had, but he declined them. All booked and with an empty wallet we went home, firstly stopping at the shop to negotiate a bottle of water for 15b today and 10b in the morning (we had a deposit to have refunded for a book we borrowed and they were closed till the morning)Again, luckily, they let us. People here are so nice!

Wednesday our boat left at 9am. Only had to return the book, get our deposit, have some breaky and then on the boat. Hmmm. The book shop that was meant to open at 7.30am was still shut at 8.15am so it became a mad dash around the island to find the . everyone you asked pointed here and there an din the end we managed to track her down. Money in pocket but a rumbly tum we had to get a take away breaky. The lady in our most visited places, packed us one up, fruit puffs, crisps and bananas and a tea and coffee. We got to our speed boat in time and werent the last ones. The crossing was rough, the slamming of the boat over the waves sounded like the boat was going to break in half. It was a crossing where you deliberately keep your mouth open so as to not smashed your teeth together on the bumps. You get cotton mouth and look a pleb but its better than smashed teeth! We arrived and ushered to an office to wait for our bus, only stopping to grab a beer on the way, the compliment the breakfast of course. We were soon bundled into the mini van although we werent too convinced that we were going to the right place as different people had different ideas but we went with it anyway. The trip was long to Trang and once there we had to get another bus to Surathani. Tom went off in search of a cashpoint that didnt seem to exist in this town. We had to find him and hurry back as the bus was ready to go. When we arrived at Surathani, a travel company attempted to sell us some expensive tickets to Ko Tao. No such luck, we werent mugs in this game and caught a heavily negotiated and therefore cheap tuk tuk to the pier where we brought our reasonably priced ticket for the over night boat to Ko Tao. Im not sure what we expected but the boat was a wooden fishing boat type boat and had 2 layers inside, each with a 4' mattress and pillow. Each bed was marked with a number (the one on your ticket) and a few fans were dotted around the open room. The beds were small, even by my size standards but we were both looking forward to the night ahead. Only 6 more hours to kill until departure! We spent the six hours having a walk, drink, watching the locals playing their game of 'football/hacki sack' which showed some great skills and then had street food dinner. I chose a pork kebab, which turned out to be pork liver kebab...Tom finished that. We stocked up on rice and coconut milk, drinks and snacks and boarded our boat, got our bed, read and relaxed. WE slept next to a group of 4 junior doctors who were holidaying before going back to doctor positions and a german guy. Tom be freinded a hippy, complete with long hair, barefeet, flares and a headband. He was trying to sell us diving and invited us to his house. The crossing was rough. Everyone seemed to sleep dreamily through it except me. I was paranoid that the rocking of the boat would send our bags out of the door they were against and into the sea. Long night...

Thursday, once we had managed some shut eye we were awoken by everyone moving, to get off. We were there. Once off the boat we were hassled for taxi, diving, bungalows. Tired and mardi, this was not good. We had to decline the diving from our man as he was too expensive, he looked disappointed and we felt bad. We got a taxi to the main beach with german guy and anotehr girl and were dropped off to do the early morning walk to find somewhere to stay. In the process we smelt bacon, real frying bacon. Our noses dragged us into the cafe and we had the bacon sarnies we have been dreaming off since England, yuuuuuuuuuuum. Even a good brew accompanied it. It helped with the morning mardi. We couldnt find anywhere so instead booked the diving for which we got a great deal. Left our bags there, hired a moped and went in search of a quieter place and cheaper place to stay. We drove to another beach and after a while of riding around, found a bungalow. Then we searched around the island. We took the road on the map which turned out to be nothing more than a dirt track. I was hanging onto Tom like mad and he was loving it with its slippery slopes. After a bit more exploring it started to rain so we went back to have some lunch. We had a sit on the beach and a lie down at home, which turned into sleep and a wake up after dark. The thing with the travelling overnight is that eventhough you get sleep, its not good sleep and the next day we always find ti hard to stay awake. We had a dinner of crisps and biscuits (nutritious no, cheap yes) and watched a film in bed. Bliss.

Friday was exploring day. We brought our breakfast in the shop again and had a grand combination of a tuna pocket sandwich, pocket because they are pocket sized, tiny. A pizza and canned coffee. We moved back to the main beach for tonight so we were near to the diving for tomorrow and for a change of scenery. After getting sorted we went exploring again and after a hard ride up some very steep and slippery 'roads' we arrived at the viewpoint. This was stunning. A perfect view down the mountain to the beaches. WE sat and had a drink and an orange and watched the world from the top. On the way down the mountain a passing moped shouted 'police' we didnt see any and tho0ught he was just a bit crazy, however down there were some and we were stopped and searched. They patted Tom down and emptied our bag. The one time we specifically brought the first aid kit full of drugs and they searched it. Oddly though the one thing they were most interested in amongst the mass of pills and potions was the strip of plaster. Once content that we were not smuggling drugs they let us go on our merry way. We drove to the side of the island stopping again at a beautiful view point which overlooked this side. The water this side was a bit choppier but still nice. We didnt stay long, instead opting for a return to our beach and a few hours in the water and sunning ourselves. WE brought beers and tom opened the on the step smashing the top. I went in search for a cup and returned with a cup and a 4yr old girl who wouldnt leave my side. She was so cute but after 10 minutes got bored of us and went home. Must be pretty safe here as no one came looking for here or tried to sop her from leaving with me. Makes you think that either our world is more sinister or that we hear so much that we think it is. Tonight we ate the hottest Som Tum. It was another of those ' would you like it spicy' questions to which we said yes we like spice. This time though, they took it literally and made the spiciest one. Mine arrived first and i tucked in, yes spicy, very nice. Then the heat started, then the pain. The chef came over, as always, and said 'is that spicy enough?', Tom and I werent going to let them win and said 'yes yes lovely, perfect'. As they walked away we soaked our tongues in our beers which didnt help at all. At one point i really actually wanted to cry, it felt like daggers were being forced into the roof of my mouth. Tom was sweating and kept having to wipe his brow and he had turned a good pink. After our mouths were done burning and we had broke through the pain barrier we finished and promptly left. We went straight to the nearest shop to buy yogurt!!! we sat on the beach with crazy man on a guitar and a good crowd of people. We watched a crazy little girl dancing around like a loon which as entertaining. Deciding that we were on holiday we had a few too many, just anothers and stayed out a few too many hours. Getting to bed at 1am we thought we may regret this in the morning...

Saturday, we regretted it in the morning. We were up at 5am as we went diving at 5.50am. Not much sleep and not feeling great because 1) Too many beers, even the vast amounts of downed water didnt help and 2) The spiciest som tum in history was giving us the most painful stomach cramps now to, all before a day on a boat, great!!! We got ourselves together as much as we could and got on our way. Luckily our guide was poorly so was a bit more sympathetic to us. On the boat we both felt sick, never usually sea sick we were indeed feeling it today, bloody idiots. Our first dive was incredible. There weren't so many fish but there were rocky swim throughs and underwater canyons. I had mask issues as it was too big and underwater it the water poured in. One thing i hate is water in my eyes because it stings so much and the other is not being able to see. I had to swap masks 2 times till one worked and didnt fill. I hate that, 18m down, cant see and water up my nose is my idea of hell. We saw black tip reef sharks today, that was a bonus and the caves were great fun. Once up we had 40 minutes to move to the next dive site. In this time Tom turned green and was pretty worse for wear. WE were defiantly being taught a lesson, the hard way. The second dive was a macro dive which is looking at the small stuff. It was great and we enjoyed i=this one more, although Tom was still feeling sick when we were under. We saw boxer shrimp, dancing shrimp (which cant stop moving to the music in their heads!)a great big blue spotted stingray with big puppy dag eyes which i think we woke up, puffer fish, loads. Once a the surface Tom was still bad and had a few quiet moments on the way back to shore. He managed to return without being sick! We were leaving the island today so had time for lunch and then went back to the pier to get a boat to the mainland again. Whilst waiting for the boat we had a snooze on the floor and then the full moon revelers started to arrived for their boat to. We wanted to go but its in the wrong direction so we decided not to this time. While we waited outside of the boat, the rain came, spitting at first then full on monsoon. WE got soaked, as did all of our things. We waited for ages in the rain before being allowed on the boat where we swiftly stripped off and changed before the air con and hypothermia hit! Tom kept his wet pants on, poor chilly bum. WE watched the weirdest programme which was chinese and about a monkey and a dog that run errands for their owner. Weird. Once on dry land we boarded another bus to Chumpon were we stopped for some dinner and then had to find our way out of there to Bangkok. We planned on getting the sleeper train but it was expensive for what it was so we went to the bus station and booked an overnight bus. The bus was comfy and we got some sleep which was a bonus. We also got custard and red bean buns for a snack, they were interesting.

Sunday we arrived in Bangkok about 5am. Once again tired we had to now find the bus we wanted to Chathaburi, where we could get another boat over to Ko Chang from. We were pointed here there and everywhere before finally boarding what we were told was the right bus. When the driver returned i went to ask him, loaded with my map i asked and pointed. Till now i have never been so offended, The prat would not look at me, not even to acknowledge that he didnt understand me. I repeatedly asked and he continued to ignore me and even went so far as to start to reverse the bus. At that point i shouted to stop the bloody bus so we could get off. He understood that. There was a Buddhist monk on the seat behind where i was standing, if he wasnt there he may have got more than a bloody, oops. Luckily a very nice passer by helped us and found the mini bus we needed, we hoped. The bus was a piece of rubbish and we both had broken seats which meant we were bold upright with heads pushed forward from the broken headrests, not very good for further snoozing but we somehow managed. In Pattaya, the driver and a lady started trying to talk to us, asking (is thats possible)'number 4'. That wasnt even a question so we shrugged. Turns out they were meaning which hotel. We understood that but said no hotel as we still had another 100k or so to go to where we were heading. After locating an english speaking person who seemed to just be on the street, we were enlightened that the bus stopped there and that our good passer by had misunderstood where we were going. Our only way there was another bus, which this lady would take us to. Turns out that we went to a travel agency where we paid more to get that final part of the journey. Sometimes you have no choice though so we paid and tried to forget. Another 4 hours on a bus and we arrived at the port for the ferry. This is where we saw the buses from Bangkok, directly to the port, for half the price we paid, typical! We booked one for the return and kicked ourselves. What you dont know though, you couldnt have changed. Ko Chang was lovely. Its still pretty rugged but some parts are being converted into luxury resorts, however there is still one old hippy backpacker beach which is where we headed. We had an explore and went out for the night to. Outside our bungalows there are water buffalo and monkeys playing on the telegraph wires. Our plan was to stay here a day and go to Ko Mok for a day. When we enquired the ferry cost to Ko Mak, we asked about the emerald cave we want to visit. The lady looked at us like we had gone mad and we just thought she didnt know her stuff. So we googled it, only to find that the emerald cave does exist, on Ko Mok. Only trouble is that Ko Mok is an island in the south, in fact very close to where we were a week ago. The island close to us here is Ko Mak. Now most times islands are the same but spelt differently, such as Ko Lipe, its Lipe, Lip or even Lepea. This time though, no it wasnt a spelling error, it was my navigational one. Damm it! So now we are in Ko Chang for 2 days before leaving for Bangkok. Tonight we had a nice tea at the weirdest restaurant ever with the biggest and most diverse. Pig guts, snake head fish, hmmm, and went to the Ting Tong bar for some live music, happy hour beers and the football. I fell asleep on the floor and Tom took me home just before the end of the footie. Our bed was perfect after a night on the bus.