Last entry of the blog today. Currently being driven to Colchester from Heathrow airport by Amber's dad. So nice not to have to faff around after collecting our bags.
Yesterday we arranged to keep our hotel room until 4:30pm at no extra cost, which was great as it meant we could spend the morning having a leisurely breakfast and hanging out by the pool.
We had pizza and salad for lunch at Pinocchio's and booked our airport transfer just outside the hotel for 1,100 baht (400 baht cheaper than the hotel).
With our transfer booked we finished off the packing, had one last shower and vacated our lovely room to go and check out, which left us an hour to kill. We sat in the hotel reading room and caught up on our diaries.
The weather has continued to be nice to us. We had sunshine this morning when we were by the pool, then it clouded over as we went to lunch. During lunch it rained really heavily right until we had settled our bill, then it miraculously stopped so we could walk back to the hotel and stay dry.
We left La Flora in our air-conditioned cab under a sky full of dark, brooding rain clouds.
As we got to Phuket, the air had cleared, so we had a very smooth take-off for the first leg of our journey home.
We had 3 hours to kill in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. We spent most of this trying to work out where we were supposed to be going. We must have walked the length of this huge airport twice thanks to incorrect signage.
We raided duty free to top up on sample moisturiser to keep our skin hydrated for the flight and I upset myself by looking in the Rolex shop. The genuine Rolex on which the fake I nearly bought was based was on sale for well over £6,000!!!
So gutted I didn't buy that watch now!
We ate a terrible plate of phad thai in a fast food place. Amber had an argument with a deeply unattractive ladyboy waiter(ess?) over the lack of egg and peanuts. I was more concerned about the lack of flavour...
Eventually we boarded our next plane and took off on the next leg of our journey, which was due to take 11 hours and 45 minutes.
The flight was pretty smooth, but the service was surprisingly poor. They played the same boring opera documentary twice in a row; they ignored my call light for ages (I had a killer headache and wanted some panadol); and Amber had to actually ask them to put the in-flight movie on!
The movie was great though: 'The Next Three Days'. Took the edge off the last couple of hours of the flight.
So, that's it. The end of an amazing holiday. I can't recommend Thailand and Cambodia enough as travelling destinations. As I read through the blog I can't believe the diversity of things we've seen and done this trip!
Can't wait to go back.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Day trip to the Similan islands
Our minibus was right on time in the morning and after picking a few other people up from other hotels we arrived at the Seastar welcoming hall at the Tamlampu pier around 8:00am.
They had coffee, tea and cakes but we gave them a miss, having stuffed ourselves full of food at the hotel breakfast buffet.
What we did do was check in and find a suitable pair if slippers each (we're using our own snorkels and masks).
There were tons of people in the hall, all going on different trips as indicated by what colour wristband they were wearing. Ours were pink.
We seemed to be waiting a long time, which was somewhat disconcerting, but eventually all the other groups had left and only ours remained. At this point we were led to the pier and given a briefing about the days itinerary and the dos and don'ts of snorkelling in the Similans. Our guide, who was bursting with enthusiasm and wearing bright yellow sunglasses and a green cap with white wings, introduced herself as Wei. It was clear from the outset that she was going to keep us entertained!
We dumped our shoes into a big blue tub and boarded the speedboat. There were forty people in our group, which hopefully gives you an idea of the size of the boat. For some reason no-one wanted to sit at the front of the boat in the sunshine. We jumped at the chance, with the end result that we had loads of room.
After some initial hiccoughs starting one of the boat's three outboard motors, we eventually got underway about an hour layer than we were meant to. However all negative thoughts were soon list when the boat picked up speed and started bombing its way to the Similans. To day the boat was fast would be something of an understatement. We were flying.
Out hosts did a great job of keeping everyone topped up with sweets, water and Pepsi. Wei even came round with a funny mask for people to try on and take photos. An hour and fifteen minutes flew by and we were soon at our first snorkelling destination: Island 4 or Ko Miang.
This is supposedly the best island for snorkelling and we saw hundreds of amazing fish. Many more than we'd seen at Kho Phi Phi Leh and also many species we hadn't already seen, which was nice. Amber and I got a bit of a treat because we were the only two who responded when Wei asked if anyone wanted to see a clownfish. She led us a little way away from the boat to where there were just two very large sea anemones housing one pair of clownfish. Great to see them swimming in and around the stinging tentacles completely unharmed. It really made us wish we'd bought an underwater camera.
After snorkelling at Ko Miang we were dropped off on the beach to kill 50 minutes either swimming or exploring. The island houses a huge colony of flying foxes and also populations of Bengal monitor lizards and Nicobar pigeons. The bats were up in the trees just off the beach. Likewise the monitors were walking around bold as brass a little way from where most of the people were.
As usual Amber and I foolishly decided to go for the hardcore option and set off along a trail marked 'Viewpoint'. This turned out to be a somewhat challenging adventure trail involving using ropes to pull ourselves up big rocks, crawling under vegetation and walking over very make shift bridges over gaps between rocks. Not surprisingly we were both sweating buckets by the time we clambered onto the big rock that constituted the aforementioned viewpoint, but the view over the bay was worth it. White sand, blue sea and green jungle in a wide arc.
We had no idea how long we had taken getting up there, so the return journey was a lot speedier. As we neared the beach we passed a group of Germans taking turns to photograph a splendid land crab with bright red claws.
What tickled me was that they'd all walked straight past a far more interesting Nicobar pigeon rustling through the bamboo. I had been really keen to see one of these, so along with with the bats and the monitors I was a happy bunny.
Luckily our boat hadn't left the shore when we got back. In fact we were just in time to climb aboard and get driven to a bigger boat anchored in the bay where we were treated to a big buffet lunch of mostly Thai dishes. The weather was glorious, so the island made a very picturesque backdrop as we tucked in to this feast, floating on crystal clear waters.
After lunch we were taken to snorkel at island 7, where we struck gold - a turtle swimming around one of the other boats. Amber and I were the first two off our boat, so we swam straight over to see if we could catch a glimpse of it. We needn't have worried, the turtle was happily swimming around in full view behind the boat, occasionally grabbing a piece of the pineapple chunks the crew were tossing overboard to attract the fish. It was unbelievable to have such a beautiful animal swimming literally inches away.
Sadly the rest of our boat arrived on the scene, including a horde of brats, who proceeded to hound and grab at the poor thing until it swam away. All this despite being told very clearly not to touch any wildlife before boarding the boat. Parenting fail.
With the turtle gone we could get on with admiring all the other marine life. So many fish, but easily my favourites were all the brightly coloured parrotfish species. Can't get enough of watching them rasped away at the coral.
We got one last glimpse of the turtle before it was time to get back on the boat and go to island 8, the final destination of the day. The main attraction of this island, other than the shallow water by the beach, is 'Sail Rock', a huge boulder balanced precariously at the top of a hill covered in boulders. We walked up to it in a group led by Wei, who got busy taking "action photos" of anyone who would give her their camera!
After seeing the rock and taking some pics we hit the beach for a final swim. Then it was all aboard again for the Sprint home.
We couldn't believe our luck with the weather. It was so perfect, despite the fact that the islands looked to be surrounded by rain clouds this morning. Turns out we'd planned the trip perfectly because as we neared Tamlampu again it started to rain.
We rescued our shoes, shunned the pointless souvenir photograph plates for sale, and got in the minibus to go home.
The minibus dropped us off at La Flora at around 5:30pm.
After all that snorkelling I thought we could use some pampering, so I called down to the spa to see if they had any availability for two 1 hour treatments. As luck would have it, they were available immediately, so we went straight down to choose our treatments.
Amber went for the coffee body scrub and I decided to have the full body deep tissue massage. We were assigned a therapist each and led to one of the spa rooms to have our treatments side by side.
What a fantastic massage! Parts of it were agony, but I felt so relaxed afterwards. Despite having to strip naked for my massage the only embarrassing part was having to run and fetch a tip from the room afterwards because we had forgotten to bring any cash down with us!
After last night's dinner disaster we decided to try somewhere closer to the hotel. We opted for a restaurant called Mali because it had people inside and huge tiger prawns on display in ice out front.
I had fried prawns in pepper and garlic sauce. Delicious.
They had coffee, tea and cakes but we gave them a miss, having stuffed ourselves full of food at the hotel breakfast buffet.
What we did do was check in and find a suitable pair if slippers each (we're using our own snorkels and masks).
There were tons of people in the hall, all going on different trips as indicated by what colour wristband they were wearing. Ours were pink.
We seemed to be waiting a long time, which was somewhat disconcerting, but eventually all the other groups had left and only ours remained. At this point we were led to the pier and given a briefing about the days itinerary and the dos and don'ts of snorkelling in the Similans. Our guide, who was bursting with enthusiasm and wearing bright yellow sunglasses and a green cap with white wings, introduced herself as Wei. It was clear from the outset that she was going to keep us entertained!
We dumped our shoes into a big blue tub and boarded the speedboat. There were forty people in our group, which hopefully gives you an idea of the size of the boat. For some reason no-one wanted to sit at the front of the boat in the sunshine. We jumped at the chance, with the end result that we had loads of room.
After some initial hiccoughs starting one of the boat's three outboard motors, we eventually got underway about an hour layer than we were meant to. However all negative thoughts were soon list when the boat picked up speed and started bombing its way to the Similans. To day the boat was fast would be something of an understatement. We were flying.
Out hosts did a great job of keeping everyone topped up with sweets, water and Pepsi. Wei even came round with a funny mask for people to try on and take photos. An hour and fifteen minutes flew by and we were soon at our first snorkelling destination: Island 4 or Ko Miang.
This is supposedly the best island for snorkelling and we saw hundreds of amazing fish. Many more than we'd seen at Kho Phi Phi Leh and also many species we hadn't already seen, which was nice. Amber and I got a bit of a treat because we were the only two who responded when Wei asked if anyone wanted to see a clownfish. She led us a little way away from the boat to where there were just two very large sea anemones housing one pair of clownfish. Great to see them swimming in and around the stinging tentacles completely unharmed. It really made us wish we'd bought an underwater camera.
After snorkelling at Ko Miang we were dropped off on the beach to kill 50 minutes either swimming or exploring. The island houses a huge colony of flying foxes and also populations of Bengal monitor lizards and Nicobar pigeons. The bats were up in the trees just off the beach. Likewise the monitors were walking around bold as brass a little way from where most of the people were.
As usual Amber and I foolishly decided to go for the hardcore option and set off along a trail marked 'Viewpoint'. This turned out to be a somewhat challenging adventure trail involving using ropes to pull ourselves up big rocks, crawling under vegetation and walking over very make shift bridges over gaps between rocks. Not surprisingly we were both sweating buckets by the time we clambered onto the big rock that constituted the aforementioned viewpoint, but the view over the bay was worth it. White sand, blue sea and green jungle in a wide arc.
We had no idea how long we had taken getting up there, so the return journey was a lot speedier. As we neared the beach we passed a group of Germans taking turns to photograph a splendid land crab with bright red claws.
What tickled me was that they'd all walked straight past a far more interesting Nicobar pigeon rustling through the bamboo. I had been really keen to see one of these, so along with with the bats and the monitors I was a happy bunny.
Luckily our boat hadn't left the shore when we got back. In fact we were just in time to climb aboard and get driven to a bigger boat anchored in the bay where we were treated to a big buffet lunch of mostly Thai dishes. The weather was glorious, so the island made a very picturesque backdrop as we tucked in to this feast, floating on crystal clear waters.
After lunch we were taken to snorkel at island 7, where we struck gold - a turtle swimming around one of the other boats. Amber and I were the first two off our boat, so we swam straight over to see if we could catch a glimpse of it. We needn't have worried, the turtle was happily swimming around in full view behind the boat, occasionally grabbing a piece of the pineapple chunks the crew were tossing overboard to attract the fish. It was unbelievable to have such a beautiful animal swimming literally inches away.
Sadly the rest of our boat arrived on the scene, including a horde of brats, who proceeded to hound and grab at the poor thing until it swam away. All this despite being told very clearly not to touch any wildlife before boarding the boat. Parenting fail.
With the turtle gone we could get on with admiring all the other marine life. So many fish, but easily my favourites were all the brightly coloured parrotfish species. Can't get enough of watching them rasped away at the coral.
We got one last glimpse of the turtle before it was time to get back on the boat and go to island 8, the final destination of the day. The main attraction of this island, other than the shallow water by the beach, is 'Sail Rock', a huge boulder balanced precariously at the top of a hill covered in boulders. We walked up to it in a group led by Wei, who got busy taking "action photos" of anyone who would give her their camera!
After seeing the rock and taking some pics we hit the beach for a final swim. Then it was all aboard again for the Sprint home.
We couldn't believe our luck with the weather. It was so perfect, despite the fact that the islands looked to be surrounded by rain clouds this morning. Turns out we'd planned the trip perfectly because as we neared Tamlampu again it started to rain.
We rescued our shoes, shunned the pointless souvenir photograph plates for sale, and got in the minibus to go home.
The minibus dropped us off at La Flora at around 5:30pm.
After all that snorkelling I thought we could use some pampering, so I called down to the spa to see if they had any availability for two 1 hour treatments. As luck would have it, they were available immediately, so we went straight down to choose our treatments.
Amber went for the coffee body scrub and I decided to have the full body deep tissue massage. We were assigned a therapist each and led to one of the spa rooms to have our treatments side by side.
What a fantastic massage! Parts of it were agony, but I felt so relaxed afterwards. Despite having to strip naked for my massage the only embarrassing part was having to run and fetch a tip from the room afterwards because we had forgotten to bring any cash down with us!
After last night's dinner disaster we decided to try somewhere closer to the hotel. We opted for a restaurant called Mali because it had people inside and huge tiger prawns on display in ice out front.
I had fried prawns in pepper and garlic sauce. Delicious.
Scooters and suckers. Living it up in Khao Lak.
Day two in Khao Lak has definitely been one of the funniest days Amber and I have had this trip.
We had decided to devote the day to chilling out by the hotel's fabulous second pool, complete with elephant fountains, jacuzzi seats and bar. And we actually managed to do just that for a few hours after breakfast, but eventually the sun was so unbearably hot that even Amber had to give up (and that's saying something!).
Instead of melting in the sun, we headed out to try and find a Similan islands snorkelling trip for tomorrow. As we walked down the road outside the hotel we passed a scooter rental place that was offering 24 hours for just 200 baht...
Minutes later we were zooming our way into Hat Khao Lak on our newly rented bright orange Honda! I've never driven a scooter before, but I've been wanting to have a go ever since Nichar gave us those lifts in Chiang Mai. Luckily this was an automatic and dead easy to drive. So much fun!
The hotel's Similan islands day trip was 4,000 baht. We managed to find a day trip in town for just 1,800 baht, which included visiting all the main islands, food and drink, snorkelling gear and hotel collection and drop off. Looked like good value for money.
We tried another place to see if they could beat 1,800 (they couldn't) and then had lunch in Bella Italia (the thinnest pizza bases ever and excellent gelato).
After lunch we went back to the first tour operator to pay for our Seastar snorkelling trip and zoomed off again, back towards the hotel in search of Police Boat 813. One of the must-see sights in Khao Lak, this boat was stationed 1km off shore from La Flora hotel when the 2004 tsunami struck. Following the tsunami the boat was discovered in a field 1km inshore, where it rests to this day...or so the Lonely Planet would have us believe.
We couldn't find it for love nor money, so we decided to drive up the coast a bit and see if we could find an empty stretch of beach to admire. Taking a random road off the main road gave me a chance to improve my scooter skills along some roads leading to the beach. I had seen one or two dead Sunbeam snakes on the road, but as we got nearer the beach I actually saw a large black snake shoot across the road in front of us. Always exciting to see wild snakes. I think I've become a bit obsessed this trip!
Eventually we arrived at a long stretch of deserted beach. Sadly we couldn't stay long because we had booked our free 15 minute head and shoulder massaged at the hotel spa for 3:30pm.
On the way back we saw a sign for the tsunami memorial statue. We drove down a road to get to it on the hope it might be next to boat 813. Sadly not. Just a stone plaque and a metal sculpture commemorating those who died in the tsunami.
We got back to La Flora in time for our excellent massage taster session. We both felt so good afterwards I suggested to Amber that maybe we should book two one hour treatments and I would treat her as an early birthday present. In the end we put that idea on the backburner while we concentrated on a more serious issue...finding the flippin' police boat!
The head receptionist gave me a very funny look when I marched up and informed her we were looking for a boat in a field! It was only when we said it had something to do with the tsunami that she worked out what we wanted.
Even with her instructions we managed to drive past it for the second time today before spotting it on the return journey. Pretty bizarre. A big grey metal boat in a field.
We took a couple of snaps and then I suggested we check out a nearby waterfall, which was 7km away according to the road sign. Amber agreed and we zoomed off again.
The road to the waterfall was really nice to start with, gentle winding bends through plantations of rubber trees in neat rows and one or two villages. As we got nearer, the tarmac was replaced by a sandy dirt road covered in stones, which made the bike skip about a bit. The dirt road took us to the entrance gate.
I think usually you have to pay to get access to the waterfall, but the guard was too busy snoozing and just waved us through.
We found ourselves driving a short way up a very bumpy path, all the while very conscious that it would not be a good time to puncture a tyre. A little way up this path we saw another scooter. Someone else had obviously figured there was no way you could get a scooter all the way to the waterfall. We parked up and started walking.
Amber, in her skimpy surf shorts and pink flip-flops, was the first to remember about leeches. Somehow, despite this being our relaxation day, here we were again trekking uphill along a hot, damp forest trail in prime leech territory. Brilliant!
Given the flip-flops situation, I could empathise with Amber's reluctance to walk the trail, her reluctance wasn't improved when the first leech crawled onto her foot in the first few minutes of walking! Luckily I pulled it off in time, but Amber's enthusiasm for the waterfall was taking a beating.
As for me, I was determined to see the waterfall now that we had made the effort to get there, so I ended up giving Amber a piggy-back over all the excessively leafy sections of path to minimise the chances of her getting 'leeched'. We were both in hysterics over how ridiculous we would look if anyone saw us.
We met the owners of the other scooter coming the other way (Amber was walking at this point) and they told us we were about 10 minutes away, so we carried on, filled with expectation and not a small amount of hope that the waterfall would be worth seeing.
Thankfully, it really was. I would have loved to have swum in the pool below the waterfall, the water looked so inviting in the heat, and it was a cool looking place. In the end we just spent a while taking it all in before the mosquitos got too ferocious and we set off back down the trail.
Several piggy-backs later we had reached the end of the trail. That's when it finally happened. I looked down to find a leech merrily feasting on my right ankle.
It didn't put up too much of a struggle when I yanked it off my skin, but as expected, the bite looked pretty unpleasant thanks to the leech anticoagulent. Luckily my blood clots very rapidly (I learned this from leech bites in Sumatra), so although it didn't look too hot at least I wasn't about to bleed to death anytime soon.
We hopped back on the trusty Honda and wound our way back to the tarmac road. On the way we passed some local kids having a whale of a time pushing each other along the road on a wheelie bin. Just goes to show, kids don't need much to have fun.
Back at the hotel we got ready to go out for dinner and took the scooter off to find some petrol. Our day of fun excursions had used up three quarters of the tank.
So nice to be zipping along the road at night with the cooling breeze on your face.
The petrol did a sterling job of filling the tank up and even had a chance to practice his English on us.
Earlier in the day Amber had read in the guide book about a supposedly outstanding seafood restaurant called Mama, which was located opposite boat 813 on the other side of the road. We hadn't been able to find it earlier on, but as luck would have it I spotted it as we were heading into town. It was empty, but Amber was keen for me to get some fresh seafood, so we threw caution to the wind and grabbed a table.
That was our first mistake.
Our meal at Mama's was the perfect comedy ending to what had been a thoroughly entertaining day. First of all, the lady waiting on us clearly couldn't speak a word of English. Secondly, she didn't seem able to read Thai. What this meant was that we ordered Thai ice tea (made with condensed milk) and got warm sugar tea with ice (no milk of any kind). We then ordered a Thai green curry and barbecued prawns and got a totally different stir-fried curry and a plate of tempura prawns!!!
Basically, the only thing we ordered that they got right was the boiled rice! Amazing.
We found the whole experience highly entertaining, especially when another coupled turned up and had to bring in one of the taxi drivers to try and translate their order. We left before they got their food, but I have a suspicion they probably got a surprise like us.
It was very sad to return the scooter to the rental place. It had done us proud. We didn't mention where we'd driven it!
Early night tonight. Have to be up at 6:30am to be ready for a 7:30am pick up.
We had decided to devote the day to chilling out by the hotel's fabulous second pool, complete with elephant fountains, jacuzzi seats and bar. And we actually managed to do just that for a few hours after breakfast, but eventually the sun was so unbearably hot that even Amber had to give up (and that's saying something!).
Instead of melting in the sun, we headed out to try and find a Similan islands snorkelling trip for tomorrow. As we walked down the road outside the hotel we passed a scooter rental place that was offering 24 hours for just 200 baht...
Minutes later we were zooming our way into Hat Khao Lak on our newly rented bright orange Honda! I've never driven a scooter before, but I've been wanting to have a go ever since Nichar gave us those lifts in Chiang Mai. Luckily this was an automatic and dead easy to drive. So much fun!
The hotel's Similan islands day trip was 4,000 baht. We managed to find a day trip in town for just 1,800 baht, which included visiting all the main islands, food and drink, snorkelling gear and hotel collection and drop off. Looked like good value for money.
We tried another place to see if they could beat 1,800 (they couldn't) and then had lunch in Bella Italia (the thinnest pizza bases ever and excellent gelato).
After lunch we went back to the first tour operator to pay for our Seastar snorkelling trip and zoomed off again, back towards the hotel in search of Police Boat 813. One of the must-see sights in Khao Lak, this boat was stationed 1km off shore from La Flora hotel when the 2004 tsunami struck. Following the tsunami the boat was discovered in a field 1km inshore, where it rests to this day...or so the Lonely Planet would have us believe.
We couldn't find it for love nor money, so we decided to drive up the coast a bit and see if we could find an empty stretch of beach to admire. Taking a random road off the main road gave me a chance to improve my scooter skills along some roads leading to the beach. I had seen one or two dead Sunbeam snakes on the road, but as we got nearer the beach I actually saw a large black snake shoot across the road in front of us. Always exciting to see wild snakes. I think I've become a bit obsessed this trip!
Eventually we arrived at a long stretch of deserted beach. Sadly we couldn't stay long because we had booked our free 15 minute head and shoulder massaged at the hotel spa for 3:30pm.
On the way back we saw a sign for the tsunami memorial statue. We drove down a road to get to it on the hope it might be next to boat 813. Sadly not. Just a stone plaque and a metal sculpture commemorating those who died in the tsunami.
We got back to La Flora in time for our excellent massage taster session. We both felt so good afterwards I suggested to Amber that maybe we should book two one hour treatments and I would treat her as an early birthday present. In the end we put that idea on the backburner while we concentrated on a more serious issue...finding the flippin' police boat!
The head receptionist gave me a very funny look when I marched up and informed her we were looking for a boat in a field! It was only when we said it had something to do with the tsunami that she worked out what we wanted.
Even with her instructions we managed to drive past it for the second time today before spotting it on the return journey. Pretty bizarre. A big grey metal boat in a field.
We took a couple of snaps and then I suggested we check out a nearby waterfall, which was 7km away according to the road sign. Amber agreed and we zoomed off again.
The road to the waterfall was really nice to start with, gentle winding bends through plantations of rubber trees in neat rows and one or two villages. As we got nearer, the tarmac was replaced by a sandy dirt road covered in stones, which made the bike skip about a bit. The dirt road took us to the entrance gate.
I think usually you have to pay to get access to the waterfall, but the guard was too busy snoozing and just waved us through.
We found ourselves driving a short way up a very bumpy path, all the while very conscious that it would not be a good time to puncture a tyre. A little way up this path we saw another scooter. Someone else had obviously figured there was no way you could get a scooter all the way to the waterfall. We parked up and started walking.
Amber, in her skimpy surf shorts and pink flip-flops, was the first to remember about leeches. Somehow, despite this being our relaxation day, here we were again trekking uphill along a hot, damp forest trail in prime leech territory. Brilliant!
Given the flip-flops situation, I could empathise with Amber's reluctance to walk the trail, her reluctance wasn't improved when the first leech crawled onto her foot in the first few minutes of walking! Luckily I pulled it off in time, but Amber's enthusiasm for the waterfall was taking a beating.
As for me, I was determined to see the waterfall now that we had made the effort to get there, so I ended up giving Amber a piggy-back over all the excessively leafy sections of path to minimise the chances of her getting 'leeched'. We were both in hysterics over how ridiculous we would look if anyone saw us.
We met the owners of the other scooter coming the other way (Amber was walking at this point) and they told us we were about 10 minutes away, so we carried on, filled with expectation and not a small amount of hope that the waterfall would be worth seeing.
Thankfully, it really was. I would have loved to have swum in the pool below the waterfall, the water looked so inviting in the heat, and it was a cool looking place. In the end we just spent a while taking it all in before the mosquitos got too ferocious and we set off back down the trail.
Several piggy-backs later we had reached the end of the trail. That's when it finally happened. I looked down to find a leech merrily feasting on my right ankle.
It didn't put up too much of a struggle when I yanked it off my skin, but as expected, the bite looked pretty unpleasant thanks to the leech anticoagulent. Luckily my blood clots very rapidly (I learned this from leech bites in Sumatra), so although it didn't look too hot at least I wasn't about to bleed to death anytime soon.
We hopped back on the trusty Honda and wound our way back to the tarmac road. On the way we passed some local kids having a whale of a time pushing each other along the road on a wheelie bin. Just goes to show, kids don't need much to have fun.
Back at the hotel we got ready to go out for dinner and took the scooter off to find some petrol. Our day of fun excursions had used up three quarters of the tank.
So nice to be zipping along the road at night with the cooling breeze on your face.
The petrol did a sterling job of filling the tank up and even had a chance to practice his English on us.
Earlier in the day Amber had read in the guide book about a supposedly outstanding seafood restaurant called Mama, which was located opposite boat 813 on the other side of the road. We hadn't been able to find it earlier on, but as luck would have it I spotted it as we were heading into town. It was empty, but Amber was keen for me to get some fresh seafood, so we threw caution to the wind and grabbed a table.
That was our first mistake.
Our meal at Mama's was the perfect comedy ending to what had been a thoroughly entertaining day. First of all, the lady waiting on us clearly couldn't speak a word of English. Secondly, she didn't seem able to read Thai. What this meant was that we ordered Thai ice tea (made with condensed milk) and got warm sugar tea with ice (no milk of any kind). We then ordered a Thai green curry and barbecued prawns and got a totally different stir-fried curry and a plate of tempura prawns!!!
Basically, the only thing we ordered that they got right was the boiled rice! Amazing.
We found the whole experience highly entertaining, especially when another coupled turned up and had to bring in one of the taxi drivers to try and translate their order. We left before they got their food, but I have a suspicion they probably got a surprise like us.
It was very sad to return the scooter to the rental place. It had done us proud. We didn't mention where we'd driven it!
Early night tonight. Have to be up at 6:30am to be ready for a 7:30am pick up.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Leech-tastic fun in Khao Sok. Onward travel to Khao Lak.
This morning was pure horror comedy.
We were out and about at 7:00am and had a little wander in search of critters before breakfast. Amber was still a bit jumpy about the whole leech situation, so when we arrived at the start of the northern trail I made was I thought was a rather good deal. "We'll go down this trail until we see the first leech and then we'll turn back."
Thanks to last night's abundant rainfall, I only got to the second concrete step when Amber shouted "LEECH!".
So much for the northern trail. It was hard to tell but I swear the leech looked pretty smug at having ruined my early morning trek...
We had breakfast (again superb) and opted to go down the same trail as yesterday, but to go further.
Again we saw a host if weird and wonderful wildlife. The langurs were still around and we saw a fine example if camouflage when I almost walked straight into a male horned mountain dragon sitting proudly on a big leaf. He had changed his skin colour to a dark brown and looked for all the world like a big dead leaf. His safety measures involved being as still as possible, so I got some cracking photos! We also found an amazing grasshopper leaf-mimic, which looked just like a dead leaf, veins and all, with a bite taken out of it. Again its survival strategy was to remain motionless, so it didn't budge when I picked it up for a photo.
As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the trail was full of leeches today. I estimated that we had seen at least 20 over the course our 6km trek. Of these, two had managed to get onto our shoes before I pulled them off and a third had managed to get into Amber's ankle. Luckily I got to it before it had found a suitable sucking point.
Amber found the whole experience both horrifying and hilarious in equal measure, which helped a lot. Essentially leeches are harmless and you don't feel the bite when they do start feeding, so there is no pain either. The only reason people freak out is because it's plain creepy to have something drinking your blood.
The best part of the trek was arriving at a section of river full of huge boulders and surrounded by lush forest. The whole place was bathed in sunshine and we stopped to soak our feet and relax. So beautiful. You really do have to come to a place like this to understand why we need to protect the world's rainforests. I would challenge anyone to be in this place and not appreciate its beauty.
We stayed there for a while and then headed back down the trail. Along the way we heard the calls of gibbons, but sadly didn't get to see them.
Back at Tree Tops, we packed our bags and checked out at 12:00pm. The nice lady who cooked our dinner last night gave us a lift down the road to the bus stop. For some reason we just hadn't seen all the other guesthouses along this road on the trip up to the Visitor Centre. It was a shame not to have had the chance to look round them yesterday, but in the end we did really well with our choice of accommodation.
According to the timetable, the bus was supposed to turn up at 12:30pm, giving us just enough time to scoff a bag of crisps and a cup of instant tom yum noodles.
We needn't have rushed. The 12:30pm bus never showed.
Neither did the 1:30pm one!
The owner of the snack shop informed us that the bus would turn up at 2:00pm. Could have done with that information a bit earlier!
He was right though.
We got on the bus and settled down for the journey to Khao Lak (just 100 baht each). After a bit we stopped for a pee break and hit another stumbling block in our journey: There was a problem with the bus's engine, which meant the driver had to pootle along at a ridiculously slow speed.
Not ideal, but there was nothing we could do about it, so we just went with the flow and tried to get some shut eye.
We had hoped to be at our hotel in Khao Lak by 2:30pm. In the end we got dropped off in Khao Lak at around 4:00pm.
And then we had some more bad news...
Although we had asked to be dropped off at the La Flora resort, the bus had in fact turfed us out in the main town, 3km from our hotel!
We got hacked off with all the taxi drivers trying to sell us expensive rides to La Flora, so in true Amber and Martin style we donned our backpacks and decided to walk all the way.
It was heavy going in the intense heat, so by the time we got to reception we were sweating buckets. We felt rather out of place in the luxurious reception of La Flora, with it vases of orchids, uniformed staff and heaps of top hotel awards.
The awards appear to be well deserved, we were instantly made to feel very welcome and soon we were being shown one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever seen: Balcony complete with table, chairs and deckchairs; large double bed; day bed; two wardrobes; bath and separate shower. Best of all is the sliding smoked glass partition separating the bed from the bathroom, so you can sit in the bath and chat to someone on the bed. And this is just a standard room!
After our sweaty hike we couldn't wait to get into the amazing infinity pool looking out over the beach. At 6:00pm, the hotel put on free cocktails and canapes to welcome the new arrivals. We were all greeted by Jowell, a super-camp Frenchman (with more than a passing resemblance to a skinny Jean Reno) who gave us a bunch of info about the resort and the activities available. Nothing too exciting, especially as we had already asked about the hotel's overpriced trips to the Similan islands and decided to find a cheaper tour elsewhere. The free booze went down a treat though. Amber had already made friends with the Happy Hour guy earlier on, so by the time we left to get dressed for dinner we were fairly sozzled.
At the drinks reception we met a nice couple from London called Chris and Alex. They just arrived today after two days in Bangkok and are here to celebrate their one year anniversary. Would have been nice to have dinner with them, but they were all dressed for dinner whilst we were still in our swimming gear.
As it was, Alex and Chris were still in the hotel restaurant (View 59) when we turned up, but we sat separately as they were done eating.
The evening entertainment consisted of a Thai bloke playing electric guitar and singing Western songs over computerized backing tracks that sounded like they had been produced for use as elevator music.
It wad a shame he didn't have a full band, as he looked pretty sad up on the stage by himself. This didn't stop one table getting up and singing a lairy rendition of 'Hey Jude' with him. Tragic to see that even the world's best hotels aren't free from the effects of Brits abroad. The hotel presented the singers with flowers. They know how to get repeat business.
We had selected some DVDs from the free selection at reception, so after dinner we went back to the room and stuck on 'The American', which was excellent for the first 10 minutes. Then the DVD stopped working as a result of being horribly scratched. Bloody typical!
We gave up on the film idea and opted for some much needed sleep instead.
We were out and about at 7:00am and had a little wander in search of critters before breakfast. Amber was still a bit jumpy about the whole leech situation, so when we arrived at the start of the northern trail I made was I thought was a rather good deal. "We'll go down this trail until we see the first leech and then we'll turn back."
Thanks to last night's abundant rainfall, I only got to the second concrete step when Amber shouted "LEECH!".
So much for the northern trail. It was hard to tell but I swear the leech looked pretty smug at having ruined my early morning trek...
We had breakfast (again superb) and opted to go down the same trail as yesterday, but to go further.
Again we saw a host if weird and wonderful wildlife. The langurs were still around and we saw a fine example if camouflage when I almost walked straight into a male horned mountain dragon sitting proudly on a big leaf. He had changed his skin colour to a dark brown and looked for all the world like a big dead leaf. His safety measures involved being as still as possible, so I got some cracking photos! We also found an amazing grasshopper leaf-mimic, which looked just like a dead leaf, veins and all, with a bite taken out of it. Again its survival strategy was to remain motionless, so it didn't budge when I picked it up for a photo.
As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the trail was full of leeches today. I estimated that we had seen at least 20 over the course our 6km trek. Of these, two had managed to get onto our shoes before I pulled them off and a third had managed to get into Amber's ankle. Luckily I got to it before it had found a suitable sucking point.
Amber found the whole experience both horrifying and hilarious in equal measure, which helped a lot. Essentially leeches are harmless and you don't feel the bite when they do start feeding, so there is no pain either. The only reason people freak out is because it's plain creepy to have something drinking your blood.
The best part of the trek was arriving at a section of river full of huge boulders and surrounded by lush forest. The whole place was bathed in sunshine and we stopped to soak our feet and relax. So beautiful. You really do have to come to a place like this to understand why we need to protect the world's rainforests. I would challenge anyone to be in this place and not appreciate its beauty.
We stayed there for a while and then headed back down the trail. Along the way we heard the calls of gibbons, but sadly didn't get to see them.
Back at Tree Tops, we packed our bags and checked out at 12:00pm. The nice lady who cooked our dinner last night gave us a lift down the road to the bus stop. For some reason we just hadn't seen all the other guesthouses along this road on the trip up to the Visitor Centre. It was a shame not to have had the chance to look round them yesterday, but in the end we did really well with our choice of accommodation.
According to the timetable, the bus was supposed to turn up at 12:30pm, giving us just enough time to scoff a bag of crisps and a cup of instant tom yum noodles.
We needn't have rushed. The 12:30pm bus never showed.
Neither did the 1:30pm one!
The owner of the snack shop informed us that the bus would turn up at 2:00pm. Could have done with that information a bit earlier!
He was right though.
We got on the bus and settled down for the journey to Khao Lak (just 100 baht each). After a bit we stopped for a pee break and hit another stumbling block in our journey: There was a problem with the bus's engine, which meant the driver had to pootle along at a ridiculously slow speed.
Not ideal, but there was nothing we could do about it, so we just went with the flow and tried to get some shut eye.
We had hoped to be at our hotel in Khao Lak by 2:30pm. In the end we got dropped off in Khao Lak at around 4:00pm.
And then we had some more bad news...
Although we had asked to be dropped off at the La Flora resort, the bus had in fact turfed us out in the main town, 3km from our hotel!
We got hacked off with all the taxi drivers trying to sell us expensive rides to La Flora, so in true Amber and Martin style we donned our backpacks and decided to walk all the way.
It was heavy going in the intense heat, so by the time we got to reception we were sweating buckets. We felt rather out of place in the luxurious reception of La Flora, with it vases of orchids, uniformed staff and heaps of top hotel awards.
The awards appear to be well deserved, we were instantly made to feel very welcome and soon we were being shown one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever seen: Balcony complete with table, chairs and deckchairs; large double bed; day bed; two wardrobes; bath and separate shower. Best of all is the sliding smoked glass partition separating the bed from the bathroom, so you can sit in the bath and chat to someone on the bed. And this is just a standard room!
After our sweaty hike we couldn't wait to get into the amazing infinity pool looking out over the beach. At 6:00pm, the hotel put on free cocktails and canapes to welcome the new arrivals. We were all greeted by Jowell, a super-camp Frenchman (with more than a passing resemblance to a skinny Jean Reno) who gave us a bunch of info about the resort and the activities available. Nothing too exciting, especially as we had already asked about the hotel's overpriced trips to the Similan islands and decided to find a cheaper tour elsewhere. The free booze went down a treat though. Amber had already made friends with the Happy Hour guy earlier on, so by the time we left to get dressed for dinner we were fairly sozzled.
At the drinks reception we met a nice couple from London called Chris and Alex. They just arrived today after two days in Bangkok and are here to celebrate their one year anniversary. Would have been nice to have dinner with them, but they were all dressed for dinner whilst we were still in our swimming gear.
As it was, Alex and Chris were still in the hotel restaurant (View 59) when we turned up, but we sat separately as they were done eating.
The evening entertainment consisted of a Thai bloke playing electric guitar and singing Western songs over computerized backing tracks that sounded like they had been produced for use as elevator music.
It wad a shame he didn't have a full band, as he looked pretty sad up on the stage by himself. This didn't stop one table getting up and singing a lairy rendition of 'Hey Jude' with him. Tragic to see that even the world's best hotels aren't free from the effects of Brits abroad. The hotel presented the singers with flowers. They know how to get repeat business.
We had selected some DVDs from the free selection at reception, so after dinner we went back to the room and stuck on 'The American', which was excellent for the first 10 minutes. Then the DVD stopped working as a result of being horribly scratched. Bloody typical!
We gave up on the film idea and opted for some much needed sleep instead.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Khao Sok National Park. Not for the faint hearted?
We left Ko Phi Phi in the morning at 9:00am on the ferry.
For some stupid reason the boat operators had decided it made sense to put all the backpacks downstairs, right at the front of the boat. This meant that when we got to port in Krabi we had to wait ages for everyone to clamber down and find their bags and then haul their bags between the rows of seats and back up on deck. Not very clever.
We didn't have long to wait at the port before we were whisked away in a minibus to a transport hub, where we had time to grab an ice cream before getting into yet another minibus bound for the Khao Sok national park.
We met an interesting couple on the way, the woman was Swedish and her partner was Swiss, so they spoke to one another in English. Pretty impressive! They were half way through 6 months of travelling. We couldn't help but feel slightly jealous, although we've done so much this trip.
In typical tourist scam fashion, the minibus dropped us at their affiliated accommodation in a bid to convince us to stay there. The place looked okay, but we had no idea how far from the park entrance it was. Given we were only spending one night we wanted to be as close to the forest trails as possible. We held our ground and persuaded the guy to drive us to the Visitor Centre.
The place was more or less deserted, like some kind of ghost town. There was only one place to stay near the Visitor Centre, but the people in there didn't seem very inclined to ask for our business. The polar opposite of the feeding frenzy that met us on Ko Phi Phi.
It transpired that Tree Tops River Huts was in fact open for business. The couple we met were there too and we all checked in, although we went slightly upmarket by opting for a 1200 baht hut on stilts with aircon.
The Khao Sok park is awesome. I had read an animal log book in the Visitor Centre that wad full of sightings of snakes, including cobra, so I was desperate to hit the forest trails.
We met a couple who looked like they shopped in the same place as Bear Grylls. They were wearing hiking boots and hiking socks pulled up over their walking trousers and they looked pretty fed up and sweaty. Turns out they had walked along the northern trail and had spent the last 2 hours pulling leeches off one another. They hadn't even seen any wildlife! Their exact words were, "It's not worth it".
Having seen the forest I can tell you categorically that it definitely IS worth it.
We walked the trail leading west from the Visitor Centre (which is on the doorstep of Tree Tops) for about two hours and within 10 minutes we saw our first snake. This was followed by a long list of other animals including Dusky langurs, horned mountain dragons and an amazing butterfly whose wing tips have evolved to look like its head to confuse predators.
Not my photo below, but I wanted to share the beauty of Dusky langurs with you. We saw a fairly large group of at least four individuals as they moved silently through the canopy.
What we didn't see was any leeches. Just as well, given the number of daytrippers we passed walking down the trail in flip-flops!
We had heard thunder on the way out and it started chucking it down as we were on the way back. Another refreshing tropical rainstorm. We were fairly drenched by the time we got back.
Despite the modest accommodation the lady who seems to run the place is very smiley and helpful. Even better, she's a brilliant cook. Superb Thai curries for a quid each! It's very hard to fault this place right now.
After dinner I decided it would be fun to do a night walk to see if we could spot anything interesting. We stuck to the tarmac, for fear of leeches, but we still managed to see some good wildlife, particularly a horned mountain dragon asleep on a leaf (which to my annoyance a passing guide then caught by the tail to show to the two paying customers with him). We also saw a fabulous Tokay gecko.
We got an early night in the hope of getting up early and having time to do a decent hike along the same trail before leaving for Khao Lak.
For some stupid reason the boat operators had decided it made sense to put all the backpacks downstairs, right at the front of the boat. This meant that when we got to port in Krabi we had to wait ages for everyone to clamber down and find their bags and then haul their bags between the rows of seats and back up on deck. Not very clever.
We didn't have long to wait at the port before we were whisked away in a minibus to a transport hub, where we had time to grab an ice cream before getting into yet another minibus bound for the Khao Sok national park.
We met an interesting couple on the way, the woman was Swedish and her partner was Swiss, so they spoke to one another in English. Pretty impressive! They were half way through 6 months of travelling. We couldn't help but feel slightly jealous, although we've done so much this trip.
In typical tourist scam fashion, the minibus dropped us at their affiliated accommodation in a bid to convince us to stay there. The place looked okay, but we had no idea how far from the park entrance it was. Given we were only spending one night we wanted to be as close to the forest trails as possible. We held our ground and persuaded the guy to drive us to the Visitor Centre.
The place was more or less deserted, like some kind of ghost town. There was only one place to stay near the Visitor Centre, but the people in there didn't seem very inclined to ask for our business. The polar opposite of the feeding frenzy that met us on Ko Phi Phi.
It transpired that Tree Tops River Huts was in fact open for business. The couple we met were there too and we all checked in, although we went slightly upmarket by opting for a 1200 baht hut on stilts with aircon.
The Khao Sok park is awesome. I had read an animal log book in the Visitor Centre that wad full of sightings of snakes, including cobra, so I was desperate to hit the forest trails.
We met a couple who looked like they shopped in the same place as Bear Grylls. They were wearing hiking boots and hiking socks pulled up over their walking trousers and they looked pretty fed up and sweaty. Turns out they had walked along the northern trail and had spent the last 2 hours pulling leeches off one another. They hadn't even seen any wildlife! Their exact words were, "It's not worth it".
Having seen the forest I can tell you categorically that it definitely IS worth it.
We walked the trail leading west from the Visitor Centre (which is on the doorstep of Tree Tops) for about two hours and within 10 minutes we saw our first snake. This was followed by a long list of other animals including Dusky langurs, horned mountain dragons and an amazing butterfly whose wing tips have evolved to look like its head to confuse predators.
Not my photo below, but I wanted to share the beauty of Dusky langurs with you. We saw a fairly large group of at least four individuals as they moved silently through the canopy.
What we didn't see was any leeches. Just as well, given the number of daytrippers we passed walking down the trail in flip-flops!
We had heard thunder on the way out and it started chucking it down as we were on the way back. Another refreshing tropical rainstorm. We were fairly drenched by the time we got back.
Despite the modest accommodation the lady who seems to run the place is very smiley and helpful. Even better, she's a brilliant cook. Superb Thai curries for a quid each! It's very hard to fault this place right now.
After dinner I decided it would be fun to do a night walk to see if we could spot anything interesting. We stuck to the tarmac, for fear of leeches, but we still managed to see some good wildlife, particularly a horned mountain dragon asleep on a leaf (which to my annoyance a passing guide then caught by the tail to show to the two paying customers with him). We also saw a fabulous Tokay gecko.
We got an early night in the hope of getting up early and having time to do a decent hike along the same trail before leaving for Khao Lak.
No monkey, no stop!
We had a fairly relaxed morning, booking our tickets to get to Khao Sok tomorrow (550 baht each) and also booking onto a half day sunset tour with Emerald tours (250 baht each) for this afternoon.
We had a drink in D's Bookstore to catch up on our diaries and then spent some time by the hotel pool before heading out again.
We had to be at the tour 'office' for 1:30pm, so we decided to grab a quick lunch at Camaro Resto. Our plan backfired because it took them ages to cook our food. It didn't arrive until 1:25pm! We wolfed down as much food as we could in 5 minutes and then asked for the bill and a box to take the remainder of my lunch away with us.
After meeting at Emerald tours, we were all led down to the sea-front and onto long-tail boats. There were 20 people on ours, so nice and cosy.
Driving the boat looked like great fun. I would have loved to have a go. They look so bizarre, a cross between a traditional wooden boat and something out of the film Mad Max, with a great big oily engine stuck on the back powering the propeller, which sits at the end of a 4m pole (hence the name log-tail).
Our first stop was Monkey Beach. Sadly there were no monkeys to be seen. "No monkey, no stop" said the driver and we carried on to the next stop, a brief pause outside the Viking Cave, where locals collect bird nests to sell for soup.
After the cave we were taken to the beautiful Pilah lagoon surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs. The water was crystal clear and the most amazing turquoise colour. We spent a good amount of time here swimming and taking it all in. Bliss.
After the lagoon we headed to the southern side of the island for some snorkelling. There wasn't a reef as such, more like a collection of large rocks, but the water was teeming with colourful fish. We saw damselfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, boxfish, butterflyfish, wrasse and many more. The highlight was seeing Moorish Idols. Worth checking them out on Google Images, they are really striking fish.
Amber was hilarious because she gets a bit freaked out by being surrounded by too many fish and when the boat driver chucked all the fruit peelings overboard we were right in the middle of a feeding frenzy! The look on her face was priceless. I thought I was going to have to rescue her, but thankfully she was fine after a minute or two.
I find it always takes a little while to adjust to snorkelling when you haven't done it for a while. But the water was so clear and the fish so brilliant that I could have stayed there much longer than we did.
After snorkelling we ate some fruit and went on to Maya Bay, apparently one of the main locations for the film The Beach. Personally I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. The beach was absolutely packed with people on tours like ours, and half the bay was taken up with tour boats. Sure, the beach itself would have been lovely if we'd had it to ourselves, but to share it with that many other people just to say you'd been there was a pity.
We had a bit of a swim in the cove before heading back round the other side of Ko Phi Phi Leh to return home. For our onward journey we were given a bucket of whiskey, red bull and coke to share. Nice!
On the way back we stopped half way to watch the sun set from the boat. A few of the others jumped into the dark blue water and I couldn't resist going back in myself. It's hard to beat watching the sunset from the sea. We got some great pictures.
We couldn't believe that we got that tour for 250 baht. It was so cheap! Well worth the money just for the lagoon and the snorkelling. Would have been even better value if the monkeys had been on the beach.
Once back on Ko Phi Phi Don we headed back to the hotel before going out for the all you can eat buffet at Matt's Joint, which we'd been eyeing up yesterday. It was a proper meat fest. We left feeling very full indeed.
Next door to the restaurant there was a small Nepalese run store selling fake watches and designer bags. I was quite surprised by the quality of some of the watches. It was pretty interesting talking to the guy about the different levels of quality. I was really tempted to buy one, but frustratingly the two I wanted both had slight flaws that were deal breakers.
We had a drink in D's Bookstore to catch up on our diaries and then spent some time by the hotel pool before heading out again.
We had to be at the tour 'office' for 1:30pm, so we decided to grab a quick lunch at Camaro Resto. Our plan backfired because it took them ages to cook our food. It didn't arrive until 1:25pm! We wolfed down as much food as we could in 5 minutes and then asked for the bill and a box to take the remainder of my lunch away with us.
After meeting at Emerald tours, we were all led down to the sea-front and onto long-tail boats. There were 20 people on ours, so nice and cosy.
Driving the boat looked like great fun. I would have loved to have a go. They look so bizarre, a cross between a traditional wooden boat and something out of the film Mad Max, with a great big oily engine stuck on the back powering the propeller, which sits at the end of a 4m pole (hence the name log-tail).
Our first stop was Monkey Beach. Sadly there were no monkeys to be seen. "No monkey, no stop" said the driver and we carried on to the next stop, a brief pause outside the Viking Cave, where locals collect bird nests to sell for soup.
After the cave we were taken to the beautiful Pilah lagoon surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs. The water was crystal clear and the most amazing turquoise colour. We spent a good amount of time here swimming and taking it all in. Bliss.
After the lagoon we headed to the southern side of the island for some snorkelling. There wasn't a reef as such, more like a collection of large rocks, but the water was teeming with colourful fish. We saw damselfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, boxfish, butterflyfish, wrasse and many more. The highlight was seeing Moorish Idols. Worth checking them out on Google Images, they are really striking fish.
Amber was hilarious because she gets a bit freaked out by being surrounded by too many fish and when the boat driver chucked all the fruit peelings overboard we were right in the middle of a feeding frenzy! The look on her face was priceless. I thought I was going to have to rescue her, but thankfully she was fine after a minute or two.
I find it always takes a little while to adjust to snorkelling when you haven't done it for a while. But the water was so clear and the fish so brilliant that I could have stayed there much longer than we did.
After snorkelling we ate some fruit and went on to Maya Bay, apparently one of the main locations for the film The Beach. Personally I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. The beach was absolutely packed with people on tours like ours, and half the bay was taken up with tour boats. Sure, the beach itself would have been lovely if we'd had it to ourselves, but to share it with that many other people just to say you'd been there was a pity.
We had a bit of a swim in the cove before heading back round the other side of Ko Phi Phi Leh to return home. For our onward journey we were given a bucket of whiskey, red bull and coke to share. Nice!
On the way back we stopped half way to watch the sun set from the boat. A few of the others jumped into the dark blue water and I couldn't resist going back in myself. It's hard to beat watching the sunset from the sea. We got some great pictures.
We couldn't believe that we got that tour for 250 baht. It was so cheap! Well worth the money just for the lagoon and the snorkelling. Would have been even better value if the monkeys had been on the beach.
Once back on Ko Phi Phi Don we headed back to the hotel before going out for the all you can eat buffet at Matt's Joint, which we'd been eyeing up yesterday. It was a proper meat fest. We left feeling very full indeed.
Next door to the restaurant there was a small Nepalese run store selling fake watches and designer bags. I was quite surprised by the quality of some of the watches. It was pretty interesting talking to the guy about the different levels of quality. I was really tempted to buy one, but frustratingly the two I wanted both had slight flaws that were deal breakers.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Buckets and boxing in Ko Phi Phi
I am writing today's entry from our room 711 at the delightful P. P. Casita on the stunningly beautiful island of Ko Phi Phi.
We arrived in Krabi this morning at 6:30am and walked into the bus terminal to buy our tickets for the 9:00am boat to Ko Phi Phi. 400 baht each including minibus transport to the pier.
Once at the ferry port we grabbed an iced coffee and hung around until it was time to board the boat.
The good news is that despite warnings to the contrary, the weather is absolutely stunning here in Southern Thailand! We sat up on deck for the whole journey to the island, speeding across blue water under a blue sky, bathed in sunshine and enjoying the cooling breeze on our faces.
Compared to our night bus, on which we were the only 'farang' (foreigners), the boat to Phi Phi was packed to the rafters with other backpackers.
An hour and a half later the boat arrived in Ton Sai bay, which looks gorgeous, as it is surrounded by gnarled limestone cliffs covered in greenery and the water is brilliant turquoise. A moment of tranquility before you arrive in the port and get mobbed by packs of touts trying to promote hotels.
We got so fed up with them that we decided to just pick a hotel and start walking. Casita was recommended in the guide book thanks to it's pool and proximity to the beach. We had a look around and decided it was perfect for our requirements.
Once we had checked in we headed straight to the beach - another postcard perfect bay. Welcome to paradise!
We demolished a pizza and a plate of spaghetti carbonara for lunch and headed into the sea. We'd brought our snorkels along, but to be honest there was very little to see, just a few sand coloured gobies and a wrasse or two. We'll see a lot more tomorrow. We are planning to do a half day snorkelling trip to various parts of Ko Phi Phi Leh. Should be great.
When we we'd had enough of the sea we went back to the hotel to hang out by the pool for a bit. It's not a big pool but it does have a jacuzzi section. Nice to sit there and have my back pummeled for a bit.
After that we spent a bit of time unpacking and writing our diaries before heading out to explore the town. We almost chose to stay away from town on a quieter beach, but I am glad we didn't. Despite all the other travellers, the town had a nice buzz about it, and some great looking (and smelling) restaurants.
We opted to eat in a dinky little Thai restaurant called Pum. Apparently the woman behind these restaurants already has a couple of joints in Thailand and one in Paris. Her plan is to expand further across Europe, so who knows there might be a Pum near you soon! If you do get one, count yourself lucky - the food is fab.
After dinner we took a leisurely stroll along the sea front and then wound our way back towards the hotel. Bizarrely it was raining quite hard.
We eventually found ourselves in the fantastic Reggae Disco Bar, with a small bucket full of incredibly strong cocktail each, watching drunken tourists beating the crap out of each other in a Muay Thai boxing ring. Much hilarity, but nowhere near as funny as the guy we saw trying to beat the bar's burger challenge.
Basically if you can eat the burger, onion ring, coleslaw and fries in 30 minutes, you get it for free. If not, it's 500 baht.
The guy we watched got fairly close to finishing in time and had a huge group cheering him on. Unfortunately, with a few mouthfuls to go, his time ran out. And then, to make matters worse, he had to run off to throw up in the street...in front of everyone!
So funny. Probably not for him though.
The buckets were potent. We staggered back to the hotel!
We arrived in Krabi this morning at 6:30am and walked into the bus terminal to buy our tickets for the 9:00am boat to Ko Phi Phi. 400 baht each including minibus transport to the pier.
Once at the ferry port we grabbed an iced coffee and hung around until it was time to board the boat.
The good news is that despite warnings to the contrary, the weather is absolutely stunning here in Southern Thailand! We sat up on deck for the whole journey to the island, speeding across blue water under a blue sky, bathed in sunshine and enjoying the cooling breeze on our faces.
Compared to our night bus, on which we were the only 'farang' (foreigners), the boat to Phi Phi was packed to the rafters with other backpackers.
An hour and a half later the boat arrived in Ton Sai bay, which looks gorgeous, as it is surrounded by gnarled limestone cliffs covered in greenery and the water is brilliant turquoise. A moment of tranquility before you arrive in the port and get mobbed by packs of touts trying to promote hotels.
We got so fed up with them that we decided to just pick a hotel and start walking. Casita was recommended in the guide book thanks to it's pool and proximity to the beach. We had a look around and decided it was perfect for our requirements.
Once we had checked in we headed straight to the beach - another postcard perfect bay. Welcome to paradise!
We demolished a pizza and a plate of spaghetti carbonara for lunch and headed into the sea. We'd brought our snorkels along, but to be honest there was very little to see, just a few sand coloured gobies and a wrasse or two. We'll see a lot more tomorrow. We are planning to do a half day snorkelling trip to various parts of Ko Phi Phi Leh. Should be great.
When we we'd had enough of the sea we went back to the hotel to hang out by the pool for a bit. It's not a big pool but it does have a jacuzzi section. Nice to sit there and have my back pummeled for a bit.
After that we spent a bit of time unpacking and writing our diaries before heading out to explore the town. We almost chose to stay away from town on a quieter beach, but I am glad we didn't. Despite all the other travellers, the town had a nice buzz about it, and some great looking (and smelling) restaurants.
We opted to eat in a dinky little Thai restaurant called Pum. Apparently the woman behind these restaurants already has a couple of joints in Thailand and one in Paris. Her plan is to expand further across Europe, so who knows there might be a Pum near you soon! If you do get one, count yourself lucky - the food is fab.
After dinner we took a leisurely stroll along the sea front and then wound our way back towards the hotel. Bizarrely it was raining quite hard.
We eventually found ourselves in the fantastic Reggae Disco Bar, with a small bucket full of incredibly strong cocktail each, watching drunken tourists beating the crap out of each other in a Muay Thai boxing ring. Much hilarity, but nowhere near as funny as the guy we saw trying to beat the bar's burger challenge.
Basically if you can eat the burger, onion ring, coleslaw and fries in 30 minutes, you get it for free. If not, it's 500 baht.
The guy we watched got fairly close to finishing in time and had a huge group cheering him on. Unfortunately, with a few mouthfuls to go, his time ran out. And then, to make matters worse, he had to run off to throw up in the street...in front of everyone!
So funny. Probably not for him though.
The buckets were potent. We staggered back to the hotel!
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