Bangkok

Bangkok Photo Album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2220097&l=ce751&id=61205739

Spent the last three full days in Bangkok slowly choking to death. Picked up the Bangkok Post this morning and navigated to the daily weather report, which also helpfully contains the air quality guide… On a scale from no health risk, unhealthy (about 100), very unhealthy (over 200) through to any reading over 300 as hazardous. With the current figure being at 207 I was beginning to put last nights 8 mile run, and this mornings sore throat together!







Got here Wednesday morning, via a 16 and a half hour train journey from Nakhon Si Tamorrat, less said about that the better…. I’ll definitely fly the next time. It wasn’t just cause I was in 3rd class amongst chickens and goats but it was just soooo uncomfortable. Anyway I’ve since made up for that “uncomfortableness” and indulged in a couple of Thai massages out here. Though worth it for less than a tenner they’re still not a touch of Ralphy. Also have a theory about why all the masseuses over here are so ugly. Maybe they couldn’t make it as prostitutes, so had to settle for the next best career? Is that a bit extreme?

Stayed in a hotel on the edge of Chinatown after not giving myself a chance of making it across the city on Wednesday morning to the main backpacker area of Banglamphu and actually still being awake. Turned out to be a pretty good bet as it was certainly central, away from some of the hustle and bustle but still with easy access to both the older ‘Wat’ and ‘Grand Palace’ side of Bangkok as well as the hip, new first-world MRT (subway)/BTS (skytrain) side further west – with good links from Hualamphong, the train station I’d arrived at. And for 10 quid a night it wouldn’t have got all that much cheaper, maybe a hundred BHT or so but hardly worth lugging the bag across town.

So much to say, and so little time, but one of the highlights has to be the Paragon Cineplex over to the west. Normal price to see a film in Bangkok is around £2…but…spend what you would in a Western cinema and bingo, for £8 you get to go GOLD. Oh yes…I just said GOLD! Basically it means that they get rid of about 200 seats and instead but in 20 huge sofas with electronic controls, waiter service, blankets and pillows. So one got in there 30 minutes early and sipped ice cold coke while piling down buckets of complimentary popcorn (I don’t even like Pop corn now come to think of it) before the film even started. Didn’t even know what it was about. Don’t think they really care over here as there are no blurbs anywhere. Anyway, Fools Gold turned out to be areet. But the story was all in the place, definitely lived up to its Lonely Planet billing: the Nokia ULTRAscreen. Could see this taking off in the West, but maybe at £480 a ticket or something like that otherwise there’d be no money in it…



Oh nearly forgot…got chased down the street by the Bangkok mafia too. Ok might be slightly exaggerating here…but this bloke was helping a couple out with directions further up the road, they walked on fine, then he asked me if I was lost. Even if I was I wasn’t telling him! Well, that’s what I’d normally do, but for some reason I picked up from him that he had pretty good English so I confirmed the street I was on then waited to cross the road. He started talking about how he studied Law here, so just for a laugh I told him I did too and was a student in Dubai. Love doing this for a laugh. He loved it and asked what I was doing in Bangkok just after the lights went to green to cross. So I said I was a travel photographer for Lonely Planet (another great one), hilarious what you can get away with. Anyway, trying to walk away he was just so churpy and kept talking and talking and talking… then it was clear he was trying his best to get me in a tuk tuk and onto a tailors where he’d get some commission, so Sai Bai Dai (I’m fine thanks in Thai) and away I walked only to him shouting up the street and a tuk tuk following behind for 50m or so. Who did this bloke think I was? A travel photographer for Lonely Planet? Anyway, at the top of this road a copper on a bike says he’s tourist police (and not knowing who to believe) I just walked on to him saying, “don’t believe him, he’s Mafia!” Mafia! He should watch the Godfather! Or go for a walk down North Road in Durham.

Sichon, Southern Thailand

Gary and I arrived in Nakhon Si Tammorat by bus from Phuket and consistently, every day has ended up being wilder than the previous.

Met the only onther non-Thai person in Nakhon Si Tamorrat. And his guns are bigger than mine:



After getting completely lost trying to find our way to Khau Luang National Park yesterday we decided that it made far more sense to make the (supposedly) easier journey up to Sichon yesterday. Lonely Planet in hand, simply does it… find the local bus station hop on the bus and you’re there. The first part of that went swimmingly, and couldn’t believe our luck. 5 minutes after finding the bus station (right away!) it turned up, and on we popped.



Like a cross between a 1970s disco and the bus that Red gets on in Shawshank Redemption after his relseas, it held within it the worst concoction of colours I’ve ever set eyes upon. Even worse than me mother’s previous living room roompaper and garage door paint. Not only that but inside were huge amplifiers, a television and a massive sign 1970s-like sign proclaiming: “Hitatchi’s newest, biggest and best sound system”. Another one of those things that just doesn’t make sense. A bit like the guy who works outside the Thai hotel where we’re staying with a whistle who’s only job it seems is to whistle very loudly 103 times a minute to direct traffic out into a completely traffic-free road. Another one of those absurdly, “doesn’t make sense” situations we’ve had trouble getting our heads around in Thailand. How can someone be employed to do an absolutely pointless job? And for heavens sake why does he take it so seriously!!??

Anyway, on the bus we jumped and 10 minutes later (after driving an average speed of 12mph) we stopped. Engine off, driver jumps out and sits down by a Hawker stall with a fag. Motions for us to hop out and sit down on some plakky seats. Not a good sign. If Arriva did this on the way to Newcastle all hell would break loose. Half an hour later we attempted to ask what time we’d get going, but in typical Thai style he only seemed to care about what time he thought we’d get there – we thought. Which was 13:30, with the time now at 11:30 we made a hap-hazard guess that he’d eventually kick his ass into gear and actually start doing his job at 12:00. Almost smack on we were right. So after just over an hour sat by the side of the road we were off, at 12mph, towards Sichon. Then, just as we thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse…we realised what the powerful soundsystem was for. Karaoke. Oh yes, the driver banged on the beats, not Wet Wet Wet, oh no, these were traditional Thai beats of which none differed by more than an octave. So for the next 2 hours we endured what Afghans in orange jumpsuits wouldn’t even endure at Guantanamo Bay.

Arriving just (no surprise) after 13:30, and with perforated eardrums we quickly became the focus of the typical off-the-beaten-track-tourist-attention and were surrounded by motorcycle taxi guys offering us lifts to the beach and wide eyed kids wondering where on earth we were from – literally. After a refreshing Pepsi, and something Pink that Gary (in my opinion) mistakenly ordered we were off to the beach a couple of miles away.

Probably worth the journey, the beaches weren’t deserted, but we didn’t really have time to make our way down to the quieter stretches of sand further down the coast, so we set up camp at one of the two cafes on the beach and promptly ordered a spicy sausage and rice combo, which thinking back, was still spicy this morning…









After enquiring about the cost of the jet ski and banana boat, then realising that the jets ski actually pulled the banana boat (probably no faster than the bus journey) it was time to forget that and get a swim out of the way. Within 2 minutes I realised that my 200 THB casio purchased the previous evening was quite clearly as knock off as a Rolex from Taiwan. Rusty and completely flooded out it was to spell the beginning of a slightly difficult situation to become….

According to Gary’s biological clock (15:50) it was time to make for the walk back to where the bus dropped us off. We disagreed somewhat with what the driver had said about the return journey… Gary thought the guy said a 5 o clock leave, I thought he had said 6… but another one of those “doesn’t make sense things about Thaialand” is that these blokes are just concerned with what time you’ll arrive at your destination and don’t give a flying banana about the slightly more critical “leave time” aspect of your journey. Anyway, after a “find a toilet” adventure walk back from the beach, probably a good 2.5 miles away we spotted a clock in a shop which said 17:30. Slightly worrying Gary as he was sure the bus left at 5pm….Though I was sure he did mean leave at 6pm!!

He was absolutely right. I, completely wrong!!!

After 15 minutes or so of realising that our Chinese is probably better than their English we figured out that we’d definitely missed the last (and only) bus back to Takhon Si Tommasat, 65km (40 miles) away… So after bagging down a strawberry cornetto from 7-ELEVEN and working out what to do we decided to head to the bypass a half mile or so away and try and grab a lift from one of the buses heading down the Gulf coast from Bangkok. Then out of no where, Gary heard the never been heard in three days English, “do you need any help?”

Now that’s a reassuring voice to hear. A youngish girl on the back of her mothers moped had clearly spent sometime outside of this part of Thailand, which let me tell you – is few and far between!! Although only confirming our assumption that we’d missed the last bus it was good to hear and off to the bypass we headed, with a heck of a lot of funny locals from local Thais aimlessly sitting around outside their always completely empty and totally unnecessary cafés (of which there are way way way too many!! Cafes that is.)

After 15 minutes or so at the side of the raod awaiting any coach whatsoever, all we saw were buses headed the opposite direction. Plenty of ‘em! All bound for Bangkok. Not really surprising, considering that they usually all travel over night. After flirting the idea of hitching, before we even knew it, a reserved Thai chappy, late 20s walked towards us. It turns out he had seen us on passing the traffic lights, had parked up 800m or so along the road and walked all the way back to us to ask where we were headed. After trying to explain we were trying to get to Nahon Si Tammorat, that we’d missed the last bus, and carefully trying to read if this guy was genuine we decided to go for it, not wanting to be left there when dark fell in less than an hour.

Further reassured when we actually got to his pick-up (which contained his wife, looked like mother in law, son and daughter) he helped us into the back and away to Nakhon we headed, at warp speed compared to the bus. Not stopping til Nakhon, he and his wife even got out to ask us where exactly we wanted dropping. After trying to tell him that we didn’t mind walking from there they seemed more than pleased to drop us off right outside the Thai Hotel, where we were staying. Completely unable to unfathom our luck we tried to give the chap a few BAHT but we wasn’t having any of it. In the end we probably got back quicker than he would have on the bus!

Khau Luang National Park, Thailand

Part album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218668&l=6c162&id=61205739

What a day! Complete inability to communicate with anyone! But quite an experience! Will post a longer write up on the day, but for now, let's just say we got very far off the beaten track!

Nakhon Si Tamorrat, Thailand

An album of photos from the little camera over the last few weeks:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218459&l=7fec1&id=61205739

Took a boat from Phi Phi this mornin' with Gary and headed for Krabi where we took a lethal bus to the main bus station at Krabi. Were shuffled rapido fast into a bus which the driver said in illegible English was headed for Takhon Si Tamorrat, the place we wanted to get to...

After being told (we think) in rather strong Thai that there was no room we were promptly ushered into the cargo hold of the bus on the lower deck and sandwiched between two mopeds we think probably belonged to the driver. Cocooned between his alternative mode of transport we found ourself also in amongst his clothes, tower, pots and pans and TV! Looks like the lower deck is his home between long journeys. But for 160 BAHT who can complain about that for a three hour trip. When we eventually made it upstairs and amongst the upper classes we quickly wanted to be back down in the luxury of the cargo hold. We should've taken pictures.

Anyway, on arrival at Tamarrat we quickly deduced that it was way way off the backpacker route. Gawked at by locals and with a complete inability to read anything that now certainly wasn't also translated into legible English text we quickly sat down at a local eatery...well it looked like one, ordered 2 PEPSI (universal) and motion for food. We got our fodder before we'd even asked what was on the menu. Not that we would have understood even if there was one! 5 minutes later our fodder arrived, chicken rice cooked right in front of us for 20BAHT (about 30p) not bad for lunch. Did the trick and without a clue where to go we headed off into town to look for the train station, to book tickets for Bangkok and KL (for Gary) before then searching for accommodation for the night. Decided to use this place as a base for some travels over the next few days.

Writing this just before going to bed, looked like a good call from Gary as the place has a very different vibe about it. We've been here a while now, and walked around a hell of a lot but still not seen one white person, and all people seem to want to do is say hello to us. Maybe we've hit upon a bit of undiscovered Thailand, stopping at a point may travellers don't. And you know what! We quite like it! Especially finding such an awesome hotel for 5 quid a night, blimey, they even open the doors for you every time you go out. After hostels this is quite an amazing thing!

Looking forward to Tuesday. Booked a train ride up to Bangkok from here. 13 hours i the only class of carriage they had left - 3rd class! Don't even think they have air con in there so could get a rather hot amongst the chickens. So if I keel over form bird flu before the next post it's been a good life so far...

Oh one last thing...most random thing happened last night on Phi Phi. Sat at Matt's Joint Grill right next to Kineree House where we were staying last night and I caught sight of this familar face. Lone and behold, after shouting Andrew!!! he turned around, Andy Tasker. Worked with Andy at Barclays in 2006, which was the last time I saw him. two years later, there's the laddie, on Phi Phi..

What a hero:



Though I think he'll be the first to admit. It's not the world's greatest photo!!

Ko Phi Phi & Phi Phi Leh, Thailand

Full album here:

Ko Phi Phi Leh: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218213&l=b87c0&id=61205739

Ko Phi Phi: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218090&l=d4adb&id=61205739




The Beach!



Sunset from tower point!


Took a boat trip out to Phi Phi's little sister yesterday...only a few kilometers away Leh is banned from any development, and to be fair it would be pretty much impossible to develop it anyway as its just towering rock...

It is home to Maya though - the beach they used in the making of The Beach, which is surprisingly, just as peaceful and "Beachlike Paradise" that I thought wouldn't exist because of the film! Great day, swam with sharks just off the island, did some cliff diving and had already done some climbing on Phi Phi beforehand as part of the trip. So pretty damn good fun...

Phuket and onto Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Arrived in Phuket from KL yesterday...

Different world right away. Though found Kata, where I was staying last night slightly too Benidormesque - pot bellyed Brits/Sweeds you name it clambering around left right and centre. Time to leave!