Thailand: cheeky monkeys, rafthouses and temples

Next up was Khao Lak, gateway to the Similan Islands. The journey there very complicated and long, involving four different modes of transport! Our bus then dropped us off at the wrong stop, nearly drove off with Gaz’s bags and in the rush he left his book on the bus! To avoid paying lots of money to hire a taxi to our accommodation, now 9km away, we instead hired a motorbike and eventually managed to get all the bags there after 2 round trips zooming around switchback peninsular road bends and then across muddy jungle tracks. Our accommodation was worth the effort though – we had a private little stilted bungalow with views over the ocean and the rock-dotted beach! We found a great little restaurant nearby that we kept going back to. It did great Thai food, including awesome Tom Yum soup and stir fried spicy vegetables. We really felt like locals in the place by the end of our stay and the owners even put a separate table out for us on the last night when the place was completely full!

The main purpose of the trip was for Rach to fulfil her diving fantasies at the Similan Islands, reputed to be the best dive spot in Thailand. Gaz, feeling a bit reefed out, opted to leave her to it. Rach took a speedboat out to the islands with a group of divers and jumped into the aquamarine 30 degree water for two fantastic dives. The first dive had Rach swimming through huge underwater canyons, whose sides were packed full of beautiful purple, orange and red soft corals and shimmering fish. The second dive Rach was lucky to go for a swim with a huge green turtle, a sea snake and gorgeous little damsel fish and nemos everywhere. It was like swimming in an aquarium! Inbetween the dives the boat pulled up on Honeymoon Bay for lunch which was absolute paradise. Rach spent a good hour chatting to the other divers, taking photos, swimming and swinging around on vines…. and rather missed Gaz!

We left Khao Lak and took a bus to the nearby (in Thailand terms – actually an hour and a half away!) Khao Sok National Park. We got off the bus in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, but within seconds we were literally surrounded by hostel touts. They were VERY persistent and we were totally overwhelmed! Eventually we opted for one woman’s hostel purely because she spoke good English and we were whisked away from the chaos in a 4x4. We ended up at Palm View Bungalows, a gorgeous little place in the middle of the mountains, with (you guessed it) palm trees all around. We had another stilted bungalow, but this one was brilliant value at about 3 pounds for both of us for the night! We explored the little village that night, getting pummelled once again with a Thai massage and drinking awesome herbal tea in a moonlit tea bar. It was very relaxing and felt a million miles away from the chaos of the islands!

The next day we set out on our two day trip to the National Park. We were picked up after a tasty breakfast (Gaz happy after getting some muesli and fruit!) in a minivan and then went to pick up the other trippers. The group seemed nice, with an English guy, an English couple and two Danish girls. We all got chatting straight away. Then we stopped at our final pickup and on staggered a very loud, totally drunken Irish guy (this was at 8.30am!). We thought he was getting a lift to the nearby bus stop, but it turned out he was actually on the trip with us. All eyes started rolling in the back as we prepared for two days of hell with this fellow. The bus trip to the park took a couple of hours and the scenery got more impressive as we went, with towering cliffs and deep chasms by the roadside. We arrived at the huge lake in the centre of the park, which is actually man made due to the flooding of the valley, and we all got onto a long tailed boat. The next two hours were great as we motored across the deserted lake with tree-covered cliffs towering on all sides. Our drunken Irish friend even stopped talking at everyone and quietened down, leaving us to really enjoy the solidude and silence. Soon we pulled into our accommodation for the night – an amazing little rafted collection of bamboo bungalows in the middle of the lake. We all got off, selected our bungalow (complete with two mats and a fan – luxury) and then jumped off the platform into the very warm, fresh and VERY deep water. After the intense heat of the day it was paradise!

That afternoon we took a boat trip across the lake to a little headland. After a brief walk through the jungle we arrived at a jetty and we all climbed on board flat bamboo rafts. With the wood lying (scarily) just under the water we sailed across to a big cave entrance. Inside we saw huge, alien-looking formations, with huge columns and weird flowing rocks – all pretty spectacular! Later that afternoon and evening we took a couple of boat trips out around the sunken forests and little lake islands to look for wildlife. Whilst the nocturnal trip didn’t yield much success, despite considerable torch waving, during the afternoon trip we saw monkeys swinging in the trees and huge eagles soaring over the cliffs. We finished off the day all sitting down to a huge meal in the central hut of the village as the moon shone down over the lake. We ate fresh fish, rice, coconut curry and tonnes of fresh fruit and chatted until we were too full and tired to stay up and we all retired to the huts. The Irish drunkard had long since passed out after falling down some nearby stairs, so fortunately we were free of his ramblings for another few hours! Heading to bed should have been the end of the night, but we had a nasty experience in store as we settled down to sleep on the floor. Rach heard a rustling from the grass roof and then a huge THUMP near her head followed by more rustling, this time from inside the hut. Rach shook Gaz awake in a panic, thinking it might be a tarantula! With Gaz also now awake we shone the torches around the hut, to find a huge rat scuttling around in the corner - AAAARGH!!!!! Cue a lot of manic moving of belongings and shooeing of our furry mate, who eventually disappeared through the floor. Gaz spent ten minutes armed with a bamboo pole trying to find him underneath the hut, but with no success. We could still hear him though, and that was enough to get us to move a few doors down to an empty hut and peace!

The following day we opted out of the morning safari and instead took some of the village kayaks out on the lake. It turned out to be a great decision as we drifted in total silence through the huge drowned tree trunks as the sun rose over the surrounding mountains. We also saw plenty more monkeys! We got back and had a huge breakfast before packing up and departing. We took a trip across the lake to a jetty, where we embarked on a very tough trek up across a mountain pass through dense jungle. We were all very sweaty and tired by the time we descended back down to the lake for lunch, but we had taken in some great sweeping lake views and seen some huge trees and strange twisted root plants! We then chugged back to our start point and soon we were on our way back to Palm View Bungalows by minivan. All in all a great trip and even our Irish friend had lightened up over the course of the trip and had become almost bearable by the end!

The next day we embarked on a mammoth overland travel stint, taking a 2 hour bus from Khao Lak park to Surat Thani, then another bus (a whopping 8 hours) up the coast to Petchaburi. We arrived in the dark and took a wild tuk tuk ride – the driver going the wrong way over newly laid and closed road sections – to our hotel. After the rat-infested huts the air conditioned en suite room with views of the nearby mountain top temples was pure luxury! We had a great dinner in a riverside restaurant, which had over 200 dishes on the menu! On the walk back in the dark a monkey went after poor Rach, but Gaz was swift with a Tarzan comeback (some loud shouting and stomping!) to scare it off. Rach who had previously thought monkeys were cute avoided them for the rest of the trip!

The following day we set off to explore the town. We first headed to some of the town’s urban temples, which were very ornate and were filled with pensive looking monks. The second one we visited, however, had a collection of guys and girls all dressed up with painted faces beating loads of drums. It all made for quite an experience! We then took a ferinular railway up the side of the town’s main hill to the famous Royal residence on top. We spent a great (if unbearablyhot) couple of hours exploring the nooks and crannies of little Chinese-Thai style walled gardens, complete with cobbled pathways, bright pink bougainvilleas, tiny temple buildings and huge whitewashed towers. The sweeping views all the way to the coast made the whole place even more impressive. Still trying to cram all the sights in, we hired a tuk tuk to Khao Luang caves. We had the caves all to ourselves and they turned out to be very atmospheric with candles and shafts of sunlight falling on buddhas. Outside were gangs of mischievous looking monkeys so we gave them a wide berth! As we took the bus out that afternoon, we really felt that we had experienced this little town, even if we had had less than 24 hours there! And so we journeyed to Bangkok…

Thailand's islands: heaven if you search hard

Our ferry from Railay took us to the infamous Ko Phi Phi Don island. We had heard so much about this island, with comments such as ‘the most beautiful place on Earth’ abound. We arrived at the dock on Phi Phi however to find a bit of a tourist hell. The 2004 Tsunami hit hard here and there was evidence everywhere that things were being rebuilt with lightning speed. We walked the packed streets of the illegal ‘tourist town’ on the sandbar between the two island peaks to our hostel, passing tonnes of sweaty sunburnt Brits, diving, internet, clothes and souvenir shops. The place stank of sewage - we figured the systems there could not keep up with the rapid pace of tourism development. We had a private wooden bungalow for the night, which was passable (even though the floorboards were about two millimetres thick and threatened to give way every time we walked in!). That afternoon we had some late lunch in town then looked to escape the suffocating tourism as soon as possible. With a bit of effort, hiking up into the hills and down a jungle-clad hillside, we discovered that Phi Phi was actually an absolutely stunning island. We snorkelled on an almost deserted beach on the far side of the island with some lovely coral reef then had a beer in the little bar on the sand. With only about 5 people on the whole beach it was perfect, and couldn’t have been more different from the main bit of the island. We walked back to the hilltop and watched the sun set over the island (along with 50 other tourists who had the same idea, doh!) with some tasty local peanut sugar crackers (a big hit with Gaz!).

Our efforts to avoid the tourists reached new heights the next day. Having seen ‘The Beach’ a fair few times, we were both very keen to make the trip by boat to Maya Beach (the place the film was shot), which was on Ko Phi Phi Leh, about half an hour away. We had made adventurous plans with a local boat captain to charter his long tailed boat at 6am the next day in order to arrive before the tourist boats ("why do you want to go there when there are no people there"?....). However, we woke in the dark at 5am to see huge lightning bolts lighting up the sky. We got down to the beach to see huge thunder clouds as dawn approached. The captain turned up and said the trip wasn’t a good plan as the approaching storm would make the seas too heavy for a long tailed boat. Reluctantly (and with big pouts) we agreed and went for breakfast. However, by 7am the skies had cleared a bit so we went back. The guy said we could go, but only if we went with his father in his ‘bigger boat’. We couldn’t turn down the chance so we agreed and off we went. We discovered that the guys did actually know what they were on about and soon we were buffeted by huge waves, crashing over the crests and getting pretty soaked. Despite Gaz falling off his seat on one of the bigger waves (much to Rach’s amusement) we survived intact, just, and we were soon entering the sheltered natural harbour of Maya Beach. We landed on the sand with only about 5 other people there. It was picture perfect and definitely worth the effort. We explored The Beach for a while before heading inland to the jungle. On our return we found all the tourist boats had arrived and the place was like a circus. We felt pretty chuffed to have had the place to ourselves earlier, so got back on the boat and headed home. A brilliant, if slightly insane, trip.

We had planned to stay 4 nights at Ko Phi Phi, and left after only one. We took a ferry that afternoon to Ko Lanta , finding on arrival the island we hoped Ko Phi Phi would be. Lots of locals, less English spoken and everything very cheap – hurrah we were getting to see the real Thailand at last! After suffering the mobbing by the touts at the pier (we resorted to evil looks to keep them at bay) we got a 4x4 to our beachfront hotel in the town of Hat Klong Nin. We checked in, then hired a scooter from the hotel and zoomed out to explore the island. We spent a great afternoon and evening zipping past little villages, waving at the kids and dodging chickens on the road. We stopped in Lanta Old town and watched the sunset with an awesome Tamarind tea in a deserted pier restaurant before finishing the evening in a hilltop restaurant with some spicy Thai curries.

The following day we embarked on an elephant trekking adventure to the middle of the island. We were driven in the back of a 4x4 by a Michael Schumacher wannabe to the little family run place. We waited whilst our elephant was led around to us and soon we were up and going! It was great fun, but also quite uncomfy and scary – especially downhill as we slipped forward in our seats and had to cling on for dear life! ‘Naa’ the elephant trekked up the hillside with us two heavy chuffers on her back for half an hour, passing little village huts, banana trees and more waving locals. We disembarked and a local guide took us on a sweaty 45 minute walk up through a treacherous jungle pathway to the isolated ‘Tiger Caves’. We delved down into the deserted caves, climbing little wooden ladders and getting filthy scrambling on our hands and knees through tiny gaps. Our guide was a bit mental and laughed and screeched for the entire time we were in the caves. However, he did show us some cool stuff, such as tapping on some of the rock formations to make different tones and huge seed pods that helicoptered down when you threw them into the air. We walked then ‘elephanted’ back to the family house where we got to feed the elephants with loads of bananas and melon. The big elephant was so eager to eat the bananas he almost snatched Rach’s arm off! A very cool afternoon. That evening we scootered across to the east of the island and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the sea. The sunset was magical. We were the only customers and the locals cooked us a HUGE freshly caught fish with garlic and lemon sauce. It was unbelievably tasty and the sunset over the island made it that bit more special.

The next day we wanted to a get a taste of local life, so we headed across the little strait to Ko Lanta Noi Island. We took the scooter onto the little vehicle ferry, creating some interest in the locals sitting three or four a-top their motorbikes, before heading out onto the deserted roads of the residential island. We passed by lots of liitle towns and villages, getting waves and hellos as we went. We stopped after an hour at a little shop to buy a drink and watch the local men trading racing birds across the street. We headed all the way over to the north east of the island, taking in some great little beaches and plenty of wildlife as we whizzed along, passing only three or four other bikes in two hours. The whole trip was fantastic and we arrived back at Ko Lanta thoroughly windblown and satisfied! That night we ate dinner in a little beach shack right on the sand, slurping tasty noodle soup as lightning storms raged on the horizon…

Our final day on Ko Lanta was spent out at sea. We booked onto a trip out to a dive site called Ko Haa, two hours away by boat. Rach opted for a dive and Gaz settled for a more surface-oriented experience with the mask and snorkel. Our boat was huge, but only 5 guests had booked on, so the trip out to the collection of four small islands was spent in luxury – tonnes of open deck space and loads of breakfast to feed our early morning appetites! The weather was great and the sea was calm. Before we knew it the islands were in sight and we moored up in a perfect little lagoon. The divers kitted up and jumped in, with the snorkelers close behind. For an hour we flipped amongst coral gardens, with Gaz spying a huge sea snake and Rach seeing some spectacular underwater caves and overhangs, complete with colourful nudibranches and more little Nemos. We had a big lunch on the deck of the boat before heading to the furthest of the islands for the second dive. We stayed together for this one and got to spend a bit of time together, the best point being Gaz diving down, popping all Rach’s dive bubbles and taking a few breaths on her regulator… not officially allowed! We saw lots of gleaming corals, pipefish, sergeant fish, barracuda and lots more. It was a great final day and we timed it to perfection for as we headed home the skies opened and the seas whipped up as a huge storm hit.

Thailand - stilted villages, snorkelling and spicy food

After deciding that risking our lives travelling in the dodgy border region between Malaysia and Thailand wasn’t such a good idea, we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket. Here we started our Thailand adventures!

Phuket wasn’t the best looking of places, being basically full of tourists, touts and bad smells, so we jumped on a bus and headed for the little town of Phang-Nga, about two hours away. We were happy to find that things cost a LOT less than Australia, with the bus trip setting us back about 90p each! Phang-Nga was a great place with lots of locals and good food spots – probably what Phuket was like before the foreigners landed. We stayed in a brilliant little place called the Phang-Nga Inn, which was wood panelled throughout and had a really friendly owner. The next day we embarked on our two day trip to the Ao Phang Nga National Park. We got shuttled in a rickety, smoke billowing tuk tuk down to the harbour and got on board a long tailed boat. We then motored (very loudly) out into the park on the river systems. We chugged for an hour or two through gorgeous mangrove swamps with huge, tree covered limestone cliffs towering above us. We also went through some caves with huge limestone stalagtites dangling precariously just above us – all pretty amazing stuff! Soon we emerged out from the rivers and into the Andaman Sea, where we headed on the deep blue waters past loads of limestone islands, some big some tiny, and onwards to an isolated little beach for lunch. There we swam in the warm water (30 degrees!) and relaxed, feeling a million miles from everywhere. In the afternoon we headed for the famous James Bond Island, a limestone pinnacle which was made famous in the film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’. It was pretty cool, even if the nearby beach was covered with tourist tack shops!

The later afternoon saw us head for our overnight stop, an amazing little stilted village called Ko Panyi, which was built onto one of the small islands in the middle of the sea. We fell in love with the place instantly. It was a maze of little streets and shops, with lots of kids running round, old women selling food, boys playing street soccer and dogs lazing everywhere! We enjoyed getting lost a few times as we wandered around. The sunset was absolutely amazing; we watched the distant crags of the islands light up and listened to the village Mosque prayer call echoing around the streets. Our room was basic, to say the least (just two mattresses and a fan, and we could see the sea below through the floor slats), but we enjoyed it nonetheless and the food that night was just awesome – spicy fish, curry and fruit. The next morning we got up to watch the sun rise, also a special experience with all the fishermen preparing for a days work, before breakfasting and getting shuttled back to the harbour by long tailed boat – what a great start to our time in Thailand!

We took a bus from Phang-Nga to Krabi and a taxi, then long tailed boat from there to Railay. The little resort town was perched on an isolated mainland peninsular and had huge cliffs and stunning beaches all around – a haven for Thai rockclimbing. We managed to get a good deal on a fantastic resort called Diamond Private Resort, with a great hilltop little villa and swimming pool below – we felt like proper little flashpackers! We took a walk and explored the peninsular, finding a fantastic beach complete with caves and rock pinnacles. On the way back we managed to find a hidden stairway of steep and slippery rocks complete with frayed ropes. We climbed up, then descended down into a gorge which seemed like a lost world - huge trees, grey vines and mist curling through the braches. Gaz descended some pretty hairy rock walls by sliding down some ropes, emerging out into a deserted basin with a deep lagoon, rocky walls and the sky hundreds of feet above. Very cool! We walked back via the fantastic hilltop Rock Restaurant (great super-spicy Tom Yum soup) and the even better Stone Bar, complete with coloured lights in the trees, wooden platforms with cushions and a great DJ sat in a bamboo hut, all set under a huge cliff face. Great cocktails too – it couldn’t have been better!

The next day we took a day trip out to some of the surrounding beach islands. Our planned speedboat broke down (suspicious…) so we ended up on the slower long tailed boat that was packed with 20 other tourists squeezed in together, but it turned out great anyway. We saw four islands, including Chicken Island (with a crazy rock formation that looked just like a rooster) and Monkey Island. We swam off the white sand beaches (Rach going nuts for the little baby Nemo we saw in an anemone) and also dived off the bow of the boat to snorkel around with the hundreds of fish in the clear waters and get away from the tourists. It was a perfect day and really warm – we felt like real castaways! On our return we headed to one of the many massage shops in Railay. Rach had an oil massage and Gaz opted for the traditional Thai massage. Cue an hour of twisting, stretching, bending and kneading for both of us, even through Rach’s was supposed to be a ‘relaxing’ massage! We both felt as though we’d been through the mill at the end, but we agreed it was an invigorating experience! That night we got caught in the mother of all storms, with lightning flashing around the cliffs. We got soaked on the walk home, but being out at night in such insane rain was pretty exhilarating! The next day we left Railay for the famous Thai islands…