With our newly acquired (well free – special initiative by the government to encourage tourists in to the country after the recent political upheavals) Thai visas we jumped in to our VIP minibus and headed for the Thai border. For VIP you should read normal minibus, built for 8, but carrying 10, but including a full sized flat screen tv (not working)!! – however, as we are going through border controls – it is better to be in private, rather than public transport. The public buses have a reputation for dropping you one side of the border and then not waiting around for you at the other! The border safely negotiated – bar Nicola being interrogated in Thai about her passport – as on the Thai database it was registered as stolen! It was stolen, last time she was here, but the British embassy in Bangkok had issued her with a new one – just the Thai information had not been updated.
Our first destination in Thailand – was more of a transit point – Krabi – the port town from where ferries sail to the Island of Koh Phi Phi. Krabi did however offer us our first taste of Thai market food – I think we both had Pad Thai – and it was delicious – cooked in front of our eyes – with fresh ingredients at a cost of less than GBP1 per portion. The next day – it was down to the dock and on to the ferry. 2 hours later we disembarked on to the Koh Phi Phi pier and dodged the hotel touts on to the mainland. As Nicola had bee here before, she knew generally where on the island she wanted to stay and so we headed in that direction. I found a café, for a banana smoothie and Nicola went in to barter mode. We arrived at the start of the wet season, along with political issues in Bangkok and the financial crisis – the hotels were down on numbers and were in keen to get that all important occupancy rate up. Nicola found, a 4 star hotel, with a lovely pool, a private bungalow for 5 days for just shy of GBP25 per night – normally closer to GBP50 per night in high season. Whilst we had a couple of down pours over the 5 days – we hit the beach most mornings and the pool most afternoons – and even managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of turbo tanning. The pictures for the island have come out really well and we believe are all the inspiration most would need to spend a beach holiday here.
Koh Phi Phi, Nicola tells me used to be, pre-tsunami, a real desert island, with shabby huts made out of wood and palm leaves, still a great place to come, but definitely on the traveler end of the holiday spectrum. Post Tsunami they have tried to edge up the star ratings, many more concrete built bungalows, proper unit style shops and properly designed restaurants. Nicola thought it had lost some of its charm, but it already has a reputation as a holiday destination and nothing else, so the changes I saw as improvements. The one downside was that along with the good stuff there were also more English style pubs and Costa Del Sol (wet t-shirt competitions/drinks by the bucket) promotion nights. We still had some great nights though – one highlight had to be the fire shows, fuel soaked and alight poise balls span around the body at great speed. Most of the pictures look a bit dodgy, but a few really capture how beautiful and impressive it is. After our 5 days “on holiday” it was time to move on again.
Back on the ferry, but this time on to another Island – Phuket – another 1.5 hours (but perfectly calm) further east. Some more nimble bartering, but this time on the internet, meant another hotel of a much higher quality than our meager budget should permit – this time at GBP16 per night. It was a good job too – as it rained for most of the next 3 days. We just holed up and hoped it would dry up. Unfortunately it didn’t so we jumped on the direct bus (11 hours) to Bangkok. Technically we did not just jump on as our taxi turned up at the hotel late it meant we missed our allotted bus seats – the taxi driver how-ever just put his foot down and reassured us he would catch it up, got on the phone and 45 mins later (2 hours after getting in to the taxi) we hopped on to the bus at the next stop!
Not too many cultural events to be had on the beaches of southern Thailand, but a fair splash of sun, an easing in to Thai food and our first few Thai words – Khawp Khun Krap (thank you - if spoken by a man) and Sawat Dii Krap (hello – if spoken by a man). A good relaxing start to the country though and the right mindset to deal with Bangkok - our next stop.
