Oh yes! Such indulgence on board from Barcelona to Zurich! Seats are comfy with plenty of leg room, delicious Swiss chocolates, so far Swiss Air is one of our best flights. After ten calm hours we land at 4pm in warm and humid Bangkok, then catch bus to Khao San Rd which is our starting point in search for accommodation. Traffic is very heavy today (or just today?) and we do not get there before sunset. Khao San is very noisy, full of bars and night clubs which is good for parties but no so good for sleeping and we rather settle in next street Rambutri. Finding food is also very easy and we do not have to go too far. Plenty of stalls around our street offer all sorts of meat on sticks, usually presented as 'chicken'. Well, we do not want to know any more, nibbles are yummy and spicy so who really cares. Very soon Chang beer becomes our daily companion, later enhanced with excellent Thai rum Saem Sam. Our main mission in Bangkok is to organise chinese visa and basically we have two options: easy and challenging. Passing challenge exams in South America we refuse to buy visa from next door travel agency (1300 Baht per person) and instead we spend many hours on taxi/public transport going to Chinese Embassy which happens to be outside the town centre. Here we are told that visa will cost 1100 Baht p.p. so our net saving is $10 if we deduct all travel costs. Great, ha? Ok, not so great but we still feel good and we have seen parts of Bangkok on the way, including Grand Palace and Sleeping Budha Temple. Today is Thursday and next week the embassy will be closed due to chineese new year celebrations. Visas will be ready the following week Tuesday which means we have about ten days for south Thailand. Learning our lesson from self-organised visa experience this time we buy bus/boat ticketts to island Kho Tao from next door travel agent saving many hours running around large Bangkok for $2-3 extra. Not worth it. We leave Rambutri St on Friday 9pm by an overnight bus arriving to Chumphon at 4am where we wait till 7am for ferry.
Beautifull sunrise on the way to Kho Tao makes this morning especially nice but soon we realise "dark side" of Kho Tao. The most expensive taxis in the world must be here, they ask 200 Baht (~$10) for about 1km distance. "Guys, are you kidding me?" is my repply as we walk away. Many decent guesthouses, bungallows and hotels at all price ranges are plentifull so within 10 minutes we find a home for next few days. Omellete and coffee for breaky, we cannot wait to explore the island's beaches but it starts to rain! Hmm, finding a hideway in the first bar we wait for weather to clear but today is no chance. Writing our stories on internet is also not an option because charges here are rediculous ($6/hr). Later we find from a "local" gringo that prices are fixed by some sort of mafia and as result all internet cafes are empty. Sunday morning does not look much better and we rather walk around the small town on foot instead of renting a scooter. "Hey, I can hear someone speaking czech", I am looking around and here they are. We chat with Mirek and Dasa from Prerov for almost an hour before we continue our search for a restaurant serving good thai food. Tasty thai seems to be in shortage here and we do not quite understand why. Having a beer in one of many beach restaurants we joke with kitchen staff promissing we would come back for dinner tonight. We did and it was absolutely the best thai in whole island. Monday morning is sunny and that means scooter ride around the island! Initially bit wobbly but quickly we gain confidence and our speed sometimes even exceeds 30km/hour. After all, renting 125ccm motorbike was not that smart idea as we soon realise. Terrain is very difficult and we need to negotiate rough road. Steep hills, water erroded rocky roads and two people on one 125ccm bike do not mix. Many times Iva has to walk a long way up and after three hours we end up exhausted on beach in the front of our hotel. What a waste of effort! Anyway, we have seen a little bit of island. Return bike, pick up backpacks from hotel and after dinner near wharf we board full-berth overnight ferry from Kho Tao to Surat Thani. This very unusual ferry does not have any seats, only two rows of 50 thin mattraces closely lined up on the floor. One big floating dormitory. Sleep was quite comfy with constant gentle rocking movements reminding a pram from my babyhood. Honestly I can not remember that far but it must have been like that. The best overnight travel we have ever had. Boat docks at 5am and from here we get shufled few times between tuk-tuk and sawngtaews before they take us to final bus heading for Krabi. These sort of transfers are swift and without warning or explanation so you can say good-bye to things you leave behinde. One more minivan today and by 10am we arrive to Ao Nang beach where we settle for next several days. Krabi is very touristy destination and guesthouse prices are almost double what we paid in Bangkok but we have good news - scooters can be hired at $10 for 24 hours and no hills! One day we ride scooter to Tiger Cave (no tigers here anymore, only monks live in caves) where we feed cute monkeis with bananas and climb 1237 steps to a temple. Next morning we really feel our legs from the climb. The other day we just cruise around searching for a tourist-less beach and to our surprise we found one. Perhaps we try a skinny dipping? More realisticaly priced Krabi town is some 30km from Ao Nang beach and scooter is quite handy for basic shopping so we stop there for a couple of hours. Definite highlights however are two separate daily boat trips to nearby locations. Speed boat to Phi Phi islands takes only 45minutes so more time we can spend enjoying spectacular views and snorkling in sparkling clear water. Brief stop at beautiful Maya Beach gives us good feel on where movie The Beach was shot. Hmm, Hollywood guys had very hard time working here. Buffet lunch, more snorkeling and return by late afternoon trully made our day. Reiley beach is best reached by long-tail boat and what a view! White limestone rocks contrast with torquise blue water and it is hard to select whether to splash in 26C water or just relax on sand admiring the landscape. After adding thai massage and many tasty pancakes on streets we should start thinking moving back to Bangkok before we get spoiled too much, if it is not too late already.
We wonder why travel agency picked us from the hotel at 3pm though the overnight bus to Bangkok does not leave before 8pm. Again without any explanation they shuffle everybody between many (sort of) waiting shelters but somehow the bus managed to leave on time and we arrive to Bangkok at 5am. Fortunately the bus drops everyone off near Khao San road and we are very familiar around this area. It is still another hour to sunrise. There is nobody on street except few rats searching for leftovers from last night food stalls. Heading straight to our previous guesthouse we hope for an empty bed to catch up some sleep but room is not ready yet and we need to wait half an hour more. Few hours resting is enough to regain energy and by midday we are back in action to organise overnight train tickets to Chiang Mai. And how do we get tickets? Of course D.I.Y. from train station! The use of public transport by a non-thai speaking person is real challenge and we soon discover why. There are zilions of buses with few more zilions people moving in all possible directions but our bus is not arriving. What's wrong? After waiting an hour we decide to catch a cab. Tickets are indeed cheaper at station, we saved about $20 and we can sellect beds from the computer screen. Girls at information desk (this is the only one independent information desk in whole Bangkok we could find) are very helpfull and in good english explain which bus connects Khao San Rd with train station. Now we know! (It is bus No 53). Being more confident with public transport we take another bus from station to Si Lom, the fun place and of course we cannot leave Bangkok without seeing much talked about ping-ping show. Tomorrow we pick up passports from Chineese embassy and evening by bus 53(!) back to train station but first I need to buy new sandals as my TEVA fell appart. Well, it is not that simple to find size 47 in Asia and we walk many miles before I settle for Diesel copy slip-on's . Maybe in China. Our first sleeping train experience was somewhat mixed. It is definitely more comfortable then sitting in a chicken bus but carriges rattle and jerk for 14 hours so the possibility of good night sleep without Valium or bottle of rum is almost zero. Still good fun and highly recommended. Chiang Mai is quite charming town mainly due to its historical square centre. The best way to explore surrounds is with a motorbike, and since we are now serious bikies we ride a 100km loop through scenic mountains around Chiang Mai, visiting Tiger-kingdom on the way. Yes, we saw many tigers. Food in northern Thailand is almost better then in Bangkok and nothing here blows our budget, not even three days trekking through mountains and villages. Our trip starts with a visit to Long Neck village where women traditionally wraped thick wire around their necks as protection against tiger bites, but nowdays tigers are gone and tradition remains. Elephant riding, waterfalls swimming, white water and bamboo rafting are real fun, the rest is hard hiking. Ok, not that hard but it is hot and mostly uphill. At least we burn some of that good coconut curry calories. Our group of 12 people are lead by two excellent local guides. We all share not only fun in days and evenings but also tables and bamboo huts for sleeping. Monday 9 Feb is special day for Iva as she is presented with birthday card signed by everybody, a large air-dried toad instead of cake (she refused to even touch it, let alone eat it). We sing Happy Birthday and she is very touched. We see smile again on her bruised face after a nasty fall yesterday. After return to civilisation we stay last night in Chiang Mai and tomorrow we leave Thailand crossing mighty Mekong River at Chiang Khong for Laos.
