Smiley Happy People
Welcome to Thailand. Every day is a holiday. Or at least that’s what it feels like to me anyway. Since arriving in this country I haven’t felt like a backpacker, I have felt like a tourist.
After a short stopover in the southern town of Hat Yai I headed up to the
coastal town of Krabi. At first glance the town doesn’t seem to have much
going for it. It has no beach and the main street is much like any other
small, Asian town. It does however have a certain charm that grows on you. In
fact I ended up staying in town for 7 days, and only reluctantly left.
My first day in Krabi was spent finding a better guest house than the one I
had checked into the previous night. I eventually settled on a small place
called K guest house. For the rest of the day, I had a wander around town,
and had a look at the various activities and day trips that were on offer
in the area. I did briefly think about taking a 5 day rock-climbing course.
However, it was soon dismissed as too much of an extravagance. In the end I
decided to spend a day canoeing around Hong Kong island. I would have to get
up at 7am in the morning so this meant buying a new alarm clock. My last
alarm clock had broken in southern Chile and I had not quite got around to
buying a new one. Instead I had been relyng on others or simply catching a
later bus, plane, etc out of town. As it was, after I set my alarm for 7am I
managed to be wide awake at 6:50 waiting for it to go off.
The trip was very good. Early in the morning, as our boat glided across the
calm waters, I got my first glance of the fantastic scenery that surrounds
Krabi. Huge limestone cliffs that rise straight out of the water. That
afternoon I was to learn that most of these cliffs contain cave systems or
half hidden tidal lagoons.
The next day I took a ferry out to Phi Phi Don island. It was my intention
to have a look around and decide if I wanted to stay there for a few
days. Although the island itself is very beautiful, I decided that it was far
too packed with tourists and backpackers. I took the afternoon ferry back to
sleepy little Krabi. That night, like all my nights in Krabi, I had dinner
down at the local food stalls by the river. The variety of food available
was outstanding and I ended up eating a different dish each night. One of my
favourites was a huge plate of fried mussels, accompanied by beansprouts and
a dipping sauce. I did worry that I might be risking serious stomach upset
by eating this dish, but like the fried oysters in Melaka, I was proved
happily wrong. I did, however, come a cropper on the tom yam (or hot and
spicy) seafood soup. All I can say is that the contents did look as if they
came from the sea at some point. However, I think it was more likely that
they were left on the beach when the tide went out, rather than actually
caught. But in general my experiences with food in Asia have been good ones
so far. The only thing I can’t get the hang of is the breakfasts. Somehow I
just need a western type of food in the morning. Noodle soup or green curry
just doesn’t do it for me at 9am, I’m afraid.
After that it was a day of relaxing, and getting some chores done. I managed
to post some clothing home and put my laundry in to be cleaned. I also
managed to write up my adventures in Malaysia. So that will give you some
idea as to how far behind I tend to get with these travelogue things. That
evening I decided to check out the local Irish bar. It has to have been the
least “Irish” looking Irish bar I have ever been into. One of the walls was
painted green, and there were some empty cans of Guinness stuck behind the
bar. The landlady and staff were very friendly though. Actually, I ended up
playing dominos with the staff for the first hour or so as there were no
other customers in the place. It did liven up around 10pm. Nothing
too exciting. No dancing on tables or falling down drains, but it was
pleasant enough and I was soon chatting to a few people. I even arranged to
meet a couple of Aussies and an English girl the next day.
Crawling out of bed at 8am I remembered that I had to eat breakfast and get
down to the pier for 9am to hire a boat for the day. Luckily the Aussies and
English girl were a little late so I made it down to the pier on time. We
hired the first bloke that came up to us. He offered to take us around 4
islands and stuff for about 1500baht. Between 4 of us that was quite a good
deal, so we took it. It was a very good day. I did some more snorkelling,
relaxed on some beaches and explored some caves. By the end of the day I was
quite exhausted. In the evening all four of us went out for dinner and then
down the pub to celebrate the Aussie guy’s upcoming 18th birthday. When I
found this out I suddenly felt very old. It turned out that the two girls
were both 18 as well. Oh well, after a couple of beers I forgot all about
this and was introduced to “the bucket” – this is coke, red bull, and a huge
measure of Thai wiskey served up, yep, in a bucket. I think I had a slight
hangover the next day.
On the morning that I left Krabi the staff of the guesthouse couldn’t quite
believe it.
“Are you sure?” asked the owner, more than once. Once I had finally checked out and was waiting for my bus to Phuket, she ran over to me and said, “Jez, we have cleaned your room, you can have it back now if you want.”
Phuket was quite a nice little town as well. I was staying the the old town,
and not the busy tourist beach of Patong. I had intended to stay at Patong
beach for a few days, but decided at the last minute to just use Phuket as a transit stop on the way up to Bangkok. I had a wander around the
markets of Phuket and managed to buy a couple of second hand books. I also
wandered up Phuket hill for a view of the island. It wasn’t that
spectacular, and I don’t think I even bothered to take a picture. Soon it
was time to get an overnight bus up to Bangkok.
Once in the city I headed straight for Khao San Road. It must have been busy
season, because I had to wait six hours before I found a guesthouse room that
I could stay in. In the end I managed to get a nice room in just about the
best guesthouse in the area. Now all I had to do was wait for 4 days for
Debs and her friend to turn up. I spent my time wisely. I got up, had some
breakfast. Read for a bit. Had a wander round. Had some lunch. Read for a
bit more. Had a beer. Went home, had a shower, went out for tea and a few
more beers. For 4 days! It was bliss.
