Bye bye Bangkok

Last full day in Thailand! Since Sarah had her manicure and pedicure session yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a two hour Thai massage at the popular health and spa chain Healthland. We chose the Asoke branch near the city centre because it is close to a Skytrain station and there are lots of malls nearby. We arrived at Healthland at ten o’clock and I managed to get an appointment straight away. Sarah went off to explore Terminal 21, a themed mall where each level was dedicated to a world city, and I was led to the massage room. The masseuse lady had massive forearms which I took to be a good sign, as soft beauty spa-style massages are a complete waste of time. I wasn’t disappointed. For the next two hours, she took me apart with her knees and elbows and I was given a hiding by this 5 foot nothing forty year old woman. To be fair, I actually enjoyed the beach massage we had on Koh Chang more, but who am I to complain?

It was midday and I met Sarah at Terminal 21 for our lunch date. For lunch, we chose that well known South East Asian cuisine, Mexican. Oh how the mighty have fallen! Back in the early days of Malaysia we had seen Mexican restaurants around and laughed at the idea, “who would eat Mexican in South East Asia?” we asked… Well, it seems not two months later the answer is us, and it was delicious. Burrito and quesadea were a welcome change to having noodles again and we were so full afterwards that we couldn’t even manage dinner that night.

In the evening, we did our most adventurous thing yet in Thailand. No, it wasn’t a ping pong show, I am referring to watching Muay Thai at the famous Lumpinee Stadium. Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and there are fights scheduled six nights a week in Bangkok. There are three classes of tickets and outrageously, foreigners have to pay a four-fold premium for them. Still, it’s a one-off and we decided to splash out on two second class tickets for USD 50 each. We entered the stadium to find ourselves standing on concrete steps and surrounded by middle age Thai men. The stadium itself was relatively run down and was mostly concrete and wire mesh. There were Military Policemen to keep the peace and altogether these added to a very surreal experience. The Thais were very punctual and the night started right on time at 6.30pm, beginning with the national anthem. I had read that our section was where the bookies hang out and it didn’t take long to see them in action. Unlike other sporting events, the bookies took bets continuously during each fight and the changing odds were shouted out to the crowd as the fighters pummelled each other with punches, kicks, knees and elbows. There also seemed to be a complex system of hand signals which conveyed the odds, size and direction of each bet over the noise. So there we were, right in the thick of the gambling action with hundreds of Thai men waving their hands and shouting numbers at each other, and runners darting around collecting money. It was completely mental. Meanwhile, next to the ring were musicians playing traditional music really loudly to the tempo of the fight and the whole experience was a barrage of noise and sight. There were nine fights that night and they were all action packed. The fighters ranged in age from around 15 to mid-20s and none were above 60kg, pretty much all sinewy muscle and bones. There was one knockout and some clear winners but we were impressed by all the fighters.

The next day, we spent a lazy morning packing and had a last pad thai before catching the train to the airport. The journey and the check-in with Air Asia were hassle-free and we felt like it was a perfect ending to our South East Asian adventure. Next stop: Hong Kong.

Here is the link to our Thailand photos.

We only managed to learn 7 things in Thailand, because lying on the beach doesn’t count.

1. Thai massage is absolutely the most phemnonmenal school of massage we have experienced.
2. The absence of tuk tuks and mopeds on Koh Chang was a dream. These pushy drivers were a real blight on the Phnom Penh and Siem Reap experience.
3. Thai food is amazing, but then most people know that already. A new discovery was the Thai meatballs, a combination of pork, potatoes, coriander root, coriander seeds and fish sauce. Fantastic. Also, we find that authentic Thai curries have much less coconut cream than Western versions.
4. Thais like their sugar and put it in everything.
5. The floods were pretty devastating and we kept seeing sandbags that homes and shops still have around their entrance.
6. Thai people LOVE their king.
7. Buddhism is the state religion and man, are they a religious lot. Every home and business has an altar and at the Muay Thai fight, we noticed that most of the crowd were wearing protective amulets which the Thais believe will enhance their fortune.

One time in Bangkok

Hi!! It’s been ages we know, we haven’t forgotten promise! We just weren’t doing anything very exciting.

In the end we decided to make our stay on Koh Chang ten days. I was a bit worried that we would get bored but somehow the time passed and we didn’t get bored at all.

A typical day went something like this – wake up at 7-ish and lie around until 7.30 when the breakfast place opens. We got caught out on the first day because we expected that everything would be open early like they had been in Vietnam and Cambodia, but the Thais are more laid back than that and 7.30 is as early as it gets. The breakfast place was awesome and we managed to train them to make us a four egg and pork omelette with no rice. We had the same thing every day and I think they thought we were mental, but it was so delicious! After breakfast we would head back to Little Eden where we were staying either to our bungalow and the hammock or the common room/restaurant for coffee and reading. That would last until lunch time when we would head out to find lunch. There were a few choices and we quickly found our favourites. One was a whole chicken roasted on a spit with Thai herbs and a green papaya salad, mmmmm 🙂

As you can probably guess, after lunch there was more lying around and reading, we read so much we actually got through about seven books each over the ten days including two Jack Reachers, a Michael Connelley and a great book called “Bangkok Tattoo” which I recommend to read if you get the chance. At about 4pm when the sun was less hot we would suit up and head down to the beach for a swim. The beach itself faced west and was brilliant to watch the sunset from. Dinner was again chosen from a few different places, including our hotel which was good if a little expensive or the breakfast place again.

We did shake it up every so often, like the day we had a traditional Thai massage on the beach. It was amazing and Ivan could not stop raving. A mix of accupressure, stretching and twisting the masseurs were so well practised that they got the pressure 100% right the first time and made you feel a million dollars at the end. Or the night we decided to paint the town red, and seriously regretted it the next day! We had a full English breakfast that day and felt a lot better.

Towards the end of the ten days I was looking forward to a bit of a change, but I was definitely sad to leave Koh Chang, especially since we had a ferry, 6hr bus ride and then a complicated public transport route to get to our hotel in Bangkok to look forward to. The ferry to the bus went very smoothly and we were well in time for our 11:30am bus to Khao San Road. Khao San road is the sligtly dodgey backpacker district with almost no public transport and we were staying in Sukhumvit, the slightly more upmarket area with easy access to the SkyTrain, Bangkoks answer to the underground. We found out from the bus operator as we waited that they had a bus that left at 12pm that went to Sukhumvit, close to where we were staying for only 50 baht more each. Great! We thought. Yes it would cost more and leave later, but it was only half an hour and we would save money in public transport costs and time.

As usual however, they lied. We should have known. Luckily, they only lied about the time. Our bus left the ferry terminal on time at 12pm and promptly drove to another nearby bus terminal and stopped and we waited and waited… it turns out we were not on the 12pm from the Ferry Pier but actually on the 1pm from Trat, arriving not half an hour later than the Khao San Road bus but an hour and a half later… sigh. We made it to our hotel at aroun 7.30pm, eleven and a half hours after we’d left Little Eden that morning. I am SO glad that was our last long overland journey, I don’t think I have the patience for any more!!

Yesterday was our first full day in Bangkok and we decided to have a cultural day. We set off in the morning, navigating the SkyTrain and Metro services to get us to Bangkok’s Chinatown. It was actually quite exciting to be in a big urban setting again using a mass transit system. We had a “walking tour” in the Lonely Planet that took us through the streets of Chinatown. It was awesome! One of the best Chinatowns we have seen so far. The streets were full of vendors selling everything you could imagine, food smells, bright neon signs and the occasional waft of incense from a temple. We had a great time exploring.

After lunch we headed to our main attraction for the day, the Royal Palace and Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The 94.5-hectare complex was established in 1782 and encompasses 100 buildings. We knew about the dress code thanks to some people we’d met on our travels (pants to the ground and no bare shoulders) so we were prepared with our pants that zip off into shorts, so we didn’t have to swelter for the whole day, only the few hours we were wandering around the Palace complex.

The architecture was incredible and beautiful and we were pleased we’d taken the time to explore it. Because the complex is located in the old part of Bangkok, like Khao San Road, there is no real public transport to take us back. Our only option was the river ferry, which was an interesting experience to say the least and was the first time we witnessed an almost incident, with the driver pulling away from the pier before all the passengers were disembarked and so a poor woman almost fell into the river and looked like she hurt herself getting across.

Today was much less cultural as we decided to hit the mall and do some shopping!! Something I have been abstaining from the whole trip because we were trying not to spend too much money and I didn’t want to carry it. As we near the end of the adventure however and are miraculously underbudget I think the time for a little retail therapy has come!

I spent a great two hours getting my nails done while Ivan read in the large book shop. We then walked around and I did manage to find a few things, luckily everything seems to be on sale…

We have two more days here in Bangkok, tomorrow night we are hoping to catch a Muay Thai fight and then we are leaving on the 10th for Hong Kong 🙂

Lonely Beach – the Thai Waiheke

We woke up very early on Saturday morning for our journey to Koh Chang, Thailand. We had arranged with a tuk tuk driver to take us to the border at 6.30am for the 7am border opening. As a result we were the first people through the no mans land to the Thai side. Being the only foreigners we were ushered past the queue of Cambodians and were soon in Thailand! As expected the border town looked remarkably similar to the Cambodian town we had just left.

Our tour operator from the island and jungle tours had given us a set of instructions to Koh Chang, which involved multiple vehicles and interchanges. We found the shuttle to Trat quickly and settled down to wait for the 7.55am bus, but 7.55am came and went and nobody looked like they were going anywhere, so we knew this was going to be one of “those” bus rides where you wait for something or someone for some unknown reasons and inevitably leave 30-40 minutes late. As if on cue, 35 minutes after we were due to leave there were signs of movement and we all piled into the van and set off.

After a few rounds of the town picking up parcels for delivery we were off and headed for Trat. We made it to the Trat bus depot and found the taxi stand to take us to the ferry to Koh Chang. It seems here the fare system is different to what we were used to and is much more standardised. Rather than bargining with the driver, there is a set fee for the taxi and so the more passengers there are the less you pay. We shared the taxi with a very chatty girl from Bangkok, and didn’t have to wait long at the ferry terminal before the car and passenger ferry arrived to pick us up. Through our chatty friend, we learnt that the ferry was carrying mostly domestic tourists and that Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand. The ferry ride took 40 minutes and we disembarked to a jetty full of taxis.

We were stoked to be finally on the island, jumped in the first taxi and asked to be driven to Lonely Beach, where we had booked a bungalow. Unfortunately, the taxi ride was frustratingly long as with this system of a fixed price it turned out we had to either pick up more passengers from another jetty or pay more money than usual. It seemed the others in the taxi were happy to wait, and given Lonely Beach is the furthest away, we would pay the most of everyone, so were we. Lonely Beach is one of the last villages on the west coast of Koh Chang, where all the beaches and accommodation are concentrated. When we finally did arrive, we felt like it was all worth it! The village is small but made up entirely of bungalow accommodation, cafes, restaurants, bars and tattoo parlours, and is thankfully devoid of tuk tuk drivers and hawkers. Our bungalow huts are located slightly back from the main village and run by a friendly German, David and his Thai wife. Each bungalow has a bed, fan and bathroom with a hand-flush toilet, as well as a little balcony complete with hammock. Rustic in a good way and comfortable, perfect for us to relax in. They even have a little library of books that you are welcome to take and read.

While Lonely Beach has its share of the party crowd (there are flyers for a party tonight with the tagline “lets get fucking wasted”), the village is fairly quiet and the general atmosphere is really chilled out, which makes us feel like we are on Waiheke. We have spent the last four days doing as much relaxing as possible after the last two months of constant travelling. We were going to spend only a few days here but have extended it to six and are thinking of making it ten. The beach is great, warm clear water with only limited bugs and we try and swim every day. The hardest decision we have had to make so far is where we should eat and the only complaint we have is that the Thais don’t make coffee or fruit shakes as well as the Cambodians and Vietnamese. Oh well.

Unless something really exciting happens, we will next report to you from Bangkok in a week’s time! To keep you occupied in the mean time, here are the last photos from Cambodia.