Having left behind the now familiar island of Ko Lanta, we headed off in search of more paradise beaches. A search that would take us across the heart of mainland Thailand and onto yet another boat, to reach the island of Ko Samui. The journey was typically long, crammed into a small mini van with bags stacked high so that there was barely enough room to breathe! The driver drove the van as if his life depended on it and we arrived in record time to the ferry port - the highway code is obviously not a requirement in Thailand!
Once on the boat, we munched on Pad Thai and consulted the guide book to give us the low down on Samui. A fantastic island teeming with tourists was the general consensus from the Lonely Planet, especially the beach where we had prebooked our accommodation - Chaweng Beach. The beach itself was beautiful, lined with swanky hotels and beach bars. However, venture onto the main road and we were surrounded by Starbucks, McDonalds, a host of Irish bars and hundreds of market stalls, which all interestingly sell exactly the same products metres from each other! So it really is your typical tourist destination. Having dumped the bags, we headed out in search of food and found a tiny Thai restaurant selling cheap curries and noodles - delicious! I'm not sure that we will ever get sick of this food.
The following day, we decided to check out the pristine white sandy beach lurking behind the walls of our guesthouse. We walked the entire length of the beach during the course of the day and believe me, that's a long way!! We stopped at several beach bars to relax and soak up the sun with a beer or two. Whilst we did this, we were approached by several Thai men carrying a variety of weird and wonderful animals such as monkeys and giant lizards. They were basically carrying these poor animals around in the thirty degree heat and charging people to photograph them. They did not look happy, especially the lizard with his mouth sellotaped shut and the monkey on a chain.
After soaking up the last of the suns rays with a few cheeky happy hour cocktails (by far my favourite so far!), we stumbled across a beachside restaurant serving the cheap Thai food. We were starving and ordered far too much food, including a delicious papaya salad. I learnt how to make this on our cooking course in Chiang Mai so prepare to be amazed when we return!
So after a brief few days in Ko Samui we decided to brave the seas again and take a ferry to the island of Ko Phangan. We were picked up a midday by our pick up truck taxi transfer, which was already jam packed full of people (mostly Russians) and their bags. The driver threw our bags up onto the 'roof rack' and told us that we would have to stand on the flip down part at the back of the truck until we reached the ferry. Luckily, the passangers inside managed to budge along and we were able to squeeze our bodies onto the very ends of the bench seats. However, this was not to last long, as we picked up even more people from their hotels. The end result was a truck packed full of people and bags, bags slung precariously on the roof and two poor English guys (Tom and a guy from Newcastle) clinging onto the back of an open truck driving very quickly towards the ferry port! Grateful to be in one piece, we climbed aboard the ferry only to discover that this too was packed full, so we sat outside along the side of the boat with our bags. Luckily the crossing was mostly calm so we made it in one piece to the port in Ko Phangan. Phew!
Once on dry land, we found a taxi to take us to our accommodation for the next few days. The drive was an eye opening if not terrifying experience, as the taxi navigated the steepest, smallest, windy roads I have ever seen in my life. All this whilst driving at the speed of light! Not a wonder there are so many accidents on the roads. Yet all was well when we arrived at our resort and checked into a cute little bungalow. We had all the essentials on our doorstep, beach, pool, bar, restaurant and ping pong table. Ah the ping pong - Tom and I actually became obsessed with the game as sad as it is! Staying at the resort was almost like staying at some sort of Hi-de-Hi summer camp but we loved it for that. Yet we could only manage one day of hanging around the pool before we had to get out and explore the island.
We hired yet another scooter and had high hopes for an exciting day exploring. Sadly, it quickly became apparent that we had hired quite possibly the worst scooter in the whole of Thailand. It wouldn't start properly, it stuttered its way along the road and struggled up the big hills - brilliant! It got us around the island just about and I think Tom enjoyed navigating the twisting roads. On our way back to the resort we made a stop at Haad Rin beach, the home of the 'Full Moon Party'. We arrived at the beach just a few days after the party and the rubbish collectors were still out in force doing the big clean up. I still can't believe that they fit 30,000 people onto that tiny strip of beach!
All too soon for my liking (and I think Toms too), our island hopping had to come to end. We had to embark on the mammoth journey North to metopolis of Bangkok. So we bought a boat/bus combination ticket and had a whole 12 hour journey to look forward to, 3 of which would be on a high speed catamaran. This all sounded great in principle, until we woke to grey skies and wind which could only mean one thing - waves and lots of them! Our worst fears were realised once we had found seats on the catamaran and were each presented with what was essentially a small plastic bin bag. Seeing our confused faces, the guys mimed a bumpy sea with his hands and laughed. I tried hard to convince myself that all would be fine but all of 10 minutes into the journey the first person threw up just 2 rows in front of us (the poor guy did not actually stop throwing up for the whole journey and had to be stretchered off at the other end!) Lots of the children on board found crashing into the waves hilarious but the laughs quickly stopped and many of them threw up into their tiny plastic bags too. In fact at one point, most people on the boat were either beeing sick or looking decidedly green, with a poor few souls with strong stomachs trying to dodge the sick. When even the crew members sat down dabbing their forheads and looking concerned, you begin to worry. Honestly, I'm not sure how to convey the sounds and the smells from those 3 hours but I think it is a miracle that neither one of us were sick. We did not speak to each other for the whole time in fear of being sick! Tom clung on to his seat whilst I held onto the seat in front and shut my eyes in an attempt to make it all stop but it didn't, not for another two and a half hours!
After what felt like an eternity, we eventually made it to Chumphon harbour and clambered off the boat and onto a bus to take us the rest of the way. It was another 8 hours of cramped uncomfortable travel before we arrived feeling very tired and irritable. Luckily, we found a friendly taxi driver who whisked us away to our guesthouse, where we could prepare ourselves for the chaos and mayhem that is Bangkok.
Much love, Shell & Tommo xx
PS. I will try and write more blogs I promise!!
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