Sunset from the beach bar, Thailand
Ah Thailand. The land of great food, smiles, massage, Chang and tiny string bikinis.
From Kathmandu we took a Royal Nepal Airways flight to Bangkok, after a breakfast of day-glow orange cheese rings at the airport. From the flight we got great views over the Bangladesh floodplains.
We were taken out for a meal by Khris and Kapil on our last evening in Kathmandu, after spending a day shopping - a combination of impulse, good pricing and stupidity mean we are now the proud owners of a slightly wet oil painting which is necessary to carry around mounted on it's frame. We gave Khris a photo of Everest we had taken from Gokyo. It will look great on his office wall. He gave us a traditional Nepali photo frame, which unfortunately we found necessary to leave behind - our bags are full to bursting point!
In Bangkok, after a few days wandering around the Khaosan road area we took a bus south, in search of the sea. In Bangkok we met 'Kev', a pissed up Scottish bloke who had recently arrived after spending a few nights in a Dubai prison. He was exhausted after a night with 2 Thai girls and a bottle of Viagra - these are the sorts of interesting characters that you meet on the Khaosan Road.
After a night on a bus we arrived in Krabi. We spent a night here and then bussed further to the island of Kho Lanta (unbeknown to us the ferry would have been a far better option, but we hadn't looked at a map...). We overpaid for our first couple of nights accommodation - scare tactics were employed by the travel agencies in Bangkok, telling us that this was peak season and we wouldn't find anywhere to stay. Of course there was plenty of accommodation available. Over the next week or so we stayed at 2 other places and were able to half our room rate each time, ending up at 500Bhat/night (about 6 quid). The last place, the 'Green Garden Resort' was the best, right on 'Pra-Ae' beach. On Kho Lanta we relaxed. It was great not to have to climb upto 5000 metres to see a great sunset. We could do that while sipping long island ice teas at one of the many beach-front bars. The food here is particularly good - it's easy to get fish - tuna, barracuda etc barbied in front of you on the beach.
Feet...
We spent a day diving at a site called 'Kho Ha' (5 islands), about 2 hours from Kho Lanta with these guys. The day was really good. Moray Eels, Stone fish, Lion fish and even the elusive ghost pipe fish were seen. New Buddy check mantra - 'Bangkok Women Really Are Fellas'.
One day was spent cruising around the island on a motorbike we rented from our guesthouse. On the way back we narrowly avoided being 'coconutted' by a crazy guy harvesting them with a long bamboo stick with a sharp hook at one end. A very dangerous occupation.. Motorbikes and coconuts are apparently the 2 biggest tourist killers here. Tsunami's are probably a close 3rd...
Another day was spent checking out 'Kho Phi Phi'. We took an organised day trip across to the island for 800 Bhat each - sounds a lot but the public ferry costs 350 each way, and we got lunch (more green curry) on the boat. The crossing was a little rough - our boat had a distinct tendency to lean to the right - the skipper had to keep throttling down to prevent capsize! We went snorkeling at Maya 'the beach' beach - that film has it all wrong. An unspoilt island paradise? My arse. What with the hundreds of speed boats, ferries and Thai longboats off the coast we were jostling for a position to even SEE the beach. On Phi Phi we walked up to the viewpoint to see the twin coves - the view reminded us of Palm beach in Sydney. There was still lots of re-development going on after the tsunami damage. Phi Phi seems to be the place to stay if you are Australian, have big muscles and a posing pouch. As we left our posing pouches back home we decided to head out and get back to the more easy going setting of Kho Lanta.
On the way back we stopped next to a small beach covered with tame monkeys - we swam out from the boat to feed them some banana - not very environmentally friendly I know, but good fun none the less. Kerry had the good sense to take some fins from the boat. I didn't and was nearly dead by the time we got back. After that it was back to the guesthouse for another sunset for more beer and green curry (we have both become addicted to the stuff..)
...Another day I read 'Watership down' - Kerry and I recon it won't be long before Pixar or such remake it - I hope that never happens.
We took an overnight train back to Bangkok on the 23rd December - although slightly more expensive it was a far nicer experience than the bus. We were actually able to sleep for a few hours.
Many massages, facials, manicures, green curries and one Christmas later we left Bangkok for our next destination, Hong Kong. We went to the cinema - before the film everyone had to stand to pay their respects to the King, who's image is everywhere in this city. Various images of him in the countryside were scrolled down the screen in little raindrops to what sounded like the 'sound of music'. We also did more shopping - more stuff to add to our ever-expanding luggage collection. Christmas was pretty much the same as every other day here. We couldn't even get any port! (we made do with Amaretto). We have far too much luggage again. I'm pretty sure we are the only backpackers travelling the world with 5(!) down jackets, a wet oil painting and a R/C flying saucer.... Next up.. Hong Kong...
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