|
We took a boat from Langkawi,
Malaysia to cross the Thai border into the port of Satan. In
true Thai style they are on you in a flash after customs to take
your money and drop you wherever.
Thai people are generally so
100mph when there’s money to be made it can scare the shit out
of most people so people pay what is been asked. They approach
you as if there is a huge great queue of people to deal with and
no time to do it all! Fact is they are a lazy bunch, so quick
deals then relax for the next few hours is their way. Knowing
the above it’s best to just hang back a little as you soon have
them eating out of your hands instead…
We wanted to get the bus if
possible to Krabi 4 hours away and we knew you had to take a
short Songthaew (open back taxi) to the local bus depot to catch
one. But the boat leaving Langkawi was late so we missed the
bus connection. The Thai cab drivers at the ferry port loved
telling us that the next one was not until 8pm…and they offered
to take us there for a ‘small’ fee via another town that was not
on the way to Krabi…
There were only a few
backpackers on the boat so after asking most of them where they
were going we found a couple from Canada who were going to Krabi
as well. They had spent a lot of time in Thailand so knew the
Thai way for doing business. So between the four of us we acted
as if we didn’t need to rush anywhere, which wound up the main
guy, then to really wind him up we went and got some car share
prices from the locals sat on the side…
In the end we got a great deal
after the wheeling and dealing. A new vehicle with air con
straight to the door of our choice in Krabi for a few quid. The
place we choose to stay at was out of one of the guide books
which was great. Really modern, clean and tidy all for £3 each
per night.
We had only planned to stay
here a couple of days and then get a flight to Ko Samui to save
time on the whole bus, taxi, boat etc to get there like normal
but being the off season the flights weren’t flying until the
middle of October again.
Still there was plenty to do in
and around Krabi we were glad we stayed in the end because we
did and saw lots in a few days. We had a day at the Ao Nang
beach catching some rays and swimming in the sea. We got
chatting to one of the locals who sells his wares on the beach.
He was saying business is still slow after the Tsunami as this
beach was one of the many that got hit. No deaths, but lots of
people with broken limbs and lots of damaged property.
Next day we went out and did
some sea kayaking around the various mangroves and isles. Even
fed pineapple and melon to the monkeys on a tiny little beach.
That afternoon we went elephant trekking. We had to wait a few
minutes for the elephant to turn up. While waiting we saw lots
of film crew trucks in the jungle. We went and had a look to
see that Hollywood was in town. It’s a film called “Rescue
Dawn” staring Christian Bale from one of the Batman films. So
we watched them filming a scene…took them ages and several takes
to get it right. Not as glamorous as you might think making a
film in the Thailand jungle in 35 degree heat!
We got on the elephant and did
our trek through the jungle. He was as bold as you like because
when he saw some water, he headed straight for it even being
told not to by the guide. He then took a drink but then flicked
it up over its back only to spray us. Later it also tore this
huge great bush from its roots. Funny though, there was this
almighty crack of machine gun fire and explosives from the film
set. Well the elephant jumped like hell and started running
like mad. We had to hang on for our lives not to fall off the
top. While walking back in we saw the lead man Christian Bale
walking along the track after the day of filming.
The next couple of days we did
2 trips island hopping starting from Ao Nang. We visited Poda,
Tup, Chicken and Phranang Cave islands on a long tail boat.
Then visited the beaches around Ko Phi Phi. We went to Maya
Beach, where the film “The Beach” was filmed. It was absolutely
beautiful with clear blue seas, but this island was hit very
badly by the tsunami and there were still lots of debris washed
up on the beach which was sad to see. We were lucky over these
two days to do lots of snorkelling in clear blue warm seas and
see lots of great fishes, as well as swimming and sunbathing…
A lot of this area was severely
hit by the Tsunami. It was great to see things all up and
running again. It’s just a shame people are still scared by it
all thinking it will happen again. The positive after effects
of the disaster are that it has made the Thai people get their
act together and really clean up and rebuild some great new
places to promote their tourist industry. Ko Phi Phi was
scary. I went there two years ago to think it was well over
rated and not like the postcards. Too many boats and everywhere
behind the beach was accommodation or shops. Tourism gone mad!
But now with so much gone it looks a lot more beautiful but the
tourists are staying away and the island is struggling to make
money.
The following day we had a
flight to Bangkok which we bought a couple of days before. This
certainly saved some time over using buses and trains getting up
the country and it was very cheap to buy locally… |
