Scribbles Abroad

After a short flight from Luang Prabang we arrived in Bangkok.  I was really excited for Thailand and was really looking forward to the food.  I’ve been dreaming about the curries and most of all the pad thai.

Yummy street side Pad Thai

Our first day in Bangkok we spent hunting for the muy thai boxing stadium.  The light rail didn’t run in the area we were staying in so we caught the river taxi down the river which dropped us off near the stadium.

The river taxi was an experience in its own.  Everyone waits on the pier and when the taxi pulls up everyone piles in sometimes filling the boat to max capacity.
Taking the river was a great way to avoid the road traffic and was much cheaper than taking a normal taxi.  It was only a short walk from the ferry pier to the stadium.  On the way we walked through Lumphini Park.  A huge fitness park with a swimming pool, soccer field, basketball court, and all sorts of work out equipment.  The work out equipment seemed more like a play ground and made exercise feel like play.

Kahi playing around on some exercise equipment

The muy thai boxing stadium was huge and we really wanted to watch the fights but the tickets were too expensive.  We headed back to the area our hotel was in and stopped to get something for dinner.  In the middle of eating Kahi began feeling sick and went back to our room to lay down.  When I got back he was feeling nauseous and uneasy.  He had got a case of food poisoning and was puking his guts out.  We think it was from the green curry earlier that day, from a little street stand and prepared by a lady-boy which made it kind of funny.  Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug and he felt better the next day.

The next couple of days we spent walking around town doing some shopping and figuring out where to head next.  The shopping was great with all sorts of clothes and trinkets, we ended up mailing a huge box home of stuff.

Chinese New Years was going on in China Town so we headed over to check out the scene.  The street stands were cooking all sorts of yummy food but Kahi’s tummy wasn’t quite ready to eat street food yet.

China Town temples

We were eating lunch in a restaurant and an elephant walked by, no big deal, right?  After all we were in Thailand.

It had been about a month since we last saw the ocean and were more than ready to get out of the city and head for the beaches down south.  We heard mixed things about Phuket and were a little hesitant about spending time there.  Some told us that it was a great time, lots of partying and beautiful beaches.  Others told us to skip it,  that it was very touristy with heaps of lady-boys trying to pull you into their clubs and that the islands were where we should go.

To Phuket we went.  Phuket is Thailand’s largest island, I had no idea Phuket was an island.  The most affordable area in Phuket is Old Phuket Town, most tourist stay at Patong Beach about 15K away over the hills but its a lot more expensive.  We found a nicely priced guesthouse right in town and hired a motorbike so we could explore the island.

Old Phuket Town

That evening we went to a local bar with live music to get a drink or two.   We were the only tourists in the bar and it was a nice change.  The locals were very friendly and gave us some great advice on which beaches to go to and also recommended a good restaurant to got to.

The bar

This tasty blended drink made with mint, lime and whiskey is sure to sneak up on you

They suggested we eat dinner at Kamala which was a hill with a stunning view of Phuket Town.  There were many restaurants to choose from and they were reasonably priced too.

The next day we spent exploring some of the beaches of Phuket.  It was only a quick ride over the hills and we were back at the beach.  No surf, but it was nice to go for a swim and lay in the sun.

We made it!!!  Sweet sweet ocean

Don’t want to walk to the next beach?  Hop on the local elephant and get a ride over

There were many beautiful beaches along the western coast of Phuket.  Most are pretty crowded but a few we stumbled upon with no one around.

Another beautiful beach

Stumbling upon this uncrowded beautiful beach was a nice surprise

After a full day of beach hopping and snorkeling, Kahi turned to me and said “I want to go surfing!”  We were planning to spend three weeks in Thailand, but decided to cut it short so we could spend more time in Malaysia hunting for waves.

The next morning we caught a bus to Krabi then hired a boat to take us to Hat Ton Sai.  The boat ride wasn’t cheap.  None of the regular boats would take us to Ton Sai and only to Railey, the more popular and expensive beach next door.  So we privately charter a boat to take us there.

Our private boat to Ton Sai

It took about an hour to get from Krabi to Hat Ton Sai, but the ride was very scenic.

Hat Ton Sai

The beach was a lovely white sand crescent beach surrounded by steep limestone cliffs a true backpackers and rock climbers paradise.  Most people come to Ton Sai to rock climb and if you don’t climb its the perfect place to achieve pure relaxation.

We sat back and watched the rock climbers make their way up the steep cliffs

Rock climbers getting an early start

Kick back and relax on the beach.

The place we stayed in was very very basic.  It was a small bamboo hut right by the beach with nothing in it except for a futon on the floor and a mosquito net.  The huts were managed by the guys that ran the “Chill Out Bar” the best and only reggae bar on the beach.  The guys were so stoney!  During the day they work the bar and lounge around the bar and at night they listen to sick reggae music and put on a fire show.  We had a great time chilling with them and just sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

The Chill Out Bar

We tried to see if we could rent this sick tree house but the boss of the Chill Out Bar lives there.

Our humble bamboo bungalow, basic but comfortable

The very basic shower.  An out door bucket of water, it wasn’t the clearest water but we got over it and used it anyway.

Every night at 9pm the guys at the Chill Out Bar would put on a fire show, they let Kahi give it a go.

The bar next door had a tight rope (slack rope), we spent some time fooling around on it.  Some of the rock climbers were really good at it and could jump around on it and even do two people at a time.

Ton Sai Sunset

The path that leads from the beach to the upper road with a few more restaurants and accommodations on it

A goat along the path

Sweet stick rice and mango is a delicious desert

After a couple days at Ton Sai we began to get a little antsy.  There really isn’t much to do there and you can only do so much of nothing before you go crazy.  Kahi’s 30th birthday was coming up and he wanted to do some SCUBA at Ko Phi PHi so we bought ferry tickets for the following morning.

The ferry from Hat Ton Sai to Ko Phi Phi

Ko Phi Phi

Since we saved some money staying in the little bamboo bungalow and it was Kahi’s 30th birthday we decided to splurge a little and stay somewhere nice for the next couple of days.  The hotel was the PP Princess right on the beach and it had a gorgeous infinity pool over looking the ocean.

The pool

That evening we spent visiting different dive shops and deciding which one to go with for our two dives the following day.  We chose to go with Mosquito Dive and they invited us to come back in a few hours to watch them give one of the girls her last test before becoming a dive master.  After eating dinner we stopped by the shop to see what it was all about.

First thing she had to do was go under water with a tank filled with minimal air and chug a beer underwater. After completing that task they had her sit down with a snorkel in her mouth and they poured a bottle of Thai Whiskey and another beer down a funnel attached to her snorkel and she had to chug the concoction.

Beer and whiskey were spit everywhere and she threw up multiple times.  It was quite entertaining.  After completing these tasks she was awarded her dive master certificate.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed over to the pier where our boat was waiting.  We both had not dove in a while and were both a little nervous, but more excited.

Mosquito Boat

Our dive master was a local of Ko Phi Phi named Champ.  The dives were off of Ko Phi Phi Le, a smaller island located just off of Ko Phi Phi,  where the movie “The Beach” was filmed.  The first dive was pretty nice, the reef wasn’t very impressive but the sea life was quite abundant.  We saw a leopard shark, cuttlefish, flounder, starfis, seahorses, sea nymphs and all sorts of other critters.  So far so good.

After the first dive the boat operator took us by a cliff jump we heard of and we jumped off the boat, climbed up the cliff and jumped.  It was a lot higher than we thought, probably around 45ft.

They also took us by the beach where they filmed the movie “the beach” but it wasn’t the same as the movie.  There were around 25 boats on the beach and a ton of people, not like the movies where its deserted.  It was still a very beautiful beach, just not what we were expecting.

The beach from the movie “The Beach” but way more crowded

After lunch we prepared for our next dive which was just around the corner of the island.  I was unable to do the second dive because of pressure in my crown, it was a bummer.  Kahi went on his own with Champ and they saw a seahorse and some other sea life.  I cruised on the boat and worked on my tan.

Champ our dive master, Kahi and Louise on the boat after a lovely day of SCUBA

Champ told us about a Muy Thai fight that was happening that evening and sold us a couple of tickets so we could go check it out.  There were 8 fights and they didn’t start till 9pm, the first couple of fights were younger kids so we decided to meet at 10pm and head over together.

After leaving the dive shop we laid around the pool and went for a walk to find some where to eat.  I wasn’t feeling so good so we went back to the hotel to take a nap and rest up so we could celebrate Kahi’s birthday later that night.

Before heading over to meet with Champ we stopped to get a bite to eat.  I was still feeling a bit woozy and though I might have to throw up, the bathroom wasn’t easily accessible so we sat near the entrance where I could run outside to puke if necessary.  After dinner we were walking to meet up with Champ, but I had to stop and throw up in the bushes.  I got a good old case of food poisoning, it was my turn.    Man did it suck!  I didn’t want to ruin Kahi’s birthday and felt a little better after throwing up so on we went to the Muy Thai fights.

Muy Thai

The fights were pretty brutal with non-stop action.  Each fight consisted of 5 rounds of 2 minutes each.  They fought until one of the opponents was knocked out or by a point system that we didn’t quite understand.  The first couple rounds were pretty young guys maybe 15 or 16 years old.  It was a little hard to watch as they punched and kicked the crap out of each other.  Each successive fight was an older and more skilled pair of opponents.  There were even a couple of matches where “falong” or tourist who had been training fought.

I made it through all the fights without puking, but had a plastic bag with me just in case

Food poisoning sucks!  We had been traveling for about 5 months though South-East Asia and had eaten at the most sketchy hole in the wall places possible and then we get to Thailand and eat a decent places and we get the worst food poising ever.  Both times from curry, watch out for the coconut curry!  Its evil!  No not really but just make sure they use fresh coconut milk or you will suffer and wont be able to eat food for a day or two.

The next morning we hopped on a ferry back to Phuket to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur where we would meet up with our buddy Ditesh, then head down south in to Tioman Island in search of some waves.

Kahi makes a pretty lady-boy