Thailand Day 1 - 7

Thailand Travels

Day 1/Day 2
17 January 2011

Dear Family

Our backpacks are packed and we catch the Gautrain to OR Tambo International Airport to fly to Thailand! As we board the plane we are greeted by Thai air hostesses 'sa-wa-dee'! On the plane to Bangkok we find ourselves seated next to a giant called Max. We are seated next to the window and middle seat and are trapped in by our new friend - A single, 39 year old man from Cape Town, traveling to Thailand to visit two very nice Thai girls who he met through the social network, Facebook! Great! Brett and Max engaged in some friendly conversation where he discovered the true creepiness that is Max! Luckily he wasn't seated next to us on our connecting flight to Phuket - Goodbye Max!

We landed in Bangkok after 11 hours of which Brett slept for a maximum of 10 mins (even though he had taken a sleeping pill and dared himself to not fall asleep) after he swapped seats with Boxy (whose seat refused to recline and only one ear phone of her speakers worked) - we were off to a great start! We landed in Bangkok and caught our connecting flight to Phuket - rookie mistake as we were planning on going all the way to Koh Samui and there are direct domestic flights from Bangkok to that very island! Anyways, we landed in Phuket and no sooner had we collected our bags we were hassled by Thai guys offering us their best price for 'taxi, taxi'! We first decided to check on available flights to our next destination as we needed to get all the way from Phuket in the south to Koh Samui which is quite a distance away - and we were told there was only one seat left, perfect! So a taxi it was!!! Boxy was prepared to pay whatever ridiculous price the taxi drivers suggested while Brett began using his bartering skills and so it all began and we were officially in Thailand! Brett's lack of sleep (remember it was 4am SA time) and Boxy's oversleeping were not a good match! We decided to brace a taxi trip all the way from Phuket In the south to Don Sak pier, a mere 5 hours away plus an hour and a half ferry trip to Koh Samui! Day 1 was an extremely long day but getting to Koh Samui island made it all worth it!

Our hotel here was on the beachfront with the most amazing views of the bay and beach! We went for a walk on the beach and swam in the sea! That night we went out for a chilled dinner at a different hotel on the beach! And Day 1 ended on a good note!

Day 3
19 January

Dear Family

Today we caught a ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party! The initial first part of our trip revolved around Full Moon party and making it there! A short ferry trip and we arrived! We walked from the pier to our hotel which overlooked the pier and from the outside looked as dodgy and run down as it could possibly be! And the rooms were not that much better :) but a room is a room! We laughed at our new residence, got dressed for the beach and decided to hire our first scooter in Thailand called 'scoopi' and of course it was the only metallic pink one and it was ours!! We were good to go :)

So off we went on our new scooter down the main road. We turned a corner and stopped at a set of robots (which by the way have very little meaning or significance in Thailand) and we were ordered by a Thai traffic officer to pull over immediately! Great! There on the sidewalk were other foreigners surrounded by Thai police all with our scooters being confiscated! Seriously :) The reason we'd been pulled over: no number plate! Of course! We did such a thorough inspection of our scooter before signing the contract and the one most obvious thing we neglected to see was the lack of a number plate. So we were told to bring the dude we rented the bike from here or pay 2000 baht - off we walked back down main street with our helmets in hand and we told our guy what had happened. He said no worries, he forgot to screw the number plate on! Of course he did :) so off we went and they did some bartering of their own kind! Problem solved and we were back on 'scoopi' off to Had Rin beach!

Had Rin beach is where Full Moon Party all takes place! This beach gets transformed into one massive beach party! Every shop down that road sells anything lumo and anything that screams Full Moon! We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach and the day was beyond perfect, the sea was an awesome turquoise and they were busy setting up for Full Moon! We chilled on the beach and swam. The Thai Navy pulled onto the beach for their training as we all watched what they were doing! This was interesting! In Thailand the navy is a big deal and propaganda cars drive around with massive speakers promoting the navy and all it had to offer! The King is also all over with pictures of him in every shop and on the street.

We had a sunset dinner just down the road from our hotel, it looked over the pier and water! Tonight was the night of Full Moon Party so we bought our 'pre-drinks' (beer) from the 7eleven and went back to our hotel to get suited up!! In our taxi we met the following people: Aaron (from UK), Kieren (from UK), Franco (from Canada), Darren (from Australia) and Laura (dating Darren, from Scotland, living in Australia)! This was our Full Moon Party crew! We were good to go :)

As we arrived down the road that leads to Full Moon it is lumo everywhere! And people like you won't believe! Thai dudes painting on neon coloured tattoos, lumo t-shirts, lumo people, lumo 'infamous' buckets (you buy your mix, hard liquor and a Red Bull in a small medicine bottle that all come in your lumo bucket) - these are what people warn you about! Being there you feel as though you are in another world and to the Thai people everything about this beach bash is normal. We stopped at one of the bars to paint ourselves lumo with our new friends and to drink some beer before venturing to the beach! As we walked onto the beach it looks awesome but relatively chilled until you walk further down and you look to your left and right and all you can see is thousands of people, bars, music bars!! It doesn't end! Every bar area has it's own music so you can choose what music you want to dance to! Everyone just goes mental! Brett got offered 'pills, pills' by fellow drug dealers who walked amongst the crowds very relaxed! We dance with old ballie Thai men, we watched young kids throwing their fire sticks, we saw little kids sleeping next to their parents as they painted foreigners with lumo tattoos! Everything here seemed so normal to these people and to us it was insane :)! Every bar had Thai girls screaming at you to buy a bucket as they held out their signs! Brett and Aaron went down a water slide and Brett sand dived as he hit the bottom :) all good fun! Brett became best mates with both Darren from Australia and a Kiwi from New Zealand who is traveling around for the next year! We got home around 4am on one of their taxi's (a bakkie with seats and a cover on the back) as we watched a dude vomit off the back onto the road! Delightful :) everything about Full Moon was amazing!!!

Day 4
20 January

Dear Family

The day after Full Moon and we slept in a bit late. We were having a few toilet issues in our room as our loo seemed to take some time to flush and drain. This was something Boxy forgot that morning and needless to say she had a seriously 'crappy' time with our toilet! Moving on :)

Today we went up to the north of the island to see some of the island and the beaches. Our first stop was a waterfall and the real experience here were the toilets (once again)! So far we had been faced with pretty 'decent' toilets until here and of course our hotel toilet!! In the girls' toilets there was a hole, a sink of water and a jug... What the hell? The normal thing to do in Thailand is squat! And once you done you throw your loo paper into the dustbin, fill the jug with water and 'flush' the loo! Nothing about this system is sanitary!

After this we hopped back on our scooter and cruised up north to Haad Son beach! We spent the afternoon on the beach and grabbed a late lunch! We got a our first Thai oil massage that evening and then met up with Franco, Darren and Laura to have dinner in the market! The market was just around the corner from our hotel and had everything you could imagine - Thai desserts, doughnuts, pad thai, crab, lobster, fish, fruit smoothies, shoes, spring rolls! Everything was in this market made before you by a local Thai at their little stall! We then went to the Clothes market with them to do some shopping and good fashioned 'bartering' (FYI neither of us are too good at it). We then met up with kieren and Aaron and went to watch Thai kick-boxing. This small stadium was full and so it began! The first fight was between two 13 year old boys - the best part about their fight was their support team on the sideline screaming for them and giving them advice!! Their parents, coach, brothers, friends of siblings - they had all the support they could get and watching them was awesome! As the night progressed the more professional and older guys fought. It is tradition to do the boxing dance before the fight starts, almost like a warm up session. The one guy was kicked so hard his arm broke! These guys are strong and skilled and watching them is insane!!


Day 5
20 January

Dear Family

Today we went on a Day tour to the islands of Koh Phangan! We snorkeled in clear blue water off a small rock island and were stung relentlessly in the sea and had no idea what it was! We then went to a national park lookout point which was so beautiful! We went to another island where we had a lunch, chilled on the beach, swam, We had our first coconut drink, kayaked around another nearby island and then back to the boat we went to head back home! The tour guide was a small Thai dude who was so funny!

Today was our last afternoon in Koh Phangan so we scooted off to Haad Rin to do some shopping for our siblings! We came back to a beach along the way home where we bought a beer and watched the sun set. The cool thing about Koh Phangan is its size (it's really small) and being able to get around the island ourselves and go wherever we want! That evening we went to the market and ate starters and then went to an Italian restaurant to eat pizza! Boxy needed a change of food :) she wasn't made out to eat pad thai for every meal unlike Brett who has officially found his favorite food of all time! Over dinner we decided it was time for Brett to wax his legs! How we got to this conclusion we have no idea but off we went to our local massage parlous and our trusty Thai ladies! Brett got his legs waxed with a very brave face while Boxy got a full body massage! The Thai ladies thought this was hilarious! :) on the way home we drove past a Thai music festival directly opposite our hotel! And that day We had arranged to change rooms to get away from our toilet situation! Today was a good day :)

Day 6
21 January

Dear Family

Today we were heading back to Koh Samui! We had breakfast at our hotel and decided to take one last spin on our beloved 'scoopi'! Since Box hadn't tried riding the scooter yet we thought this would be a perfect time! As we swapped places and Brett explained the basics on 'how to ride a scooter', Boxy accelerated and we somehow ended up completely on the other side of the road! She put brakes and decided this was the end of her scooter days! But Brett said let's try again! Yet again we landed up on the other side of the road off the road! Fantastic! We thought now would be a good time to swap. We Returned the bike and paid R250 for 3 days! Brett found his passion in life - riding scooters! :)

We took the Speed boat back to Koh Samui where we spent the night to catch a flight to Krabi to catch a ferry to Koh Phi Phi to catch another ferry to Phuket!

When we got to Koh Samui we caught a shuttle to the northern part of the island closer to the airport so we could catch our flight the next day! We checked in at Seascape Resort after the taxi dropped us off saying that the hotel was not much further. Well clearly his judgement of distance was far from correct because we walked and walked in the heat of Thailand's midday sun with our back packs until we found where we were looking for after we were told by a fellow Thai chap we had already walked passed it. Great!! At this stage Boxy was completely over life and on the verge of somewhat of a mini breakdown. But we made it! And everything was right again as we Went to beach in front of our hotel where we were staying in a chalet with a very shitty smelling bathroom! By this stage we were getting used to this kind of stench and that is just not okay :) seriously!

We lay on the beach for a bit, swam (where of course we were bitten by what we had discovered with micro jelly fish) and had lunch at the hotel's restaurant! In Koh Phi Phi we went into a pharmacy to ask what the hell was going on in the water when we swam and we discovered that what we needed was anti jelly fish sting sunblock cream! Our mystery of the stinging/biting water was solved by a tiny Thai lady! On the beach Boxy got a full body massage and somehow convinced Brett to man up and get a manicure, pedicure and foot scrub!!! Victory :)

That evening we walked down the main street and went to a Rusta bar for a drink! We did some lovely bartering along the way and went out for dinner at an awesome upstairs open restaurant called The Loft! We loved this part of Koh Samui where everything seemed to come alive at night! We decided that tonight was the night we would embrace the all time classical art of 'Cabaret'! We first went for a cocktail at an outside bar called Lip Smackers then we made our way upstairs to the cabaret show. Outside on the street before we walked upstairs into the club were fabulous lady boys dressed to their absolute best in fancy ball dresses with excessive and extravagant make-up and jewelry! The cabaret was really cool and a good laugh as they mouthed the words to Mariah Carey! At the end it was a photo opportunity that couldn't be missed. Boxy posed for a photo between two gorgeous lady boys and then it was Brett's turn! Classic! As Brett stood there and I said 'smile' both lady boys lifted their legs and wrapped themselves around Brett! They were in heaven while Brett was in some version of hell! Freaked out after that we immediately left :) we got pancakes from a street vendor with nutella and bananas and then it was time for Brett's second dinner - another helping of pad Thai chicken! On the corner of our hotel was a spa and we got a fish feet spa treatment! We placed our feet in separate tanks of water as fish sucked at them! Brett was more successful than Boxy as she had a max of 5 fish do their job!! It was en experience :)

Day 7
22 January

Dear Family

This morning we said farewell to the islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui as we headed to the airport to fly down south to Krabi! After some research into our available modes of transport we decided it was best to catch a flight down south and Krabi was our only option and from there we caught a taxi bus to the ferry to Koh Phi Phi! This trip took us an hour and a half and we arrived in Koh Phi Phi that afternoon at about 3:30pm. This day was mostly traveling which by now we were becoming quite accustomed to!

Upon arriving at Koh Phi Phi pier we were charged 20 baht each to 'enter' the island and then we needed to find accommodation (something we should have probably done before)! Koh Phi Phi is a tiny island that is about 8km in length! So we figured it shouldn't be that hard to walk and find accommodation. We were very wrong! As we started walking we decided to stop and have a late lunch (another rookie mistake which we only thought of now while writing because that was when everyone was looking and booking into the available accommodation) crap!

Boxy's plan was to walk a bit out of the centre of the island to where it was a 'tiny' bit more quiet. Every place we ended up asking said 'FULL' while others would cost way too much than we were prepared to pay. We eventually found a place after some sulking on Boxy's side and it was off the main little street with a flat screen tv and aircon! This would do just fine! It cost us 2300 baht a night.

We went for sundowners on the beach. We got dressed and went out for dinner at a restaurant on the beachfront. From there we walked to a bar also on the beach to watch a fire show and have a drink! We sat on the beach and we met Johnny, a Thai fire thrower! He fancied himself as Michael Jackson reincarnated as he busted his moves and did the moon walk while throwing fire! The fire show was amazing!!! And that put an end to Day1 in Koh Phi Phi!