After a shower and a clean up we decided to head off with some of our group to see the Grand Palace. This is the former residence of the Royal Family. The Thais all absolutely worship the royal family - it is a crime to say anything bad about them and you can actually be imprisoned for doing so. Mind you - with the admission money from the Grand Palace they have built a new tollfree freeway in Bangkok instead of paying for their helicopter rides and university fees so they do sound a great deal better than the English! There are also pictures of them ALL over Thailand randomly on bridges etc.
To go into the Grand Palace you have to cover your legs and shoulders. After a 30 minute walk there (including a delightful meeting with scammers trying to tell us it was closed and take us to jewellery shops which we had been warned about) this was a truly wondrous experience of being the hottest I have ever been in my entire life. We were all literally dripping as we walked round in hot 30+ degree sun and incredible humidity! The highlight of the grand palace was the emerald buddha (which is actually made out of Jade!) - a tiny statue in a huge building. You are not allowed to take photos inside and must follow all the rules of the Temples - dont point your feet at the buddha (feet are the lowest point of the soul).
After the Grand Palace and a quick stop off in the first air conditioned place we could find we went to Wat Po - the temple of the reclining Buddha. This is a giant reclining Buddha and is very impressive as far as giant statues go but I can't say it was the most exciting thing we've ever seen!
In the evening we all headed off the Ko San road which is the backpackers area for some food and shopping. Everything is SO cheap so I shopped to my little hearts content! Its a great area, and nice and cool at night - although slightly marred by the people trying to sell u a Tuk Tuk ride or a Ping Pong show (if you don't know, or have a delicate stomach it is probably better not to ask about the latter!)
11th October - Up early this morning - we left the hotel at 6.45 am - but thankfully this was into an air-conditioned minibus!
1st Stop - Train market. This is a local market with all sorts of fresh foods, meat, fish etc. It absolutely stank and quite frankly, was a bit gross. A lot of people don't refrigerate poultry in Thailand and the smell of this plus fish plus hundred of smelly people who don't have access to regular showers was rather unpleasant! The reason we stopped there was to see the place the market is held - it is on the railway line (literally) There are 8 trains a day and every time a train comes the awnings and stalls on the line have to be moved out of the way! Unfortunately we didn't get to see the train as it was delayed but apparently there are great videos on You Tube!
2nd Stop - Orchid and Coconut Sugar Making Farm. We saw how they make coconut sugar using fresh coconuts, which look nothing like what we are used to them looking like - the ones we get in England are old and can only be used for coconut milk. There are SO many Orchids here - they turn up in your drinks regularly and literally for the Thais they are just a common plant amazing that we pay so much for them in England!
3rd Stop - Floating Market. After a longboat ride form the pier we arrived at the floating market. It is very cool, but fairly self-explanatory. It started because the locals use the narrow river as a road and used to trade off their boats - it grew from there.
4th Stop - Woodcraft Workshop. Here we saw traditional carving - incredibly intricate and amazing. A lot of it is made to order to be shipped to the USA and is generaly over 2,000 dollars - but when you see this stuff and hear how many weeks it takes to carve it still seems so cheap!
5th Stop - Lunch on the River Kwai. Set Thai menu while the restaurant rocked - not conducive to a good meal. All Thai food appears to be spicy - James loves it but as I can find Korma a bit hot its really not my cup of tea!
6th Stop - Erawan Waterfall. By this time we arrived here it had started to rain - a shame but it is still so hot when it is raining that you hardly notice it. However we had to walk up a muddy rocky and quite treacherous path to get to the waterfall so the rain really helped with that - we were all covered in mud! The waterfall has seven levels - most of which you can swim in. As we were short of time we only made it up to the fourth level. This had a huge rock which can be used as a waterslide. The water was lovely - just a shame about the fish that wanted to nibble our feet! The Second and Third levels of the waterfall both have waterfalls that you can sit behind - as well as the fish!
7th Stop - We got on the sleeper train at 9.30pm - exhausted (but full after our Tour GUide ordered us all Pizza!)
12th October - We got off the sleeper train at about 8am in Surat Thani. Breakfast in a local cafe and then off on another Pickup truck wth a roof and no side to the Khoa Sok national park - or just outside as you can't stay in the park. Our resort was right by the river and when I say resort I use that word very loosely. We stayed in huts on stilts. No aircon - mosquito nets, and no need to go into the rainforest to see insects as there was a whole forests worth in our room - it was basic at best!!!
Luckily we didn't have to spend too long in our room as we had lunch to go to. In what became a theme for the rest of our stay there the food took forever and turned up in whatever order they felt like. It seems to be the norm in Thailand that food comes out when it is ready and it is normal not to get it all at the same time. This of course is exacerbated by us being a group of 15. However this 'resort' was particularly bad. Starters turned up after mains, my order of chicken and chips turned up quickly, well the chicken did - the chips turned up 30 minutes later! One of our group waited 1 1/2 hours for their food on one occassion. They were lucky we were all relaxed and enjoying the holiday or they could have had a mass revolt on their hands!
So after a long lunch we went Tubing on the river. We thought it a bit of a joke when we were asked to sign a dangerous activities disclaimer. Of course, we'd never been Tubing on a river - especially one with trees, rocks and all manner of obstacles in. Much screaming and hilarity ensued. By this point our group had bonded quite well and we all tried to 'save' each other when we saw on person and their rubber ring heading for a tree - usually resulting in 2 people hitting it instead of one! We all had a great time thought and emerged 2 hours later from the river bruised and scratched!
On the way back we stopped off at Monkey Temple. The locals feed the monkeys in the mountains every morning and afternoon and it has become a bit of a visitors spot to see this. I have never seen so many Monkeys in my life - it was fantastic!
We also stopped to see another waterfall - although to be honest by this point we were all getting fed up of more waterfalls and were getting rather cold as it was raining and cloudy. As the national park is a mountainous region they get a lot of rain - dumped before it reaches the southern islands.
13th October - I had an extremely lazy day today. Me and some of the girls in the group literally lazed around and did nothing except play Jenga with our tour guide Simon.
James went for a walk into the National Pak with some of the others - I was put off by the promise of leaches and sure enough out of 5 people 2 got leaches - YUCK! He then went back to a spot on the river we had been to with a rope swing and messed about in the water with some of the guys!
In the evening we went to a 'cocktail bar' as it was 2 peoples birthdays in the group. Of course we were in a small village with practically nothing there so a cocktail bar was more of a wooden hut with mats on the floor and 10 times more mosquitos than humans. James and I had 95% deet mosquito repellent on and still both got covered in bite!
14th October - Another very early morning - 6.30am breakfast after a sweltering nights sleep - desperately missing air-con! We took another Truck to the Pier and nearly missed the Ferry, arriving at 9.59 when it was due to leave at 10am, all by this point fearing for our lives after some truly crazy Thai driving - I think the driver was worried he wouldn't get paid if we missed the Ferry! It was 2 hours on the Ferry to Ko Samui, the biggest of the Islands on the East side of Southern Thailand. (Phuket is on the western side) Luck shined on the group and we were all upgraded - YAY! AIR CON - DOUBLE YAY!
We dozed in the afternoon and then in the evening got dressed up (Straighteners came out for the first time since we arrived although they were pretty pointless as my hair kinked again almost instantly in the the heat!) took a taxi into the centre and had dinner on the beach - all kinds of grilled fish which were excellent. We then separated and James headed to another bar with the heavy drinking group and I headed off for some shopping with the girls before meeting up with the whole group later. We ended up back at the beach for a beach party - playing Funky House music. It was a really great night - Ko Samui is definitely a party Island!
15th October - James jumped out of bed nice and early whilst I crawled out still spinning slightly - possibly as a result of the generous Thai measures of alcohol! We had to get the Ferry to Ko Tao ( 3 hours from Ko Samui and a lot smaller) at 12.30 and the waves and the hangover were a very unpleasant combination! However I cheered up when we got to our resort and I saw that our rooms were by far the best we have had - air con, Cable TV, cold water only shower (ok so maybe that but wasn't so great!). Either way they were clean and bug free which is enough for us as I think our standards havel lowered somewhat in the last couple of weeks! We had a lazy afternoon and met up as a group for dinner by the beach again before turning in for an early night as we were all shattered after the travelling, early mornings and late nights.
16th October - Today we headed off on a snorkelling trip. All day on a boat with 5 different snorkell sights. The pictures speak for themselves - it was really great. It was however incredibly hot and every single one of us who went is pink all over despite the high factor suncream! We have now decided that instead of joining the majority of our tour group on the train back to Bangkok tomorrow we will stay with some of our new friends in the group and go to Ko Phangan for a couple of days before returning to Bangkok for our flight as the Islands are so beautiful and at least there is a sea breeze and a pool! It has been a fantastic week - crammed full of stuff but really enjoyable!
Hey, Good to see you're having a good time! Pictures look wonderful!
ReplyDeleteskippy
Koh Tao is great, I spent about 10 days there, but I think it may have changed a bit in the last 8 years.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are having fun.
Ian x x