Smiles and Explosions - The Thai Experience
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2007
1
59
68
Trip End
Apr 30, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Monday, March 24, 2008
The next day we grabbed a really beautiful ferry ride to Ko Lanta, one of Thailand's most beautiful beach areas (so says Lonely Planet anyway, and we definitely agreed that it was gorgeous!). We got a tuk-tuk ride - piling the three of us into one with our luggage was most interesting (if I haven't explained already, tuk-tuks are like little motorcycles carryin a little kind of carriage for passengers). We arrived at the pretty laid back spot called Time For Lime - the name of the cooking school and hotel. We settled our stuff into our bungalows and grabbed a quick bite before starting our course.
The course was SO much fun! We learned how to make really good fishcakes, Tom Kam soup (coconut soup with chicken) and this great glazed barracuda dish as well as a neat appetizer. Never mind that we also had a view of the beach and the water the whole time! The instructor, a Norwegian-American who also owned the hotel, was excellent and even suggested brands of sauces and ingredients we could find at home!
A quick note about the population of Thailand's beach areas - I think like 80% are swedish or from some other scandanavian country! I had no idea it was such a popular destination, but many of the hotels had swedish advertisements and most offered swedish dishes!
We had managed to organize some snorkelling for the next day (the full moon meant the currents were really strong for all the diving trips, so Ewa and I abstained and we all agreed on some good snorkelling instead). We had a great day out on the water, had a fabulous lunch, and snorkelled plenty as well as relaxed on the beach (we went to an island called Ko Rok, ALSO very beautiful!). We spent the rest of the day wandering up and down and the street and playing German Bridge (a great card game Ewa taught me - Mel, very similar to Wizard!).
The last day of our beaches experience Kristina and I did an elephant trekking trip (Ewa lounged on the beach). Kristina and I had a most interesting experience - we were on the elephants for about 20 minutes and then prepared for what the brochure had described as a 10-minute walk to the waterfalls (there were two errors in this statement). The guide explained that it would, in fact, be 30 minutes each way to the waterfall. Then when we finally GOT there, the guide explaind (just BEFORE the 'falls') that there wasn't as much water this time of season. Well low and behold, there was almost NO water! It was more a trickle than any kind of waterfall! Kristina and I laughed about, and the guide tried to tell us some stuff, but I told him I couldn't hear him for the roar of the water in the background (good grief!). Never mind the fact that the whole morning took about 3.5 hours rather than the scheduled 2! Finally we made it back to the hotel to meet up with Ewa, who must have wondered what befell us! Then we were set to head to Bangkok...or so we thought.
One of the Thais working at the hotel had told us she could arrange for a ferry to Krabi, from where we could catch the overnight VIP bus to Bangkok (VIP meaning the seats recline to beds). The day of our departure, however, when we asked about the ferry, she said "OH, I thought Ko Phi Phi" (an island not far from from where we were, but certainly not Krabi and NOT the mainland), although we must have told her at least 3 times! Anyway, still all smiles, she suggested that we could get a minibus that would take us on a different ferry all the way to Krabi. Sucked in by her infectious enthusiasm, we agreed. The bus was due to pick us up at 1...we waited...waited...it was 1:30 and I went to ask, so she called them...we waited...waited...at 2 she told us that the minibus wouldn't work because of traffic, so instead (again, all of this said with big smiles, laughter and gushes of enthusiasm) we could ride a tuk tuk to one ferry, walk across on another, and catch a city bus to Krabi from that dock - all of it should take less than 2 hours, giving us PLENTY of time to get to our bus! At this point we had little choice but to agree. All seemed to be going well (although it took about 30 minutes longer to get to the city bus) and then the city bus ended up being about double the expected price and took twice as long - we arrived about 10 minutes before our bus left!! But we made it! This also demonstrates a little quirk about the Thais (at least those we dealt with - generalize? ME?) is that they hate to lose face, so they often respond to situations in which they were wrong either with smiles and enthusiastic alternatives (which may or may not exist) or little white lies to move things along! ANyway, suffice to say we got on the bus! (A similar experience also happened when we went to book the train - which as we know, ended up being the bus following a smiliar flow of events!).
Made it to Bangkok early that morning, checked in and had a wee nap, and then headed out an explored a fair bit - I hadn't seen overly much so it was great to walk around with the girls. We even checked out the red light district, which we thought was pretty tame, although we didn't linger likely into the more "shadier" hours of the night. We saw the temples, the royal palace, had a great massage - a fabulous weekend. Of course our last night there (we had to be up at around 4:30 for the airport the next day) Ewa wakes up and, somehow knowing I too was awake (we always seemed to wake up at the same things), she asked "Joe, why is the power off?" - not even questioning how she knew I was awake, I told her I didn't know and went down to the front desk. Greeting me was a grinning hotel employee telling me all was okay and to wait 5 minutes. I went back up and waited for 20, but still no power, so I went back down to ask (our room was heating up rather quickly). Same guy, same story, which I told him I didn't buy. The manager was there and I asked him what was up, and he said the power was out, to which I agreed. Then I asked him WHY the power was out, and he started laughing and between chuckles said "Boom". BOOM? I asked him what he meant by 'boom'. And then he pointed to a transformer on the street - "A transformer blew up?" - Yes he said, still chuckling, VERY big explosion. I was not entirely impressed, and asked rather pointedly when the power would be back on - he said probably 30 minutes. At this point, just shaking my head and too tired to banter further, I litterally threw my hands in the air and went back to bed - luckily the power did come back on and we made our flights no worries!
Whew - good times means long entries!! And now I had to say goodbye to Ewa and Kristina - FABULOUS travel companions - gonna miss you girls! The only downside is that my cell phone went missing! HMPH!
Off to Hong Kong and my China tour (and now an excuse to go shopping for a new cell phone!)!
Comments
Visiting the North.
Sawadeekrup, greetings from Chiangrai, north Thailand. Interesting journals and beautiful pics. Unlike Chiangmai, Chiangrai is less touristy and laid back. It would be another new experience for you.