Going Back To Thailand
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2006
1
139
148
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Ko Phangan,
Thailand
Thursday, December 11, 2008
===
After a couple weeks with my parents in HK, it was time to head back to the sun and sea. I miss the islands and staring out at the ocean from my hammock. I hadn't been "swimming" in the ocean since before the Olympics when I was in Borneo. I knew it was going to be a long day of travel from Zhongshan via Macau to Bangkok, but I didn't know how long it was actually going to take before I got to my destination. On the flight from Macau to Bangkok, I sat next to an older American guy that does a lot of business in China and Thailand. According to the many stamps in my passport from those two countries, we had a fair bit to talk about between naps during the 3 hour flight. Of course, he complimented me on my excellent English and I gave my now standard reply, "Oh, thank you very much. I have been practicing for many years now." I asked him where he was going in Thailand and what his favorite places were. He said he'd been to: Bangkok, Phuket, Phi Phi, Pattaya... and then he told me about a place, "you've probably never heard about in the Gulf of Thailand". Of course, that always peaks my interest. He couldn't exactly remember the name, but he said it wasn't too far from Bangkok. So I started guessing some of the lesser known islands near Bangkok like Si Chang, Mak, Kut, Kradat.... all the way to Samet and that rang a bell, but wasn't quite it. He started sounding it out.... Sam... uh... Sam... way... At that point, I couldn't help it, I just started laughing and said, ?Ko Samui? with an incredulous inflection in my voice. "Ya, Ya that's it. Ko Samui." I told him that I didn't much like the island 17 years ago before it got it's own airport and it was a safe bet that most people knew about it as it is 3rd on the list of top 10 tourist destinations behind Pattaya and Phuket. In fact, David Beckham and some Spice have a house on the island. Fortunately, we were beginning final approach to Bangkok shortly thereafter. Other than his need to buy a vowel, he was a pretty nice guy.
When I landed in BKK, I decided that there was no need to spend any time there and went straight into the Lomprayah High Speed Cat office to book a trip down to another lesser known island, Ko Phangan. LOL I left Zhongshan at 10 in the morning and didn't arrive in Chaloklum until after 1pm the next day. Yet another 27 hour travel day to Ko Phangan. Why do I keep doing this to myself even though I council against it? Fortunately, I didn't have to fight with the Songtaew drivers again because Joeran was good enough to pick me up from the pier, Thank you. And also to Jamie, from Wake Up Wakeboarding and Bar, for lending him the sidecar motorcycle to come get me.
As far as I knew, Chaloklum was just a transit point with a 7-11 and an ATM. To my friends, it was a village worth spending a couple months holiday. They had rented a house in the village so I figured I go join them and see what the fuss was about. After a couple weeks, I found out that there is absolutely nothing to do in Chaloklum except drink in Jamie's bar or the Lost Dog. I think the only thing of note that happened in 2 weeks was that Jamie got bit by a HUGE centipede and had to go to the hospital. It was the talk of the town and made me for the first time in a long while sort of feel like wearing shoes. We walked into the bar minutes after he got bit and I spotted the centipede on a stick against the wall. Joeran tried to kill it but missed chasing it behind the fridge where a big gecko got a hold of the centipede. You can see in the pictures the centipede is as big as the gecko, but he wasn't letting go. There's blood splattered all over the wall. We couldn't figure out if it was Jamie's, the gecko's or the centipede's blood. I wonder how long a meal like that would last him?
All in all it was a good couple weeks just chilling out with my friends and hanging out in a more relaxed part of Ko Phangan. We did have a poker tournament one night, but I only came in 2nd. My skills have gone to pot over the past 3 years of not playing. Although, I did manage to win another tournament we played on Bottle Beach a week later.
