I liked Krabi because it had all the required amenities (ie: internet and supermarkets) at reasonable prices. Krabi became my HQ for the next few days. Walking around the travel agents (everyone seems to be a travel agent) I saw a million and one different tours for sale. With my map I worked out where these tours go and decided to do them myself (it was a lot cheaper!)

The first day I caught a songtaew to Than Bok Koranee National Park, Ao Luk. The Southern region of Thailand has many national parks. This one has some very nice pools for picnicking and swimming. I meet a group of friendly Thai people and hung out with them for an hour or two. Afterwards I rented a kayak and guide for 2/3hrs (I did this from the national park for a good price compared to the packages in Krabi) who took me to Bor Thor (Baw Thaw) to see the caves Tham Hua Kalok (aka Pee Hu Toa) and Tham Lawt. The reason I wanted to go here was because I remember seeing the caves in episode 10 of the Amazing Race 1. Tham Hua Kalok has a lot of supposedly 2000/3000yr old cave paintings. The interesting ones were two hands, one with 5 fingers and the other with 6, and an alien like figure.

The next day I rented a bike and drove about 50km to a national park near Khlong Thom. There is a crystal clear hot spring here (Sa Thang Tiaw) and some beautiful pools you can bathe in. About 10km on there is an absolutely exquisite emerald pool, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. A must see.

At the hot spring I met a Thai couple, they didn’t know any English but with the help of my phrase book I was able to communicate with them. They had a car and invited me back to their house where we had a drink and sang some karaoke. Their place was some miles away, well off the beaten track, so afterwards the guy had to drop me back at my motorbike. On the way he asked me for 500 baht for petrol. He had filled up the car before we left and it was only 100 baht for petrol to and from my motorbike. I offered him 100 baht but he wanted more. Rightly or wrongly I started to feel that he was trying to make money off me. So I got out and started walking, though my motorbike was about 30km away. I managed to hitch a ride with a young guy and got back to my motorbike at dark. All and all an interesting experience.

In Krabi you can’t miss hearing calls for some guy I’ve never met called Riley. You also can’t miss going there. Riley Beach is only accessible by boat and you can’t bargain with these guys. To quote Adam Smith:

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”

and these guys certainly do. But its beautiful, particularly the little bay in between West and East Riley called Hat Tham Phra Nang.

The Tiger Cave Monastery is like any other monastery except for a small cave that now has a big building built around it. The cave has something to do with a tiger, but that’s probably someone’s vivid imagination. Like the Buddha footprint, some 1000 and something steps up the nearby hill. Nice view though. The Tiger Cave Monastery also has some disturbing pictures of people cut open and a human skeleton. I’m not kidding, its very strange.

Go to Phang Nga if you want to do any of the boat tours, they are 1/3 of the price than the same ones in Krabi. Plus its a really nice place, it hasn’t reached that critical mass point where all of a sudden everyone is a travel agent, internet cafe, motorbike hirer, and laundry service all in one. I went to the floating Muslim village (Koh Panyee) and can confirm that Osama Bin Laden is not hiding out in Thailand.

(18/1/03) The Full Moon Party is like any other party except

Returning to Khao San Road for the third time, I began to see it as a unfriendly scamy place, at least compared to the Thailand I had just come from.

I’m not sure if Koh Samui is really Thailand. I mean 50% of the people there have to be foreigners. It’s good for the taxi drivers, they’ll try and make you pay extra and throw stuff at you if you don’t. Walking down the main strip at Chaweng Beach at night, the scene of drunken rivalry was reminiscent of Queen St, Auckland or George St, Sydney or any Western strip of bitumen and surrounds frequented by crowds on a Friday or Saturday night.

If you go to Samui and you’re like me you’ll be faced with many questions. Which beach should I stay at? Which bungalow place do I stay at? (there are just so many) What is there to do? Where do I eat? Where are all the Thai people? Let me help you out. Koh Samui seems generally expensive, but somehow I managed to find a sweet as cheap bungalow on the beach. This beach (Mae Nam) was absolutely beautiful. Think palm trees, sand, sun, blue water, and not too many people. If you want a place to stay with some night life, but not so expensive either, then Lamai (the 2nd most popular beach) is a very good bet. For that special meal, Big Rock Restaurant outside of Lamai has an awesome view. Around the island some good spots for sightseeing are Fisherman’s Village Bo Phut (quaint sea village) and Hin Yin and Hin Yai (phallic rocks with some decent wave action, the other beaches are like Mission Bay ie: no waves). The snake farm is OK if you haven’t seen snakes and people put scorpions in their mouth, with some pretty tame cock fighting as the entree. The Big Buddha (a temple with a large golden coloured Buddha) will allow your to accrue Buddhist merit by doing the following:

• purchasing rice and tipping it into alm bowls that are on a rotating conveyor belt
• purchasing incense sticks and placing them before a shrine
• purchasing gold foil which you can place on glue covered statues
• donating money to a monk who will bless you with water and tell you your future (i think, it was all in Thai)

Finally the million dollar question -where are all the Thai people? Look for the back streets behind the main Chaweng strip, where you’ll find shacks and fried rice priced at the national average of 20 baht.

If you get a map of Samui you’ll notice that there are roads marked that go into the interior of the island. Don’t let this fool you into thinking they are actually usable roads, or you’ll end up trying to climb very steep grades more suitable for rock climbing than motorbiking. If you’re stubborn you’ll keep trying, all the while thinking “I’ve come this far already, I can’t turn back now”, before coming off your bike twice and finally realising it’s just not meant to be. Can you guess who?

As an aside, have you ever wondered whether monks have to pay for things like transport? I found out today. Not only did this robbed one not pay, but he was given money before he hopped out of the car. Nice.

(8/1/3) Time to island hop to Samui’s next door neighbour, Koh Pha Ngan. First impressions, there’s more foreigners here than Thai people! Samui was 50/50 but this looks like 80/20, or at least my docking point Haadrin Beach does. So lets find a place to stay. OK, travel rule #1 – if they are playing re-runs of The Simpsons when you walk past, that’s where you stay. I met Sam here, the first person I have seen in 2 months that I know from pre-travel life.

My first experience of a beach bar was one of complete awe. The bar is literally on the beach, the dance floor is the sand. With the waves and the beauty around you, bars in the concrete jungle just don’t compare.

Koh Pha Ngan is less developed than Samui and the area around Haadrin very hilly, so this means instead of a nice smooth sealed road you get concrete poured over a dirt road with all the bumps and things encased in concrete. And there’s no levelling, the gradients are the steepest I have ever seen. This means you don’t try and ride a 100cc scooter with two people and a backpack up these roads, or the bike will flip and you could end up with a stubbed toe and a cuckoo bike. That’s what happened to Sam and I – island roads strike again. It was my idea I must admit but considering the statistics we were doomed from the start. Somehow the Thai’s seem to be able to accomplish this feat (minus the backpack) without coming off their bikes like us.

I had a look at the waterfall and beach Thaan/Had Sadet, which was so-so. The road is bad but doable on a 100cc bike. The beach has rough waves and is a little messy. I also visted the very beautiful (in a resort/picture-perfect type way) and popular beach Had Yow – worth going too.

On the way home from one of my day bike excursions I stopped into a restaurant for dinner. By the end of the meal I had been offered a shower and a place to stay. I took the shower and saved the place to stay for a rainy day but I was quite astounded at the generousity, I didn’t quite know what to expect – money? were they going to nick my stuff? I had too accept it was neither. This wasn’t the last offer I would receive on my travels, some not so genuine.

(25/4/03) Bars worth visting on Koh Pha Ngan:

I can’t stay here too long though, because I’m in an information void – this place is only briefly mentioned in my guide book. And I can’t get to Bangkok because its 30 December, the day before New Year’s and the train is booked out. But I do end up getting a train to Nakhon Ratchasima, a place that is in my guide book, and is much closer to Bangkok. The train is pretty cheap, but I find out I have a standing room only ticket so it’s 3 hours into the journey before I get a seat for the next 3 hours. The scenery on the way is pretty plain.

Nakhon Ratchasima is also called Korat. Again its a much nicer city than Bangkok but for the average tourist there’s not much there. For me there are stores with computer and PS2 games. It’s been a while and I need a fix. These places are popular and easy to spot, just look for a large group of motorcycles outside a shop. So I spend New Year’s Eve here, partially in one of this game/internet houses and the rest at the local fair which is much the same as the previous one but with the added bonus of a big stage area with a guy talking to everyone in Thai. From the roof of my guesthouse I watch fireworks go off at midnight, local hoons drive their souped up vehicles around, and a group of young Thai people get drunk at a sidewalk restaurant before letting off really loud fire crackers.

I leave Korat 2 nights, 1 day later, heading by train for the temple town of Ayuthaya. This time the scenery on the journey is much nicer. I stayed at a friendly guest house in Ayuthaya, and when you are by yourself friendly hosts make things much more enjoyable. I rented a bike for a day, after being told by the tuk tuk driver who wanted lots of money that it was impossible to get around by bike, and visited some of the ancient ruins, temples, and chedi (pagodas) which are all throughout the town.

Back to Bangkok by train on the 4th. The Bangkok train station Hua Lamphong is interesting. There are people who have little booths all around the place that say “Tourist Information” and they wear badges that say “Bangkok Railway Station -Tourist Guide” – but they don’t work for the railway station they work for tour companies! How do you know? Because they don’t have any signs in Thai and only talk to foreigners. The real information booth is inside with a Thai and English sign. Still they were very helpful. At 6pm everyone in the main gallery rises and signs praise be the king.

What was a tar sealed road in Thailand becomes a red dirt track, and airconditioned buses are replaced by pickup trucks/utes where most sit on the tray on the back. First impressions of Poipet, the border town in Cambodia, is of the wild west! Dusty dirt roads with salon looking buildings. Lots of motobikes and trucks driving around. I swear every car is a Toyota Camry.

I left my guesthouse that morning, it was 4:45am 15 November 2545 BE (Buddhist Era). I caught a taxi to the Bangkok Northern aka Morchit bus terminal. On the way the taxi driver was playing some Thai music, but shortly after I got in, he put on a Kylie Minogue tape! I tipped him some baht for the nice touch (Crowded House or Dave Dobbyn would have been even better!). I loaded up with snacks at the bus station before catching the 6:00am “first class” bus to the Thai border town Aranyaprathet.

The border was really busy. All manner of people, vehicles and goods were coming and going. You have to go to 3 different buildings in order to get processed through the border – exit stamp, visa, entry stamp. I had a guy pester me all the way through the border wanting me to let him help me through the border and arrange transport for me via one of the many available pickup trucks or cars. After I got in Cambodia I hopped on a motocycle and drove down the road about 200m, trying to escape him but when we stopped he was right there behind me. I hopped on the moto again and took off in another direction and again he was there when I stopped. I approached the driver of a pickup truck and tried to negotiate a price with the guy although he didn’t speak english. The pestering guy (who did speak English) kept trying to get me to agree to a price of $3US/120baht, which he would presumably split with the driver for doing nothing other than being able to speak English to a foreigner and getting him to agree to the price he set. I had read that the local price was 30baht and I just wanted the pestering guy to go away so I could negotiate with the driver myself. In the end I felt bad causing a real fuss in front of all these other quiet sincere cambodians already in the truck. I jumped in the truck and somehow managed to agree with the driver to pay 50baht and the pestering guy left empty handed. Poor bastard but I did feel he didn’t really provide any utility to offset the price padding. It wasn’t going to be the last time someone would offer to act as a middle man, coping a commission and really not providing any extra benefit if you know what to do or where to go yourself (which I didn’t really anyway but managed to work out).

So anyway I finally have transport, riding in the back of a pickup like most of the locals do. For the next approx 1.5hrs the driver drove around town, looking for more passengers until he was satisfied the truck was as full as it could get. Satisified was 4 people in the cab, and on the back 18 adults, 2 babies, and luggage consisting of lots of fruit and boxes of birds. Everyone except me was Cambodian, I spoke no Cambodian and them no english, so we justed kinda stared at each other the whole trip! It was a bit scary, I felt like I had no control of where I was going and had thoughts of just being dumped in the middle of nowhere.

The road is _really_ bad, the distance to the next town Sisophon is 49km and it took about 1.5hrs. The ride was hot and dusty, you really need a scarf to wrap around your head, not to mention bumpy. The countryside was really nice, very green. When I got to Sisophon I was beseiged with girls about 10 or 11 yrs old, selling all sorts of things including beer and cigarettes, “sir coca colaar? sir cold beer? sir angkor wat cigarette? oh sir, please sir” followed by really furlon looks. These kids are so cute its hard not to buy from them. I changed trucks to go to Siem Reap, the town next to the famous Angkor ruins. Again, I hopped in a truck and spent about 1hr waiting whilst they minimise all available space, or what we would call overcrowd.

The road to Siem Reap was even worse, the distance is about 103km and it took about 5.5 hrs with a few stops. At most stops we would again be beseiged with young girls and their wares. There was a fine selection of fried chicken and other delicices as well as the calls of “sir cold drink?
sir something to eat?” which would ring in my ears for days to come. I arrived in Siem Reap about 7 or 8 that night, my clothes, hat, and bag completely covered in red dust which I still haven’t managed to completely get rid of after several washings!

Summary/Tips
1. I think not negotiating with the driver beforehand is what the locals do and is probably what you should do.
2. If riding in the back, don’t wear good clothes, take a hat, scarf, and sunscreen.
3. Don’t forget to find the fullest truck! If you think its too full, its probably not! I didn’t and had to wait long time.

It seems wherever there are groups of foreigners (Khao San Rd, temples, sight-seeing attractions) there are Thais trying to get your cash for more than their goods and services are worth. I got suckered in the park the other day. I was walking through and a Thai lady came and stuffed some bird seed into my hand. I thought what a nice lady asking me to help her feed the birds. I dished out the seed and then she asked me for money. I should have know. She wanted several hundred baht ($10) and wouldn’t take the small change I offered her. I had to do a runner.

But this isn’t the case everywhere. If you take the red pill and venture outside the matrix of the dodgy tuk-tuk drivers and other generally scammy Thais picking the carcasses of foreigners there is a different Bangkok. There are department stores the same as ones at home. There are canal taxis (really cool, I read Bangkok was once the venice of the east) that take you places real fast (no traffic on the river). There are people on the public bus that are friendly and help you out. In fact I met a lovely Thai couple on the bus (I was wary at first, you do have to be discerning). They invited me back to their home for a meal, it was a small home with one room that was a bedroom, living and dining room in one. The only other rooms were the toilet/bathroom and a small storage area. We went sight seeing together. We went up Baiyoke II the 2nd tallest hotel in the world, it was a stunning view of Bangkok, at least the part that you could see that wasn’t covered in smog. I really recommend it if you go to Bangkok.

Today we went to the movies and before the movie everyone rises to pay tribute to the king. You are treated to a slide show of his majesty and his anthem in dolby stereo surround sound. I did end up paying for the sightseeing but I was OK with that (the tower is like $6 and movies $6 still cheaper than home).

Other attractions I have seen are the temple Wat Po with a huge huge lying buddha (I suppose it is actually a place of worship, not an attraction, but they seem to want tourists to visit), that was impressive. The Grand Palace I didn’t really find interesting, just lots of old stuff and architecture (I’m showing my ignorance here of old stuff and architecture) and expensive for what you get (still cheap tho-$10). The big river (as opposed to the canal which is also good) taxi is definately worth a trip. Chatuchak weekend market was the biggest market i have seen – it was OK.

As for the night life, there’s this cool bar called the love sick bar. The theme is broken heartedness. You can buy a beer and when you’ve finished you can throw the bottle onto a wall that has a projected picture of your choosing. I threw my bottle at David Beckham only because he happened to be on at the time. There is also a crying room with tissues and a semi-sound proof shouting room with words like “Bastard”, “I don’t want you”, “You’re suck” on the walls.

The shopping is great! I have never been a shopper, more a hoarder and a gambler But things are cheap here. I bought a pair of the “Thai National Olympic Team Offical Jogging Shoes” for $45. Label t-shirts for $7-8. Wallet for $5. A warez CD full of Microsoft books for $5 (that was in the IT plaza-Pantip Plaza). I got a haircut to for $2.50! A lot of the stuff you see are copies, very authentic looking copies mind you. The most surprising thing for sale was this guy with face masks. He had the usual halloween masks as well as a Osama bin laden mask! If you are so inclined you can also sell things to various street vendors, they have signs saying “We buy everything” but in reality they only want books (especially Lonely Planet guide books, they are a hot commodity), shoes, cellphones, wallets etc. Getting a good price is not about shopping around as in the Western world type way, but about knowing the fair market price (which you can get from window shopping around) and being able to bargain to get that price. When you first get here you are vunerable I think, you don’t know the fair price. I paid more than I could have buying a shirt in Khao San Rd (which seems to have the biggest price differentals), but it was still damn cheap! At least now I have an idea of some prices, can express my dissatisfaction at a high price (say the Thai word for expensive and put on a sour face but not yet always get a fair price!

You can really spoil yourself with food and drink here. the street vendors are the cheapest, although there are stories of nasty bowel reprecussions, fingers-crossed because i have been eating there all the time! you can get nice as mixed fruit shakes for 15baht (75c), and omelette and rice for 10baht (50c) and that could be lunch! a breakfast of 2 toast, ham, bacon, scrambled eggs and coffee (i have iced coffee thats yum) is 50baht ($2.50) a big slice of pineapple or watermelon or other fruit is 10baht (50c). I’ve had lots of that. hmm.. maybe i’ll end up coming back with a bigger belly than last time i left new zealand!

as for accomodation, all i can say is you get what you pay for, and I’m not paying very much! for 150baht($47.50)/baht i am getting a double room with a shared toilet/bathroom water. the bed is hard and the water cold. the bathroom is pretty grotty, it has a hole in the sink its not a popular place, i’ve only seen a few other foreigners, most probably don’t like the grottiness and i don’t blame them. i have wanted to move but stayed in the one place (called sunshine house) because I have a bit of a rapport with the owners, and the net cafe/restaurant next store – I help them when the internet isn’t working! Transportation here is really diverse. I have travelled by train, taxi, bus, boat, motorcycle, tuk-tuk and ute! Its quite a interesting system. There are large roads that run a fair distance. These roads have numbered Soi’s or smaller roads off them, eg: Soi 39. Off this first Soi can be many other little Soi’s. So an address might look like 159/5 Thonglor, Soi 10 on Soi 55 off Sukhumvit Rd. You can generally catch some sort of public transport to the start of the first Soi. There will be a group of motorbikes and coverted utes at the start of this first Soi which can take you to your final destination. I first discovered all this when trying to get to the Laos Embassy, what a mission that was!

After about a week I decided Bangkok was getting too carcengic for my liking and the touts (people who bug you for their goods and services) too annoying so I have been planning to move on. I have finally got my Uncle Sams together and plan to go to Cambodia tomorrow, it takes about 12hrs from Bangkok to Siem Reap (next to the famous Ankor Wat temples). I have been reading all about the border crossing at http://talesofasia.com/Cambodia/Overland/reportsSR.htm It seems that I may be able to escape the Bangkok fumes but not the touts! They are supposed to be terrible at the border.

Well I have rambled enough, tell me how you are, even if its really boring. Attached are some badly scanned photos. Dinner with the Thai couple I met and up the top of the tall hotel.
Take care!

On the street every second person has a travelling kitchen attached to them that is capable of producing all manner of foods. It is great because you only have to walk about 30m before you’ll find something to eat. I, as do all tourists, are often accousted by tuk-tuk drivers telling me that this and this temple is closed and come with me for 10 baht (50cents) and I will get you in for free blah blah. They are annoying and according to my guide book a scam, maybe I’ll will take one for the hell of it and hopefully not find out too late that I’m being taken (at best) to his mates store, where I can get “special price”, yeh right.

This internet place has a karakoe restaurant attached to it, or should i say the karakoe restaurant has an internet place attached? Anyhow I just went and had a meal, and part of every course is all you can eat karakoe! Most enjoyable.

Modernism is alive and well in Bangkok. Today I saw a buddhist monk with a “how to use microsoft windows” book. Yesterday I took a photo of a seemingly poor looking street vendor taking care of business via cellphone. Attemps at english attempts are just as prolific and even funnier. From the Mr Friendly tshirt with something along the lines of “he steals your mind and makes you happiness and friends”. Aphintaxsayswhat? There was also the restaurant with a picture of Karl Marx in the window and a sign saying “Happy time in here”. Hmm, I didn’t know there were Thai socialists let along happy socialists. To be fair, it was more of a revolutionist bar, along with comrade Karl were pictures of Che Guevara and others. Polateraits unite, revolution is coming.

Probably not in Thailand though, capitalism is booming here, everyone seems to be a small business owner. From the fore amentioned street kitchen man/machines to the owner of a set of scales, only 2 baht (10cents) to check your weight. All I need is a laptop and internet connection and I too could sell my services in the busiest of marketplaces – the street. Beats working for someone else I guess.

Thanks everyone for turning up to the Muddy Farmer last Wed, it was great. Special thanks to mr hatcher for a most unforgettable departure gift. Nana plaza is next on the list of things to see or is it do? Just kidding. It was great to see you Australian brethren as well, had a great time just catching up. Take care