Back in Thailand

It was hard leaving the Perhentians since the islands were so relaxing. I would definitely advise for people to take a couple of weeks out there if your looking for a holiday. It's really easy to get to from Kuala Lumpur and there are some really nice but more expensive holiday resorts on the Big island. But anyway, leave we did, and bound for Thailand we were.

I have to admit I wasn't overly keen on the idea of going back to Thailand since I had saved up all this money in Australia to see and do new things and going back to Thailand wasn't really on my to-do list. I did, however, have a fantastic time last year and I know only too well that when visiting a country you cannot expect to see everything. Thailand is also a beautiful country and there is a lot to do here. So we went across the border from Malaysia, which gives us a 2 week visa. The town we arrived in, Sungai Kolok, wasn't the Thailand I remember. I found out that a lot of Malaysians go there for the Thai prostitutes, which might give you a better insight on this small border town. To get there we had to take a taxi, which turned out was really cheap. On the ride there we spotted a truck full of coconuts on the road which had monkeys riding on the top. When asked about it, our taxi driver told us that they use the monkeys to climb up the trees and bring the coconuts down! We only had to wait in Sungai Kolok for 6 hours and the internet was really cheap - hence I managed to change my blog around loads and add more stuff. If you haven't noticed I have started writing a running top 5, though I have to say its hard. It does, though, give me something to keep myself entertained on long journeys!

We caught the bus late afternoon to Krabi and were surprised by the number of military stops there were out of Sungai Kolok. I had heard of problems in the south and it is, from what I hear, not recommended to travel at night. Not that we had any problems. I have just been reading on BBC News that the Thai cabinet are considering extending the current state of emergency laws that are still in place following the anti-government protests. Who knows if this will be a good idea? For now it seems that the laws will be gradually lifted over the next 3 months. Not that anyone here would even notice. This island (Koh Phi Phi Don - or just PP) was one that was devastated in the 2004 tsunami and while the government didn't actually give the people here permission to rebuild, they have done so anyway. It seems that everything here is business as usual and a lot of places are starting to expand. It doesn't seem that the people here are concerned with its government and it seems to cater exclusively to tourists anyway.

It was very late when we actually arrived in Krabi. At 3.30am there isn't an awful lot around the bus stop that happens to be 4km's away from town. We couldn't have walked that far with our bags and who knows whether or not it would be safe. We spotted a 7/11 and found out there was a hotel nearby. Opting for the safe mode we set off for the expensive option. As we started walking a drunken Thai man started calling to us and seemed to jokingly offer us a lift into town. He had this motorbike with a sort of trailer attached to the side of it. We obliged. Needless to say we were a bit scared and were worried we had done something stupid, but in actual fact it was really funny. He took us into town and I think was very happy when we gave him 150 Baht (that's 3 pounds) when we got there. Driving into town he was going up one-way streets saying: "No police! Shh!" Which we thought was hysterical. We safely got a guest house and got some much needed sleep.

We spent the day exploring Krabi but the weather was really bad. It even gave me cause to think that going to an island probably wouldn't be worth it if it would be raining incessantly anyway. But we heard the weather was better out there and so we booked the boat for the following morning. In our exploration in the evening we came across Krabi's night market and got some delicious food. We then found a bar where we could watch football and after that ended a local band came on stage to play. They were really good and looked so comfortable pulling off some excellent solo's. They had a break and after that they were really excited to bring on stage a musician from Phuket who I gather was famous. It was a really good night out and I didn't get back in until half 3!

The boat ride went fine, taking an hour and a half to get to PP. We found some nice accommodation and had an explore of the beach and the bars. It seemed very much the same as the islands I visited around this time last year. I watched an amazing sunset over the karst limestome rocks from the bay and I would have put it in my top 5 (maybe even at number 1!) were it not for the sheer amount of rubbish. It wont even break the top 5 now since the whole beach is littered with bars for the all night PP parties every night. I quite literally mean littered as well. I had a few drinks and watched the football but was so tired from the night before I didn't stay out long. Also I really didn't want to feel rough for the next day I had booked a trip rock climbing!

Rock climbing was quite high on my "Things to do whilst travelling" list I keep in my head and I am so glad I have finally done it! I met my guide, Tarr, at the end of the beach and it was only a short climb to the limestone wall that already had a top rope set up. I did a 16mtr climb and two 24mtr climbs, which were very different to the indoor climbing I used to do at home. Tarr told me he was very impressed with my technique and I have my climbing buddies at home to thank for that! The view from the top of the climbs over the bay was incredible and for all my worries about the weather it was a really fine day! After the three climbs I went and got some lunch and when I got back Tarr told me he would teach me how to set an anchor and lead climb. This is something I always wanted to learn back home and Tarr was very adamant that I told no one about it (maybe I shouldn't be putting this in my blog!) since I hadn't actually paid for it. We didn't have a lot of time and he wasn't very patient but I am now, officially a beginner lead climber! I was completely shattered after all of this and was looking forward to having some food and getting some sleep.

The following morning we actually set an alarm! We got up for a day trip (that's two tours in two days for me, something I rarely do) to see the surrounding islands and do some snorkelling. The trip started at Monkey Beach. It is exactly as the name suggests, a beach with some monkeys on it. I didn't bother getting out the boat for this one but watched happily as one girl teased a monkey with some banana's and as soon as she turned her back it jumped on her. She screamed a LOT! Hahaha. The next stop was The Beach beach. As in the beach where they filmed The Beach. A lot of what is beautiful about the beach in the movie seems to be mostly camera tricks. It was also insanely busy, which does take the beauty away from it. It was still very nice, but compared to the Perhentians... wait, compare ANY beach to the Perhentians and the same thing happens! Anyway we went onward to a brilliant snorkel area and saw millions of amazing fish and loads of coral. It was quite deep too so you can really swim down and see loads more. I think I saw a barracuda. I mean, I'm pretty certain it was a barracuda anyway. We stopped at a couple of cool swimming places and a nice beach before going to another snorkelling spot called Shark Point. We were told that there were some harmless black tipped reef sharks in the area. Briony was really nervous and she hates sharks and somehow, unbelievably, she was the only one to spot a shark out of the 10 of us there! She pacicked and swam straight back to the boat but she was fine. We had one more stop on the way back which was a cliff jump. It wasn't too high - some 8 meters or so - but it still rocked me to say the least. It was really cool though but after that I was ready to go back to PP.

We went out last night so I am a bit hungover today. When we stopped at the very popular Reggae bar (which ironically has a Thai boxing ring inside) I thought I spotted one of our friends from Bundy. I asked Briony and Andy and they both said no, that's not him. Then he walked past and lo and behold... yes, it was Joe from Bundaberg! It was really great to catch up with him and have a few drinks. As it happens his friend is a boxer at home and we convinced him to get in the ring. The guy he went up against had no experience whatsoever and the fight was over after 1 round. We watched a whole load of other fights, some of which were very very funny, and one bout of Thai boxers. It looked pretty hardcore but they were throwing themselves on the floor a lot giving the impression that it was actually fake. We then went out to the beach for the party in which we all managed to lose each other.

And so today, our last day on PP. I still haven't swam in the sea here because it looks quite disgusting and I am currently trying to map out some sort of future travel plan. Some decisions to be made it seems!