On to Thailand…
So after our trip to Taiwan and it being kind of cold, we decided after a few days to hit the beach! And since it was the beginning of high season we figured in order to miss some of the crowds we better head south first…then go to Cambodia…then go to the north…plus, it was kind of chilly in Taiwan and we were ready for the beach.
So off the plane we headed to Khao San Road. We had a very amusing conversation on the airport shuttle bus with a woman from Kuwait that was originally from India – she was looking forward to the alcohol in Thailand since it’s a no-no in Kuwait except for at the embassies – the things we take for granted! Khao San Road is CRAZY. I mean, it was like we weren’t in Thailand – there were so many foreigners walking along this road and staying at the cheap guesthouses…I think it would be kind of fun if you were in the frame of mood where you wanted to spend all your time drinking and shopping – and I wouldn’t have a problem finding clothes here since they’re geared towards the wide-hipped instead of the no-hipped…
Anyway, we decided to head south. We had picked up a semi-outdated Lonely Planet (not the newest edition that had just come out) and tried to find the southern bus terminal to buy tickets to the south. Unfortunately, not only was the bus terminal not really in walking distance (damn Lonely Planet maps), but it had moved. So we gave up and went back to Khao San Road and booked with a local travel agent. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we decided to look on the internet and found that people get robbed all the time on these buses and how the buses sometimes end up being run-down and not the a/c buses promised –we’re like this is ridiculous – let’s find out how much flights are – they were reasonable so we decided to fly. Luckily, the travel agent who we went with applied the amount we had already paid for the bus to the plane ticket and we ended up leaving that afternoon!
We decided to go to Krabi because it was cheaper than flying to Phuket. And it sounded like a good idea. Not so hectic. It ended up being a pretty good idea. We stayed at Good Dreams in Krabi. A nice, American-run place with an hour of free internet/pp and free wireless. A clean room with a fan cost 7 USD. I mean, really, what more can you ask for?
The day after we arrived we rented a motorbike and went to this beautiful lagoon. It was almost like a natural swimming pool. Kind of pricey but it seems like that’s how things go in Thailand – they charge cheap accomodations and then ding you on the attractions. Which is opposite of Taiwan where they charge more for accomodations but almost all the attractions are free. I think, for us, it kind of works out the same price-wise…anyway, since we had the motorbike for 24 hours we also got up really early and went to the Tiger Temple which we’re really glad we went in the morning because it’s over 1200 steps (and we’re not talking normal steps, we’re talking practically vertical steps – like you have to hold on to the railing to get onto the next step kind of steps) and I was sweating like a hound dog and it was 6 am v I think I would have passed out if it had been like mid-day or something like that…
So since our guest house was booked up after 2 nights of staying there we took it as a sign that we should move on. Bryan, the American manager guy, suggested we go to Koh Jam which is still not too over-touristed. So we booked a ferry with him and got a pickup to the passenger terminal…
Tags: krabi, RTW Trip, Thailand
JohnCin
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