Thailand (Part 1)

Malaysia was amazing, but both of us had really high hopes for Thailand and so were VERY excited at the prospect of arrival...

However, our first stop on the old agenda was at a lovely named place called Krabi. After taking the ferry out of Malaysia (and discovering it ridden with cockroaches and ants... urgh!) to Satun, we passed through border control with relative ease. Then came the lovely adventure of trying to get a bus to take us to Krabi... after being manhandled by odd men and virtually shoved into booking offices and quickly deciding that 'scammers' were crawling out of everywhere, we joined forces with a UK couple and Swedish couple to take what we were told was a taxi to the main bus station. Ha! Taxi! We finally agreed a price and in the blistering heat lugged our bags toward the 'taxi' driver. We were met with a basic pick up truck with two planks running on either side of the flat bed at the back.... and a little canvas roof. Hehehe... it was actually really cool and more fun than a normal taxi. Anyhoo, we got to the main bus station, which was actually a crappy little side-street with a woman selling bus tickets. We figured this was another scam because the woman could sell the tickets at whatever price she liked- unlike if it had been the main bus station where there is more competition. So, we all staged a protest and remained sitting in the van telling the driver we were only paying if he took us to the main station... and he laughed. Hehe. I think he was happy for a little rest and all we were doing was slowly cooking in the back of his wagon now we were stationery. So, we gave up the fight and bought tickets, which were really cheap anyhow (we are just tight travellers) and got on the bus. A few hours later we got Krabi and were dumped at the bus station (this time a main one). Another 'two planks' driver was hassling us to go with him to our hotel- which we hadn't actually booked yet. We agreed a price of 40 Baht (about 80p) and set off. He dropped us in the centre and then asked us for 80 Baht, trying to say that he meant 40 for each of us! Everyone is a scammer! But hey, we were getting wise to it all now :)

Anyhoo, we found a lovely guest house with a nice Irish bar (!) next door and had a nice vegi-burger and beer for us tea.

Next day was another ferry, this time to the island of Ko Phi Phi. We were planning on having a bit of a holiday starting from here and hoping top stay in places a bit longer and soak up some sun. The ferry journey was great and upon arrival we found out we had to take a longtail boat to our accommodation. How very exciting! The sun was shining and the sea was crystal! Gorgeous! This was what its all about! So, the driver (is driver the right word?), pulled up as close to the shore as possible and we had the lovely task of trying to struggle with our bags from a moving boat into quite harsh waves, without getting everything drenched. We failed pretty dismally and the only saving grace was that there weren't many to witness our crappy attempt at a beach landing :)

The place we stayed at was great and again we were right on the beach and in a secluded area called Long Beach. We had everything we needed there and the little town was great! We went for drinks, chilled in hammocks and generally began the holiday in stylee!

After a couple of days we decided to extend the jollies some more so headed to the mega- touristy Phuket. We stayed right in the main town Patong- after a BIG hassle over hotel rooms! Again, people trying to scam! However, we pulled a good un this time and managed to get a deluxe room for less than the standard... well, we think we did... there may be more to this story at some point.

Anyhoo, we became tourists and did nothing but shop, eat (mmm, at the Hagan Daas shop!) drink, get facials and watch the lady boys (blimey! they're a bit raunchy!)- sorry, no pics at it would just be a boob-fest and me mum reads this don't you know! :)



Also we took a night out to watch some bands at a place called 'Rock City'. Hoping it was going to be like its Nottingham counterpart, we settled down to enjoy the music... and it was rubbish! The band were cak and we spent more time just watching the old men and their little Thai ladyfriends (well, we think ladies?!?!?!) So, we supped us drinks and headed out into the night to check out the night markets and shop some more! Its cheap here but not as cheap as Malaysia- but we have been told Bangkok is mega cheap, so, we're holding out for that one.

But, as with all good things it had to come to an end and we boarded the bus. After about an hour on the bus we had a guy (the conductor type person) come up to us and ask us where we stayed in Patong. When we told him he said that they had been on the phone and that we owed money! 'Err, I don't think so' I told him. 'We checked out and they said nothing.' He looked puzzled, as did we and then he laughed, patted me on the arm and went and sat at the front again. When we thought about it we thought it odd that the hotel should call the bus company when they had no idea where we were heading to! So, yet another scam... well, possibly, if there was some possible mistake and we do owe them money we may have a little jaunt in Thai jail when we try and leave the country if we are listed at Border Patrol as dodgy crims... hehehe, but hopefully it won't come to that :)

So, after this we decided to have a little nap as it was a long coach journey. Arr, everything was lovely, all relaxing, dozy, dozy, doze.... Then someone yells 'THE COACH IS ON FIRE!' Yikes, I woke up sharpish and looked behind to see sh*tloads of smoke pouring into the coach from the floor! The bus driver took emergency actions and slammed the anchors on and ran out of the bus... us (all the passengers), just kind of looked at each other and laughed! Even the ones shrouded in smoke! Eventually, we decided we should maybe get off in case it blew up or summat- but after 10 mins of standing in the heat we soon got back on- deciding we'd rather take our chances with toxic fumes than the heat treatment! Anyhoo, after a couple of hours of the driver throwing water all over the engine and scratching his head, another bus came and we jumped aboard to finish the trip to the ferry that was taking us to Ko Samui, our next little island getaway.