Bangkok and Some Beaches
Bangkok, Thailand, back where people are nice, and the food is good. Or so we had thought as we woke up. We headed towards the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Being the responsible travellers that we are, we stopped in front of the palace to put on long pants and long sleeve shirts. As we were clothing, a man approached us and started talking to us. I have read on the lonely planet that if anyone starts talking to you, you should be suspicious. It also said you should be double as suspicious if he says where ever your going is closed. The man chatted with us for a few minutes then asked if we were heading for the palace, because"It was closed". Paula unfortunately did not yet read the boxed warning.
The man told us it was Buddha day, original name, and that the Grand Palace was close to foreigners until 13:30. Only Thai people are allowed inside so they can pray in peace. He came with a great plan for us to visit others site in the meantime and miraculously, a tuk-tuk showed up just as he was finished. We said kindly no, and that we would rather walk. He got all mad and walked away. Paula accused me of being rude, and I was feeling quite bad about it. I decided I still want to try the Palace, because I still suspected some trick.
We approached what seemed to be a gate. A man in a suite told us the same story and again a tuk-tuk was there to take us on the trip "for just 10 bath"(that's about 23 cents). Behind the man in the suite was sitting a serious looking military officer so I figured the guy was legit, and I was rude and so we hopped on the tuk tuk.
The first stop was the standing Buddha temple. The Buddha there is very impressive and we were glad we went. Then the driver took us to a tailor without us asking. The Tailor shop looked very professional, and the prices were higher then average, which gave the whole place a serious feeling. Until we said we are only shopping around and will not buy anything. The salesman became agitated, refused to give us a written offer and pretty much threw us out. The next stop was not a temple, but a jewelry shop.
We got offered a fake pearl necklace for 175 euro. Hurray. We didn't want to offend anyone by calling the fake by its name so we just said it was expensive and that we needed to think about it. The saleswoman was quite good at pushing."We are only open to foreigners today", followed by "Buy for wife(Paula) as Christmas present", then "If you not have cash we take credit cards". Unfortunately for Ms pushy, both Paula and I are quite good at haggling. So we left without buying anything. We told our driver no more shops, we want temple. To our surprise he took us to one.
It was the golden mount. The Golden Mount is an artificial hill, with a huge stupa at the top. Though the stupa itself is not that interesting, it is a great place to view the Bangkok skyline. By the time we got back to our tuk tuk it was after 13:30 so we were ready to go back to the Grand Palace. The driver however had other plans. He wanted us to go to a shop. We told him that no, we don't want to, and that if he refuses its fine, we will pay the 10 bath and find other means of transportation.
The driver would not be easily persuaded. He went first with the nice guy "Please help me, I get gasoline like that", followed by the angry "I waited for you why you not nice?!". We stood our ground so he just drove away, without taking his money. After getting over the initial surprise, we had a good laugh. We got a free tour around the city, spending a total of maybe 10 minutes in the shops, and the Palace was only 10 min walking away. We got the feeling we scammed the scammers!
On the way to the Palace 3 people tried to start talking to us by saying the palace is closed FROM 13:00, and as a final note we came across the first guy, who ignored us, and the guy in the suite who was just telling two Lebanese guys that the palace is closed from 13:00. We interrupted and informed them what he had told us earlier, the guy vanished in the background as we headed to what was the real entrance. Eventually we didn't go into the Palace that day as by the time we arrived we had but one hour to explore it, so we decided to go back another day.
Our next few days in Bangkok have been quite full. We saw the palace, and some huge shopping centers. We went to see a movie, which quite amusing because before the film start everybody stands up and a short video with pictures of the king is shown!
We also gave up on tuk-tuks and taxis. Taxi running on a meter turned out to be cheaper then a tuk-tuk, only most of them try to scam you by driving in a very indirect route. So we did the only thing left, we took the bus. That turned out to be a great idea, because quite frankly, they are incredible easy to use, ride frequently, and there are so many of them, you almost never need to change buses no matter where your going.
Bangkok was fun, but I really wanted to get my ass on some beach. and so on the 21 of December we boarded the night bus to Krabi, with the plan to spent xmas on Raily beach. The lonely planet describes it as the most beautiful beach in Thailand. A friend of ours (Yes Aharale I mean you!) spent a whole month there and was totally in love with it. To say we had high expectations would be an understatement.
As high as out expectations were, the disappointment was way bigger. The surrounding is amazing, but the beach itself is pretty standard. There were only red, fat drunken English, sometimes with their red, fat annoying kids. Garbage was everywhere. And as a final piece everything was crazily over expansive. Every hotel claimed to be full, except for the one room they could show us. Then another room became magically available after we refused the first. You get the general idea.
After 3 long agonizing hours on Raily we left. I have located on the lonely plant a much promising little island, called Ko Bulon Lae. It was only another day's traveling away! Paula didnt know if she loved me for pulling her from Raily or hated me for making her travel another day. The next day at noon, when we finally got to Bulon Lae she knew she loved me. We found azure water, white yellow beach, and an amazing little island. Bulon Lae is quite small, with only a few resorts to stay in. And when I say resort I mean a couple of bungalows and a small restaurant/bar/reception. it was perfect!
We had a great time on Bulon Lae. We ate well, we had a nice snorkel trip, we ate well, we hung on the beach. Oh and the food was really good. We spent 6 days on that small charming Island then moved on to Ko Tarutao national park.
The national park contains several islands, the biggest of which is Ko Tarutao. The place most people end up in, however, is Ko Lipe, which is where we went to. We were planning on using Ko Lipe as a spring board to one of the park's other islands, Ko Adang. We were under the impression this island would be almost completely deserted. We were planning on having a new year's eve all alone. Were we ever wrong.
Thailand it seems share the same months as we do, only their calendar year is different. So when we have new year, they to, have new year. The Island's only camp site was packed full of Thai people. We came there with a water supply, food, and cooking material, only to be confronted by some bungalows and a restaurant. Oh well. It was not what we expected but we had a blast. Most amazing of all was the snorkeling there. We saw a sea turtle! It was so lovely, so beautiful, and as we found out later so very rare. Camping there was great. Our tent was right on the beach, which was beautiful. We had a campfire right next to the sea every evening. It was a lot of fun, and it gave us both a lot of energy. On the 2nd of January we moved back to Lipe.
Lipe, smaller then Bulon Lae is much more touristic. It has some great beaches, and very nice restaurants. It also has some diving schools offering dives in the national park. After debating about it for around 5 seconds we decided to take a diving trip. Man was it worth it. The visibility was great, the corals were great, and we saw some wonderful marine life. A pack of Barracudas and a Lion fish are my favourites.
Yesterday we left Ko Lipe and Thaliand and got to Malaysia. We will be spending the next couple of days in Georgetown, then Kula Lumpur, before our return to Thailand for some final beaches and some shopping.