The journey to get to our next destination, Koh Phangan Thailand, involved many modes of transportation... And it shows our dedication to the beaches. It all started at the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia with:
8:30am, Ferry – 30 minutes: A ferry to the main land.
My hair going crazy on the ferry.
9:00am, Taxi – 2 hours: A taxi ride to a city on the eastern side of Malaysia to the Thai-Malaysia boarder.
11:00am,Walking – 20 minutes: Walking across the bridge into Thailand and continuing the walk to the train station in Sungai Kolok. Amazingly they let Phil into their country!!
12:30pm,Train – 10 hours: We then hopped onto a train to take us to Surat Thani,. On paper, the ride was supposed to take about 10 hours and get us to Surat Thani by 9:04pm. However, as we have found out, trains never keep to a schedule and we left 1 hour late and arrived about 2 hours late. However, the train ride was quite enjoyable. It had reasonably comfortable chairs and was an open air car that allowed for pleasant viewing of beautiful landscape found along the east coast of Thailand.
Our open air train ride.
View of the Malaysian country side from the train.
10:50pm, Taxi – 10 minutes: Once we got off of the train, we rushed to catch an other taxi to race to the night ferry terminal. The last night ferry that would take us to the island that left at 11pm, but since we got off of the train at 10:50pm, it was slim to nothing that we would make it. But we tried anyways., to no luck, and had to stay the evening in a hostel.
7:15am, Taxi – 15 minutes: Arising early, we hopped into a taxi that took us to a bus terminal, so that we could get on a large tourist bus to herd us like cattle the ferry terminal.
8:30am, Bus – 1 hour: The bus ride was much longer than expected, as the day ferry does not leave from the same place as the night ferry. It took 1 hour to get to the ferry terminal, on a bus that had 5 seats across, where there was only space for 4... It was mighty squishy!
9:30am, Ferry – 3 hours: We then boarded the ferry that would take us to Koh Phangan, and was stuffed to the brim with tourists, and it looked like spring break in Cancun with all the young people abord. The best part of the ferry was the yummy ham sandwiches that we purchased, and the epic nap that I had.
1:00pm, Taxi – 20 minutes: One last taxi to go. We decided to stay on a beach located on the west side of the island, so once again, we hopped into a taxi and were dropped off in paradise... White sand beach, palm trees with coconuts, hammocks, and blue ocean.
And this only took us 29 hours to island hop!! For the next five days, we would call this home, where the number of hammocks exceeded the number of tourists, and the most strenuous activity was determining if the coconut above our heads (as we were lying in a hammock) would fall on us. But worst of all, the hardest decision to be made was if we should continue napping in a hammock, or get up, walk 20 meters to the beach and have a massage.
Our coconut conteplation hammock.
Enjoying the sunset on the beach.
So maybe contemplating coconuts wasn't the most strenuous thing we did... We actually finished our Advanced Open Water Diving certification in Kho Phanang. This consisted of 3 more dives, 2 of which were amazing and the last being an experience. We did 2 dives at a sight called Sail Rock, just north of Koh Phangan and it was beautiful, especially since the visibility was about 25 meters. There were tons of fish, but the most memorable fish were a huge grupper that was about as long as my arm span and a tail as big as my torso, and a school of barracudas who were 4 feet long and as thick as my leg. The unnerving part was that 4 of them swam within 5 feet of me. Luckily I put on my happy face and did not aggregate them. I guess my cunning smile won over their hearts! On the second dive at Sail Rock, we got to swim through the chimney. This was a rock formation that was hollowed out like a chimney (hence the name...) but had a hole throughout the formation about 5 feet in diameter. You could enter it at 18 meters and exit it at 12 meters and the sea life in the chimney was amazing, you just had to be careful of the sea urchins (spiky animals that cling to the walls) covering the inside of the formation. The third dive, as was stated before, was an experience. It is mandatory to do complete a navigation dive in which you use a compass to get you from point A to point B. We did this dive off of the beach where we were staying, and it was a perfect place to do a navigation dive, and only a navigation dive... The visibility was a staggering 2 meters, so there was no way that we could cheat at this dive. We had to swim in a 15 meter square, starting at our instructor and ending at our instructor. If you were off even the slightest bit, there was no way that you could find the instructor again. Luckily we all succeed and are now all Advanced Divers (though I don't feel like one).
Phil looks strangly like a sea otter eating a sea urchin.
It seems that Neil doesn't get enough to eat!Bangkok, Thailand - June 15 & 16
We left the beaches of Koh Phanang on a ferry to catch (you guessed it, our favourite mode of transportation) a night train to Bangkok. And once again, our train was delayed in leaving and late in arriving, but this time we were expecting nothing other than tardiness. Our time in Bangkok was short, but we were all waiting eagerly to arrive, because we were to meet up with the one and only traveling duo: Ashley and Julie! (For those of you who have no idea who they are, here's the low down... My (Melissa's) high school friends who have been traveling for the past 6 months in Fiji, Australia, NZ & South East Asia) Our adventures started early in Bangkok... Right when we stepped off of the train. We needed to grab a taxi to our hostel, which wasn't too far from the station. Since it was a short ride we were directed to a Tuck-tuck. I had no idea what this sort of contraption was before I stepped foot in South East Asia, but it is a common mode of transportation here. It is a small, 3-wheeled vehicle that can sit 2 people comfortably, and 3 kind of squished. But of course all 4 of us piled into the vehicle, along with all of our bags and had the squishiest ride of all. Apart from feelings of claustrophobia, we arrived safely to the hostel.
We met up with Ashely and Julie that afternoon and had a grand time. The major goal of the evening being to have some convocation drinks to celebrate our graduation, since our convocation ceremony (you know, the one when you walk across the stage to get your diploma) was occurring that day, back in the city of Waterloo. Unfortunately we couldn't attend physically, but we were there mentally... At least for the celebration part. That evening consisted of cheap street food, cheap beer from 7/11, margaritas, and more beer... Quite an adventurous night. Details may be reveled at a later time.
Yes, that is Ashley & Julie in the picture!
It was fantastic that we could spend 2 days with Ashley and Julie in a far away land. It was great to share those experiences and fun times with you guys!
Our time in Bangkok was short lived, and we did not get to see much of the city, but good times were had by all. Now it's a 10 hour over night air plane ride to Cairo Egypt that is next on our plates!
2 comments:
Melissa & Graeme,
You know that it is OK that "The Amazing Race" TV show doesn't accept Canadians ---because you have created your own " Amazing Race" adventure trip!! Soon, you will be saying "been there, done that". Well, keep having a good time!
"Details to be revealed at a later time"...??! Some things never need to be talked about again; or thought about for that matter. What happened in Bangkok, is definately going to have to stay in Bangkok! From that night on, any man who has come up to me with a small piece of paper in his hand during the night time hours is instantly turned away.
Don't talk to strangers! Wait, that's not my motto- talk to everyone!
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