St Kilda Sunday

Thailand and Malaysia - June 2009

This is a holiday that we had been talking about for a while. We'd agreed that if we found ourselves without commitments (ie jobs) this year, we would jump on a plane and do an unplanned trip to Asia somewhere.

As it turned out, Simon found himself commitment-free about the same time I myself finally got committed to Experian again, so the trip was cut down from a month to a two week mini-tour.

We arrived at Kuala Lumpur at 10pm and took a taxi to our hotel, the Swiss Gardens. We spent the next couple of days walking around KL, in the 30 degree tropical heat. We took the monorail over to the Petronas Twin towers, visited the huge shopping malls in Bukit Square, and the China Town markets for 'genuine fake' style markets.

Giles and his admiring fans - it was like this where-ever we went

'Fish Therapy' -

for $2 you can have

fish gnaw on your

feet for 10

minutes

We ate dinner in market squares for bargain prices - and in most places were able to enjoy a leisurely dinner when the waitresses would take Giles to play with him while we ate!

PENANG

On Monday we took a coach to Penang. It was really comfy and took under 4 hours. Penang wasn’t as great as expected – we went there because gets rave reviews in guide books. It’s a heritage site, it was built up in the colonial area and has tonnes of historical buildings. We walked around to see most of these, and we spent a day catching the local bus to the top of the island to see the beach and national park area.

KOH SAMUI

On Day 3, we took the very brave step of catching a ‘mini bus’ to Koh Samui (Thailand). No planes go there from Penang, nor do any coach lines. Our only choice was the local mini bus program, departing 5am, taking a full 12 hours by bus and boat. We had no other option, trust me, we tried! On account of it being so cheap (about $15 each), the van was filled to the gunnels with backpackers, there were no spare seats on this ride!

We drove up to the Thai border within a few hours and changed buses. Directions were given with brutal efficiency by the drivers.

After a few more hours we hit Surat Thani, and changed buses again. We then drove another hour to a place heaving with waiting backpackers and were put on a coach. This coach then drove an hour to Don Sat, the port, where we were put onto an ancient wooden boat headed for Koh Samui and Koh Phanang. I feel like I now have a very good idea what its like to be people-smuggled.

On the boat, like the mini-buses, it was accountant-married couple (Simon + me), baby Giles and a hundred other gap year kids, backpackers and aging hippies going to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phanang! Quite an experience…

That night we stayed in a rip-off resort, trying to pamper ourselves after our day, and also got ripped off by our taxi driver, paying more for a 20 minute ride than our 12 hour mini-bus! So, we checked out the next morning after gorging on the free buffet b’fast - and ‘obtaining’ muffin supplies for the day from said buffet breakfast via Giles’ food containers.

We found a great beach bungalow place next door, on the beach front. We scored lots of babysitting here as the girls in the beach-front restaurant played with Giles whenever we were down at the beach – bonus!
Days were spent in Koh Samui swimming and lazing on the amazing beach + shopping at the markets. Simon even managed to watch the F1 on 2 nights at the local bar.

We found a great restaurant for dinner – on the beach, with cool lay-down style seating that Giles could roam free on. We ate various Thai curries here for under a fiver each and got to enjoy the full moon over the sea each night. Does it get any better??

Gilesy swam free as a bird
here every day. The water
was about 25 degrees.

Fireworks and paper lanterns lit up to float into the night sky, some of the things we got to enjoy as we ate dinner on the beach each night...

Koh Phanang

On Monday we departed for Koh Phanang – we took the ferry over and it was only a half hour trip. Koh Phanang is still very undeveloped and unspoilt. It is also the site of the Full Moon Party where 20,000 people converge on the beach and party all night, every full moon. We actually arrived the day after this party and so we couldn’t stay in Haad Rin (the main beach) as it was still fully booked out and still apparently party-animal central . So we stayed in Baan Hut, the next beach up.

We managed to find a large 2 bed beach hut, 5 meters from the waters edge, for only $28 per night. What an amazing place – directly on the beach, hammocks everywhere, totally peaceful.

Here I had an hour long Thai massage. I was planning on the hour being one of blissful relaxation, instead I found myself biting into the mat to stop from screaming with pain. Who knew my leg could be folded flat against my back whilst in a 90 degree angle? Or that my spinal column required 20 minutes of intense poking and manipulation?

We hired a scooter so we could see the rest of the island, which was mainly lush, tropical forests, and beaches.






At night we ate at the local ‘night markets’ where all the locals have little carts selling food – you can pay about $1 for a Thai curry and $1 for a mango and sticky rice pudding or a fruit smoothie. Those dishes are my idea of food bliss!! Okay, so who knows if the health and hygiene standards were up to scratch, but $1 amazing tasting dinner versus a little dysentery – an easy equation!


BANGKOK


Then, it was time to leave again. We took an overnight coach to Bangkok, known as the ‘Super VIP Bus’ – sounds good huh! It was sold to us as this amazing, luxurious, everything is included type thing. In actual fact it was simply a coach and they dropped us off this terrible place for an almost uneatable ‘free’ dinner – again we were dispatched in and out of the restaurant in under 10 minutes with army-style yelling and organisation.

We arrived at Bangkok at 7am and took a taxi to Khao San road. After looking around for a little bit we found another great hotel for only 800 Bhat (about $28) per night including buffet breakfast.

We kept getting hassled by tuk-tuk drivers out the front wanting to take us on tours that cost 500 baht each so we went off to the Tourism place to see what the deal was + not get ripped off. They told us to take the local tram around instead. While waiting for the tram, we actually were convinced by some guy hanging around there to take a tuk-tuk who would only charge us 40 baht as it was a special ‘government day’.

We drove off and he dropped us off at various temples before then bringing us to a ‘cheap’ government owned jewellery factory. Here we were given the royal treatment, free drinks and tours, and escorted around while they tried to sell us $10,000 diamonds. Ha! Simon took the chance to change Giles’ nappy instead. The tuk-tuk man then took us on another ‘tour’ to a tailor place, where Simon came alarmingly close to being measured for a suit! It was quite hilarious to see backpackers and other confused-looking tourists who had also been brought there by their tuk-tuk drivers, being fitted out for garments! It turns out the tuk-tuk guys get free petrol vouchers from these places. As our driver said: ‘I is poor’ – we couldn’t get too mad about it!

The Khao San road comes alive at night, with markets and people and pubs everywhere, so we hung out here for the evening and the next morning.

The next day our trip was over already and we headed to BKK airport to head out, arriving in Melbourne at 7am.

Conclusion: a fantastic trip - in our top 3! The people in both countries were so nice and friendly, and we managed to do most of our travelling unplanned which is how we like it. We will definitely go to Thailand again, those beaches are amazing and it is so great to be able to live well and eat well for cheap!!

Next up: skiing at Falls Creek…

Giles in holiday mode...