10 Out Of 10 For Our 10 Days In Paradise
Posted on 14 February 2012 08:59 AM by admin
Lorna and I have been going out together for a couple of years, but the
10 Days in Southern Thailand tour was our first overseas holiday
together. In fact, it was only the third time I’d had a proper holiday
since I graduated 4 years ago, and it was the first time I’d been outside
Europe ever! Lorna has been to Turkey and Greece a lot and she went
to Egypt once with her university, but it was her first time in Thailand,
too. She booked the holiday through the Footsteps in Asia website after
she’d been surfing the Internet looking for some kind of great romantic
adventure for us to go on. I wasn’t too sure of what she was getting us
into, but I have to say, she turned up trumps on this one.
Day 1: Bangkok
It was still quite early in the morning when our flight landed at
Suvarnhabhumi Airport but you could feel the heat as soon as they
opened the plane doors. We made it through immigration, got our bags,
and took a taxi to our hotel in central Bangkok where the first thing I did
after checking in was take a shower and then fall asleep on the bed. My
body was telling me it was the middle of the night but Lorna insisted it
was time to do some shopping. It turned out Lorna was right!
We were staying on Sukhumvit Road but they might as well call it
Sukhumvit Market as far as I’m concerned. There are stalls all along the
street selling just about anything you could possibly want from clothes to
DVDs and souvenirs to some very strange-looking and pungent-smelling
food. Lorna bought a couple of t-shirts, a pair of shorts, and a wooden
frog (don’t ask), while I tried what I think was grilled pork with sticky
rice. We then went back to the hotel to freshen up before the tour briefing
and dinner at 6pm.
That evening, we met our Thai guide called Wasan as well as the other
8 people who were in our tour group. We went for dinner in a restaurant
near the hotel while Wasan got us all to introduce ourselves before he
told us a bit about the tour and then answered our questions. Most of the
people on the tour were about the same age as Lorna and me, although
there was an older couple in their 40s from Scotland. They said it was
the first time for 20 years they’d had a holiday without their kids, who
were both now at university, so they wanted to do something special
and have a bit of adventure. There was also a young couple from London
celebrating their engagement, and then there were 2 sisters from Norway
and 2 young lads from Ipswich. The one other thing I learnt that evening
is that drinking Singha beer doesn’t cool the burning sensation that you
get in your mouth from eating a Thai green curry.
Day 2: Bangkok
We started the second day with an early breakfast in the hotel and then
Wasan took us on a guided tour of some of Bangkok’s most famous
temples and palaces. Getting there was quite an adventure in itself as
we travelled by local bus and then on a canal boat. It was the rush hour,
so there were people in business clothes, school kids in their uniforms,
and monks in their orange robes all crammed on the boat with us. I
don’t know what they made of us snow white coloured foreigners in our
shorts and t-shirts, but the young monks in particular seemed to find us
amusing.
Wasan was very patient and he did a great job of keeping us all together
as we visited the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha,
and Wat Pho, which Wasan informed us is home to the biggest reclining
Buddha statue in Thailand. Wasan also told us lots of other interesting
facts as we were walking around, but if I’m honest, the only other thing I
remember was that the Emerald Buddha isn’t made of emerald.
After some noodle soup for lunch at a street stall, we took a ride along
the Chao Phraya River on a river taxi and later, by popular demand, took
the sky train to the MBK mall for some more shopping. Wasan may have
kept us all together on the temple tours and various modes of transport,
but when it came to the shopping, he left us to it, which was exactly what
everyone wanted I think.
We all met up back at the hotel later and then Wasan took us to
Hualamphong Train Station where we caught an overnight train to Surat
Thani in the south of Thailand. The train had definitely seen better days,
but it still felt a bit elegant somehow when the ticket collector came round
later on and converted all the chairs into full-on sleeping berths complete
with sheets, a pillow, and curtains. It was like being in an old film –
except that I don’t remember a person walking up and down the corridor
selling bottles of beer out of a bucket in those old black and white films!
Chai his name was, and he certainly made a few baht out of our group
that night!
Day 3: Koh Samui
I’m not sure whether it was jet lag or the Chang beer but we were all
a bit rough when we got off the train early the next morning. I don’t
remember too much about the bus transfer to the port or the ferry ride to
Koh Samui, except that one of the lads from Ipswich dropped his mate’s
camera over the side trying to take a picture of what he insisted was a
shark. After we got off the boat, we travelled in the back of a pick-up
truck to our resort, and I gradually started to notice what a beautiful
island we’d arrived on. It was everything you would expect of a tropical
island paradise with clear blue waters, white sandy beaches, coconut
palm trees, and a hilly interior covered in jungle.
We were staying at a resort with wooden bungalows on stilts right on the
beach underneath the palm trees. We’d only been there 5 minutes but
already the hustle and bustle of Bangkok felt like a lifetime away. Wasan
explained to the lads from Ipswich that they would need to get a police
report so that they could make an insurance claim when they got home.
He took them to the police station while the rest of us got settled in.
I was straight in the water for a swim to try out my new snorkel and
face mask, while Lorna and the Norwegian girls went to check out the
restaurant. After a while, Lorna called me over and we had lunch together
with the Norwegian sisters and the Ipswich lads, who’d just got back from
the police station. The Norwegian girls spoke excellent English, which
was just as well because it was pretty obvious that the Ipswich lads were
trying to chat them up. The London couple and the Scottish couple came
over and joined us a bit later and we had a quick beer before Wasan
picked us up for a tour of the island.
First stop was Big Buddha beach where there’s a 15-metre high Buddha
statue. We also visited some very strange rock formations called
Grandma and Grandpa Rock which look like certain parts of the human
body that I am glad to say I have never seen on my own grandparents.
The next stop was a bit bizarre, too. A famous local monk died while
sitting in a meditating position and his body is on display in a glass case,
still sitting in the same cross-legged position and hardly decayed even
though he died about 20 years ago. We finished off the tour with a swim
in the surprisingly cold waters of the plunge pool at Na Muang Waterfall.
By the time we got back to the resort, it was late afternoon. Lorna and
I had a walk along the beach and then we met up again with the rest of
our group for dinner and a few beers with an amazing sunset and the
sound of the waves gently breaking on the beach as our tropical island
backdrop. It was very romantic and Mike, one of the boys from Ipswich,
seemed to be making some progress with Kristi, the younger of the
Norwegian sisters, but his friend James was striking out with Inge, the
elder sister, who didn’t seem interested at all.
Day 4: Koh Samui
Wasan was a great guide and full of enthusiasm, but he also knew when
to leave you alone to get on and do your own thing. Our second day on
Samui was a free day and we had so many activities to choose from it
was hard to narrow it down. In the end, Lorna and the Norwegian girls
agreed to go and spend the day in a spa, while I went with Mike and
James on an elephant trek in the morning and then we went snorkeling in
the afternoon. The London couple just chilled out on the beach trying to
get as tanned as they could, and the older Scottish couple went on a boat
trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park, which looked awesome judging by
their pictures.
The whole group had dinner together again back at the resort, and then
Lorna and I went to a bar with Mike, James, Inge and Kristi. That night
we discovered a local delicacy called ‘a bucket’, which is basically a small
ice bucket filled with a punch of Thai whiskey (which is actually rum),
coca cola, Red Bull, and several drinking straws. We’d already got used to
the communal way of eating which is common in Thailand, but now it was
time for communal drinking as the bucket is shared amongst the group. I
don’t remember how many buckets we had, but I do vaguely remember
dancing with a Thai girl who Lorna said was a ladyboy. And I did see Mike
getting very comfortable with Kristi but I think James had completely
given up on his chances with Inge by now.
Day 5: Khao Sok National Park
Just as the journey to Koh Samui had been a bit of a blur, so it was
when we left. A pick-up truck, a boat, and another pick-up truck, and
we arrived at our jungle lodge in Khao Sok National Park. If Koh Samui
was the perfect tropical island paradise, then Khao Sok was just how you
would imagine the jungle to be.
We spent the afternoon canoeing on the river in the park. The scenery
was stunning with steep rock faces right next to the river in some places
and just the densest vegetation you could imagine everywhere around
you. We even saw some monkeys as we drifted along. Wasan said there
was actually a lot of wildlife in the park but it was rare to see anything
apart from monkeys now, although he had also personally seen some
scorpions, snakes, large spiders, and exotic birds, too. We finished the
day off with a trek along one of the trails into the jungle, which Wasan
said was originally made by elephants, and then it was a very rare early
night for us.
Day 6: Ao Nang
We were all up early the next morning feeling fresh and ready for the
next part of the trip, which was about to take our tropical paradise
experience to the next level. It was a bit of a trek to get there on two
buses and another pick-up taxi but it was definitely worth the trouble.
Once again we were staying in beach bungalows but the beach was even
more beautiful than Koh Samui. Lorna and I just spent the rest of the day
on the beach, sunbathing and snorkelling. I also bought a hammock and
put it up on our balcony. Actually, I put it up twice because it collapsed
the first time I tested it out.
Again, we all had dinner together while Wasan told us what our options
were for the next day. The Norwegian girls signed up to go scuba diving
since they already had their diving qualifications. The Scottish couple
decided to go on another boat trip to some of the islands in the area. The
London couple just wanted to chill on the beach and work on their tans.
Lorna and I decided to go with Mike and James to explore some local
caves.
Day 7: Ao Nang
Lorna and I had breakfast with Mike and James before we went to the
caves. I’m not sure what had happened between Mike and Kristi the
night before, but he was getting very embarrassed when James kept
asking him about her. Anyway, we all set off to explore the caves and this
time it was Mike who was making fun of James, who forgot to take his
sunglasses off and kept complaining that he couldn’t see anything.
In the afternoon, Mike and James went kayaking, while Lorna and I joined
Steve and Naomi, the London couple, on the beach. It was our last day
at Ao Nang so we just spent the rest of the day relaxing and soaking up
the beautiful scenery before ending the day with a delicious meal of fish,
crab, monster-sized prawns and rice, all washed down with a few bottles
of Singha as we watched the sun set over the sea. Perfect!
Day 8: Phang Nga Bay
It was hard to leave the idyllic setting of Ao Nang, but it was made a bit
easier knowing that we were just swapping one corner of paradise for
another. After travelling by local bus to Phang Nga, we boarded a long
tail boat for a tour of the bay. The long tail boats are so called because
they have an engine mounted near the rear of the boat with an extra long
propeller shaft that can be swivelled to steer the boat. Lorna and I had
the front seat and as we set off, she nudged me and pointed to the back
of the boat where Mike and Kristi were sitting together holding hands,
while James and Inge were sitting as far apart as possible on the seat in
front of them and doing their best to ignore each other.
As we chugged around Phang Nga Bay in our wooden boat, it soon
became obvious just what an amazing place it is. It is actually a huge
natural bay peppered with hundreds of small islands, sea caves, lagoons,
beaches, and weird shaped rock formations jutting out of the sea. But
our first port of call was an overhanging cliff where Wasan pointed out
some ancient rock paintings. It was certainly something I hadn’t expected
to see, and not far from there we had our second surprise as we passed
underneath an arch in the rock face and suddenly found ourselves inside
a hidden lagoon surrounded by sheer cliffs. Wasan said there was a beach
that you could land on at low tide, but it was submerged under the high
tide when we were there. The high tide also meant there was just enough
clearance to get the boat back out under the arch but it was a very tight
fit.
As we headed back out onto the open sea, the bizarre outline of our next
destination came slowly into view. James Bond Rock is famous as the
location of Scaramanga’s secret hideaway in the old James Bond film, The
Man with the Golden Gun. The boat stopped on the beach of a tiny island
next to it so we all had a chance to get out, stretch our legs, and take the
obligatory pictures.
Our penultimate stop for the day was at a Muslim fishing village on stilts
before we finally landed on a secluded island where we spent the night
camping on the beach under the stars. Koh Samui and Ao Nang are real
tropical paradises, but this was like something out of Robinson Crusoe.
Day 9: Phuket
Early the next morning, Wasan cooked us a basic breakfast on the beach,
and then it was time to jump back in the long tail and head for the final
destination of our tour. After we landed at Ao Por pier in Phuket, we were
taken to our hotel in Phuket Town where our group would spend the last
night together. However, I had a feeling that it might not be the last night
that Mike and Kristi spent together.
The last full day of the tour was a free day, so Lorna and I just spent the
afternoon wandering around the town. We also planned to stay on for a
few more days before flying back home from Phuket Airport via Bangkok,
so we booked ourselves on a snorkelling trip for the next day.
We had agreed to meet up with the whole group later on for one last big
night out together, so after a big meal and a few bottles of Chang beer,
we all hit the town. It’s all a bit burry after that but I know it was light
when we got back to the hotel.
Day 10: Phuket
The next morning – very, very late the next morning – we all had our last
lunch together and exchanged e-mails and Facebook addresses before
heading our separate ways. We have some fantastic memories from that
tour and we made some great friends who we will definitely keep in touch
with. The scenery was stunning, the Thai people we met were so friendly,
and Wasan was an excellent guide. Thank you to Footsteps in Asia for a
dream holiday, and 10 out of 10 for the 10 Days in Southern Thailand
tour.