Phuquet… then back to England!

I waved goodbye to our friends at Kho Yao Noi and we all boarded another wooden ferry to Phuquet for our final few days in Thailand. As expected, Phuquet is a sprawling resort island with numerous beaches and our destination was Karon Beach on the west side – an area hit by the Tsunami in 2004. Before arriving here, were were taken into the island through rubber tree plantations where elephants dozed in the shade chewing on bananas, to visit a Gibbon sanctuary. Gibbons/ monkeys/apes are not really my thing but I showed a polite interest in the information provided to us and looked at a few swinging gibbons before retreating from the heat to find an ice coffee at the nearby cafe. From there I could here them whooping in the trees and once the group had reassembled it was lunch in the cafe before a long and tiresome journey in heavy traffic throuhg Phuquet town across to Karon Beach.  A nice modern hotel awaited us and after dumping my bag I walked 10 mins to the beach and paid a small price for a lounger and umbrella, did some swimming, reading and meandered the streets until dinnertime. The island is predictably crowded with people getting winter sun to top up their leathery tans whilst getting drunk on the cheap beer and buying cheap knock off clothing and souvenirs. This is not my favourite environment but for 2 days of sun before returning to England it was just about ok. For my 2nd day here I took a taxi with Phil (the Kiwi) to nearby Patong Beach for more sunbathing/swimming from the comfort of a sun lounger. According to the Lonely Planet, early February is prime ‘gaytime’ for Patong and the evidence was everywhere on the beach, couples of same sex walking along the shoreline and sharing cozy sun loungers -  I never want to see another pair of leopard print thonged speedos ever again….

So this is the end of my southern Thailand experience and my time in this Land of Smiles and the culmination of 5 months travel around Australia and New Zealand. I return to England via Bangkok on Wednesday . Put the kettle on, I need a nice cup of tea!

Kho Yao Noi Island

There are 2 Islands of Kho Yao and we stayed on ‘Kho Yao Noi’ right on the beach in individual bamboo huts on stilts. My hut all to myself had a double bed, bathroom, mosquito nets and curtains with doors opening from the bedroom to the verandah where I could chose from a deckchair or a futon style bench whilst listening to the swish of the coconut palms broken by the gentle crash of the waves only 100m away – heaven!  I swam in the sea on arrival, the only other prescence being the local fishing boats, some kids playing volleyball and the scooters whizzing along the narrow concrete road  skirting the coastline, it felt like only a handful of people live here, quite different from the crowded resorts of Krabi and a million miles from Bangkok!  The peace and quiet was perfect and I spent a few hours just snoozing (battling a slight headcold) before joining the group for dinner overlooking the beach provided by our hosts. After dinner,  a few of us moved to the ‘bar’  a few bamboo stools on the sand across from the beach, for drinks (Chang Beer) and guitar music provided by our host.  Feeling in need of some liquid medicine I chose some local brandy (Regency) followed by local whisky and local rum. Well… it was medicinal!  A local holiday maker passed by and joined in the music providing folk songs for an hour or to and by midnight, with almost all the rum gone and a half bottle of brandy inside me I staggered to my hut for some sleep.  The next day I had no hangover amazingly! We boarded a fishing boat with our bartender (also not hungover) and did a tour of local islands for more snorkelling and such. The scenery here is awesome, the fish colourful and the beaches are white sandy curves of paradise (it’s just a shame that there is a lot of debris and litter, some of it hazardous like glass and rusty nails). Lunch of Chicken fried rice on a secluded beach all to ourselves just doesn’t get any better followed by more snorkelling and dodging large pink jellyfish who in turn were dodging the nets of local fisherman catching them for the chinese market as a delicacy. By evening I was tired by happy after 2 days in paradise – walking the beach at sunset will be a memory to draw on in the midst of an English winter. Supper that night was a seafood BBQ prepared by our hosts and it tasted great but my appetite was off (maybe the cold or the hangover finally kicking in?) either way, I was asleep by 9pm…

Krabi, Ao Nang, Phi Phi Island

Leaving Bangkok after 2 weeks in the north of Thailand, I boarded the overnight train again with a new group of travellers (plus one Kiwi I already knew) to chundle south for 12 hours arriving the folloing morning in Surat Thani – from here we boarded a bus decorated in pink frilly curtains for 2 hour, switched to a minivan for another hour (plus police stopping time to check for papers) and then in Krabi town transferred to a songteaw eventually arriving tired and hot at the guesthouse in Ao Nang beach (well about 3 miles from the beach).  The next 2 days was spent in idle relaxation on Ao Nang’s beach, having a luxury massage overlooking the sea, and cooling down with fresh fruit smoothies. For one day we were taken by speedboat to the local islands of ‘See Beach’ , ‘Chicken Island’, ‘Bamboo Island’, ‘Monkey Island’  , Phi Phi Islands Phi Phi Le and Maya Beach where they filmed ‘The Beach’ for swimming, for sunbathing and snorkelling including lunch on Kho Phi Phi Don. Much of this area was devastated by the Tsunami and is recovering well with new cafes and bars. However, signposts everywhere remind tourists and locals alike of the risks of Tsumani and give instructions on where to go for evacuation routes. Leaving Ao Nang, we jumped aboard a wooden ferry to travel one hour to Kho Yao Noi island for 2 more days of beach fun!