After a day in Melbourne, we headed to Bangkok. And, yes, one
night there does make a hard man humble. Hint...if you hear the words
"Amazing Thailand!" or "Today - special Buddhist holiday!", you can be
pretty sure that you're going to get screwed. We stayed a block from
Khao San road in the Banglampoo area, which had tons of bars and restaurants;
it's definitely the place where young westerners gather. Other than
tons of wats (temples) and the Pat Pong night market, there isn't a whole
lot in Bangkok other than pollution and tuk
tuk drivers.
We headed off to Phuket, which is sort of the Cancun of Thailand.
I guess there are nice areas like Kata Beach, but Patong where we were
was pretty seedy. The only bright points were the guy with the satay
cart and watching Tariq dance, ahem "grind", with a cross-dresser.
After that, we went to Ko Phi Phi, two islands halfway between Phuket
and Krabi. Phi Phi Le, which is uninhabited, is the island where
they filmed a lot of "The Beach". Needless to say, just about every
bar was playing that. Both were beautiful, though. For diving,
I'd recommend Viking Divers
or Island Divers. Also tourist kick-boxing at the reggae bar is not
to be missed.
Leaving Phi Phi, we took a ferry to Krabi and made our way to Railay,
a peninsula only accessible by longtail boat. Absolutely amazing!
Great climbing, beautiful beaches, and wonderful food. And villas
on the beach for $10.
When Tariq went back to Bangkok to head to London, I intended to make
a trek up in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, but due to weather this was called
off, and I went to Cambodia instead. |