Nov 13th – 18th
It feels a bit precious to say we caught a plane in order to enjoy a beach for a day, and we didn’t exactly do that as possible beaches were on the, increasingly vague, travel route. The initial plan though was to skip over them to ensure we hit the less marketed areas of Thailand, BUT, a beach day ‘off’ was called for so rather than scooting direct to Bangkok and the north we looked at the southern end of Thailand – famed for islands, full-moon parties and holiday makers as much as travellers.
To avoid the over touristy areas we thought we could catch a ferry to Langkwai and then enter Thailand by sea via Koh Lipe to Krabi a wonderful plan …. until we eventually figured out that the ferry service from Penang to Langkwai has not resumed since the pandemic therefore effectively blocking ferry options from Penang. This is a fairly recurring theme and we are finding we have to check and double check what is possible. Much has restarted since COVID19 but not all and the internet has not been fully upated by the bloggers and travel gurus yet so we are adjusting as we go. Not necessarily a bad thing as we are finding. For our (TBH, my) beach fix then we resort to another plane and the cheapest option is Phuket, not exactly the non touristy destinaton we were aiming for – but you never know. We searched for a ‘quiet’ beach in the blogs and kept our fingers crossed.
Arriving at Phuket airport was everything we feared – a throng of holiday makers, an army of taxi drivers waving cards with people or resort names on them and others just waving offering you a good price to wherever or for whatever. We escaped to the relative calm of the Grab pick up station and headed to Surin beach. From there we went straight to the beach for a paddle and a beer
Switching to the local beer has become a necessary travel ritual. Singha, Chang and Leo are all now possibilities. Surin beach is lined by cooking stands which have tables set up beneath the coconut trees. Thankfully it is not Phuket in terms of noise and youth but the portly sleeping middle aged couple on the beach are a timely warning. That evening we head inland to a quiet restaurant – torrential rain almost stopped us but we are offered shelter and a drink to wait out the storm. Lovely meal of Pad Thai (well you have to on your first night). Extra sweet chilli sauce given for our doggy bag or leftovers. Thai people are driven by kindness as much as profit.
The following day is the day off – we head to the beach and bake to a warming shade of pink. Even Tim goes in the water – unfortunately forgets to re apply sunscreen so is a slightly stronger shade of pink later (and spends the next three days moaning about it). Lovely beach lunch under previously described coconut trees and although it is a day off we start planning.
Travel planning and travel days are different. Travel planning is, or can be, fun, rewarding and exciting – it can also be frustrating. It can easily eat up time and take over. You can get trapped into always planning a few days or weeks ahead so that you miss what is happening right now, but you also do need to get ahead for some routes as your preferred means of travel may sell out. Trouble is you don’t know what those routes are.
While sitting under the coconut tress sipping a beer and having lunch we discover that the overnight sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is booked out online – nothing available for our dates. Disappointing, as this would have been a better experience and a bit cheaper. There is a chance that turning up at the rail station and booking may make a difference – not all seats are released online and face to face is king in Thailand but do you risk just turning up?? In this case we thought not! It is a bit of a gamble which adds stress to the actual travel days. Travel days have potential to be very stressful in any case. Tim does not like the travel itself. It is stressy thinking of times and having to be somewhere specific – I find it manageable and often interesting for different reasons. When we manage to get the local bus (Song-thaew) which has no set stops and no schedule it feels like a victory and pushes me way out of my comfort zone.
Sucessful travelling is about getting the balance between more days in one place and covering distances. Staying still allows you to get to know a place and really feel you have got it, to have some days off the planning, to be able to get used to a bed and to get chores like washing done. All of these things are familiar. Covering distances and, well, travelling, is necessary so that we see what we want to see. The distances are vast and sometimes travel is not quick. As always it is a trade off. The only truism is that there is no one right way – we have made errors but you cannot unravel what errors, possible missed opportunities may have led to an unexpected step which turned out to be just what you needed. You just need to remember to keep observing, keep smiling and look for the opportunity to see something new – whatever that is. In this case we now need to get to the stopover town of Surat Thani in order to fly to Bangkok and that takes us near a National Park – worth a detour.
Khao Sok National Park
Khao Sok national park was extablished in 1980 and is a huge area of rainforest much of which is not accesible to mere mortal travellers with worn out knees and hips. Within its vastness is the Cheow Lan Lake, formed when the Ratchaprapha Dam was built 36 years ago, floodingh the valley to provide reliable water and power. Seven villages were displaced with compensation in the form of new land, rubber plantations and money. Even animals were airlifted out when marooned on new islands.
A tourist industry has been created around the beauty of the new lake. This was accessible to us and with some degree of comfort … You cannot stay in the National Park independently but you can book accomodation through recognised tour operators. Floating bungalows come as budget (backpackers), modest (flashpackers) and luxury (splashpackers) – we went for the flashpackers as the loss of a private bathroom is an unspoken line we do not need to cross. The weather was cloudy and rain warm and frequent however this did not detract from the outstanding and awe inspiring majesty of the towering limestone karsts and the petrified forests – not captured at all in these photos!
It is hard to think that the dam is younger than me and yet the terrain appears so established. Our stay in the bungalow was a little ‘toury’ and food was perfunctory – however the novelty of a bed that overlooked a narrow balcony with life vests available and access to kayaks more than made up for that. As did the multiple rides in the long boat which sped across the lake in various directions to see caves, listen to elephants crashing (we never saw one, just heard them), spot hornbills and fail to take instagram worthy pictures at Guilin – the apparantly famous trademark of Khao Sok for the insta generation. We only found out on our return that our long boat pilot was a fan of the now legalised weed and spent his time when he was not piloting us topping up his levels. He was happy – and we made it back safely!
Surat Thani
From Koh Sok we Grabbed up to Surat Thani. Most people overnight there as it is mainly a transport hub for onward travel by ferry or plane to and from the islands – Koh Samui, Koh Pha Nan, Koh Tao. So say all the blogs – but we were flying out to Bangkok the next morning and stayed by the airport but we had read about a night market in Surat Thani itself … so we braved the rain and headed off – and it was delicious It was a gentle introduction to eating on the hoof and from stalls on the roadside, smallish and friendly. We managed to wander while eating various fried appetisers – mushrooms, fish and some sesame covered fried pastry ball with a savory slighty sweet filling – forever to reamain a mystery I am sure but absolutely worth it. Then we completed the evening at a local restaurant by pointing at various ingredients which were cooked/re-heated over a ferocious stove and wok burner – imagine hot crispy crackling with soft pork meat still clinging to it and fresh still slightly crunchy vegetables with spikey chilli and sweet sauce. Perfect.
Tomorrow we head to Bangkok and then onward to the Bridge over the River Kwai. Time is flying by, but we still have so much more to do and see!
– Nikki