day 173, Kata Noi

I think I’m flirting with becoming a morning person out here, to naturally wake up before the alarm beeps mechanically, to sit outside and read my book or fill in yesterday’s events in my blog and look forward to the day I have ahead of me. What a day it was going to be.

On the walk up to kata and Rumblefish, the company we are doing our scuba dive with, me and matt stopped off in a fancy café for a plate of stir fried veg and an iced green tea frappe. Another blisteringly hot day, there was a good vibe at Rumblefish, very relaxed and informal, while a Vietnamese bloke called Tien was our instructor who ran us through what to expect, the techniques and the safety briefings, before getting the gear fitted and piled along with ourselves into the pick up truck down to the beach. We got geared up and walked down into the insanely warm sea. There we learned the general beginner skills of scuba diving, from how to breathe underwater to equalising the pressure and clearing your mask from water. I found breathing under water a lot more comfortable then I thought I would, and did the drills with clearing my mask and loosing my regulator and putting it back in my mouth no problem at all. We then went deeper and to my surprise we were down there for 40minutes, swimming around and seeing fish and coral while going down to a depth of up to 6 metres.

I loved diving, though I struggled with my ears a bit, plus my mask strap came off and didn’t realise it so spent almost 10 minutes continuously blowing water out of it. It was also the first time I wore flippers which I wasn’t a natural at. Having done it and had an amazing time I haven’t got the bug, I don’t like being deep underwater though I am keen to snorkel. Matt also had a blast though struggled with getting depth.

High on adreline and knackered from the effort of concentrating on breathing and not being a ’airzilla’ we returned to the fancy café to treat ourselves to more fancy drinks, then to another café for a bite to eat, walking past the turn off to go to the jungle sauna as we couldn’t be arsed and it was hot enough, back to the apartment, backed up some photo’s and headed to the beach for sunset. At that direct moment I was just plain happy, I was sat on a quiet beautiful beach, a cold beer in my hand watching the sun go down. Unfortunately cloud stole the sunset from us though we just went for  a swim till it got dark and watched Chinese lanterns be released, got some dinner and back at the apartment now finishing off my book.

day 172, Kata Noi

Awoke feeling much refreshed having slept in a bit, had a leisurely breakfast then checked out and caught the local bus over to Kata, had a quick look around though was quite built up and had heard that Kata Noi was quieter and nicer so walked over the hill separating the two beaches, plonked the bags at the beach while one of us sat with them and the other one had a quick hunt for a place to stay. Ended up at a villa complex, have got a twin room with ensuite for 8quid a night each, we knew we could have got it cheaper though we are rubbish at bargaining and me coming from Japan I’m more then happy to pay that for a night. Spent the rest of the day at the beach which was almost empty, swimming and reading. In the evening we walked back up to Kata to have a look around, got some Pad Thai from a Thai place which was amazing along with another fruitshake, then carried on wondering around, sidestepping the massages and the hookers. After a bit of a search we found Rumblefish, a diving place as Matt was keen to try diving tomorrow, after chatting to the lady I decided to join him. Walked back to Kata Noi in search of a pub or shop though as everything was closed already at 12, read some more of my book and turned in.

day 171, Bangkok then the bloody bus

Some drunk wanker at quarter to four in the morning decided to whack the whole of the dorm’s light on and made a bit of a noise which was the only blemish on my otherwise fantastic sleep. Had arranged with matt to meet whenever we did, so I got up about half 10, wrote my blog and did a bit of computering researching the place we are going next (phuket). Checked out of the hostel and stashed our bags and headed off for some breakfast at Mr Yim’s. Yesterday while dozing off I had the grand idea of continuing the theme and not eating meat for a while, though in the morning it completely escaped me and I got a chicken baguette which was marvellous, only after I finished it did I realise I went less then an hour while I was conscious before eating meat. It was another tremendous day, the heat was stiffling and we walked to the Dusit palace grounds as our grand palace ticket from yesterday entitled us free entry into the ‘exhibition of the masterpieces’. It was a grand building and inside was, well, masterpieces, all big and gold, from thrones to model boats or exquisite silk embroidery, they gave us an audio guide and it was really interesting, and the building itself was beyond belief. I also had to purchase my first sarrong to get into the place as no shorts allowed and I’m afraid I bloody love it, far too comfy. On the way back we picked up an iced coffee which was fantastic, back to the hostel and out again for a bit of dinner. Ended up back at Ethos, the organic vegetarian place from the other night which was amazing, had a banana coconut shake and spaghetti mixed with pesto and nuts, glorious. Back to the hostel for a cheeky shower ready to catch our bus. At five to six a bloke comes into the hostel shouting “phuket” which is us, we were expecting to get in a taxi as we were told by Nicky to go to the southern bus terminal, though what awaits us is a Tuk Tuk which drives us a bit down the road and drops us off along with some other backpackers. No-one is really sure what is going on and after 10 mins we are told to walk up the road where a series of buses are waiting. We believed we bought 1st class bus ticket (which are more spacious and faster, plus only 5quid more dear) though the bus we boarded was a shit heap, the arm rest had been ripped off, the table wasn’t connected to the leg so when it was leant on it came off plus there was a monster of a man with his little Thai bride who got on after us and within 3 and half minutes of sitting down, not even moving yet he starts snoring like a steam train. There were others in the same situation as us including a Swedish couple of sisters who have been living in Thailand and caught the first class bus down so we weren’t being proper thick. The bus chugged off then stopped again for more people, chugged off then stopped again, then onward and outward. It wasn’t the smoothest ride and I didn’t get any sleep, we stopped off at 12 for a break, then at 2 some people got off so there was a spare couple of seats so I grabbed it and fell into a sweaty hot/cold sleep (as the air con was broke) before being woken at half 6 by the bus driver shouting at everyone to get off the bus. I expected to be in Phuket as we were told the bus takes 12 hours, alas we weren’t. We were at this place called suratthani, got told to sit down and wait, after about 20mins a pick up truck came which we were shepherded into, me, matt and 3 others, to a travel agency where we sat down for two hours. While there we were coerced into spending another 200baht to get from Phuket town to Karon, the beach where we wanted to go, it was around 200-500baht for a taxi considering and he was very adamant it was best for us, so after a bit of negotiating again we had a deal. Around an hour after they said the bus would arrive the 5 of us plus another 4 piled into this pickup truck with all our luggage, to quote Richard key’s we were practically hanging out the back of it, which drove us down the road and into a bus. This then took another 5 hours to reach Phuket, after numerous stops all the while we were cursing fucking Nicky and rueing the floods as to why we couldn’t have got a government bus ticket from the bus terminal which we had wanted. We arrived in Phuket city to transfer to a minibus, got our bags from the coach and I saw that my clips were undone, the zips weren’t how I always leave them and the 2 padlocks I have which is on the double zipper combinations were different to 000 (which I always a little OCD leave them so I can open it in the dark), so some bastard had tried getting into my bag and failed, the cunt. In the minibus for another 16kms, dropped everyone else at Patong ( a party hotspot and an absolute shit-hole, similar to Newquay but a lot bigger) and after emphasising to the bus driver we wanted to go to Karon he finally set off, before having a break for 20minutes parked in an alleyway… 7 minutes drive down the road we arrive in Karon, which is awesome, a lot quieter and generally more attractive, didn’t have anything booked so had a bit of a walk around, the first two were full though the 3rd wasn’t, checked out the room, a twin private room with ensuite and AC near the beach which is clean for 5quid each, we were so tired from a 21hour journey and happy with the price didn’t even bother with a bit of bargaining and bit her hand off, showered, teeth cleaned, fresh clothes and out for fish and chips and a beer, 16:45, first meal of the day and it was fucking grand. Walked down to the beach, beautiful golden fine sand, clear water, the sun setting, rushed back to the hotel, grabbed our cossies and had a dip till it got dark. Emerged refreshed and considerably more happy, and am back in love with Thailand again after not being in love with it or it’s people for 21 hours, looking forward to bed after a walk around to see if can get any better accommodation, more food and a few beers as it’s cooler then Bangkok feel like having a bit of a drink.

day 170, Bangkok

Met with matt earlyish for a cracking mixed fruit breakfast then headed off to the Grand Palace. When I arrived and got in I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, Grand was an understatement. It was a big complex of temples surrounding the palace, the features were intricate and absolutely stunning, right up there with some of the best things I have seen, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. We spent a couple of hours walking around with our mouths hanging open then stopped off for an ice cream before deciding to walk to the southern bus terminal to book our tickets to Phuket. We were told by a couple of people that the southern bus terminal is closed though we thought we would seek it out anyway, I googled it and it was about an hour away toward the north west of central Bangkok. As soon as we crossed the bridge (where we could see one of the rivers ridiculously high volumed and overflowing it’s banks) Bangkok changed, there was debris everywhere with massive mud patches scattering the sidewalks. No other tourists were around and people were going about their daily life which seemed  pretty chaotic still though thankfully without the pressure or pestering to buy shit. There was still some flooding and a couple of times we had to walk over a wall of sandbags to get up a bridge. We arrived at the bus station an hour later and it was deserted, re-checked the map and turns out the bus station has been relocated. The old bus station was abandoned and felt like a movie set, similar to The Hurt Locker, buildings were dilapidated, things had been stripped, stray dogs were abound, one woman was eerily sweeping randomly, people were sleeping rough and was a very strange experience. We headed on to the new bus station (crossing more sandbags and seeing some awful flooding which has completely uprooted hundreds of people who were camped up at the railway tracks) which was to the west of the old station along a main road (actually a double decker motorway though it had pavements with numerous activity and markets going on. We walked for another couple of hours, we found the temple that was directly opposite the bus terminal (which was described on the web as being ultra modern and similar to an airport) though couldn’t find it anywhere, even asking policemen (side note, so far I have found the Thai people insanely pleasant and happy, and although I read that it’s in their culture to save face and to Thai’s a smile can indicate every single emotion, they have all been polite and awesome, even when walking past hoards of homeless people apart from apprehension I have not felt unsafe or any danger) so we surrendered, got a taxi back to central Bangkok and went off looking for TAT (the thai tourist agency) which is supposed to be the best one. We literally stumbled upon it and was met by Nicky, a thai who started a spiel about how he lived in Middlesex and has a kid blah blah blah, then gave us a price for the bus to Phuket. I did a bit of research on internet and found what the prices should be, showed him this and after a bit of negotiating we got a price we were both happy with and are taking the overnight bus to Phuket tomorrow, plus being picked up at our hostel at six (we were told it was a 32 seat air conditioned bus which on the internet indicates the first class bus plus unlimited food and drink, though anything could turn up, though I’m really interested as to where the bus terminal is as we are taking the government BKS bus (we think)), for the bus to Phuket which is 600km ish away, plus a nights sleep is costing 18quid. We thanked Nicky and made the way back to the hostel, I changed my socks as they were soaking after walking through flooding and went out for dinner. On wikitravel I read about a organic vegetarian restaurant down the road a little way called Tham na, found it and it was sublime. Having had no lunch as just too hot to eat and didn’t fancy it, and what with all the walking was pretty hungry, so me and matt ordered two starters to share, got bruschetta plus grilled pumpkin with pesto, both of them were amazing, then for main I got roasted mushroom curry which was the best curry I have ever had, numerous types of mushrooms which were just fabulous and a fruity taste, and matt got grilled tofo and mixed vegetable tempura with noodles which was also out of this world, for drinks he went for lemongrass and I went for a mixed fruit shake, ¾ of a pint of fresh amazing fruit blended, bloody fabulous, plus the restaurant was really small and had such a cool interior, bare brick walls and cool paintings, it was their house where they just turned the bottom floor into a restaurant. We did splash out a bit and the meal came to 6quid each. Having walked our arses off we treated ourselves to another fish spa and this time a head, neck and back massage which was lovely, painful in places but fucking fantastic, being pulled here and prodded there was amazing, before calling it a night.

day 169, bangkok

Slept like the dead in a really well laid out dorm with killer air conditioning and made my way out. Outside the hostel has a couple of seats and I ran into a few people I was chatting to last night so joined them for breakfast and sat there under the excuse of acclimatising though I think I was just chilling out in hot weather. I got some amazing mixed fresh fruit muesli and a cuppa and sat down for a couple of hours where this English bloke called Matt sat down. He’s in his mid to late twenties, a web designer, been living out the uk for a couple of years, first went to work in NZ now is working in Oz and is basically doing a visa run while his application for residency hopefully processes. I instantly liked him and got on with him, there are a lot of people here that I wouldn’t necessarily choose to socialise with, not to sound like a snob though there are quite a few thick people who’s idea of travelling is completely contradictory to my idea, ie getting drunk and then telling people how drunk you were as a mark of cool-ness. Me and Matt headed off in search of the Grand Palace though we went the wrong way and ended up at a couple of temples a little distance off. I really enjoyed the temples as the architecture was polar opposite to the Chinese and the Japanese temples that I have been visiting over the last couple of months. They were big white buildings with a few different style roofs, one was a gothic wooden carving roof at then others were cool coloured tiled roofs similar to those in croatia with gold horns on either end. One of the temples had a stunning spiral staircases which went up high and offered a good look around Bangkok. Compared to Tokyo it isn’t as densely building populated and those buildings are a lot more flat then Tokyo, and it doesn’t feel anywhere as busy as I thought it would do. Before I arrived in Bangkok I was a bit apprehensive as I was running into more and more horror stories by said thick people who I wouldn’t necessarily choose to associate with, and it’s bloody fine, in fact it’s awesome. I’m staying a couple of roads down from Khao san road (a backpacker haven which was featured in the Beach) and Khao san road is tourist central, shops, bars, clubs and boots the chemist. Though around it is fine, and there are a lot of quieter side roads and back alleys offering quieter entertainment and a better atmosphere. Very quickly I am adapting to Thailand’s pace and the friendly pedestrians who try and sell you tuk tuk rides or tell you that a palace or temple is closed and you should go here and there, and I don’t have a problem with them as they are friendly and polite, and after you tell them no and ask them a question they give you honest advice and directions, you just have to get your head round the fact that if someone approaches you for no real reason he’s trying to sell you something or point you in a certain direction and that he is lying to you, though me and matt quickly found their kryptonite, basically we’ve been here for a week, we’ve seen everything that they are about to ask us about and we are leaving tonight and they quickly leave you alone. Also we’re trying to see what obscure countires we can get away with saying we are from as invariably that is one of standard questions you ask, I choked on Mozambique. From the temples and the golden mount (another temple) we walked toward the grand palace stopping for an ice cream and another bottle of water (it’s was  glorious day and was fucking baking). Found the grand palace and there was a crowd of people at the entrance not being let in. We were told by the people on the door that it was closed for the King coming back or something and would re-open tomorrow. Thus we have adopted the rule ‘never believe anything anyone says unless they have a uniform and/or a gun’, and the blokes on the door had both, they were in the army and they had guns with knifes on the end of them, so I think they were telling the truth as they weren’t telling us to go anywhere else, so we sat in the park for a bit and headed back to the hostel to try and figure out where to go after Bangkok. Matt didn’t have any real plans though knows there is a festival on the ‘bridge over the river kwai’ area (I’ve forgotten the name of the actual place) where it’s supposed to be an amazing atmosphere and they lace the bridge with fireworks and effectively blow up the bridge! That of course sounded amazing though isn’t for another week I think, so heading south west to the coast for a bit of island hopping, decided on Phuket to give us a taste then we will head to Ko Phan Nga, Scaramanga’s island from The Man with the Golden Gun!!!! After a little while we headed off for dinner with a Belgian dude called Eve, it was still early so we got a beer in a side street bar and had a chat, then headed to Ethos, a vegan restaurant in a back alley which was amazing, I had a fabulous Falafel and a cinnamon, raison and chocolate coconut shake for under 4 quid and it filled me up proper. We wandered down a couple of streets and on the way sampled fried bugs (scorpion, cricket, worms etc) then all fancied a massage (a proper one, not the cheap trashy kind) and Eve walked past a place that was a few blocks away and quiet which we went to. First we started with the foot spa where the fish nibble your feet which was great though a little bizarre, very weird feeling and a mixture of pleasant and unpleasant. After 15mins soaking I got a foot massage while the other 2 got back and neck massage for half hour and it was excellent, felt so relaxed and instantly better. Both of those set me back a total of 4 quid which I still can’t believe, then headed back into the night. Tiredness suddenly hit me, so I left the other two who were heading off for another beer and possibly a ping pong show which I don’t fancy at all, got a bottle of green tea, showered and turned in having had a great day, I’m looking forward to the next 4 months soooo much round south east asia I can’t describe it.

day 168, bangkok

Woke at 6, finished packing, got some fruit candies for the plane and rushed to the subway. I caught the express train to the airport which took over an hour, found my check in desk and checked in, then took a wander to survey the food options, it was horrifically overpriced so ended up having a sub of the day on the view terrace. About 45 mins before flight leaves I realised I haven’t gone through to the departures lounge so rush through there and board my flight. To my delight it’s a huge plane, loads of leg room, a tv in front of every seat with a remote and 100s of movies for you to individually choose, and I had a 3 seat combination to myself! It was a 7 hour flight and it was the best flight I have done, my ears hardly hurt, the meal was amazing and I would have had it again quite happily, they come round with free beer, tea, wine, orange juice and water every so often, plus ice cream and packets of nuts! I watched the art of getting by, bridesmaids, bad teacher and half of friends with benefits. I tried watching the guard and the help though I couldn’t hear it properly over the shitty headphones they give you. Before I knew it I had arrived in Bangkok and it’s bloody boiling, no signs of floods, get through customs almost like it doesn’t exist, no questions as to why I have no onward flight or what not, then get the train to the city centre and meet an irish bloke going to the same sort of area so got in a taxi with him from there. Found my hostel and it’s really nice, then took a walk around. I’m staying in Khao san road, well just off it really and it’s really busy full of backpackers, most of them out to shop or get drunk. don’t like it a lot though is quite interesting to meander through and so far think thai people are lovely, even handling some of these pricks that are out here. I was due to meet up with mark for dinner though din’t work out, was at the meeting place for 15 mins but ah well, I went off a bit on a side alley and found a vegan restaurant where I had some much needed nourishment and a fruit shake which was divine, chatted with some people there and now back at the hostel dying on my laptop through tiredness.

Day 167, Tokyo

Did indeed wake up early-ish and set off on a packed day. As running low on cash I decided to walk to everywhere. Started off heading for the Bunkyo district which had a very cool civic building which housed numerous government and council office complexes all in one building, and at the top was an observation deck. It was laid out pretty well so you get in with all the office workers and see where they work when the lift stops. The building itself was very cool where it was a square sky scraper though there was a square in the middle which was left hollow, almost like a courtyard, then on top it looked like the starship enterprise was perched on top to provide the observation deck over Tokyo. From the building you could also see bits of the theme park at the Tokyo dome including the rollercoaster which goes through a hold in a building then goes through a ferris wheel which doesn’t have any ‘spokes’ like the dyson bladeless fan which was awesome, ‘cept the roller coaster wasn’t running as a couple months ago a fat man fell out of it and died. From there I walked toward the rainbow bridge which was right on the south side of town stopping off at the way at the sony building which was a bit of a disappointment, nothing really new in there part from some tablets and then their newest ranges of already established products. It took me forever to walk to the rainbow bridge (910m suspension bridge over a river), turns out you can’t walk over it so caught a train which went over it which was actually great as to get on the bridge it does a 270degree turn which I don’t think I’ve ever done in a train. Once I arrived I walked to the Fuji tv building which is awesome, weird and huge, then to pallette town to see the Toyota showcase thing, lots of shiny cars and bits of their history and demo’s of safety things they are implementing and what not, t’were pretty cool. By this time it had got dark so I walked home which took about 4 hours, got some dinner at the café where I went the other night which was amazing. Got home about half 9, showered, booked some place to stay in Bangkok and finalised things, packed and bed.