Day 1 – Back to the Mainland
After a quick coffee by the port we boarded the Ferry for around a 2 hour trip, fortunately this time the crossing was as smooth one and we were soon disembarking at the other side. Unfortunately the travel agent screwed up and only gave us our bus ticket and not one for the Ferry so we had to pay for it again (and got a refund later) We were then met by a minibus driver who was taking us around 60km to Khao Lak which as it happened was a pretty uneventful drive compared to most of our road trips so far.
Around 2pm we were deposited at the roadside and we had to sort out a Tuk-Tuk for the final couple of miles to our guest house, which was actually slightly up from Khao Lak and was located close to Bang Niang Beach.
Checking into the Swiss Guest House (strangely the owners
were Swiss!) we discovered our room had no windows and had a number of mosquito’s
in residence. So after a quick unpack
and pest control session we headed out to explore the area.
We soon found the main drag to Bang Niang Beach and it
appeared to be a very Nordic/Germanic area.
As it was sooo hot we just checked out a couple of bars to cool down in
with a few ice cold Chang’s.
As evening came around we were touted for an Indian
Restaurant by an old fella in full Indian garb.
When inside the restaurant we saw that the beer was 160 Batt instead of
the 90 Batt elsewhere, Shell pointed this out to the waiter and we were then
charged 90 Batt as we were the first customers of the night. The meal was fairly nice and a change from
Thai food, but after dinner I still wasn’t feeling that great with my head cold
so we headed back to the guesthouse for a very early night at 7.30!!
Day 2 – Backbreak Hotel & Exploring Khao Lak Area
What a rubbish night, I’ve discovered (Shelley) that I don’t
sleep well in windowless dwellings, I woke at one point in the night and thought
my head was where my feet should be!. On
top of this the bed was awful and gave me a really bad back. So that laid the plans
for the rest of the day, we were to look for new accommodation!
Breakfast however was nice and after this we hired a
motorbike from the guest house and headed off to explore the nearby beaches and
then decide where we wanted to stay. Beach 1 was called Khuk Khak Beach Pretty nice, a few food stalls and massage tents along the top but not much else
Beach 2 was Laem Pakarang – This was more of a view point
than a beach where we could see miles of golden stand in the distance so that’s
where we headed next
Beach 3 was Ao Thong Beach- stunning beach but surrounded by
very posh hotels way out of our budget, also not a lot else other than hotels,
we moved on after a coconut shake each
Beach 4 was Kantaray beach which was pretty similar to Ao
Thong so we decided to loop back and look at the main beach in Khao Lak
Beach 5 & 6 was Khoa Lak and Nang Thong which are pretty
much joined together, the beaches were nice but it was a real schlep to the
beach through built up apartment blocks etc, Plus it was wall to wall Germans
and we didn’t fancy our chances with the beach towels so again, we moved on!
Beach 7: Bang Niang Beach – this was the one our guest house
was closest too and we thought it looked the best, a little cove of white sand
with rocks and things (for Glenn to go crab hunting). Stopping there for a 2nd
look, we agreed to find accommodation closer to the beach and restaurants (Swiss
guest house was about 1.5k away)
The first one we came to was run by a very austere German
woman who told us there was no room. The second one was completely out of our
price range and others looked a bit too seedy. Feeling a bit hot and bothered
we decided to get a cold drink and check the internet for options too.
The place we stopped out was advertising a room and when we
asked the lovely Thai lady owner (husbands German) pointed us to a guest house
around the corner and told us to haggle.
The Guest house turned out to be really nice, a German name
but run by Thai’s. The girl showed us to a room which was really spacious and
airy with a balcony and floor to ceiling windows! She wanted 1000 Baht per night (about £20) and I said we only had
800, she then went to show us to an 800 room (I later found out that these ones
don’t have windows) but then realised it was occupied so we agreed on 850 and
booked in for the following night for 2 nights.
Relieved, I suggested that we went back to the bar to thank
the Thai lady, we did, she was over the moon that we had bothered to come back so
we stayed for a beer and a chat before heading off to the local market.
The market was pretty cool, we picked up a new T-Shirt for Glenn.
We had dinner off one off the stools,
assorted BBQ meats which was delicious before heading back to rest up at back
break hotel before going out in the evening.
Glenn had spotted a music bar that he wanted to check out,
as he promised he wouldn’t get on stage this time we headed there first but it
looked a bit tame so we moved on. The 2nd
bar was playing some good tunes so we stopped there and got chatting to the
owner who was from Belgium, an Aussie girl and a really cool couple from
Holland (they were all friends)
The owner invited us on a boat trip he was running the next
day for a pretty cheap price but as it basically sounded like a booze cruise we
declined. One of his friends also explained that the Owner was pretty popular
in the area due to the work he did for the local people after the Tsunami. He
and his Thai wife basically pressurised the government to give aid to those
that needed it to ensure the money wasn’t going into the pockets of the rich. Sadly he’s no longer with his wife, he fell on hard times and lost his previous bar and it seems 12 years of marriage and a child wasn’t enough to keep her around. When we spoke to him about it he just shrugged and explained that was the Thai Way “you look after me, I look after you, If you don’t, I’m off!”.
We had a few in there in the hope we would get a better night’s sleep in back-break hotel!
Day 3, Bye bye Back-break hotel, Monks on a beach!
Shelley crawled to breakfast due to another bad night but
the breakfast was good. Afterwards we headed to our new digs for 11 as Shel had
negotiated an early check in. It had a lovely balcony and a fridge which we
could stock up with beers and iced coffees (another small addiction we have)
By this time it was quite late so we headed to the bar with
the nice Thai Lady to book a trip to the Similan Islands (beaches and marine
life are supposed to be stunning). We then hired a bike and headed towards some
waterfalls we spotted on the map.
The waterfall was more of a disappointing trickle so we didn’t
stop long and decided to head to a final beach we hadn’t visited the previous
day.
Bangsak Beach: Was stunning, miles of golden sand, and we
were pretty much the only ones there until some monks decided to join us and
went for a paddle taking selfies of themselves on their smartphones, I thought
you only got a robe and a bowl if you were a monk?
After a quick dip and some body surfing we dried off on the
beach before heading off by bike for the furthest point we could see. Unfortunately
it started to rain so we pulled into a local roadside café where we got talking
to (we think) the owne’rs son. He offered to take us out on his fishing boat
the following day and we had to decline as we had already booked the trip to
Similan – Gutted!
After we headed back for some food by the hotel before
heading off for an early night, Up with the larks again tomorrow!
Day 4 – Speed boat to Similan Islands
Picked up at 7:30 by mini bus we headed to the port where we
were greeted, given wrist bands and fins and invited to help ourselves to
breakfast.
The speed boat contains about 30 tourists seated in a circle
facing inwards. As you wasn’t allowed to get up and move around we basically
sat there starring at each other and watching a small boy get sea sick. The Similan Islands are rated one of the world’s top 10 dive destinations and is comprised of 9 islands. The brochure says “if one wanted an idea of what heaven would be like, this is the place to visit as the islands are beautifully lined with crystal white beaches and tropical jungles. …. As we were still recovering from our Phi Phi diving we decided to snorkel (plus the diving was bloody expensive!)
At the first island, Koh Bangu (we think), we moored up and
jumped off the boat to snorkel. There was a small beach which we were told that
if you stepped foot on it, you would be arrested as that’s where the turtles
lay their eggs. We spent 30mins snorkelling there (lots of stunning colourful
fish) before being ordered back on the boat to move to the next island.
The next Island (Koh Similan) we pulled up at a beach called
Elephant rock because there a pretty big rock there shaped like an Elephant (if
you squint your eyes) we were told not to climb it as there had been a few
accidents and deaths previously. Our guide (who was quite a force to be reckoned
with for a tiny Thai Lady) ordered everyone to go straight to the picnic area where
they served as a hot lunch with a surprisingly large choice. 
After lunch we queued up to have the obligatory pic with
Elephant rock in the background before going for a quick dip and then heading
back to the boat.
Island 3 we can’t remember the name of but again moored up
away from the beach again and dived in from the
boat, loads of great fish but again not enough time before Thai Hitler
called us aboard.
Island 4 (?) we moored up on the beach and waded in. First
we went to find the fruit bats, we were told were sleeping in the trees, we
found them, there were loads!.
We then waded back in to snorkel, lots of great fish and a
chance to practice our snorkel diving moves: diving to the bottom to get a
better look at the fish before swimming
back up and clearing your snorkel
before you reach the top (leant
in PADI) plus using the Go Pro.
Back on board we then headed for another 45 mins back to the
port. All in all it was quite pricey and very touristy but it was a good day
out and they kept feeding us biscuits, fruit etc. between meals. There was even
a big buffet waiting for us back at the port but we were too full to take
advantage.
Politely declining the offer of buying a plate with your face
on it (do people really buy these) we headed for the minibus back to the hotel
where we chilled out blogging and researching our next destination.
We also learnt that the Thai’s aren’t too keen on the
Chinese Tourists, as it was Chinese New Year there were hundreds of them!. At
each Island we visited our guide would point to where the Chinese were swimming
and we were told to avoid them. “They all wear life jackets, only go in up to
their waist and still they drown”.
We said would go back and see the Thai lady we booked our
trip with as she had asked. We got chatting with her and her husband and then a
young guy came him who also knew them. It was weird hearing another English
accent as we were pretty much the only Brits in Khao Lak. It turned out to be
true as when she explained to him we were English his face lit up and we asked
him to join us.
It turned out that his name was Tom and he was a teacher:
Teacher Tom. Was teaching in the UK and decided to resign and head off to
travel. He arrived in Khao Lak, loved it and had been there since August.
Really nice guy!. The only teacher we had met who taught in a Thai Village
(most teach in international schools as the wages where higher) as he wanted to
do some good and give something back. He lived in a tiny one room bungalow and
rented his bike monthly, deliriously happy with his lot!
He was there to meet an Artist who had the shop next door to
go to a music gig, but he got so involved in our conversation he decided to
stick with us and we headed off to the Belgium Guys bar as he spoke great
English and thought Tom might strike up a friendship with him.
After a few games of pool (Glenn and Tom) we started to play
name that tune, well name a song with a specific word in it really, overhearing
a big German guy joined in with us.
A challenge for you readers, can you name a song with the
word beige in it?After a while Teacher Tom was a little worse for wear (hasn’t got the stamina we have accumulated after 3 months of travel!) and decided to head off. As he’s a teacher he’s blocked on FB so gave us his details which sadly we lost! What a shame, we would have definitely kept in touch.
The bar was closing and it turned out that German Bloke was
staying at the hotel so we headed there for a final beer (all on trust, you
just help yourself out of the fridge) exchanging tips on good upcoming bands
before heading to bed.
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