Island life
Had a brief spell in Sukhothai last week being very cultural before becoming a beach bum. The historic park there has ruins of dozens of old temples around a large area of World Heritage protected land - many with huge Buddha statues.
The town of new Sukhothai is very uninspiring but I had expected to spend a good while looking at these impressive ruins. A good four hours peddling around the main sites and some lesser ones on a hired bike soon had me worn out. There's only so many temples a girl needs to see.
The most impressive was Wat Si Chedi, a huge Buddha statue which peeps out through a small opening in the temple wall.
Just cycling around, there were small Khmer temples ruined by the roadside, red brick glinting in the sunlight and peeping out behind trees. Some had to be climbed to on top of hillsides and all had the dramatic backdrop of the mountains behind.
During the afternoon I wandered new Sukhothai, went for a massage and explored the food market before meeting up with a Canadian - Jim - who I had met on the bus down - for a drink. We were joined by a crazy Aussie, Hamilton, a playwrite and soon to be screenplay writer.
The next morning I got the earliest bus to Bangkok which took seven hours and then spent two hours in traffic on a local bus getting to Khao San area. Did a bit of shopping and got a nice room with real sheets and a TV before heading out for sustenance.
Met a couple of African guys and went for few beers with them before heading to bed - had to be up early to go to the weekend market.
Plenty to see and buy there - budget and bag restrictions kept me from too much temptation but I spent the afternoon searching for new jeans (unsuccessfully) around town.
Then I contacted Becky as we had booked the night train together and we met for some food and a chat and sorted things out somewhat.
We had top bunks in the second class air con section, which were made up pretty early. We sat and giggled at the nosy old Thai women on the bunks below for a while before beding down for the night. No soothing rhythm of the train to lull me to sleep however. Squealing brakes, juddering movement and constant stops throughout the night saw a poor amount of sleep.
When we rolled into Surat Thani station at 6.30am I was rather worse for wear. We were conned slightly over our transfer to Samui, but made it to the island by midday.
We plumped for Mae Nam beach - a quieter strip of golden sand fringed with palms than the hedonistic resorts the island can offer. Also still has budget bungalows and we secured on right on the beach front for 400B a night for the two of us.
We spent the afternoon sunning ourselves and exploring the beach before heading out to eat at a restaurant beachside and lit by candles. Like the classy girls we are, we went to 7/11 for chocolate and a couple of wine coolers each to enjoy on our balcony before an earlyish bedtime.
This morning (Monday) we took a boat trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park - protected islands off the Samui trio. We went by speed boat on a bumpy 45 minute ride.
We had a good day, snorkelling around some amazing coral, rocks, sea snakes and colourful fish, climbing to see an Emerald inland lake, and then up to a view point on another island. This was more of a rock climb and abseil down as we had to use a rope to pull ourselves up the steep climb - but it was worth it for the view.
The other 15 or so people on our boat were kayaking so we had the climb pretty much to ourselves which was how we wanted it. For the cost we were disappointed by the food (terrible) and the herding from one part to the other followed by another four or five boat loads everytime.
But the scenery was undeniably stunning, depsite the cloudiness of the day. The sea is punctuated by huge rock islands covered in trees and hiding shimmering crescents of soft white sand. It should have been paradise, but we only felt that when sat high above everyone else at the viewpoint. Even then, we were disturbed to see cigarette butts and the odd water bottle.
Tomorrow we head for quieter Koh Phangnan - although we will be heading to the main partying beach - but just for one night. We then intend to go to quieter beaches up north before heading to Koh Tao and indulging in some scuba diving... this is the life
The town of new Sukhothai is very uninspiring but I had expected to spend a good while looking at these impressive ruins. A good four hours peddling around the main sites and some lesser ones on a hired bike soon had me worn out. There's only so many temples a girl needs to see.
The most impressive was Wat Si Chedi, a huge Buddha statue which peeps out through a small opening in the temple wall.
Just cycling around, there were small Khmer temples ruined by the roadside, red brick glinting in the sunlight and peeping out behind trees. Some had to be climbed to on top of hillsides and all had the dramatic backdrop of the mountains behind.
During the afternoon I wandered new Sukhothai, went for a massage and explored the food market before meeting up with a Canadian - Jim - who I had met on the bus down - for a drink. We were joined by a crazy Aussie, Hamilton, a playwrite and soon to be screenplay writer.
The next morning I got the earliest bus to Bangkok which took seven hours and then spent two hours in traffic on a local bus getting to Khao San area. Did a bit of shopping and got a nice room with real sheets and a TV before heading out for sustenance.
Met a couple of African guys and went for few beers with them before heading to bed - had to be up early to go to the weekend market.
Plenty to see and buy there - budget and bag restrictions kept me from too much temptation but I spent the afternoon searching for new jeans (unsuccessfully) around town.
Then I contacted Becky as we had booked the night train together and we met for some food and a chat and sorted things out somewhat.
We had top bunks in the second class air con section, which were made up pretty early. We sat and giggled at the nosy old Thai women on the bunks below for a while before beding down for the night. No soothing rhythm of the train to lull me to sleep however. Squealing brakes, juddering movement and constant stops throughout the night saw a poor amount of sleep.
When we rolled into Surat Thani station at 6.30am I was rather worse for wear. We were conned slightly over our transfer to Samui, but made it to the island by midday.
We plumped for Mae Nam beach - a quieter strip of golden sand fringed with palms than the hedonistic resorts the island can offer. Also still has budget bungalows and we secured on right on the beach front for 400B a night for the two of us.
We spent the afternoon sunning ourselves and exploring the beach before heading out to eat at a restaurant beachside and lit by candles. Like the classy girls we are, we went to 7/11 for chocolate and a couple of wine coolers each to enjoy on our balcony before an earlyish bedtime.
This morning (Monday) we took a boat trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park - protected islands off the Samui trio. We went by speed boat on a bumpy 45 minute ride.
We had a good day, snorkelling around some amazing coral, rocks, sea snakes and colourful fish, climbing to see an Emerald inland lake, and then up to a view point on another island. This was more of a rock climb and abseil down as we had to use a rope to pull ourselves up the steep climb - but it was worth it for the view.
The other 15 or so people on our boat were kayaking so we had the climb pretty much to ourselves which was how we wanted it. For the cost we were disappointed by the food (terrible) and the herding from one part to the other followed by another four or five boat loads everytime.
But the scenery was undeniably stunning, depsite the cloudiness of the day. The sea is punctuated by huge rock islands covered in trees and hiding shimmering crescents of soft white sand. It should have been paradise, but we only felt that when sat high above everyone else at the viewpoint. Even then, we were disturbed to see cigarette butts and the odd water bottle.
Tomorrow we head for quieter Koh Phangnan - although we will be heading to the main partying beach - but just for one night. We then intend to go to quieter beaches up north before heading to Koh Tao and indulging in some scuba diving... this is the life
posted by charlie at 8:06 pm
1 Comments:
yo,
it's taken me 2 evenings but have just caught up with 2 months worth of entries! some made me laugh, some made me think and some made me sick with jealousy. so glad you're having an awesome time - i told you the doubts were unfounded! can't believe you've written so much and that i fell so far behind since i went to japan in july. life is crazy now - job in central london is not conducive to getting things done in the week and the nightlife is great. still, am questioning why i'm here when there are so many other places to be in the world. ho hum.
look forward to seeing more pics and hope i remembered to send you a b'day email!
take care xxx
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