Koh Samui

Well, we last left you in Ao Nang, the beach town outside of Krabi, Thailand.  We were heading from Ao Nang all the way to Koh Samui, and it did turn out to be a long day of travel!!

We left our hostel around 9am, looking to catch a local bus back into Krabi Town to take us to the airport.  Remember: local bus means sitting on a bench in the back of a pick-up truck!!  This pick-up happened to be full of travellers, so our back packs got to ride the hour or so drive on the top of the pick-up!  We arrived at the Krabi bus station around 1030am, in perfect time to get a seat on the 11am bus from Krabi to Surat Thani, the town we would catch the ferry to Koh Samui.  We were lucky to run into a few other travelers heading our direction, so we got to make the long journey with four other backpackers.  Our bus had a few glitches, first of all was about 20 minutes late.  Then we loaded the bus, they drove us around town really slowly and 30 mins later we arrived back at the bus station to get on another bus.....  Since none of us know thai, we just switched buses and hoped the move was for the best!  Our second bus was much nicer and actually really flashy--see the pictures below.  It was about a three hour bus ride, getting us into Surat Thani town around 3pm. From here we got to play the pandemonium game that happens every time you get off a bus--lots and lots of people are waiting, asking you where you are going. It is so overwhelming!!  Steve made a good point--when people come to you, likely they are ripping you off!!  We often try to walk through this hoard of people trying to sell us tickets, taxis, other buses and look for what we actually need, this time being a bus to the ferry port, about 60km outside of town.  We finally gave in and purchased tickets from a travel agent, and arrived in time to get on the 5pm ferry over to Koh Samui.  The ferry was about 1.5hrs and was quite pleasant--we got a nice sunset on board, and ate thai cafeteria food for dinner!  When we arrived on the island, we then had to make it over to the other side of the island to find a hotel, arriving around 730pm.  Long day of travel, but we got a room at a very nice beach bungalow house (see pic!)

Our beach bungalow was located on a beautiful tranquil beach called Big Buddha beach.  However, we decided to check out the local "hot spot" of Chaweng Beach, the spot on Samui that the backpackers claimed years ago.  WOW was this place ever crowded!!  The streets were packed full of American/Aussie run bars (one was called "Bondi Bar"....), hostels and restaurants serving American food.  The beach was just as packed--it is a beautiful white sand beach that stretches about 6km along a bay, but the entire beach is FULL of resorts!!  They are built right into the beach, leaving only a thin strip of sand.  This is something we haven't yet seen in Thailand--usually the beach is left alone, with the buildings separated by a road.  We did enjoy our afternoon here, but this was very very different than we had seen before.

That evening we met up with our new ferry friends.  We had a delicious thai dinner and some drinks at the various local bars in the big buddha beach area.  One funny thing--in Thailand, there are lots of dogs and cats, most of which appear to be stray.  They walk the streets and are mostly very nice.  We met a little friend at the bar we went to for drinks before dinner, and he followed us all night long!!  He was a very nice dog, and he would just curl up under the table at the bar we were drinking at.  He actually met us the following day, too--he came down to the ferry terminal for a Koh Samui send off!!!

The next morning we boarded another ferry to head off to the neighbouring island, Koh Phangan.  This is the infamous party island in Thailand, home to the full moon parties.  The ferry is a very uneventful 45mins and was quite nice.  We are staying at a nice resort right on the beach.  If it wasn't full of backpackers, you'd think you were at a Mexican resort!  We have a beautiful pool overlooking the water, and a nice restaurant on the beach too.  We've had our first few days of bad weather while in Thailand here in Koh Phangan, but we've managed to do some exploring of the little towns and had a nice walk down our beach today, before the down pour started!!

We will update you further on our Koh Phangan trip later in the week.  Spoiler alert--we are heading to the half moon party tomorrow night.  Hopefully they don't turn us away at the door cause we are too old!!!

Our flashy bus from Krabi to Surat Thani!!

Ang enjoying the porch on our beach bungalow.

Big Buddha Beach, the beach right outside our bungalow.

Chaweng Beach, party central on Koh Samui.  It's a shame, too, cause this beach would be just beautiful if not overrun with restaurants and hotels.  You can't really appreciate it, but other than a ring of sand around the outside, Koh Samui is quite hilly and full of jungle in the middle.  

A women selling fruit on Chaweng Beach--our lunch spot for the day!!

Our thai friend!

Pier from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan.  Quite a picturesque spot.

The beach beside the pier.

Tuk Tuk Video

This is long overdue, but we have a great internet connection today, so hopefully this works!!

And I totally lied about the sideways video--Blogspot is so smart, it switched the video!!  Woohoo!!  Enjoy the monkeys and the tuk tuks!

Keep in mind with this video--anytime we are driving really fast, generally thats because we are in the other lane of traffic!!  When you see all the cars stopped, remember we should be behind them, stopped as well, but our driver really really wanted us to get there!!

Monkey Video!

As promised, here is the video of Steve feeding the monkeys (or rather, the monkeys taking the bananas!!).  Sorry it is sideways--I videoed it that way, and totally forgot we haven't been able to figure out how to flip videos yet.  If any computer genius out there has any idea, please let us know!!

Island Time!

Over the past few days, we made the decision to sign up for a couple day trips and were herded like cattle to the big tourist islands, and it was fantastic. We have run into the middle of Chinese New Year which means tourists from all over Asia have descended the Thai beach towns and big crowds in the streets, beaches and boat trips. We chalked it up to being all part of the experience and fun of being on the other side of the world and being part of what March Break and Christmas break would mean for North America travelers.

Hat Rai Lei

Before we hopped on the speed boats to race across the Thailand Sea, we took a long boat to the neighbouring beach of Rai ley that is literally on the other side of the big rock cliff (see pictures) but due to the mountainous terrain, people access the near by beaches mostly by boat.

We were very impressed by the clear blue green water and towering rock faces that surrounded the beach, which again made a big draw for the tourists. The beach had some overhanded trees which was an added bonus to escape some of the suns rays and forty degree heat.  A great day was spent relaxing on the beach and the water before making our way back to Ao nang. This beach is a must visit for any travelers who are in the Krabi area.

Ko Phi Phi

Day one of the boat tour was a visit to Maya Beach . This is a popular site as it was the beach that was used for the filming of the early 2000's movie "The Beach".  It was impressive as the beach was set back within high  rock faces and its clear blue water.  Literally thousands of people were on the beach to get their piece of the beach and enjoy the water. We really enjoyed this first stop of the day and the silica sand.

The next stop of the day was a quick half hour snorkel. The boat men parked on the edge of the reef and would throw bread into the water to attract the fish. This ensured large schools of colourful fish, but below the schools eating the bread at the top of the water, many different types and sizes of fish were almost set in layers down to the 12-15 foot bottom. This was a great snorkel spot as there was a wide variety of fish and lots of them. The bigger fish could be seen eating and crushing the coral while the smaller fish would eat the chunks of coral that fell out of the big fish mouth. It was fun to see the fish feeding and active. Many of the small fish were so curious they would sit right in front of our masks just as curious about us as we were about them.

We made a few more brief drive by stops at locations were birds were breeding and nesting and then continued on to Ko Phi Phi island. This island is claimed to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. We had our lunch stop here and an hour or so to enjoy the beach. The main part of the island where the tourists stay is about a  1km long and half km wide which means every inch of space is used by hotels, beach and market shops. This island was very beautiful and we could see how it would have gained its reputation.

The last stop of the day was on a small nearby island called Bamboo Island. This was our favourite stop as we though it has the best sand and clearest water. The island was very small with no development, except for a toilet and snack stand for tourists. It it was one would imagine of a deserted island in the tropics.  It was a great quiet stop at the end of the day to enjoy the sun and some more great swimming.

Our day was topped off by a thai massage on the beach at sunset when we returned back to Ao Nang beach.  They have lots of huts set up on the beach that are offering various massage and spa treatments.  Not exactly what you are used to when you think of a massage set-up at home, but rather 10 or so mattresses side by side in a hut.  We got mats right at the front, on the beach, and could watch as the sky went to the pinks and purples of the sunset.

Rai ley beach with the rocky cliffs in the background. 

View of Rai ley beach in the opposite direction of the first picture. We  were sitting at the end of the beach watching the rock climbers going back and forth. 

This little guy would help his dad by putting the ladder on the side of the boat so passengers would be able to climb easily in and out of the boat. 

This is the famous Maya beach which was feature in "The Beach" movie. 

A shot of the tourists gathering on Maya beach.

Ko Phi Phi island

A worker putting a new roof on a building on  Phi Phi island. Looks safe to me!

A view of Phi Phi island out towards the pier.

Steve swimming at Bamboo island. 

Another picture of the beach at Bamboo island.

James Bond Island


Today we were on another day tour and we were excited to see more of what Thailand had to offer. The standard was set high on the previous day, which made us look forward to our trip today.

The first stop of the day was and island that is now referred to on all the tourists signs and by locals as James Bond island. The island was featured in a James Bond movie, "The Man with the Golden Gun", which made it a big tourists attraction.  It was jammed packed with tourists. The long boats were lined up in a queue like airplanes ready to land as one boat would pull up to the dock, 40 or so people would disembark, the boat would pull out of the way and more people would pile onto the island. It was a sight to watch in itself.

We walked around the small island and got some pictures of the rocks featured in the movie. It was a great place to see, even with all the people.

Our next stop was different and a lot of fun. We stopped at a floating, we guess you could say store or outfitters.We rode in the long boat from James Bond island to another island and everyone got onto this large floating store to get into smaller inflatable kayaks. This part was great as there was a Thai person who was the paddler in each boat and we were able to relax in the boat as he cracked bad jokes and guided us into and out of caves and mangrove forests.

The highlight of the day was the stop after lunch at the monkey cave! Outside of this cave there were approximately 50 monkeys who loved tourists and knew when feeding time was going to start. The monkeys were well behaved and just walked around and looked at the tourists. The fun began when people would buy a bunch of bananas or nuts from the ladies selling food at the carts beside the cave.  One German couple decided to buy a bag of bananas and some nuts. After making her purchase, the lady bent down to feed the monkeys some some of the nuts. As she feed the first couple, two or three went behind her and stole of bananas out of the bag she had in her other hand and ran away. Literally ripped through the plastic bag to get to a banana!  It was really funny for everyone including the German couple. The monkeys were smart enough to steal a bag of chips when the ladies were handing over the bananas to people who were buying them.

 Ang was not feeling up to feeding the monkeys because they would climb onto the people while the feeding would take place and Ang though she might get carried away!

Steve stepped up to the plate with bananas in hand and quickly started monkeying around. The video below shows how they started to garb at his shorts while a little one climbed up his back. It was a lot of fun and they were really friendly. We laughed and laughed at the monkeys as they would eat the bananas as fast as they could and would come right back for another!

We were transported to a waterfalls pool for an hour swim after the monkey business and then home to Krabi. It was a great day even though we did not get to some incredible beaches, but because we visited areas that were unique and popular tourist sports for Thailand.

Tomorrow we venture to  the island of Koh Samui, which is further north and one of the more well known areas for its white sand beaches.

Ang and Steve on James Bond Island.  Neither of us have seen the movie yet, but apparently this rocky island is a big part. 

Here is a pic of Steve and our guide laying down while we go through the caves.  We were caving at high tide meaning that some of the passages were really really narrow!  The next passage we went through, Steve even had to put his knees out flat or would have scraped along the rocks.  It was really fun, though, because once you went through these little cave openings, you were often in a little quiet pool of water, you wouldn't otherwise be able to travel to.

Oh the monkeys!!  It took about four bananas before we actually could  capture a picture of Steve feeding a monkey because the snatch up the bananas so quickly and run to eat them!  Video of Steve feeding the monkeys to follow!!

Fun in the sun!!

We would like to start this blog with some big news: our brother and sister-in-law, Neil and Erin, just announced the birth of their first son, Evan Jordan Majoros.  Congrats to Neil and Erin and the entire Majoros family--he is such a cutey!!

Our last post was from Phuket Town, where we had been exploring the beaches of the Island of Phuket.  Our last day in Phuket took us to a different area of beaches than the day before, an area we particularly enjoyed.  We again took the local bus and this time stopped off at a beach town called Karon.  Again, long white sandy beach, but this time a bit less commercial influence.  The beach was still lined with beach chairs you could rent, but this time didn't have the same motorized water sport presence.  It was quite a relaxing beach and a great place to soak up the rays.

At mid afternoon, we packed up from Karon beach and walked about 40 minutes down a nice path to the next bay over, which holds Kata beach.  This beach was back to a bit more of the hustle and bustle of selling products on the beach that we'd come to expect from a Thai beach, but still very beautiful and a nice place to spend the rest of the afternoon.

The following day we packed up and headed out of Phuket Town.  Our plan is to take the bus and train back up through Thailand, stopping at as many different beach towns that we can fit in.  Our first stop was a three hour bus ride from Phuket Town to Krabi, the place we are going to use as our jumping off point for visiting Koh Phi Phi.

The bus ride was very uneventful.  It was a little minibus that held about 15 people.  Half Thais, half tourists.  One interesting thing about Thai buses, is that you can get off wherever you want; just let the driver know, and he'll pull over so you can get out.  Also, you can get picked up anywhere; just wave, and they'll let you in.  As we are driving down major highways, this becomes quite interesting dropping off and picking up people as we go!  We arrived in Krabi a little after noon and needing to catch a second bus (local bus this time) to get transferred into town.  This worked out well for us--the local bus we got on first stopped in town, but then continued out to the beach!  We decided this was a perfect opportunity to base ourselves at the beach, and travelled to Ao Nang for our few nights in this area.

It is Chinese New Year right now and there are lots of tourists about.  Good thing we arrived when we did--we paid over double what we usually have been paying for a room, but at least we got a room.  There were backpackers showing up at our hotel all night long looking for rooms, but we got the last one!  We are in a very nice spot, right across the road from the beach.  We used our location wisely, and parked ourselves on the beach once we got settled into town.  This beach is AMAZING!!!  Again, long white sand beach, but this time the horizon is dotted with little islands--some have nice looking beaches, others are just cliff faces.  This area of Krabi is known for its rock climbing, and we could see why!

Our evening consisted of a sunset walk on the beach, a nice dinner at a traditional Thai restaurant, and then a dip in our pool while listening to the live music at the bar next door.  This town has lots of nightlife and the streets were full of tourists shopping and exploring.  One neat thing we saw the street vendors selling was Thai lanterns.  You take a white paper lantern and decorate it with a wish.  Then you light a fire, creating almost a hot air balloon, and send your wish out into the world.  We got to watch a number of lanterns set off, which look quite neat in the dark night sky.

Today we are taking a long boat to one of the nearby beaches.  Then we've got plans to visit Koh Phi Phi, so stay tuned to hear about the most beautiful beaches in Thailand!!

Photos from Karon and Kata Beach, on the Island of Phuket:

There are lots of fun statues and monuments like this dragon along the beaches and towns. 

Endless tuk tuk lines and shopping huts for the tourists. Cheap cheap !

A shot of the Thai men advertising to come and take a parasail  ride at the beach. 

Entrance to a Italian restaurant and tourists on their motorbikes.

Long boats in this shot are used like water taxis. 

Who knew the Thai's made award winning pizza? This sign says the  pizza made here is number one award.  

Photos from Ao Nong Beach, outside of Krabi:

Rock climbing haven; We dubbed this the "Thai Chief!!"

View from our hotel room, onto the market below

The long boats at sunset.  This is how we will be travelling to our beach today.

Beautiful Thai sunset--our first of many!

We are off to the beach!  Hopefully post again soon!

Phuket Town to Patong Beach

We are booked for three nights in Phuket Town which is located on the south east corner of the island of Phuket. The island of Phuket is located on the south eastern coast of the country of Thailand containing a large portion of the tourist beach areas that are well known for the fun and sun.

Our plan is to visit many of the beaches in the area as they are relatively close by and look stunning. Yesterday we went to Patong beach which is the largest tourist beach on the island.

We hopped on the local bus that travels from Phuket Town to Patong at just the right time as a down pour of rain began when leaving Phuket town. The bus ride of 40 minutes was just enough time for the rain to end as we reached the beach.  We anticipated the humidity to increase after the rain shower but the weather improved as we arrived at our destination.

We could see how Patong was a popular tourist’s destination as the umbrellas on the beach stretched for kilometers in both directions from where we entered the beach. Many Thai men were quick to let us know we could rent jet skis, parasail or have our hair braided for very cheap with a special deal just for me. It was a real tourist playground and the white sandy beach and mountainous jungle on the sides of the beach gave it a real tropical backdrop.

After some more amazing Thai food and fruit shakes for lunch, we walked the length of the beach, watched some crabs move through the water while Russian women tried to get the crabs to pinch their fingers so they could lift the crab out of the water, and had a nap to enjoy to heat. 

Trucks with loudspeaker would circle to streets just off the beach advertising the Muay Thai boxing matches that were going to be featured the following night. The van was really funny as the top level had the guy with the loud speaker and two other guys punching and kicking training gloves to show what Thai fighting looked like. This happened as the van was moving which was funny as one more thing that would not be allowed in North American but worked great here.  We plan to see the Thai boxing when we get back to Bangkok as we have heard it’s a lot of fun.

After our day at the beach, we ventured to the local Phuket Mall for a dinner in the “food court”.  The mall is row upon row of small little areas that are owned or run by different thai people.  They each sell something specific—men’s clothes, work clothes, fancy dresses, purses, shoes, etc.  It is very similar to the mall in Bangkok.  But, what was different about this mall is that the entire perimeter of the mall is filled with different stalls making different thai food.  They have tables set up in the street for you to eat on.  These tables were full of thai people, and we are trying to experience things a bit like the locals so we joined in.  As we walked around the stands, a thai man approached us with a menu.  It looked good so we sat at the table he directed us to.  Steve ordered a curry and Ang ordered a bowl of noodle soup (even though its 30+ degrees out, they eat hot soup all day long!)  We also got two beers.  It is very neat to watch all this get ordered—he goes to one stall to order our soup, the neighbouring stall to make the curry and then runs half-way down the mall to get our beers.  While we sat and ate our very delicious meal, we saw our waiter start making some curry himself, and the man who made the soup then came out to serve.  Seems to be a very collegial environment—everyone working together to make things better.  This delicious meal cost $12—one curry would be more than that in Canada!!

As we were walking home from the “mall”, we were standing on a corner trying to get our bearings.  A thai women walked by saying “where are you going”, almost making fun of the cabbies who do this all the time to try and get you into their cab.  We asked her where the Pink Lady night club is (because our hotel is down a side street, with this club on the end) and she was so confused why we would want to go there!!  She spoke very good English and told us she was heading that direction too.  We walked with her down the street, she taught us how to say hello and thank you (with the proper gender endings for both Ang and Steve) and showed us where her restaurant is—right at the end of the block of our hotel!  We will visit it for breakfast, as she was such a nice help to us on a Saturday night!

Today we will head up the Kata beach which supposedly has less people and is apparently more beautiful so we are looking forward to see it for ourselves. The great thing about staying in Phuket town is busses run to all of the beaches and towns around the area which makes it very easy to travel to where we want to go with minimal effort.  It’s fun riding on the local busses as well, as we talk to the other tourists to ask where  have they gone to and we can see the different towns and areas we pass all the towns, stores and people in Phuket.

Steve on the bus.  This was when we first got onto the bus--as we drove around Phuket, about 30 other people joined us. It was a crowded ride, but interesting!

The view from behind our bus.  Lots of cars, bikes, taxis and lots and lots of signs on all the buildings.

Patong beach.  Very wide, long beach--maybe five kilometers or more.

Patong beach, with all of its beach chairs!  They stretched most of the length of the beach, about four or five rows of chairs and umbrellas deep.

They offered lots of beach sports (jet skis, wake boarding, tubing).  The parasailing was interesting, because as you were going a Thai man was hanging onto the rope behind you!

The Muay Thai boxing truck.  It literally just circled the beach and all you would hear was "Tomorrow night.  Thai Boxing.  Tomorrow night." In this low tone, intermixed with the kicking and punching of the boxers on top of the truck.

Our diner at the food court.  You can see the stalls on the sidewalk behind Steve, and the at the other end of the table was the road!

One of the stalls in the "food court".  All very fresh, and very delicious!

Bangkok Videos

Here are some videos we filmed that we wanted to share on the blog. The videos show what it is like to walk down the street, with every centimeter of the sidewalk being used as little stores. The second video is of the traffic and a tuk tuk going by, to show what they look like. We wanted to show a third video of our tuk tuk ride, but its too big for the current bandwidth--we'll try again with another internet source.

PS We no longer think we will be taking a cruise in Italy when we make it there. We have seen a lot of the craziness of the cruise ship and the captain who said that he "fell" into one of the life boats. CRAZY!