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This log runs through January 5, 2001 December 26-27, 2000 off to Southern Thailand We should make a movie of our transportation-frenzied journey from Kanchanaburi to Rai Lay beach more than 500 miles south. A short minibus ride from home took us to the Kanchanaburi bus station where we boarded a Bangkok bound bus, intending to get off at the Nakhon Pathom train station to catch the night train for Surat Thani. If we had boarded the bus that actually stopped in downtown Nakhon Pathom, that would have been good. Instead, we were on the bus that barely passed the outskirts on its rocket-ride to Bangkok. That explains how we were dropped off in the median of the freeway, abandoned with our luggage, after dark, miles from the train station we sought, watching cars whizz by inches away from us. CLICK HERE for enlargeable photos of southern Thailand islands. Fortunately, several motorcycle taxi (motorbike, actually) drivers were lurking around. They broke into gales of laughter as Don, not a small guy even when not saddled with a 50 pound backpack, hopped on the behind a scooter driver, and asked to be taken to the train station several miles away. If only we had taken photos! With Becky on a second bike, we careened through busy streets and down alleys, nearly crashing several times due to the incredible weight riding on the top-heavy motorbike. We were an interesting spectacle, swerving around town during our scenic motorbike rides past the historic chedi temples of Nakhon Pathom, happily arriving intact at the train station with plenty of time to spare.
Surat Thani is on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, and we needed to cross the peninsula to reach our destination on the west coast, on the Andaman Sea. So there we were at the train station, groggy from the long ride, when we we submitted to a "travel agent," agreeing to buy bus tickets from him to go to Krabi -- another three long hours to the southwest, and even then still an hour boat trip short of our destination on Pranang Peninsula. We crammed ourselves onto an overloaded bus and were taken to downtown Surat Thani, where we sat around, until another beat up and totally overloaded bus, filled with both Thais and foreigners, lurched into motion. Arrival in Krabi (N8 degrees 3' 55"; E98 degrees 54' 46") was also a bit unnecessarily baffling because the bus dumped us off on the edge of town, miles from the boat docks we sought. It would have been easy to take us to the marina, but instead we had to pile onto another minibus to go the last few miles. Finally at the boat dock, we hired a typical noisy "long-tail" boat, along with about six other travelers ($1.90 each), to take us to our destination of Rai Lay Beach (N8 degrees 0' 25"; E98 degrees 50' 47"). Well, the longboat took us almost to our destination. When we arrived in Rai Lay Bay the water was very shallow as it was low tide, so the boat was forced to stop a full 200 yards from shore. The boat driver, speaking Thai, told his passengers to jump out of the boat into the thigh-high water, and walk in the water the rest of the way. Forget about porters, of course, so we had to carry our luggage to shore, balanced precariously over our heads, hoping that it would not get soaked, too. It was quite a glamorous arrival. Still, it was a breathtaking place, which we could see immediately as we slogged our way to shore with backpacks overhead. The Pranang Cape is fantastically beautiful, and due to the impenetrable wall of sheer cliffs surrounding it, and it's reachable only by boat. The long trip notwithstanding, we were having a great time, enjoying the scenery, and the comical situations we found today -- until we failed to find accommodations. Finally, at the Viewpoint Guesthouse at the end of the trail, Becky sweet-talked the desk clerk into renting us a room, although the room was still under construction -- at a ridiculously high price of 500 baht (11.60 US). It wasn't too rotten, all things considered, and a little sleep was welcome relief. Lacking this room, we would have had to wade back through the surf, take a longboat back to Krabi, find a room there and start our search all over the next day. We describe this part of the trip in a bit of detail, because those of you who may be planning this kind of adventure may be interested in the need for flexibility and good humor. So is the ability to act quickly and calmly when someone is injured, but you'll read about that later. December 31, 2000 in Rai Lay Beach, Pranang Cape, Thailand New Year's Eve Unfortunately, this hidden and secret little place at the end of the "boat-road," has been discovered by too many 'farangs' (foreigners) of European descent. There is really no Thai community here, only vacationing farangs, most of whom seem to be covered in tattoos (many of them temporary), a dozen body piercings each, and who love paying three times what we pay in any typical Thai town. Especially irksome is that these farangs seem to have no regard for local customs -- particularly the European women who love to dress totally inappropriately in this modest society, some prancing around topless on the beaches. This simply appalls Thais, and makes all farangs look rude and reckless. In one way, it was nice to be around farangs after being so isolated in Kanchanaburi Province, where we are a real oddity and get lots of attention simply because we're foreigners. However, we will be happy to return to the north, where we will be confused only by the Thai society, and not by other foreigners, too. New Year's Eve: We had a wonderful evening, watching the beautiful sailboats in the perfect anchorage of the Pranang Cape. Just before midnight, we joined with an Italian couple and their daughter, with whom we hired a longboat and rode around to the other side of the cape -- home of the incredibly expensive Dusit Rayawadee Resort ($500--$3,000 per night), which had closed their sensational beach to the public on this night and tried to keep us away. We climbed off the boat, and hit the beach -- crashing their party two minutes before midnight. We kissed, listened to the orchestra play Auld Lang Syn, and watched a light and firework show. We laughed and laughed about how comical this all was, and really enjoyed the beautiful evening. But the party on the beach proved to be quite boring, so we loaded into the longboat again, and returned to party central on Railay Beach. That party was getting a bit strange, with drunken, tattooed farangs walking across the bonfire to celebrate the new year. We didn't mind heading back to our quiet little bungalow. January 1, 2001 in Rai Lay Beach (OUCH!) Transporting Don and his bleeding foot to an Emergency Room on the mainland posed some difficulties, but fortunately, he could hobble enough to walk by himself. Our primary worry was how to get him onto a longboat without dragging his deep open wound through the muddy, unclean "swamp water" of low tide (filled with firework remnants and beer caps from the wild night before). We tried using a plastic bag for protection, but it failed. Fortunately, Becky brought a bottle of rubbing alcohol (always prepared!) to dump on the wound once we were in the boat. THAT was a thrill! Rather than waiting around for more travelers to share the cost of the boat, as is the custom here, we hired a longboat as an ambulance to take us to the dock at Krabi. From there, Don dragged himself up the steep dock, and we hired a mini-truck to take us to the hospital. Three cheers for the people at the Krabi hospital. Although Becky nearly passed out as needles were rammed deeply into Don's foot (no kidding!), the service was professional, quick and inexpensive (about $10). The stitches will come out in about 10 days, and there's no sign of infection yet. If you want to see a picture of a very ugly injury that looks like a toe reattachment, this is the photo for you. You can see where Don got his new nickname: "Zipper Toe."
When dealing with Don's injury, we encountered several Thai people, all of whom were very helpful about our predicament. They went out of their way to offer assistance to us, and we really appreciated their help to make this mini-health-crisis easier. We realized that after 387 days of full time travel, we finally had our first visit to an Emergency Room! That's pretty good, isn't it? January 5, 2001 in Krabi Province, Thailand The dramatic shoreline and the islands are awesomely beautiful. This is the area where the James Bond movie "Man With The Golden Gun" was filmed, as well as a really bad but locally popular movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, called "The Beach." Everywhere we looked, the scene was breathtaking, and islands looked like shafts of steel shot from the ocean. Snorkeling in the shallow and clear aqua-green waters was a treat for Rebecca and our interesting new Australian friends, Simon and Libby, who we've enjoyed getting to know over the past week.
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Several weeks ago, we reserved tickets on the night train to Surat Thani in the south, as the best alternative to flying or taking a bus. The train trip was great, and we were pleased with our privacy in our sleeper cabin, for which we splurged. Even at $24, it was worth it, particularly on a 12 hour overnight trip -- and especially when compared to $4 tickets in third class non-air conditioned cars with wooden benches.
We sat on the beach between the towering cliffs as darkness fell over the boats, and watched the sun set into the Andaman Sea for the last time in the 20th Century. (Rebecca's always been a 'millennium snob.') We treated ourselves with a delicious pizza (first since America in October), and lazed around watching fireworks, candles on the beach, and the homemade paper balloons that the Thais launched into the sky to carry away all of the evil spirits in their lives.
The very young Emergency Room Doctor instructed Don to return to the hospital every day to have his wound dressed and checked for infection. And, of course, we were not to let it get wet -- thus, our days of living in a bungalow on Rai Lay Beach were over. We hopped on a songtao bus, and checked into the first hotel we saw near the dock, which was The City Hotel. It was decent enough, had air conditioning, hot water shower (the former necessity is now a luxury), AND a television with three channels in English. Poor Don laid around on painkillers with his foot up in the air, while Rebecca took a longboat back to Railay Beach, packed up all of their stuff, checked out of their bungalow and negotiated the return of our prepayment, and lugged their single giant pack across the sea, through downtown Krabi, and into their hotel. Over the next few days, Becky explored the area solo although it rained a couple of times. We enjoyed watching television for the first real time since October 2000 -- and realized we hadn't missed much!
Although we've visited the islands near Phuket in visits here over the previous years, we were really pleased with our trips to the islands in the south. Even though some of them are overdeveloped, you can still find places where it's just you and breathtaking scenery. And while the resorts are expensive (up to $3000 US per day, if you like!), it's possible even in high season to rent a perfectly acceptable bungalow for $10-$15 per day.