Hello friends
It’s over for me now, the beach life! But let’s continue, where I ended last time.
I was heading to the west coast of the peninsula, as on the east coast monsoon wanted not end as it should. I was told by a French girl in Bangkok, that Koh Lipe is paradise. Far in the south, just outside a marine national park. I believed her … Today I’m not sure anymore if she had meant it ironically. After a train ride from Sungai Kolok to Hat Yai, where I had to stay a night before moving on, a minibus brought me to Pak Bara, the harbor where the ferries leave to Koh Lipe. To get to Koh Lipe an expensive ferry ride has to be booked. On arrival, as there is no pier, one is picked up by long tail boats. And there they charge again 50 Bath! Just for comparison: To cross Chao Phraya river in Bangkok, at least twice the distance, one is charged 4 Bath. Anyway. It’s not possible to swim to the beach with the backpack, so everybody is paying. On the island, at the beach I’ve chosen to stay, all the resorts were full. So I wandered to the next bay and after a while I found a bungalow, a little away from the beach, for 500 Bath. A lot for a bamboo construction so basic and old. The beaches are nice, I must agree, but the island was crowded as I had experienced it some
weeks ago on Koh Chang. Food and lodging are expensive and the beaches are loud again. Koh Lipe is very much in trend now and that’s the reason it’s already spoiled. As soon as the tourists come in mass, rip off of them becomes the case. So I left the next day.
Koh Lanta, an island I’ve already been to 15 years ago, was now my target. Last chance. Very sceptically how much further the development might have lead there, I arrived after some boat and minibus transfers. But finally I found these beaches, which were not so ‹hip› at the moment and so they were quiet but still very nice. It seems that Koh Lanta is not changing so fast, as the ‹recently discovered› islands. With a rented motorbike I explored the west coast and decided to stay at the Klong Nin beach.
To have a change I moved to Klong Jark beach further south four days later.
On Koh Lanta I finally relaxed a lot and got some sun tan. Swimming a lot and enjoying very nice food. The perfect lazy beach life. And every evening a beautiful sunset.
After this I started heading north again. For having plenty of time to visit northern Thailand before crossing into Laos, I decided to do a visa run on the way from Koh Lanta to Bangkok. In Ranong, more or less halfway, this can be done easily. From Ranong it’s possible to cross by
boat into Myanmar, just to reenter Thailand and get 30 days allowance to stay again. While most of the tourist just go there to get the passport stamped, and then run back to the boat immediately, I decided to stay at least some hours and stroll around a bit in Kawthoung, the town on the Burmese side. And it’s like a step of maybe 30 years back.
I enjoyed some great Burmese coffee and strolled around, climbed up a hill to a pagoda and back to the pier. Not many tourists do so and so the Burmese are not to annoyed by them yet. Everyone was smiling at me, kids were waving. What a beautiful day trip!
The same day I boarded a VIP night bus, which brought me to Bangkok in 10 hours. Very comfortable. Plenty of space for the legs. (But still not as convenient as a good night train.) I found a room near Phra Artit, my preferred region, for only 290 Baht, less than 10 Swiss Francs, with private bathroom, not very big but clean and bright. And the guest house sports a rooftop swimming pool as well!
Such places still exist. Very good value! As I had to apply for another China visa, I had to stay a few days again in Bangkok. And again I spent every evening with Steven, having great food and chatting
about his recent holiday in Nepal and my trip. So the time passed by quite fast. Today I picked up my passport. I have to enter China before the 24th of June and I’m allowed to travel there for 90 days, just as I was writing in the application form. Perfect!
Tonight is my last day in Bangkok. Probably for a long time. I’ll travel to Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) tomorrow, a city a few hours away north east of Bangkok. There I’d like to visit some Khmer temples. A new phase of sight seeing will be launched tomorrow!
Greetings, Thomas