A few photos from Chumphon

I've been lazy with the SLR lately. Finally broke it out yesterday and went for a wander with the 50mm lens only.

Day time on the night market street, some stalls are setting up already

Night time on the night market street

Some stalls. It goes on like this for 500 meters, and there's a couple of side streets with more.

Some locals trying out their new sound system.

Shadow puppets for an audience of two.

That is all. Today I'm heading to another guest house in Ban Krut 140km north. Hopefully it's not full.

I also found out that the large number of westerners waiting downstairs in this guesthouse were waiting for the bus to the port for Ko Samui. There's another place called Farang Bar here and it was deserted when I went past.

A bit of rain, A Kangaroo, and Chumphon!

So I had planned to only stay two nights in Khanom. But on the second day I woke up to this:

RAIN!

I paid for another night since it was a comfortable place and I'd been on the bike every day since I was on Ko Libong. I was going to go stay in a bungalow on the lake at Khao Sak national park but I gave that a miss to head further north instead.

There was a mine and port at the end of the beach at Khanom that I forgot about until now, it's a Silca mine. This is what some of it looked like:

On my way out I headed to the next beach north of Kanhom which I think was called Thong Ching Bay, and this is what I saw:

A hut being built, or abandoned.

The beach.

On the southern part there is a jetty with some markets and it looks like there are a few places to stay along here. A bit busier than the beach at Khanom, but probably a complete lack of farangs (foreigners!) not that there were many in Khanom anyway.

Then it was time to head north, I decided to stay at Chumpon which was either 260, or 300km north, depending on the source. The road signs here seemed to vary by about 40km, or my GPS was out, or google maps. I don't know the actual distance I traveled.

This was at a petrol station on the way.

Not really sure why it's there, it was only at this petrol station, but another petrol station further up had a statue of a bugs bunny like character. I actually didn't see this statue until I was having a drink outside one of the 7-11s there, I must have kangaroo blindness now. And that's right, there are two 7-11's in the space of one hundred meters.

Once I got in to Chumphon I could see some rain in the distance, and I needed a map check so I ducked in to the carpark of "The Big C" and it was quite lucky I did.

Very windy, and very heavy rain.

It died off after about 20 minutes and I headed to Fame which looked like the best option from wikitravel. Just as I was checking in the rain started again but heavier and this time with lightning hitting very close by (lucky again!). But my bike was just out of the covered area, and I was inside, and I wasn't going back out there to get wet so I waited about and hour for it to die off again before I unpacked the bike.

There seems to be a lot of other tourists at Fame too, I've found that the wikitravel places are more popular than the lonely planet entries sometimes. This internet thing really helps when finding accommodation for everyone I guess.

This place is budget though, 200b/night with a shared bathroom. The bed is quite hard, but it doesn't bother me because it's just like camping really. I can break out my airbed if it's too uncomfortable. I had my first taste [this might be the wrong word here] of the real south east asia once I went to the toilet however. It's still a western bowl but no flush, that's what the bucket in the corner is for. And toilet paper goes in the bin next to the toilet. The sink just drains onto the floor but there is a pipe that goes into the wall under the sink, and then comes back out at the floor level... Couldn't quite figure out why that was cheaper than connecting it to the drain with another 50cm of pipe. But it's only 200b/night, so I'm staying for a second night!

Tonight my task is to get photos of the night markets and eat more things on a stick. I was tempted to try the chicken hearts last night, but I wussed out and had: Pad Thai, Chicken breast on a stick, Chicken drumstick on a stick, ham and cheese toasted sandwich coated with egg and then fried.

Malaysia, and then back to Thailand.

After Chris and Helen left I packed up and headed towards the border from Trang. I decided to use the easternmost crossing in Wang Kelien as I'd read that there's some quite nice scenery through there. The road was rather uneventful, but nice scenery and limited traffic but lots of unsigned roadworks going on. It looks like they may be developing this route as an alternative to to the main Asia Highway 2 through Bukit Kayu Hitam, at least on the Thai side.

Once you get closer to the border there are lots of scooters with many jerry cans attached, I assume they have been across the border to get the cheaper petrol in Malaysia. PROTIP: Foreign Motorbikes in Malaysia get to fill up with 95octane fuel, which is subsidized by about 50% by the Malaysian government, foreign cars have to use the 97octane which is more in line with the international market. Once I saw the locals and their "illegal fuel" I realised I wouldn't make it to the border with what I had left I put a small amount in and will fill up in Malaysia (AU61c/L vs. AU$1.23/L) and would fill up the rest in Malaysia for cheap!

The Thai side of the border was easy: fill out the departure form, hand the temporary import form for the bike back, ride across. The Malaysia side took an extra hour or so and I'm not quite sure why. When I enter Malaysia I'm supposed to use the carnet that I got at great expense, however, at this border they were saying there were "new rules" and that I would have to get the ICP (which I had anyway, still valid) and extra stickers for the bike because the number plates were the wrong colour. After arguing for a while they issued another ICP for no cost and took away the old one, but I had to pay 150baht for the stickers and a photocopy of the insurance and my licence, and the carnet remained unsigned. All of this sort of just happened even after my insistence that they only needed to fill in the carnet. It was stupidly hot there so I was in no mood to argue after an hour and just let it happen, I thought there might be problems getting the bike out again, but whatever they needed to do to let me in I did so I could get to a hotel with A/C!

One of the new stickers, the other is on the front.

The problem with the numberplate as they explained it was that it had a white background when all Malay numberplates had to have black backgrounds. After sitting and watching many many cars and bikes go through the border without this requirement applied I figured out why it was a rule (but not why I was selected). It's so that the Malay police can refer to numberplates on thai vehicles with latin characters, but still it seemed to be randomly applied.

Finally I got out of there and down a nice windy road to the plains below, and past a plant where they were slowly removing one of the limestone hills for material. I headed towards the main expressway trying to find a hotel somewhere close to the border for the run in the next day. I eventually found the T Hotel and I'd stayed at another location of the same hotel at Kuala Perlis. Very nice clean rooms, if a touch expensive and mostly used by business travellers, but breakfast is included!

Breakfast in Malaysia! That red stuff was HOT.

The next morning I got up and went through the Bukit Kayu Hitam crossing. The Malay side was again a problem. Because my bike wasn't imported into Malaysia with the Carnet, there were some issues signing the carnet to get it back out. Most of it I didn't have to do anything for, just follow the customs guy around and try and sort it out, it took an hour and a half to get through this crossing though. It turns out that the ICP I had from the day before had been issued by the JPJ (the Malay road authority) when I should have seen the Customs office instead.

I had a quick visit to the Duty free, then off to the Thai border! I used up the second entry on my visa, and then got the bike in for another 30 days, then purchased another 30 days insurance for 300baht. Easy now that I know what I'm doing! Then I was officially in Thailand again!

And only about 2km into Thailand I saw my first dead body. I'll spare the details, but there was a lot of red/pink and it was a big advertisement for helmets. I pulled over shortly afterwards because I felt a little sick and obviously my thoughts were elsewhere rather than concentrating on riding in this traffic... A bit further up the road I saw another ambulance with a knocked over bike but I couldn't see if that one was a fatality. There were a few other ambulances around this area too. I guess with 12000 deaths a year in Thailand It's likely to see this stuff, just didn't expect it all on the same day.

I made it to Hat Yai shortly after, I had arranged to meet up with a German rider I met while in the Northern Territory. His bike was broken when in Australia but he managed to get it all fixed up and travel through Indonesia, Malaysia and some of Thailand. I think I mentioned him before. This is him, but the article is all in German. We chatted about world travel for the afternoon and then decided to get some food a the night markets, I jumped on the back of the scooter he borrowed from another German living there. However... About 500m down the road the scooter had got a flat rear tyre. The hotel I was staying in was close so he pushed it round there and we used my tools to get the tyre off to see if we could patch the tube. But patching wasn't an option as it looked like the valve had been ripped out of the tube leaving a 50cm long hole, and this was a tube that was put in earlier that day because of a different problem! He eventually found his way home via Mototaxi and was instructed by the owner (who was away) to replace the tube and tyre with Dunlop items, not this local thai crap :)

I got away moderatly early the next day and headed to the coastal town of Songkhla. There's a bit of a write up in the lonely planet guide but they do this thing where they make a town sound tiny, and when you get there it's a huge place. I was only there to have a look at the beach anyway.

The serpent at the north end of Songkhla

Close up of it's face. There's sections of the body futher south.

The beach, sandbags everywhere to prevent it from leaving. There's meant to be a mermaid statue here but I didn't see it.

Potato?

I checked out the guide book while I was here, didn't look like there were too many accommodation options until I got closer to Ko Samui (big party island). So I headed 200km-ish up towards the coast near there at Khanom.

And I ended up at the Talkoo Beach Resort for 500baht a night. I'm staying in a bungalow away from the beach and I think they were trying to tell me that at this price there was no tv, but there is one... Possibly the best cheapest place I've stayed, so I stayed another night!

Sunset out the window. The housing across the road is for the staff.

The room! need a wider lens.

The sink! This was mentioned in the lonely planet guide.

The rough sea.

Beer in the very quiet bar. One customer, me!

The beach is made out of shells in places!

Still rough seas

More beach!

Flower!

Tomorrow I'll head to Khao Sak national park and try to get a bungalow over the lake. It's west of here but there's only a couple of spots north of here and I think they will be taken up with escaping Bangkok-ians.

And now for some leftover photos:

The rain yesterday. I stopped once the water hit my underwear.

Me gesturing to a waterfall. This was near Trang.

A brief summary of the past week!

Massive bloggy post thing to continue from where I left off and explain the rest of the week... This is quite long and not very interesting, brace yourselves.

Trang Part One (Part Two for me)!

After Ko Libong we headed back into Trang to stay at My Friend hotel, it's mentioned in the guidebooks, and it's quite good. We (I) sampled random foods from the night markets in front of the railway, there were pork balls, curly potato on a stick, and hamburgers consumed by me. And after that drank much beer of course.

The day after Chris and Helen hired a "bike", one of them 100cc local things. We went for a quick explore to the hills in the south east of Trang to get to some waterfalls that are apparently quite good. On the way out we saw a sign for a cave and decided to go have a look. It was in one of the many limestone hills that are around and next to a small road was the entrance with a reclining budda and some stairs leading in. I'd parked my bike a small distance from Chris and Helen and they were talking to a local who then took us through the cave. I'm not sure if that was his official job or he was just being helpful. He led us through into the main chamber, then off to one little path on the side, then we walked around a hole in the floor which was over the stairs from the way in. It was slippery in there, so I guess we're lucky we didn't fall through. There were a few clothes and empty food packets lying about a bit further on, I guess someone was hiding. Eventually he led us to a small pool in the bottom of the cave that had fish in it, not sure if it opened up outside somewhere, maybe they just got stuck in a flood? He spoke good English when asking questions but was kind of quiet otherwise, it was hard to get info out of him. He led us back out through another little path back to the main chamber and then to the outside via another exit.

After that, it was time to get riding again and try to air out my bat poo and sweat smelling riding gear.

We stopped at smaller waterfall on the way to the better ones, I took a few photos but it started to rain so we got to some cover and waited till it died off a little.

Sairung waterfall.

When the rain eased up we got back out on the road, but it looked quite wet to the south, so we went that way! And it got wet, very wet.  The locals that kept riding were holding their hands in front of their faces, not really looking where they were going. There was lightning and thunder fairly close too. I didn't have my waterproof layer in, but I'd ridden in enough rain that it doesn't really bother me anymore, I just get wet! What I don't notice is how much the rain hurts, which Chris and Helen relayed to me after we got through to the other side of the storm.

We decided to head back to Trang after that little outing as we were all soaked, and didn't want to risk any more rain like that. So we took the shortest way back (which was still 30km or so) but then the rain started up again. There was a rubber factory/processingplace/warehouse with a large roof outside we so hid under that and they brought us over seats to sit on while we waited for the rain to clear again.

After that it was a run through some chaotic traffic in Trang, then some drying off, some drinking, and the more sampling of foods on sticks and in tube form.


Ao Nang Part One! (Part Three for me)

We headed up to Ao Nang cause maybe I talked it up, not sure. There's only Ko Lanta and a few other islands to go through between Trang and Ao Nang, so I think it became a default.

On the way there we stopped at some Hot Springs to have a look, it was 100baht to get in, so not to bad. And the water was really hot! I didn't take any photos though. Just soaked my stinky socks in the clean hot water :) The water is supposed to be a constant 40something degrees. It was quite warm, but it was also a very hot day too. Chris went swiming in it for a bit, but I remained dry from the knees up. After that brief interlude it was on the road again.

Once in Ao Nang ended up going in through the locals beach section on the way in and it was BUSY, far busier than I saw it the two times before, cars just parked anywhere causing traffic problems, people everywhere! We eventually found a place to stay called Adam Bungalows. Fan only bungalows for 500baht a night, not bad. And of course, there was much drinking and eating later.

Drinking is expensive there (by thai standards), a bit like Phuket I guess, but without the range of budget accomodation. There are a LOT of resorts here, and touts, and tuk tuks, and cars driving up and down the road advertising the elections, snake shows, thai boxing. I got to try the number 4 cart there for pork noodles which were good. I have no idea what it's really called, it's just a cart with a mostly yellow sign and a big red 4 on it, there's another one in a town elsewhere that I can't remember now.


Pom Khlong Song Nam Nature Trail

After Ao Nang we headed north to the general direction of Ao Luek as it looked like it might be an interesting place to stay. On the road there are heaps of blue tourist info signs to places, I decided to lead Chris and Helen into Pom Khlong Song Nam. We had no idea what was there, the signs seemed to have the waterfall, fish, or river icons next to them. Once we got there we found a boardwalk through the mangroves to what turned out to be a springwater fed creek. Very clear water.

The boardwalk on the way in. I thought it would be all like this.

But then it gets here! 

Very clear water.

A Lizard!

Roots!

Flowing Water!

Downstream!

More water! And another descriptive comment

More clear water!

The tour buses do end up here, so no need to make your own way. However there weren't too many people around, I guess it's just not as popular as the islands.


Phang Nga

After the stop we got to Ao Luek. There wasnt much in the way of signage or directions to hotels. There was a sign pointing to two caves off the main road to the port so we had a look down there but it turns out it's a port and you have to pay to have someone take you to the cave by boat. They get the tour groups from Phuket here. A guide came over to us and asked if we wanted to go, but we told him we'll think about it and we have to look at some maps first to find somewhere to stay first. This didn't make him go away however. He came over while we were looking though the books and talked FOREVER.

Our plan was to head to the next point on the map marked "Hot Spring Beach" which the guide told us had accomodation and was easy to find and not far. However, I saw no signs, no road where it should be, nothing, and we ended up a lot further around the map than we should have been. We stopped near a shop to study the maps and Chris had asked some of the locals to help us find it, but they had no idea what it was or where.

From there, we decided to abandon that idea and head a bit further around to see the national park, the guidebooks mentions bungalows in that area, but when we got there they looked pretty sad. There wasn't a lot else to do there either, just a muddy river to look at and some mangroves. We went back out to the main road and headed around a bit more to see what was there. On the way we had people running at as with their cards of island photos to try and get us on boat tours. It was amazing. They tried to chase after the bikes and almost ran into our path! When we stopped near the end of the road a lady came out of hiding and ran over to us sounding quite desperate to get a customer, but we didn't want no boat tour! We escaped that little bit and headed to an info place to see if they had answers, but they only had maps of the islands. I noticed at that point another guy with a card had snuck up quietly, he didn't ask us anything though. We went to consult the guidebooks again to review our options. Then he came over and asked us if we wanted to go on a boat tour to James Bond island...

The easiest and quickest option was to head into Phang Nga town to a place that looked quite good on paper, but we had two different addresses for it and the GPS and google maps wouldn't accept either. I eventually found another map online and would try and use that closer to town.

Once we got into the town I realised that the map was far less detailed than it could have been. It made the town look tiny but it's actually quite a large place with many many people and traffic everywhere. I was keeping an eye on traffic while trying to find the tiny thai street signs. I thought I saw it, mentioned it to Chris and Helen, did a U turn to check, and then they were gone... Chris had a local sim but no credit, so we had no way to communicate. They eventually found a bus station and got hold of someone who told them were the hotel was, and I managed to match up a similar road on my GPS to the map I found online, but that took twenty minutes or so. I eventually found Chris waiting for me on the road and then we all got to the hotel ok. Thailand, you need to update your map data and provide that to Google and Garmin.

That night we were told by the hotel staff that there was a night market on, different from the one on the map. Once we got closer we found it it was a bit more than a market, it was a big festival celebration! It was for Loi Krathong. There was one long street lined with food stalls (I was happy), beer everywhere, rides, and games to win stuffed toys. There were some steps down to the river where people could launch the rafts, I didn't see many people go down there though. I ate many foods available on a stick, Helen went on some of the rides, Chris won a small stuffed toy at one of the shooting games. And then there was much beer had by everyone! Everybody wins!


Ao Nang Part Two (Part Four for me)

We ended up back in Ao Nang because of the large void of places to stay on the way, and because it was close enough to make Trang an easy ride the next day as Chris and Helen had to return the bike then. It was a lot quieter at the locals beach this time, and no one really wanted to stay in the busy tourist end again, so we had a quick look on agoda for cheap places with a pool to satisfy Helens request. We found one on there for $30AU a night that looked quite fancy, over my budget, but I wasn't going to get the chance to stay at one of them expensive places again. When we arrived it looked quite good, we were given drinks while checking in and the staff came out with a trolly to help take my luggage up to the room. But that's when we found out why It was cheap. My room wasn't so bad, bits of wallpaper peeling off, mould in places, the bathroom floor didn't look like it was cleaned, and the floor in the room was wooden, but rotten in places. Chris and Helen got it worse, far more mould and holes in the floor. Thats when you notice the rest of the place, from the outside it does actually look kind of run down too, didn't notice it at first! Anyway, it was cheap, there was a pool, it was still good!

In the evening we headed down to get some food and drink, but it was more expensive in this part. I paid 180baht for a rum and coke (That's $5AU? It should be half that!) and lots of money for cheesy pasta.

As usual, more drinking ensued.

The next mornings breakfast however. The best value! 150baht for the "American Breakfast" at the best western on the main road. The food just piled up on the table! And since Helen is vegetarian and Chris didn't like his non-bacon pork products, I won double!

Trang Part Two (Part Three for me)!

Back to Trang. We had initially planned to go back to a beach near the coast, but then decided to go back to Trang instead so Helen and Chris can get away easier the next day. We decided to meet back at My Friend hotel, so I sped off so I could sit above 100km/h and get some airflow through my jacket! I only arrived just before them though... Hmm.

We went to the other night markets that night, the one that the guidebooks mention. There's a bit more food at this one. Again, I had many more foods on a stick and it was good.

Also, more drinking ensued.

Next morning we had breakfast, packed, and then Chris and Helen headed to the airport, and I headed south to do my border crossing for documentation renewal. I guess now I'll have more time to keep the blog up to date, but it was a welcome break from the routine I'd gotten myself into!

Next time on the blog: Arguing with Malaysian customs.

Leftover sunset photos from Ao Nang (the second time I was there)

Ko Libong

Going back over the past week....

After the last time on Ao nang on my way back down the coast I headed to Ko Libong to meet up with Chris and Helen who are over here for 3 weeks. They were touring some of the more southern islands but  a lot of them were still closed because the tourist season hadn't officially started yet.

I went at the small fishing town of Ban Chao Mai, just around the cornet from where I stayed at Had Yao.   I had to take the taxi boat over to the island with all the locals, so this meant I had to park my bike somewhere. When I was asking around about where to go for the boat a Finnish guy appeared and helped me translate and pointed me in the right direction, he also said I could park my bike in front of his place. So I moved my bike over there, unpacked everything and realised I didn't want to take everything over to the island. I asked if I could store some stuff inside while I was over on the island and they kindly let me. Thanks Ola and Pat!

Then it was off to the long boat where there was a bit of confusion over what exactly was going on, mostly on my part. I ended up paying 60baht which is triple the locals price, still, that's only $2. There were a couple of locals sending there bikes across too but that looked like it cost 470baht according to the sign. Once I got on the island it was a scary mototaxi ride to the resort without any gear and clutching on to my luggage. The resort was very good, very quiet, and the restaurant was open whenever we wanted. There was hardly anyone about on the first day, but some more tourists appeared on the second day, and a lot of staff materialized on the second day for the clean up in preparation for the peak season.

The beach at the resort.

The bungalows were set back from the beach about 20m or so and along the beach were a few deck chairs and huts. All for only 600baht a night, but the normal price is around 1000 I think? Much beer was consumed anyway.

The island near the resort

On the second day I hired a snorkle and we waded out to this island and looked around. I have some video that I took with the gopro that I haven't edited yet, but the water wasn't too clear so it's hard to see a lot of the fish and coral. But here are some photos from it:

The rocks.

My trying to work the camera.

After that short snorkeling trip we ate some lunch, then Chris had hired a bike so it was a few trips to get to another part of the island to go on a big Dugong searching mission. We went to this spot with the  swiss cyclist who was camping out at the resort as he had told us he'd seen some Dugongs there (the story changed to one dugong though, and that was about a week ago). But we didn't see any, and I just got tired from swimming and cut feet from sharp rocks.

Lovely photo of Chris, and Helen too.

Bonus colourful photo

And now I've just edited this bit in the bottom instead of adding a new post....

After the resort it was time to head back to Trang, which involved a Mototaxi, a boat, my motorbike for me, and a failed bus and then a local ute coming to the rescue for Chris and Helen. 

Photos form the mototaxi ride:

Forward view from the tuktukmototaxithing.

Looking back. With the scowling girl.

This is a close to a smile that the little girl got.

I got back to Ola and Pat's place and had a quick chat about where I've been and where I'm going. Ola has been in Thailand for 3 years working on his boat in this tiny fishing village. Obviously he's in no rush to get out. After I packed up my bike I waved Ola and a few locals off as they were heading to the local hot springs (70 degrees!). I'd been a while so I thought I'd better get a move on to get to Trang to catch up with Chris and Helen. However, as the bus from the ferry only runs when it's full and they were stuck until more people wanted to go to town. They had been waiting for an hour and no one else had showed, eventually some local girls came to the rescue and they jumped in the back of a ute heading to Trang.

Helen would also like to inform everyone that she is better at life than Chris.