Impressions

So what would I advice – where to stay on the island  – because it has several towns, several big beaches.  No advice. Everyone has to find what fits their needs. Where they feel best. There are big expensive resorts, like big hotels and mostly Russians from the East side of Russia were hording them  -they like being in crowds. There are remote areas on the sea with little huts with little or no amenities – those are fro solitude loving people. We live here in Utah in a small town, Lithuanians would call it a village. So we needed to be in more noise, in the center of events going, life booming. But those who want to hear only the sea sounds and have clean environment – there is plenty of that, too, in every town. But my main tip stays strong: never rent a room before you see it!

There are some more pics about the island. This flower is called The Passion of Christ :

It is very popular to have them on windowsills in my country Lithuania. My Mother loves it a lot. I wish they were so luscious on the windowsill slike the ones on the island and everywhere else in Thailand…

Here we ate most of our lunches – in the Warapura Resort:

with this table in front looking so romantic:

I would easily recommend to stay in that resort – it was neat, quiet , lots of flowers and plants, even pineapples growing among the beautiful huts:

Here we used to have a shake from some fruits in the Tree house:

And here we noticed a family of monkeys traveling on electric wires:

and asking for bananas:

Those were lucky monkeys – it was a pleasure to see them! They were not chained or closed in a small cage as we saw some others in North Thailand were…

And we saw beautiful palm fruits, non edible:

Visited Kai Bae – where we planned to stay initially had that sales woman not sent us to Lonely Beach:

saw how they sell gasoline:

and each evening would return home from sunset swimming on this rout (the tide is down):

Bye bye island, I miss you already…

(to be continued)

It was probably the best trip of all the 3 trips we bough in Thailand. There are several companies doing the same trip – taking you with a boat to 4 tiny islands where everyone jumps or walks down the ladder into the warm waters and snorkels until the the boats horn starts calling  you back into the boat. The trip for the whole day costs only 500 bt, snorkeling gear included and two meals in between islands also – to gain more stamina and stay in the water longer.

Here is the port of Koh-Chang – Bang Bao – some 10 min drive from Lonely Beach. It took us at least 5 min to walk fast walk from the songthaew stop to the boat – and all that way was packed with stores, tables with goods and foods.

There are so many places to stay on the island – resorts, huts, inns, here are some huts right on the sea…

There was a Thai family on the boat and they were very willing to talk with us, foreigners and offer us some of their exotic fruit we never ever have tasted  – they have hard shells with spikes and soft yellow meat with a pit inside.  Sweet and sour, like most of the fruits, but a pretty strong taste.

This is not our boat , but our looked like this.

The Thai family was traveling with their dog, who was very friendly with everyone.

Here is one of the islands with several boats already anchored with their passengers intensively snorkeling…

The fish were outstanding…The ones over here – are the most ordinary ones which were usually gathering by boats to get some food – mostly bananas or bread. But it is a little dangerous to feed them (they would start biting on skin just a little if they stop getting human food) though the crew never instructed us in anything – feeding or not feeding, not stepping onto corals, not stepping the ladder with fins on, they just served us, were very pleasant and said nothing about nothing…

So the fish…it is a pity I couldn’t take the pictures of what I saw under water. Corals of different colors and kinds, lots of sea urchins with long black spikes and 5 white shiny  eyes on the top surrounding the orange little round mouth also on the top. There were fish with very bright lips, with a cocktail black dress, very tiny neon blue ones, big ones of all rainbow colors -and all that on one fish. My head was spinning – the beauty of the underwater life was so harmonious, amazing and serene…

The last island was the biggest – it even had a pier and a resort – Koh Wai. it had a little attraction besides of snorkeling – a turtle nursery:

And that is it, the horn rang, we gathered to the boat and back we came to Bang Bao:

And there on the pier there was this poor dog…looking like a cow with 6 heavy boobs swinging…oh boy, they don’t fix their dogs and cats and lots of sad views in that area…

(to be continued)

The next morning it was a very strange rooster that woke us up:

Yes, Thailand is about roosters, they have a lot of them, for luck , for hens, for looks and for fights…And there are always wandering dogs around – very rarely, but sometimes they bark early in the morning.  Luckily over there you just don’t pay attention, it is vacation! You just get up and go swimming in the sea. The point is that everyone on the island is slow and late – so going downstairs to have breakfast is not a good idea  -you have to wait at least till 9 am looking into the fish pond:

and then go into the dusty street and down the dusty road with trash on both sides and coconuts lying under palm trees with no one interested to pick them and eat, you go towards the sea, app. 10 min walk,  find a hammock in the Tree House restaurant (which is not on a tree…) to spend the part of the day till lunch:

In the morning it was tide time – the water was under the deck, so you sit in a hammock and hear the waves under you, as if sitting on the sea. It would be nice to have breakfast there, but it is included in our room price in our hotel and it is not a bad breakfast, so we decide to have dinners at the  Tree House and lunches in another nice place on the shore.

They have good menu, as well as others, and they have good cold cocktails, some mixed fruits with ginger, so that was a very nice feature. They are a very hippie place, pretty quiet, especially nice in the dark when the evening comes – you may get some little breezes from the sea which is a big relief in those very hot temperatures and high humidity. Whereas there are a lot of restaurants in town, but in the evenings they “stuffy”:

This one is made only of wood and nails. No stones were used, as they mention it on their name. There are usually very few tables fro sitting regularly on chairs – most of the tables are on higher platforms and very low – we are supposed to lie by them or sit in a lotus pose. there are usually some hammocks by the tables – some guests may choose to eat in hammocks.

The next one restaurant  requires a mention – it is called Om and it denounced this word in my eyes. It was just as an insult to this wonderful word. If I lived there – i would have no choice but to explode that thing…Their “rhythms” which they maybe call music were the loudest in the area and on Tuesdays they lasted till 4 am. All the shops close to them were exposed to that  terrible ground and wall shaking every evening and I felt really sorry for them. But being so tolerant Thais suffer silently…

Speaking about music at night – there were restaurant that had good live music, local groups playing island tunes, lots of European girls, dressed with taste in cocktail dresses dancing, it was real fun. But that Om…it was something wrong with its owners.

This particular restaurant looked the shabbiest and one morning the owners brought the sign : Business for sale…

Our last morning there was Saturday and though they don’t acknowledge that Buddhists celebrate Saturdays more that any other day   -all the houses and businesses were busy in the morning preparing an offering plate that they took to some temple:

This offering is by a tattoo parlor – tattoos are very popular there. And I can’t promise – being as against tattoos as I am if I had to live there a month or more – maybe I would end up getting one, at least a very little one…

This is another very strange store to my eyes – on this dust a fancy slab and glass walls for what…office suits and evening gowns…And it wasn’t only one store in the area…Lots of them. Which means – some business people don’t waste their time there, they buy clothes for work at home. I guess  -the prices were so low, that it was worth making a small break in vacation. But those stores – I didn’t even cast a glance or check…I am out of that world for good.

(to be continued)

Koh – means “an island” in Thai. They have a lot of islands in their very warm seas…Hard to choose where to go. So we chose based on friend’s advice and the closest distance to BKK – we had to take a bus for a 6 h. trip. And the bus left by Khao San Road – very close to where we stayed. So that part of the trip was very nice. The best moment – we didn’t get into the bus.  It filled up before us, so they gave us a mini van – they are more comfortable than their huge double decked buses and at least they go much faster than 40 mi/h, that is how buses go there… It took us almost 6 hours to make 300 km. Mainly because it stopped in the middle for a 1 h break – the stops are usually in special places with a cafeteria, free toilets, a lot of sinks to wash the travel dusts. Interesting thing about their toilets on the road (sorry delicate readers…) – they do have sewage of some kind, but no flushing mechanisms. Each cabin has a faucet on a low level directed to  a little basin and a bowl in that basin – you have to scoop some water into the bowl and flush the toilet. And they all looked clean. So people behave well.

On the way we saw fields of rice, some palms and some kind of cacti that I later figured out were the Dragon fruit producers:

And here is how the fruits look on market counters:

I somehow spaced out and didn’t take their picture. Luckily we met a Lithuanian couple later in our trip and today Jurga sent me her picture of Dragons. As  brightly pink as they are on the outside -  their inside is white soft , crisp, very lightly sweet and sour mass with lots of black poppy seeds spread evenly.

Once we reached one of three ferry landings we got tickets to the ferry and marched down to it. But before that there was a short moment during which their catchy sales people try to get you to their trap. It is extremely hot and humid there, you are tired from the trip and they start telling you that it is hard to find an available hut or room on the island. You don’t know much about the accommodations, just assume that you will find. But for the first night – maybe it is smart to have one and at least to know which town in the island you are going…So you agree to pay them for the first night in some Siam Huts resort and of you take the ferry, an 45 min sail. Once there  – there are lots of songthaews waiting, called taxis…Ya, right. They look to me like cattle wagons…The driver throws our backpacks onto the top, packs us into his wagon with one British guy left standing on the step and holding onto the rail…because Brits are used to it in their buses? Maybe. More because those taxi drivers are the greediest people of all we saw in Thailand. they belong to mafia, and it is not only my opinion. Their services are the most expensive and they don’t look well to do at all. They seem like they are under someone’s very hard arm. What can they do…

So they drive rather fast on very windy and hilly road for about 40 min and here we are thrown out by Siam Huts…right in the middle of a field of trash with terribly shabby huts sticking on stilts above the ground…Oh boy…We went to the office, took the key and were shown to a hut by the sea:

As much as the surroundings gave a a shock, the inside of the hut didn’t make us happy at all and leaving there our bags we went off in search for something better looking, something not so trashy… A tip: never ever pay for a room before you see how it looks! And don’t believe their pictures: there are never weeds and trash in pictures or are there?

So wee found this Ploy Inn in the center of the town we were in – the Lonely Beach, on the main street which looked like this, going down:

There is the fruit market behind those cars and motorbikes, and clothes and other beach item markets all over, as well as many internet cafes, travel agencies  and massage parlors. Only the internet cafes and a pharmacy have AC. Others have the air from the street.  And here is our street going up:

Our hotel had AC, it was very much needed and appreciated. It was clean, had good interior colors, a couple of ponds with fish for good luck and a little piglet in the yard who squeaked when I petted him:

This was our corridor on the second floor and a detail of our room to show that the drapes were well color matched with walls which I wouldn’t expect from a lodging in that price range and especially after we saw the hut…:

So it was nice to stay there for 5 nights, except on Tuesday…There is like a curse on Tuesdays  – a bar not far away has a part every Tuesday. So never ever stay in that hotel on Tue. A party means – a super loud music, though it is hard to cal it music- they are basically computer generated super loud “bums”… You can’t cover your ears – the sound comes through grounds, through vibrating your body and it lasts till 4 am. But that was only one night .  The other night sit wasn’t as loud and it would end at 12 am. So there are always pros and cons…We liked the room, the hotel, it had character versus even better huts that we saw later, but it had also the noisiness of the bars around. Thought other bars had island music or something softer, that you can call music. Very often even live music. And so few visitors…yes. there were very few tourists. considering how many places to stay and eat and to have fun there were. Our hotel had a very nice seafood restaurant – and it very often stayed empty…what a waste. I guess it is the worldwide crisis…

After settling we went to immerse into the never even before experienced such a warm sea  -like a hot tub:

The water so warm – you can stay as long as you want almost not moving – and no feeling of cold or shivers…

the sun was setting rather fast, as it is usual in the South:

(to be continued)

On the third day in BKK we went to Grand Palace. Its magnificent roofs were seen already from the river once we were sailing towards our second stay area in BKK.  It was so convenient to walk from there through the University of Bangkok grounds, through a long street of Thai markets – meaning stuff sold all over on tables and just scarfs on the sidewalk… The University, as every other respectable institution, had its own altar for offerings (I bet they are overflowing with flowers and foods during an exam session):

And then you see the fence – all of the temple grounds are fenced there, so why not the Palace:

That day was some Buddhist celebration, so we had to wait for a couple of hours wondering around until they decided to let people in. There is a dress code to enter the temples, which is understandable.  No mini skirts, no shorts, no naked shoulders or toes. I knew that and I think I was dressed properly. Somehow one of the men by the gates didn’t like my  socks in  the slippers… I understand they weren’t very elegant or beautiful, but in that heat, humidity, with my feet all in blisters…He said: – no no, pointing to my feet. I said: -oh yes, yes, and went in . I guess – it wasn’t a serious thing. But the ones who were with skimpy clothes – had to enter a building where they could rent some scarfs to cover up.

And so we went  into the compound grounds with a crowd, it was overwhelming…

This is the most sacred Temple in Palace compound and in Thailand – Wat Phra Kaew. It houses the Emerald Buddha, which was brought from the north of Thailand during history. It is of one piece of Emerald. It has three golden outfits that only the King or Queen can change during the change of the season – Rainy, Dry or Hot. And it is placed so high that lately the king being so old – can’t do it any more, so his son got the privilege. Nobody else, even senior monks can’t touch the Emerald Buddha…

But before entering this really very sacred space – there are so many distractions, so many wonderful forms, colors, ornaments, sculptures, my eyes were running here and there and at the end I figured out I will never remember it and never can enjoy this beauty fully – too much, at least for me…Too much for that day, too  much for that space…

There was even a small version of Angkor Wat which is now in Cambodia and was the biggest Wat of Khmer empire:

That was pleasant to me, because before the trip I read quite a lot about Angkor, and planned to visit it, but once we experienced the Asian “winter” – no way, it was impossible to travel much in that heat. It is in the jungle which almost took over it, but now it is getting restored, cleaned from the evading trees and witnessing  to the world about the grand Khmer Empire of the 8-12the centuries.

Those paintings are all over the walls on the covered gallery by the Wat, very many of them and all beautiful…

Lions – devils are guarding the entrance to the Temple – where you have to take off shoes – as to all temples, but the stairs here are much more elaborate:

And then there was a bowl with water and lotus buds-  I heard a Russian speaking Thai  guide telling everyone to use the lotus and get some drops of sacred water on your friends and yourself – good guidance! I would have missed the opportunity:

And then you get out of the Temple grounds and into the Palace world with its throne halls, etc,  – very ornamental, very decorative, but no space left in my mind or imagination to “store” it.  I am looking now at my pictures  – and it is almost I am looking at them for the first time.  Have a look and see for yourselves, who in the world, how many of those “who” and in how many ages could they build and create this phantasmagoria?:

and all this – in this unbearable, sweating, pounding heat…

(to be continued)