Back to Thailand

We are experiencing a thunderstorm which is interrupting the glorious weather here in Samui so I’m taking the opportunity to (finally) write a new post……

We were going to head straight back to Samui but Choco decided to read up on the North Eastern area we were in to see if there was anything worth visiting. He discovered Khao Phra Wihan was close by, the ruins of a temple older than Angkor in Cambodia, set high upon a cliff on the boarder of Thailand and Cambodia overlooking spectacular plains. It was claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand but was finally given to Cambodia in 1962 by the world court. However access is from the Thai side only. The area saw a lot of fighting, on the way up (after much hassle, staying in awful hotels, long journeys on local buses while suffering from food poisoning… and relinquishing much money – basically everyone who saw us decided they were going to have their pound of flesh…) we saw guys in camouflage with metal detectors clearing the road side of mines. The main areas had luckily been clear two to three years previously. As we were walking up a local decided we were his monthly bread ticket and tried to be our guide. We were not in the mood. We were also very disappointed with the site. If we hadn’t been to Angkor it would have been different, if the sky was clear it would have been a fantastic view of Cambodia and if there weren’t hundreds of people trying to see everything under the sun – why I would go to all the effort travelling there just to buy some gold jewellery or Thai CDs was beyond me. All in all I wouldn’t recommend a visit….

Ruins at Khao Phra Wihan

There was supposedly lots of restoration but still piles of stone

and some buried piecesa few bullet holes as reminders that this area was quite recently in the
middle of some fierce fighting

And a few more reminders

This sign states what when the area was cleared 56 mines and 475 UXOs

were found in around 8000m2.

We were going to visit another ancient temple, but after all the hassle of getting to Khao Phra Wihan we decided we would head (straight) back to Samui. This involved a two hours bus to Si Saket (another 2 hours trying to find the best transport out of Si Saket – alas all express services were full), a 10 hours bus trip to Bangkok, finding a hotel at 3am, sleeping briefly, doing some posting before a 14 hour train trip south to Surat Thani, a 1.5 hour bus to the ferry pier, a 1.5 hours ferry to Samui and a 30 min taxi. I wish the flights hadn’t been full…..

Returning to Samui we promptly resumed normal activities and got drunk. We also took a day trip in Dennis and Colin’s new boat. We were going to visit the National Marine Park but Mother Nature decided that wasn’t a good idea so we did a lap of Ko Phangan, stopping on the Northern side for some snorkelling and on the Eastern side for lunch. A very enjoyable way to spend the day. Unless you get severely dehydrated as I did and end up very sick!

snorkling trip to Ko Phangan - bad photos but you get the idea

awful tan marks....

To give our livers a break we headed back to Khanom for a few days R&R at Thong Yee. This is the little deserted beach we found just before heading up to Laos. It was interesting to go back, the beach we stayed on was still the same, but there is so much building going on nearby, mostly resorts. This is amazing as I would suggest there currently aren’t enough tourists to support the present resorts, so I’m not sure where all the new tourists are going to come from. Apart from the first night when we shared the resort with a German couple we had the place to ourselves. I spent a lovely week on the beach while Choco made use of the hammock. It was very relaxing. One day while reading on the beach a Thai guy came along and said hello, he asked my name and then for my phone number. I told him I didn’t have one. He then asked if I wanted his number. Again I said I didnt have a phone. So he wondered off. However a few minutes later he came back offering me body lotion (???), I politely declined and finally he said goodbye and left. Very forward for a Thai!

During our last visit there were a number of adolescent huntsman spiders around, even one living in the toilet. This time we found little snakes had made use of the roof to shed their skins.... very comforting! But I didnt actually see one and if I dont see it then it didnt come near me....

While in Khanom we didn’t have much choice but to eat Thai food, all the restaurants serving western food were rubbish. This was a two fold win for me, not only do I prefer Thai in Thailand but the food was so cheap on the mainland (compared to Samui and Bangkok) that we could both eat for 30B (~$1). Sometimes we would splurge and spend 20B each! There was some really lovely food over in Khanom, but we were slightly limited to the dishes I knew how to order in Thai. One restaurant we went to however was a terrible experience, well not terrible but not pleasant, I tried to order some food but the waitress could understand me, finally the chef came out with a menu in English – written down on a small piece of paper. So we ordered and she repeated it to us, with the same pronunciation I had used a few minutes previous…. After ordering we decided we would like a beer, I finally got the waitresses attention, but again she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) understand what I was saying, even though all the other customers in the restaurant could understand perfectly, someone finally told her we wanted a beer….. We had ordered three dishes and some rice for dinner. Two dishes came out and we waited for our rice and the third dish, but we were quite hungry so eventually eat the two meals without rice. Then we waited. And waited and waited. Was the rest of our meal ever going to arrive? I don’t know how to ask if that was it, so we waited. I was considering ringing Pan and asking her to talk to the waitress but after 40 minutes we decided we didn’t want it and asked for the bill. The waitress had written down the three things we asked for on our order but one of them seemed to get lost between her writing them down and the chef…. And she forgot we wanted rice….. weren’t going to go back there.

Beach at Thong Yee

Other end

Bungalow at Thong Yee
Bungalow at Thong Yee - basic but lovely

Snake skins in the bungalow at Thong Yee
- I realise they are a little hard to see but I assure you there are two!

Choco's Chocolate Balls take three - Thong Yee

This time in bowls not plastic bags.

The end result - unfortunately although they look lovely they tasted really
bad and were all thrown to the chooks

After 5 very relaxing days we headed back to Samui. Again we fell back into the normal Samui life – eating, drinking and occasionally dancing. And of course being offered a job in the Phillippines....

Sunset from Dennis' balcony, Ko Samui

Sunset from Tony and Maria's Place

Beach we had a very expensive but delicious gourmet picnic on Samui

bit like the postcards