Day 36 - Ao Nang/Bangkok
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday 13th September
It is amazing how a day can turn around, and one can go from the majestic limestone cliffs of Thailand's southern beaches to eating Pad Thai for 75c on Khao San Road.
Ao Nang, like a number of other Thai beach cities, was having a tsunami evacuation practice on the Monday morning which both tourists and locals were invited to participate in. However, I had a plane to catch - on to Bangkok! Though most tourists in Krabi were heading onto either Khao Lak/Khao Sok (the national parks) or Koh Samui/Koh Phangan, I had a) visited the towns before and b) no intention of visiting the east side of Thailand after my horrible experience last year.
Trying to cut down on costs, I took a 9:45am bus to the airport. I was a bit worried about missing the 12pm flight as Air Asia requires you to check-in AND drop in bags at least 45 minutes prior, and Thai buses have a tendency to run well over time. Fortunately, I was dropped at Krabi airport at 10:40 and had an hour to kill before the flight.
Back in Bangkok. For once, my bag was the first off the flight, and a taxi whisked me away to Khao San Road. I'd booked a new hostel, which the taxi driver hadn't heard of (although he tried to assure me had, he wasn't fooling me). I'd printed out the reservation letter but when I checked it, it didn't have the address of the hostel, only the phone number. I told the driver it was 'near' Khao San Road, the infamous backpacker street, and when we reached it he started circling the streets, looking for the hostel. I asked the driver to pull over and call them to find out the address - I didn't want to sit in the car circling the clogged Bangkok roads (especially given how hungry I was). When he got off the phone with them, he pointed across the road and laughed - we were literally 10 metres away from the hostel!
What a wicked place the hostel is. The dorm rooms are unlike any I've ever seen, with curtains and privacy screens segregating all of the bunks. There's free internet, washing machine, library, and 100s of DVDs to watch, and the more expensive dorms even have private TVs and DVD players! It was the largest dorm I'd stayed in - maybe 20 odd beds - but given the privacy, you didn't notice it.
Bags dropped, I found Khao San Road and did the obligatory walk up and down. As it was early in the afternoon, the place was still quiet (the difference between the morning Khao San and evening Khao San is immense. A lot of backpackers take overnight buses from down south or Chiang Mai and turn up at 6am dismayed - the real action starts in the late afternoon and continues through until morning). I felt like a 'substantial' meal so jumped in a tuk-tuk to take me to MTK/Siam Paragon, two big shopping centres. The roads in Bangkok are terrible - clogged with traffic and pollution. The tuk-tuks weave in and out of the traffic, jutting over pot holes - I'm surprised there's not more accidents.
I ignored the numerous shops and lights to find something to eat and settled on a hot potato of corn and cheese, which wasn't appealing but at least lined my stomach. Of course once I'd finished eating I found heaps of eating choices which were so much more appetising ... oh well. I spent a couple of hours walking around the mall and again at Siam Paragon, before returning to the hostel for a quick rest.
Back onto the street at 7pm I was planning on finding a quick meal, but my plans were derailed when I ran into one of the workers at the hostel. He'd seen me checking in earlier in the day and was on for quite a chat. Turned out he taught (teaches?) political science at Bangkok University, and was keen to find out about the current Australian political landscape. He asked about my future plans and when I told him I was heading to Chiang Mai next, he told me to be careful - he'd been there the previous week and the guesthouses and travel agencies weren't to be trusted. He told me to book through a reputable 'TAT' travel agency (TAT means they are recognised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand - a lot of travel agencies claim they are but little actually are). He gave me an address, put me in a tuk-tuk and sent me off.
Reading back on this, it may sound like he was a tout who was trying to get commission for my spending, but it wasn't like this at all. He was just a nice guy, like 99% of Thai people, trying to be friendly to a tourist. He was also worried how the red shirt protestors had affected Thailand, saying that tourism had dropped dramatically since the protests, and asked me to tell my friends to come to Thailand, that it was safe again (I could be the wrong person to speak about this ...!!)
On the way to the TAT office, we were stopped at a set of lights by police officers. The tuk-tuk driver told me that the 'Baby King' was on the way. Traffic was stopped for about 5 minutes before a procession of cars came through at top speed, assumingly with a member of the Royal Family in one of the cars. The police all saluted (I love how they all do this - even in shops!) and we then continued on our way. Can I call this a brush with royalty??
At the TAT office, the travel agent was surprised to see a Westerner - he said generally only Thai people went to his office, as it was in a non-touristy area. He helped me work out a rought plan for my remaining time in Thailand, and I ended up booking two things through him - an overnight train to Chiang Mai on Friday night (I can't wait, I've always wanted to do an overnight train with sleeping car) and a tour to the floating markets, River Kwai (rhymes with 'square', not 'why') and the Tiger Temple for Wednesday.
Back at Khao San the atmosphere had picked up, and I joined the throngs of backpackers on the busy street. I ordered some Pad Thai from a street vendor for 25 baht (under a dollar) and sat on a step on the side of the road, eating and watching the world go by.
It is amazing how a day can turn around, and one can go from the majestic limestone cliffs of Thailand's southern beaches to eating Pad Thai for 75c on Khao San Road.
Ao Nang, like a number of other Thai beach cities, was having a tsunami evacuation practice on the Monday morning which both tourists and locals were invited to participate in. However, I had a plane to catch - on to Bangkok! Though most tourists in Krabi were heading onto either Khao Lak/Khao Sok (the national parks) or Koh Samui/Koh Phangan, I had a) visited the towns before and b) no intention of visiting the east side of Thailand after my horrible experience last year.
Trying to cut down on costs, I took a 9:45am bus to the airport. I was a bit worried about missing the 12pm flight as Air Asia requires you to check-in AND drop in bags at least 45 minutes prior, and Thai buses have a tendency to run well over time. Fortunately, I was dropped at Krabi airport at 10:40 and had an hour to kill before the flight.
Back in Bangkok. For once, my bag was the first off the flight, and a taxi whisked me away to Khao San Road. I'd booked a new hostel, which the taxi driver hadn't heard of (although he tried to assure me had, he wasn't fooling me). I'd printed out the reservation letter but when I checked it, it didn't have the address of the hostel, only the phone number. I told the driver it was 'near' Khao San Road, the infamous backpacker street, and when we reached it he started circling the streets, looking for the hostel. I asked the driver to pull over and call them to find out the address - I didn't want to sit in the car circling the clogged Bangkok roads (especially given how hungry I was). When he got off the phone with them, he pointed across the road and laughed - we were literally 10 metres away from the hostel!
What a wicked place the hostel is. The dorm rooms are unlike any I've ever seen, with curtains and privacy screens segregating all of the bunks. There's free internet, washing machine, library, and 100s of DVDs to watch, and the more expensive dorms even have private TVs and DVD players! It was the largest dorm I'd stayed in - maybe 20 odd beds - but given the privacy, you didn't notice it.
Bags dropped, I found Khao San Road and did the obligatory walk up and down. As it was early in the afternoon, the place was still quiet (the difference between the morning Khao San and evening Khao San is immense. A lot of backpackers take overnight buses from down south or Chiang Mai and turn up at 6am dismayed - the real action starts in the late afternoon and continues through until morning). I felt like a 'substantial' meal so jumped in a tuk-tuk to take me to MTK/Siam Paragon, two big shopping centres. The roads in Bangkok are terrible - clogged with traffic and pollution. The tuk-tuks weave in and out of the traffic, jutting over pot holes - I'm surprised there's not more accidents.
I ignored the numerous shops and lights to find something to eat and settled on a hot potato of corn and cheese, which wasn't appealing but at least lined my stomach. Of course once I'd finished eating I found heaps of eating choices which were so much more appetising ... oh well. I spent a couple of hours walking around the mall and again at Siam Paragon, before returning to the hostel for a quick rest.
Back onto the street at 7pm I was planning on finding a quick meal, but my plans were derailed when I ran into one of the workers at the hostel. He'd seen me checking in earlier in the day and was on for quite a chat. Turned out he taught (teaches?) political science at Bangkok University, and was keen to find out about the current Australian political landscape. He asked about my future plans and when I told him I was heading to Chiang Mai next, he told me to be careful - he'd been there the previous week and the guesthouses and travel agencies weren't to be trusted. He told me to book through a reputable 'TAT' travel agency (TAT means they are recognised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand - a lot of travel agencies claim they are but little actually are). He gave me an address, put me in a tuk-tuk and sent me off.
Reading back on this, it may sound like he was a tout who was trying to get commission for my spending, but it wasn't like this at all. He was just a nice guy, like 99% of Thai people, trying to be friendly to a tourist. He was also worried how the red shirt protestors had affected Thailand, saying that tourism had dropped dramatically since the protests, and asked me to tell my friends to come to Thailand, that it was safe again (I could be the wrong person to speak about this ...!!)
On the way to the TAT office, we were stopped at a set of lights by police officers. The tuk-tuk driver told me that the 'Baby King' was on the way. Traffic was stopped for about 5 minutes before a procession of cars came through at top speed, assumingly with a member of the Royal Family in one of the cars. The police all saluted (I love how they all do this - even in shops!) and we then continued on our way. Can I call this a brush with royalty??
At the TAT office, the travel agent was surprised to see a Westerner - he said generally only Thai people went to his office, as it was in a non-touristy area. He helped me work out a rought plan for my remaining time in Thailand, and I ended up booking two things through him - an overnight train to Chiang Mai on Friday night (I can't wait, I've always wanted to do an overnight train with sleeping car) and a tour to the floating markets, River Kwai (rhymes with 'square', not 'why') and the Tiger Temple for Wednesday.
Back at Khao San the atmosphere had picked up, and I joined the throngs of backpackers on the busy street. I ordered some Pad Thai from a street vendor for 25 baht (under a dollar) and sat on a step on the side of the road, eating and watching the world go by.
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