We have spent a week traveling round three of Thailand’s southern islands- recommended to us both by the ever handy lonely planet and by other travelers. Personally, I was slightly apprehensive about going to them, purely as I knew they were havens for the package travelers and two week tourists.
We set off in a minibus from Penang at 0500, at the Thai border we changed driver and mini bus. The new driver was a bastard, forcing us and two Germans, Jan and Timo, to mush it at the back of this tiny, barely air conditioned minibus. The five hours to the ferry terminal were spent in blistering heat sweating buckets, though I had a good chat with Jan. The rest of the bus the driver filled with Thai’s, some of which were tiny and defiantly didn’t need the leg room of the front seats. The early start caught up with us on the ferry as we drifted to sleep.
Once on the tiny island, as soon as we were off the boat, we powered through the awaiting, information wielding Thai’s chirping “taxi taxi”, “where you stay?”, “diving?” to our hostel, 15 minutes from the pier. After a shower we headed back into the town (the only one on the island), met the two Germans and had an enjoyable night eating a meal and drinking in a bar.
The next day was a chill out day, spent laying about before strolling up to a viewpoint where there was a stunning panorama of the island.
Our last full day was spent on a trip where we snorkeled, visited an island full of monkeys and saw the bay used in the film the beach. The island and surrounds were beautiful (though snorkeling wasn’t that good) though unfortunately was dominated by tourists.
The island itself was a network of small lanes with massage parlours, bars and restaurants serving all the western favourites- pizza, fry-up and fish and chips as well as thai food. Unlike Malaysians, Thais happily try and sell you something or other as you stroll about, whilst at first, being English you politely refuse, a few days teaches you just to ignore them. The third night on the island took us to a thai kickboxing match(which we found out was fixed but was nonetheless very entertaining) and the beach bars/clubs where many people were gathered.
A boat, bus and second boat journey took us East to Kho Phangnan. This is supposedly a massive party island, famous for the monthly full moon parties. However we tuned up and it was dead, literally nobody was there. We seemed to be the only ones in our hostel.
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| Wheres the party? |
We decided to reduce our planned three nights to two and during our full day rented some mopeds. Having never been near a moped before, this was always going to be an interesting experience. We set off from our base in Hat Rin, along the hilly coastal road, before grabbing some gas. After driving too far due to lack of signs, we eventually found a road north into the centre of the island, and headed towards paradise falls. We whizzed along the straight flat roads, surrounded by forest and mountains, accidentally reaching the far side of the island. However we stopped for lunch, in the small fishing village of Chaloklum, eating yet more delicious food for a small price. One of my favourite thai dishes is called Pad Thai-noodles with stir fry veg, meat or fish and with a peanut marinade- a really distinct flavour.
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| Where we ate food |
We headed back down the road and found paradise falls. The best bit was the plunge pool, refreshing and shaded from the high sun, in which we swam for a while. We then decided to head to the lonely planet recommended Trang falls, visited by Thai kings. Getting here took us back to the coastal road and again into the island, this time on a hilly route. We briefly stopped for a coke at a bar protruding from the hillside (during which we saw elephants lugging plant like material around), before continuing on.
Soon the road turned to compact sand, peaking and troughing, though with an upward trend. We soon saw the sign for the falls and took a right for the 4km ride. It was still light and we figured we could easily be back before nightfall. The road ahead was a cocktail of rocks, sand and gravel all together on 15-20˚ slopes. We headed down the first hill and up the other side. I didn’t feel great doing this, id felt out of control, the small moped aquaplaning as it slipped between rock and sand. Slowing down too much would have meant the breaks would lock, and an inevitable skid occur. At the top of this hill my gut told me to turn back as the next hill, a mean 150m descent was steeper, with more loose material. Instead, I pressed on after Rob, easing gradually down and powering up the hills. We crossed a small wooden bridge, and after more ups and downs, headed up over a 300m stretch of road, concreted because of its harsh slant. Eventually on one of the hills I decided to try Rob’s technique and power down, resulting in me flying off, cutting and grazing myself, but more worryingly the bike.
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Conversely, Rob had had no trouble on the road at all, bombing it around. It was strange that I was riding fine all day, both before and after this road, yet here I was absolute carnage, sliding all over the shop.
At this point I stopped to fix myself up. Rob went on and saw the falls, which were rather anticlimactic.
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| The falls |
We began heading back sharp, the sun set, and darkness quickly crept in as it does so well at these latitudes. On the way back I skidded on a sandy patch as I went over the concrete ramp, smashing up the oil tank and I think a cylinder (more cuts and grazes luckily nothing serious) as from that point the bike wouldn’t go over 40kph on flat paved road. It meant the journey back to the main road was a nightmare, the bike couldn’t carry me uphill meaning I ended up walking next to the bike, twisting the accelerator and guiding it up (it was far to heavy to push).
It often got dug in, in soft sand or stuck struggling over a bit of rock. I was dehydrated, sweating heaps and bruised and raw from various cuts, though wanted to get back. Rob made sure I reached each peak (at one point suggesting we get external help). Eventually, after a battle the sand road appeared. From here we followed the road and descended towards the sea, riding under spectacular thunder in the sky (I didn’t really care as I just wanted to get back). Upon reaching the coast road I was again on escort duty walking the bike up most hills (except those where I could get enough descent speed heading to the base that it could chug itself up), power began failing further here. Eventually we got back to Hat Rin, stopping down an alley where using a T-shirt and bucket we attempted to wash down my bike and hide the scars- it was battered. In the end after much deliberating and arguing the repair bill was reduced from 17000baht to 10000baht, £200. It was annoying having to cough up, but not unfair, considering the bike was new and I had scratched every surface to bits (including damaging the oil tank and cylinders which they hadn’t seen).
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| Damage Limitation |
To be honest I was relived to get it all over with, it could have all been so, so much worse. A good story nonetheless. That night we grabbed some food, and relaxed with a few beers on the now slightly more populated beach next to our hostel.
The final island we visited was Kho Tao, known for its diving. Rob spent a day on a snorkeling trip, whilst I sat in a restaurant by the sea, browsing the internet and reading- the island was fairly quiet.
