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Many thanks with your good story. If i have a chance to visit in Bangkok again , i will go to Grand Palace and looking for the hotel around Kaosarn Road. I think that Kaosarn Road is good for young travellers. Around the street, there are a number of old buildings and temples, some of which have been transformed into restaurants and even tattoo parlours, although you will still find quiet family homes if you look deep enough. Aside from some interesting architecture, Banglampoo shows the mix of peoples and heritages that is the character of Bangkok. There are Muslims, Buddhists, Mons, and of course a great number of foreigners in this small area. All of this makes the area an interesting place for a glimpse of Thai life. Thais also appreciate the area for the many types of traditional kanom or Thai snacks and desserts available and the cheap clothing available in the Banglampoo Market
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September 21, 2009
We finally arrived at Bangkok airport after my endless wait to take a much-needed vacation. As soon as I entered the airport I could tell I was in a country a lot less technologically developed than Korea. And, it was amazingly HOT! Not just hot, but wet and sticky.
We checked into our youth hostel rather late. It was very sufficient, small, bunk beds, but clean and air-conditioned. For $7.00 a night per person, I didn’t expect five star accommodation. I do, however, recommend any traveler who is on a backpack budget to stay in a youth hostel. They’re an excellent idea if you don’t require luxury when you travel. They’re simple and to the point.
Our next day in Bangkok was extraordinary. Bangkok is such a nitty gritty dynamic city, full of people and activities, and pleasantly strange things. Thai people are so friendly and eager to help you, especially if you’re a foreigner visiting their land. In one day, we must have been approached over three times by random Thai people offering their advice on what to see and where to go. “Did you see the happy Buddha?” Someone on the street would say. “You must see the happy Buddha!” Not even several hours later, after walking around a bit, another stranger would ask, “Did you see the happy Buddha?” And then he would go on and on about what we must do. Finally, after much unnecessary resistance about seeing the happy Buddha, we decided that it must be done. So we finally saw the Happy Buddha, and of course, it was worth it.
At the Buddha temple, we met another stranger who advised we visit this custom tailor suit shop where they were offering Armani suits for a phenomenally discounted price—it being the last day for this much advertised sale. So, we figured perhaps these strangers (and taxi drivers) are getting some sort of kickback for referring us to certain attractions. So, since our taxi driver agreed that the suit shop was a good idea, and we were paying him $2.00 to chauffer us around for five hours, we decided to give it a shot. However, we had no intention to buy anything, but just to look around so that the taxi driver could receive his kickback. Well, our self-control crumbled. These suits were absolutely stunning, and were an excellent deal as well. We ended up being fitted for one suit each. I’ve never had a suit custom made for myself before, especially not an Armani suit! So this was really a treat for me. We let ourselves splurge for not much more than we would have paid for a quality suit at Sears. I guess the shops in Thailand could get away with charging people less for quality products because of the cheap labor there.
Overall, the first day in Bangkok was phenomenal. We packed every activity we could possibly handle in one day. We took taxis, buses, tuk-tuk’s (motor bikes pulling carts behind them in which two people can sit in), and a boat. We saw a snake show in which tamers played around with cobras, vipers, and boas, and demonstrated the danger of each of them. We took pictures of each other holding a boa constrictor around our necks. We took a leisurely boat ride down the river, in which we saw people spending the Sunday afternoon in their homes with their families. Of course, everyone waived to us as we sped by. Incredibly friendly people. We also shopped at a very busy street market bazaar, where we had good eats and bought cheap clothes. I could see why Thailand is called the land of smiles. Everyone was very kind to us and extremely helpful. They had no inhibitions about approaching us in the street and giving us suggestions. It was incredibly easy to get around, most people spoke English. And, of course, two of the things I enjoyed the most were the authentic Thai food and the cheap massage. We got a two-hour massage for around $10 each! You definitely can’t beat that! And the food was some of the spiciest I’ve ever had.
The next day we purchased a round trip airline ticket to the city of Hatyai in the south of Thailand. Hatyai is near the Thai-Malay border, and it is easy to cross the eastern border into Malaysia from there. We were originally going to take a bus from Bangkok to the Thai-Malay border, but we decided the travel time was too long (15-20 hours!), and traveling through middle and southern Thailand wasn’t the safest thing to do due to religious conflict throughout the region. The flight would only be an hour and a half and would save us a lot of travel time. Less traveling meant more time on the beach in our final destination, which was the Perhentian Island Kecil off the coast of Northeastern Malaysia. My co-worker in Korea had traveled there in 2002 and went on and on about what a tropical paradise it was. So, we decided to take her advice and spend a few days there.
After we booked the airline ticket, some Thais told us that there had been a terrorist bombing at the Hatyai airport, which was the very airport we were flying into the next day. However, we were also told that the airport was heavily guarded and secured now, and that it was fully open to travelers. No flights were cancelled. Well, we had already booked the ticket, so we had to move on with the plan and hope for the best. When we arrived to Hatyai airport, we could see the area that was damaged by the bomb. It was closed off, and although it was not too severe, it had done a lot of structural damage to the ceiling. The area was gutted out and wires and building materials were hanging from the demolished part of the ceiling. It was a scary reminder of how close terrorists can get. From what I heard in the news, a few people dies and many others were injured or affected in some way. Even though walking through the airport was a little bit eerie, everything bustled on as the scene at airports normally do. Security was beefed up as well, with armed military soldiers patrolling the area. I still wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I wanted to head straight for the Malay border and be on our merry way to paradise. Well, it didn’t end up that way—at least not right away. We were told by the airport bus personnel that it was too late to catch a bus to the border, and that the border closed at 5:00 pm, so we would have to be bussed to downtown Hatyai and spend the night at a hotel. My heart sank when they told us this. The last thing I wanted to do was spend the night in a small town that rarely saw foreigners and was experiencing religious conflict and terrorist episodes. Hatyai was definitely not the ideal foreigner’s hangout, which made me a little nervous we would become a target. Nevertheless, we were driven to a sufficient hotel. But before we retired for the night, we decided to go ahead and take a walk through a portion of downtown. After all, we originally had every intention to get off the beaten path when we left for this trip.
Hatyai ended up to be a very interesting city. Street vendors sold everything from clothing to food, and of course, the Thai people, even in this end of the country (and despite the unrest in their town), were full of smiles and kindness. We ended up seeing a few other Westerners, which made me feel a bit better. Amazingly, we saw a man walking his elephant down the busy street. He sold us small bags of vegetables so that we can feed his elephant, and Ian and I were able to get some great pictures of it. We were hoping we would see an elephant during our trip to Thailand, and we finally did, one day before leaving for Malaysia. How lucky is that.
The next day we caught an early morning bus and head out on our 3.5-hour long journey to the eastern Thai-Malay border, where we would then walk across the border and catch a taxi to the boat jetty which was another hour away. The sites during the journey were beautiful. Southern Thailand is a land full of thick green jungle with grassy fields and animals grazing everywhere—even on the street. Cows and goats just roam freely, and Ian even saw a man driving a motor scooter with a monkey sitting on the back! It seemed like EVERYONE was driving a motor scooter in Southern Thailand. This area is predominantly Muslim, so all the women riding on the back of the motor scooters had colorful and sometimes black head scarves that just flapped in the wind. It was very beautiful, but I wondered how these women could stand being so fully clothed from head to toe in such devastating heat. It was so hot and humid we were just drenched with sweat every moment we were outside.
Everything went smoothly at this point in our journey. The bus arrived at the Thai border city of Sungai Kolok on schedule, and we were able to quickly go through immigration and walk right across the border. The entrance sign into Malaysia said “Salmat Datang,” which means “Welcome,” and we were closer than ever to our final tropical destination. Once we arrived on the other side, we found a taxi immediately, and for about $10; he took us for an hour-long drive in his junk heap taxi that would barely start to the Malaysian city of Kuala Besut. Here, we bought our snorkeling gear and boarded the speedboat destined to the Perhentian islands. Again, we would spend almost about an hour on the boat traveling to the island. It was so refreshing to see the ocean again, and it was magnificent. It felt great to finally be in Malaysia, someplace I”ve always wanted to go. We finally made it.
When we arrived to the island (which was a very small island, no big hotels or resorts), we were so tired we checked into the first hut we saw. It was at the end of a beach called Long Beach, and it was literally a hut. No water, no electricity, and a padlock that held the barn door closed. The hut looked like something that would fall over if someone were to lean against it. However, we did have two cots with mattresses on them, and a much-needed mosquito net that draped over them. We went for a quick swim, rubbed mosquito repellent on our skin, and retired for the night.
This first night was an absolute NIGHTMARE! The restaurant at the foot of the hill below us was having a party, and their music was blasting all night. Not only that, but our entire night was plagued by visitors—no, not people—cats, rats, and bats! A cat managed to drag a dead rat under our beds just as we were trying to sleep. Ian woke up to an eerie “crunch, crunch, crunch” sound, so looked under the bed only to discover the cat eating his dinner! Shortly after Ian chased the cat out of the hut, we woke up to what we thought was a bird flying around our mosquito net. Well, it wasn’t a bird. It was a bat. All I could do at that moment was remain calm until Ian swung the door open and the bat found its way out. What a night! And coincidentally, we found out as we were leaving the next day that our hut number was #13. Was it really just a coincidence??? We definitely did not want to spend another night on Long Beach.
The next day we decided to head out to another beach, so we hiked to a quieter, more private beach. After a short hike through the jungle and over a mountain of rugged volcanic rock, we stumbled upon a very small, sandy beach, suitable for literally just a few people. It was absolutely stunning. The water was crystal clear and blue, and full of fish and coral, and there even was a boulder with a fresh water spring for drinking and showering. It was truly a Tarzan’s paradise. In fact, the only man on the beach was an older man from Germany whom we had the pleasure to talk to. We nicknamed him Tarzan because he spent three months out of every year living on this beach, wearing a loin cloth, eating fruit all day, swimming out to sea, and enjoying his paradise. He was quite the interesting fellow. When we decided that we wanted to spend the night on that beach, we felt it necessary to ask him, as if it were his territory.
That night sleeping on the beach was divine. The weather was warm, the waves crashed up against our heals, and we just built a small fire and layed on our jumbo towel, spending most of the night staring at the stars. Sometime during the night we ran out of firewood and unfortunately, our fire burned out. We had to put on a lot of mosquito repellent to keep the mosquitoes from eating us alive. They did a little bit anyway, but it was well worth it.
The third day, we set out from our private paradise to a beach called Coral Bay, which was a slightly populated beach a few cafes and chalets. Nevertheless, it was also a paradise. We decided to live it up on this night so we spent a little bit more money ($10 instead of the $4 we spent on the first hut) and got ourselves a nice little chalet with a fan, a bathroom, and running water. It was nice not to be attacked by mosquitoes for once. The people running this group of chalets were so kind to us, letting us pay for the room later and preparing a nice breakfast and coffee for us on the morning we had to leave early and catch the boat back to the mainland. This island was especially beautiful. During our snorkeling venture, we saw stunning coral reef, thousands of fish, and Barracuda. Ian even saw a shark and stingray. Luckily, the sharks in the area around the islands are not dangerous, and they’re rather small.
A funny thing that happened was after much worrying and complaining about it on my part, Ian finally convinced me to take a kayak out with him and venture out to sea with it. I’m a little bit afraid of deep water, but the kayak owner and Ian assured me that the kayak was too strong to tip over, and that we would be totally safe. So…. Off we went in our kayak, just Ian and I, and boy, was it an amazingly peaceful experience. We traveled along the coast of the island, over the clear blue waters, and out to the lighthouse. I was getting a bit worried about being out so far, so Ian agreed to steer us back closer to the coast. When we got a bit closer, we saw a secluded beach where we decided to take a break. As we neared the beach, the kayak seemed to be rocking more than usual. I really didn’t want to tip over at this point, because I was afraid that I would scrape my feet and legs on sharp coral reef in the shallow water. There were also huge clams attached to the coral that I definitely didn’t want to stick my foot into. Nevertheless, we got to the beach safely and took a break on the sand. We tipped the kayak over to let some of the access water out, since we thought that that was what was making it sway so much. Because of the heavy feeling the kayak had, I started to get a bad feeling at this point. But I had to get on it again; otherwise, we would be stuck on this island, which appeared to be surrounded by thick jungle and inaccessible to the public. So, we boarded the kayak once again and head out to sea. Not even 75 feet from the shore, I could feel the kayak tipping. We tried to lean to balance it but we were doomed. The entire kayak tipped sending us splashing into the water! I freaked out a bit because I was so afraid on what I would step on, as well as the current that was working against us. Ian calmed me down and flipped the kayak back over so that we can try to crawl back in it, but at this point, a speedboat with two men in it rushed to us from the beach. It was a Malay man and a Swiss vacationer coming to rescue us. We climbed into their boat and they kindly took us back to shore, where we sat and waited while they unplugged the kayak and let all the water out. Evidently, our kayak had a hole in the bottom of it and was filling up with water as we rowed. That’s why it was swaying back and forth and tipped over so easily when we got back in it. After a much-needed rest on their private beach, they kindly towed us and our kayak back to Coral bay. When we arrived, we immediately told the owner of the kayak that his kayak sunk, and that it was dangerous to let someone take it out again. He calmly nodded and agreed, told us there was no charge and offered us another kayak. Ian and I went back to our Chalet to think about it, and of course, since I’m the kind of person that tries to avoid the same disaster twice. I declined the second attempt. Ian was a bit upset at my paranoia, and reassured me that the chances of this disaster happening twice in a row are too slim. I knew he was probably right, but I declined anyway, choosing to stay at shore and do a little of my own snorkeling. Ian decided to take a different kayak and head out to sea once again. He wanted to go all the way to the lighthouse, which was approximately one kilometer out to sea, jump off the kayak and do some snorkeling.
A few hours later, as I snorkeled on the shore, I felt a finger poking my back. I took off my swim mask to find a solemn-looking Ian sitting in the water in front of me. “Well,” He said, “You were right. I humbly stand corrected.” “What happened?” I asked him. “My kayak sunk.” I couldn’t believe it. This kayak owner obviously did not take very good care of his kayaks. Of course, he invited Ian to take a third kayak. Not surprisingly, Ian declined.
I have to say that the pictures we took were absolutely amazing. We photographed many special animals that we came in contact with on the island. We were able to see a troop of monkeys chasing a house cat in front of our chalet (Ian claims that one actually charged me, which I did not see). We saw monitor lizards the size of crocodiles, and fish up close that I’ve never seen before. We ate excellent meals by candlelight at the cafes on the beach, and had a killer milkshake at one point.
What made this island special was that everything the local people did for us was personalized, and it was very appreciated. These people are not used to mass crowds of tourists, because the secret about these islands has not gotten out yet. Not very many vacationers know about this destination, which makes it small, private, and untouched. Ian and I didn’t meet one person from the United States there (and we met a lot of people). Most of the vacationers that were visiting the islands were from Europe (Germany, Norway, Sweden), and came to visit every year. The chalet and hut owners were very accustomed to seeing the same vacationers come to the islands every year, and had developed friendships and relationships with these vacationers. I truly hope that the Perhentians will remain this way, tucked away and hidden from the mass, so that they can be truly enjoyed by its loyal visitors.
After our Malaysian trip, we traveled back across the border to Thailand, took our return flight from Hatyai airport, and once again arrived at Bangkok. Here we spent the rest of the day and night shopping, and then retired back into our room for two hours until we had to leave for the airport again.
This trip wasn’t only a vacation, it was a soul-searching journey that really made me appreciate the way my life has been going. It was also a time well spent bonding with a very close friend of mine, Ian Porell, who has spent the last six months with me, experiencing a new and adventurous turn in my professional and personal life. I’m fortunate to have such an open-minded travel companion who is literally open to anything, and would take advantage of an opportunity in a heartbeat if it meant richening our life experiences.