My original intent was to copy my daily journal, but then I realized that would bore most people to tears. Not wanting to see all my friends and random web surfers cry their way around my website, I decided against it and have decided instead to try to organize and list out some of the valuable (or not) information I learned while traveling to and around Thailand.
Of course this all goes with a very strong disclaimer: I in no way claim to be a Thailand traveling expert. My experience is limited to much research and only 3 weeks actually there. All statements below are based on this very limited information and traveling, therefore, take it all for just that and nothing more.
And if you have ANY questions regarding my trip and experiences, drop me an email...I love to share :>
Goals of my Thailand Trip were simple. Originally planned as a solo adventure, I wanted to go where I would feel safe as a solo-woman traveler and I wanted to rock climb. I had three weeks and with the Baht exchange rate I wasn't worried too much about the money.
Recommend Web sites :
| http://asiatravel.com/thailand/ |
Used them the most |
| http://simonfoley.com/climbing/ |
If you are going there to climb, you must surf this site! |
| http://www.farebeater.com |
used them for my airfare to Bangkok |
| http://www.trailstuff.com/climbing/gui_mgk001.html |
If you have to have the guide book BEFORE you go (like me) and don't mind spending twice as much for it. |
| http://www.hotelthailand.com/ |
Used them for hotel |
| http://www.travelbridges.com/Thailand/pasathai/pasafood/index1.html |
interesting pictures of thai food |
| http://www.kbtour-thailand.com/tours.html |
tour company - didn't use |
| http://www.lonelyplanet.com/letters/sea/tha_pc.htm#Trav |
Lonely Planet Thai travel advice |
| http://www.travelbridges.com/Thailand/pasathai/lang2.html |
Thai audio |
| http://asianetpost.com/cheapticket.htm |
airfare - didn't use |
| http://edweb.gsn.org/seasia/index.html |
home page / trip report /useful info |
The basic agenda:
| Day |
|
1 |
Arrive in Bangkok. Check stuff out and recover from travel |
| 2 |
Bangkok |
| 3 |
Travel to RaiLay via Krabi |
| 4-14 11 days |
RaiLay....Climbing, swimming, kayaking r&r |
| 15-17 3 days |
PhiPhi Don. Climbing, etc |
| 18-20 2 days |
Phuket. |
| 21 |
Travel day. Phuket - Bangkok - SFO |
Want to see a map of Thailand?
Basic Beta:
Getting to RaiLay:
When you land in Krabi airport You have two options so it depends on what is more valuable your time or money.
1) Take a taxi to AoNang for 500B and then a short 10min long tail boat to RaiLay for 40B
2) Take a taxi to Krabi pier 300B then take a 40min long tail boat for 70B.
There is a bank in AoNang but no ATM's - there are tons of ATMS's in Krabi. Krabi is a good rest day activity place.
Where to stay:
Once again it depends on your budget and desires. If you land from AoNang you will be dropped on West RaiLay, if from Krabi they will drop you on East RaiLay. If you want to get to the other side, any of the few paths that are perpendicular to the beach will take you to the other beach (less than 2min walking). We fondly referred to East RL as the ghetto. If you have money and want A/C and/or private western toilet , etc you should start looking on West RL. Sand and Sea for example starts at 900B up to 2750B. I met people that had rooms for 150B on the east side.Many people talked about Dec being their peak season and rooms impossible to get. As it was when we were there, people were getting turned away on some days...they would either leave or hang around waiting for a cancellation. My recommendation would be to jump online and reserve a room for at least a couple nights so you are guaranteed a room. Then you can check it out once there and pick the best place for your needs - that's what I wish we would have done rather than prepaid our entire stay.
Once There:
Food is cheap! and yummy. RaiLay Bay has the 'happening' bar for the west side and decent pizza. Sand Sea sucks (confirmed by the fact that you'll never see anyone eating there except the free breakfast) Railay Village has the best thai food (imho). But no alcohol served. YaYa's on the east side is close behind RL village.
Climbing:
It's all over the place! get the guide book. If you don't already have it, most of the stores on RL sell it. Even though it's King Climbers' book, they all sell it for the same amount. Take the time to walk RL...there are several climbing shops/guides (4 that I remember - all on the east side). Guides used to be cheap - now they are the same as here. And unless you have the money for a private guide, they take you with a group to an overly popular wall. I would recommend finding someone to climb with if yo don't come with a partner.
There is one guide I would recommend...in PhiPhi. PP had some great climbing and it was far less active - I highly recommend taking a trip over there. I think it was about an hour+ big boat ride. My recommendation would be to stay there and climb there for a couple days+. King's book also covers PhiPhi. And all the rebolting he mentions has been done.As you get off the boat in PP, hang a right and walk through the dizzying shopping center of PhiPhi - keep walking...all the way to the end. (If it's anytime after noon, just walk towards the loud club music). After you've gone through the 'city' and you feel like you are getting to the end of the 'strip' (still walking parallel to the beach)keep an eye out for "Carlton's Climbing Hang Out" - something like that. They are really cool (nicer than any of the guys at RL). They do daily climbing trips to 'hin takk'. I'm not sure what their guide rate is (we just tagged along for the boat ride), but I got the impression it was reasonable...and it's not crowded, you get to climb. If you do go to them mention us, I'm sure they will remember...Charis and Tori the American girls that donated their rope to them for rebolting. :>
Random:
Internet access is all over the place.
The exchange rate at departure was 42B=$1
Save a 500B note with your passport to get out of the country.
General Comments:
Bangkok:
RaiLey (including AoNang and Krabi)
There is no ATM in RaiLay or AoNang.
Krabi has several ATM's along it's main street.
PhiPhi
Phuket and BangTow
Money - Prepay with your visa (via internet) or use ATM when there. You will get the best exchange rates this way.
Most business (if they accepted visa) changed an additional 5-7% for using it on site.
Clothes - If you have the least bit of extra money, don't bother bringing any clothes (except of course the essentials). Clothes were extremely cheap there. Example: Nice quality T-shirt 250B (~$6). Very popular fisherman pants 150-200B (~$3.60+). Long sarong 150B.
Massages varied in availability, price and quality in each place I went. RaiLay - very plentiful ranging from 150B-250B/hr. Also ranging in quality.
Pictures!
Thailand Stories:
The wildlife in Thailand was pretty interesting and offered us some entertainment. First there were the cats of RaiLay. Charis and I both greatly missing our own kitties, practically chased these poor cats around seeking their attention. The cats were all very small and clearly of some oriental cat decent (they had very fine bone structure and very narrow faces). But that wasn't the oddity, I would assume out of interbreeding, all the cats we saw had strange tails. They were either little nubs, or overly fuzzy half tails. Even the very few that appeared to have full tails, upon closer inspection they were all bent at the end. The cats were more or less on there own, however the locals did tend to feed them leftovers and let them meander around. Based on our later experience in less catty areas, I would now say this was beneficial to both cats and people as the cats probably took care of the rodent population as well as leftovers. Not to say we didn't see any rodents in RaiLay, they just were not as brave and daring as those in PhiPhi.
When we got to PhiPhi, after settling in, we considered our food options. We decided on a cool looking, open front restaurant on the main shopping strip (called Le Blue something). Not knowing whether we should just walk up the stairs and seat ourselves or wait to be seated, we hesitated by the entry/stairs waiting to be told what to do. I realized then that we were being watched. I looked over to see a very bold and large rat calmly sitting down at the front of the restaurant, looking over his shoulder at us. Our bold host was clearly in no mood to help us, so we waited for the Thai woman to seat us and preceded to have a great meal there. There were far less cats in PhiPhi, but the few we saw had something else mixed in with them as we saw more color variations, but still the tails were weird (but not so much so). Sadly, the cats we saw were also a bit sickly looking. Later that same first night, as it was time for bed I sat in bed writing. In the silence (except for the constant crashing of waves), I could swear I heard something....something not belonging in the room. Chalking it up to the first night in a new place paranoia, I ignored it and went on. Yet my senses were on high and I kept feeling that there was more than just Charis and I in that room. Once again I blamed my paranoia. Time for bed, the lights went out and I laid there looking at the ceiling. I was just thinking of dozing off, when I heard an unmistakable sound of scurrying feet overhead by the window. I looked over, and to my great surprise and shock, there was a mouse running across the curtain rod (right next to my bed). After I made some indescribable noises (expressing my shock and fear), the mouse stopped and simply looked at me....as if I was the one who had the nerve being there and making noise. From that moment on the bed got pulled away from the wall and window and the sheets stayed tucked in! Don't get me wrong, mice are cute and I have nothing against them personally. But it kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies thinking about one crawling around on me while I sleep.
Our next surprise wildlife encounter was pure comedy! We left the sickly cats and brave rodents of PhiPhi behind and headed off to our new temp home in Bang To Lagoon, Phuket. This was by far the nicest place we had stayed in...the bungalows were a fair distance apart and raised on stilts and faced the ocean. The first night there we ate at the local restaurant and proceeded to get bit by little vicious fire ants....very painful, in additional to our traditional nightly mosquito feeding. As we got ready for bed and the lights went out I was relived not to hear any mysterious sounds and convinced myself that the house on stilts would keep out any curious rodents. Shortly after lights out, Charis got up to use the facilities, shuffling her way lazily to the bathroom, next thing I know she squeals like a girl, runs faster than light back to her bed and jumps up on it with her legs curled under her. I forget what was said, but essentially there was a vicious cockroach sharing our room with us and it decided to take a walk at the same time Charis did. The lights came on and a comical chasing of the cockroach ensued. In fear of the flying and attacking abilities of our atomic-bomb proof friend, the battle was very fight and flight. We found our tools our choice: Charis with her traditional Thai broom, and me with hairspray. My attempt was to style it to death and Charis was to beat it to death with what is very similar to a huge ball of cotton. Charis started the battle by batting it into fear of hiding. We panicked when our enemy retreated behind some furniture in fear that we would never see it again and thereby have to sleep in fear of cockroach revenge. So we moved the furniture and I armed myself with hairspray. We batted and sprayed in turns....the thing managed to flipped over and lay like an upside-down turtle waving his flippers. Somehow I had managed to get hold of the broom ...in the heat of the battle, I'm not sure how this came to be. We saw our opportunity - the enemy was stunned by his new style and upside down. Cockroach hockey began! I swept him out into the middle of the room, Charis ran to open the door, in my haste of not wanting to risk him flipping over and taking off again, I immediately went for the goal...without waiting for Charis to clear the way. Fortunately she's a quick one and did a little hip-hop jump, squeak and the cockroach was through the goal by inches entirely missing Charis. We both looked at our enemy, still upside down no longer flapping on our patio. We decided we must have beat him up enough that he would surely die overnight and we shut the door. The next morning he was gone.
List:
"AoNang-AoNang-AoNang" "Krabi-Krabi-Krabi" "now-now-now"
"...beguiled..."
How old are you?
Kim Bassinger....(not!)
The temple is closed...for a holiday.
For you, special price
You know there is a two year sentence for picking up shells.
Hey, the power is out! Put the key where?
massage for you?
Under da broadwalk, down by da sea...
Will I be fritty?
Look at the size of that one!
Evil = corporate, bank, lawyer, German, man.
Did you wear your tie-dye shirt to bed?
Kloon, as in George Clooney?
Leper gecko
How come there are no cats on this side? Probably because the rats are bigger than the cats.
Le Blue Ratus restaurant
There is a mouse looking at me!
And now...it's time for Cockroach Hockey! She's got the cockroch...she's going for the goal...
I had the strangest dream....Raja lost all his fur and flew.
The River of Death
I'm stuck...help me! (hand stuck to head) How did you manage that!?
Those silly Americans and their lack of a President...good thing we are Canadians, eh?!
no...no...no - NO
