Archives Previous Items
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Bankok to Ko Phangan
While waiting to leave India behind at the airport in Goa my flight was delayed by almost 5 hours due to th-748548.jpg)
ick fog in Delhi. Well, this was a problem, in so much that my connecting flight left for Bangkok at midnight and my internal domestic flight wasnt really going to make it in time. A few quick words to the airport staff and Im quickly shifted onto another companies plane and flown to Delhi just in time to catch my flight to Bangkok. Nice, I really hadnt expected that at all and I caught my Indian airlines flight to Bangkok without any drama. The aircraft looked like it had seen better days though, put it this way, I remember flying on these types of planes in my youth, it still had the illuminated smoking signs and seat belt lights above the seats and certainly no games console in the seat infront, but then this is government owned Indian Airlines and to be honest if the planes are run anything like the rest of the country Im suprised it got off the ground at all. But all we-718683.jpg)
nt without a hitch. People had warned me about flying Indian Airlines and I can kind of see why, but its cheap and do you really need backgammon in headrest console for an extra 100 quid?
When I arrived in Bangkok I remember my first recollections being ones of shock and suprise as I drove by taxi along plush streets and smooth roads to the city. I came here 20 years ago and remember a city of smog, slums and chaos, potholed roads that kind of thing. Now its ordered and clean the roads are smooth freeways and you can find everything and anything from a quality multiplex cinema with every concievable luxury, gucci and prada shopping malls to the chinese old town market complete with squalking chickens and all the chaos you could ever need. The streets are cleaned-748637.jpg)
each night and the traffic is orderely, or perhaps this is just because Ive come from India I dont know. But in many ways I felt I'd stepped back into a very civilised and ordered society, and that came as a some relief after all the hecticness of the last few months in India. Above the streets theres the luxury sky train that buzzes overhead reducing the congestion in the Sois and roads.
all this aside theres also the seedier side to bangkok too. I walked down Patpong to see shady western characters with heads hung low, escorted by young boys and young girls, offensive and unpleasant to say the least, and so they should hang theie heads....one walk down the road was enough distaste for me. Its like a sex supermarket, all catered for and off the shelf. I see overweight, middle aged, unnattractive westerners with beautiful young Thai girls on their arms around 
almost every corner. I dont really know what to make about this about this other than is a buisness agreement, the man gets a beautiful wife the girl gets financial freedom, not the best way to enter into marriage, yet some would argue that thats all it is, but what about connection love and spirit. I see these guys almost everywhere I go, in varying guises, but almost all have a strange energy, almost all have a nervy energy as if they can feel the wondering thoughts and intent of peoples stares. This cant possibly a happy way to live, unless youre switched off.
Aside from-746280.jpg)
all this I liked Bangkok. I liked the buzz and the fashion and the kids with all their funny pointy shoes and funky haircuts, sort of an Asian western crossover. So much change from India. I liked the thrill of riding places on the river taxis and scooting over the city in the skytrain. I wanderd the flower markets and fruit markets taking photos, ate fish with a stray cat off a stall in Chinatown, saw the golden reclining Buddha. I slept in a flea pit on Khosan Rd and then a beautiful teak wood house by the river, so quiet and serene, two very different places. Partied with the locals till 5 in the morning at new year at Khoasan Rd and drank far too much Chang and whiskey buckets with musicians (yes over here you can get whiskey and coke in a small bucket, classy!!) all resulting in a two day hangover, but much fun. appaerntly they put amonia in the chang to speed up the brewing process...hmmhhh nice! Yes I liked Bangkok, didnt much like the touristy areas with the usual suspects around the Khosan area but generally it was good to have a little order and fun after India and to cut l-746387.jpg)
oose for a while.
So I stayed in Bangkok for about a week, from here its easy to get your bearings and make plans for most of all the things you could think of wanting to do in South east Asia. And with a little thought I decide to head out to Koh Tao a small island in the gulf of Thailand renouned for cheap dive courses. I'd thought about travelling up to Vietnam-721584.jpg)
and Laos but to be honest right now Im feeling tired of moving without a real purpose, and without my bike this feeling is certainly amplified. I started to feel this way in Agonda and now I know I need to stop for a while and do something active and constructive, rather than simply moving, I need to be learning something for a while that I can constructively use later. Kind of like a lifestyle change in a way, rather than as some might argue a mini mid life crisis! But When I look back Ive been moving now for nearly 8 months and I know Im tired and need a rest and to get some real direction back and as such just drifting from place to place seems a little hollow just now.
So I stayed on Koh Tao for about a week, looked at the dive sites and began weighing up the idea of either taking a kitsurfing course or a dive course, with the eventual idea of maybe trying to learn to be an instructor in the future. Koh Tao is a strange little island, very very beautiful and not so developed there are still places where you can get away from it all in a simple shack by the sea, but the main beaches are mostly dotted with dive shops, bars and shacks, but generally its low key and a gentle atmosphere, livings not as cheap as elsewhere but you can get a shack near the beach for about £6. Eating in Thai local restaurants kept the cost downto about £15. Mostly its a 20'somethings paradise for cheap dive courses or stopping off point for the Ko Phang-721631.jpg)
an full moon party. I noticed the island evacuate when the moons full and the vibe of was much quieter when they'd dissappeared.
After a week or so on Koh Tao I decided I try my arm at Kitesurfing as I'd learnt about a kitesurf school on Ko Phangan and thats where I am now after the most insane catamaran ride of my life to the island. 4-5 metre swell, crazy seas, everyone was the pastiest shade of green white Ive seen by the end, even I felt preety sick and I dont really get sea sick. Once I got here I met Pascal the instructore, well what a life he's led, working all over the world as a construction engineer, running bars, involved with the Mafia in China, and so on. A little Belgian guy, when you walk in is office in the morning at 9.30 he has a large coffee, a huge rollup, and a can of Singa, bags under his etes like avalnches, and this setup continues for most of the day. He's quite a character, lives here now, with his Thai wife and child, but I'd say the alchohol has got a firm grip of him, such is life. Ive signed up at the Kitesurf school and am one lesson down. Its so incredibbly tricky to master, but if Im honest I think I could teach myself without the lessons and the lessons are expensive £200 and then the kit to buy is another grand. However right now the wind is poor and Im not getting out so, I think Im going to leave it till february and head back to Koh Tao to do my dive certificates. Its a real toss up between diving and kiteing right now and Im not sure which way it will go. We'll just have to see. Back to Koh Tao after a quick visa run to Panang in Malaysia.
Ko Phangan...hmmmh, well I came here 20 years ago when the the roads were like dried up river beds, the only way round the island was by motorcross bike or 4x4, the jetty was wooden and when you arrived a few people were stood waiting for you to take you to the simple wooden shacks dotted around the island. And now, a full concrete terminal for the ferries, a bui-748221.jpg)
lt up main town of banks and shops and places renting cars and bikes, the usual toursits fair. Out of town, streets lined with Girly bars, mechanics garages, tattoo parlours, fully paved wide roads for most of the island, you get the idea, much much change.
So after one night in the main town near the surf shop and a terrible nights sleep after banging Karaoke and girly bar noise I hired myself a little 225 Yamaha Serrow motorcross bike and headed out to the east side of the island, where the roads are still mud tracks and there are few beer drinking tourists. And to my luck this is where I found Than Sadet a beautiful little bay, with only 2 or three sets of shacks on the beach or on stilts, and electricity thats only on from 6 till12 by an old clanky generator on the top of the cliff. My shack has holes in the floorboards, shutters on the windows, resident bugs and lizards and faded blue paint. Ive -775928.jpg)
a porch and rickety balcony that looks out over the ocean way way up on the cliff and a hammock that swings low across the porch and looks out to sea. Its wonderful, its not everyones idea of heaven but its mine. I can swim, fish, read do Chi Gong, not be hassled too much. I have beautiful gardens around me as the owners Wow And her Daughter Wee look after the place as home and they live here. Everywhere you look theres a chaos of plants, pots, fountains, ponds and most of the folk are longtermers living up the rocks from me in more shacks and most people here seem to come each year. Theres a nervy Chef from the grassmarket in Edinburgh, a self made sydney nightclub manager who went to school at rugby just taking time out from it all, a french musician, a german divemaster and ex superbikes rider, all good folk. I have my motorcross bike that gets me round the islands tretcherous mud roads, and allows me to cart supplies back and forward. Its certainly much fun riding t-740951.jpg)
he roads, back wheel out round the corners, foot out that kind of stuff, certainly wakes you up in the mornings.
So Im planning on heading out to Koh Tao in the next few days and then to Penang in malaysia and back to renew my visa, find some cheap accomodation and diving and I'll be set for the next few weeks. Then maybe come back to Ko Phangan when the winds are back up to start the kitesurfing again.
So until next time many blessings and love. Jonny
-748562.jpg)
ick fog in Delhi. Well, this was a problem, in so much that my connecting flight left for Bangkok at midnight and my internal domestic flight wasnt really going to make it in time. A few quick words to the airport staff and Im quickly shifted onto another companies plane and flown to Delhi just in time to catch my flight to Bangkok. Nice, I really hadnt expected that at all and I caught my Indian airlines flight to Bangkok without any drama. The aircraft looked like it had seen better days though, put it this way, I remember flying on these types of planes in my youth, it still had the illuminated smoking signs and seat belt lights above the seats and certainly no games console in the seat infront, but then this is government owned Indian Airlines and to be honest if the planes are run anything like the rest of the country Im suprised it got off the ground at all. But all we-718699.jpg)
nt without a hitch. People had warned me about flying Indian Airlines and I can kind of see why, but its cheap and do you really need backgammon in headrest console for an extra 100 quid?When I arrived in Bangkok I remember my first recollections being ones of shock and suprise as I drove by taxi along plush streets and smooth roads to the city. I came here 20 years ago and remember a city of smog, slums and chaos, potholed roads that kind of thing. Now its ordered and clean the roads are smooth freeways and you can find everything and anything from a quality multiplex cinema with every concievable luxury, gucci and prada shopping malls to the chinese old town market complete with squalking chickens and all the chaos you could ever need. The streets are cleaned
-748848.jpg)
each night and the traffic is orderely, or perhaps this is just because Ive come from India I dont know. But in many ways I felt I'd stepped back into a very civilised and ordered society, and that came as a some relief after all the hecticness of the last few months in India. Above the streets theres the luxury sky train that buzzes overhead reducing the congestion in the Sois and roads.all this aside theres also the seedier side to bangkok too. I walked down Patpong to see shady western characters with heads hung low, escorted by young boys and young girls, offensive and unpleasant to say the least, and so they should hang theie heads....one walk down the road was enough distaste for me. Its like a sex supermarket, all catered for and off the shelf. I see overweight, middle aged, unnattractive westerners with beautiful young Thai girls on their arms around
almost every corner. I dont really know what to make about this about this other than is a buisness agreement, the man gets a beautiful wife the girl gets financial freedom, not the best way to enter into marriage, yet some would argue that thats all it is, but what about connection love and spirit. I see these guys almost everywhere I go, in varying guises, but almost all have a strange energy, almost all have a nervy energy as if they can feel the wondering thoughts and intent of peoples stares. This cant possibly a happy way to live, unless youre switched off.Aside from
-746311.jpg)
all this I liked Bangkok. I liked the buzz and the fashion and the kids with all their funny pointy shoes and funky haircuts, sort of an Asian western crossover. So much change from India. I liked the thrill of riding places on the river taxis and scooting over the city in the skytrain. I wanderd the flower markets and fruit markets taking photos, ate fish with a stray cat off a stall in Chinatown, saw the golden reclining Buddha. I slept in a flea pit on Khosan Rd and then a beautiful teak wood house by the river, so quiet and serene, two very different places. Partied with the locals till 5 in the morning at new year at Khoasan Rd and drank far too much Chang and whiskey buckets with musicians (yes over here you can get whiskey and coke in a small bucket, classy!!) all resulting in a two day hangover, but much fun. appaerntly they put amonia in the chang to speed up the brewing process...hmmhhh nice! Yes I liked Bangkok, didnt much like the touristy areas with the usual suspects around the Khosan area but generally it was good to have a little order and fun after India and to cut l-746417.jpg)
oose for a while.So I stayed in Bangkok for about a week, from here its easy to get your bearings and make plans for most of all the things you could think of wanting to do in South east Asia. And with a little thought I decide to head out to Koh Tao a small island in the gulf of Thailand renouned for cheap dive courses. I'd thought about travelling up to Vietnam
-721593.jpg)
and Laos but to be honest right now Im feeling tired of moving without a real purpose, and without my bike this feeling is certainly amplified. I started to feel this way in Agonda and now I know I need to stop for a while and do something active and constructive, rather than simply moving, I need to be learning something for a while that I can constructively use later. Kind of like a lifestyle change in a way, rather than as some might argue a mini mid life crisis! But When I look back Ive been moving now for nearly 8 months and I know Im tired and need a rest and to get some real direction back and as such just drifting from place to place seems a little hollow just now.So I stayed on Koh Tao for about a week, looked at the dive sites and began weighing up the idea of either taking a kitsurfing course or a dive course, with the eventual idea of maybe trying to learn to be an instructor in the future. Koh Tao is a strange little island, very very beautiful and not so developed there are still places where you can get away from it all in a simple shack by the sea, but the main beaches are mostly dotted with dive shops, bars and shacks, but generally its low key and a gentle atmosphere, livings not as cheap as elsewhere but you can get a shack near the beach for about £6. Eating in Thai local restaurants kept the cost downto about £15. Mostly its a 20'somethings paradise for cheap dive courses or stopping off point for the Ko Phang
-721642.jpg)
an full moon party. I noticed the island evacuate when the moons full and the vibe of was much quieter when they'd dissappeared.After a week or so on Koh Tao I decided I try my arm at Kitesurfing as I'd learnt about a kitesurf school on Ko Phangan and thats where I am now after the most insane catamaran ride of my life to the island. 4-5 metre swell, crazy seas, everyone was the pastiest shade of green white Ive seen by the end, even I felt preety sick and I dont really get sea sick. Once I got here I met Pascal the instructore, well what a life he's led, working all over the world as a construction engineer, running bars, involved with the Mafia in China, and so on. A little Belgian guy, when you walk in is office in the morning at 9.30 he has a large coffee, a huge rollup, and a can of Singa, bags under his etes like avalnches, and this setup continues for most of the day. He's quite a character, lives here now, with his Thai wife and child, but I'd say the alchohol has got a firm grip of him, such is life. Ive signed up at the Kitesurf school and am one lesson down. Its so incredibbly tricky to master, but if Im honest I think I could teach myself without the lessons and the lessons are expensive £200 and then the kit to buy is another grand. However right now the wind is poor and Im not getting out so, I think Im going to leave it till february and head back to Koh Tao to do my dive certificates. Its a real toss up between diving and kiteing right now and Im not sure which way it will go. We'll just have to see. Back to Koh Tao after a quick visa run to Panang in Malaysia.
Ko Phangan...hmmmh, well I came here 20 years ago when the the roads were like dried up river beds, the only way round the island was by motorcross bike or 4x4, the jetty was wooden and when you arrived a few people were stood waiting for you to take you to the simple wooden shacks dotted around the island. And now, a full concrete terminal for the ferries, a bui
-748244.jpg)
lt up main town of banks and shops and places renting cars and bikes, the usual toursits fair. Out of town, streets lined with Girly bars, mechanics garages, tattoo parlours, fully paved wide roads for most of the island, you get the idea, much much change.So after one night in the main town near the surf shop and a terrible nights sleep after banging Karaoke and girly bar noise I hired myself a little 225 Yamaha Serrow motorcross bike and headed out to the east side of the island, where the roads are still mud tracks and there are few beer drinking tourists. And to my luck this is where I found Than Sadet a beautiful little bay, with only 2 or three sets of shacks on the beach or on stilts, and electricity thats only on from 6 till12 by an old clanky generator on the top of the cliff. My shack has holes in the floorboards, shutters on the windows, resident bugs and lizards and faded blue paint. Ive
-775955.jpg)
a porch and rickety balcony that looks out over the ocean way way up on the cliff and a hammock that swings low across the porch and looks out to sea. Its wonderful, its not everyones idea of heaven but its mine. I can swim, fish, read do Chi Gong, not be hassled too much. I have beautiful gardens around me as the owners Wow And her Daughter Wee look after the place as home and they live here. Everywhere you look theres a chaos of plants, pots, fountains, ponds and most of the folk are longtermers living up the rocks from me in more shacks and most people here seem to come each year. Theres a nervy Chef from the grassmarket in Edinburgh, a self made sydney nightclub manager who went to school at rugby just taking time out from it all, a french musician, a german divemaster and ex superbikes rider, all good folk. I have my motorcross bike that gets me round the islands tretcherous mud roads, and allows me to cart supplies back and forward. Its certainly much fun riding t-740965.jpg)
he roads, back wheel out round the corners, foot out that kind of stuff, certainly wakes you up in the mornings.So Im planning on heading out to Koh Tao in the next few days and then to Penang in malaysia and back to renew my visa, find some cheap accomodation and diving and I'll be set for the next few weeks. Then maybe come back to Ko Phangan when the winds are back up to start the kitesurfing again.
So until next time many blessings and love. Jonny
★ 2 Comments. | Jonny, Tuesday, January 20, 2009 9:24 PM
