livingasmagnus
my way of telling stories
my way of telling stories
leaving Thailand!
...so, the days pass by and we moved on.
I’m sitting in our “nice” hotel room in Krabi on the west coast.
We stayed in our little paradise on Koh Phagnan for almost two weeks and then we decided it was time to do something new.
There was a good reason for staying there and not do too much for a few days. The both of us have been really tired after working away our summer/winter and needed to rest even more than we thought.
Well, on Koh Phagnan we filled the days with various things like snorkeling, lie on the beach, eat good food, explore the island on a scooter or just lay in our hammocks, just being slackers… hehe.
   We had some great nights at different bars and met some awesome people, but we managed to stay away from the liveliest parts and places.
 One crazy bike rides through out the island to explore. Here we are standing just on the other side of the hill where we later spent a night in our hammocks in a house we from the beginning were lead to believe where in the middle of the jungle...
  …well the house “was” in the middle of the jungle before they cut it all down and it might have been a really nice house and a jungle tour if the road wasn’t just 100 meters from it. But we were a bit too trusting and the guy got a bit of easy business off us. Though it wasn’t all bad, we did get a great feed and they started a nice fire to keep the bugs away. But I can not say I slept to good that night. We live and learn!!! Right?!?
We stayed on Koh Phagnan for about just over two weeks and had a really good time…
…but it was time to move on a bit and see something different. So we headed for Krabi D
district to check it out. Krabi is on the other side of the thin strip of land from where we had been staying and it was a nice full days traveling to get there with the Thai public transport system which sometimes works like a clock, and sometimes, most of the times takes a little bit longer time then you have been told!!
But it’s all a part of the journey!
In Krabi we found a quit fancy hotel to stay in for no money at all and we stayed for three nights.
We managed to hit the place at full moon and it was probably a good place to be for that time of the month, compared to the hysterical partying on Koh Phagnan. They celebrated the full moon with a festival filled with food stands and with sending beautifully decorated hubs of palm leafs with candles and incense in down the river carrying their bad thoughts and energy. A kind of cleansing ceremony! It was beautiful to see all these lights get brought further out to sea by the water. The also had a hot air balloon made from paper that they sent flying up in the sky, this also a magnificent sight for the eye.
   Market food stands Flower boats Hot air balloon
The day after we hired some scooters again and headed for a National Park about 20 kilometers north of Krabi, called Panom Benja National Park. A BEAutiful place where we found a nice cranking waterfall to have a afternoon swim in after the bike ride and a short hike. The park has got everything from bears and panthers to snakes and monkeys. And as we were sitting at the waterfall having a late lunch we got the company of a fairly big, but probably harmless snake, a bit over two meters long. Might not be a strange sight for someone from Australia for example, but a great big snake for me!! ;-)
  After the park we too the scooters and drove back towards Krabi to get to Tiger Cave Temple, which we where looking for earlier that day.
We found the temple quite easy, curse if you’d only look up a bit you’d see a great big Buddha Statue sitting on a hilltop.
Well there we first had to get passed the cute but cheeky monkeys that were running around at the bottom of the 1237 step stairs we were about to climb. These monkeys have a bad habit of thinking that your sunglasses are theirs just because they are not nailed to your head, or that any water bottle is their toy for the day. Cute but cheeky! The stairs was not the easies to climb. Some places you really wanted to hold on with both your hands to feel safe. There were numbers on each pole you walked passed so that you knew you where making progress at least, sometimes it felt like an impossible mission…
  …finally at the top of the stairs we knew it was well worth the effort of sweating our arses of for. The Buddha statue is over 10 meters high and is sitting on top of the hill about 400 meters over sea level. This whole place was so peaceful and quiet. We stayed up there for about an hour and got to see the sunset and listening to the crickets play in the trees all around us. To hear them from the hills all around was almost an ear deafening sound. It is a very powerful and peaceful place, and has a great view.
  …and an amazing sunset!
The Krabi scene was great but we felt like we could use some exercise and a few more trees around where we stayed so we cruised over to Ton Sai Beach, northwest of Rai Lay Beach and Krabi. This is a rock climber Mecca and is supposed to be nice and relaxed.
We got there late in the afternoon and didn’t get around to do anything but check the place out that night. Still in the habit of going to bed early and sleeping a lot, so after a few beers we did.
Waking up early next morning to get our hands on some kayaks, for it was time to do some exercise and a bit more exploring…
I haven’t been in a kayak for quite some time but it all went well even though we only got two sea kayaks for the three of us, but Bridie found an open deck one that was alright.
One hour mission to get to the first little island and then another 40 minutes to get to the second one, this alone was a big effort but a very nice reward with a white sand beach and not too much people.
From this island we doubled back towards the mainland when the weather started to look a bit bad, and had a great lunch on Rai Lay west. After that me and Jesi continued passed Ton Sai and over to Ao Nang to visit a couple form back home that has got a resort there. A nice place and it was great to catch up with some familiar faces for a few minutes. They are hitting the busy season and have little time and we had to get back to the kayaks we left on the beach 10 minutes away to get back to Ton Sai, in the dark!! It wasn’t a too bad situation, but the long tail boats still keep transporting people late at night and not too many of them has got ANY lights on their boats. But then again the kayaking alone, in the dark, was enough of a mission. But even with all of this, we got back safe and sound and after having to carry the kayaks through
muddy and rocky sea bottom because of low tide, we were finally HOME to sweet Ton Sai and safety!! The things you do! Or I!!! ;-)
 The three, or almost three days we spent in Ton Sai wasn’t anywhere near enough. I didn’t get around to any climbing. The day after the kayaking we were all too tired to do much at all. We enjoyed food and reading a book, and great sunsets!
 So we said a sad goodbye to Ton Sai after far to short time there, and headed for Bangkok. Jesi to fly out to Sydney on the Sunday and I to Melbourne on the Tuesday. Ton Sai is a place I can recommend to all of you who read this and especially if you are in to rock climbing and kayaking and don’t mind having a beer or two, with some good people!
The night bus to Bangkok on the other hand, is something I don’t really recommend. On the way down south from Bangkok the aircon was dripping water all over some of us, or rather poring I should say. And on the way up, the so called VIP bus had smaller seats and less room for my long legs than the ordinary public bus has, hmmm something is wrong. Or it might not be, but it is Thailand, the land of everything and nothing. I’m not the one to complain, so don’t think I am now ether. But it is rather funny some of the things people do in this country. They see an opportunity to make money and they go for it.
I have to say, now when I’m soon leaving, that I didn’t like it at first. I didn’t see a structure in their system. But it is wrong to criticize it. There are a lot of things that are wrong and VERY short term, but they are such a happy people and most make do with very little money and are still very happy. And they are getting aware of long term solutions for many things. And they make damn good food!!!
The plan now is to stay here in Bangkok for another few days and then head for Melbourne on Tuesday.
And probably only stay in Australia for a week and then fly to New Zealand south island, to spend some time there. The plans are there and they are almost set, but the details aren’t worked out yet.
“So much to do, so many places to go to… if you ever get confused, just follow your heart!”
For now it is Over and Out!
Take care everyone and let me know what’s happening with you!
Send me a cute little email and make me an even happier person!
Love to you all!
Your Magnus
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