Travel Diary: Koh Phangan – Penang – Krabi

Ok so a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks since we last posted – it’s a long one!! 4 December Ok so today we have found out that we have completely overlooked our Thai visa!! It turns out we actually have a 15 day visa exemption when we crossed overland into Thailand not a visa! We just assumed we could get an extension of 30 days and be done with it but as we do not have a visa in the first place we cannot do this!! So the only way to get a visa is to go out of the country and apply for one! This is what we should have done before we left Guernsey or even in Cambodia but the travel consultant in Siem Reap said we’d be fine! As our visa exemption expires on 9 December in a couple of days we have to get a boat (at 6am) to the mainland and then a bus all the way to Penang in Malaysia (which arrives at 8pm!) and go to the Thai Consulate and apply for a 60 day visa! Since it will take a couple of days to process we have decided to stay a couple of weeks in Penang or Langkawi (where we went on our travels 2 years ago) and then go back to Koh Samui for Christmas. We will then change our flight to Australia to have a few extra weeks in Thailand where we will probably go to Krabi and Koh Lanta etc (this is to save some cash as Australia is going to be expensive). This evening we went to watch some Thai Boxing at the local stadium. The Israeli champion was top of the bill - this guy looked more suited to sumo wrestling than Thai boxing! A great night with some awesome fights and a few beers. 5 December – 7 December Again, we have done nothing in days!! Shaun had a Muay Thai lesson, and he was the only one who turned up to the class so had his very own private lesson! We attempted to go to the Black Moon on 6 December on Ban Tai beach. We turned up and because of the rain it had been moved along the beach to a spot with a canopy. The drinks were extortionate (well compared to Haad Rin) a bucket here costs 300 baht where its 150 baht for the same thng in Haad Rin. Plus the music was dire - lazy trance music which was rubbish. So after a few beers in the only pub we could find we left and headed for Haad Rin. We ended up having an awesome night on Haad Rin and both felt a little delicate the next day! 8 December 5 am and the alarm goes off – time for the long journey to Malaysia!! We have been getting INTO bed at 5 recently and it killed us to get up at this time! A mini van came to collect us from the travel agents at 6am and took us to the ferry port where we boarded the Raja 3 ferry (as the Lomprayah catamaran was supposedly out of order even though we saw it this morning being loaded with passengers). A 3 hour crossing in comfy recliners and we were at Donask Pier. From here we got on a bus to Surat Thani City and were dropped off at a random travel agents in the middle of nowhere. At 11.30 the mini van arrived to pick us up (we said we’d never take a mini van again but we had no choice!) and as usual we were the last to be picked up so got squashed into the crappy seats away from each other! 4 laborious sweaty hours of bum numbing travel and we were dropped off at another travel agent in Hat Yai. Just as we were expecting the ‘BIG BUS’ we were promised a mini van turned up! And again, we were the last to get in so had exactly the same seats! But after Shaun had made friends with the guy next to him he let us swap seats so we could at least sit together! We crossed the Thai border then the Malaysian border and we were finally on our way to Penang. This leg of the journey was the most difficult as we had been sat on our backsides for 14 hours or so with only one break for food (which was terrible). We got dropped off in the main traveller stretch of Georgetown in Penang. We had no Malaysian money so we had to get to a cash machine first. 20 minutes it took to get to it!! 20 minutes of walking with heavy bags on our fronts and backs in the rain! They don’t accept card ANYWHERE, yet they have only one cash machine in the whole town. Eventually we had money and a place to stay (Banana Guesthouse). The guest house has a sister guesthouse over the road which they showed us first, what a joke! I wouldn’t let my dog stay in that room but for the same price we stayed in the newer one which was actually nice. After finally sorting ourselves out we headed for some tea but where shocked at the prices of food in restaurants - you pay more here than in Guernsey. Luckily we stumbled on an Indian local eaterie which was a complete bargain, one of my favourite places we’ve eaten so far (this is Shaun by the way). 9 December The travel agent at the guesthouse sorted out our visas for us which would be ready later that day. So to kill some time we had Indian again for breakfast!! At 4 pm our visas were ready and we decided to head to Batu Ferringhi; a beach resort on Penang Island. We hopped on the local bus and then had to try and guess where we were supposed to get off! We went along the coast and as soon as we spotted what looked like a shopping complex we jumped off the bus knocking everyone out the way with all our luggage! A travel agent told us that there were only 2 cheap hotels in Batu Ferringhi. The first one we looked at was not good at all and out of our budget so we stayed in the one behind it which was still not great and still over budget. Plus on the sign it says ‘hourly rate 20 ringgit’ – I do not want to know why they charge out rooms for an hour! In the evening we headed toward the beach and found that they have a night market selling just about everything and cheap local eateries! 10 December This morning we packed up and got the local bus back to Georgetown. It’s still cloudy down here so there is no point in staying because it’s too expensive. When we got back to Georgetown we checked back into Banana Guesthouse then took a walk to the shopping mall. I bought Shaun some new Oakleys (since he scratched his back in Halong Bay) for his Christmas present! Guess what we had for tea – o yes Indian at Jayas again! 11 December We woke up at 2.30 this afternoon - we have no windows we’re not really that lazy! We went to the Mall to get MacDonalds for lunch!! You would think it’s not possible for one man to demolish 2 large BigMac Meals in one sitting but o yes Shaun can! We have started our exercise regime today as we are now squeezing into our shorts! In the evening we went out to find some famous Penang Curry. You would think that it would be everywhere but do you think we could find any anywhere! We have booked a bus back to Krabi for tomorrow as it’s a bit expensive here! 12 December We got up at 6.30 am this morning so that we could walk the 20 minutes to the nearest ATM and back to get some snacks for the bus to Krabi today (as the shops don’t take card??). There are literally 2 cash machines in this place and one is in the mall - it’s crazy! The mini van arrived at 8.30 am and there was only one person already on it – hoorah!!! We actually got the decent seats in the front! The bus was relatively ok with comfy seats compared to the trip down here and air con thank God. We crossed both borders and were finally back in Thailand with our 60 day visas! We then got dropped off at a random travel agents in Hat Yai where we had to change bus. The packed bus arrived and thankfully a very kind girl moved so me and Shaun could sit together. Again, quite uneventful – which is such a relief from all our horrific mini bus journeys! We finally arrived in Krabi Town at 6 pm (not the 8 hours they had said of course) where we had to pay the mini van driver 200 baht each to take us to Ao Nang beach (it cost us £12 to go 9 hours and £4 to go 30 minutes it make no sense at all). As we had already scouted out places to stay on the net we got dropped off opposite MacDonalds to a place called Dream Garden. They only had deluxe rooms available for £20 a night, but as it was hammering down we took it! We actually have a comfy bed and soft pillows (very excited about this!!!) tv, dvd player, microwave and even a kitchen sink! After a quick shower we headed out get some food and went for a walk along the beach strip. 13 December I woke up to find mice droppings in the bathroom sink this morning after ignoring Shaun last night telling me he could hear scratching! We hastily checked out and went in search of somewhere else to stay without much luck as anything cheaper is gross! So we came back to Dream Gardens and had a look at a standard room which are a complete downgrade so we checked into a different deluxe room! After dinner at a cheap cafe carved into the hillside we went down to the beach and SUNBATHED!!!!! Well I did - Shaun went to see the monkeys at the end of beach! We had a little feast on our porch for tea from the street stalls across the street and then played card drinking games with some homemade Sangsom buckets! Then we got completely trashed on bar street and played lots of connect 4! 14 December HANGOVER!! We are both very hungover today – way too much Sangsom!! However, Shaun’s hangover soon developed into probable food poisoning where he can’t even leave the room so we stayed in all day. Missing the glorious sunshine! 15 – 16 December Shaun is still very ill so whilst he stayed in again I went down to the beach to get some tannage!! 17 – 18 December Shaun is able to go outside now but typically, we went to the beach and it rained!!! Lots of love Jodie & Shaun xxx