Day 9

Statue in the Mon temple from yesterday

The only other thing I really wanted to do in Sangklaburi was a boat ride, but the weather looked bad again. Other activities like jungle trekking were out due to the shoulder. I want to visit this place again in the dry season when the water level is low and you can see the towns the reservoir sunk, so I can have my boat ride then. Unsure of where to go next, I decided to head back to Bangkok in the poor weather and see if any of my friends on their travels were back in touch. With some help from the locals I found the well-hidden bus station and got a comfy aircon bus back down to Kanbanchuri. The sun emerged so I got a nice view descending past the reservoir.

We arrived about 6pm, just in time for the national anthem to come over the bus station loudspeaker. It plays in public places at 8am and 6pm and everyone is expected to stand. Bear in mind that Thailand is incredibly patriotic, it’s against the law to slander the royals, there’s pictures of the king everywhere, even in people’s cars and the royals are almost worshipped. I watched some people literally leap off their seats as the anthem came on and stand. I played my part, it’s considered offensive not to stand. People weren’t at attention but still they weren’t doing anything else like reading. It was all quite bizarre, but I guess the Thais grow up with it. I wonder how they feel about it? It’s just a normal part of life for them I suppose.

Nom nom nom

I found a bus from the same station leaving for Bangkok and grabbed a bag of fried grubs to eat whilst I waited. I’d always chickened out of these on Khao San Road but I was hungry and determined to try some, they’re supposed to be quite tasty. True enough, they were very light and crispy and strongly flavoured with herbs. Pretty good!

The bus took 3 hours and I arrived at night in a big bus terminal in Bangkok with only a bus number to go on to get to the centre. Of course in classic travel fashion, turns out my info was useless. I asked around and with sign language got directed to a bus terminal. Got on a local bus to Khao San road and helped out some distressed German backpackers on the bus who had no idea where they were and escorted them to Khao San. Checked into a grotty little room on Rambuttri Soi, as it was Saturday night all the good places were full. For 200 baht (4 quid) in the centre of touristville you get what you pay for and it was noisy, smelled of nasty drains, had a boarded up window and a cockroach scuttered around to keep me company for the night.

Day 10

It’s quite common to find fruit stalls on the street with ice trolleys filled with fresh melon, pineapple, mangoes and payapa. They chop it for you and you eat right away. Tasty!

Spent half the day in a café chilling out on the internet trying to dodge Bangkok’s intense heat and humidity. I was researching where to go next. I wanted to go to an island to rest for a bit as after a week and a half of travelling with little sleep and the bad shoulder I was physically and mentally exhausted. Unfortunately most of the little quiet islands don’t open their resort doors until November so I went to a travel agent, one of Mark’s friends, for advice on a quieter island that would be open. She recommended Ko Chang which I’ve visited before, and Ko Tao, so I decided to head there. Supposedly one of the best dive and snorkel places in Thailand too. I booked an overnight bus and boat to the island.

Waiting for the river ferry

Whilst I waited for the night bus I wandered around the area near Khao San Road which I knew quite well by now, taking photos. It was Sunday so a lot of Thai people were around enjoying their weekend. The parks were full. I walked by the riverside and found a small community living rough under the bridge, right by the sandbags used for preventing flooding.

The park by the old fort was full

Woman prepares food in the community under the bridge

In the big park by the Grand Palace, there were a group of performers with spring legs, skateboards, 1-wheeled roller skates and other contraptions, making a film. They did some impressive stunts and it was fun watching them bounce around!

I got a reflexology foot massage and suffered excruciating pain as the guy dug into my sole repeatedly, and then used a metal rod to press (hurt) pressure points in my foot. Weirdly the other foot was fine, maybe the first one was super stiff. Ran into Mark and h family randomly whilst I was getting the massage and said hello. From the massage seat on the street you could watch the world go by, and also some massive bats which were flying around from some nearby trees. Some of the black ones I saw in the distance were about the length of my arm, no joke! To be honest I didn’t feel any better after the massage, the  non-reflex one I’d had the other week had a better effect!

Then it was onto a double decker coach with a bunch of Thais, Chinese and westerners for the long bus journey. The bus was decent and I managed to get some sleep. We arrived around 5am at the mainland pier of Chumpon and waited another few hours for the Catamaran to Koh Tao.

He looks innocent enough but this guy is the bringer of pain!

Day 8

I got up early as I couldn’t sleep and headed down to the footbridge for some sunrise images. Sadly it was overcast but the mist rising off the hills in the distance was cool.

The pagoda on the Mon side of the bay

All over Thailand’s settlements you see little shrines every few blocks, which are for buildings or groups of buildings. People pray at them daily and leave offerings of food and drink. They’re a nice sight but the edibles attract plenty of insects!

I walked out to the big temple I’d spotted yesterday and went in a side entrance which took me to a big wooden hall filled with pillars and paper flags.Colourful paintings ran around the ceiling with mythology scenes.

Paintings like this covered the walls

Little-known double use for Buddhist halls!

I was lucky to see a monk come to receive gifts of food from some locals, he kneels in front of them and they take it in turn to give him rice and other food and drink. He accepts it and then turns to pray to the buddah statue. Getting sharp images was tricky as anyone walking anywhere in the building sent vibrations through planks and wobbled the tripod.

Monk receives morning’s offerings

I continued onwards past some monks living quarters. A friendly young monk agreed to have his photo taken and was very keen to see the result, a senior monk was very amused by the whole affair but didn’t object to me taking some photos of him too.

Took this one discreetly before approaching the monks

I explored the rest of the impressive temple complex, with a number of halls each with different statues and shrines.

The most impressive building from outside turned out to be a building site inside (pic above). The sun was blazing down now. I walked to the other big attraction nearby, a big golden pagoda (tower). A colourful childrens school was next door and all the kids seemed to be having a siesta in the classrooms. I caught a motorcycle taxi back to base as the heat was crazy.

The pagoda

Had lunch at a little bakery which made awesome cookies. It has free wi-fi and is a westerner’s haunt, the place was full of people my age with laptops. On the way to the bakery I came across the owner’s guest house, an animated Burmese woman who showed me her super cheap rooms, just matresses on the floor but you could rent for a month or longer at £3 a night. She regaled me with her woes of having broken both her shoulders from falling, she rotated them and you could hear them clicking – brrrrr. She warned me to take it easy so I didn’t end up like her!

Temple chedi 5 mins from my guest house

I went for another explore, going around a small temple next door which had a nice golden chedi (see above). Then I walked along the coast road and found a disused ferry station where a young couple were hanging out. I think they were a bit surprised to find anyone else there having made the effort to escape from everyone, but they were friendly enough!  It was a good romantic spot for them. I left them to it and got back before the rains began, which they did in earnest.

Upgraded to an air-con room back at the ranch and as I packed my stuff up I moved the pillow and found this guy chilling out underneath!

Look, don’t touch!

From now on, I always check under the pillows before bed! I was so knackered I needed a good rest in the nicer room I’d bought. I had a sleep and then rested on my balcony watching the river. A boy was fishing by himself from a rowing boat, using amazing balance to run up and down it and cast his net, using a paddle with one hand when he drifted away. He spotted me watching and shouted “Fish!”. Sadly for him he didn’t get any luck, seemed a shame with all the effort involved, every time you cast you have to reel in the whole net, untangle, fold and do it all over again.

Day 7

I woke up to the sound of hammering rain. As I’d seen the main highlights of Kanbanchuri already, I saw no point wandering in the wet, I can always return in the dry season.  Mark had told me further west was a cool place, Sangklaburi, right by the Burmese border – so I decided to use the bad weather to travel there.

A wall of jungle

After a deluxe motorcycle taxi ride (this kind had a sidecar frame bench with a polythene cover!), I arrived at Kancanchuri bus station. Then I hopped on a local mini bus. I was given the front seat, privelidges of a broken shoulder/lots of luggage I guess. The rest was filled with Thai people. It only cost 4 quid for around 4 hours up into the hills. A proper monsoon began as we drove, sheets of rain pouring over the windscreen. The roads were in great condition until we got quite high up and then erosion started to show and the driver had to swerve around potholes.

As we got higher the terrain became impressive dense jungle. The hills and cliffs were completely covered.  We passed through a number of army checkpoints where they checked the whole bus and looked at passports. They’re there to stop Burmese immigrants and smuggling, only one guard was interested in the farang with the broken shoulder.

We started to skirt a huge reserviour. This was made in the 80’s and they flooded whole valleys. What’s cool is you can still see the tops of dead trees poking out.  Floating villages are visible from the road. I wondered why they floated – a few days later I learned that in the dry season the water levels drop dramtically so that way they stay level. The views were pretty awesome with cloud covered mountains in the distance. The weather started to clear and the sun came out at last.

The reservoir (this was actually taken on the way back when the weather was better!)

As we reached our destination we drove past some big golden buddahs built above Sangklaburi, and some golden temples glimmering in the distance, poking out of the  jungle. The descent to the town was so steep they have a run off in case of brake failure. On arrival I lugged my stuff towards the guest house area – the only taxis here are motorbikes. I can’t carry my big bag on my back so I can’t use them. The main town is quite small and nothing to look at, just a few blocks of markets and shops. A fat weathered-looking American in a café called out “Welcome to the neighbourhood!”. A long road leads to the river and the guest houses. It hadn’t looked far on the map but it turned out to be about a gruelling half an hour in the searing heat with all my luggage. After my original choice had a building site, I ended up going all the way back up the road to a nice hillside resort which slopes steeply down to the river, called the Burmese Inn.

I went for a super cheap fan room, and you get what you pay for, a rickety row of budget rooms on stilts with wooden walls and exposed to outdoors through many gaps. A lizard the size of a computer keyboard lept away as I entered the toilet! After some lunch in their charming wooden restaurant overlooking the river, I headed out to explore in late afternoon.

The bay, you can see the main footbridge top right.

These houses are only accessible by boat

From the guest house road down the hill is the river and bay leading out into the reservoir. Across the river is a wooden footbridge, leading to a much bigger one which crosses the bay. The side walkways were rotting but the center was ok and seeing the locals happily using the brigdes I knew it would be alright. The views were great and you first notice the floating houses in the bay, connected by floating bamboo walkways to the land. Some of them were half-sunk so I assumed they weren’t used until I saw a girl striding out along them.

Main footbridge

The one on the left doesn’t look too stable right? Well that’s the one the girl merrily hopped along!

Longboats puttered around the bay and the bridges were quite busy as school had finished and uniformed groups of kids headed home. I got quite a few hellos and some boys who were chatting to me agreed to have their photo taken.

I only saw a few westerners walking around, looked like they were in a tour group. I thought I could make it to the impressive temple in the distance before dark and wandered through the Mon village on the other side of the bay. The Mon people are from Burma – but couldn’t get into proper Thailand due to the immigration laws when they arrived . Out in this region there are a number of large refugee camps for Burmese people – Thailand is not part of the international standards for treating refugees. The women have powered faces. Their village is a bit more run-down looking than the other side. I wandered the streets occasionally getting a hello from the locals in their homes. I headed beyond the village and a western woman on a motorbike stopped to say hello and pointed out the correct way to the temple. As it was getting dark I headed back for the guest house.

Typical street scene in towns like these. Most dogs lie in the road nonchalantly with traffic whizzing inches past them.

The streets of Thailand are always riddled with dogs. Some are friendly, some are scared of people, some are aggressive. There’s a lot of strays on this side of the bay and as I was walking back one seemed quite afraid of me so I knelt down and put my hand out which most dogs usually respond well too. Not this one, he barked and growled and all the other dogs started barking too. As I walked away quickly he went for me! I got lucky, he took a chunk out of my raincoat and ran off when I bent over to the ground (you are supposed to throw stuff at them or pretend to, to scare them off). Lesson learnt, be wary around the strays!

As the rains came again I took photos in the dusk of the bridge and headed back. The mossies were eating my feet.  Back at the guesthouse eating dinner the jungle noises were all around and under each side lantern sat a gecko soaking up the heat. My only company in the restaurant was the very friendly hotel dog and occasionally the girls from the guest house. I didn’t get much sleep again thanks to the shoulder and the heat.

People returning home over the footbridge. Youths like to hang out on the bridge, smoking and fishing.