We didn't get to see anything on Koh Samui, since it was already getting dark, so we only went out for dinner. Found a place with pizza party, as they called it. Basically just a buffet with pizzas and some wellcooked thaifood, for 100 bath (20kr) each. One of the most valued and cheap places we could find. And after that, we had the best massage we had on our trip until now!
Wednesday 8th Jan.
Woke up early to walk to the mainstreet and get a taxi to Na Thon pier. Every taxi is driving in that direction in the morning, so it's very easy to make a good price with them.
There's a few different boats sailing to Don Sak or Suratthani, so we had to figure out which one was the right one, and not take the one with all the scams etc. We bought a boat-bus ticket, so we were sure that we would get into the city center of Suratthani, and then we would avoid all the scams in Donsak.
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| Mae Nam Beach, Koh samui |
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| Cosy atmosphere at the guesthouse on Koh Samui |
There's a few different boats sailing to Don Sak or Suratthani, so we had to figure out which one was the right one, and not take the one with all the scams etc. We bought a boat-bus ticket, so we were sure that we would get into the city center of Suratthani, and then we would avoid all the scams in Donsak.
We got really lucky, cause when we got dropped of by the bus, to switch to another, a thai woman helped us find the busstop and buying the right ticket. Lucky day for us! By the way, the roads in Thailand are much more developed, than what we are use to, so the busdrives goes really smooth and there's almost no potholes, the only annoying thing is that they drive in the "wrong" side of the road.
We got off the bus on the highway, close to Khao Sok Nationalpark. There was 4 guys, with big advertising signs about available guesthouses in the town, they all offered free transfer, so we really didn't know which one we should pick. Erik asked if they ever got in fight with each other, about costumers, but they pretended they didn't hear him. We didn't want to upset anybody, but it was the most laid back guy that won.
He already left the little group, and just waited by his pick up truck. So it was our way to tell that we don't like all the stress, they put on our shoulders!
We got to the Bamboo House and was first shown a remote bungalow, in the back of the garden, to only 300B, but after that being said, I wouldn't be comfortable sleeping there. There was big holes in the floor and that goes hand in hand with big animals at night, when we leave the light on for a bit. So no thanks, instead we choose a bungalow to 500B, with no visible animals. It was first later I realized that there was a bat living in the bathroom, but it left when I turned the light on. Sadly we couldn't close the bathroom door properly, so we appreciated the mosquito net that was provided in the bungalow, then we at least knew we were safe under that.
We were happy that we only had to sleep there one night, but unfortunately we would sleep in worse conditions the upcoming day, when we planned a trip into the jungle, with trekking, 4 meals, a tent, a local guide, and a overnight sleep in the middle of the jungle.
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| This is where we lived together with a bat |
We walked for a while before we got off the tourist path, before entering the real jungle. We quickly discovered some monkeys (gibbons) playing in the trees, it's a totally other experience to see them in the wild than in a zoo. We felt really lucky!
We had a lunch break, with fried rice and a quick svimming break in the river. After that the trek got really hard, and challenging. We crossed the river several times, sometimes through the water other times on slippery rocks, there was only a very small path to follow, and a few places they had put up a rope to hold on to, so we wouldn't hurt ourselves to much. A few of us got leeches on us, but they were small and easy to take off.
Eventually we came to our camping ground, a small rocky "island", in front of a big waterfall, where we pitched our small tents. We spended time with catching fishes with small watermelon and pineapple pieces. The guides made a fire, put up their hammock and started preparing all the bamboo's, for our bamboo dinner. Everything was gonna be served, and cooked with bamboo, and they used it for everything.
We each got a bamboo cup, with a bamboo spoon, then they boiled water in a bamboo and served us tea/coffee. The dinner consisted of bamboo cooked rice, bamboo grilled chicken and a big fish (that our guide caught earlier), and green curry sauce with chicken and vegetables. It tasted surprisingly good, and we really enjoyed being out in the nature. It got dark while we ate, and all the animals started to make all their loud noises. We felt relaxed sitting there in the jungle and eating dinner out of a bamboo.
We went for a night safari afterwards, it wasn't as creepy as we assumed. We saw a lot of big disqusting frogs, some spiders and a civet cat in a tree. We had hoped to see snakes, tigers, leopards etc. Better luck next time! Haha! The guide said he only saw a tiger once, and that was 5 years ago! Snakes are common to see, but we didn't find any. Oh well maybe we were better off.
We chilled around the fire place and our sweet guide brought a bottle of rum that he shared with us. Time to get some sleep. None of us brought any matresses, so we pulled out the extra clothes we brought and tried to get a good sleep on that. It was quite a rough night, and the rain and the leaking tent only made the night seem longer. In the end of the night every part of our body hurt, and we used up all possible possisions to sleep in.
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| A beautiful place to write some blog |
We had some bamboo toasted bread with jam for breakfast, and then we packed the tent and our stuff together. Our guide told us that the trek this day was a lot of up and down. We started with walking up some steep narrow paths, and the adrenaline started pumping straight away, the only safety was a rope, and further up it became more rock climbing than trekking, and our safety was only tree roots. A little too dangeous and challenging from my point of view, but we survived.
On the top we struggled not to slip on the slippery rocks, and eventually we found a path in the jungle again, away from rocks and river. It was smoking hot and the humidity was almost unbearable, but it was fun and exciting to walk deep in the beautiful and peaceful jungle.
On the top we struggled not to slip on the slippery rocks, and eventually we found a path in the jungle again, away from rocks and river. It was smoking hot and the humidity was almost unbearable, but it was fun and exciting to walk deep in the beautiful and peaceful jungle.
We got back to the guetshouse around noon, and had lunch in the restaurant. Erik was in his sneaky mode, so he showed the manager a picture of our friend Leah, who checked in at the guesthouse the night before, and we recommended the place for her. The manager reconized Leah, and that's how we got a free transfer to the highway. Sneaky!
The public bus was waiting for us on the highway, so we jumped right into it, and was on our way to Khao Lak. The guy in the bus tried to make us pay the "tourist price", 160B, sadly the round-eyed in front of us just payed that, but we knew the price, and only payed 200B for both of us. The messers become the messies.
After a few hours we arrived in Khao Lak. Erik was a gentleman, for once, and left me at the busstop with all our luggage, while he walked around in the burning sun, to find a cheap place to stay. It was late afternoon before he returned and announced that almost every guesthouse/hotel/hostel was full. Damn it! He only found one place, but that was over our budget, but since we didn't have a lot of options we walked there and payed 700B for a bungalow, with free access to outdoor swimming pool. Sweeeet!
We wanted to find a good deal with a dive center on a live-aboard trip, to dive around the Similan Islands + 3 other islands. Our first good option was apparently fully booked, but the second one (Scuba Adventures) was perfect, they made a REALLY good last-minute price for us, and we would leave with the boat the following night. We booked the "advanced open water" course on top of that, so all together it was 42000B, for 4days/4nights on the boat, for both of us, including dorm beds, 3 meals a day + snacks, all diving equipment and an instructor, for not more than 4 people. This was gonna be a great way to get some experience with the diving, and we were both super excited.
Dinner was enjoyed at Mc D, which by the way is just as expensive as at home. To be continued!
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Jungle video
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