thailand 2010
Pre Trip and Flights
Because Rick had been living in Thailand for six years, since the end of his big trip, and he’s not sure how much longer he’ll be living there, we took this as a “now or never” chance to get our butts over to Thailand to visit him. We had settled on mid May, as the weather would not be so bad (or so we thought!) and he and Fanette were leaving Thailand on May 18th to spend some time in France and the US before returning to Thailand for another season of diving.
We booked an “open jaw” flight on Korean Air (flying into Phuket and from Hong Kong) because they were the best deal we could find with the least amount of connections (Korean flies directly from DC), so we’d only have one stop each way. I had been to Hong Kong once in 1993 and wanted to show Pili, as I always had fond memories of my trip there, so we decided to do a four day stopover there on the way home. To “branch” the Thailand and Hong Kong portions of the trip, we booked a one way flight on Royal Jordanian of all airlines from Bangkok to Hong Kong. They fly from Jordan to Hong Kong three times a week and stop in Bangkok along the way, selling the empty seats of those who get off the plane there.
We grabbed a Super Shuttle to Dulles Airport and made it in plenty of time this time, unlike last time. Check in was quick and easy. This was our first time to IAD since the opening of the new underground train and many portions of the airport now look brand new. The flight took off right on time and we were very pleased with the AVOD system on Korean’s new 777′s. Every economy seat on these planes features a 10.4 inch LCD screen with your choice of movies, TV shows, music, games, and airshow maps to keep you entertained. What a difference from just a few years ago when these systems were rare in economy on long haul flights and all you had to keep you entertained was whichever craptastic movie the airline was showing that month. On a side note, a 14 hr. flight is still a 14 hr. flight and no matter how entertained you are, after sitting that long in an economy seat, you’re still going to be a little “sore” after the third hour or so, so we invested in a pair of REI campground cushions for these flights and recommend them highly!
The flight was generally very smooth and we did a mix of sleeping and watching movies and I can proudly say that I am currently the high score record holder for Tetris on one of Korean Air’s 777′s. I enjoyed the food and the service from the flight staff in economy was about on par with the service in first class on most US domestic carriers. The interesting thing about this flight was that it is bright daylight the entire way as you are traveling with the sun. We took off from IAD at about 1:30 PM and landed at ICN at about 4:30 PM local time the next day with the date change.
At Incheon we checked e-mail, and of course, updated facebook. Seoul has a beautiful new airport that has a “transit hotel” where passengers with long connections can rent a room by the hour, as well as a place offering massages and showers. Our flight for Phuket took off at around 6:30 and the plane was less than half full, so I took the opportunity to stretch out in the middle rows of seats and get some sleep. This flight was just under six hours but it seemed to go by relatively quickly. Phuket is one of those airports that as soon as you exit the aircraft and step into the jet way, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore. While Washington and Seoul were both cool and humidity free, even the air that leaked in the jet way at Phuket hit you like a brick – a hot and humid brick. The glass jet way was covered in condensed water on the outside from the cool air conditioned air inside – oh boy. To quote Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues: “Man it’s hot. It’s like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot.”
Rick and Fanette greeted us right outside of customs and we walked right out to their truck (Phuket is a very small airport). For some reason, I had no idea that Thailand is a right hand side drive country, so there was a little surprise for us. We drove about an hour north from Phuket to Khao Lak, stopping in a little town called Thai Muang to get something to eat along the way. Rick and Fanette are renting a nice two bedroom house in the woods just north of Khao Lak while they worked there at Big Blue Diving.
Day 1
On Sunday, we woke up pretty late, having enjoyed a nice air conditioned-induced sleep. We headed out for breakfast in town at a place called Tiffy’s, which offers a “western style” breakfast and we all got filled up for the day. After that, Rick and Fanette took us to the Big Blue office in Khao Lak, where they work when they are not out on the diving boat. We helped them shut down the office as last week was the end of high season on this side of Thailand, meaning that it will be a bit of a ghost town for the next four months, tourist-wise. From there, we headed out to see Police Boat 813, a local land mark since the 2004 tsunami. You can read more about this boat on its wikipedia page, but it is a boat from the Thai military that was washed about 2 km. inland during the tsunami and has remained there ever since. Locals say that it stands there as a memorial, while others say that it stands there because the Thais don’t know how to get it back to the ocean. 
Because it was so hot, we decided to cool off and get some drinks at the newly built Khao Lak Marriott, which boasts the longest swimming pool in Asia. We strolled around the grounds and it is impressive indeed. The Marriott is a resort style hotel with a ten foot-wide pool that snakes around the entire complex and past most rooms, so that if you like you can just leave your room and get into the pool! From there, it snakes around to feed into the main pool, which features a swim-up bar. We sat on the dry side of the bar and had a few beers.
At the end of the day, we went over to the Khao Lak Sea View hotel, where Rick and Fanette are members of the pool. This is another impressive, massive hotel pool, complete with water slide and elephants shooting water into the pool. Even though the water was about as warm as the air outside, it was a very refreshing way to end the day. For dinner, we chose an outdoor restaurant (most are in Thailand) along the busy road called the “Everyday (Lazy) House” – strange name, but strong drinks and great food!
Day 2
Monday saw another late wake up, followed by a trip to Tiffy’s for breakfast again. (Less than 48 hrs. in Thailand and we’re already regulars.) Because our original plans to include Chaing Mai in this trip were scrapped, we decided to do some elephant trekking locally in Khao Lak, which has two elephant camps, while Rick and Fanette took care of some things. We decided on a 45 min tour through the jungle which included a stretch through a river, which seemed like it would be somewhat cooler. The elephants are fitted with a special seat on their back for us, while the driver (jockey?) sits on the elephant’s head with his feet up on the elephant’s ears. The elephants do not seem to mind being ridden and I’m sure our combined 300 lbs. wasn’t much of a burden. The trek through the jungle was very relaxing and considerably cooler, as most of the sun was blocked out from the trees.
In the afternoon, we headed out to one of Phuket’s main attractions, Ko Tapu (aka “James Bond Island”), which Rick and Fanette had not been to, either. It was about an hour’s drive from Khao Lak, in a bay off the coastal town of Phang Nga. This particular attraction has been tied to the James Bond name since it was featured in one of the Bond movies from the 70′s. We drove out to the bay and found a guy to take our group out in his long boat.
I didn’t know what to expect when we set out and was quickly amazed by the scenery. It turns out that Ko Tapu is just one of 42 islands in the vast Ao Phang-nga National Park, part of Phang Nga Bay which covers an area of 400 sq.km, 80% of which is part of the Andaman sea. The long boat first wound through seemingly endless mangroves, then opened up into the bay to reveal these incredible rock-islands that just jut up from the water, rising 400-500 feet in the air. The bay is truly a beautiful place. We toured around for about 45 mins until we came to the famous “James Bond Island”, which was definitely cool, but as we had all concurred, a little smaller than in all of our imaginations. The beach next to it and the immediate area around it were swarmed with tourists, so we made a quick break back to the truck, stopping at a few points of interest along the way back, including boating through a cave to come out on the other end of the island. We also passed a 18th century fishing village built entirely on the water called Ko Panyi, which now serves as a popular tourist stop for lunch.
On the way back to Khao Lak, we stopped for a quick snack at on of Rick and Fanette’s favorite road-side vendors. Thailand is filled with people who set up small noodle carts and a few tables that have great food at unbelieveable prices. After another swim at the Khao Lak Sea View, we went stopped off at a massage place for some quick half hour massages, then back home and rested for a little bit. That night found us having dinner at the “99 Korean BBQ”, a all-you-can-eat, cook-it-yourself at the table Korean BBQ, with the “99″ being the 99 Baht (roughly $3 worth of Thai currency) it takes to eat there. Ice cold beers, of course, are extra, but still an unbeatable value. The food was delicious and the huge thunderstorm in the middle of dinner cooled things off considerably. After dinner, we hung out at Rick and Fanette’s house with one of their friends.
Day 3
Because this was the day that Rick and Fanette were leaving Khao Lak for four months, they had some serious cleaning and packing to do. When we were having dinner at the Everyday (Lazy) House, I noticed on the back of the menu that they offered a 1/2 day cooking class, so we decided to do this on Tuesday morning. Rick dropped us off at 8:30 and the teacher/owner/chef took us in her truck to the local market to pick up the food we’d need for the four menu items we chose to learn how to cook. There, we got to see how most of the local restaurants in the area buy their food fresh every morning and got our first taste of Thai iced tea.
For the next three hours, we learned how to cook Thai food properly (the recipes we tried surprisingly simple) and that to do any of this at home, we’d need a wok. At the end of class, we got to eat everything we made, which was enough food for about six people, so we enlisted the help of Rick, who came to pick us up and did his best to finish off some of our food. Our plan for this trip was to leave for the coastal town of Chumphon (on the east coast) today, so that we could spend a few days on Koh Tao, where Rick has spent most of his time in Thailand.
We left for Chumphon at about 2 PM in Rick and Fanette’s truck with our luggage as well as their backpacks that they’d be using for the next four months. The truck was a four door, so it worked out perfectly. The scenery along they way was beautiful and this part of Thailand was much more hilly than I had imagined. We had estimated the trip to take about six hours, but only took a little over four. We checked in to the Chumphon Gardens, which at $15 a night, has to be one of the best hotel room values in the world.
Dinner this night was at MK, which left everyone a little unsatisfied. For the table of four, they first only brought one menu. Then when we tried to order, they seemed to be out of more things than they had. Rick ordered one dish and it never materialized. Oh well, they can’t all be winners. We stopped at the Farang Bar (Farang is Thai for “foreigner”) across the street from the hotel before bed and had a few drinks with the owner, who Rick knows.
Next Koh Tao –>
…or click here to see more pictures from Khao Lak!