After three days in Koh Kao , I took the ferry across to Koh Phangan  which is famous for the Full Moon parties.

No Parties

I checked into a hostel that was recommended as a “party place”, in the knowledge that there would be no parties when I was there as a result of the time in the lunar calendar.  As expected I was the only person in the place.

It is owned by a German bloke.  It was interesting to talk to him about his life in Thailand –  politics and business in the country, the behavior of his customers at ‘party’ time and the looming challenges of bring up his daughter in such an environment.  His hot tip is the Burma will be a happening place.

I would not suggest Koh Phangan  over Koh Tao,  Koh Samui or the places on the west coast (e.g.  Ao Nang,) unless you are into Full Moon ‘piss-up parties’.

Train from Surat Thani

I had a couple of days in Chaweng on Koh Samui before heading across the Surat Thani to catch the train south to Butterworth.   I have been to Koh Samui and couple of times and like it.

The train from Surat Thani heading south was scheduled to leave at 1.23 a.m.  As I have posted before, trains leave Bangkok on time, but that is the last time they are on schedule.

I checked into the Queens Hotel at about 6.00 p.m. to get some rest before the train was due to depart.  At THB 200 (AUD 7), I think I was overcharged.

I went to the station at 1.15 a.m. to find, as expected, the train was delayed. The board detailing the delays and the revised ETD’s of the trains contained some interesting arithmetic.  Check out the Flickr pics.

The train finally arrived at about 2.30 a.m.  I found my berth in the ‘superior’ carriage.  It was very comfortable.   The only issue is that the train ‘rocked and rolled’ due to the track.

Crossing border and into Butterworth

The train crossed the border into Malaysia at about 9.00 a.m.  There was a fair bit of mucking around with passport control and customs.  Clearly there is a long way to go before Thais and other nationals are able to quickly cross into Malaysia at border point.

Once over the border the track completely changed.  The Malaysians are clearly spending heaps of their rail network.  The track is very new with high ballast and concrete sleepers.  They must be preparing to run Very Fast Trains.

Penang

I arrived in Butterworth in the late afternoon and caught to ferry  across to Georgetown.  I checked into the Old Georgetown Hotel in the ‘heritage area’ of the town.

Clearly the local government sees the benefit of preserving this area, with its colonial architecture.  They do not want to make the same mistake that Singapore made by knocking down too many of these buildings. The problem appears to be that a lot of the shops and residences are empty or very run down.  It will take a will to get the place thriving as a commercial and residential area.  At least they are having a go.

I had a great meal from a street stall washed down with a freezing cold bottle of Guinness.  I remember being introduced to Malaysia Guinness in 1988.  It goes really well with the food.

WWII Museum

Next day I took, what turned out to be a very long bus ride out to the WWII War Museum.  It was the main British Artillery defence complex built to defend Penang and the Straits of Malacca.   The place is also used as a ‘paintball’ war games site.

It is a bit tacky, but you can see past that into the history of the original British Army facility.  It is quite amazing that despite all the fortifications in Malaysia and Singapore and larger forces, the British and Allies were beaten by the Japanese in late 1941 and early 1942.  A little leadership incompetence goes a long way.

History recalls that the defences were designed to repel attacks from the sea.  The Japanese attached on the land with air support.  The British didn’t have many planes and were not experienced in jungle warfare.  The officers were good at drinking gin and tonic.

There were lots of school kids at the museum when I was there.  I wondered what their thoughts are on this piece of history.

Bus to the beach

Next day, I decided to go and check out the beach resort area of the island – Batu Ferringhi. It was remarkably quiet.

There is a lot of new development all the way up that part of the coast. I am not sure if I would like to live there.

When I got back to Georgetown I had another great meal from a street stall.

Train to KL

The train from Butterworth to KL , left at 8.00 a.m.  This meant a fairly early wake up and trip on the ferry from Penang.

I was travelling First Class for MYR 60 (AUD 20).  I got air-conditioning in First Class.  I should have travelled Second Class.  It was freezing.  Every 30 minutes I had to leave the carriage and stand on the plate between the carriage and the buffet carriage to warm up.

I arrived in KL the late afternoon.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjMNeNUJ

Bangkok

I thought I might say something  about Bangkok.

I flew to Bangkok from Istanbul.  I then went up Chang Mai and Pai for a few days.  I flew back to Bangkok and then onto Phnom Penh before returning via Siem Reap.  I left the city by train to Chumphon on my way to Koh Tao

First Trip

My first trip to Bangkok was in 1985, when I was working for the Department of Foreign Affairs.  I travelled to the city en-route to Dhaka in Bangladesh.  My travelling companion on that trip  is currently  in the last month of a posting to the High Commission in London.  It is amazing how quick the nearly 30 years have passed since that trip.

I recall that we stayed in the Dusit Thani Hotel not far from Patpong Road.  At the time it was the premier hotel in the city.

We had one day in Bangkok and went on quick city tour, that took in the Grand Palace and floating markets.  I recall that there were a lot of klongs (canals).  These were crowded with boats and there were house built along both side of the water.

Other Trips

Over the years, I have made other trips to the city.  These included playing in the Bangkok Sixes cricket tournament in 1987, and stopovers when I was travelling while working with Caltex.

On one of these trips in 1991, I met up with my parents who  were on their way to England.  On that occasion, we hired a car and drove to Kanchanaburi to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.  As I have previously posted, my father was a POW on the infamous Thai – Burma Railway in WW II.

I also returned to both, Bangkok and Kanchanaburi with my daughter and then wife, in 2009. Those trips ultimately led to our divorce.

Changes

There have been a great many changes in Bangkok over the nearly 30 years since my first visit.  Like other successful SE Asian countries, Thailand has experienced significant economic growth in that period.  With the exception of the financial crises in the late 1990’s and 2008, this growth has been fairly constant.

Infrastructure

The physical manifestation of the increased wealth of the country and the city can be seen in the buildings and other infrastructure.  The most notable of these are the new airport, the trains (Skytrain and underground) and the shopping malls.  Some of the shopping malls are amazing, in terms of size and opulence.

A disappointing change to the infrastructure, has been the covering, and in some cases filling in, of the klongs.

Less Raunchy

Bangkok has always been famous, or infamous for its red light districts (e.g. Patpong and Soi Cowboy).  These were at their zenith during the Vietnam War when Bangkok and Phuket were ‘rest and recreation’ centres for American soldiers.  They were still pretty wild places in the 1980’s.

The Bangkok Sixes, cricket mentioned above, involved teams from SE Asia and around the world.  I was in team made up of the foreign services of Commonwealth countries – mainly Australians.  I was in the team as a result of someone dropping out at the last minute and being available to travel.

There were over 30 teams in the competition.  It was player over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday at grounds including the Bangkok Sports Club.

The after play ‘ activities’ , took place mainly in Patpong.  I have never seen such ‘bad behavior’ on such a mammoth scale before or since.

I am not sure if is my age, reality, or both – but is seems that Patpong and Soi Cowboy  have lost much of their luster and the city is  becoming more conservative overall,  in much  the same vein as Singapore.

Less Fakes

Another feature of the city has been the outdoor, markets.  Certainly in the 1980’s and 90’s, these were full of ‘fake’ goods.  These included designer brand clothes (e.g. Ralph Lauren polo shirts), watches (e.g. Rolex) and music and film tapes and later CD and DVDs.   These goods are still sold, however, it would appear that have lost much of their appeal for consumers.   I suspect there are a number of reasons or this.

One obvious one is that with internet and digitization, you no longer require physical things (tapes and CDs) for music and film. As far as clothes are concerned: I suspect that because the ‘real’ cost of the genuine article has declined so much in the past few years, people simply cannot see the point in buying a fake.  As far watches are concerned: I suspect young people, if they want a watch at all (given that phones tell the time), they are satisfied with a cheap Swatch or other cheapo designer brand and are not interested in a fake Rolex or Cartier.

Bike Ride

During my second stay, after being in Chang Mai, I decided to take a bike tour.   The web site of the operator is below.

Tour started at Soi 26 off Sukhumvit (a main road).  The participants were mixture of Europeans and Australians.  One was a Dutch girl called Audrey.   She  was “half Dutch and half Nicaraguan” and very attractive.

We took back roads and alley way towards the river.  As we approach the river, we had to cross a very busy road.  Audrey looked to left, and seeing  that there were no vehicles, pushed her bike onto the road.  Of course the reason that there were no vehicles coming to the left was that in Thailand, vehicle drive on the left hand side of the road.  Just as she was about to step onto the road herself, the front wheel of  Audrey’s  bike was hit by a passing motorbike with a pillion passenger.   Amazingly the rider the motorbike managed to stay upright.

When she finally got to the other side of the road, it was discovered that impact with motorbike had caused a puncture to the front tyre of the bike and had put the front forks out of alignment.  The guide made some quick repairs and we were on our way to the river.

At the river we boarded a long boat to the Sri Nakhon district on the other side.  There was surprisingly little boat traffic compared to what I recall in previous trips.

The ride through the Sri Nakhon district was great.  It is a ‘botanic park, but is still used for farming.  It is little oasis in city will precious little open space.

Flickr Link Bangkok

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjLdBtwH

Flickr Link Bike Ride

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjL8M2ss

ABC URL

http://realasia.net/