Entering Thailand
The Town of Si Saket. We arrived at the train station only to find out that it was mostly sold out except for a few spots in 3rd class which was sitting only with no fan (we need a sleeper train after our excursion out of Cambodia) and the sleeper options are only on 1st or 2nd class. We decided to stay a night in Si Saket and go by bus to Bangkok the next morning. Si Saket was interesting... There is really no tourism in Northeastern Thailand so there was not much to do, as far as lonely planet is concerned.
We decided to just walk around and venture through the markets. They were full of life with fish of all kinds, bugs, spices and flowers. Shawn was stopped by some old man in the market who dared him to try this plate of chopped squid, ants, termite larve, and other winged creatures. He said it tasted like Ceviche (because it was drowned in onions, chilies, and lime juice). Thinking that it would be "disinfected same way as -- raw cooked foods" i.e. in Central America; it proved not to work out as well for him. Not surprisingly, he payed for the experience the next few days. All in all our northeastern trip was short but if we had a chance we would go back and venture around more of that part of Thailand. The Northeast had a charm that was simple, and family oriented.
Bangkok - Minds Blown, A Diverse Metropolis.
We got to Bangkok and were absolutely amazed by this bustling city. After coming from Cambodia even Santa Cruz was starting to seem like a big place. The morning after we arrived we woke to discover that Martial Law was declared and that there would be military presence all over Bangkok (especially by the Royal Palace). A girl at our guesthouse said everything was still very safe but that we should check out the mall for the day because traffic to the palace was bad as officials shut down some roads to avoid protests. She mentioned that the mall blow our minds. Wow that was an understatement.
What can we say about the mall in Bangkok... It is hard to put into words, it is a booming mecca for technology, fashion, architecture, interior design, and even living murals.
Even the food courts were fun. You would get a card on entry and can go from stall to stall where you browse through and order whatever food you want (all international foods available) and you then pay the total upon exiting. We were kids in a candy store! After spending the day at the mall we were beat and ready for the beaches.
Exploring the islands
The Overnight Train -- Amazing Railway Ride Through Thailand.
We decided to leave south the next day, because we had to be back in Bangkok prior to our wedding date to visit the embassy for a notary. We booked a train ticket for that evening in a private sleeper room. The train was nice, we luckily left Bangkok in a hurry so we packed the cold beers we had in the fridge along with a bottle of wine. With Shawn's bluetooth speaker playing music, and we watched movies from the ipad; it felt like we had our own living room.
The (Low Season) Shuttle Service to Krabi: Dirty, Not Nice -- by any means.
The transit down to the beaches is not that easy, or close!! In fact, it was a nightmare. We had a layover in a major transit town and caught "the most horrible bus, for a grueling ride to Railay beach in the Krabi province." I won't go into details about the bus, but let's just say "no pee stops ever" and rain water was heavily leaking through the non existent air con vents. We were shifted to a jam packed, broken bus. The was result of our first bus not haveing enough people heading to Krabi from the train station. This was a problem with Low Season Travel because the busses, ferries, ect, will go to any cost to pack out their machines for transport. In our case, we were dropped off in the middle of a city and packed into a local bus. Sardines in a can.
If you are reading this blog for the interest of travel in Southern Thailand, watch out for this scam: the bus companies will act as though they are putting you into a transit station which is really a tourist office! They will then ask where you are going, how long you are staying, they will try to "book everything for you." This is very bad because this is all commission based, they will send you to shitty places -- without ever stepping a foot inside, or knowing anything about the service or place they are selling you. Where coversely in Cambodia, we were actually taken very good care of by people from these one - stop, bus and travel services. For the weary traveller, use your gut, look at trip advisor, talk to fellow travellers. You'll get the details on the best way to network around bad service.
The Beauty of Railay -- (With the right eye & location. It's Way Cool).
Railay is it is kind of like an island, where you have to arrive by boat because there are no roads. This makes it less common to stay there but tours will drop you off for a short period during the 4 islands tour. We didn't know that at the time and arrived to the main strip which was super cheesy and extremely small. There were Rasta bars, lounging areas & overpriced western food. The next day we found out where the beautiful beaches were, and quickly changes to a cool place in the mountains.
We then were able to really appreciate Railay for its spectacular views of limestone cliffs and it's see through sky blue waters. Railay beach is where tourists go (from other islands) when on a short day trip and we were staying there! Shawn liked to wake up and do early morning run's and found a ton of wildlife about at the pre dawn hours. We found some amazing street food vendors and sweet Rasta coffee shop where we relaxed for a few days taking in the sun. The last day we book a rock climbing course for 1/2 day and had so much fun scaling the walls and climbing through a cave to the most spectacular views out! This is the best of Railay, good coffee, the rock climbing, the resturant at the top of the hill. If going on this rout, eating healthy and putting off the night life -- it can be very cool. It took us a moment to get that all figured out, but well intentions brought the right events. There are some cool Rastas' out there that live organically -- very nice to catch their smooth living style.