I’ve just added a map on the right side of the page (below the tag maze) where you can see exactly where we are and the route we have travelled. I hope to keep the map updated as we go so keep posted.
If you cant find the map check this link (the link changes as the map will be updated).
We have never thought of our selves as beach loving people and we have always said that we would not want a beach kind of holiday. Now we have been here on the islands for seven days just laying on the beach sunbathing, snorkeling and swimming in the sea and we are absolutely loving it! I don’t think that we have changed but that now we are not in a hurry while on holiday, we have plenty of time and it is not a choice between the beach and something else. Going on a beach OR exploring an exciting city. Going on the beach OR checking out that great museum. Now we have plenty of time to do all the things we want to and it doesn’t have to be either or. We are also getting relaxed about not having a plan to follow. We have a rough (big) plan in our mind but we just decide from day to day where to go and where to sleep. When we have traveled before everything has been organized, all accommodation booked beforehand and the most events set. It is quite liberating not to follow a plan but needed some time to get used to.
Ko Maa island connected to Ko Mae Haad by a sand reef
We are now in Ao Mae Haad on the North West corner of Ko Phangan. This is definitely the best place we have visited so far. It is a bit off the regular tourist track and not many tourists are staying here. During the day it is very busy though since many people seem to come here for day trips. The beach is about 1 km long and there is a large island just off shore and is connected to our beach with a sand reef on the low tide. Everything is very cozy and nice: the people, the environment and our bungalow.
Ao Mae Haad
We met up with a very nice Canadian couple in Haad Yao that were also on their way to Mae Haad so we joined forces. We had seen them on the bus from Bangkok so we started chatting. They are also on a long trip here in Asia. From Thailand they are heading towards Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia so we probably won’t see them again after Ko Phangan but you never know. He has been a couple of times in Thailand so he has given us some tips and suggestions. It is always great to catch up with people that are doing similar things as you are doing.
We have both taken great interest in snorkeling, anything else is difficult given the opportunities that we have here. We have only had to swim 100 meters from the shore to be surrounded by colorful coral and fish beyond believe. We have been snorkeling at a depth of one to four meters in absolutely clear waters and seen maybe forty different types of tropical fish: green, yellow, blue, red, black, white, translucent, striped, spotted, octagonal and solid. Today we spent so much time snorkeling that both of us have sunburn on the parts that stick up when staring down into the water (just check in the bathtub which parts those are).
We have not eaten at a restaurant where the menu has been shorten than seven pages and the restaurant at our resort is no exception. Just to give you some examples is has 14 different fruit shakes and 16 different juices that they list. For breakfast they have 22 different types of roll toast, 13 baguettes and 7 different types of pancakes. For main course they have 16 salads, 30 different types of fried rice, several kinds of macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, fried noodles and so on and so on. On top of all this they have something called Noname – 10 different types. Noname looks like the leftovers from last night mixed together and deep-fried and like everything else deep-fried is tastes very good. These huge menus are therefore quite scary for people with decision anxiety but we have managed so far :) But all in all the food here has been wonderful and almost everything that we have tasted had been top notch.
The massage parlour
We went for a massage today. Elínborg had a conventional head, neck and shoulders massage and I had a Thai massage. The Thai is based on stretches and pinches without oil rather then conventional strokes. It is quite rough but very relaxing at the same time. Below you can see the price list for massages. 100 Baht are about $3.
The price list
The clock is almost 22 now when I’m writing this so it is well past our bedtime :) Therefore I won’t have this long for now. All the best….
– Ö r n and E l í n b o r g –
Ko Tao is a cozy little island (3×7 km or so), the first of the three islands in the Gulf of Thailand that will be our home for the next couple of weeks or so. We stayed for two nights at Freedom Beach on the south end of Ko Tao in a basic hut with Charlie the Cockroach, a few lizards and mosquitoes that were quite happy to have some fresh Nordic blood while I wrote the last post ;) Even though the hut could have been better everything else at Freedom beach was top-notch and the resort was obviously undergoing a major refurbishment like a lot of places around here. The most impressive at Freedom Beach were the beaches and the coral reefs. We rented us some snorkeling gear and snorkeled for a few hours in the crystal clear turquoise colored sea above beautiful corals and colorful fishes that we have only seen in home fish tanks before. It was absolutely fantastic and started just a few meters from the shore. We had never thought snorkeling could be so much fun!
Life is tough over here :)
After two days we wanted to rent a scooter and explore the island but made an impulse decision to jump on the boat and go to the next island instead and go on a scooter there. So we took the 1 hour boat to Ko Phangan.
Ko Phangan is a lot bigger island and is mostly famous for the huge Full Moon parties held here …every full moon. Up to 30.000 people come here on the full moon during the high season to drink, smoke, snort and dance the night away. They have stretched the full moon concept a bit so now there are full moon, black moon, blue moon and a few other parties going on so basically you can party no matter where the moon and the sun are positioned at that moment. This all happens on the south side of the island so all the oldies and the nerds head basically anywhere else and we went up the west coast to Hat Yao where we have just been enjoying life, exploring the North-West coast on a scooter, trying out a few hammocks and bathing in the sun.
Two things have bother us quite a bit since we came to the islands. Firstly we have hardly gotten hungry lately. It’s not that we are eating so much, it’s more that our appetite has diminished, which is a great shame because we both love to eat. Maybe it is the Beach God telling us that we need to shed a few pounds to walk his sandy beaches half-naked …who knows. I wouldn’t mind if that would be the case and he is helping us getting there.
Chocholate pancake with extra chocholate on top
The other thing that has bothered us greatly is that we haven’t been able to bling our selves up. Any descent backpacker that has been in Thailand more than a week has multiple layers of bracelets and necklaces made of leather, shells, coconuts, fish bones and what not around their necks, wrists and ankles. Somehow we have not been able to follow this trend but are anxious to make up for it and will keep you updated. The next steps in the backpacking transformation are dreadlocks and huge tattoos …we’ll start with the bracelets and necklaces and take it from there.
The ladies with the bling
The action on the ABT has been slow, only 2 games in the last 3 days. Örn won another Scrabble game after Elínborg made an incredible comeback and tried to steal the victory but couldn’t quite get there and Elínborg won a Ludo game, tieing the Ludo mini series, in an exciting Ludo mach on the beach of Hat Yao where nerves were extended and adrenaline ran high.
Exploding with tension over the Ludo game
I’m having problems uploading the pictures so I’ll update this post later and insert them so keep looking :)
Until next time….
– Ö r n and E l í n b o r g –
We had three good days in Bangkok but at the same time were ready to leave when the time came. We had explored the neighborhood, seen the magnificent Grand Palace, visited Buddha temples, seen Buddha in all his seven positions (laying, standing, kneeling, etc.), gotten out of two scams and gotten friskier with the local food so we felt ready to take on Thailand!
Part of The National Museum
Both scams were quite interesting in a way. One we had heard of from other blogs and travel books. We met a nice guy that wanted to help us to get to where we were going. We didn’t quite know where we were going but that didn’t knock him down. After a while we told him we wanted to see the Royal Palace and also the tourist office across the street. He told us that today the King would be at the Palace and the tourist office would be close until later in the day because they all wanted to salute the King. We should go and see some other Buddha that he knew of. He also told us that today the King was giving out petrol and therefore we shouldn’t pay more than 20 baht (50 cent) for any Tuk Tuk today. Right on cue a Tuk Tuk arrives and the driver carries a map which our friend uses to show us where this Buddha of his is located. They talk a bit and the driver offers to drive us to the Buddha for the 20 baht. We had already realized that something was fishy in this story so we just walked away saying we wanted to check for our selves. We walked across the street to the tourist office and there everything was in full swing and at the Palace it seemed like a normal day, not that we know what a normal day is like there but you know…
The other scam was a school book example as well, we met an old old lady that was attending the pigeons. She wanted us to take small bags of corn from her and give to the birds. When we didn’t want the bags she managed somehow to hang them on me and told me to give the corn to the pigeons which we did. When we had emptied the bags she demanded 150 baht from us (5 USD). After haggling with her a bit I paid her 7 baht and off we went.
I wouldn’t say that the scams were entertaining, well maybe the first one, but at least a bit of an experience and teaches us to be careful and take nothing for granted. At least we got off easy this time.
As I said, we have been getting friskier with the food here. We have tried some street food and snacks and everything has been really tasty. We are not eating insects or some unidentified things yet but who knows, that might come later. We have been tasting the regular Thai food like fried rice, noodles and curries and have had some Indian food as well and as I said, everything has been very good. The price on the street is about one-third of what you pay at a restaurant where you pay about 120 baht ($4) for one of those above mentioned traditional dishes. I have been a bit surprised with the price of beer here. It costs about $2 a bottle, even at seven-eleven-, which is more than in the stores both the US and Switzerland. It seems that the Thai people are on the same boat as Icelanders in breaking the universal code among men to offer cheap beer to the masses.
We left Bangkok in a VIP night bus – no less – heading towards Chumphon in the south. The bus was a nice double-decker, quite comfortable, so we were able to sleep most of the way. When in Chumphon we took a big catamaran that took us to the island of Ko Tao where we are now. Ko Tao is on of three famous islands in the Gulf of Thailand and is mostly sought out by divers. The atmosphere in the boat was quite special. Since the sea was moving a bit, people were puking all over the boat but others didn’t seem too distracted and slept the whole way. We kept somewhere in between the two groups, partly sleeping and somewhat nauseous but without getting too sick.
…and now the sport section. We have started an Asian Board-game Tour (ABT) and at first the tour will include Ludo, Backgammon and a diced Scrabble. A couple of rounds have already been played and the score so far are as follows
| GAME | ELÍNBORG | ÖRN |
| Ludo | 1 | 2 |
| Backgammon | 1 | 0 |
| Scrabble | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 2 | 3 |
The view from the bungalows on Ko Tao
For those of you reading this from facebook – please drop by the blog as well for a few extra features. We are so interested in who are reading the blog and we can’t see any statistics on facebook :(
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Looking forward to hearing from you!
– Ö r n and E l í n b o r g –
On Monday we arrived in Bangkok after the long long journey from Reykjavik. Air China is not our favorite airline: the seats were uncomfortable, the online entertainment was basic, the food was OK at best but the stewardesses were cute and the price was attractive so over all I guess we got what we paid for.
Flying over China was absolutely wonderful, we had clear skies and a good view over great mountains, vast plains and square looking villages. Very promising for our visit in April.
The Mountains of China
We were a bit nervous coming into Beijing airport as we had heard would be humungous (3rd largest building in the world) and our worries did not lessen as we came down the tarmac seeing endless buildings along the airstrip – but we were pleasantly surprised when we came inside. Everything was so organized and intuitive and easy and we had a very relaxed stay-over despite the freezing cold outside (-9°C).
We arrived in Bangkok just before dark, took a taxi to our hotel and went straight to bed after the exhausting trip. We woke up at 8 o’clock the next morning, showered and were ready to take on Bangkok. When I got out I realized that something was not right, it still kind of dark, the people on the street ware obviously the remains from last nights party and I could hear the drum and base sounding from clubs in the distance. I therefore checked my watch again and now saw that it was only 05:00 so we went back to bed again, 1-0 for jet-lag :)
After we finally woke up we went out and had a wonderful day in the Khao San Rd. area, watching the people, visiting a Buddha temple, eating good food and enjoying the sun. The weather is nice, sunny with a slight mist, around 30°C and a little breeze, excellent for a couple of Icelanders.
Khao San Rd. where our hostel is located
Thailand has been called the land of the thousand smiles but we haven’t really experienced that, maybe that will change when we get out of Bangkok or to different regions of Bangkok. The sales people are very polite though and are not all over you like in too many places. They seem contend somehow or maybe just used to foreigners looking at their stuff without buying.
All the best to all of you!
– Ö r n and E l í n b o r g –
Finally we are on our way to Asia. We are now in London sipping beers while waiting for our 10 hour flight to Beijing – and then 5 hours to Bangkok.
Elínborg ready for anything
It was obvious that security has been enhanced after that guy blew off his nuts the other day in the States. We had to wait for about 40 minutes before being able to go through the security gate in Keflavík (Iceland), which is unheard of and at Heathrow we can see more policemen around than normal. I would therefore advice anyone travelling these days to arrive a bit earlier to the airport than usual.
We had our first shock of the trip when we were checking in to the Beijing/Bangkok flight. The lady at the desk said that we needed a Visa to Thailand since we didn’t have any documents showing that we would be leaving in 30 days. Tourists do not need visas for the first 30 days in Thailand but after that we need a visa – or drive across the border and back in. She made some phone calls and finally checked us in. I just hope that doesn’t cause us problems on arrival in Bangkok. If so, we’ll just have to buy us a flight to Siam Reap in Cambodia that leaves before the 30 days are up and show that as proof. We are though getting less and less worried with each passing beverage ;)
Until next time – all the best to everyone!
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