Back in Thailand, Wednesday 18th February 2009
I arrive back in Thailand with the plan on traveling to some of the Islands I didn't manage to get to when I was out here first. My plan is to go to Krabi, Koh Lanta & Koh Lepi. It feels good been back even though I only spend the afternoon in Bangkok before I grab a over night bus to Karbi. When I arrive in Krabi and pick up my ruck sack something seems to be a miss. First the zip on my big, which is locked, is in a different position to usual and the bag seems a little shuffled around. I don't pay much notice to it until later and then think to myself has someone gotten into my bag? When I open it up I can certainly see someone has been through it. I generally keep some money & a cash card in this bag as a backup. The first thing I notice is the wallet is sitting on top of my cloths, not buried at the bottom where I had put it. When I check the wallet the cash I had in it is gone but thank god the cash card it still there. For some reason who ever took the money left the card, maybe it was just too much hassle, I'm kind of grateful even though I've had about 60 quid taken. The only place I can think this could have happened is while my bag was on the bus to Krabi, well there is nothing I can do about it now.
First stop on Karbi is a beach called Ton Sai. Its a nice little spot but a mission and a half to get to...well if you chose to go the hard way for the sake of a pound or two. First of all you get a long-tail boat to Raliay beach which is West of the island and then from there you can either get another long tail boat to Ton Sai or clime over a hill/rocks to make it. I chose the climb, and at 1pm in the afternoon let me tell you it was the wrong idea...sometimes its worth paying a couple of pound for a little less pain. The climb is not all that bad but with a back pack and a day-pack strapped to you is a fair old task! By the time I get there I am like a drowned rat...with sweat. As soon as I get checked in it's straight into the sea to cool off. Ton Sai is a really nice place, laid back and has a good vibe about it. I stay a couple of nights there before moving on to Koh Lanta which is just an hours journey on the ferry. 
When I arrive in Koh Lanta I am starting to think my luck is running out on this traveling lark. I end up having a bit of a run in with a tuk-tuk driver over payment for a moto taxi from the pier to one of the beaches. Its a common enough thing, the tuk-tuk driver stops mid way through the journey and says that the fee we agreed on isn't enough and requests more. It gets a little heated and I just tell the guy to bring me back to the pier and I'll get another taxi if he doesn't want to take me. On the way back I notice a place advertising rooms for 200 baht and I ask him to leave me off here. When I grab my bags he wants payment, I've no intention of paying the fella which I tell him and I then start walking to the guest house. As I'm walking to the guest house the tuk-tuk driver comes after me demanding payment, lots of shouting at this stage, from us both. An American guy who is passing stops and asks whats up, he's with a Thai lady. I tell him my version of the story and his Thai friend speaks to the Tuk-Tuk driver. After the Thai lady has spoken to the driver she says I'd do best to stay away from this guy and suggests that I go back to the pier and pick up another taxi. At this point the Tuk-Tuk driver picks up a lump of wood and starts shouting something in Thai. Both myself and the American guy are now thinking this fella is going to go nuts. The American guy is a big block of a man and turns to me and says, "I think we should bust this fellas balls, he's a good for nothing Thai!" (it was like something you'd hear in the movies...I had to laugh but the last thing you need is to have a fight out here) At this stage I'm thinking we best try and settle this and lucky enough the Thai lady talks to the driver and somewhat settles him. In the end I pay him 50baht (1 pound) for the trip from the pier to where he had taken me, he wants more but no way is it worth anymore than what I give him so in the end he ventures off, none too impressed. After all that I go in search of a different guest house, just in case this guy decides to come back...might be best to avoid any more confrontations. I find a really nice place right on the beach front and when I check in its time for a well earned beer, thats enough entertainment for one day!
The couple of days I spend on Koh Lanta turn out to be fantastic. The guest house I am staying at is run by a really nice family who'd seem to do anything to help you out and the location is super. In the few days that I am there I venture south of the island to see some of the other beaches along the coast line and on my last day there I hire a bike to goto the National Park. When I hire the bike from the Guest House I have to give them my passport for security (at this point I make a mental note...make sure you get it back!!!???) Anyway I spend most of the day in the National Park and the surrounding areas. The following morning I hand the keys of the bike back to the owner of the guest house before I grab the bus to Hat Yai. After travelling in the bus for a few hours I then realise I've left my passport with the guest house! Shit, shit, shit! Before we get to Hat Yai there is a stop off in a place called Trang so I get out of the bus and call the guest house. They have the passport and suggest that they send it on the next bus to Trang so I can pick it up, all I got to do is wait for it. Its a bit of a risk sending it on a bus, who knows what will happen to it in transit, but I decide to take it rather than have to go the entire way back. Eventually the passport does arrive but the guy driving the bus who brought it wants payment? All I can do is laugh at him and ask whats the price. Its next to nothing, 80baht (1.60). When I ask him whats with the fee his response is, security of transport i.e. To line my pocket, I was just glad to get my passport back.
Well it was an eventful week back in Thailand, all my Irish luck must have been used up early on in the trip...you can't help but laugh looking back on it though.
A few weeks later looking back on this you realise how tight you can get about your money when you are travelling around Asia. Things are very cheep, a good meal is about 50 baht and a bottle of beer the same so after a while you end up thinking 40-50 baht is loads of money when in reality its nothing to us westerners. The 50baht for the boat trip to Ton Sai, 50baht for the tuk-tuk driver and 80baht for the Passport all came to about 3.60...and look at all the hassle it caused...comical!
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