Thai Islands

From Hanoi, we flew back to Bangkok, where we had a few hours to kill before taking a night train to Surat Thani. As it was very hot and rainy, we escaped to the air-conditioned Siem Place, a big, modern, fancy mall with lots of good eateries. Although there were so many tempting options, I stuck to a bowl of white rice to be on the safe side. The day when we would be sleeping on the go on a train at night did not seem like the right time to experiment if I had completely gotten over my food poisoning incident. We packed up on food and drinks from the massive supermarket in the mall and headed to the train station. The train station alone got me a bit nervous about the trip we had ahead. I’d heard that trains in Thailand are very basic and not to expect anything like the trains in Europe – it’s part of the reason we’d chosen to this, for the experience of it – and the station prepared me for this.

While waiting at the station, I got cold and realized I had only packed summer clothes for the trip, meaning mostly short shorts, skirts, and sleeveless shirts, which I didn’t want to sleep in.  Fortunately, on my way to the bathroom I happened to see a vending machine that sold T-shirts! What were the chances? I’d never seen anything like that before. I’ve seen vending machines at airports with toiletries, sure that makes sense. I’ve seen vending machines with beer in Italy, a genius idea. There are of course vending machines with cigarettes and condoms as well. But clothes was a new one I was definitely grateful for. I purchased a gray one, which fit great. I was now ready for this night experience!

After a long day, the time had finally come and we hurried along the tracks with our suitcases to find our car. Rosa and I had upper bunks, which I usually prefer, and Laura had chosen the lower bunk. We got on the train and found our seats – no beds yet. Laura explained that someone from the crew comes later and switches out the seats for beds. Sure thing, shortly after departing, a man came by and did just that. Laura’s lower bunk was nice and comfy, more spacious than I’d expected. Plus, she had a large window to stare out all night. The upper bunks, on the other hand, were tiny. They were clearly meant for children, and I wish they’d explained that when we bought the tickets.

At one point during the ride, there was one couple with two young children that got on the train at a tiny no-name stop. They were all carrying backpacks and all seemed so relaxed in this very foreign environment. I admired how this couple was teaching their children how to travel adventurously since a young age. The couple took the bottom bunks while their children climbed up to the upper bunks, where they seemed comfortable. They knew better: the upper bunks are clearly for children.

Rosa and I ended up hanging out on Laura’s bed late into the night, chatting and drinking beers. It was like a slumber party and fun, actually. After some time, I started to feel like we were intruding and possibly disrupting Laura’s sleep hanging out on her bed for so long. It reminded me of crashing in her room in Thailand the previous year. So Rosa and I grudgingly headed to our bunks.

Laying there was even worse than I’d imagined. With the curtains drawn, it felt like being in a can of sardines but worse because the train would rock back and forth and it kept feeling like it was about to derail. It wasn’t long at all before I started to feel a bit claustrophobic and figured I would end up not sleeping all night. Luckily, I had some melatonin, which helps me sleep – natural sleeping pills in other words. Being prone to insomnia, I always carry them with me when I travel. Surprisingly, I managed to fall asleep and even got a decent amount of sleep, though I woke up often with the fear of either the train derailing or someone taking my suitcase while I slept, something I’d check every time I heard people getting off the train.

Another issue was the bathroom situation, something I was dreading. At one point, Laura had to brave it up and go – the beers were probably not the best idea – and she came back horrified. After that, I wanted to hold it all night, but eventually couldn’t avoid it anymore and tried it out. Again, it was even worse than expected – not because they were basic, that wasn’t a surprise. It was the horrendous smell that made it difficult to stomach.

Once the sun came up, the experience started to transform itself. It was clear that we were getting closer to the Thai islands, the main purpose of this trip. The train took us to Surat Thani, where we then had to take a shuttle to the pier, and then finally take a ferry to Koh Samui.

By the time we arrived in Koh Samui, it was early afternoon. I finally had a real meal since Halong City, something I’d been looking forward to. We had a delicious lunch – Pad Thai of course – overlooking the beach. After lunch, we spent the rest of the cloudy daylight hours at the beach until well past sunset.

In the evening, we went for a stroll along the beach and had mojitos at a fancy bar in a chic resort on the sand. The resort was so nice that we wanted to live there, even looked into just how much it’d cost, but it was well beyond our budget. At night, Koh Samui is very lively and happening. This is a great island to stay in for several days, as there’s lots to do while still having a very laid-back island vibe.

The next day, we did a five-hour tour around the island. Fortunately, there was nice weather all day. One of my favorite stops was Silver Beach, where I couldn’t help but jump in the water and spend some time there while our driver waited.

Grandfather and Grandmother rocks were not that interesting. The best part of that stop was the avocado smoothie – yum. Slightly more interesting was the Chinese temple of Guan Yu, known for the qualities of honesty, loyalty and gratefulness, bravery, and courage. It made me think of how our legacy, what we are known for, should be our personal qualities rather than our achievements or what wealth we’ve accumulated. That’s Western philosophy versus Eastern beliefs.

My other favorite stop on the tour was NuMuang Waterfalls. The color of the rocks is so beautiful. We spent quite a bit of time sitting in the forest there admiring the waterfall. Finally, last stop was the Big Buddha: there’s always one nearby in this country.

After getting back to the hotel, we went to the beach nearby, Chaweng Beach, and once again stayed until past sunset. Sunsets at the beach is one of my favorite pastimes and the best time to enjoy the beach.

That night in Koh Samui was so much fun. We had dinner at a Night Food Market, followed by drinks at a really cool bar we found. There was a good cover band playing cover rock songs. The singer was really good, versatile, and able to mimic each singer well. It was sad knowing that we’d be leaving Koh Samui the next day.

The next morning, we took the ferry to Koh Pha ngan. When we arrived at the hotel, I immediately thought that we had arrived in paradise. It seemed like each island got better. We had a delicious, relaxing lunch at the hotel restaurant, then relaxed on the beach until sunset. If you can’t relax here, you can’t relax anywhere. The water at this beach is so shallow though that you can’t go swimming but just walking, which is nice too.

For dinner, we ate at a small, real authentic, local joint, where a small old man served us and the food was oh-so delicious. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to bed early because there’s nothing to do there at night. This is not Koh Samui; it’s very secluded, which is nice too but in a different way. During the famous full moon parties, it’s a completely different atmosphere – wild parties with lots of alcohol and drugs and young people. When we went, it wasn’t during a full moon, and although I was disappointed at first, I’m actually glad it turned out to be that way. It doesn’t seem like my kind of thing anyways, and I much prefer the secluded island feel instead.

I’d really wanted to go to Koh Tao, the smallest of the three islands where there’s the best snorkelling, but it isn’t as easy as we’d thought it’d be. For one, you have to wake up really early for it to then spend half the day on the ferry getting to and from the island. Plus, it seemed quite expensive for a just a few hours. Finally, the last thing that turned us off was that the weather wasn’t good that day: forecast said clouds and rain all day. So, instead we took a free shuttle to Secret Beach and spent the afternoon there. I was really bummed, but the day was in fact cloudy and rainy, as expected. Unfortunately, the weather was really a disappointment on this trip.

Since there are so many European and American tourists on the islands, there’s quite a bit of good Western food to be found at international restaurants around, which we treated ourselves to for lunch, much needed after ten days of Asian food (as much as I love it, it does get old).

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to get a beer at the bar before showering. As we were having the beer, it started storming and the power went out. It turned out to be a six-hour power outage, apparently something common, and we had to wait desperately for the power to come back on just to be able to take a shower. We did what we could with the time and just hung out at the restaurant drinking, playing cards, and eventually eating. The power didn’t come back on until after midnight, while I was lying in bed and had already given up on showering that night.

The next morning, I treated myself to some delicious banana pancakes. The weather was once again rainy, so we found ourselves hanging out at the restaurant on the beach again. A lot of time was spent at that bar and beach, relaxing times just chilling enjoying the scenery looking out into Koh Samui on the other side.

In the early afternoon, it was time to take the ferry back to Surat Thani. It’s advised to take the ferry to the mainland 24 hours prior to the flight to avoid potential delays due to weather, so we followed this to play it safe even though we really didn’t want to.

This probably sounds odd but we didn’t feel like doing anything at night, though I’m not sure there was anything to do there anyways. We just had dinner at the hotel and then got a massage since there was nothing else to do and I’d been curious about trying out a foot massage. It was a strange experience because they come to the room and do it on your bed. I was a bit uncomfortable having these women climbing up on our beds where we would later sleep. Then, to make it even weirder, they kept talking to each other in Thai and looking at us that it seemed like they were talking about us, which is so rude. The foot massage was good, yet very painful for me. She got rid of a massive knot on the arch of my right foot that I didn’t even know I had. Apparently, as I was told, it was difficult to tell if my screams were of pain or joy, but I can reassure you they were of pain.

The next morning, we went to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok. We got there too early and had some time to kill once again. Although, at the time I felt that quite a bit of time was wasted on this trip and that I really must plan the trip better next time, there’s also something carefree about not planning too much and having a tight schedule to follow, going with the flow, taking it easy, and seeing what happens. Looking back on it, I only remember the good times and appreciate the time we had to relax.

I remember one of the first friends I made in Rome when I first got here was a German girl that I went to Naples with one day on a whim. We had only booked one night of hotel and planned to see the city, have pizza, go to Capri to see the caves, and if that wasn’t enough, I even tried to fit in Pompeii while I was at it….an ambitious plan to say the least. She, being German, was used to planning things in detail. While I’m a bit of a mix: I tend to do a lot of research because it builds up my excitement for a place, but I’m also content on playing things by ear from time to time and not planning too much. On this spontaneous trip, we had decided to improvise.

In the end, we didn’t manage to catch the ferry to Capri because as it turned out the last one leaves Naples at about 3:30 pm, something we could’ve easily researched and known in advance to plan our day accordingly. However, we hadn’t researched, and therefore, we didn’t get to go to Capri. The words she said to me after that have resonated with me every time something has gone wrong on a trip due to lack of planning: “So, the German way is better after all.”

I would argue though that it depends what you want to get out of the trip. But sure, it might be better to plan trips in advance, especially when travelling to another continent to somewhere you imagine might not be that easy to return to.

While killing time at the airport in Bangkok waiting for our flight back to Rome, our Asia trip ended with me finding something I’d been looking for the entire trip: plantain chips! A happy ending.

I still feel I need to go back to the islands, as there’s so much to explore and everything is just stunning. Next time, it will be in winter when the weather is better. I’d also like to do a yoga retreat there. However, having gone to Thailand two years in a row now, I’ll take a break before going back.