Koh Phangan to Melbourne: … The Hard Way

After Thailand, the next major destination on our loose itinerary was Australia, specifically Melbourne, where we planned to meet up with my brother who has been living there for a couple of years. We were on the island of Koh Phangan, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7000 km from Melbourne. With a little research, we found that it could be relatively straightforward to get from Koh Phangan to Melbourne. A short ferry to the adjacent island of Koh Samui, a flight to Singapore or Bangkok, then another flight to Melbourne. The entire journey shouldn’t take more than half a day. That would be the easy way. There was also another way, a 6 day voyage through 6 cities and 4 countries, using just about every means of transportation imaginable: the hard way. Guess which one we chose.


Another train ride

The journey started with a 3 hour ferry ride from Koh Phangan to mainland Thailand. It was a gorgeous morning, so all the passengers were up on deck for the sunrise and the ocean breeze, a little crowded, but a great atmosphere. The best part was disembarking at the port at Chumphon. A pod of 10 to 15 pacific humpback dolphins were hunting fish just off the quay. They were so close, you could actually see them chasing the fish. Also, pacific humpback dolphins can be pink, and at least two in this pod were. Pink dolphins definitely go in the things you don’t see every day category. Next up was the bus ride from Chumphon to Surat Thani then on to Penang (Malaysia). Another typical Southeast Asian bus ride like so many others we’ve had: brutally uncomfortable, long (12 hours), confusing transfers, and an aggravating border crossing thrown in for good measure. We spent the next day in Penang partially to recover from the bus ride, and partially because we liked it so much the last time we were there. We ate our faces off of course, but also managed to do some shopping (Colleen got herself a new carry-on bag) and Colleen was able to get a haircut, her first in six months.



Petronas Towers

Next stop Kuala Lumpur. There was a direct train from Butterworth, (just a 15 minute ferry ride away from Penang), to Kuala Lumpur, so the trip was pretty straightforward. However, in a nod to frugality, we decided to book the overnight train to save on hotel costs. This worked out fine except that there were no beds available, so we had to take reclining chairs in second class. Also, for whatever reason, the train’s air conditioning was on the arctic setting, and we spent most of the night shivering instead of sleeping. Kuala Lumpur was an amazing city, at least the parts I was able to see. I came down with the flu, and spent the better part of the next two days in bed nursing a runny nose and a fever. I know they say you can’t catch a cold from being cold, but I couldn’t help but direct a little anger and a few choice epithets at the Malaysian railways and their temperature control protocols. I did manage to see the skybridge at the Petronas Towers though, very impressive.



Singapore skyline

Next up Singapore. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are also linked by regular rail service, so we chose the overnight train again. This time we were able to get beds, and the temperature was set to accommodate humans, not penguins, so the ride was fine. As for Singapore, I’m not sure there is too much to be said. It’s peculiar history, lilliputian size and its disproportionate economic importance in the region make it interesting in the abstract, but on the ground, it is just like any other modern city, in some ways even more sterile than most. There are some interesting reminders of its colonial past in buildings such as the supreme court and the cricket club hidden among the skyskrapers, and there is a fusion of Indian, Malaysian and Chinese cultures and religions similar to that found in Malaysia. However, it was a little stale compared to other Asian capitals we have visited, it was missing Bangkok’s flair, Vientiane’s charm, or Phnom Penh’s hustle and bustle. For the most part it is just a big, very clean, very modern city. I managed to explore a good part of it on foot the morning we arrived, but unfortunately Colleen caught my cold, so she wasn’t up for much. Our hotel was pretty grim though, so we decided to go to a movie just to get out. We saw The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Not the best movie I’ve ever seen, but good enough to pass a few hours. After the movie, we went to Little India for some dosai and cafe tarik. The next day we took a local train to the airport and caught our flight to Melbourne.



So there you have it. 7000 km on a combination of buses, trains, planes and boats, four countries, three border crossings, long bus rides, sleepless nights on freezing trains and dingy hotels. It cost more, was more aggravating, more uncomfortable, and just plain exhausting than the more direct option. However, we saw sunrise on the deck of a ferry in the gulf of Thailand, watched pink dolphins chase fish, stood on a bridge linking the towers of the world’s fourth tallest building (from 1988 to 2004 they were the tallest) 170 meters above ground, ate great food, and were able to add two more capital cities to our list. Sure we could have taken the easy way, but where’s the fun in that?

Michael



Wellington YHA

North Island

New Zealand 

Koh Pha Ngan: Choosing to give the waterfall a miss

It is difficult to think of what we are doing as anything but fun and exciting, and truth be told it is. However, it is also a lot of work and can be unpleasant and stressful. Imagine having to find a new place to stay every other night, 14 hour bus rides on bumpy roads, dodgy hotels with cold showers and tiny rooms, stinky clothes (and bodies), constantly arguing with people trying to rip you off and always being on guard for your safety. I don’t write about these things because for the most part, we have accepted, and even gotten used to them, but they are a part of our daily lives that we have been dealing with since the trip started. So after six months, we decided to give ourselves a little break, a sort of holiday away from our travels, and what better place for a vacation than a tropical beach. Luckily enough, southern Thailand is blessed with several tropical islands full of exactly what we were looking for. Based on recommendations from an Australian couple we met in India, we choose Mae Haad beach on Koh Phangan island and had a great two week holiday

Mae Haad beach

Getting to Koh Phagngan from Penang was no easy feat. 4 hour minivan ride from Penang to Hat Yai, transfer to a bus after a 3 hour wait, 5 hour bus ride from Hat Yai to Donsak, 3 hour ferry from Donsak to Thongsala on Koh Phangan Island. and finally a 30 minute ride in the back of a truck to get from Thongsala to Mae Haad. We left at 6 in the morning and arrived at 10 at night. It was all worth it when we finally got there though. The beach was beautiful, and we ended up renting a private bungalow at a resort, a simple thatched roof affair with just enough room for a bed, a bathroom and a porch. It was a little strange to be surrounded by holidaymakers (mostly Russians oddly enough) instead of backpackers, but our hut was less than 50 metres from the beach. quiet, clean, and at 17 dollars a night, it was exactly what we were looking for.

Dinner at Nong Nuks

There were plenty of things to do on the island, and we did manage to do a few of them. I did some diving, and Colleen did yoga almost every day, I even joined her for a session, but we mostly just relaxed and let the days get away from us. Our big decision for the day would be where to eat dinner. We hired a motorbike (actually more of a scooter, but motorbike sounds cooler) for the two weeks we were there, so we took rides around the island to the different villages in an effort to find the best seafood tom yam, and the best view (Nong Nuks in Chaloklum won hand down).

Perfect for a ride

Actually, the motorbike rides around the island were a highlight. Imagine cruising on winding back country roads, the wind in your hair, an unbelievably blue ocean to your left, a palm tree forest to your right, and the sun setting over a quaint fishing village in the distance, an incredibly relaxing and idyllic way to spend an hour or so. Except of course, the time Colleen almost killed me. Let me explain. To save a little money, we rented one bike for the two of us instead of one each. I would drive, and Colleen would ride on the back, Colleen being Colleen though, it wasn’t long before she wanted to have a go at driving. So after a couple of practice runs in the parking lot, off we went, her driving and me on the back. The first ten minutes of the ride were fine, so much so that I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures. The first sign of trouble came as I looked down to check out the pictures I had just taken. “Mike, Mike, we’re crashing” Colleen yelled out. The next thing I know we’re careening through the jungle and I’m ducking branches in an effort to avoid decapitation. When we finally came to a stop and I asked her what happened, Colleen responded “the road turned while I was trying to go straight”. Fair enough.

SCUBA in the Gulf of Thailand

That little bit of excitement aside, we were mostly pleasantly bored. It was like the last few months of constant activity and motion caught up to us and we went from world travellers on a mission to lazy beach bums overnight. Take the waterfall for example. There is a waterfall on Koh Phangan, easily accessible by motorbike, that, by all accounts, is as beautiful as they come. Imagine turquoise water flowing out of a cool shady jungle, perfect for a refreshing swim on an oppressively hot tropical day. The waterfall had some historical and cultural significance as well in that the area was visited by several Thai kings going back centuries, and each left some kind of royal graffiti on rock faces in the jungle around the waterfall and stream. An easily accessible, physically beautiful and culturally relevant attraction with swimming thrown in for good measure would typically make our must see list, and sure enough each day one of us would say “how about the waterfall today”. Somehow though, we always found some excuse for not going and ended up with the other beach bums just lounging around.

We met another traveller one night at a restaurant who offered her thoughts on the matter. In her opinion, you only really start travelling when you start saying no. In other words, when your mindset changes from having to see everything, to choosing things that are right for you, from checking things off a list to getting what you want out of a place. Maybe she was right, and we were finally “travelling”, or maybe we were just burned out and needed the rest, either way, we never did get to see that waterfall

However you want to look at it, we had a wonderful time in Koh Phangan. Adventure is nice, but so is surrounding yourself with beauty and relaxing. Believe it or not, it was the first place on our entire trip we were sad to leave. I guess we’ll just have to come back someday, maybe we’ll even get to see that waterfall. We’re all rested and refreshed now, and we have one week to get to Melbourne, but that’s another story…

Michael

YHA Te Anau

South Island,

New Zealand

Penang: Visa Formalities with a Happy Ending

We've been to a dozen countries now, and at each one, we’ve had to deal with different immigration and visa policies. Some like Tanzania’s, have been expensive, some, like India’s have been bewildering, and some, like Burundi’s have been frightening, but in every case, the red tape associated with visiting a new country has been a time consuming jumble of strange, seemingly arbitrary requirements. It takes a bit of patience and a lot of good humour to muddle through it all. Even after all this time on the road, each time we get to a new country, we spend a fair amount of time and energy trying to figure it all out. Thailand was no exception, but for once, all the red tape was good for more than just headaches, it actually lead us, in a roundabout way, to one of our favourite places on the trip to date: Penang Malaysia.


Bangkok train station

Thailand's visa policy has its pros and cons; pro - free visas issued on arrival, con - visas issued for 30 days only. This means that if you want to visit for more than 30 days, you either have to pay a substantial fee for a visa extension at the immigration office in Bangkok or leave the country and reenter to get a new visa. While the logic of this system escapes me, time was running out on our visas, and we were still interested in visiting Thailand’s southern beaches, so we had to deal with the red tape in order to stay. In the end, we decided that leaving the country for a “visa run” as it is commonly called, was the better option as it was less expensive, and would give us a few days visiting a new place. Our choices for places to go were Vientiane in Laos, Siem Reap in Cambodia, somewhere in Burma, or Penang Malaysia. We had already been to Laos and Cambodia, and Burma was difficult to get to not to mention tricky given the current political climate there, so we decided on Penang. To be honest, we weren’t expecting much from Penang, it was more of a means to an end. Thankfully though, it ended up being a fantastic experience, a surprise highlight of the trip.



Train ride to Penang (take two)

The most convenient way to get from Bangkok to Penang is the overnight train to Butterworth, then a short ferry ride to Georgetown, Penang’s main city. I love trains, so I’m happy with any chance to ride, but this one was particularly special for Colleen. She took this exact train years ago with her High School band when they toured Southeast Asia. It was difficult to imagine the sleeping car we were in filled with dozens of awkward teenage boys and girls, Colleen among them, giddy with the excitement of their adventure. It was great fun hearing Colleen reminisce about her trip and note some of the similarities and differences in the countryside we were seeing through the train‘s window. To revisit a part of her first experience with travel while on our big trip was a pretty unique experience.

Georgetown street before a storm

It only got better when we arrived in Penang. Penang is an Island off Malaysia’s west coast, just south of the border with Thailand. It has a fascinating history. Indigenous Malay, colonial British, and Indian and Chinese immigrants have each left their mark, leading to a wonderful fusion of cultures unlike anywhere else we’ve been. Nowhere is this mix more evident than in the island’s main city and former colonial capital Georgetown, where we spent most of our time. While the British are long gone, their legacy lives on in (sometimes crumbling) colonial architecture and street names. Little India had its shops and teahouses, Chinatown had its temples and noodle restaurants, and on one street near the centre of town, we walked past a Hindu temple, a Buddhist shrine, a Mosque, and an Anglican church. A walk in Georgetown could take you past the sea with a view of the ferries taking people to and from the mainland, past old victorian mansions, and through colonnaded sidewalks with shops selling everything from motorcycle engines to fresh meat or vegetables. A walk around town was a feast for the senses. We even managed to be there (accidentally of course) for Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit in case you were wondering) and were able to take in all the festivities.

Hawker stand in Penang

As great as all of the above may sound, it paled in comparison to the food. In addition to amazing Indian and Chinese food that we were more familiar with, there were local dishes I had never heard of. Dishes like laksa assam, nasi lemak, chee chong fun, koay teow, oyster omlettes, cendol, the list goes on, different ingredients, and flavours that were completely new to me, each more delicious than the next. For example, nasi lemak consisted of coconut rice with dried anchovies, shrimp in a spicy tamarind sauce with a chopped hard boiled egg all wrapped in a banana leaf and was usually served for breakfast – absolutely fantastic. Getting the food was just as fun as eating it. While you could eat at restaurants it was more fun to eat at food stalls in the street (called hawkers in Malaysia). Each stall specialized in one or two dishes that they sold for 3 or 4 ringgits (around 1 us dollar) and served in relatively small portions. Because the portions were small and the price low, the idea was to walk around town for an hour or so trying out different hawker specialties until satisfied, or in my case, ready to burst. The only bad part is that I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find any of these dishes when we get back to North America. Oh well, it is better to have loved and lost…

I suppose we have the vagaries of the Thai visa system to thank for introducing us to Penang, because without it, we probably would have given it a miss. I wouldn’t say this makes up for all the visa headaches we’ve had in other countries, but it’s a start.

Michael

My brother’s apartment,

East Melbourne

Australia