Out of Time

We left Koh Nangyuan at lunchtime and spent the rest of the afternoon on Koh Tao writing blogs, and generally killing time before Nick and I briefly went our seperate ways - Nick straight to Koh Lanta, and me on a quick Visa run to Burma/Myanmar before heading down to re-unite.

Nighttime fell and it was time for us to jump on our ferries. I was booked to travel on a car ferry which I made me think of a cross channel ferry crossing from England to France. It was of courser nothing like it, and I got on the ferry which would probably house about 8 cars maximum. I dropped my head almost immediately in the provided bunks.

The next day was a day I'd rather not repeat, whisked across Thailand by minibus and dropped at Thai immigration. I paid up my dues (I'd overstayed on my visa) and then we jumped back in the minibus to get on the "Big-Boat Visa Run". On the "Big Boat" I got, and after some waiting, we were crusing along some (comparatively to my last 6weeks) ugly surroundings - a lot more backward and dirty. After about 40minutes, we allighted the boat at Kaw Thuang, Mayanmar. We were allowed a whole 10minutes to explore the country. I got about 30 seconds of those 10minutes to myself as local touts offering an assortment of drugs, viagra, cigars Burmese whisky etc. follow you wherever you walk. After declining the opportunity of walking some Class A back into Thailand (and that's not to say I bought any of that other stuff on offer!), I was headed back to Ranong, Thailand. I saw my first episode of 'River-Rage' as we moored - two long-tail boat drivers got in a scrap as one wouldn't yield to the other, and seconds later, the skinnier of the two chaps found himself in the wet-stuff - the comedy highlight of my day.

Then followed 3 long arduous bus rides of differing comfort, starting at 10.30am, and eventually winding up in Krabbi at about 6.30m. I jumped on a motorbike taxi and pointed fot the docks to catch my boat to Koh Lanta, the driver spotted a minibus going directly there - though I wasn't entirely sure how a minibus would get directly to an island but I gave it a go none the less. 2 Car ferry trips and another 10minutes of driving meant I finally got in at about 9pm. A 24hour Visa run complete.

So, for around 8 days, it was business as usual. Wake-up, breakfast with fresh banana shake, a wander to the beach, some lunch, a wander back followed by dinner... then sleep!

To break the routine, we took a day trip to Koh Phi Phi. We saw a fair amount of damage from the Tsunami but were quite surprised how quickly things had been rebuilt.

Our boat tour then took us around Phi Phi Lai, the main island and we saw a pretty cool lagoon. We then crossed the choppy sea to arrive on the other island of Phi Phi. This is now perhaps the biggest tourist puller of the area now, mainly due to the movie 'The Beach'. We saw 'The Beach but due to the amount of boats moored up, and people on it, we declined the offer of paying 200baht to go stand on it for 15minutes!

We arrived then for lunch at a tiny secluded beach with just us; a Dutch couple & son, 2 tour guides, Nick and myself... and 2 dozen monkeys. Hungry monkeys.

We devoured our lunch whilst throwing warning stones at the cheeky primates. A football had washed up on the beach too, I claimed it and was happy to be playing 'keepy-uppy' once again.

After lunch we did a spot of snorkelling. It was quite surprising how much we could see, it was in fact a better session snorkelling than one or two of our deeper sea scuba dives. I found an Anenome with a family of Clown fish, Nick spotted a Sea Snake - plus all manner of other marine life.

So the time on Lanta drew to a close, it was now at the forefront of my mind that life was about to take a dramatic turn of pace as we headed back toward Western Civilisation. It was on the beach there at Lanta that I decided that I'd like to work in Perth virtually on arrival. Nick was contemplating waiting there for around 1 month for his girlfriend to arrive. We toyed with the idea of staying in Thailand a little longer, but I'd already stayed longer than planned. Perth would be expensive to hang around for a month, so solo again, I left Koh Lanta destined for Kuala Lumpa on the 28th of January.

We shook hands and said goodbye at 7.30am after around 3 hours sleep (intentionally - sleep less the night before and you get to sleep really easily whist embarking on long tedious journeys). By 9, I'd reached Trang, breakfast, another minibus ride to Haad Yai - arrival 11.30 - to be told, the bus for Malaysia leaves at 5.30pm. Time to kill.

I think I covered just about every street and block of this pretty featureless city. The saving grace was that the Chinese New Year decorations did brighten the place up a bit. Haad Yai once thrived from Malaysians coming for cheap shopping - then the Thai goverment banned the currency from being spent so the economics went a little stagnent. I thought I'd help the situation as I needed a new camera.

5.30 rolled around, and a tuk tuk arrived - not quite what I was expecting to take me to Kuala Lumpa. 3minutes later I was dropped around the corner and told to wait until 8. I met a couple of Swedish gals also making the trip, so killed the time with a couple of beers.

Finally the bus showed up. I was stunned to see what it was. So many times we have been promised "VIP buses" across Asia, this was the first one that lived up to the name. 3 huge reclining chairs per row instead of the usual cramped 4 or 5. I drifted into a slumber within seconds of arriving in Malaysia.

5am I was awoken by an almost familiar sounding "Mister, Mister, time to get off". I had arrived in a very dark pre-sunrise Kuala Lumpa.