Two weeks roundtour in Thailand.
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"One life - Live it" was written on a t-shirt a man was wearing in Thailand. Those words can summarize my holiday in Thailand. I should have rested more when I wasn't feeling well but otherwise I am really careful when it comes to my health even if you easily could get another impression when you read this story and don't know me.
All my photos I took during the first three days were lost. I think it happened when I connected my digital camera to a computer in Khao Lak. I was going to take a backup of the photos by copying them to an USB-memory. After some time I got a message that one file couldn't be copied. Data media consist of files and also a directory with references to those files. It looked as if the directory structure was corrupt. I am not sure if it was the computer who caused the problem, if it was the camera or if it was some problem with the memory card. I will probably avoid using that memory card again and I will write protect memory cards before I connect the camera to a computer in future. My photos of Patong were lost together with photos of my first night in Khao Lak at Poseidon. I lost photos of a beautiful lizard I saw at the beach near Poseidon bungalows and most of all I lost all my photos I took of the manta rays which was really pity.
I bought a can of liquorice candy at Landvetter airport for 45 SEK. I was tired as usual when I start a journey and fell asleep almost directly in the plane. I woke up when the airhostess served something to drink. Everybody else had got a sandwich which I missed.
In the plane I read in one of the newspapers about a girl who almost got killed in Thailand by a jellyfish. Maybe not the nicest thing to read about when you are on your way to the same country, but it is of course good to know about the risks so you can be careful.
The Finnair plane arrived in Helsinki half an hour late which didn't bother me since that just meant less time to wait for the next Finnair plane to Bangkok. My plane for Bangkok should depart 23:50 and there was another plane directly to Phuket 0:40. Why hadn't I booked that plane? Probably because it was more expensive and I am always so damned economical. The airport in Helsinki is by the way very nice with up to 40 gates which are twice as much as Landvetter airport at my city Gothenburg. I bought 50 cl Coca Cola for 3 euros. I quickly passed a passport check without queuing. You then arrived in an area with a lot more shops. I searched for an ice-cream but most of the shops were closed so I couldn't find any. There were chairs which you could use for sleeping. They were similar to the chairs you find on beaches.
I wondered what kind of people you should find at the gate. They were mostly European and not many from Thailand. Only some Thai women. In Sweden many men are married to Thai women. I am not sure if I have ever met a man from Thailand who is living in Sweden, maybe at Thai restaurants.
The Finnair plane to Bangkok was nice. You had your own video monitor and could start and stop the movies yourself. It is however difficult to hear what they say in the movies due to the background noise from the engine.
You found a little bottle of water at your seat which was nice since I was very thirsty. They played classical music when they set off from the airport and when they landed in Bangkok which was also a nice thing, especially for those people who are afraid of flying.
They only served dinner and breakfast. You could get beer or wine but you had to pay 5 euros if you for instance wanted a 50 cl bottle of Vodka.
I remembered to bring a pencil with me to my seat but I forgot of course to bring the paper with the first hotel address. You needed those things when you filled in the tourist VISA onboard the plane. I wasn't sure how you should fill in two fields but was told that I should write from Helsinki to Bangkok.
I arrived at Bangkok around 15:00. I quickly passed the passport/VISA check. I passed another VISA counter and was confirmed that Swedish citizens didn't need a VISA. I continued my way to the immigration / baggage-claim. There were two ways and I was directed to the last one far away. The baggage claim room was huge so you could probably enter it in both ways. I got my luggage and passed through the nearby customs check. A little outside I found an information desk where they directed me from the 2nd floor up to the 4th floor. Thai Airways had many check-in desks so you could just select one of them. I passed the security check without even have to open my handbag which was a nice surprise. There was a long walk to my gate A1C. I arrived 16:30 and boarding started 17:50.
I heard somewhere that the temperature outside was 35 degrees Celsius. In Sweden we had recently had 15 degrees below zero during the mornings.
The plane from Bangkok to Phuket was to my surprise even bigger than the Finnair plane. Each row in the Finnair plane had 2+4+2 seats but now there were 3+4+3 seats. I got a seat on row 51 and there were probably around 20 more rows. You got a little food onboard the plane.
I hurried out to the metered taxi cars when the plane had landed. I had read that sometimes you had to wait for over an hour to get a taxi. There was however no queue and 4-5 metered taxi cars were waiting. You had to pay an extra 100 baht to get one of those taxis. I heard that a nearby Thai woman also was on her way to Patong so I asked her if we could share a taxi. She thought that it was a splendid idea. The problem was only that you were not allowed to go to two different places if you used the metered taxis. The woman made instead an arrangement with one of the private drivers. It would cost 700 baht which she insisted that we should split equal.
It was nice to travel with her and she spoke English without problem. She had been working at Patong before in a beauty shop but now she had a holiday and was going to visit a friend who lived near the hospital. She told me about a friend of hers who was from Finland. He had by mistake taken a ladyboy to his room. He had been drugged and had woken up the next day around 11 a.m. All his things were then gone including his watch which he had been wearing on his arm.
We reached my hotel first. I had no change so I gave the driver 400 baht.
To my surprise I found that my booking at the hotel was missing. I had booked through HostelWorld and the hotel had confirmed my booking. I had been writing a lot of e-mails regarding a pick-up taxi to the owner of the hotel. Normally I always reconfirm my bookings by telling the date I arrive and request a confirmation where they tell me how many nights I have booked and what kind of room I had booked. Due to the e-mail conversation I didn't think that it was necessary. Now I learnt that you should always do it. I had been in contact with the owner of the hotel. He had probably been answering my e-mails from his home. The problem was probably that there were other people who handled the bookings on a computer at the reception/bar. There had obviously been some problem or misunderstandings in the communication between the owner and the reception people. I had booked a room with shared bathroom but now I got one with private bathroom to the same price which was nice.
I put my values in the security box which each room had before I went out for a walk in the evening. It was a little uncomfortable when sad girls took your arm and tried to convince you to enter some places where they worked. A ladyboy grabbed me between my legs. I thought it should be the other way around like in the movie Crocodile Dundee. I didn't stop to check what he/she wanted.
I went inside the first disco called Banana around half past eleven. It was located at the beach close to Bangla road. They had a tiny dance floor and there were mostly tourists. The entrance cost 200 baht which included a drink. It was not so funny so I continued to Tiger disco on Bangla road.
On my way I passed by two policemen who was standing over a woman who had passed out. Maybe she had been drinking too much. It was strange however since the policemen didn't help her. One of the policemen moved instead his hands over her in a crazy way. What was he doing? After some time he pretended to throw away something and I can only guess that he had been trying to remove a bad spirit instead of helping that poor woman.
The entrance fee for Tiger disco was 150 baht and the place was really crowded. The entrance also included a drink which I drank up before I continued to Seduction disco which cost 300 baht and no drink was included. You got a stamp on your hand at each disco so you could walk in and out.
I walked back to Tiger disco which I liked best. I met a Thai woman there who I talked and danced with. I bought two drinks for us which cost 350 baht I think. The drinks were very expensive and they tasted like water. Later I learned by local people that it was better to buy beer and bottled drinks outside at 7-eleven shops which were open all night. At 5:30 we both left the disco and I followed her to her motorbike. She told me that she could give me a lift home to my hotel which she did. I don't know if she was one of the so called working girls or if she was out just to have fun. I anyway told her that I was not allowed to bring people up on my room and we gave each other a hug before she drove away.
I read a book until 6:30 before I went to sleep.
I woke up 11:30. It must have been ages since I went up so late. I went out for a walk between 12:30 and 15:30 and took some photos of Patong and Bangla road. A lot of women wondered if you wanted to have massage. Some of them grabbed your arm and didn't let go for some time. I searched for the hotel where I should stay after my trip to Khao Lak. It took some time to find it and I made sure that the booking was okay. I bought an ice-cream and one liter of water for 25 baht before I went back to my room and rested.
Later I visited a tourism information office not far from my hotel. It was located on the big road which was the next parallel road to the beach road. They had good maps and I booked a bus trip to Khao Lak for 480 baht which included pick-up at my hotel and transfer to Phuket Town where they should make sure that I got on the right bus to Khao Lak. This was probably better for me since I travel alone. If you are several people then it is cheaper to share a taxi to Phuket Town and locate the correct bus on your own.
The woman at the tourist information informed me about a very good supermarket close to Bangla road which was called Jungceylon. I went there and bought among other things a liter of Bacardi for 728 baht.
Back at the hotel I tried to phone home but it didn’t work with the usual ‘0046’ before the number. Luckily I found in Lonely Planet that you could use ‘007’ instead of ‘00’ which worked without problem.
I mixed the usual drink before I went out in the evening. I put 2 dl Bacardi, normally I use to buy vodka, in a ½ liter Coca Cola bottle and took it with me out. I learnt that evening that you often don’t have to pay the entrance to some of the discos. Just walk in front of the discos some hours before midnight and you will get some free tickets from people who get provision for each person they take to the disco. Their number is written on the ticket.
I got free tickets to both the disco Sound and to Seduction. I met a woman called Anong at the beach who I talked a little with. She wanted to follow me to Seduction and I had to be there before midnight to get free entrance. They had also happy hour before midnight so you could get a drink for 50 baht which should otherwise cost 100-150 baht. Anong told me that she normally lived in Bangkok but was in Phuket for a vacation. She had a little room which cost 5000 baht for a month. When she saw that I was on my way into Seduction she told me that it was too expensive for her so I went in on my own. I suppose she didn’t have a free ticket. I bought a drink and went out afterwards and made sure I got my stamp so I could go back inside later if I wanted.
I went to the disco Sound. On my way I met a Swedish guy from Eskilstuna who also gave me free tickets for Sound. I went inside and got a free drink. There were not many people inside and only a few people dancing. I met a couple of women from Israel. One of them said that I danced really well and should go up and dance on the stage. I just stayed there for a little while.
After Sound I went to Tiger disco and paid the 150 baht for the entrance and free drink. On the dance floor I met a really hot, Thai girl. We danced like maniacs the rest of that night. She really liked dirty dancing and I had really fun. In the morning we sat down at the tables outside the disco. Her English wasn't so good. She wanted to follow me home and I told her that I wasn't allowed to take home other people to my hotel room which was true. She said that we instead could go to her place if I just paid 90 baht for the travel to her home. I told her that I was really tired and wanted to go home to my hotel. I was after all leaving for Khao Lak so I had to sleep a few hours. I don't know if she got angry or was disappointed. I think she really liked me and we had after all had a really fun time together at the disco. Anyway, she just left me without saying anything and went into the disco again. After a little while she came out with an older man who she left the place together with.
I started to walk home. Just outside the disco two girls wanted to talk with me. One of them wondered if I would like to have sex with both of them. Two hours would cost 2000 baht. I said of course no but I anyway sat down and talked a little with one of them. It was the second time she worked at Patong and she had worked three times in Singapore. She didn't have sex (bom-bom) each night, maybe just every second night. She would then earn around 15.000 baht each month. She had a 10 years old son who her parents looked after so she had to send home money.
I went up 10 a.m. and was really exhausted since I had just slept a few hours. I packed my things and had time enough to eat curry chicken with rice for breakfast. I learnt quickly that it wasn't the best thing to start your day with. I had to check out before 12 and then waited for the van which should pick me up 12:45 for my travel to Khao Lak.
The van arrived 5 minutes late. I thought it was going to the bus station at Phuket Town but it stopped at a small travel office at the road. I was the only person who was going to Khao Lak. The other people in the van were going to Bangkok said the driver. We had to wait about 15 minutes until the bus stopped at their office.
The bus was nice and had air-condition. You could watch a really violent movie on a TV. The woman at the tourist information had said that Khao Lak was the end station but the bus seemed to continue. Luckily I had kept an eye outside so I knew when we arrived at Khao Lak. If you travel a lot you soon learn not to trust what people say.
I took a taxi, or more exactly a small lorry, with seats at the platform at the back. Poseidon had informed me that it should cost 250 baht for the 8 km to Poseidon. That was probably too much and I think you can get it cheaper if you try.
I bought a Coca Cola for 30 baht when I arrived and took some photos of the surroundings including my little house. I also took some photos of a really nice lizard. Afterwards I took my snorkeling equipment and went down for a bath. It was impossible to snorkel since you could only see a few decimeters in front of you.
In the evening I ordered a piece of chicken for dinner which included as much salad you could eat. It cost 140 baht. I also settled the payment for the dinner, the night in my cabin and the 3d/2n boat tour to the Similan islands. The total sum was 8.615 baht.
Before I went to bed I packed all my things. Things you didn’t need onboard the boat you should leave in a luggage room.
I hadn’t slept many hours last night so I had planned to go to bed early. Unfortunately I had to change my plan due to problems with my stomach. I had to stay half night in the toilet. You are advised to eat warm food and especially no salad if you are not used to the germs when you are abroad. I had been really stupid and eaten as much salad as I could eat just before a boat tour. That was really stupid of me! 10 minutes passed one in the middle of the night I had had enough. Luckily I had bought a bottle of water during my dinner so I could swallow two Loperamid pills for my stomach and then I finally fell asleep. So much for that night of sleep.
I went up 6 a.m. since we should meet 7 a.m. I left my biggest suitcase and put most of my values, including passport, in their safe. We were 17 people who went on the boat tour beside the English guide, two women who made the food, the boat driver and another guy who drove the rubber boat.
A woman and her elderly mother was from Australia, one couple was from Germany, one couple was from USA and beside me there were ten people from Sweden. We went by cars to the nearby pier. The islands are 40 km from the coast and it took around 4 hours to reach the first one. The boat was in other words quite slow and made around 10 km/h.
I was really asocial during the trip out. I was so tired and in no mood of making conversations with other people. I just wanted to sleep and tried to do it where I sat at the big table.
The guide, who was called Lee I think, was very good and the security was high. There was one person all the time in the rubber boat when we snorkeled. If you run into problem you just signaled to him so he could come and pick you up.
We were lucky since February and Mars were the best months if you wanted to see manta rays. There was an island north of the Similan islands where you could see them. It was quite a bit between the island and the Similan islands. Due to this the day tour boats didn't visit the island since it would take too much time.
The guide went into the water and was dragged by the rubber boat until he saw a manta ray. When he saw the first one we jumped into the water. You saw manta rays almost all the time. I think the guide said that there were four of them but I thought that there were more. I suppose they circled around so you saw them several times. The biggest, according to the guide, was 5 meter between the wing tips. I actually got bored of looking at them and wondered when we should go to another place. If you get bored of looking at manta rays then the snorkeling is really something special.
The third and last place that day was in a bay. Some people saw lionfishes, a seasnake and I also think that somebody saw the sea turtle which lived there.
During the third snorkeling you saw a lot of beautiful corals. I had come up onboard the boat when I saw a big shoal of mackerel, maybe 200, jumped almost a meter up in the air, not far from the boat. Obviously bigger fishes were hunting them. A little later it happened again where the rubber boat was floating. 4 of the fishes jumped right into the rubber boat and another mackerel hit the outboard engine and got stuck with its head on the engine and couldn't get loose. It struggled desperately to get loose. Amy jumped into the boat and saved the fishes by throwing them into the water again.
In the evening, during dinner, it started to rain a little. The weather had otherwise been really good all the time and I heard someone say that the temperature had been 37 degrees.
Around 12 we started our journey back to Khao Lak. During the trip you could see more flying fishes and Amy's mother said that she saw a swordfish jump out of the water.
The room cost 1000 baht for each night and an extra 50 baht per night if you wanted to use the safe deposit in the room. It was much nicer to stay there compared to the house I had at Poseidon.
I charged all my batteries and phoned Poseidon and told them my room number. They had booked a day-tour to the Surin islands the following day and they had to tell the tour operator my hotel number since they were fetching me the next day.
I was quite tired so I just went to the closest shop and bought an ice-cream and went back to my hotel room where I went to bed and read my book.
We snorkeled two times, each time around 45 minutes, before it was time for lunch. The corals were lovely.
Onboard the boat you got water and Coca Cola, candy and biscuits. There was a toilet onboard the boat. Everybody had to wear a life west on the way out to the Surin islands. They made sure that no garbage was thrown into the water which was good. They drove however like maniacs between the places where we snorkeled. I wondered how many sea turtles they had run into.
They drove us home to our hotels afterwards. In the evening I went the main road up and down in Khao Lak. Almost all people I met were from Sweden. I found out that the Swedish travel agency Fritidsresor had the hotel where I lived.
I ate a dinner with chili which cost less than 100 baht including a bottle of soda water. It was so spicy so I could almost not eat it. They had asked me if I wanted it spicy and I answered “Yes I think so.” since I like spicy, Thai food at home.
After dinner I bought a couple of Diesel jeans. The guy who sold them could speak Swedish. He told me that they cost over 1600 baht. I told him that I don’t care what mark the jeans have as long as they fit me. I told him that I could buy jeans in Swden for 850 baht. I only had 720 baht with me which I could buy them for. Even that was probably too much.
I didn't feel so good that morning. I had a soar throat. I packed my things and took it quite easy. I ate a breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Muesli with yoghurt and tea cost 100 baht. I checked out and waited for a bus to Phuket Town just outside the hotel.
During the breakfast I heard that a couple from Sweden also was going by bus to Phuket Town and then they would also take a taxi from Phuket Town to Patong. Luckily they turned up while a waited. I asked if we could share a taxi from Phuket town which they thought was a splendid idea. Their names were Johnny and Fresh. Fresh's real name was Freshda or something like that and she was originally from a Kurdish part of Iran. Now she had moved from Bergsjön outside Gothenburg to Eskilstuna where he lived. They hadn't booked a room at Patong so they went together with me to my hotel which luckily had free rooms.
I had previously read on Internet that you should not trust the people who worked in the reception at the hotel in Khao Lak. They had said that there where no difference between red and blue busses but Poseidon had said something completely different. A man who also was going by bus said that it was better to wait for the blue bus although the red bus arrived first. The read bus could take more than three hours and the blue bus took around two hours. The man also showed us a timetable at a building next to the hotel. Why hadn't they said in the reception that there was a timetable since they knew that I was going by bus? A man who worked at the reception had said to Jonny and Fresh that he had phoned a relative who drove the bus and that it should take one and a half hour before the bus arrived. Just a few minutes after he had said that the first red bus turned up. Half an hour later both a red and a blue bus turned up. Luckily there were three free seats so we all could sit during the trip. It cost 80 baht from Khao Lak to Phuket Town.
You met taxi drivers as soon as you went off the bus. A guy said that it cost 450 baht to Patong. I thought that it was a little expensive since you could travel from the airport to Patong for just a little more. I said that we could pay 400. We went to a sign where the man showed us that there was a fixed price of 450 baht to Patong. Johnny and Fresh said that the price was okay and we paid 150 baht each. 450 baht is not much but it is the principle. It was not even real, metered taxi cars. Maybe you can find better cars somewhere else but we took one of the cars. The driver didn't know the way to the hotel but luckily I had a map and know where it was so I could direct him. He couldn't speak English if I remember correct.
I then went to the supermarket, Jungceylon, where I among other things bought watermelon for 25 baht per kilo.
In the evening I took my usual drink, 2 dl Bacardi mixed in a little bottle of Pepsi. I met Anong at the beach at the end of Bangla road. She was there together with a friend called Lang or something like that. Anong was actually 51 years old and Lang was 34 years old. Anong had previously told me that she was on holiday but now she said "or something like that since many Thai people cannot afford to take a holiday". We went to several discos together and it was real fun since Lang also liked to dance. I danced more or less the whole night with Lang. We also bought something to drink at a 7-eleven shop and took something to eat at a very cheap place where only Thai people ate. You got noodles and a glass of water for only 25 baht.
In the morning I walked home. The time was over seven, maybe soon eight, in the morning and the sun started to shine outside.
At around 6 p.m. I returned to Patong beach. I bought a VIP ticket for 800 baht to Simon Cabaret, www.phuket-simoncabaret.com. I got a really good ticket on the third row. The show started 9:30 p.m. but you got a free drink if you were there around 9:15.
Before the show I went to the tourist office and arranged for my journey to the Phi Phi islands the next day. A ticket from Phuket to Phi Phi and also from Phi Phi to Ao Nang beach cost 900 baht. It also included a pick-up at my hotel 9:30 in the morning and transfer to the ferry.
A little after 9 I went to Simon Cabaret. The included drink was just beer or orange juice. The show was very good and very glamorous with lovely costumes. Some parts were also really funny, at least for the people who were not involved. Some men in the audience got their faces pressed between breasts. One guy I felt really sorry for but I got a got laugh. One of the ladyboys kissed him all over his face and all his face was covered with lipstick marks. He tried to remove it with paper without much luck. On my way out, around 22:45, I saw the poor fellow in a bathroom desperately trying to remove all the lipstick.
After the show I was hungry and searched for a place to eat. The time was over 11 p.m. so the kitchen was closed at most places. After some time I found a place where they served both Thai and Russian food.
I think I walked home to my hotel around 2 in the night. I had to pack all my things for my trip to Phi Phi in the morning.
I went up 8 in the morning and prepared the rest of my things before I checked out.
I rested a little and walked out again around seven p.m. when it wasn't so hot. I went to Adventure club where I had booked a shark watching tour for the next day. The tour was recommended by Lonely Planet and you got your money back, 800 baht, if you didn't see a black-tip reef-shark when you snorkeled. I was unfortunately the only person who had booked the tour and there was a requirement of at least three persons otherwise the tour would be canceled. They told me to come back at around 9 p.m. I ate some food and came back but I was still the only person so the tour was cancelled.
Afterwards I saw some people dance at Appache bar otherwise all places were more or less deserted around midnight again.
I had previously during the evening checked the shark watching tour again. Two other people had booked so next morning they had planned to go if I also booked the tour. I had really looked forward to that tour but I wasn't feeling well at all so I had to tell them that I couldn't go. I got my 800 baht back from my previous booking. It was a hard decision but very wise since I would later be even worse.
I ate breakfast buffet at the hotel since that was included in the price. It was however quite a lousy breakfast compared with hotels in Europe. At 11 a.m. I had to check out. The hotel didn't have a luggage room which was also really lousy. You had to leave your luggage in front of the reception but they put at least a paper on it and you got a receipt.
Transfer to the hotel was actually included in the price. They had told me at the tourist information when I booked the ticket that it was not included. I said which hotel I was going to and was directed to the biggest vehicle. I don't think however that the information about where I was going reached the driver. I saw he had a piece of paper with some hotels on it but my hotel was not one of them. I told him where I was going just to make sure he didn't miss it and it was the last hotel.
I rested and read my book and in the evening I went out for a walk. The place was a little boring. There were some bars and restaurants played music for elderly people and families. No parties. At one place they sold a t-shirt with the following text "No fucking tuk tuk, suit or massage. Thank you". The salespeople in Thailand were okay I think. They are much worse in Arabic countries such as Egypt. I went to sleep around midnight.
I slept well but woke up around 5 in the morning and visited the toilet frequently during one hour to spit up yellow phlegm (slem). There were some disturbing sounds when I breathed which made me quite worried. I also had a little fever. I was worried that I had pneumonia. I hadn't paid much attention to it before but now I probably had to do something about it.
I ate breakfast at the hotel in the morning which cost 150 baht. When I paid for the breakfast I said that I wasn't feeling so good and asked where I could find a hospital. The man in the reception told me that there was a little clinic at the 7-eleven shop just a few minutes walking down the street.
I visited the clinic and had to fill in a paper with some information. I didn't need my passport if I remember correct. On the counter was a price list. Visiting the doctor would cost 700 baht. There were just three or four patients before me so I didn't have to wait very long. The doctor asked some questions, looked at my throat and listened on my lungs. The lungs were okay he said but he should have heard me breathing when I woke up that morning. My throat could have been worse. I think he said that I had bronchitis and said that many people got ill due to the unusual hot weather. I also heard people here and there cough. In Sweden it is the opposite, people get sick during the winter when it is cold weather. I got Codeine for the coughing and to remove my phlegm, I got cortisone for the inflammation in my throat and finally I got some kind of penicillin to kill the germs since I had yellow phlegm. The cure was for 4 days only and the doctor told me that I would be much better in two or three days. He also added that I could drink alcohol, or at least that was what my ears heard. Everything cost 1.700 baht.
I was travelling to Bangkok and waited for the airport bus at the reception. I woman in my age had a lot of requests about how here clothes should be washed. Some clothes should be washed with a lot of bleaching-powder and some other things should be washed in other ways. She also said that she didn't like ordinary Coca-cola and wondered if they could put sugar free Coca-cola in her minibar instead. Thank goodness that I wasn't traveling with her, or even worse married with her!
The airport bus arrived in time at exactly 9.55. You could see that it was the right bus since airport was written with big letters in the front. I waited out on the street since I didn't trust that it should stop at the hotel. The guy in the reception told me however that if it should miss the hotel then he would phone them immediately and tell the bus to return. It was a one hour drive to the airport.
At the small airport was just one long queue for my AirAsia plane to Bangkok. You had to pay if you wanted to eat something onboard the plane. It is therefore a good idea to take something with you.
In Bangkok you had to buy the ticket for the Airport Express bus, AE-2, outside port eight on level 1. There were just a few gates on that level so it was easier to find it if you looked up on level 2. I think the ticket cost 150 baht. It was easy to travel to Khao San road since the bus stopped there. You took your luggage onboard the bus so you didn't have to worry that somebody who jumped off at an earlier stop would steal it. The bus actually didn't stop on Kha San road. It stopped on another road a few minutes walking from Khao San road. It was difficult to find the hotel since you had to walk in on a narrow path between buildings in the middle of the Khao San road. The path was just a meter wide. I had a quite good description of the way but had to ask anyway.
I visited the disco called The Club on Khao San road. The entrance was free but it was not at all as fun as the discos at Patong. Again a woman said that I should go up and dance on the stage and a man who danced nearby showed his thumb up when I danced. I went home to my hotel before 2 a.m. A gate to my hotel closed at that time and afterwards you had to ring a bell so that a person could come and let you in.
Outside my hotel were some people who played a game. You started by creating a tower of wood pieces. You then had to pull out one piece at a time using only one hand and pile the pieces on top of the tower. You lost if the tower fell when it was your turn to pull out one of the pieces. You had to buy beer to the other people who played if you lost. I lost one time and had to buy three beers for 150 baht. I played together with Jack from Canada, a man from Switzerland and a Thai woman who had the game. Later came also a man from Australia who was a little too drunk. It was really funny and I stayed there until half past six in the morning. I then had to leave since I had a meeting with my pen-friend Noppasorn 11 a.m.
When we played the game a woman came with a little cage full of birds. I think it was sparrows. I am not sure what she wanted but I think you could release one, or maybe all, of the birds if you gave her money. I wondered why you would like to do something like that. Why catch the poor birds if you anyway were planning to release them.
I ate breakfast at my hotel since it was included in the price. The breakfast consisted of two roasted pieces of bread, a tiny piece of butter, a little marmalade and tea or coffee. You could hardly call it a breakfast.
In the evening I returned to my hotel where I had a shower. I was quite tired but had only time to rest a quarter of an hour in my bed. Afterwards I had to hurry to get a taxi. On my way I saw a rat coming up from the drainage under the street. It was followed by four more rats. Then there were more rats here and there.
I had booked a boat tour with buffet on the river. You could choose between one which cost 150 baht. You had to pay extra for your food and it returned late in the night since it was dance aboard. Another cost 800 baht per person which included a very good buffet of Thai food. I took the one with buffet which started 19:30 and was back before midnight. You had to be there before 7 p.m. otherwise your booking might be canceled.
The boat tour with the good buffet was a lovely ending of my two weeks holiday in Thailand.
I was extremely tired and hadn't the energy to go out for a short walk. I just had to rest for a little while before I went out an hour after 1 a.m. I just had to say goodbye to Khao San road, Bangkok and Thailand. They were playing the game again outside my hotel and I watched for a little while. The woman who had the game gave me a chair but I told her that I unfortunately couldn't stay. That was the end of a lovely holiday in a lovely country.
I woke up by the alarm clock 5 a.m. and checked out half an hour later. I hadn’t received money back for the last night when I didn’t use the single room. It wasn’t much money so I didn’t even ask for it. There were some taxi cars on the road just outside the hotel so you didn’t have to book one in advance. I asked if they could use the meter but was told that it would cost 400 Baht. It wasn’t much so I gave up the meter and agreed to the price. It only took around 30 minutes to the airport since it was early in the morning and no traffic.
I had to weight my cabin bag which is quite unusual. It weight too much so I had to move things from it to the suitcase I should checked in. I moved all my books except the one I was reading and I also put my bum bag (midjeväska) which contained all my battery chargers around my waist. The weight went down to 9 kg which they luckily accepted.
There was a 30 minutes queue to the passport check where they also checked your tourist VISA. The security check after that went fast without problem.
The airport in Bangkok is very big with an awful lot of shops. Everything was very expensive so why hadn’t I bought some snacks before I went to the airport. Will I ever learn?
You just got two meals during the long flight with Finnair which isn’t much. I think other companies have better service.
Beside me sat a Swedish woman who also lived in Gothenburg. She had missed a previous flight due to the demonstrations in Bangkok. The new, one way, ticket cost over 9.000 SEK she told me. It is much more than my return ticket to Bangkok cost.
I changed plane in Helsinki again. I had less than an hour before my next plane departed but managed to reach my gate 10 minutes before boarding. The flight went without problem and my father fetched me at the airport.
I have to admit that I was in a terrible shape when I came back from my holiday. I started to work as usual but was so tired so I just fell asleep when I came home after works the first days. My legs where swollen and my weight was 4 kg more than usual. It took a couple of days before my legs, and weight, were back as normal. It took over a week before I could exercise and go to the dance school. It took two weeks before I felt more or less restored.
The air tickets I of course bought in advance. The return ticket to Bangkok with Finnair via Helsinki cost 6.860 SEK. The ticket from Bangkok to Phuket with Thai Airways cost 808 SEK. The ticket with AirAsia from Krabi to Bangkok cost 2.036 baht.
I also paid in advance around half, 4000 baht, of the 3n2n boat tour with Poseidon to the Similan islands. My two nights at Phi Phi hotel I also had to pay in advance. It cost 5.100 baht.
I brought 50.700 baht with me and I had 12.820 baht with me back home.
The whole trip cost ( 6860 + 808 ) SEK + ( 2036 + 4000 + 5100 + 50700 - 12820 ) baht.
1 baht = 0.24 SEK (Swedish crowns)
1 SEK = 4.14 THB (Thailand baht)
The total cost was then 19.508 SEK or 80.762 baht.
I had 11 nights at hotels which cost about 1000 baht a night and 2 nights at Phi Phi for 5100 baht. If you travel together with another person you would then save 8.500 baht or 2.053 SEK.
I week after I returned I visited a tourism exhibition where I listened to some people who talked about other countries. One talked about Malaysia and something called homestay. You could buy an apartment in Malasia but I think it had to cost over 1.2 million SEK. The reason was that people from abroad should not buy apartments which ordinary Malaysian people bought and that was good. For 1.2 million SEK you got a luxurious apartment in for instance an area where you lived with other people who also had bought similar apartments. There was a guard who watched over people passing in and out. There was a swimming pool, gym etc. I have been thinking a little about this and I have to say that I probably wouldn't like to live like that. You would probably stay with a lot of elderly people from for instance Europe and maybe USA. If I buy an apartment in another country then I would like to live with local people. I would like to have local people, for instance Thai people, as friends and not people from my own country. I actually liked the little, and very simple apartment, Dao had. It would be lovely if you just installed air-condition, warm water and a washing machine. I would also like to have cable-TV and a good Internet connection.
It is interesting to compare the salaries in Sweden and in Thailand. You can do that on www.worldsalaries.org. A person in the manufacturing sector earned in average in Sweden 2005 21.052 SEK compared to 6,407 baht in Thailand. The person worked 37.4 hours per week in Sweden and 50.5 hours in Thailand. The Swedish statistics seemed to be okay but I really wonder if the statistics from Thailand are okay. An office clerk, nurse or teacher earns about 15.000 to 16.000 baht which sounds more reasonable.
I have read a Swedish book with the title "Thailand - mer än sol och stränder" written by Bertil Lintner and Susanna Asklöf. The English title is "Thailand - more than sun and beaches". It is about Thai people, salaries, their king and the military, nature, Buddhism and many more things. I can recommend that book if you are interested in Thailand.