One of the Erawan waterfalls in the Erawan National Park
Based on the recommendation of Claire, our Scottish friend that we keep on traveling with, we went straight from the Bangkok airport to the bus station to head to Kanchanaburi, a small town on the River Kwai. We only meant to spend a couple of days there, but the laid back atmosphere and our sweet hotel room that floated on the river and had a porch with chairs and a hammock extended our stay.
Kanchanaburi itself is a sprawling town but the touristic area is limited to a long street of bars, restaurants, shops, hotels and food cart vendors. It was walking down this street on our second morning that a guy on a motorcycle stopped and said, “can I say hello?” Not wanting to deal with whatever he was selling, Carrie and I ignored him and kept walking. It wasn’t until he repeated his question and took off his helmet and sunglasses that we realized it was our couchsurfing friend Tut from Phuket. He had just quit his job at the timeshare company and was making his way to South Korea. What a small world!
Me, Carrie and Tut at the Erawan National Park
Along with Tut, we spent that evening at the night market where we wandered around sampling lots of foods and looking at all the junk for sale. The three of us also treated ourselves to massages: Tut and I got our feet done while Carrie got a full oil massage from a Lady Boy. The foot massage was quite nice and the masseuse used some form of dull pointed stick to access pressure points and kneed out knots that I had never experienced before. Very relaxing!
Waking up early the next morning, we rented a motorcycle and, with Carrie on the back, followed Tut to the Erawan National Park: home of a beautiful seven-level waterfall. Ranging in size and force, each level of the waterfall cascaded into beautiful blue pools perfect for swimming or other activities. One of the levels had a large mossy rock doubled as a water slide; we spent a lot of time there. Another highlight was swimming under a fall to get a massage from the water beating on our shoulders.
We could have spent hours at each level were it not for the little fish that bit the dead skin off of everyone’s feet when we stood still in the water for more than a second. More startling than painful, it still ensured that we didn’t stay at any one fall for too long. Fortunately, the crowds were not so bad and the higher up we went the fewer people we saw.
Shaky wooden bridges are common on the Death Railway
After saying goodbye to Tut, our next outing was a ride on the Death Railroad, which was named because of all the POW slave laborers who died building it during World War II. The trip started by going over the Bridge Over the River Kwai, which was made most famous by the old movie staring Obi Wan Kenobi himself, Alec Guiness. Carrie and I tried to watch it a couple of times before our ride but never made it past 10 minutes.
Death Railway chugged along for more than two hours, passing by streams, mountains and large caverns that had been dynamited out by the POWs. At some points the side of the train was literally inches from the face of the jagged cliff. We crossed a handful of rickety wood bridges over deep chasms and even went through a few tunnels. When the train reached the destination, we quickly hopped out and got a bus back to Kanchanaburi, finding it just a bit silly that on one of our few days of not moving around we spent our time on two unnecessary forms of transportation.
Most of the rest of our time in Kanchanaburi was spent relaxing on our porch, wandering the main street, catching up on some much needed writing and photo sorting and eating lots of meals from an delicious and cheap local restaurant where we befriended the entire staff. My favorite part was playing paper airplanes with their two year old daughter while waiting for amazing pad thais and curries.
Carrie walks into the Thailand section of the border
With our new friends Claire and Karen in tow, Carrie and I left the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia at 7:30am to head to Koh Phangan, Thailand, for the Full Moon Party. Referred to as the best and biggest party in the world, we had based our entire schedule for Malaysia and Singapore around getting to the party. It was something that we just had to experience. Little did we know that getting there would be an experience all in itself.
Our day began with a quick boat “taxi” to the speedboat ferry that would take us from the Perhentians back to the mainland. From there we hired a proper taxi to take the four of us to the Thailand border at Sungai Kolok. Getting our passport stamped to leave Malaysia was quick and painless. Getting into Thailand was not.
Checking to make sure no on has swine flu before entering Thailand
First we had to undergo a health check, which involved filing out a form swearing that we had no swine flu symptoms and getting our temperature checked. After mine came out at 36.7 degrees Celsius the nurse showed it to me and said, “very close.” I freaked out a bit until I saw the sign that said 38 was the minimum for concern. What was she scaring me for?!
Next we had to wait on a long and hot line to get our passports stamped with our Thai visas. While waiting, a money changer approached me and tried to give me a terrible exchange rate. As everything does, it turned into a little scene that ended with me refusing to give him my money.
The encounter did have a positive effect though, as Reuben, a Spaniard traveling alone and standing behind me in the line, asked me why I didn’t want to change money with that guy. We continued to talk about traveling and soon established that he too was going to the party without pre-booked accommodation. And just like that we had a fifth member of our crew.
The full moon gang (from the left: Claire, Karen, Reuben, Carrie and Me)
After successfully getting through the border check and entering Thailand we found that the train station we needed for the next leg of our journey was about 4 kilometers away. There were no car taxis anywhere so we had no choice but to all hop on the back of motorcycle taxis with our big bags. For ten minutes we caravanned through the streets of Sungai Kolok: waving, hooting and hollering at each other. Depending on whom you ask it was either a fun or terrifying experience; Claire said she had never been more scared in her life!
Safely arriving at the train station and buying our tickets to Surat Thani, we joined a train full of other Western travelers heading to the same place. The ride was long, dusty, hot and highly entertaining. Reuben was sitting next to a Thai who was drinking beer for 10 hours straight. Karen and Claire drank whisky with a Thai police officer in the food car. Carrie and I met an army officer who loves scuba diving as much as we do. Good times were had by all.
The sleeping quarters on board the overnight ferry to Koh Phangan
We finally arrived at Surat Thani at around 9pm and quickly started looking for cabs to take us to the boat dock. However, we had somehow picked up a straggler (we’ll call him San Diego because that’s where he’s from and I don’t know his name) who invited himself into our group to try and save money on the cab. He alternated between making sure to latch onto us and trying to find his own cheap deal. In the end he tagged along with us, which made us need two cabs instead of one and we all had to pay an extra 10 bhat for helping him. No problem, I would hope the same would happen to me in that situation.
The boat, which doubled as a cargo ship filled with food, beer and other dry goods, wound up costing double the normal price due to the party. The inside was lined with mattresses both on the floor and elevated in the aisles. Everyone had an assigned spot, though we did have to kick a few sleeping locals out of our beds after playing cards until nearly 1am. It took a while, but we all finally fell asleep to the rocking of the sea.
We made it!
Arriving at 5:30am, we were awoken by the sounds of the ship’s horns and countless taxi drivers on the jetty shouting “good morning! You want taxi? Where you go?” through the boat’s windows. Still groggy, we had no choice but to enter the taxi gauntlet waiting for us and try and figure out where we were headed. Not surprisingly, it was at this point that San Diego reappeared after being MIA all night and tagged along with us. Our destination: a hotel with a room big enough for six.
The epilogue to the story is that Claire’s place didn’t work out but we did find a wonderful AC room that we could cram the original five into. San Diego had been both trying to find his own place and make sure to stick with us all morning just in case, so we were a-ok with him doing his own thing. We even helped find him a cheap single room, but were completely done with him. Finally, at around 8:30am we all plopped into our beds and passed out.
Final tally
1 train ride
1 motorcycle taxi
3 car taxis
3 boats
26 hours of travel
Views from the back of our motorcycle taxi to the train station
The scene on the dock when our boat arrived at the full moon party at 530am
Carrie and I with our big bags in front of our hotel getting ready to leave the full moon party
We spent the night dancing and having a blast before going to bed at around 8am. Reuben returned. Karen came back. But where was Claire? This was the question we were still asking at 7pm when I hopped onto the back of a motorcycle driven by a Thai friend I had made. Our destinations? Health clinics and the police station to see if anyone had seen the girl whose passport I held in my hand. None of us knew what to do but we were very worried.
My friend told me that people go missing all the time and if she didn’t show up and we filed a police report that we would have to stay on the island until she surfaced. I had no luck on our motorcycle ride, but upon returning what did I see? Claire chatting with the girls telling a story about meeting new friends and winding up on the other side of the island with no cell phone. Thank goodness she was ok but what an experience for us.
The next day we all said our goodbyes and Carrie and started our 700 kilometer journey north to Chang Mai for some trekking. We had gone against our usual method of travel and booked a direct trip to Bangkok through a tour agent to make our life easier. Our taxi left the hotel at 11am and we next joined thousands of Westerners boarding a boat to what we thought was Surat Thani.
A huge pile of backpacker bags loaded onto the boat from the full moon party
In reality the boat dropped us off a few hours later at some dock somewhere in Thailand where busses waited to take us the rest of the way. We were among the last people off the boat by the time we finally got our bags all of the busses were full and we had to wait on this random dock for nearly two hours before the next bus came.
When we finally arrived in Surat Thani we were left at a bus terminal in the middle of nowhere so we had no choice but to buy their overpriced food. Our bus left 30 minutes late and got into Bangkok 30 minutes early: at 4:30am. We hopped in a cab to the train station, booked an 8:30am train to Chang Mai and waited in the terminal for it to leave.
A twelve hour train ride later we got to Chang Mai. got in a cab, found a hotel and passed out.
Tons of tourists waiting to board the boat to leave the full moon party
Final tally:
3 taxis
2 bus rides
1 boat ride
1 train ride
34 hours of travel
Add the 26 hours to get from Malaysia to the full moon party and you get 60 hours of travel in 6 days. Had we skipped the full moon party and flown from Malaysia to Chang Mai it would have taken 3 hours. Was it worth it? 100%!
Getting around Sri Lanka is a bit tough, especially when you leave the bigger cities. The primary method of transportation is what can best be described as a public bus from 1981 with the remains of the same seats it was built with. There are luggage racks that hang from the ceilings, but they rarely big enough for our small day packs, let alone our large backpacks. At times there is room under the seats for our bags, but they usually wind up propped against a door or some in an aisle against an unfortunate Sri Lankan’s legs. At times, they even share the same space as the driver’s gear shift.
Rickety and shock-free, the buses go barreling down the road while passing cars by heading into oncoming traffic. However, this is no different from India and actually seems normal by now. For a slower and more tranquil ride, coach mini-buses are also available with air conditioning for about five times the price of the public bus. These usually go express with far fewer stops and have more comfortable seats, although they still find a way to cram them in there.
This is how much room there is in the overhead compartments. Barely enough to fit my chap stick, let alone a bag
If buses aren’t your thing then all aboard a Sri Lankan train. However, unlike in India where the railroad is the most efficient method of transportation, a ride here often takes a few hours longer. This is especially in the hill country where it must chug up and down mountains, but the views are usually more stunning and the ride much smoother. As for the trains themselves, the cars are quite small: usually four seats wide with an aisle in the middle and have no sleeper sections. There are first, second and third classes, with second being Carrie and my section of choice.
Once in a town, the fastest, though not cheapest, way to get around is a three wheeler (aka auto-rickshaw, tuk tuk or taxi). All prices start out at least double what locals pay and we always have to negotiate to as close as we can get to a fair price. Even once we arrive the driver often tries to get a few extra rupees out of us and we have to stand strong and let them know they can’t change the price after we agreed on it.
Trains are the most popular way of getting around India, with the British laying thousands of miles of track across the country. As a lifelong fan of trains, I was very excited about the prospect of using them throughout our trip, though a bit worried about the safety of my belongings. There are many
The view from my bed in the sleeper car
classes of cars on these trains, but for a 12 hour overnight trip such as our first ride from Delhi to Udaipur we needed a sleeper car. As such, our options were: 1st Class AC, which was a private lockable car and $40 per person, 2nd class AC, which is semi private but not lockable and $20 per person, and sleeper class, which is a massive car with nearly 50 people on teeny beds and not private at all, but only $5 per person.
I’ll give you one guess which one we had to go with due to the lateness of our booking. Yup, the big open sleeper class with 48 of our closest Indian friends. However, all my worries were for naught as we actually felt safer in sleeper class than we would have in anything other than the $40 first class, as we were surrounded by people all night. We even got the “top bunks” and I managed to watch The Goonies on my iPod undisturbed. However, man was it cold! As I mentioned earlier, it gets down to the 40s at night and, with the wind blowing in through open windows, I can only imagine what the actual temperature was. So, as the sound of train tracks, different dialects of speech, loud music and the scents of incense and cigarettes lulled us to sleep, we often woke up shivering despite being covered in every layer we had.
For more information on the different classes of cars in Indian trains complete with photos, check out this great link.
