7/21/10 (phnom penh)

Phnom Penh - Bangkok

Before going to bed I had set the alarm for 5:15am. Paul’s place has a third story balcony facing due east and this was a perfect opportunity to capture a sunrise on our final day in Cambodia. The morning didn’t disappoint. The river bank was lined with Cambodians waking up with their morning exercise routine covered by clear skies. I spent the next hour recording what turned out to be a great time lapse. I then gathered my gear and headed for the market down the street. This market opens at 4:00am each day and is consistently busy. The light was golden and it was the perfect time to capture the scene in all of its glory. 

I have to admit I am not the most comfortable dropping a camera with a rather large lens in front of unfamiliar people to get intimately tight shots. This is doubly difficult when language is a barrier as most of the people at the market didn’t speak English. Determined to stretch my comfort zone and armed with a now or never attitude I set up shop in front of two Cambodians running a Chinese donut stand. I used my best translation available which involved pointing at the camera, imitating a shutter push with my forefinger, and shaking my head yes. This was an effective technique and most quickly agreed. Over the next hour I worked very hard to get an up close and personal perspective of these “real Cambodians” and my camera generated a lot of interested from the curious locals. I was able to capture some really wonderful stuff.

I went back to Paul’s and worked on updating my essential gear blog for my business site. This was something I had been meaning to do for quite some time and it was nice to finally get it off my plate. It took most of the morning. Annie and I then lounged around a bit and watched a few episodes from the fourth season of Dexter while awaiting our departure for the airport at 5:30pm. Before leaving I wanted to hit Cafe Fresca one last time. Annie decided to hold off on food and so I was on my own. On my way back the afternoon rain set in but this wasn’t an ordinary rain, it was coming down in sheets and the streets were beginning to flood rather quickly. Unfortunately I didn’t bring the umbrella and was caught in the rainstorm and there was very little time before our driver was going to take us to the airport. I needed to make a run for it and deal with being drenched when I got to Paul’s. Traffic, as always, was crazy and as I got to the final intersection I was almost run over by a speeding tuk tuk when my flip flop suctioned to the ground as I ran through a giant puddle. I lost the flip flop and jumped out of the way. 

After returning, I dried off and gathered our luggage in preparation for departure. I had a chance to briefly say goodbye to the staff at Cafe Metro and quickly loaded everything into the van as the rain continued to stream down. Traffic was heavy but our driver, On Prum, skillfully navigated the roads as we worked on drying off in the back seat. We got to the airport with plenty of time and easily made it through security. Annie had some dinner and I called home. The flight was very smooth and took roughly 45 minutes to get back to Bangkok. When we arrived we were greeted by a special immigration officer Chef McDang had arranged for us. The officer swiftly got us through customs and to the private limo back to Chef McDang’s house. Back to living the luxurious Thai lifestyle! We stayed up for the next few hours catching up with the chef before heading to bed for some much needed rest. A solid day all around. 

6/30/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

It was another early morning flight for us at 7:45am to Phnom Penh or otherwise known as PP. Chef McDang’s driver came at 5am to take us to the airport. We were amazed at the scale of the Bangkok airport. It was one of the biggest we had seen in Asia. It was a very short flight to PP. We were barely at our flight altitude for five minutes before the captain announced that we had to get ready for our descend. The flight attendants quickly served us breakfast and drinks before they came to take it away. All in all it was a smooth flight.

Over the last few weeks we had been in touch with a friend’s uncle, Giang, who was from Cambodia. He had given us good tips on places to visit and invited us to stay at his villa, even though he wasn’t there, but we hadn’t sorted out the details. He gave us the name of one of his assistants who would provide us with directions to the house. When we landed we gave the assistant a call but we couldn’t reach him. We waited a bit at the airport and finally got a hold of someone. The taxi driver pulled up to a huge mansion where we were greeted by a security guard and guard dog. The assistant we spoke with wasn’t at home so there was some confusion about who we were but they still invited us in. We were shown to our room and told to make ourselves at home. I have to admit it was all a bit strange. We were in this huge house with a cook, housekeeper, and a few other guys but the owner of the house was in Vietnam. Everyone was very friendly but only one of them spoke English. 

After a quick nap we decided to grab some lunch. The English-speaking staff helped us get a tuk-tuk and directed the driver to take us to the river where we would find plenty of restaurants. He wrote down the address of the house so we could give it to someone when we were ready to return. Like I said...super helpful.

We arrived to what seemed like the center of PP where all the hotels and restaurants were located. Jon knew the name of Paul’s restaurant and that it was located somewhere along the river. We strolled along the river and luckily found the place, which was called Cafe Metro. It was the swankiest restaurant in town and when we walked in it was as if we were transformed back to San Francisco. It looked like any place you would walk into on Chestnut Street. The restaurant is very modernly decorated and the staff were nicely dressed in their uniform. We asked the staff if Paul was around and that we were friends of his. The girl gave us a skeptical look and I don’t really blame her. We were looking a bit scruffy and should’ve gotten cleaned up. She told one of the managers who immediately came over to greet us. He said Paul mentioned there may be two Americans coming in asking for him. Good of Paul to alert the staff since we might not otherwise have been passed the test. Paul joined us while we were eating and we updated him on what we had been up to since we last saw him in Bangkok.

After lunch Paul showed us his place, which was right above the restaurant. He bought the building when he opened Metro and lives on the third floor. He invited us to stay with him as well since a visiting chef who was staying with him had just left. It was very generous of him and probably more convenient for us since it was centrally located. We would have our own room on the second floor. We decided to stay the night at Giang’s since he had been so nice to offer us a place to stay and didn’t want to leave abruptly.

We walked around the neighborhood which had a bustling food market and tons of tuk-tuks waiting for passengers. He also showed us the location of his second restaurant, which hopefully will open in a few months. Along the way he suggested we get a foot massage, which only costed $6/hour/person. What a bargain! It was Jon’s first foot massage and he loved it. We stopped in at a store to browse the DVDs. Up to this point we resisted buying knock-off DVDs on principle and thought they would be bad quality. But then we saw all these shows that we wanted to watch and before we knew it we walked out of the store with $40 worth of DVDs. And we had a bag full of them. I blame Paul for his bad influence. 

We agreed to meet Paul for dinner and his tuk-tuk driver, On Prum, took us back to the villa to get changed. We quickly showered and got ready since On Prum was waiting for us downstairs. I wondered what Giang’s staff thought of us since we hadn’t spent much time at the house. We met Paul for drinks at Metro. We were having such a good time that we ended ordering a much of appetizers for dinner. We had a great meal and conversation. A good way for us to start our Cambodian adventure.

6/28/10 – 6/29/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok – Hua Hin – Bangkok

Today we celebrated our three year anniversary. Can't believe it's been three years and how fast time flies. We were wondering what country we would be in by this time. There was no big celebration since our gift to each other was traveling around Asia for six months. Not a bad present. We have been on the road for about four months and have spent practically every day together. Luckily we haven't gotten tired of each other so it must be a sign that's something is going right. Jon gave me a six month travel adventure for our third year...wonder what he's getting me for our fourth year. Hard to top that! 

We were getting a bit too comfortable at the McDang compound so it was good for us to explore other areas. We met Pai in downtown Bangkok late in the afternoon after he got off work. We didn’t realize that Hua Hin was a few hours away but with Pai’s high speed cruising skills we were there within three hours just in time for dinner. We unloaded our stuff at the hotel where we met Chef McDang’s adopted son (aka his nephew) and their TV producer. They arrived earlier in the day to do some filming. Chef McDang decided to add a new segment to his show where his nephew visits the restaurants he has reviewed to present them with the new McDang plaque, similar to the Zagat’s and Michelin guide. Chef McDang critiques five elements of the restaurant based on a five star scale.

For dinner we went to the local night market, which is one of the cleanest ones we had visited. We sampled a variety of local foods. We also visited something like an amusement park. The décor in all the restaurants and shops were from what Hua Hin would’ve looked like back in the 60’s. On the way to Hua Hin Jon and Pai were craving hamburgers and were debating on whether to go to McDonald’s or Burger King. Pai claimed that Burger King was the better one in Thailand so after a full meal all the boys got a late night snack at BK. I opted for a chocolate gelato next door.

The next morning we headed to our first shoot, a restaurant nearby Hua Hin. When we arrived five dishes previously critiqued were brought out. Jon pitched in and also helped with the filming. They were all very impressed with his camera equipped, which came in handy for the shoot. After the shoot we got to enjoy the food, compliments of the restaurant. Pai called it jungle food since the people eat whatever they can find in the jungle. He also ordered a dish with wild boar, which was a first for us. The meat was a bit chewy but pretty tasty.

Before we headed to the next restaurant we visited the biggest monk statue possibly in the world. The statue was erected in honor of the work that the monk had done for the country. It was extremely hot so we had to leave Jon in the hot sun while he did a video time lapse to cool ourselves in the shade.

The second restaurant was by the beach so it was a bit cooler. The most interesting dish they had was called raw horny fish. Supposedly if you eat the fish it makes you horny. The boys all delved in. We had just eaten a few hours ago but after the shoot we continued our eating feast. Needless to say we weren’t hungry for dinner.

After the shoot we drove back to Bangkok. During the car ride we had an engaging conversation with Pai. He’s only twenty-three years old but is a key advisor to Chef McDang. He definitely has a bright future ahead of him.

Thanks boys for showing us Hua Hin. We had a blast!

6/27/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok 

We had two important things to do today…lunch with Chef McDang’s mom and aunt and dinner with his friend, Raymond. We were excited to meet his mom since we had heard so much about her. We arrived for lunch at the Peninsula Hotel in downtown Bangkok where we were greeted by the head executive chef of the hotel and the executive chef for Chinese cuisine. They were good friends of Chef McDang and came by constantly to see how we were enjoying our meal. I think it’s common in the Asian culture for moms to think that the boys are never eating enough. Chef McDang’s mom and aunt were constantly giving Jon more food to a point where his plate was always full. It was quite endearing and funny to witness. 

After lunch we went back to the compound to rest and relax before our next big meal. Over the last few days we spent some downtime with Chef McDang and got to know him beyond being a celebrity chef. He has a fascinating family story with him growing up in the palace to moving to the UK when he was twelve to study and later making his mark in the culinary world. Someone needs to write a book about his life. He shared with his dreams of what he hopes to accomplish over the next few years. Even though he has traveled all over the world and been in the culinary industry for a number of years, he continues to educate people everywhere about Thai cuisine, which is synonymous to its history and culture. His first English cookbook, Principles of Thai Cookery, is one of his biggest accomplishments in sharing in detail what Thai cuisine is all about with the world.

With all this talk about Thai food it was time for dinner with Raymond and his family. At dinner we also met Chef McDang’s nephew, Pai, and his friend, Hector, both works for the chef. Raymond owns several successful restaurants in Hong Kong and is a connoisseur on durian, the king of fruit. Every time he comes to Bangkok he gets together with Chef McDang who hooks him up with the best durians. After dinner two large plates of durian were brought out. Raymond was like a kid in a candy store. Both Jon and I had never tried one since durian has a very foul smell though the really good ones don’t stink as bad. We decided to give it a try. It was very very heavy and rich, so much that to me it was like drinking straight cream. I’m glad we got to try it though I don’t think we’ll be having any more, which is a good thing since they are the most expensive fruit in the world.

After dinner as we were heading home we found out that Pai was going to shoot a short clip of Chef McDang’s TV show tomorrow. He invited us to come along and since we didn’t have any solid plans for the next few days before we left for Cambodia we decided to take him up on his offer. We were going to Hua Hin, which is a beach town three to four hours away so we would spend the night there. For not doing much planning we always seem to have stuff lined up.

6/24/10 – 6/26/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok – Koh Chang – Bangkok

At 6am we were on our way to Koh Chang. Chef McDang made all the arrangements and even had the hotel limo pick us up at his house. The limos in Thailand are stylish Volkswagen vans that can seat five people very comfortably in the back with two reclining leather seats, a TV with a DVD player, and even a window that can be rolled up to give you some privacy between you and the driver. Since we left so early in the morning Chef McDang also prepared a basket of breakfast goodies and hot coffee. We were rolling in style.

He told us the ride to Koh Chang would be take about three hours when in actuality it was more like five hours, including a short twenty minute ferry ride, but we really couldn’t complain since we had plenty of DVDs to entertain us. We later found that limo driver stayed at the hotel while we were there so he could drive us back to Bangkok. Talk about VIP service though there’s really no other way to roll when you are with Chef McDang. Did I also mention that as we were leaving Chef McDang’s house he surprised us by informing us that he had taken care of the hotel and we just had to pay for our meals?!

When we arrived at Gaja Puri Hotel in Koh Chang we were greeted with welcome drinks and cool refreshing towels. We were then whisked away to our room where there was a cold bottle of champagne compliments of the hotel awaiting us. It was by far the most luxurious hotel we had stayed at during our travels. We felt very pampered. What was also really cool was a towel made into a 3D elephant on the bed. It was the coolest towel decoration we had ever seen. Chang means elephant so Koh Chang is referred to as the elephant island. 

After we got settled we grabbed lunch by the pool and found out from the staff that we were the only ones staying at the hotel. We had the entire resort to ourselves. We just couldn’t believe it! We had to tell someone so we called Jon’s mom and step dad to share our last 48-hour adventure. We don’t know what we had done to deserve all this but we certainly weren’t going to question it. All the excitement had worn us out so we took a nap till late in the evening. We then booked a private tour of the island for the following day with the hotel’s travel guide. We were only here for two nights, three days so we wanted to make the most of our time on the island.

The next day during breakfast we were surprised to see three other guests and found out that they saw the hotel in a magazine and just walked in for a booking. We met our tour guide, Nook, who had a full day planned for us. We went elephant trekking in the morning where we met Sunshine, a 23-year old rambunctious elephant. We went on a 45-minute ride around the forest and made many pit stops since it seemed that there was always some food that caught Sunshine’s attention. However, the elephant driver from Burma did a pretty good job keeping her on track. There were some pretty steep parts of the path where we thought we would fall off but Sunshine held her cool while we pretended we were a bit scared. Towards the end of the ride the driver let me sit on Sunshine’s neck where I was supposed to direct her on where to go. In reality it was more like me holding onto her for dear life and she went wherever she wanted. After our ride we feed her some bananas, which was the best part of the day for her. At the elephant farm they only have female elephants since they are easier to train. There were about twelve in total and one of them was a 13-year old named Naughty. I guess she was the wild and crazy teenager.

We stopped briefly at a Chinese Buddhist temple, where Nook and I offered a prayer. We shook a can filled with bamboo sticks each with a number on it. You shake the can till one stick falls on the ground but if more than one falls then you have to do it again. You only get to shake the can three times and if each time more than one sticks falls then your prayer won’t be answered. Once a stick falls on the ground there’s a number on the stick, which corresponds to a response to your prayer. If you like the response then you make a small donation to the temple and keep the response. If you don’t like the response then you put it back. Both Nook and I didn’t like our response. 

Our next destination was a local fishing village. On our way there we passed by a shrimp farm. We were hoping to go in but no visitors are allowed since the farm has a very delicate ecosystem. There must be the right balance of salt and fresh water at all time in order for the shrimp to thrive so the farmers monitor the tanks at all times. We also bought some tasty local fruits along the way. Some of our favorites were the rambutan and a sweet and sour fruit, which we don’t know the English name for it. Jon said it tasted like candy. The fishing village consisted of wooden houses built on stilts along a river. The local fishermen were all out to sea while the women were at home taking care of the children and repairing broken fishing nets. Some of the houses didn’t have doors so when you walked by you could look into someone’s entire house. It was very rustic living except for the satellite dishes on top of the houses.

We had lunch at the best seafood restaurant on the island where there was a picture of Chef McDang, among other celebrities, on the wall. After lunch we took a small speedboat to a remote island. There was a hotel on the island but since it was the slow season there were no guests except for a few staff. We had the entire island to ourselves with an entourage of four staff of our own. We tried snorkeling but the water was too murky so we just played in the water and relaxed on the beach before heading back to the hotel. By the time got back the sun was about to set so we enjoyed the sunset on a swing right on the beach. It was a nice way to end our day.

During the night a huge rainstorm came through and continued on till the morning. We were really lucky that the day before was clear blue skies. After breakfast we were once again whisked into our limo for the drive back to Bangkok. We arrived at Chef McDang’s house late in the afternoon. Chef McDang had a reunion to attend that evening so we went out with Nun, his assistant, to the night market for dinner. We saw a Dairy Queen and couldn’t resist getting some ice cream. We were even able to convince Nun in having some who claims he must watch his figure even though he is very slim.

6/23/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok

This day turned out to be a pretty epic day. We had taken an overnight bus from Krabi the prior night after having expected a more luxurious train ride. We arrived at a downtown Bangkok drop off point and unloaded from the bus at roughly 5:45am. The local cabbies engulfed us like hungry seagulls. While I was rounding up our luggage, Annie appeared with a driver she had been negotiating a fare with. They settled on 300 Baht (roughly $10 US) for transport to Chef McDang’s home. We had made it a policy to ask before getting in the cab after having been burned in Malaysia. The driver spoke limited English and we needed to provide him with our destination. We reluctantly called Chef McDang for an early wake up call and he spoke to the driver for five minutes before informing us that we should ask the driver to use a meter for the trip.  Before getting in the cab, we instructed the driver about the meter and he quickly grew agitated. We were insistent on the meter and he abruptly assigned a younger driver to take us instead. The new driver spent a moment with the original driver detailing our destination and then we were on our way. I have to admit everything happened pretty fast and both of us were disoriented due to the overnight transport. 

Bangkok was much larger than I originally anticipated. The skyline was lined with giant high rise towers. At street level we saw pockets of poverty being forcibly dragged along into modern Asian society. The cab driver was very chatty and quickly developed some rapport with us. We drove for about ten minutes through Bangkok and arrived at a one way intersection. The cabbie told us down the the one way road was the condominium complex that Chef McDang resided in. It would be easier for us to walk down the one way then have the cabbie loop around and drop us off. He then told us the fee would be $302 Baht. I was busy collecting the luggage from the trunk while Annie handled the fare. Both of us were feeling a little wary about this situation and a little off our game due to lack of sleep. We crossed the busy intersection and realized this was unlikely our planned final destination. We had been taken!

With a little humility, we called Chef McDang who had confirmed our suspicions. I rounded up a second driver and the Chef went through his directions another time. The new driver took us to the outskirts of Bangkok to a large high rise condominium complex along the Nonthaburi river. The ride took twenty minutes and cost 150 Baht. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Nun. Nun is from northern Thailand from the Chang Rai region and was Chef McDang’s assistant. Nun guided us to the third floor of the building. We greeted the Chef briefly who gave us a warm welcome and then were escorted to our room. The room turned out to be roughly as large as our apartment in San Francisco with a beautiful view of the river leading to downtown on the horizon from our balcony. It was cool and comfortable and we quickly agreed we were never going to leave. We got some rest before our lunch date with Chef McDang. 

Chef McDang owned the entire third floor of the complex and had knocked down a wall to create an adjoining production kitchen that is utilized for his weekly Thai cooking show. It is by far the nicest place we have stayed at in our travels and began to give us a sense of our adventures over the next few days. After settling in, we met the Chef and were escorted to his private limo. We went to a local restaurant along the river. The walls were lined with photos of the Princess of Thailand who had eaten here a few years ago as well as many with Chef McDang. The staff was excited to see him and swiftly brought out a large procession of Thai platters. I am very particular about my food and this meal began what would be a common theme of our time with the Chef. “Shut up and eat it,” was the affectionate phrase the Chef consistently used with me. This led to me stepping way out of my culinary comfort zone and also a few midnight runs to the toilet. The meal proved to be an adventure and allowed us to spend some time with the gregarious and chatty Chef. After the meal we visited the local markets and Chef McDang was causing quite a stir amongst the locals. We were starting to get a sense of just how popular he was in Thailand. I knew he was quite popular but didn’t realize he came from royal blood and his father was one of Thailand’s most famous figures. Chef McDang didn’t fall far from the tree and had become a Thai celebrity of his own right.

After lunch we headed back to what affectionately became know as “the compound.” Annie and I rested a bit as the Chef went about his daily business. Since I was a little hesitant about the food we had for lunch, Chef McDang had suggested we go to the Landmark Hotel for a good steak dinner. He assured me it was one of the top three steak restaurants in Thailand. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

Over the past several months I have been in contact with an American that is a friend of the family who grew up in my hometown of Alpena, Michigan. His name is Paul and he currently splits his time between Bangkok, Vancouver, Aspen, and Phnom Penh. He is very familiar with Southeast Asia and was watching over our travels from a distance, pointing us in the right direction. It was my intention to meet up with him in Cambodia, our next stop after Thailand. Paul is a very successful restauranteur in the states and owned several restaurants in the Key West area. He has since sold them and opened a high end place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Through emails I discovered that Paul was in Bangkok this very evening and decided to give him a call to see if we could coordinate a meal. It was beginning to look more and more unlikely that we would be able to catch him in Cambodia because he was heading out to the Vancouver sooner than anticipated. Paul and I had never spoken to one another, let alone meet. We had just communicated via email. I called Paul and he wanted to meet up tonight for dinner, it was the only night he was available. This put me in a tough position because we had made plans with Chef McDang who was incredibly generous and offered to take us to the Landmark. I didn’t want to insult him and flake out. On the other hand, Paul had been very helpful for the last several months and was a family friend. It looked like this was the only night we could meet him. I briefly explained the situation to Paul and he suggested we all meet up. I hesitantly agreed to ask Chef McDang if he was open to this and I would call Paul back to let him know the plan. At this point I had only known Chef McDang for a few hours and wasn’t feeling comfortable asking if we could change our plans to meet up with a family friend I had never actually met. 

I asked the Chef if he would be willing to meet up with my friend for dinner. He looked at me a little skeptically and inquired a little more. I began to describe what I knew about Paul. “He is an American that splits his time between Bangkok and Phnom Pen, he is in the restaurant business, and he owned several restaurants in the Key West Area. Instantly the light bulb went off with Chef McDang and he asked, “Is it Paul Tripp?” The question blew my mind because it was in fact Paul Tripp. Turns out Chef McDang had been Paul’s executive chef in the US for several of his Key West restaurants and they were good friends. They actually had dinner together a few nights ago in Bangkok. This was a very crazy revaluation, the two people we knew in the area were good friends and we had no idea. Chef McDang quickly called Paul and told him he had two “annoying” Americans staying with him and they wanted all of us to get together for dinner. Small world!

We spent the next few hours contemplating the crazy connection we encountered and prepped for dinner at the Landmark. Later that evening we were whisked to downtown Bangkok while enjoying a multitude of stories from Chef McDang. After a few quick martini’s we were off to the 34th floor of the Landmark to enjoy by far the best meal of our travels and a wonderful serendipitous evening of new friends. Paul and Chef McDang enjoyed some playful banter only years of friendship could bring. Annie and I enjoyed a night of feeling like royalty offering some significant contrast from our prior traveling lifestyle. Oh, and we also met the governor of Bangkok who was the Chef’s cousin. Just another day for Chef McDang, but a day Annie and I won’t soon forget.

6/22/10 (ao nang)

Ao Nang – Bangkok 

We originally planned on heading to Koh Tao, an island on the east side of southern Thailand. We were just about to book our overnight ferry when our friend, Chef McDang phoned us to see when we were going up to Bangkok. Chef McDang and I met while I was at the California Culinary Academy (CCA). He visited CCA several times over the last two years to conduct demos on Thai cuisine and we had become good friends. He is a descendant of the royal family and is a very famous chef in Thailand. He has a weekly TV show and restaurant review column. Most notably, he just published his first Thai cookbook in English called Principles of Thai Cookery. He graciously offered us to stay with him once we got to Bangkok and we were very excited to see him.

He suggested that instead of going to Koh Tao that we head straight up to Bangkok and he would arrange for us to stay at Koh Chang, an island close to Cambodia, for a few days where his friend owns a very nice resort. We decided to take his advice and handed the phone over to the travel agent so he could make the changes. Within a few minutes he arranged for us to take the overnight train to Bangkok, where his driver would come pick us up in the morning. He also called a friend who was going to meet us at the bus stop in Surat Thani since we had a few hours before we were supposed to board the train. We were excited to take the train since it was something we hadn’t experienced.

After all the arrangements were made we grabbed lunch at a café. The wind started to pick up and within minutes there was a huge downpour. We had to take a tuk tuk back to our hotel to grab our luggage since it was raining so hard. We hopped on a van which took us to the bus stop where we were to board for a 3 hour ride to Surat Thani. 

It was like no other bus station we had ever been in. It was a concrete hut with one bus company running the operation. When we went to the counter to get our train tickets we were informed that a train had derailed earlier in the day and we wouldn’t be able to take the overnight train. Our option was to take the overnight bus or wait till tomorrow for the train. It really put a damper on our plans since it meant that we would be getting into Bangkok at 6am rather than 10am and wouldn’t be as comfortable as a sleeper train. We didn’t want to spend an extra night in Ao Nang since Chef McDang was making arrangements for us to stay at Koh Chang so we opted for the bus. Then came a heated argument on how much money we would get back since the bus was much cheaper than the train. The bus company was only going to refund us the actual price of the train tickets, not including the commission the travel agent made, since they were different companies. It didn’t help matters that the bus company got into an argument with another traveler on a different matter. It made us skeptical about what was going on. We couldn’t confirm if there was a problem with the train system and suspected that they created the story about the derailment so we had to take the bus because they didn’t get enough travelers to get on the overnight bus. I called the travel agent I had been working with and demanded that we be refunded the entire amount. After about twenty minutes of going back and forth we were refunded the entire amount for the train tickets. What an experience!

We got on our overnight bus and hoped our earlier experience wasn’t going to be an indication of our journey to Bangkok. We stopped in Surat Thani for a break and grabbed a quick bite to eat. After dinner, Jon took an Ambien and we reclined our seats to get some sleep.

6/20/10 – 6/21/10 (koh ngai)

Koh Ngai – Trang – Ao Nang

After a very relaxing time in Koh Ngai we decided to head north to Ao Nang in Krabi. For 500 baht/night ($16 USD) we stayed at probably what was one of the nicest and largest rooms during our travels. Every restaurant was trying to get customers with their drink specials and many even offered twenty percent discount off the entire bill. Granted it was the rainy season and the demonstrations in Bangkok have certainly hurt the tourism all over Thailand. The only downside to our hotel was that it was directly above a very busy shopping block and there were live music till the wee hours of the night. We thought we would have trouble sleeping but surprisingly we actually got a good night’s rest.

We weren’t planning on staying in Ao Nang for very long and decided to book an island hopping tour for the next day. During the night the winds were howling and there was a torrential downpour. We were concerned that it might be too rocky on the sea but the tour crew seemed not to be too concerned. We decided to sit at the front of the boat and it turned out to be the worst mistake we could’ve made. The first ten minutes we were laughing with the other passengers about the crazy boat ride but then it wasn’t so funny. The waves did get pretty high and every time we hit a wave we were airborne and came crashing down on the seats. There were many times when we felt our vertebrae smashing against each other and felt as if we someone punched our stomachs. We were ecstatic every time the boat stopped at an island so we could catch our breath.

We visited the island where a portion of the film, The Beach, was made. Twice the boat just stopped in the middle of the sea where there was good snorkeling. There were so many fish around the boat that one of the staff was able to grab a fish with his bare hands! There must have been hundreds of fish circling around us. It was very different from our other snorkeling adventures. We then stopped at Ko Phi Phi for a buffet lunch.

After that we visited our last island but then it started to rain. The rain wasn’t coming down very hard but the waves were getting really big. At one point we hit a really big wave and all us of cried out in pain. Jon finally put his foot down and said we had to move to the back of the boat or one of us was going to getting hurt. There were no room for us to sit so the eight of us sat on the floor. It was still a little bumpy but nothing like it was in the front. We were all grateful when we landed back on the shore. We didn’t realize till later all the bruises we had gotten from the boat ride. It will be one that we will remember for a long time.