The Big Blue Road

Adventures on the open water

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When we were invited by my father to sail a week in northern Spain, we jumped on the offer.

We flew to Bilbao from Stockholm and got on the boat. An Allures 45 from 2016, a magnificent ship, named Chimera.

  We had a last minute cancelation of our flight, which I allmost missed since it was sent as an e-mail. But I quickly called the KLM servicedesk and before we knew it we were on our way to the airport to catch a flight that departed two hours earlier than our original flight. This also ment that we would arrive two hours earlier and not have to get a TAXI from the airport at eleven o’klock at night.

The first night was no problem, we both fell asleep right away and woke up to a cute litte marina overlooking a beach and the city. The “bridge” you see named Vizcaya Bridge is rather different than most bridges and uses a gondola-type platform that goes from side to side.

We had lunch at a local restaurant that had a good vibe.

But we started off towards Castro Urdiales, a quaint little medieval village.

  Sailing from Bilbao to Castro Urdiales was easy as there was only a little wind, which also means smaller waves, and we even needed to motor a bit. But since Hanna and I had not aquired our sea legs yet, we didn’t mind.

The girls cool down in the bay of Castro Urdiales where we ancored for the night.

                                    Back in Bilbao and on our way back to Stockholm.

You can also watch the holiday video that was made for sentimental purpouses

Sailing northern Spain from Bilbao to Gijion via Castro Urdiales, Santander and Ribadesella. When we were invited by my father to sail a week in northern Spain, we jumped on the offer.

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Wat Suthat

This is a temple in the middle of Bangkok. Not one of the biggest ones, or a common turist attraction. There are other much bigger temples that are more popular. As you can see on the legend above the grounds are very big. And the building in green was being refurbished and off limits. We only visited the main temple which is the yellow square on the right side.

Inside the temple there is a big Buddah in the center and is an active place of worship, so please be respectfull when visiting. Women should wear clothing that covers the shoulders and at least a skirt that is around knee-length. Don’t be surprised if you need to take your shoes off to go inside.

The courtyard is equally inpressive with many statues and sculptures.

The whole courtyard is surrounded by Buddahs, although on the right side, seen from the main entrance, some of the statues are painted black and have most of the decorations removed.

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    Temple Wat Suthat Thep Wararam – วัดสุทัศนเทพวราราม Wat Suthat This is a temple in the middle of Bangkok. Not one of the biggest ones, or a common turist attraction.

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White Sands Beach, Lonely Beach and now Klong Koi Beach!

Lonely beach used to be the shoe-string backbacker haven of Koh Chang. That is no longer the case. Read the post about Lonely Beach.

The new paradise on Koh Chang is Klong Koi Beach, which is like Lonely Beach was about 10 years ago. And not a lot of people know about it yet, although I am guessing that in 3-4 years, that will change too.

There is not much here, and that is what makes it into paradise. Everything closes around 10 o’clock at night, or at least the music is turned off. Apparently the land owner doesn’t want another Lonely Beach. Don’t fear, the closest village is a 20 minute walk, which is not recommended, but taxis are on stand-by during peak hours and otherwise you can allways call the taxi service that is available 24-hours per day.

Most of the time we stayed at a place called Sea You Bungalows, which you can read more about here.

But there are other places too. I recomend Yak Bungalows

And also The Treehouse Cottages (Yes, it has connections to the famous Treehouse on Koh Chang, which you can read more about here.)

There is also the local market, which mostly has common household items and caters mostly to the community that lives in the area and not so much to turists, since besides a small snack shelf, beers and soft drinks only have the things you would need to live here, like spices, washing up liquid and other household things.

Klong Koi Beach – The most relaxed place on Koh Chang White Sands Beach, Lonely Beach and now Klong Koi Beach! Lonely beach used to be the shoe-string backbacker haven of Koh Chang.

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The Boat Chalet

This was clearly a very nice resort once apon a time. But it has fallen into disrepair over the years. Perhaps it is because of the location, it is litterally at the end of the road. And there is nothing else around it except a waterfall which is part of the National Park in Koh Chang.

It is nothing like I have ever seen before. An old cruiseship had been turned into a hotel in the resort. An amazing feat, since The Galaxy is not in the water as one would think, but a section of land close to the sea had been dug out, the ship beached in the location, and then the land behind was refilled, leaving only a small lake behind the ship. Returning the beach to its’ original state.

At first glance, everything looks nice, but once you start looking closer, you can see that maintainence has not been done in a long time.

To the left is a ship containing a defunct swimming pool. Note the angle of the boat, it has partialy sunk allready, rendering the pool useless. To the right is the main office and reception, which was still functioning. It turns out that the resort is still in business, but it seemed like it was no longer for turists, more like low-end apartments to people living on the island.

As you can see, it looks very nice on picture. And these pictures look very much the same as you can find on the resorts homepage, but if you look closer, you can see that the harsh environment takes its’ toll on the ships.

But, besides that, the views here are wonderfull and should be a must visit for anyone who likes boats, ships and the ocean. But, trust me, don’t stay here. It is overpriced. In the middle of nowhere. The closest community is a beach area a few kilometers away that has just started being developed about two years ago.

In the area close to Klong Koi Beach there are also other, uncompleted boats that have not yet been rebuilt. If the investors ran out of money or if they were just put there, I don’t know. But a very preatty place to take a stroll through. Just don’t take the main road. If you do, you will be charged the entrence fee for the national park and the waterfall. Which is not really worth visiting unless you are visiting during or direct after the rainy season, as it is more like a trickling stream during the rest of the year.

The best way to get there

Go to Klong Koi Beach and follow it to the end, allready you will see the Boat Chalet, but will not be able to get to it because of a fence. Keep walking along the fence, or at least without loosing sight of it. After a short while you will see a building made of blue metal 40-foot shipping containers. Follow that building to the end and you can walk around the building. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look right, the shortcut will be between the shipping container building and another building that looks like an apartment building. This is a well known shortcut for the locals who sometimes use the man made harbour for fishing.

    The Boat Chalet The Boat Chalet This was clearly a very nice resort once apon a time. But it has fallen into disrepair over the years.

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We started in Bangkok

We made sure that we bought the tickets a day in advance, but that was still cutting it close. The travel agent had to call to make sure that there where tickets available.

It would probably be better to get the tickets a few days in advance, essentially if it it Full Moon Party season. We chose to take the Lomprayah bus and speed boat. It is the most expensive choice, but also the most comfortable.

Since it was high season, in other words, the days before the Full Moon Party, we had to pay extra. About 1550 Baht per person. It could have been a lot cheaper if we had taken the government train and the normal ferry. But that would also have taken a lot longer. Think around 22 hours with transfers and such, instead of the 11 hour bus trip we had.

We took the night bus, which was delayed by 1½ hours, with minimal information from Lompraya, just saying “The Bus will be here soon, maybe 30 min.” I knew it could take some time and perhaps they didn’t know themselves. But, I knew we could get some food and drink and just find a good spot to wait.

After a bus ride through the night and a morning ferry, we finally arrived at Koh Phangan, or Ko Pan Ngan, depending on who you ask.

We quickly found a songthaew that took us to our resort. It would cost us 600 baht for 2 persons if we wanted to go straight away, or 300 for both of us if we could wait for others too. We waited since we were not so stressed.

The Royal Orchid Resort

This was a very nice resort that I found on the internet on hotels.com for a good price. I wanted to stay away from Haad Rin and the Full Moon Party area, since there you will have a hard time getting good sleep.

I thought it would be a few minutes walk to the beach, but it was basically on the beach, but inside a sort of a cove so it didn’t count as the “real” beach. But for me, this is good enough

We actually liked the resort so much, and they had such good food, that we did not visit so many other places. But with an area like this who could blame us.

But if you dont like bugs or insects, Thailand may not be the place for you. Here are some examples.

Chalok Lam

A small village in the northern part of the island. This whole area is much more relaxed and laid back. But they do have a bunch of restaurants and have a 7-11. There are not so many bars, but Woodstock bar is one of my favorites and I know Meo since 5 years. We asked him and his wife if they could recomend any tattoo artists around, and his wife showed us a tattoo that she had made at Primate Tattoo.

Primate Tattoo

He worked as a tattoo artist, and she sold Thai tea and coffee, both hot and cold, and they rented out the space next door to a foreigner who rented out motorbikes and jetskis.  They were a very nice couple and it was fun to hang out with them. We did start to talk about having dinner together, but our stay on the island was comming to an end, and we couldn’t find the time. But next time for sure.

Woodstock Bar

I, in a way knew Meo before I met him. I had two friends who told me about him when I first met them. I went to visit him the first time I was in Thailand, and have not seen him since then. But he remembered me as soon as he saw me and greeted me with a big welcome back. The high season had not really started, so he didn’t have much more than Sang Som with Coke or Leo the first day. But the second time we came back, he was fully stocked. You have to try his Coconut Pina Colada Special. It can take some time, since he needs to go out in the dark and find the coconuts first. But then they are made with fresh coconut, in the coconut, and you can eat the inside of the coconut too. A total coconut experience.

Chou Chou Café & Restaurant

It was connected to a dive school and had many foreigners and the owner, who also had the dive school, spoke good english. And the food was great. Real Thai food. Not the fake western-way-turist-thai-food that you can get at any Thai restaurant around the world.

Haad Yao

The Pirates Cove

Unfortunately it was closed when we were there. But it looked like a great place to hang out in, on the beach, but still away from the beach. Very cozy.

Haad Rin and The Full Moon Party

Read the post about the Full Moon Party for the full story. Otherwise it is the same as it allways is. Too many drunk turists drinking on the beach. We met many people whom had taken mushrooms and the smell of marijuana could be smelled every here and there. DO NOT use or buy drugs on the beach. The Police are well aware that people use drugs and will go undercover to “bust” people and coerce or threaten with jail if you don’t pay up. And according to the law, the current fine is 30,000 baht, even for a Thai.

I was told by a Thai friend that a farang (foreigner) could expect to pay 50,000 baht. Sure, you could wait for the court system and only pay 30,000 Baht, but that doesn’t sound like a nice holiday. If you want first hand experience, read the book: Mr Nice. About a western drug smuggler who spent time in the infamous Bangkok Hilton. I.E. The Bangkok City Jail.

This is Same Same hostel, run by a couple of Danish girls, and a hotspot for meeting Scandinavians.  They also have a delicious stone oven made pizza. This is actually the first place I stayed at the first time I was in Thailand. Good times. But a different story alltogether.

A Video Collage of our stay

Lessons Learned

We did meet a nice young German couple who came to our resort looking for directions. The manager of our resort knew the way and I thought that I could show them. They were a bit upset already since they had bought a package deal which included everything. And everything was taken care of. They had train tickets, and bus tickets, and a resort booked, and a transfer to Koh Tao. Sounds Great!

The only problem? The trains in Thailand are known for being cheap. Not fast. And the two bus transfers? Government buses, with long waits between the bus arrival and train departure and the train arrival and the next bus departure. About 2-3 hours each time, with minimal information about when the buses would depart. The whole trip had taken them 22 hours. That is 22 hours with no decent food and good sleep.

And when I drove them to the resort, it was off the main road and about a mile straight into the jungle on sandy and muddy roads. I could manage it with having 20 years experience on a motorbike, but you really needed a car to get there. And the resort consisted of 4 simple fan rooms, and nothing and nobody around. You want to go somewhere, drive through the muddy road, or ask the resort taxi to drive you there.

The owners were a elderly couple who didn’t have much. And they didn’t speak much English either. With me in the middle acting as a kind of interpreter, we found out that they had been charged 600 baht per person for the room, while the room actually only costed 600 for 1-3 people.

The german couple asked if they could get their money back, but there were no refunds. I figured as much, looking at what the couple owned, they could not afford to give refunds. But they did understand that both they and the couple had been hoodwinked so they did treat us to the beers and shakes that we had ordered while waiting for the man who could speak a little bit of English.

The plot-twist? It was not a Thai who had sold them the package, but an American. So don’t go thinking that all Thai people are trying to fool you. All the ones I know have such good hearts and would not try to trick or fool anybody.

So my advice is if you are unsure, go with a travel agent, it costs the same as buying at the normal ticket counter and they can give you different options and prices. DO NOT BUY ANY PACKAGE DEAL.

If you have to, book one night. If you like it you can usually stay longer, but you can also change accommodations if you like. Booking through a site like hotels.com, bookings.com and agoda.com are a safer choice. I prefer hotels.com because of their rewards program and deals if you are a member.

The trip to Koh Phangan We started in Bangkok We made sure that we bought the tickets a day in advance, but that was still cutting it close.

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We stayed on Koh Phangan 3 nights longer than planned. So we changed our plans a bit. But even though I have made this part of the trip before, it still went wrong. Not like the horror story like for a couple from Germany that came to our resort looking for directions to their booked place that they had bought in a package.

Just say’in. Do not book a package. Or if you do, pay with a credit card, in that way, if you don’t get what you where promised, you can cancel the payment for the package, or threaten to if the organizational has really screwed you. They know that there is little you can do when you paid cash and are a 12 trip away. And you end up getting stuck in a bungalow in the middle of the jungle… But I will write more about that when I write about our own island experience.

It is easy to make even small mistakes. I did today. We booked a room for our Bangkok stopover, but since we would be arriving late, I called the hostel how long the reception would be open. We found out that it was open around the clock. Perfect!

Of course they asked if we had made reservations. Which we had via hotels.com, but I had gotten the date wrong. Our booking was for tomorrow. They had room for us in a shared room, but since we arrive on Khao San Road, it would be easier for us to get a room there. Besides, it is the place where I have my “second” home. So if they are full or anything else, there are so many other places there that you can always find an empty room. But the cheap places go first, so we might have to stay in an “expensive” hotel for 1500 Baht.

But we ended upp staying at a place called The Pillow. First place just off the buss and had rooms for 800 Baht per night with tv and aircon.

We also made the mistake of sitting on the sun deck of the Lomprayah catamaran, for almost the whole two hour trip, with no sunscreen. So we both look like lobsters. It might just turn out to be a difficult night as well.

I turned out like this

And I don’t burn easy. So make sure to stay out of the sun. Or if you have to sunbath, use sunscreen.

And lastly, I had told Hanna to put some warm clothes in the carry on bag, since it does get cold. On the way to Koh Phangan, they handed out blankets for the night, so I didn’t think about it this time. And you don’t really think about warm clothes when it is 30 degrees Celsius outside. But as soon as the sun sets, it starts cooling down. And they don’t turn the zircon off, which means that it gets very cold. But at least that part was solved after the usual pistol for food halfway, when they handed out blankets.

  But the best way to learn is to make the mistakes. Let’s see what we learn until next time.

Learning by doing. Part 1 – Things go wrong. We stayed on Koh Phangan 3 nights longer than planned. So we changed our plans a bit.

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Klong Koi Beach is the new Lonely Beach

Things have changed in Lonely Beach. It used the be the backpacker secret hideout but the secret is out.

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VS Guesthouse on Khaosan Road

VS Guesthouse on Khaosan Road

VS Guest House   One of the original guest houses of Khao San Rd The same family has run this guest house as long as there has been a Khao San Road to talk about. When I was there in 2011 most of the family still lived there, but now they themselves have moved to another house not far away, to be able to rent out more rooms, I guess.   (more…)

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10 Things to do in New York 10 things to do in New York If you are going to New York, you should read…

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The Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan

A full moon party on Koh Phangan can not be described. Or actually I would say that it is about 30,000 to 50,000 people in the age of twenty to thirty getting drunk like it was the first time they drank alcohol like it was the first time when they were fourteen again. In other words, a whole lot of partying, dancing and drinking!

People having intimate snuggling on the beach or a friend being sick on your 150 baht fake quicksilver flipflops. You just don’t know what you will see. I tried taking some videos for people to get an idea.

  We had a great time. We didn’t get into trouble or anything. But on the other hand. We took the smart choice to go out and have a good dinner before we started partying.

I am guessing that this guy didn’t.

But before we went out. The girls wanted war paint which was provided for free by the hotel that they where staying at.

Then we were ready to go! The girls took it easy, they got a lot of attention from the guys, but that’s not unexpected. They managed to keep themselves on two buckets for three people. Which is a good level. Each bucket is usually 20 cl of booze mixed with a can or two of coke and a redbull.

The Party

There are a lot of people passed out drunk or puking on their friends legs and flip-flops or pissing in the ocean with their clothes on.

I guess that Magic Mountain is still selling mushroom shakes, or it otherwise was not hard getting a hold of.

We did meet a lot of people who said that they have had mushrooms. One guy walked down to the beach thinking it was blood and thinking it was a good idea to lay down there. We know this since we asked him if he was O.K., which he was according to him.

I know that they did sell weed on magic mountain, but only the days before the party. But in the north side you can buy in most bars that have any kind of reggae influence. Just ask, they don’t even care. It is also the same in the mountains. Since selling 10 grams of weed for 1,000 baht is enough for rice fot the whole month. I do have a warning! Don’t buy anything from anyone on the beach, and carry as little as possible. Try to hide in your undies or something. (And I don’t recommend anyone to do anything illegal in any country unless they are willing to face the consequences.)The police are usually keeping an eye out and have even heard about deals with dealers and police to collect “fines”. But like I said, if that is your thing you are much better off in the mountains, the north or east coast. Many of the Thai people do it themselves. But most people just get wasted on buckets. The expensive ones are about 400 Baht. Cheaper if you get Thai spirits.

Or go with the Lao Khao, which is some kind of rice based moonshine which is usually sold at 7/11 for around 50 Baht for a 33cl bottle. But the stuff tastes like really, really bad tequila. If you just have a bucket, you could make your own booze bucket from 7/11 for less than a 100 Baht.

For me, I’ll stick to the beer (Leo or Singha, never Chang) or a wine cooler.

We even got home at a decent hour. Well, we left the fullmoon party a a decent hour, around 03:00 when a lot of others also went home. I had stayed sober to be able to drive home. But of course, we got lost. But if we had not gotten lost, we would not have seen this either.

One thing made me a bit sad, even though the locals had put out extra trash bins and some people at least putting trash and bottles in one pile, a lot of the beach looked a lot like this

I’m not saying that it was not like that five years ago when I was there the last time. I’m just saying, Welcome to Hell’drin

Go once and you will have an awesome party. But in a way, the whole experience is that once is enough. If you have not been there, go for it!

Keep your eye out for the next post, its’ about the whole island experience. And the secret spots on Koh Phangan

Full Moon Party in Koh Phangang The Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan A full moon party on Koh Phangan can not be described.

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The first post on my first trip to Thailand

The first post on my first trip to Thailand

Hi everyone! My writing here have unfortunately not been as high as Peters. I’ve been in need of a break from everyday life, but now I´m more relaxed and have the energy to write. So here we are, finally out on our adventure. This trip have been my motivation and sparkle through tough times so it feels nice to that we finally reached our goal. While writing this I´m lying in the hammock outside…

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Just sayin’… Now I need a vacation!

I had actually made a list of thing that we could do while we in Bangkok, but that didn’t happen.

Things go much slower in Thailand, like Spain has its’ “a man(C)ana”. Ten minutes does not mean ten minutes. It means more like probably less than half a hour.

  In Bangkok this isn’t even a traffic jam. Just an average day.

       We did manage to get to MBK And I had said the Hanna should only look and not buy any thing.

But we did need to get mobiles. Dual Sim card phones are quite common in Thailand, and can be very cheap. I do it to be able to have my usual sim card in one slot, and get a Thai number which can be used in Thailand. In case you need to call the hotel to tell a taxi driver for directions, or if you are travelling with someone, you can call each other for no money at all.

We did get smart phones though, first we bought Samsung J 100, which is a low end  phone. Hanna doesn’t really like it, because it is a bit slow. And at all the possible stalls that sell telephones, repair them, sell parts and so on, we found Alex

He had lots of hand written notes in different languages complementing how good he was.

I told him what I wanted, a low end cheap smart phone with dual sim card. The first thing he brought out was a Samsung J 100, which was actually a bit more expensive than I had planned for, but I had planned on getting a no name brand generic phone. But since we bought two phones, with cases and sim cards, he gave us a really good price.

After that.

He just happened to be selling suits as well. And it happened to be that I was planning on buying a suit or two. I ended up buying three suits, tre extra pants, six shirts. Since two of the suits where a little bit for fun. One white and one purple, I said that they could be in polyester or another cheap fabric.

A big part of the cost of a suit is the fabric that is used. Polyester being the cheapest, and you can see how the suit is a bit shiny. Then there is wool, linen and Kashmir. And many more, you can make a suit out of hemp as well.

So he comes to our hotel to do a fitting.

Like I said, I had asked and paid for polyester, but Alex surprised me and told that both those suits would be in Kashmir as well.

He measured what needed to be adjusted and we will probably do another fitting next time I am in Bangkok.

We talked and became friends. We decided to go out to dinner together. Alex found a little local seafood bbq all you can eat place which looked very nice. The food was great and we had a great time.

I will make another post about the phones we bought and how the suits turned out. But I am thinking that I don’t need to find a tailor again. I have Alex!

The first week in Bangkok Just sayin'... Now I need a vacation! I had actually made a list of thing that we could do while we in Bangkok, but that didn't happen.

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A quick and simple surviaval guide for Thailand

A quick and simple surviaval guide for Thailand

So you are going to Thailand? Never been there before? Here is a quick guide, that hopefully minimize the damage with cultural faux pas  and so on.   Say no to these things when you are in Thailand. They are all ways to scam you (more…)

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Don't get stuck in Khao San

Don’t get stuck in Khao San

Khao san road and soi rambuttri are two small streets in a city of about fifteen million. Go exploring! See things that are in no travel guide. Where in a travel guide are you going to be able to find an alleyway like this? Here people where walking, and riding motorbikes and bicycles. But where else are you going to be able to buy an iced chai latte made in true Thai style, by a woman who looked…

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Our plan was simple, after flying all night our plan was to take it easy and get settled the first day. Sleeping in an airplane is never a good kind of sleep. So the plan was to check in to the hotel. (I will make an other post about all the places we stayed at.) And after that get a good nights sleep so that we could get a fresh and well rested start.

Let me tell you, it is easier to make a plan than to follow the plan.

After getting into a taxi at the airport with a driver who was a really fun guy. I speak a little bit of thai, and I mean a little. But one of the things I have learned how to say very well translates into “I can speak a little bit of the thai language.” Which usually impresses most, since it is one of the more formal and correct way to say it. But I quickly follow with “But I not understand the language.” Which I say in a very informal and not really correct way, which makes most of them laugh. Anyway, we had a great time with the driver who spoke understandable english and we could even joke, with hime saying “That is good, I only understand english, I don’t speak thai.”

We had some difficulties finding the Hotel, which was poorly shown where it was, and even the locals could point to a direction, even to the taxi driver. It ended up being at the end of a small soi (allyway) which also could have been just a meter between two buildings.

Once we got there we where impressed with the room, even though it was smaller than all the places I have stayed at in khao san road. But the room was very nice.

      We saw this cat napping on a counter, but it was the sign that made it funny. I doubt they will serv you cat on rice. (Well, they probably would given ridiculous amounts of money, and they might just call a mental institution at the same time.)

    I usually try to book a room for the first night, just to be sure, since it is so easy to find another place the other day. It just gets more difficult the later in the day it is. The cleapest and/or best places fill upp first with backpackers and other exotic people. The more exensive places become full usually around 18:00 and after that, you can allways find a room, but expect to pay at least 2,000 Baht.

So what acutally happed? We unpacked our bags quickly, grabbing what we needed most and headed out into the rain. Oh, right, I forgot, when we arrived it was raining like someone just turned the waterworks on over earth. It usually just lasts for 5-15 minutes at a time, but when it does, trust me, get an umbrella or run for cover. But, by the time we had unpacked our bags, the rainfall was over anyway.

Yeah, our plan to take it easy lasted about fifteen minutes during pouring rain. After that, we where ready to go exploring. We did take the safeguard of buying an umbrella for 100 Baht first.

  After walking up and down khao san road, we used one of the allyways to get to Soi rambuttri. Streets, roads, allys and names in bangkok are a mess according to my opionion, but they get it to work, so who am I to judge. Hanna was exited about everything which was fun to see. Here she is walking on soi rambuttri

As you can see, things are still closed and things have not really come alive after the rain.

  The coverd van in the picute above turns into this during the nighttime.

    When we started to get hungry I said that we should go the the food carts at the the end of soi rambuttri, where the thai locals go to eat. Just to experiance real thai food and not fried macaroni with chicken. If you want western food, the best place to get it is in the west.

As you see, the prices are so low that you can order one of each and try them all and then in the future you will know which ones you can or like to eat. You will recognize the dishes in different places. But warning, many are spicy. Very spicy. And when I mean very spicy, I mean five to ten piri-piri peppers in just the dish you recieved. If you want to be sure not to get spicy food, say: “Mai ow pet”, It is not the most polite way, but they will understand. In english it would be pernounced preay much as it is spelled. Mai as in the drink mai thai, ow as I hurt my big toe and pet as in petting an animal. It translates to “Not want spicy”, but learn how to say thank you and smile. 

  We had to try some of the insects, and I will buy a mixed bag of differend kinds one day and try them, but we did splurge on a scorpion dipped in bbq sause. Not really a thai thing, there is no meat on them and are just sold to turists as easy money. We paid 80 Baht for one, but I heard of another selling for 180 Baht. It was basically just crunchy and had some bbq flavor, nothing to recomend at that price.

      In the evning the street came to life as usuall. Bars and bukets have replaced the daytime flipflop and beachwear stores. But we ended up walking around soi rambuttri, since it is a little bit more calm or “sabai sabai”  Just a bit more relaxed, lower, softer music and not as many people as on khao san road, but still a great place to visit.

After our drinks and completely failed plan, which turned out quite allright anyway, Hanna thought it would be a good idea to get a foot massage. And I agreed. She also wanted a pedicure and a manicure of course, and I got one too. My nails need to be cut and they let me drink my beer in the salon.

But now I actually have my two big toes painted the worst lime-vomit green I could find. I didn’t care and everybody thought is was funny. But I did remember myself that they were painted when we changed from the hotel to the VS Guesthous, whom I know the whole family and stay there at least one night I am in Bangkok.

Even if I get a nice room somewhere else, I still get a room there since it is so cheap and so close to khao san. So if I would get a bit much to drink, I can allways go there and take a nap, and besides I’m helping the family who run the place. And they help me, they point out the cheapest ways to do things and the best markets to visit. You may need to know a bit of basic thai like asking for how much and understanding the number in thai. Tha haggling part can be done with the calculator on someones smartphone.

After we felt that we have had enough drinks, we decieded that it was time to go home. Just so happened to be that we walked by a restaurant that was selling barbequed jumbo kingsize shrimp. And I mean kingsize! I first thought they where small lobsters or crayfish, but at a closer look, I saw that it was shrimp.

Since they where closing we got a really good deal since we bought all that they had left, a bit over one kilo. And the normal price was 1,000 Baht for one kilo, which is still nothing. It looks good doesn’t it?

  I will try to keep everyone updated with our adventures, I have aranged so that I can use the unlimtided data surf on the telephone I bought in thailand. Here it is normal to have a dual sim card function and what I do is to buy a thai phone, get a thai simcard and also insert my usual simcard in the second slot. In that way I only need to carry one phone around, and I can get in contact with Hanna if we get seperated, or contact my thai friends without any difficulty. I really love the phone. It is a low end samsung, which is a bit of a change for me being used to having a iphone. So time to learn android.

If anyone wants to contact us if the have any questions about questions or such just call me Peter by email peter @ the big blue road . com (without spaces)

  The first days in Bangkok Our plan was simple, after flying all night our plan was to take it easy and get settled the first day.

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Adventure time in Thailand

Adventure time in Thailand

Since our plans of sailing have been put on hold for a while, we decided that a trip to Thailand was in order. I have lived there before for about six months and we will not be taking the generic turist version of a trip to Thailand. Sure, some things have to be done. Hanna has never been to a Full Moon Party, which for me is a bit too crazy, but on the other hand is also a must for any partygoer…

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We will also visit Koh Phangang for the Full Moon Party at the end of november. Maybe we will see you there! #thebigblueroad #fullmoonparty #kohphangan #thailand #party #partytime