Days 36-37: Satun

 

We began what we thought was our 18 hour journey to Ipoh, which involved a one hour ferry to Pakbara, a two hour wait, a two hour bus to Hat Yai and then another two hour wait, and then a 10 hour train ride to Ipoh. We made it half way, but our journey stalled at the Thai-Malay border just 1 hour into our train ride. We left the train to get our passports stamped out of Thailand and into Malaysia, and as I gave my passport to the Border Control officer he looked at me suspiciously and then left the boot to go speak to another guard. At first we thought it was the usual: they had never heard of Malta and would simply check the rules that apply to our country and we would be on our way. Only this time it was different.

 

As everyone from our train was reboarding and Marc and I were still waiting to get our passports stamped, we realised something was not right. When we asked what the problem was, through their extremely limited English they explained to us that when we had entered Thailand in Koh Lipe we were supposed to have paid for and been given a 15 day Visa on Arrival, when in reality we were only given a free 15 day stay that most European countries (but not Malta) were entitled to.

The biggest problem was that they couldn’t simply give us the Visa themselves. We were told we had to go to the border in the province of Satun to buy our Visa. So after getting really angry, after Marc actually shouting at them telling them that it was their fault and we shouldn’t have to go through such a hassle because of their mistake, we started our journey back to Satun. This meant the train back to Hat Yai, a 20 minute tuk tuk ride to the bus station and a 2 hour bus ride to a border town in Satun. On the train we had to change what little Ringgit we had to Baht because we didn’t have enough left. Obviously by the time we arrived, the border was closed and so we had to spend the night in a hotel in Satun. The most frustrating thing about all of this was that we had tried to leave Thailand on the exact last day of our permit, and therefore staying overnight in Satun meant that we would be overstaying our “Visa” and would probably have a fine for that.

The following morning we walked to a nearby Immigration Centre and as soon as they looked at our passport they knew what the problem was. After again a few phonecalls, they told us we should go to the sea border and they will be able to stamp our passport out of Satun with no charge. Like that we would be able to get a ferry into Malaysia. So off we went, another tuk tuk ride, and we arrived at the border. Greeted by a grumpy Border Control officer, again he made some phonecalls and told us that we had to pay 1500 Baht (33.50 Euro) for a Visa and then a 500 Baht fine (11 Euro) for overstaying by one day. After once again hassling, explaining that we don’t have enough cash on us to pay for those and a ferry, after calling the Maltese Consulate in Bangkok and getting nothing more than a “There’s nothing we can do” from a barely English-speakingThai man, the Border Control officer said he would call his “boss” who was supposedly in a meeting and he would see what he can do. Two hours later we were about to succumb to their requests when he said we can just pay the 500 Baht fine and be on our way. So we quickly paid up and got on the next ferry to Langkawi, Malaysia.

The ferry to Langkawi was one hour, then we had a 2 hour wait there and another one hour ferry back to mainland Malaysia (Kuala Kedah). From there we had to wait two hours and finally get a 5 hour bus ride to Ipoh, arriving at 2am. The total bill of this unexpected journey including all taxis, buses, ferries, the fine and the hotel, came up to about 2000 Baht per person (45 Euro). Not much in European terms, but for Asia that is a lot of money spent on just travelling in one day.

The funny thing about all this is that in the end, Marc and I realised that we had technically stayed in Thailand for 15 days illegally. Hope we won’t have any issues re-entering Thailand in the future because of this.

-Vanessa-

Day 31-35: Koh Bulon

We were told by a few tourists that Koh Bulon was a must see island and so decided to dedicate our last 5 days of our permit to this island. Such a pity we weren’t able to stay longer. This island was bliss. One long stretch of powder-like white sand and crystal clear blue water with fish coming right up to the shoreline. The island was basically made up of dense jungle with this perfect beach and 3 other bays.

What made this island even more special was its

peace and quietness. Very few tourists and even less locals.

Long tail boat coming in for the day. Serenity all around her.

Camping in bliss.

We were dropped off by speed boat in the middle of a bay and transferred to a long tail boat that took us around to our desired beach. We decided to choose Pansand beach because it was afterall the best one. However it was a bit risky as this beach only had 2 upper end resorts and then a few super cheap bamboo huts which were owned by a school teacher. Obviously we were aiming to get a cheap hut.

Vanessa happy.

White Beach in black and white.

Just our luck, they were all full up. Marc ran over to the other side of the island to check the other cheaper resorts on the other bays but they were full also. 12 resorts on the island and most of them were full except for the really extremely expensive ones. So we rented a tent and camped on the beach. Sounds lush. Not so much when the tent we rented was almost covered in baby cockroaches. We had to buy a stupidly overpriced can of Baygon and spray it down. The funniest part of our camping experience was our attempt to shower. Our shower consisted of a well and a bucket. I had never really showered from a well before so it was quite a funny experience, especially since the well was just off the school playground.

Sunrise over Bulon.

Sea shells are in abundance and intact.

We survived the night in the tent and luckily managed to get one of the school bungalows the very next morning. Unfortunatley our experience with beach huts on Koh Bulon was not much better than our experience of beach huts on Koh Lipe. No dogs or crabs, but again many cockroaches and also a rat. Luckily we found the rat dead this time, lying on our bathroom floor next to a nibbled tube of toothpaste. If you ever need rat poison and can’t find any in the supermarket, apparently a tube of Colgate will suffice.

Tropical Christmas tree.

White Sand Beach

Our string of bad luck ventured beyond our accommodation. If you remember my last post, I mentioned having got diarrhea two days before leaving Koh Lipe. Well, that continued almost throughout our whole 5 days in Koh Bulon. And ironically Marc who -as most poeple would know- usually goes to the toilet around 4 times a day, was actually really constipated. Every time I needed to go, I would swear because of the pain and inconvenience while Marc would swear because of his jealousy at my ability to go.

Vanessa dealing with sun stress.

This place is ideal for travelling couples looking for some quality time away from the hustle and bustle, always on the move backpacking.

Sun is setting behind the tree line as people swim in the cool clear waters.

Apart from these issues, our stay in Bulon was simply amazing. The island is so simple and quiet that there actually isn’t much to do except swim, snorkel, sleep, eat and chill at their most popular bar called Coconut Bar. And that is what we did. Coconut bar was set on a hill in front of the jungle, about a 5 minute walk from our hut and it was the most chilled out bar I’ve ever been to. Made completely out of bamboo, with cushions and mats on the floor to lie on, low rusta music playing, and a super (and always stoned) bar man, it was the best place to spend your time when you weren’t on the beach. Marc and I went there everyday. They even had a signpost with planks of wood with the names of various countries painted on them by the travellers that had visited the bar. Just like every other Asian, the barman had never heard of Malta and said we were the first Maltese to go there. So Marc and I painted our very own Malta sign, altogether with the George cross and a little sketch of the islands, as well as our names at the back. The sign ended up being the biggest of the lot. If any of you ever go to Koh Bulon in the future (and I suggest you do) be sure to look out for our sign, although it is quite hard to miss.

Spot the crab.

View of White Sand Beach from the sea.

The bar was also a great place to meet people and we met a few fellow travellers there, including a group of French guys doing the same travel route as us, two Italians girls who were just coming from a working holiday in Australia as well as another French guy that Marc really got along with and spent a whole day speaking to him about politics, world events, the world, men vs women bla bla bla.

Kayaking around the island is highly recommended.

One of the many long tail fishing boats at low tide.

As I said, the rest of the days were spent mainly on the beach. On the last day we decided to rent a kayak and row around the whole island. The journey took us about 6 hours, although we stopped several times. Our first stop was at a fishing bay to see the locals weaving fishing nets and a little bit beyond that we stopped at a tiny deserted bay for a swim. On jumping back into the kayak I miscalculated the distance between the kayak and a rock jutting out of the sea and the kayak bashed into the rock creating a tiny hole in the side of the kayak. Marc got extremely annoyed and told me it was possible that the kayak would sink because of this hole. At this point, we were about a 40 minute kayak away from our starting point and definitely another hour away from our finishing point. We were at the south western point of the island and completely out of view of the any other bay and therefore we didn’t really know how long it would take to reach one. The water was deep and dark blue and a little bit rough. Beyond the few rocks on the coast there was just dense uninhabited jungle. There were no boats in sight. We weren’t even wearing life jackets, had no source of light or food or phones on us and it was only about 3 hours away from sunset. You can imagine the panic that befell on me. Marc remained relatively calm paddling at a normal pace and stopping regularly to enjoy the view, while I had a sudden extreme surge of energy and paddled at full speed almost by myself while shouting at Marc to paddle with me because we were going to sink. Thankfully we made it to the next bay in about 15 minutes and I had never felt so relieved. We paddled and pulled the kayak up on the sand and after lifting it up and moving it around we determined that it wasn’t taking on any water after all. Phew. We paddled a little bit further to the next bay and stopped there for a drink and coincidentally met a Canadian couple we had met the night before and chatted with them for an hour or so before paddling the last leg of the journey to our starting point. What a day. I think after that experience I now have a slight phobia of paddling around half deserted islands by ourself.

Many of these guard fish can be found washed up on the beach of the fishing village.

Fishing Trawlers anchored off the island waiting for their next shift.

Multi coloured fishing line flags. Ready to be assigned a cage and to be thrown into the sea.

The experienced are more relaxed about it.

Anyway after 5 days on this island we reluctantly booked our ferry ticket to Pakbara where we had to catch a bus and then a train to make our way back to Malaysia as our 15 day Visa stay was up. The journey back was supposed to take about 18 hours in total but actual took us about 42 hours instead.

The only fisherman to speak a bit of english, “Fishing no good, too many jelly”.

The tiring job of having to go through whole fishing nets and make sure they are free of crabs and holes.

Next post I’ll explain why 🙂

-Vanessa-

Nets all set to be dropped in deeper waters.

Cats can sleep.

A young local fisherman from the fishing village upon waking up from a snooze.

A local fisherman meticulously tying specific knots on a fishing line.

Days 22 – 30: Koh Lipe

We arrived on the island of Koh Lipe a bit pissed off after waiting for the speed boat for over an hour and a half in Langkawi and then getting almost soaked during the hour and half ride there. However, any negative feelings I had vanished as soon as the boat started nearing the island and I could just make out the perfect white sand with bamboo bars and huts scattered around and the amazingly clear blue water surrounding the island: tropical paradise.

View from our hut, the rest of the Bamboo huts on the northern part of Sunrise beach.

Early morning walk on Sunrise beach.

Sunrise beach.

We hopped off the boat and I waited on the beach with the backpacks for our passports to get stamped, and in the meanwhile Marc scouted the area for a cheap beach hut (we had decided not to pre-book any accommodation this time).

Being such a small island, every part of it is basically within walking distance. In fact, there are only 3 major beaches on the island, Sunset on the North coast, Pattaya beach on the West and Sunrise beach on the East. Not surprisingly, Marc came back about an hour later sweating and saying most of the island’s accommodation was actually fully booked due to the large influx of tourists during peak season as well as it being the week of Chinese New Year, but he had managed to find us a hut on Sunrise Beach. He had also brought us a taxi to get us there since it was ridiculously hot and we had a lot to carry. By “taxi” I mean a motorbike with an aluminium box attached to the side to throw the bags in and a sort of seat in this box to sit on (the island doesn’t have any actual roads and there are only one or two cars on the island). This five minute ride was definitely the bumpiest ride of my life (and believe me- with the old Maltese buses and the coaches in Malaysia- I’ve been on a few!)

One of my favorite shots showing the serenity this long tail boat is surrounded in at low tide in the early morning hours.

Family time: a woman watching her husband play with their kids out on an exposed part of sand at low tide.

Fishermen coming in at low tide on Sunrise beach.

Anyway, after changing some Ringgits to Thai Baht we arrived at our hut. A simple bamboo hut on stilts with a double bed, mosquito net, fan, and a bathroom with a toilet and shower. We only stayed here one night as- at about 30 euro a night- the place was overpriced for what it was. Most beach huts on Koh Lipe don’t actually take bookings, so the best way to get a good hut is to go around at about 9am just after people would have checked out. That is what we did the following day and we managed to get a simple hut located among the palm trees on a beautiful secluded part of the beach. Perfect, except for the array of wildlife that made our hut their home too. We had various dogs on our porch, two of which we seemed to unofficially adopt by giving them food one time. They obviously came back for more so we started buying dog food from a nearby supermarket. They practically lived on our patio for the week.

Coral reef off Sunrise beach.

Clear visibility whilst snorkelling.

Clown fish seen here whilst snorkelling.

Inside the hut we found less amiable creatures including cockroaches, centipedes, a massive crab, loads of geckos, and even a rat. Yes, a rat. I woke up one night hearing something moving around. When we switched the light on I saw in the corner of my eye, what I thought was a mouse run past our floor. After examining the room we found my leather handbag with a hole and pieces of the bag scattered around. Lesson of the day: rats apparently like Snickers bars so don’t ever leave a half eaten one in a beach hut where they have easy access to it. However at that point I was still under the impression that the Snickers thief was a mouse and not a rat. This incident was abouf half way through our stay so (thinking it was a only a mouse) I managed to suck it up for about 4 more nights. The thin mosquito net that surrounded the bed was little consolation especially after Marc said he saw it one night right behind our pillows (but not in the net). Marc was smart enough to tell me that it was actually a rat and not a mouse after we left the island.

Thailand Food restaurant owner. Good local food at the best prices in town.

An Asian visitor going through the coral at low tide.

Sea gypsy house full of life and colours.

Apart from our little beach-hut-turned-farm, Koh Lipe was paradise. There were many tourists but the beaches were never overcrowded. Evenings were spent at restaurants either on the beach or on Walking Street, the only makeshift street they had lined with restaurants, bars and shops. Days were spent on the beach: reading, tanning, sleeping, getting a massage, swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, exploring some of the islands surrounding Koh Lipe. We met a Swedish couple and spent some time with them. Towards the end of our 9 day stay, we even hired a longtail boat for the day and went round many of these islands together. It was during this trip, on our 28th day in Asia, on a deserted island, that my very first episode of Traveller’s Diarrhea kicked in. I had to poo behind a tree on the beach while Marc (who was supposed to be on snake watch) just laughed at me.

Snorkelling in one of the many islands surrounding Koh Lipe. Visibility 10/10.

Conquering one of the many isolated beaches with our long tail boat.

I felt a bit rough the last few days of our stay because – besides my stomach issues – I had also accidently bashed my foot into the side of the bed a few days before and the pain I felt was insane. I’ve broken my baby toe before and funnily enough I don’t remember it being nearly as painful as this exerience. The toe swelled up and went slightly blue. I actually had to limp for 2 days before the pain started to subside slightly. I did visit the local doctor there which was quite an interesting experience. He could barely speak English but we managed to understand that it wasn’t broken. He bandaged it and told me to go again the following day. When I went back, the doctor wasn’t in but the so-called nurse was. I was attended to by 5 Thais all buzzing around touching my toe and asking me questions in very broken English. She tried to bandage my toe up again but it looked like a 5 year old could have done a better job. She even tried to sell me muscle relaxants that were a year expired. Anyway, to sum up, two visits to the local “clinic” including herbal cream and gauze cost me around 7 euro. Not bad ey? But my toe still hurts and because of this injury we didn’t go diving in Koh Lipe, which is a pity as we were told that there were some awesome dive spots around the island.

Our beach for the day. My footsteps…nothing else.

Sunset paddle. Definitely no better place in the region for this.

Heck of a sunset on sunset beach.

Besides the beautiful beaches and scenery, what made Koh Lipe so amazing was the vibe. Everyone so chilled out and relaxed. I like Malaysia, but in my opinion Thailand just had this amazing vibe that cannot be matched by Malaysia. Maybe it’s the fact that it isn’t a Muslim country, therefore there arent as many “rules”. Drinking was more popular and women would and could show as much skin as they wanted. The only downside to the island was seeing the few locals who were forced to live in a poor rundown and dirty village in the centre of the island as tourism had pushed them off the beach. Still, with chickens running around, piles of rubbish, and a plastic recycling area in the centre, you still see smiles on their faces and children running around obliviously happy.

Sunset chilling session.

Black – 2nd adopted dog.

Holly – 1st adopted dog.

Bow end of a Long tail boat.

Anyway, we were more than halfway through our 15 day permit so time was pressing. We loved the island (I more than Marc) and at a point even discussed-half jokingly but half seriously- finding work there and staying longer. But extending our visa in Bangkok would have been too much of a hassle so we moved on. We listened to the advice of many fellow travellers and hopped to another amazing island. Stay tuned to hear about the hidden treasure called Koh Bulon.

-Vanessa-