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After our 2nd quick stopover in Singapore, we were excited to leave for Thailand on the overnight train, to meet my parents in Thailand in a few days. We were sick of flying, skipped our booked ticket to Kuala Lampur and booked an overnight train ticket from the north of Singapore to HatYai in Thailand with a change of trains in Kuala Lumpar. This journey was suppose to take us about 18 hours, but instead we ended up spending more than 24 hours on the trains! First we departed late, then we had to change trains already early into Malaysia which we were not aware of. Then we realised that the train is loosing time and going much slower than planned, we were not going to be in time for our next train in Kuala Lampur! Charl once again stomped off to find a conductor who confirmed our nightmare, the train is late with more than 4 hours! We are definitely not going to make it in time for our next train. This was a huge crisis as we our plans were quite tight with the island we wanted to visit in the south before we meet my parents in Phuket, but we should have known that with overland traveling one should leave ample time for misdemeanors. But as we said so many times in this trip already, Someone from above is with us and looking after us... When we got to Kuala Lampur, that specific train was also delayed and we made it in time! Another miracle! So after about 30mins and a KFC meal later, we were on our way to HatYai, Thailand on our sleeper berths. It was quite exciting sleeping in the train overnight. Luckily for us, the Beyerse and Raubenheimers are not the tallest people, so we fitted in the sleeping berth quite comfortably and had a good night's rest on the train.
This was one of those big leaps of faith we took - we wanted to go to Koh Li Pe island which is quite far off the southern Thai coast. We were not sure how we will get from HatYai to Pak Barra and if we will be in time for the ferry that runs to Koh Li Pe only twice daily. But we took the chance and all worked out (very thankfully) once again. Koh Li Pe is a very small island, one of the most southern islands of Thailand, not very well known yet, a hidden gem. And it was all the chances and efforts absolutely worth it!
We stayed in a really basic bamboo hut with cold water only and your own insect repellent as the only protection against the zillions of mosquitos. There was a cool reggae beach bar right in front of our hut. Here we did some admin and planning for the big visit with the parents. But as Charl said, he could not possibly think of a better place to do some 'work' - right on the beach at a beach bar, overlooking the beautiful bay with all the longtail boats and the powder white sands! We ate superb seafood barbeque again: fresh tuna, huge tiger prawns and lots of squids! After dinner we strolled on the beach, had some cocktails at the many cocktail bars along the way, lay on our backs gazing at the stars and were entertained by a brilliant fire dancer! Indeed heaven on earth...
Our planning was done and our bus ticket to Phuket was booked to meet the parents! On the way to Phuket, we had an interesting journey, we were supposed to go straight to Phuket in the minibus, but instead we were dropped off halfway and ushered onto a local bus (we were glad afterwards as it was so much more comfortable than that bumpy minibus ride). We specifically asked them if we will go straight to Phuket and the answer was always yes... There was a man and woman from Poland with their 2 small kiddies with us. We were all annoyed by this unknown change of plans, but that guy just lost it. He said that they have been traveling all over the world and this is the first and only country where the people just constantly try to bulls*** you. Traveling with kids did not look easy at all and we made a mental note not to do that while they are so small and also to watch out for these Thai bulls***ters...
We had one night in Phuket, Patong Beach, to see what the big fuss was all about, before we had to get my parents at Phuket airport the next day. It is a crazy place, but we have to admit - not really our cup of tea...
Dit was so lekker om my ma'le deur daai arrival deure te sien kom! Ons het vir hul blomme gekoop wat hul om hul nekke kon hang, net soos wanneer mens op 'n eiland aankom in die flieks! Dit was stories en inhaal oor en weer tydens ons minibus rit tot by Krabi. Daar het 'n koddige motorfiets taxi ons ingewag om ons na die pier toe te vat. Dit was so snaaks, ekt nooit gedink ons almal met ons bagasie gaan op daai dingetjie pas nie, maar ons het! Daarna was dit die longtail boot rit om die punt van die vaste land tot by Railay. 'n Exciting begin tot 'n heerlike kuier saam my ouers!
Railay was pragtig! Klein strande so tussen die uitstaan limestone peaks met hulle grotte. Ons het by Railay Village resort ingeboek aan die weste kant van die punt. Dit was so mooi toe ons om daardie punt kom met die bootjie, die gesigsuitdrukking van my ma en pa was priceless! My ma het selfs gese sy het nie geweet daar bestaan ooit sulke plekke nie. Ons het heerlik gekuier, geeet, gekayak en my ma leer snorkel! Precious times... Die Woensdag was my ma se verjaarsdag en ons het vir haar verras met 'n koek vir ontbyt. Ons het ook op daardie dag aangeskuif na die Phi Phi eilande toe. Die weer was goor daardie middag en aand, maar ek dink elke aand van die vakansie het vir my ma soos haar verjaarsdag gevoel. Wat 'n ongelooflike voorreg was dit nie vir my nie om my moeder se verjaarsdag saam met haar te kon vier, as deel van ons trip!!
Op Phi Phi het die ongeluk ons so bietjie getref, ons verblyf was goor en my pa het siek geword. Maar soos my pa altyd se: elke donker wolkie het 'n silwer randjie. Ons het die verblyf uitgesort en na 'n baie mooi plekkie toe geskuif met 'n million dollar view en Charl kon my pa dokter met al die medisyne wat ons nog heeltyd saamtoer. Hy het gou beter geword en was gesond na 'n paar dae terug by die huis, gelukkig niks ernstigs nie!!
Baie dankie dat mamma en pappa al die pad gekom het om 'n klein deeltjie van ons trip saam met ons te beleef. Dit was 'n ongelooflike voorreg om jul daar te he!!
Thailand in general did not impress us much. It is as if this nation sold their souls for tourism/money. They would smile at you, but you can see it is not coming from the heart. I constantly got the feeling that the local people are irritated with tourists. We were also ripped off a few times, even while we were on the watch-out for that, the bus ride to Phuket was a good example of that and in Bangkok the metered taxi driver drove in big circles to a very close destination, which we picked up once again with the iPhone gps. His lame excuse was that the roads were one-ways, but we knew he was lying to us in our faces. We just did not like the people, the service just about everywhere is poor and they refuse to listen to you if you have requests other than their normal way of doing business. Maybe we were too sensitive or did we compare them too much with the other countries that we visited. Its true, their beaches and islands are really beautiful, but it is the heart of the local people that make your trip a truely memorable one. And that we did not get from the Thai people. I really believe there are equally beautiful, if not more beautiful places on earth to be visited rather than this country were you are constantly being treated as an irritation.
We enjoyed Koh Li Pe and our holiday with the parents, but this is the one country we will not go back to one day...
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