Global Traveller: August 2011

Greetings from Koh Chang in Thailand! I'm sure I have been here before.....

Yes that's right, we have come back to Thailand. After our tour of China, and with time ticking on, we decided to come back to the place we love to end our journey with friends and good times.

Depressing Nanjing

Since my last blog, we had to endure the hellhole that was Nanjing in China. It was like the back end of the world and was generally just depressing. It was a relief when we came to leave and we headed for the bullet train again to Shanghai. We planned carefully this time after our experience of booking tickets in Beijing and we booked a few days in advance. This meant we had no hassle on the day of travel and the train journey was swift and efficient.

On arrival at Shanghai, we had to take a taxi to our hotel, which was about 20km to the city centre. This had to be done during rush hour and it took almost 2 hours to get to our hotel! On the way I could feel that Shanghai was different compared to the rest of China.

Shanghai skyline

Our first night was spent getting a feel for the place and we took a walk along the river front. The skyline is pretty impressive, almost like Hong Kong. Huge skyscrapers, landmark buildings all lit up in some amazing colourful displays. On our side of the river, you had the old financial centre buildings; the colonial 1920's and 1930's buildings that Shanghai is famous for and were very beautiful to look at.

After 3 days in Shanghai, we learned of a disaster on the bullet train as it had crashed then fell of the viaduct and killed about 40 people. It sent a chill down my spine as we had been on it just a few days earlier. The Chinese government had straight away tried to mount a general cover up and the state media was unusually defying the government’s rules on what they should broadcast. On the news only a few days before the crash, there was a report about the Chinese people feeling that safety had been compromised because of corruption in the government. The crash has since ignited a lot of fury in the Chinese people and I hope that something is done about it.

Old Shanghai

All in all I had a great time in Shanghai, it is very much like Hong Kong visually but has a more slightly relaxed feel than the rest of China I visited. Many parts of Shanghai are like walking through a European street because of the colonial buildings, but then suddenly you are back in China in the next street. Shanghai is somewhere I would definitely go back to again.

The time came to leave China and head back to Bangkok. The taxi ride to the airport usually takes about 1 hour, yet we did it in 30 minutes. How? Because we were being driven by a reckless taxi driver that was reaching speeds of 120 mph (yes, miles per hour) on the freeway. Jesus Christ I was terrified and never thought I would make it to the airport alive after almost being wiped out by a bus! With the bullet train crash a few days earlier and a near miss on the freeway, surely there would be no more bad omens in Shanghai? Well at check in we were given seat number 13A and 13B! It felt like something out if final destination.

Me at Cheap Charlie's in Bangkok

We arrived back in Bangkok and if I am honest, my first feelings were of sadness. I felt sad because I knew the trip was coming to an end and being back just reinforced that feeling. I had usually always pushed it to the back of my mind. Still, it was very comfortable being there again after the experience of China. Plus, we had some drinking to do!

The weather in Bangkok was grey and rainy, something I hadn't seen there before. We soon got back into our normal rhythm by visiting Cheap Charlie's, a bar hidden away in a kind of back alley on the street. It’s a great meeting place for tourists and ex-pats alike. And when Cheap Charlie's closes... you head for one of the many VW Camper van's that are street bars! In our week in Bangkok, 6 nights were spent doing this and I loved every minute. Bangkok is simply an amazing city.

Bangkok street bars

And then... for our next stop and after 8 months away, we headed back to Koh Chang. I always knew we would come back. It is probably one of my favourite places I have visited in my life, so far. Being back was like coming back home in a strange sort of way. It was great to see our friend Susanna again. We were meant to meet her again in Bali however she is still on Koh Chang after 11 months! Susanna was our neighbour last year and is again this year. It's like we never left.

Dave has been back on the decks at Om Bar again and I have even spent an hour behind the bar, my first time doing bar work. Although it is quieter because it is low season, the Saturday night parties have been packed, just like in the high season. Needless to say party nights involve a lot of beers, buckets and red bull. Me, Dave and Susanna are a force to be reckoned with when we get on the buckets!

The Ferry to Koh Chang

Our good friend Nicci, who we met on Koh Chang on our very first visit 4 years ago, was still on Koh Chang after arriving earlier in January. We missed her arrival so it was great catching up and spending some time her and also her little one, Lotus. Nicci had to leave Koh Chang at the end of August and head back to Holland, so we had a sending off party that was the usual mixture of buckets, booze and cheeseburgers at the end of the night! It was very sad to see her leave, as it always is with people you meet then become friends with on the road.

Me working the bar!

Because it is still rainy season on Koh Chang, the storms at night have been spectacular. Our hut is on the mountainside on the edge of the jungle, so when the storm clouds gather it is just above our heads, and when it thunders, our whole bungalow shakes. It was so bad on one night; I didn't get to sleep until 7am. It was pretty scary stuff!

Unfortunately, we never made it to my friend Leanne’s wedding in Sri Lanka. My plan from the start of this trip was to be there, but when I was in a position to look at booking flights and hotels, I simply didn't have the funds to go. This is one part of the trip that has made me realise how much I miss my friends back home.

Our month in Thailand has passed very quickly and the time has come to do our first visa run to renew our Thailand stay. The closest Thailand embassy is in Phnom Penh. If you read my blog in January, you will know that it is not somewhere I ever thought I would visit again. However, keeping an open mind we decided to come back and pick a better area than we selected before. This has paid off slightly; my stay in Phnom Penh this time has been better. However, Phnom Penh is not one of my favourite places so maybe this time will be my last. Sometimes first impressions can be wrong, so at least I gave it a second chance.

Nicci's leaving night

The rules on Thailand visa applications have just changed in the last few days, typical. The agencies are now saying due to management changes at the embassy they are making it stricter for foreigners to obtain visas. We submitted all the information we could and had a nerve-wracking 24 hours waiting to see if the visa would come through. Thankfully, it has, so that guarantees another 8 weeks in Thailand.

After Phnom Penh we are heading back to Koh Chang for what will most likely be the closing chapters of our travelling. I thought I would find this hard to accept but for some reason I don't. I think this is because Koh Chang is actually like a 'winding down' of the trip. After spending so much time and energy going from place to place, Koh Chang is allowing me time to settle mentally before making the long trek home.

So from me, it's bye for now!