ENGLISH
Krabi
It was a 5 minutes decision taken while still half asleep. The nightly bus ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok tired me much and I was on the go again for an other night to end up in Krabi this time. Fortunately for me, I met with a traveler from Germany. We got along well and shared a room. That night of the day we arrived, we got wasted. We knew we were right on the Lonely planet tourist route in some lame beach filled with tourist resorts. The cost of living was 3 to 5 times more expensive than in the normal Thailand. That place was created and built to accommodate rich tourist and the prices followed.
Truly there was nothing to do there. We've seen many of the richest young adults in the world coming to "the beach" to show off. Mindless pretty American girl holding a fashion magazine in her hand "well in L.A. I don't go outside, I stay in AC rooms or in my car or I go shopping". That is my favorite example. Most people were so snobby, it wasn't worth starting a conversation. So many people walking around showing paper stacks of cash. It was all about status. The nicest your clothes were the better.
These people had nothing to say for the most part and they sure didn't know anything about the country they were in other than they came here to read a book on the beach. And this I say with no exaggeration.
**Yes,... off course, there might be a few exception of people who've been there before and knew much about Thailand... BUT! I haven't met none of those people on that beach.
Krabi part 2
cam & chopper
We didn't stay long with those mindless tourists; we left the next day and ended up further out there about 25km from Krabi. Every single night (except for one because i needed sleep) we partied our ass. At this point there was no difference between us and any other tourists. We were not travelers anymore, we had stoped to party. We stayed in a backpacker place which is quite rare in the area now. Lucky for us we got along very well with 2 staff from our hotel. One was the bartender and the other was the hostess. These 2 girls were actually cousins. Every night at 12am, the end of there shift, we would pick them up and party with them until sunrise. that's why us boys were so tired after a few days of that but we didn't let go; we kept on.
During the day, I had my chopper to ride around. The loud noise of farting thunder rose in the town every time. Our 2 staff girls took us discretely to cool places off the tourist route before they went to work or else, my German friend and I would make a road trip to explore the province. The fun I had on that bike!
It was all there for us, we had a cool province to explore with a nice bike, our cool girls at night and in the morning, enough partying to make us feel old, the ocean with small waves but big enough to bodysurf them, good food and all...
That's what made me stay so long in one place. Although I wouldn't be happy playing the tourist for long, it was a very nice splurge of providence and good intentions.
Puket road trip from Krabi
I had just gotten the chopper and met the girls the night before. I left anyway and drove nearly 200km (one way) to get to Puket. I knew right from the start it wasn't my scene but I wanted to see such a place as a learning experience.
Like I expected, It's a town built on tourism. The dream of the rich yoppy families and the nightmare of the traveler on a budget. Got an overly expensive room (note this despite low season time) and went out to see the "legendary night life of Puket". Met 2 cool dudes that were the only positive highlight of the night as they were very interesting and had cool stuff to say. The rest of the night was me getting more and more wasted as all the other tourists in the bars. Any time I tried to make a walk in the street, I was harassed by lady-boys who would firmly grasp my drunken arm and hang on to it. Always the same things they say: "Hello handsome man, where you go? You want me? I go with you!" It never matter what you tell them in English or in Thai, they are firmly attached to you like a nasty leach for the next 10 meters. I even got to see a fight down on the same street, a rare thing in the Thailand I've seen.
It seems to me that all the bad stuff that is been said about Thailand is coming from places like these. And it is perfectly understandable; If I would of only seen Puket and nothing else of Thailand, I too would say nasty things about Thailand. Unfortunately, many foreigners come from all around the world, flying to Bangkok then flying to Puket and flying back to where ever they come from after 3 weeks of partying and laying around on the beach. Puket is the only thing they know about Thailand... makes it very unfortunate.
The next morning I was driving back towards my german friend and the staff left behind... what can I say?
The nice part of all this was the 400km of driving in beautiful country I've done on a well running bike. I turned it back yesterday and it already seems like a distant yet finally realised dream.
What now?
I took the night bus to Bangkok after much days of laughter and quality time. I got over my little depression and dissappointments written in my last post. And I actually made it a learning experience. As my mother says: "[...] you have health...... and some cleverness to take care of yourself....."