Asia 98 Front - South to the Thai Keys

For more than the past year I had been dreaming of, and eventually planning the travel that would pick up where I left off two years earlier. I had been surfing the internet, and occasionally reading Lonelyplanet.com and other budget traveler’s tales. I couldn't wait to sample that great street vendor food.

I had found an interesting sounding Bangkok guest house on the internet. Their clever and helpful website advised how to take the bus from the airport, and gave a map to print out with directions (in English and Thai).

I found this little Scottish fast-food place with golden arches. My wise host explained that familiar fast food places can actually be a surprise. An expression in Asia is same-same, but different.

I was waiting for a friend I met on my first trip in 1995. He lives Montreal, comes to Bangkok every winter and was to accompany me to some southeastern islands in the Gulf of Thailand. The Thai baht had passed 40 to the US Dollar. My last trip seemed a great value, when the exchange was 25/1. I now wrote home, "Everything that was a bargain two years ago at $4.00 is now $2.50"!

Two years ago I was headed to Koh Tao but never made it past another island. This time it was my first destination after Bangkok. We took a bus south to Chumpong, and spent the night. The next day we took the ferry to Koh Tao. This smaller island, north of Koh Pha-Ngan and Koh Samui, was famous for scuba and snorkeling. I spent about four days there in a lovely beach bungalow at Simple Life Villas. The huts were even nicer than the similar huts from two years before.

Hadrin beach, Koh Pha-Ngan FULL MOON PAR 'TAY

The middle of December brought us to Koh Pha-Ngan, in time for the full moon party. If you think about it, there is a full moon party on thousands of islands (and maybe a few larger land masses) every 28 days. People don’t need much of an excuse to party. At sunset, the beach was lined with vendors set up to sell food and drink. Sound systems competed with each other and Techno music blared till it hurt. The sound systems continued all night, all the next day, and throughout the next evening. The room I found was in the middle of it all. It was a real experience, but once is enough. Like golf, and cruise ships, I did it and I don’t feel the need to do it a second time...

Clubs and restaurants here show bootleg videos all day for free (the warnings about intellectual property scroll on the screen). I stayed a few days and got to catch up on many flicks I've wanted to see, for the price of a couple of fruit shakes. My friend Josh had to get back to Bangkok. I jammed with some Thai Rastas who had a Reggae Pub.

By Xmas I went on to the next island south, Koh Samui. I had jokingly called this (and Phuket) the Miami of the Thai Islands. It has an Airport and some luxuries the other Thai islands lack, like electricity 24 hours a day. Suddenly, all that didn't seem to be a bad idea. As planned, I met up here with some other friends (on their vacation from India). They had reserved an air-conditioned apartment at World Resort. Even the "single" units here were permanent structures.

Even on this larger touristy island, there were strange sites along the road. Large piles of coconut shells to rock formations and a trainer with his elephants, taking a break from work. When I walked on, he signaled the noble creature who lifted his trunk (to me) and squeaked. I laughed in recognition, and with a second signal, he squeaked goodbye again.