Georgetown, Malaysia - Enjoying its identity

Not many cities have the magic to captivate as quick as Georgetown did. Arriving to Georgetown from Krabi was quite a trip which can be summarized as followed:

• Boat from Phi Phi to Krabi Town - 2 hours
• Motorcycle from Krabi Town's Pier to Krabi's bus station - 15 minutes
• Bus from Krabi Town to Hat Yai - 6 hours (instead of 3 indicated in the guide)
• Minivan from Hat Yai to the Thai border - 1 hour
• Motorcycle from the Thai check post to the Malaysian check post and then to the taxi stop (10 minutes)
• Taxi to Alor Setar (last bus already departed more than one hour ago) - 1.5 hour

Somedays I feel like travelling to the next town 2 hours away, and sometimes I feel like travelling as far as I can. I guess, that that day, it was one of those. I spent the night in Alor Setar to continue my journey on a next day:

• Bus from Alor Setar to Butterworth - 1.5 hours 
• Ferry from Butterworth to Georgetown - 20 minutes

Arriving to Georgetown and walking through its streets made me wonder about this old little commerce hub between Asia and Europe. With many Indian and Chinese inhabitants, it was not a surprise to discover that this city is a UNESCO heritage site due to its unique cultural townscape. This city has definitely that something that makes you feel good.

I was walking inside China Town and Through Little India until I found a very decent, clean and cozy  guesthouse for an amazing price for Malaysia (48 RM - 12 EUR): Guesthouse 33. The Chinese owner was very helpful with all I might have needed. I rented a bicycle from him and I decided to make a street art discovery of the city. Artists have placed paintings and metalwork on the house walls all around the city. Sometimes it feels like being inside a maze looking for the piece of art that your eyes are overlooking. 

That night I went for street food in one of the local tents placed all in arow on a big street. I don't know how but I ended up in an Indian place. Every bite transported me back to the days when this whole journey had begun. Only a couple of weeks ago, but so rich of emotions and adventures. When everything began on that month of April, I had no idea that I would be experiencing so much.

Ko Phi Phi, Thailand - The Tsunami Alerts

It doesn't matter how early i get up, destiny does not allow me to get to my final destination on the same day. After taking the first speed boat I took a motorcycle that could bring me to the bus station. Once there, I took the bus to Krabi Town: The exit point to the Phi Phi islands.

I was planning to avoid very touristic places during this trip, but Ko Phi Phi has been calling my  attention.  If i had to surf through a horde of tourists to see the beauty of this island, i would do so.

I arrived to Krabi's bus station at 16:30. The journey to Ko Phi Phi would take me almost two hours with a boat. I was not planning to rush and arrive at night (if there were still boats available), so I decided to take it easy  and spend the night at Krabi. This time I found a very nice guesthouse with a very  hard lady who was a not a milimeter open to negotiate. The cleanliness the guesthouse, the tiredness and the need to slow down made me decide to stay at Chanchalay.

That night, looking for a place to eat I landed in a restaurant close to the Guesthouse. I ended up sharing table with a Chilean guy travelling South East Asia for a couple of months already. The dinner ended up in a prolonged conversation, and many words spoken lead to many drunk beers.  Around 1 a.m. and after many  covered topics we decided that it was good to go back to our guesthouses if we still wanted to continue our journey at a decent time.

Next morning, at a completely not decent time I woke up. It was 11 am already and I had to check out and find my way to the pier. Going down to the reception to have breakfast and to check out, I found a time table of boats to Ko Phi Phi with transport included to the pier. I arranged the ticket there and as easy as sitting down to have breakfast, the van came to pick me up and dropped me at the pier.

The pier is behind a beautiful boat station 10 minutes away from Krabi Town. And as expected, it is crowded with dozens of tourist who want to go to Ko Phi Phi. Waiting inside the station in a beautiful garden under the roof of a kind of colonial indoor patio, the time for boarding came. The dozens of tourists and myself started boarding a big boat with two floors and a deck. Inside the boat there was air-conditioning but not a nice view. Outside was more fun. I found a place under the shade,  book in  hand and camera ready, my journey began.

Seeing the island approaching to us bit by bit,  I understood why  this island was so popular. Green mountains, turquoise beaches and white sand made of it a visual paradise. We disembarked from the boat and I  was trying to look for a guesthouse that could be good and not that expensive. I found one on the north part of town called Oasis. It was comfy, clean and not expensive. For 400 Baht i could rent a room.

Ko Phi Phi is an island with beautiful beaches but that suffers the effects of the tourism. Compared rustic Ko Phayam, Ko Phi Phi is full of restaurants, stores, kiosks, bars, pubs, hotels, hostels, guesthouses and a lot of party. If you are looking for that in a nice environment, this might be the place for you.

I decided to merge with that world that night. After going to a very good local restaurant called "Papaya", I went to a pub where there were playing acoustic live music. The good thing about this island is that you can lose yourself in hedonism or you can just have a nice time. it's up to someone.

I remember that night that it was around 5:00 a.m. when  someone knocked on my door. When I opened, there was this girl outside telling me that a tsunami alert had been given and that we all had to pack our stuff and evacuate to the mountain. Half asleep, not knowing what to expect and with the Japanese word tsunami echoing in my subconscious, i started packing everything: Backpack big and small. I started going uphill to the top of the mountain but I couldn't find the way. The backpack was too heavy to carry uphill,  so I went bucket the room and left it there. At the end  the important stuff was in the small one. I went back and I found the correct way to the top, so my ascent started. After 40 minutes I had reached a safe top but the main top was still 25 minutes ahead. I arrived  to the top of the mountain after dawn and rain. Thankfully I had the  umbrella with me and I could find shelter while the rain lasted. The effort to reach the top was not in vain, a great view unfolded in  from of my eyes. Ko Phi Phi let me enjoy her for the first time.

After a while at the top, we were told that we were safe and that we could go down. I went back to my room feeling safe and looking for a bed to sleep a bit longer. Around noon and after a shower, i went out the guesthouse and I found Gustavo and Sabrina outside. They were also staying at the guesthouse. Gustavo proposed to rent together a boat and go and explore Maya Bay that was on the second Phi Phi island called Phi Phi Leh. After looking for boats at a good price, we found one that would take us with some other tourist for 300 Bahts from our island Phi Phi Don stopping around Phi Phi Leh and finishing at Maya Bay (famous for the movie The Beach).

It was a nice afternoon watching monkey, snorkelling and swimming. Maya Bay was alright, there are better beaches at Phi Phi Don. Almost before dusk we headed back to our island.

That night we went with Gustavo, Sabrina and a Dutch girl for dinner at the second restaurant of Papaya and then for a beer at the beach. The Dutch girl had not been told by anybody about the tsunami alert. We joked about it and told her that maybe that night she was going be awoken by a bit of water in her room.

They say in Spanish that you shouldn't spit to the sky because it may fall on your face. And it did. That night Gustavo woke me at 2 a.m. telling me that there had been a real soft earthquake that was felt in the island and all people was going again to the mountains. So, here we go again. This time there were more locals going up and it was amazing to see how good they were organised. They had local motorcycle patrols going around the inhabited small part of the island and guiding everyone to the safe points They were informing everybody about the current status of the situation. After two hours they told us that it was ok to come down after 20 minutes if no aftershock was coming. After 20 minutes we climbed down and I crashed in my bed. With this I was saying good-bye to the beautiful but capricious Ko Phi Phi.

Ko Phayam, Thailand - My first island

I left Maggie's Guesthouse in a minivan with our Dutch Fella Rick. He was going south but finally to the opposite coast. I was heading South but to the Andaman Coast to my first island in Thailand. We shared a minivan to Chumphon first where we  said goodbye. He stayed there and I took another minivan to Ranong. Ranong would be my jumping off point to the island of Ko Phayam (note that the "h" in Thai is silent).

Arriving at Ranong, I couldn't make it for the last 5:30 p.m. speed boat to the island. Because of the lack of people (low season of course) they had cancelled it. So I had to look for a hostel where to stay. Ranong is a border city where you can go to Myanmar if you feel like to (for a day mostly if you leave your passport at the boarder and come back the same day); otherwise you need to get a visa that is granted to an embassy. For the first time I saw the concept of "Boutique-Hostel" that according to the LP it had been renovated and I had to take a look. It was a nice hostel with private rooms where the rules where: "You receive a clean white sheet, but in case there is any stain of any origin or any color, you will pay 200 extra Baht". So I better shower before even the dirt of my neck lays on the sheet.

Ranong is a city just to pass by. There is not much to do here but it still offers local ambiance and local food. It was enough for a dinner, a sleep and a breakfast. Next morning I was heading to the pear to take the speed boat to the island.

There are two ways to get to Ko Phayam; one is a slow big boat that will take 1.5 hours and the other is a speed boat that will take you 45 minutes. The difference in price is 150 Bahts (200 vs. 350). That would be 4 euro's if we make the conversion. Slow boats are limited one or two per day while speed boats go more frequent (5-6 times a day).

Arriving to the island, you feel already that you are out of civilization. Everything if back to basics (But with electricity and Wi-Fi). There are no cars on the island and only motorcycles. The best option is to rent a motorcycle for 200 Baht per day and you are free, because walking to the beaches is not an option unless you want to spend the whole day on a road looking at tropical vegetation sweating from head to toe.



My first night I spent in a hut of June Horizon hostel. During the day, it was a nice hut in front of the beach for 300 Bahts. But during night, it was an animal paradise. I was sleeping inside a mosquito net but because the hut was open, it could let anybody in, and with anybody I mean 40 cm gecko's, mosquito and insects that I hadn't seen before in my life. Not a very cozy night for me as you stay alert that nobody will invade your bed while sleeping.

Next morning, Berengere was heading the same island and she was joining too. I had rented a motorcycle and I went to pick her up. After evaluating the situation we decided to move to other bungalows next to the ones I was staying. These one were called Vijit.

After bargaining with the sweet Thai girl on the counter, we could get a bungalow for 300 Bahts (But not in front of the beach. These cost 800 Baht). These bungalows where much nicer, in front of a real beach and more well maintained. It was feeling like paradise already. The food was very good and I decided to stay there for two nights.

Ko Phayam is a place to relax, explore beaches, driver your motorcycle and eat nicely. There are no cars, so riding a motorcycle is a piece of cake. You will find gasoline on every single stand in the middle of the road (sold in a plastic water bottle) and people here are living the day to day in a quite and very friendly mood. The island is not so touristy and it is perfect place to get away from civilization.

After exploring the beaches from north to south, east to west of this small island. Trying the local food and having just fun. My time arrived and I had to keep on heading South. Berengere dropped me that morning at the Pier so I could take my speed boat back and keep my journey.

Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand - Trying to remember your name

After repeating to myself the name of this town during the 4 hours that my trip lasted, I arrived to this town without being able to pronounce its name completely.

Left in the middle of a very interesting and appetizing food market, I found some local who could give me directions of how to reach my guesthouse which was only 5 minutes walking distance from where the minivan left me. I started walking to my destination where I could spend the night when I met Berengere (a name a bit easier to remember). She was staying at the same guesthouse, and I wouldn't know she was going to be a great travel buddy.



Prachuap Khiri Khan is a city that I might use to relax a bit. It has a beach, it has nature and it has an amazing evening food market. At least this is what I discovered. That night we went for some local food at the local street market and then she showed me part of the town (the pier, a bit of the promenade). That night we stayed out late having a relaxed beer night with her and with an American and a Dutch fellow.




With the help of a bicycle, I went next day to explore my first Thai Beach. The funny thing about this beach is that you had to first enter a military base and sign you in as visitor, after that you cycle for 2 kilometers inside the base and you cross on your bicycle an airstrip until you keep on biking for 3 or 4 more kilometers and you end up in a beautiful white sand beach with turquoise warm water and almost empty. The hours passed by reading, swimming, reading, sleeping, reading, swimming until around 3 p.m. more people started coming. There was a group that called my attention. It was a group of locals and foreigners who were taking care of handicapped kids and it was their beach day. Admirable to watch them play all together in the sand and in the sea. It was a moment to take your hat off. After the beach I took a detour to look for monkeys. I heard that around the beach there were monkeys with white eye. I found the first one sitting very silently on a tree branch. They say, once you  find the first one (which is the most difficult to find), the rest will just appear in front of your eyes. and so they  did.

My stay at PKK was short but enjoyable. It was used as a jumping point to continue my journey. Choosing between crazy and party and relaxed and exploring; I know that most of you would like the first option, but not me this time. I chose to go to less touristy but to the most beautiful cost of the South of Thailand: The Andaman Coast.