Moving to the suburbs dude! 🤙

Was my last night at Madam Guesthouse and they are a great family owned guesthouse and quite fluent in English which helps a lot! Very friendly and I'll be sure to give them great reviews. 

Moving to my digs in the suburbs today and looking forward to more space and less noise at night. Damn foreigners lol

Woke from my final night nice and early and did my usual morning walk to Thara Park. I just LOVE that so, many Thais are active and use the facilities available. Then back to where the Chinese ladies do a dance with fans. Not sure if it's linked to Chinese New Year but it's quite graceful. Similar to Tai Chi. 

Easing into the Thai lifestyle is quite easy, even as a solo traveller. 

Checking in with the second hand motorcycle dealer for prices, bought a laptop adapter cable (forgot mine back in SA) , did some homework re Krabi immigration for certificate of residence which is required to buy a motorbike, also priced some bicycles as the intention was to cycle for the first two months and only rent a motorbike when required. Seems to still be a good option. 😊

Met up with some policemen from Malaysia at the Crab statue and they are doing a motorcycle tour of part of Thailand . Now THAT is the right thing to do. Nice bunch of guys and Malaysians are quite fluent in English so could converse for a short while. 

Took a walk around Thara Park last night and some photos taken and I really need to hone in on my skills , both photographic and sports lol . 

End of Shift !

 

It is with awe that I watch the commute some people face to get home to their loved ones. Krabi is no different as there are communities on both sides of the river.

This morning I watched them arriving before sunrise and then watched them leaving at sunset. motorbikes loaded and read to rock and roll. 

The boats are just modified to have the engines mounted on the bow so loading and offloading can happen at the stern. Pretty slick operation at the end of the day ! 

Interesting that the Internal combustion engine boats don't seem to have lights for visibility yet the one electric ferry I saw did have lights as it was pretty silent other than the prop churning up water in its wake ! 

True vs AIS Cellular

 Initial thoughts are  TRue is a better option than AIS .

Will edit this post later as I currently have an eight day connection with True and a 30 day with AIS and once the True runs out early in Feb I am going to renew with a cheaper package as the speed is not as important  ( last year I bought for THB200 ~ approx ZAR120 for 30 days) and this was at 4Mbps and 15Gb data which was way more than addequate as you have access to wifi everywhere.

Also every 7/11 is a wifi hotspot for True customers so if you are in close proximity to a 7/11 you just freshen up with a water while you update data / info.   

AIS does sell the initial sim for cheaper Thb350 for 30 days while True was Thb449 for 8 days however the True app online shows substantial top up optiosn which are more palatable ( will renew for approx Thb190 for 30 days when the intial True runs out) and still have to see if this actually works ! 

Images below show GSM speeds from my room of both True and AIS and on my only Sony with the True runs far better than a newer Xiomi running AIS . 

This choice is yours !   

First pic is the AIS in the Xiomi. 2nd pic is the Sony with the True sim. 

Final note  - this old Sony Xperia from 2019 has proven to be bulletproof and has travelled the world with me . I freaking still love it ! 

Krabi - Initial thoughts

Initial thoughts have been overwhelmingly positive !  

For one, the weather was cooler than I thought it would be but with a hint of potential heat waves to come I'm sure as I move into the hot season in Feb. 

I am staying for three nights in the middle of town so I can get my bearings and find out where everything is. Being a transit town for all the farangs ( or farangs ~ foreigners~ using this as a base) , needless to say it comes with a bit of a party vibe. So sleep doesn't happen to easily when people are noisy all night. I can quite imagine the Thais are just as tired of foreigners as I am after just a few nights here.

Lot to be said for choosing a more peaceful neighbourhood which is exactly what I am doing from tomorrow. Looking forward to trying to get my circadian rhythm back on track which some decent sleep! 

Food has been really good , as I have found on all my trips to Thailand and it sounds weird as a westerner to come to an asian country and feel like you have come "home".

Sure , there are frustrations, as English is very seldom spoken here so its an uphill battle to be understood. However I am the guest and I need to lean in more than 50% in this regard and that is the mission. Lets see how my linguistics go ! 

Some photos from early morning and last night ( It's Chinese New Year so some businesses are closed ) but do make for a visual delight. 

Final comment to those that have lived in Hermanus , Western Cape , South Africa , is that the vibe is very similar , temp just warmer and for now, more younger foreigners backpacking Asia

จนถึงครั้งต่อไป   "Till the next time" 

  

 

Tale of Caution when Travelling !

 A cautionary tale when using Ethiopian Airlines. Even if you just use them for transit you are deemed to have been there and they *could* have some kind of outbreak, as I experienced when travelling to Thailand. Yellow fever seems to have ravaged a lot of Africa and as a result my acceptance took 2 hours longer than expected as I needed to first go to Health /Vaccine control. My stay in Ethiopia was literally disembarking from my Cape Town flight, which was late, and going straight through to embarking for BKK . 

An importance life lesson here was that one could have had a hissy fit at the inconvenience ( my luggage also went AWOL as the delay resulted in it being removed from the carousel) yet the Thais I dealt with weren't just good at assisting, they were freaking amazing and the experience just made me more pro Thailand than I already was. 

Now on exactly 24 hours since my flight landed, not even having disembarked, and already I have had two train rides to my hostel, one motorbike taxi for a visit to Queen Sirikit Park in Bangkok ( a must, visit) and on 20709 steps for the day due to a second visit at 5:30 am this morning and an extensive walk around the park. Exceptionally well maintained and worth the visit for sure. If you're a runner and feeling fresh there is an impeccable running track there. 😀

One Night in Bangkok !

 It would be remiss of me not to include the one night or rather one day I spent in Bangkok.

My Ethopian Airlines flight landed around midday on the 28th Jan which , considering when we landed in Addis Abiba and eventually disembarked from the plane our boarding time for the connecting flight had already started five minutes prior.  

So basically I was all of 10/15min in Addis Abiba and then boarding the next flight which was a bit chaotic at 00:15 am odd as we were three flights using one departure gate ( Zanzibar / Johannesburg and Bangkok) . You just prayed you got on the right transit bus to the right aircraft ! 

My 15 min in Ethiopia resulted me being kicked out of the immigration queue in Bangkok due to not having a yellow fever vaccination ( all countries in Africa, excluding South Africa, required this) 

This aside the staff were extremely helpful and two hours later I was allowed in after going through Health controls at the airport. 

As the stay was to be only one night I stayed in a hostel I stayed in before which is very close to the main railway station. This required two train trips from BKK to the main station and then a 850m slog with 25kg luggage in a duffle bag and a backpack ! 

As soon as I offloaded at the Matini Hostel I hit the road to Queen Sirikit Park by  Bolt Bike Courier ( have helmet , can travel) . Always entertaining with these guys maneuvering in the city!  This park is a MUST visit if in the vicinity and is also close to a night market which was closed the night I was there and not to sure why but also adds a vibrancy to the area.  I recall having a really good coffee in a tiny hole in the wall coffee shop . Think we could get 6 people max into the shop and then you have to slide past each other. Pick-pocketers delight I'm sure ! 

But the park itself is deceptively big. Reminds me a bit of Central park, NY  in a way but only because the running / cycling tracks are in Wachirabenchathat Park (Rot Fai Park) which adjoins the main park and you don't even realize you are crossing over into the new park. Great energy there with all the runners and cyclists and you quickly get the sense of the Thais strong sense of community and also lifestyle. Although one sees poverty in Thailand you also get the sense of the richness of the fabric of society , the lack of ego that goes with this. I'm hoping after this extended stay it will remain this way.