Koh Ngai

As I refer to my notes for this part of my blog, I believe that I may have got sidetracked somewhere along the way. Maybe it was the tranquility, the nature, and the people, even the food, or maybe it was the wonderful time spent with my partner, because as I search, there were no entries, comments or mentions for a period of six days.

Now that’s what I call a holiday. It was not filled with meeting buses to go here, or people waking you in the early hours to take you there. It was not occupied with rude and arrogant tourists, nor did we see people pestering us to buy their wares on the street. It was just the beach, the hut, that bloody sand and us.

There were no cars, motorbikes, un-necessary noises or people being loud. I could continue with the things we didn’t see on Koh Ngai, but from here on in it’s going to be the awesome and amazing things we did see and hear.

There was however a crew of amazing and helpful staff at the beautiful Mayalay Resort, who at all times were respectful, diligent and willing to assist. From the cleaners to the kitchen staff, these guys know the finer details of what makes a stay on Koh Ngai not just memorable but remarkable.

The Mayalay Spa ladies were brilliant; I never missed a day in there for a massage or some treatment from over exposure to the sun. The outlook from the beds while you lay and get pampered was directly to the water, and with the rolling waves and bird calls, no where could have been better for one hour of relaxation.

our reserved seating for the coming days

When travelling, I know I have always gone out of my way to introduce myself and get to know the staff, this way I am sure to make my travels just that little bit more personal. As you could guess by now, that meant the bar staff. Spending seven days here without a decent drink, could cause a man to start drinking.

The kitchen is open from 7am through until 9pm every day, catering for residents of the resort, day-trippers and to the other resorts on Koh Ngai. As it was off-peak, the other resorts had closed some sections for renovations and the like. This was a good thing for us, we got to meet some awesome people and make some new friends. Mayalay Resort was certainly a casual place to be, with no strict dress codes, I would often find myself in a sarong at the bar just kicking back. You will be pleased to read that I will not publish those photos.

The food on offer at Mayalay Resort was of a high standard of authentic Thai Cuisine. With a small selection of western foods I would often try and keep a healthy balance of both cuisines. The one thing I shortly became accustomed to was chicken sausages. Now I am not sure whether these were either chicken or sausages, but these tasty little morsels were absolutely everywhere.

Over the coming days, I will spend some time discovering the islands near by and the other attractions on Koh Ngai.

Bangkok to Trang

Arriving in Trang, we wound up in the middle of these colourful and noisy celebrations for returning of soldiers of war. The colours that the Thai people use to celebrate are just breathtaking, and the noises made by these eight or so elderly ladies in the back of utility was just surreal. Now that’s a welcome, even if it wasn’t for two brightly and well-dressed gents from Melbourne.

So we finally found our way into a minivan and away from the welcome home celebrations and headed for our hotel. Note; when booking a hotel, ensure that when the hotel is in the shape of the ship, it must carry a 4 star rating.

Yes, a ship I hear you say? Well the front reception/convention section of the hotel is a ship’s bow, and thankfully that was anchored down into the earth and not the sea.

The Rua Rasada Hotel – Trang

The Rua Rasada Hotel oozed class, elegance and touch of old world charm without loosing reality (hard to believe, knowing we are in a ship shaped hotel). The staff, well there was literally a cast of staff that were there for our every need, all knowledgeable and willing to assist with our requests.

The hotel’s ship design is a hint of the former glory of this area, and after years of being on the scrap heap, it was renovated and redesigned over a year ago to bring us a delicate and superb hotel with all of the trimmings.

The outlook from our room was very rural, with a slight glimpse of the pool deck; it was a nice change to experience the serenity that Trang had to offer.

The foyer of the Rua Rasada Hotel

Trang is a prominent fishing town and the first rubber trees in Thailand were planted here in 1899, so there is plenty of rich history and local attractions. Unfortunately, we were here for the one night and leaving early the next day to head to our Island destination.

I did manage to check out one of the spa treatments on offer at the hotel’s spa. I booked in for a 1/2-hour bath, a one-hour body scrub followed by a one hour deep tissue massage, which took me from brilliant to astonishing and all for the minimal sum of 1000bht or $30au. I did for the first time on this trip feel relaxed, clean and now ready for what lay ahead.

The pool deck.

One thing that stood out was the people walking their cows/bulls like we do our dogs. It was hysterical, as no matter where we would go, the Tuk Tuk/taxi would give way to these awesome animals and their owners.

taking the dog for a walk…..

Trang is an area of Thailand that is real, honest and trusting. I would love to return to Trang and spend some more time here discovering what is on offer. I am also sure with coming years, Trang will once again relive what was once a thriving tourism hub of Thailand.

The next day we left luxury and ventured towards the relaxing and very petite island of Ko Ngai, a 45-minute boat ride from Pak Meng Pier. This is sure to be seven days of pure bliss.

Thailand for the first time

Planning the annual migration to warmer weather is always a challenging task, answering the age old questions, what do I want from this holiday?

I started with warmer weather, because as we all know, the weather in Melbourne has been horribly cold. Then it was shopping, because deep deep down we all love to shop. It must have culture, strong beliefs and an experience I can talk to my children about later in life.

Thailand seemed an obvious choice, but the little I knew about Thailand had to do with the un-necessary things I hear from my work mates. But what the heck, this is a holiday that had shopping, sandy white beaches, amazing food and did I mention shopping.

Departing a cold and blistery Melbourne was not a hard thing to do that afternoon, and leaving the jackets in the car was more exciting than it sounds, but I knew we would be expecting an average of 32c each day.

I have heard and read a fair bit about the madness and congestion of Bangkok, and also the lack of ability to breath which I knew would be a challenge, but arriving in a warm and humid Bangkok at 9pm was the real shock. My head ached from the humidity, the body trembled from the noise and the mind went into overdrive from the pure energy of the amount of people.

After reaching a taxi with the bags in tow, I knew there would be no stopping until I reached the sandy beaches of Ko Ngai, which was still 2 days away.

Our first night was spent in a little hotel just moments from the airport but hours away from relaxation. The Floral Shire Resort was a small, old but cheap hotel in a back lane-way in what seemed to be the only hotel in the area. We settled quickly and headed out on foot to firstly find some food, and quench the thirst with a cold authentic Thailand beer.

A little close to the airport…..

We found this cute bar only moments walk from the resort and scoffed the first beer like I hadn’t tasted beer in years. It was cold, I mean cold, so I guess it could have been anything really, as long as it was cold! The food was good, I mean it wasn’t great, but it was all we needed on our first night in town.

Our little hotel Floralshire Resort….

After a restless night, we headed back to Suvarnabhumi Airport for an early flight to Trang, the most southern province in Thailand.

Bangkok is the largest city I have been to in my travels to date, and although I relish what I am about to explore, experience and discover, I am amazed by the little things; How does the traffic in Bangkok really work? I mean there are cars, trucks, cows, people and millions of motorbikes taking up each and every inch on the rough and bumpy roads. Surely if this was here in Melbourne, the fatality rates would be through the roof.  Well done Bangkok I am totally amazed right now!