Part 4 – Thailand
The following ten days were a magnificent masterclass in relaxation and doing nothing so I shall not bore you with many details other than the itinerary:
Phuket – 1 Night
Koh Lanta – 2 Nights
Koh Phi Phi – 3 Nights
Koh Phangan – 4 Nights
Koh Tao – 2 Nights
Koh Samui – 1 Night
Many, many, many uncomfortable hours spent on boats, buses, taxis and tuk tuks were endured to make this achievable!
One of the many places we stay was notable by its horrendousness. I strongly advise at least one night in the Lighthouse Bungalows resort on Koh Phangan. It puts luxury travel into stark perspective:
As part of our budget constraints we had decided to take the sleeper train from Chumphon to Bangkok and had reserved First Class cabin tickets before we left the UK. However as we travelled around Thailand we couldn’t find a single place, on any island, that would actually issue a ticket for that reservation. By the time we were in Thailand the train was completely full, but our reservation remained intact. Even the supposed rail offices were unable to ticket the reservation, so presumably our two berths went out empty because of this frustrating, inept and inflexible system! So in the end we had no choice but to fly from Koh Samui back up to Bangkok. We had a choice of Flex Economy or Business on Bangkok Airways (Thai was full), both for £100 and of course went for Business.
The flight that gave us the longest weekend was the 7am departure and we were picked up from our hotel at 6am, getting to the airport five minutes later. After a five minute wait at the Business Class check in we approached the desk and before I had said anything was told:
Agent: The line is over there
Me: Excuse me?
Agent: The line for check in is over there
Me: We are travelling Business Class
Agent: Oh
Fine, we were wearing shorts and a t-shirt and had back packs, but this is Koh Samui, so did everyone else! After this initial setback we walked the few hundred metres from the check in area up to the departure gate area and took a look in the VIP Lounge.
The lounge was unmanned but someone made a cursory visit every ten minutes to check boarding passes. Juice and pastries were all that was required at this early hour and soon it was time to board. The airport in Samui is fascinating in that it is an almost entirely unwalled structure, quite unlike anywhere in the world.
We went through the gate and were personally escorted to a little golf buggy type vehicle. Economy passengers had to board a larger bus type vehicle. We drove across the airport and boarded our only narrow body of the trip, our A319 to Bangkok.
Date: 06/03/2010
No: PG104
Route: USM-BKK
Time: 0745-0850
AC: A319
Class: Business
Seats: 2D/2F
This was another swift flight, with excellent service and a meal far exceeding what would normally be served on a similar flight anywhere else in the world. The flight was totally full and J was filled with plenty of leisure travellers and families like ourselves. We were given a menu which was filled with all the choices throughout the day, so if anyone wants to see the rest of the menu then I’ll be happy to share. For breakfast the choice was:
Seasonal Fresh Fruits
Blueberry Yoghurt
Scramble Egg Served with Fried Chicken Chipolata, Fried Potato Rosti, Sauted Spinach and Grill Tomato
Assorted Bread
Coffee/Tea
Once again, excellent service on such a short flight. Our bags were on the carousel by the time we reached it and we were soon in a battered old taxi en route to the Intercontinental. Here we had a lovely Club Suite where we based ourselves for the weekend.
