11 May - 21 May 2013 Pantai Cenang




 
Southeast Asia
Flawed-democratic Federation of Malaysia
Kedah Darul Aman
Langkawi Island aka Pulau Langkawi
Pantai Cenang
Tstar Cottage +6049555551 tstarcottage_langkawi@hotmail.com
Brand-new, stylish and comfortable double-bed cottage (no. S 05) with private bathroom, private verandah and private koi pond (a high-output mozzie breeder) for the introduction price of only MYR 45.- or US$ 15.- per night. Free but agricultural wifi. Sweet-tempered, pisang-goreng and keropok-lekor chomping, obese Malay staff.
Beer: 320-ml cans of ice-cold Malaysian Skol Beer (5.0 % alc./vol., “Enjoy Responsibly”) for MYR 1.90 or US$ 0.65 (tax free) from the grumpy but cheap Chinese Happy Souvenir supermarket diagonally opposite.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Tstar Cottage in Pantai Cenang and for directions:
N 06° 36.80' E 100° 03.80' 










Matt: Exploring the 2km-long, very touristy Cenang Beach aka Pantai Cenang, a heavily commercialised and overdeveloped beach section with fine powdery sand but totally defaced (i) with a gazillion of ugly beachfront bars with rip-off mentality, (ii) with overpriced pseudo-international fast-food eateries with the usual priceless menus, (iii) with a plethora of deadly dull “Malay” spas with prices two to three times higher than in neighbouring Thailand, (iv) with just enough well-stocked Chinese Malaysian duty-free outlets filled with all kind of non-halal and dirt-cheap booze, e.g. 1-litre bottles of carefully selected Hayman's James Brookes Highland Piper for MYR 25.- or US$ 8.30 per bottle, and (v), last but not least, with countless rather home-made holiday resorts with a service morale for each budget.



Matt: Hiking the almost bucolic hinterland of Cenang Beach (Kampung Temoyong, Kampung Ketapang and Kampung Lubok Buaya) and, all of a sudden, landing in a parallel universe, only a few kilometres away from madness, with very friendly Malay kampungniks, well-tended rice paddies and simple warungs selling cheap and delicious Malay food, thus, once more, becoming aware of the tourism industry’s negative effects on (i) a country’s psychology (e.g. mammonism instead of hospitality), (ii) a country's ecology (e.g. concreted-over areas instead of natural habitats), and (iii) a country's economy (e.g. regulated two-tier pricing instead of free-market economy).



Matt: Discovering a lesser-known piece of clean public beach nearby and enjoying melancholically the distance of exactly one diameter of the planet Earth between Konni and my aloneness (only shared with regular visitors from the animal kingdom: a shy morning gang of dusky leaf monkeys [Trachypithecus obscurus] and an aggressive afternoon barrel of long-tailed macaques [Macaca fascicularis]), thus having nearly a whale of a time and having sufficient time to prepare my upcoming solo travels to Korea/Japan and Borneo/Kalimantan.




Matt: Flagging  down a Malay taxi (with the Muslim cartelist all the time munching on his greasy nasi lemak whilst driving) to Langkawi International Airport (c. 15 km, ½ hour, non-negotiable flat rate of MYR 18.-), taking off with Firefly (“Your Community Airline”) +60378454543 in a clean ATR 72-500 from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport for the steal of only MYR 35.- or US$ 11.20, all inclusive, and taking thereafter the Rapid KL bus no. U81 (MYR 2.50 per person, no change) from Subang to KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur’s main railway station and hub for all kind of airport buses, jumping here into a yellow Aerobus coach (Wawasan Sutera Travel & Tours +60361892711) to Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport (KLIA-LCCT) at Sepang (c. 70 km, 1 ¼ hour, MYR 8.- per person), killing the small hours in the airport’s convenient Food Garden, flying thereafter, early on the next morning, with Air Asia X (“Now Everyone Can Fly Xtra Long”) in a worn Airbus A 330-300 to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport for US$ 102.- per person, all inclusive, changing in mid-air my watch from Malaysia Standard Time (GMT/UTC + 8:00 hours) to Korea Standard Time (GMT/UTC + 9:00 hours), being issued with a South Korean visit permit for 90 days on arrival, free of charge, and taking eventually the flashy airport limousine bus no. 6002 for KRW ("won") 10,000.- or US$ 9.- per person straight to the excellent Kimchee Dongdaemun Guesthouse +8227426696 in Jung-gu; anyeong hasseyo, Korea?!



 Click below for more blog posts about Malaysia's very useful duty-free islands
22 Feb - 10 Mar 2013 Tioman
01 Jan - 04 Jan 2012 Kuah
29 Nov - 31 Dec 2011 Kuah
24 Oct - 26 Nov 2011 Kuah
30 Sep - 03 Oct 2009 Labuan

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2013 Map Konni & Matt


Facing Korea
© Konni & Matt


Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United Kingdom:
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for our Grand Children's Journey of Life:
It’s bad to trust words;
It’s good to dovetail actions.
Keep your bearings!
Destination: ,

10 May - 11 May 2013 Satun






Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Thailand aka The Land of Conditional Smiles
Satun Province
Satun
Thanon Samanta Prasit 4 - 6
Rain Tong Hotel +6674711036
Basic but adequate und clean double room (no. 340) with private bathroom for THB 220.- or US$ 7.40 per night. Friendly staff, very limited English.
Beer: 330-ml cans of ice-cold Chang Classic (c. 6.4 % alc./vol.) for THB 28.- or US$ 0.95 per regular can from the friendly Chinese greengrocer opposite the hotel.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Rain Tong Hotel in Satun, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 06° 36.80' E 100° 03.80' 










Matt: Overnighting in un-touristy and slightly ordinary Satun (where ordinary Thai 7-Elevens, ordinary Thai night markets and ordinary Thai massage parlours compete with each other to provide cheap and reliable happy endings for visa-running ex-pats from Langkawi/Malaysia) and, the next morning, taking a rugged săwngthăew from the unmarked bus stop on Thanon Sulakanukoona (THB 20.- or US$ 0.60 per person) to the ferry pier aka Tammalang Pier, about 7 km south of Satun, embarking on the thrice-daily a/c ferry “Kenangan 6” from Andaman Ferry Ventures +6049661125 (c. 20 nm, 1 ¼ hour, THB 310.- or US$ 9.60 per person, one way) bound to bus-free and duty-free Langkawi Island, thus leaving a land of frowns and entering a land of smiles, changing my watch from Thailand’s Indochina Time (GMT + 7 hours) to Malaysia Standard Time (GMT + 8 hours) and being issued with another 90-day-visit pass for a “social visit” to Malaysia on arrival, free of charge and without any hassle; "...selamat datang Malaysia Truly Asia!"


 
Matt: Meeting up with our close Dutch/Kiwi friends and ex-yotties/liveaboards Deena & Jacob (SY “Crimson Tide”) at our favourite vegetarian lunch joint, the superb Chinese-Buddhist Langkawi Vegetarian Restaurant +6049666405, supported by the Vegetarian Society of Malaysia, and thereafter taking an asthmatic Proton Saga taxi from downtown Kuah to Cenang Beach (c. 25 km, ½ hour, flat rate of MYR 24.- or US$ 8.- per ride; there are no buses on Langkawi and the whole public transport is tightly controlled by Langkawi’s price-fixing and heavily politicised Malay taxi cartel).

2013 Map Konni & Matt


Facing Thailand
© Konni & Matt 

 
Recommended products – click below for your Amazon order from Canada:
 
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for our Grand Children's Journey of Life:
It’s bad to wear any uniform;
It’s good to put on motley stuff.
Keep your bearings!
Destination:

05 May - 10 May 2013 Phuket





 
Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Thailand aka The Land of Conditional Smiles 
Ko Phuket
Phuket Town
Phang Nga Road 89
Sinthavee Hotel +6676211186 sinthaveehotel@hotmail.com
Very comfortable but a bit worn a/c double room (no. 614), with private bathroom and a super-size fridge, for only THB 400.- or US$ 13.50 per night. Professional staff.
Beer: 330-ml cans of ice-cold Chang Classic (c. 6.4 % alc./vol.) for THB 35.- or US$ 1.20 per can from the convenient hotel restaurant downstairs.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Sinthavee Hotel in Phuket Town, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 07° 53.03' E 098° 23.39'










Riding out the depressing, drenching rains of this year’s early south-west monsoon in our comfy hotel, enjoying the true tastes of well-touristed Phuket (e.g. her less healthy beers, her rather healthy Thai food and her uber-healthy full-body massages), catching up on some overdue admin work, planning our separate travels for the next few months to South Korea and Japan (Matt: "Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance..."), and to Canada (Konni: "Longing for the grandkids...") respectively, and reviving the memories of our first arrival in Phuket in 2008 when we had gazed in amazement at the infamous and bizarre Phuket Vegetarian Festival (next event: 05 - 13 Oct 2013), one of Asia’s most spectacular spectacles (worth to visit, and a serious rival for Kuala Lumpur’s equally awesome and weird Thaipusam Festival).



Discovering the more mundane and year-round side of Phuket’s vegetarianism and checking out the clutch of cheap and excellent vegan eateries on Ranong Road, in the neighbourhood of the Jui Tui Tao Bo Teng Foundation’s Pud Jor Shrine, opposite Wat Kajorn Rangsan (our favourite: Ruam Jai Vegetarian, +6676222821, with very lekker tofu meals).
Matt: Engaging in naval-gazing (“... a marriage is like a journey; the certain way to be wrong is to think you control it...”), taking after all single-handedly one of the pink city busses of line no. 2 from the Old Bus Station No. I to Phuket’s New Bus Station No. II (THB 10.- or US$ 0.30 per person) and thereafter a VIP a/c coach through south Thailand's stunning karst landscapes directly to Satun (a weary schlepp of 435 km, 7 ½ hours, THB 380.- or US$ 12.70 per person), the convenient gateway to both Thailand's southern-most islands in the Andaman Sea and Malaysia’s duty-free island of Langkawi.

“You can't help nobody,
until you help yourself
Nobody's going to help you
better than somebody else...
You know a man needs a woman
right by his side.
She keeps him warm at night,
he keeps her satisfied.” 

  
Konni: Taking a sabbatical from “perpetual travelling” in order to attend my granny duties in Ontario thus jetting with Thai Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”) in a worn and untidy Airbus A 320-200 by late evening from Phuket International to Kuala Lumpur’s efficient KLIA-LCCT for the exorbitant fare of THB 2,840.- or US$ 97.-, one way and all inclusive, connecting very early on the next morning, again with budget carrier Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”, including air hostesses clad in blue jeans) in a clean Airbus A 330-300 from Kuala Lumpur’s KLIA-LCCT to Hong Kong International for a reasonable MYR 282.- or US$ 93.-, one way and all inclusive, thereafter with Korean Air (“Excellence in Flight”), operated by Delta Air Lines (“Keep Climbing”), in a brand-new double-decker Airbus A 380-800 from Hong Kong to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport and killing my waiting time with a city tour of Seoul, hereafter, again with Delta Air Lines in a Boeing 777-200, from Seoul to Detroit (changing my watch in mid-air from Korea Standard Time, GMT/UTC + 9:00 hours, to Eastern Daylight Time, GMT/UTC - 4:00 hours) and thereafter the last leg, again with Delta Air Lines, in a small but Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ 700 from Detroit to Toronto Pearson International, altogether for the price of US$ 1,212.- for the complete return ticket Hongkong-Toronto-Hongkong, all inclusive save the US$ 14.- for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s approval of my travel authorization via ESTA, everything booked over the internet with Airline Direct already in January 2013, and, after a safe landing in Toronto, being issued with a 6-month visit permit to Canada on arrival, free of charge: “Hi grandkids, your flying grandma has arrived for a looong, looong summer together with you!”


 Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United States:
 
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon deals from Canada, please click here
For Amazon deals from the United Kingdom, please click here


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for our Grand Children's Journey of Life:
It’s bad to worry about the outcome on election day;
It’s good to watch a comedy (e.g. Bill Maher) on election day.
Keep your bearings!
Destination:

29 Apr - 05 May 2013 Ko Chang



Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Thailand aka The Land of Conditional Smiles
Northern Andaman Coast
Ko Chang (off the coast of Ranong and not to be confused with the much larger Ko Chang in Trat Province)
Long Beach Bungalows +66884487002 longbeachbungalowkohchang@yahoo.co.th
Comfortable double beach bungalow (no. 10) with private bathroom and veranda for THB 300.- or US$ 10.10 per night. No wifi. Free transfer (side-car motorcycle) from/to the island jetty; friendly staff, average cooking.
Beer: 330-ml cans of cold enough Chang/Leo beer for THB 50.- or US$ 1.70 per can from the beach bar.


Click below for an interactive satellite view of the Long Beach Bungalows on Ko Chang, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 09° 51.06' E 098° 26.43'




  




Swinging lazily in our bungalow’s shady hammocks, feasting on delicious Thai tofu/veggie meals from the reliable Contex Beach Restaurant +6677820118, depleting the island of its stock of cold beer, socialising and having fun with fellow PTs and lightbeings Bettina & Axel and entering occasionally the rather turbid waters of the Andaman Sea where sharp seashells have mostly been replaced by shards of glass, yucky jellyfish by plastic bags and floating seaweed by tangled fishing lines.



Hiking the island’s interior along meandering forest trails through mostly secondary rainforest, mixed up with rubber, cashew-nut and banana plantations, spotting large piles of discarded water bottles (one of the saddest sights since many of those bottles, together with myriads of broken flip-flops, will be washed into the Andaman Sea during the monsoon season: "...coastal communities dump 8 million tonnes of plastics into the oceans every year...", according to Ian Sample from The Guardian), exploring the casuarina-lined but rather dirty and polluted beaches, which are more redolent of apocalyptic mud flats than tropical white-sand idylls, and ticking off from our bird list of the Andaman Sea: (i) a couple of oriental pied hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris), (ii) a vast number of reddish brown Brahminy kites (Haliastur indus) and (iii) a few proud white-bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster).
Waiting for the onset of the south-western monsoon and watching The Impossible, a very emotional movie drama about the 2004 CE Indian Ocean Tsunami, the deadliest tsunami on record, which hit this part of Thailand’s Andaman coast and killed thousands of people, both Thai and tourists.
Embarking on the once-a-day long-tail boat aka reua hăang yao (departure time: 08:30 a.m.) back to Ranong’s fishing pier (c. 8 nm, 1 hour, THB 150.- per non-islander), flagging down a săwngthăew, similar to an Indonesian bemo or a Filipino jeepney, for THB 20.- per person, getting a lift to Ranong’s Provincial Transport Station, taking the very comfortable Rungkit Tours’ a/c coach +6676421805 straight to Phuket’s new bus station (c. 290 km, 5 ½ hours, THB 260.- or US$ 8.70 per person) and thereafter a big săwngthăew-truck (THB 10.- per person) to Phuket Town’s city centre; back to Thailand's main tourist circuit and back to hedonistic and somewhat seedy Phuket, for our first revisitation since our previous stay in 2009.
Click below for more blog posts about Southern Thailand
29 Jan - 01 Feb 2013 Songkhla

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United Kingdom:


For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon deals from the United States, please click here
For Amazon deals from Canada, please click here
From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for Our Grand Children's Journey of Life:
It’s bad to ask “why”;
It’s good to find answers for “how”.
Keep your bearings!
Destination:
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