Good Things Come To Those Who Don’t Plan Shit
Greg and I had a mantra before we embarked on our trip to Thailand: “Make as few plans as we could get away with.” We didn’t want to be tied down to an agenda when reading about Thailand was only going to give us a small window into the best way to travel here. We’ve lucked out so far, but were becoming quite concerned this morning that our luck had run out.
Pretty much as soon as we got to southern Thailand, it became completely overcast and spouting spurts of HEAVY rainfall. We just got into Phuket and it was raining just as much as our mood was souring. We were spoiled earlier with the courtesy and cheap prices of northern Thailand. In the south, the sun and scenery brings too many tourists and too much money. And now we didn’t even have the sun.
So we scrambled to figure out how to salvage our remaining days. We couldn’t get out of Phuket, so we decided to attempt to follow a very loose rumor about a “mom and pop” bed and breakfast joint that I heard about for $8 a night. “Down a dirt road about 2 kilometers from the Marriott” is all I had to go on.
But the cabbie spoke as much English as we spoke Thai and explaining “bed and breakfast” wasn’t working. He dropped us off at what looked like a pre-1989 East Berlin re-creation from the outside. At that moment, what turned out to be the hotel manager walked by and noticed our predicament. He offered to help us and allowed us to stay at what turned out to be a very secluded 5-star hotel for a fraction of the price. We now have our own private pool at our room and several kilometers of our own beach (!).
We were thinking of heading back to Bangkok early, but now we might be a little more flexible with our non-existent agenda.
4 Responses to “Good Things Come To Those Who Don’t Plan Shit”
Dave Says:
March 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
for the record, going south doesn’t mean too much money and too many tourists. it does if you go to phuket, the most touristy and far and away the most expensive place in all of thailand. every guide book will warn you to stay far away from phuket if those are two things you wish to avoid.
my gf and i just returned from an amazing time that was predominately in the southwestern islands and the krabi peninsula. rai lay beach, tonsai beach, ko phi phi don and ko lanta, specifically. it was still cheap, it was still friendly. and it wasn’t overcrowded. it’s a shame you missed it.
Chris Brummel Says:
March 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
We hit Rai Lay and Phi Phi, but it was our first intersection with the frat boy crowd. And the prices for food went from $1.50 USD to to $6.00 USD. Still cheap, but not dirt cheap.
Maybe it was to our benefit, but we didn’t really get to see Phuket outside of the hotel we stayed at.
But thanks for the tip. When I go back, I’ll have to check in with you to get some details.
Adrianna Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Just wondering if that chance wandering really did lead to a ‘fraction of the price’ rate for the Sala Phuket — and how much that was?
Phuket, Raileh and Phi Phi are way too expensive for the southern islands. So’s Samui and Phangan. I go to a few Thai islands every year as I’m based very nearby (I live in Singapore, where flight prices to the region are dirt cheap and I could even go by rail if I wanted to).. and my favourite island right now is Koh Lipe, even further south of Phuket. In Satun province. (They filmed Survivor: Thailand in Koh Tarutao, which is part of the same group of islands Lipe is in.)
http://popagandhi.com/703/guess-where/
Chris Brummel Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
We paid $150 on what is listed at $500 at the time. They were incredibly generous to us. They said it was a one time special deal to help us out.
Koh Lipe looks great! I’ll have to try it out before people like me ruin it. Thanks for the tip…
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