It was a hot day ... and a sunny day
... and a drenchedly humid day too? That's kind of the way of life
in Southeast Asia. Krabi, in Southwestern Thailand to be more specific.
Life has been pretty good of late. The biggest concern at any given
time tends to be what food I'll eat next. It may be cliché
to say, but the food in this part of the world is fantastic. I haven't
hit too many fancy joints, but the cheapo roadside eateries seem
to hit the mark just nicely. Its not just the local food either.
I shared one of the best Italian dinners in memory last night with
my brother, right here in Krabi.
My brother Mark and I have been traveling together for just over
a week now. After a few hiccups along the way, he eventually made
his way to Penang (Georgetown) Malaysia. This may not seem too spectacular,
but after a long journey starting in Cork, Ireland, he was very
happy to see a familiar face. He did surprisingly well with his
first authentic Chinese meal, chopsticks included. Before the day
was over, we even managed to find him some Guinness beer so that
he wouldn't miss Ireland as much.
Penang itself was a bit of a strange place. Though I never left
the city, which I probably should have, I can't say that I much
cared for the place. However, we were staying in Chinatown, over
Chinese New Year. (For those of you who don't know, Chinese New
Year really has a huge impact in all of Asia. Virtually everything
in any place somewhat Chinese closes down for a minimum of 2 days,
more likely 4 days or longer. People of Chinese descent tend to
travel at this time as well, which makes for a peak season at least
equal to the Christmas travel season at home.) Aside from things
being closed down, the city seemed quite dirty and had an inordinately
high number of street people/beggars/bums, whatever word you'd like
to label these poor people with. Penang was the first British settlement
in Asia way back when, so it did have some Colonial-type buildings
and an interesting cemetery. My Dad spends a bit of time in cemeteries,
so I was thinking about him at that point. Lets just say I'm glad
I don't have to mow the lawn there!! (For you latecomers in the
life of Dennis, I once freelanced as a lawn mower, specializing
in churches and cemeteries.)
The humidity and heat zapped a days worth of energy after only
about an hour, so the rest of the time was spent seeking shade and
comfort. Enough was enough - left early the next morning on what
was an unusually long trip to cover a relatively short distance.
From Penang, we caught a 2 1/2 hr ferry to Langkawi (also in Malaysia).
We then caught another ferry from the same terminal, taking another
hour or so to reach Satun Thailand, just barely across the Thai/Malay
border. A songthaew (pickup truck with benches in the back -- common
mode of travel in Thailand) took us from the pier/dock/jetty (boat
stepping off point) to the city itself. From here we caught an "ordinary"
bus to Lagnu. Another truck took us to Pak Bara. 8 hours of travel
enough? Nope, we needed another boat, taking us another 90 minutes
to our charming destination of Ko Tarutao. Before I go further,
I feel I need to explain something.
Ordinary Bus, also called a Regular Bus: Easy to spot due to a
bright orange exterior, and wildly decorated interior. A large stereo
system plays local Thai favourites at a painful volume. No need
for air conditioning as all of the windows are open or missing,
allowing for a pleasant, airy ride. The wooden floor helps absorb
some of the bumps that the shocks miss. These buses are a great
way to see the countryside as they stop everywhere. There is no
such thing as a "bus stop" with these buses. They stop
everywhere. Also features an amazingly loud airhorn blown at random
or with cause. Average price per km -- 1.4 cents Canadian. I'm not
sure, but I think that is a pretty good bargain.
Ko Tarutao (make up your own pronunciation -- I tried a variety,
and all seemed to have equal chances of being recognized by the
Thai ear) lies a mere 5 km from the northern tip of Langkawi. Langkawi
is a heavily touristed resort island in Malaysia. Tarutao is a large,
quiet, well under-touristed island in Thailand. There is a staggering,
brilliant difference between the two. Tarutao is the namesake island
of a large Marine National Park. So far, this is the best example
of a National Park that I've seen in Thailand. The government has
kept all development away except for the bungalows (chalets/huts)
that they've built themselves. They are quite expensive to rent
out; so that, in addition to the inconvenient travel, makes it an
unpopular choice for most backpackers. The island was clean, the
beaches beautiful, the noise nonexistent ... they even had recycling
bins there. I loved it. I read the comments book, and everybody
was bitching that it wasn't like every other island in Thailand.
Great, stay away!!!
Anyhow, after a night of cheaping it on the beach (tents are much
cheaper to rent than chalets), we were off to our next locale, Ko
Lipe (lee pee, or lee pay -- both were common). This was one of
the only islands of the archipelago that is inhabited. The good
old sea gypsies live there -- chao leh in Thai. I'm not joking
- they are actually called sea gypsies. Their community numbered
a thousand or so -- they operate a number of "resorts"
(I'm not so sure that this word translates well in Asian languages)
on the island. They offered pretty basic barebone thatch or bamboo
huts. Compared to the other islands that I've seen and heard of
in Thailand, it was nice. Pretty quiet ... the word "chill"
would be very appropriately applied to this whole region. Quiet,
with one notable exception - Ko Tarutao has SQUEAKY sand. The pure
white sand has a strange, crusted snow-like texture to it, and it
makes a squeaking noise when you walk on it. Unbelievable eh?? Sea
gypsies and squeaking sand. I'm never coming home!!
In brief, we spent nearly a week in the area, snorkeling, getting
food poisoning (my brother got it much worse than I did -- welcome
to Asia), met some nice people and had a good time. My brother's
first ever day of snorkeling netted him (and I) a lionfish (a very
beautiful, docile, highly poisonous fish), and three sharks. Even
though you know the sharks were too small to be dangerous to humans,
or so the story goes in these parts, being circled by metre + long
sharks gets the heart and adrenaline pumping. Quite a thrill to
have one swim by you no more than a few metres away.
After we had more or less recovered from the "shitty"
sickness, we headed back to the mainland. The benefits of the previous
week of isolation slowly wore off over the course of the six or
so hours of boat travel, and two hours of (regular) bus travel it
took to reach Trang, a little further up the western coast of Thailand.
I had briefly stopped there on my last trip to Thailand, and knew
that it was at least reliable for a decent hotel to stay in. We
did just that, finding a room with with elevated beds and running
water. Quite a luxury after a week of sleeping on the floor of a
rat and cockroach visited, electricity- and running water-free hut.
Didn't see or hear cockroaches or rats, so we were moving right
on up in the world. A good nights sleep energized us enough to filter
through the dozens of emails received from our fans ... err, family
and friends. Another 3 hour regular bus adventure highlighted by
a rather snarky, elderly, red-head-hating Thai woman brought us
to ... Krabi.
Today we rented some motorcycles, feeling that our life-forces
were again ready for a formidable challenge. I managed to survive
my second flat tire experience. Though I wouldn't describe the experience
as fun, I did learn a few things. The treatment that I got from
the locals was amazing. Even though they didn't have a hope of speaking
English, they pointed me in the direction of the next service shop
(this could be a whole story in itself!). It was closed -- another
kind woman drove her motorcycle as slowly as possible, keeping just
ahead of me as I pushed my limping cycle to the next next shop.
My bro helped push the bike the last 500m or so to the shop, where
the technicians quickly replaced the damaged tube, and had me rolling
again in under 5 minutes. Total cost: $3.50 Cdn. Amazing. The guidebooks
for Thailand would have you believe that everybody is a crook, and
out to take your money. No different from home, I'm sure there are
some people like that here, but I've found that most are extremely
kind and generous.
The coming days should be exciting for the travelling Flood circus.
I'm scuba diving tomorrow in the Ao Nang area; assuming that my
head is of the non-imploding variety, unlike my last dive in Malaysia
where my sinuses exploded at about 15 metres, I'll sign up for a
3-day, 3-night live-aboard trip touring the southern parts of the
Andaman Sea. My brother will settle for the wealth of other outdoor
activities that the Krabi area has to offer. We are both banking
on continued enjoyment of "The Land of Smile." |
