Sunrise over Bangkok, from the Suvarnabhumi Airport
At 4:00 AM, the sad parting of the ways took place on the empty, humid street outside our guesthouse. From there, Kathie flew home to Toronto, via Tokyo, and Marybeth flew on to Melbourne Australia.
Although I’ve tried to describe parts of the last 6 weeks in this blog, there really are no words to express the incredible time that we have had together. And who would have thought 6 weeks wouldn’t seem like enough?!
Even little motorbikes eventually run out of gas. Fortunately, it’s very easy to find a place selling just the right amount.
A new use for recycled liquor bottles
Just dump that shit in there!
Sometimes common sense actually comes to the fore. After my fun motorbike adventure, we decided it would be simpler (read, less risky!) for me to ride on the back of Marybeth’s motorbike.
My chauffeur
We got up super early and rode to Promthep Cape at the south end of Kata Beach for a yummy breakfast of crepes in a beautiful tropical garden.
Crepes for breakfast
The view from the cape to the north shows Kata, Karon and Patong beaches and is very beautiful.
View from the cape, north
MB and her hot pink bike and helmet
Today we rented motorbikes (automatic transmission) and toured around the beach just north of us. Eventually we got separated and things got a bit complex. In the end I “dropped” my bike and acquired a few humongous bruises and a few stitches in one foot. Not big deal. We have the bikes till noon tomorrow so plan to do more exploring. The sad news is that I can’t go in the ocean again for a week. Shitty! And the waves here are so much fun to play in.
Kathie and the Purple Beast
This is what happens when newbies get too cocky on their bike:
Bonus visit to Patong Hospital Emerge
Tonight we will ride together on MB’s bike and see if we can find a new place for supper. Only 1 more full day here at Karon. Friday we fly back to Bangkok and have 2 nights and one final day together before we go our separate ways
The clusterfuck at the Phuket Pier when we landed from Ko Phi Phi
We arrived at Phuket Pier at about 4pm, to a total gridlock of tourboats, ferries, cabs, busses, cars, motorcycles and people. Total chaos!
Having been burnt the last time by booking
ahead, we took a taxibus to Kata Beach, figuring we would look around for the best place for the best price. This would have been a great plan had it not been dark by the time we go there and pouring rain. Like buckets and buckets of rain. Soaked, starved, and nowhere to stay we eventually coerced two so-called travel agents into calling places whose phone numbers we provided. Ended up in Karon beach, just north of Kata, and in a great place for the money. Our room looks out on the beach and we are a 2-minute walk from the Sea.
"Our" beach from the front of our guesthouse
We counted ourselves lucky when we arrived at our guesthouse (“My Friend’s House 1”) and discovered they had a restaurant. Sadly for Marybeth,something she ate was well past its best-before date. She spent a miserable night and day, wishing she could die.
Marybeth looks out to sea from our balcony - bottom right
Fortunately she was feeling better today so we took a city bus to explore the area.
On the bus to Kata
Our conclusion was that we are in the best spot around, and for a very good price.
After our busride to Kata today we spent the better part of our time on the beach.
Our guesthouse is the green building directly over my left shoulder in pic
After a relaxing day on the beach, we took in 2-for-1 happy hour at the Sand Bar , followed by some excellent Thai food at El Goucho, upstairs with a view of the sunset.
MB enjoys supper with sun setting over the Andaman Sea
A few days ago we met two sisters from Arizona who are financing their trip by fire twirling at a local bar. They struck up an immediate friendship with Marybeth and she had done some twirling at their bar earlier in the week. Yesterday I had a nap so I could stay up late like the cool people, so I got to see the performance. This was after dinner and beverages at our favourite place, Carpe Diem, where MB has learned a few new moves from the Thai fire twirlers. It was great to see MB twirling on the beach at midnight!
MB doing her thing at Stone Bar
Today we are leaving Ko Phi Phi on a boat to Phuket and from there to Kata Beach It’s cloudy and a bit rainy here (and 36 degrees) so it must be time to move on!
To all our friends back home!
Today we rented a 2-seater kayak and paddled over to Monkey Beach. This was the stop on our Longboat trip where it rained buckets, so we never got to visit the monkeys.
Zoe's new sister
Today we had all the time we wanted and got to watch the monkeys eat the coconuts/bananas/corn cobs that the various tourists bought for them.
Snorkelling off that beach was also excellent. We saw clown fish, parrot fish, live coral and assorted other fish that MB probably knows the name of.
Snorkeling off Monkey Beach
We’re “home” now, preparing to nap before a big night out with some Americal firetwirlers we met a couple of nights ago. They are sisters, paying their way through Thailand by twirling poi at a local club.
MB outside our bungalow room
our usual spot at Lo Dalum beach
We had just set up for a relaxing time at the beach today, reading books, swimming, etc when a crew of crazy guys set up right next to us. They are from all over the world ( UK, US, Australia, Thailand ) but seem to have a history together. They came equipped with a cooler, ice, lots of beer, beach mats, 4 pieces of plastic pipe, some plastic cups , some frisbees and a couple of white boards. Immediately they began inviting anyone and everyone who walked by to join in the Frisbeer Tournament that they were organizing.
The people-watching that this engendered was amazing! At one point in the afternoon, when the batteries in their stereo died, they attracted a guy walking past with a guitar, plied him with beer and had him play for them.
Oh. And frisbeer is played like this (wait for it coming to Sauble soon). Two lengths of pipe are set up next to each other at both ends of the playing field, each with a plastic cup on them. Teams of 2 toss a frisbee towards the opposing end, trying to knock one or both cups off the pipes. If the frisbee goes cleanly between the 2 pipes, points are gained. If it knocks a cup off one of the pipes points are gained. However, if the frisbee knocks one of the cups off and the opposition catches it, points are lost. The game takes its name from the fact that all players must have an open beer in one hand at all times.
Typical "bucket" stand. Pick your combo!
So our days have pretty much settled into the following: breakfast overlooking the beach by 10am, beach chairs and books in the sand by 11. Home for showers by 4 or 5pm, then maybe a nap, followed by supper and cocktails. Usually we take in one or 2 fire shows at various bars on the beach. Marybeth has learned some new moves from some of the local guys, and is now thinking of getting into staff twirling — basically fire on 2 ends of a stick.
Thai performer with 2 staffs
Where India was full of stray retriever sized dogs, Thailand is rife with cats. On Phi Phi there seems to have been a mutation and the vast majority of them have shortened tails of varying lengths. They seem to survive by scavenging at the restaurants altho some have collars and are clearly owned. All are skinny and tiny, making me wonder if their life expectancy isn’t related to the popularity of the chicken and cashew concoction that features prominently on local menus…
Same guy, twirling the 2 staffs
Yesterday we took a long-tailed boat trip on a snorkelling trip around Ko Phi Phi and its out-islands.
What the picture doesn’t show is the hordes of other boats and tourists all trying to wedge themselves onto the same small slice of beach. Excellent people watching!
After a half hour of swimming and sunning we cruised on to what was supposed to be the first of several snorkelling spots. And discovered that the boat driver (one hesitates to use the word ‘guide’, since Marybeth was the one providing all the travelogue and info) discovered that he had forgotten the snorkels and masks. Cool. There were a few people on the boat who, like MB, had their own equipment and so they were released into the sea while the rest of us baked and got queasy on the boat!
MB snorkelling over one of the coral reefs off Phi Phi
Eventually we hooked up with another boat delivering our equipment, and so most of the folks on the boat were able to enjoy the sights. MB was very adventurous and managed to see several reef sharks, a school of clown fish, and some other fauna whose names i forget right now!
It was a good day, lunch on some secluded beach and plenty of swimming. However, by the time we got to Monkey Beach (where the monkeys apparently live, courteously avoiding all the tourists on the main beaches.) the clouds opened up and it just poured like I’ve never seen. MB and I had swell seats in the sun on the boat but those became considerably less appealing in the rain.
The rain was so heavy that visibility was next to nill so we sat in the water for half an hour or so watching the boat , our purses and our clothes take on water. Once things cleared enough to sail we discovered that our motor had died. Surprisingly we did get back to terra firma and we did warm up (we were cold? in Thailand? I never would have believed it). It took a couple of hours for our hands and feet to lose their prune texture, and our purses will possibly never be dry enough to be useable again!
Before the rain, we saw some truly beautiful landscapes, beaches and waterscapes. Swimming among the coral and the colourful fish is like being in someone’s aquarium. So amazing! As with all such things, however, pictures just don’t do them justice.
Today Marybeth is off on a 3-dive scuba trip around the area. When she arranged it last night it seemed likely that it would be just her plus the dive master, so she was super pumped. Only downside is that you can’t drink the night before a dive, so she was unable to salve her post-snorkelling chills. I had no such restriction!
Asian Odyssey 