Tropical Fish 101

The snorkeling here on the islands, overall, is quite fantastic, which is why we keep doing it while we can. However, I thought a brief entry is needed to help get a sense of what it is like.

First and foremost are a yellow fish with black stripes, called the Sergeant Major. They are ubiquitous, and are basically the pigeon of the tropical fish world.

A close second is the parrotfish, which come in quite an assortment of colours, the most common being a blue/turquoise/green. If you've ever enjoyed lying on a white sand beach, and wondered where it came from, here's the dirty little secret: in part its parrotfish excrement. Parrotfish eat coral, and the calcium carbonate of their 'skeletons', which cannot be digested, gets excreted as fine white sand. In fact parrotfish are quite prolific, and on average excrete over a ton of sand per year!! As might not be surprising down here, they are also truly lady-boys, but in this case it is the females switching teams and becoming males later in life.


Other fairly common fish include angelfish and snappers. Some more distinctive looking fish include needlefish (which I initially thought were young barracuda) and trumpetfish. Anyways, that's about all I've been able to figure out and identify so far, but stay tuned.....

Ko Phi-Phi Snorkel Day

We got up at 6:30, packed up and checked out, and wandered back to the Ton Sai area, and checked into a guesthouse we spotted yesterday. Not quite the beachfront bungalow we had, but it was a bit more central. That being done, we then signed up last minute for the snorkel tour of the surrounding islands.

The first spot we stopped at was Maya Beach on Ko Phi-Phi Leh, made famous (and now imfamous?) by the movie 'The Beach'. (I find it amazing how once a place is in a movie, it all of a sudden it becomes more interesting. On an interesting tangent, whenever we tell non Canadians we're from Calgary, they always go 'Oh yeah, you guys had the Olympics'. It really shows the power of these events of putting you 'on the map' in peoples minds).

Anyways, snorkeling at Maya beach was incredible, the water was clear, and the highlight was seeing an Octopus. The next brief stop was Viking Cave, where they collect birds nests for soup (yum), then we snorkeled again at Shark Point, and yes, there are sharks there... we saw about 10 blacktip reef sharks. The next stop was Bamboo Island, where we snorkelled a bit, and hung out on the beach. We finally went to Monkey Beach, where sure enough, there is a tribe of monkeys that harass tourists for food handouts.

That evening, after a great dinner at Cosmic Pizza, I wandered around, and found a bar that had a Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) match going on. It's quite the national obsession - what hockey is to Canada.

Travel to Ko Phi-Phi

Today we got up at 6:30, packed up and caught the 8AM ferry to Ko Phi-Phi. We then got a lont-tail to Long Beach (Hat Yai), and checked in and dumped our packs, then found the foot trail that took us back to the main 'town'. Wandering across the main walkway, we were inundated with touts offering a 'taxi boat' - we think we now have a good idea of what goes through the mind of a cow as it steps into a piranah-laden stream.

We found a quiet spot on the far end of the Ton Sai beach and hung out for a while. After that, we went back and explored the town some more. Ko Phi-Phi usually refers to Ko Phi-Phi Don, the largest of a series of islands. Even so, the island is quite small, and there are no cars here; you either walk or take a boat to where you want to go.

Though the development here is a bit excessive, like Rai Leh, it is easy to see why it became this way - it is beautiful. The sand beaches are incredible, and the audaciously turquoise waters must be seen to be believed.

We're still not quite out of the Wet Season yet - the heavens opened tonight, and it rained like hell for several hours (Does it rain in Hell? Wouldn't that douse the flames?). We signed up for another snorkel tour tomorrow and are quite looking forward to it.

Ko Lanta Snorkel Day

The winds howled last night, and the rain pummeled for long stretches of time. When we woke up this morning, the sea was highly agitated, and we wondered if the snorkelling trip we signed up for last night would still be a go.

However, the shuttle arrived for us at 7:45, and took us to Old Lanta town. We then caught our long-tail boat, and began our voyage to the nearby islands. One the open waters, the ocean has swells of about 1.5m - it was enough that when you were at the top of the swell, you seemed like you were looking down from the top of a small hill, and when you were at the bottom of the swell, you could not see anything but the sides of the swell itself. Carole, being prone to nausea, handled it well, but was clearly hoping for calmer seas.

The first island we went to, Ko Hai, had some great snorkeling, and we were there for about an hour. At the next island, Ko Cheuk, we stayed in the water only 10 minutes, the visibility was so poor from the water being stirred up. We unfortunately had to pass on Ko Muk, which had the Emerald Cave, a sea cave, because of the hazardous conditions there. So we spent the remainder of the afternoon on a beach on Ko Kradan. Going back was even worse, we were going against the swells, and it took a while to return. Overall, the trip was a bit of a disappointment, but more due to the weather than anything else.

That evening we went out with another bungalow neigbour, Steven, from France, who was spending his time here scuba diving. Talking to him got me fired up about getting re-certified....

Another Ko Lanta Scooter Day

Today we slept in, and having enjoyed our scooter day from a couple days ago so much, decided to do it again, as the weather this morning seemed a bit more promising. Once again we started of heading to Ban Sala Dan, and while there, I asked about scuba courses, which were 4 days... I was dithering as to whether recertification was adequate or whether I needed to retake the course; it's been 12 years since I last dove. However, taking 4 days out of our schedule to do this didn't seem like a good option, so I decided to give it a pass.

We rode around the island again, and it started to pour as we got near Old Lanta, so we pulled in and had some lunch there; I liked Old Lanta; it's what I'd imagine a Thai fishing town would be like, with all its stores facing the ocean on stilts. And once again, that evening after dark we headed out to Ban Sala Dan and had dinner there. We walked into a different restaurant, and found that the staff from our resort moonlights here in the evenings! Man, these people work hard.

Scooter Day on Ko Lanta

This morning we had breakfast with Mary, our bungalow neighour and fellow Canadian who was making a documentary on travel writers, and we had an interesting discussion on the Canadian film industry.

So today, feeling even more emboldened with our growing scooter prowess, decided to rent only one scooter and have Carole sit behind me as passenger. The weather was not great - it was gently raining on and off all day - sometimes not so gently, but not bad enough to stop us. Lanta is a fantastic place to ride. We rode up to Ban Sala Dan, at the north end of the island, then rode the road all the way down the east side of the island, stopping for lunch at this small restaurant with a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. We rode back to Old Lanta Town, then over to the West side of the island and down to the Southern tip, walked along the beaches there, then headed back to our bungalow.

In the evening, we rode to Ban Sala Dan (night scootering - we're really pushing the envelope here!) and had dinner there.

Today's Haiku:

Scootering with Pride
'till passed by twelve year old girl
without a helmet

Travel to Ko Lanta

This morning we packed up and caught a long tail at 9AM back to near Krabi, where we were picked up by a mini-van and driven all the way to Ko Lanta (the mini-van getting onto the island itself via a vehicle ferry). We checked into Good Days Resort and had a fabulous bungalow near the ocean, for $20/night. We then wandered up and down the main road, getting information on snorkel trips, and of of course, scooter rentals.

We returned and wandered up and down our beautiful white sand beach before sundown, then in honour of the Thai climbing guides in Rai Leh, went to a nearby Reggae bar for dinner.

One thing we are finding during these travel days, is that you don't seem to do too much but sit on your butt and read and watch the world go by.

Haiku, Part Two

So Here are some more Haiku, those pithy 3 line 5/7/5 sylable poems:

Too tall in Thailand
Short people make short door frames
Head always goes 'Thunk'

Rastafarian
Thai climber dudes everywhere
Marley would be proud

Chaotic traffic
in Thailand, made even worse:
Tourists on scooters

My poems may irk
But there's worse: nineteen thousand
Haiku about Spam

Coffee Shake: Ice with a Hint of Dirt

Tonight I ordered a coffee shake with dinner and got totally buzzed and could not sleep, and thought about how best to describe the experience in a blog entry.

For people who follow this blog, you know that I am in the minority of those who do not like coffee. It smells great, but the caffeine buzz that addicts most people has failed to make me overlook the dirt-like taste of it. Carole has been trying to get me addicted for years...

Enter the fabulous coffee shake. With sufficient quantities of milk, ice, and sugar, coffee finally becomes palatable. It is much tastier than you would expect if one were to take a block of gravel-laden glacial ice near a lateral morraine, and ran it through a blender. However, I'm convinced if you added the same amount of milk and sugar, it would be hard to tell the difference, but I digress.

Rai Leh Snorkel Day

Today we went on tour to some nearby islands to do some snorkelling. Our first stop was Poda Island, which had a beautiful white sand beach, with OK snorkelling. Our second stop was Chicken Island, which had some great snorkelling, and finally Ko Tup, a couple of tiny islands, again connected to Chicken Island by a sand isthmus during low tide. We watched the tide go out over the course of an hour and it's amazing how fast the shoreline changes.

After returning, I went and Checked out Diamond Cave, which was quite impressive in its size - several high passageways led to a massive main chamber... no ducking stalagtites here, and following that, I went over to Ton Sai beach, or 'the climber's beach'. As you can imagine with the plethora of limestone cliff faces, rock climbing is very popular around here. I find it amusing that the local climbing shops are run by Thai guys who have mastered the Reggae look.

Railay or Rai Leh, however you spell it...

This morning we caught a long-tail boat to Rai Leh, checking into the Diamond Cave Bunglows after arriving. That task aside, we were free to enjoy the place. Rai Leh is not an island, but a peninsula that you can only get to by boat, and there are no roads or cars here. We went for a walk on Phra Nang Beach, visited the Princess cave (a shrine to impregnation, with its offering of phalluses (phalli?) at the entrance), and spent some time snorkelling around and lying on the beach.

One of the problems of being here during low season is that the Tout/Tourist ratio is quite high, and it became quickly annoying asked every 20 seconds if we wanted a coke, massage, beer, chips, food, etc. Pretending we were asleep seemed to help somewhat.

One of the most striking things having seen our first Thai beaches is how shallow they are... the tide is probably 3-4m, but since the beaches are so shallow, the shoreline varies 200-300m between high and low tides. No wonder they use longtail boats here, with their shallow draft and skim-the-surface propeller. We actually walked to a couple of nearly 'islands' that were connected to our beach by an isthmus during low tide.

The town here is not very aesthetic, but the natural surroundings are completely stunning - massive limestone cliff faces sprouting out of the ground, caves large and small, mushroom-like rock towers along the coast. It is almost surreal.

This evening we at at The Rock Restaurant, which was on a small hill and had a commanding view of the East Bay and the cliffs towering above... the ambiance was incredible.

Please continue to stay tuned...

Hi Everyone;

No.... we didn't die in a scooter accident.

Sorry we have not updated our blog in a while, but for the last week we have been on the Islands, and although Internet access is here, it's robbery. Normally, you can pay $1-2/hour,
but down here it's $4-$6/hour. Though this might seem like much, you can easily spend several hours updating a blog, and 2 hours of blogging at this rate is the cost of a dinner; 3 hours is the cost of a room (putting it in those terms).

Anyways, we haven't forgotten, but give a big update once we're out of this rip-off zone.... so please do stay tuned.

Phanom Bencha National Park

So, emboldened by the fact we didn't die from yesterday's scooter episode, we decided to try getting to Phanom Bencha Park. After 10 minutes of the same trafficy roads we did the other day, we then found ourselves on a quiet country road, and the riding became quite fun. It was fantastic in fact; as we were driving along, watching daily life unfold in the quiet Thai countryside, in the back of our minds was a vague but distinct sense of empowerment, of being able to travel on our own schedule.

Our objective was Phanom Bencha National Park. We arrived there, got our bearings, then decided to head out on one of their "Nature Trails". Doing so definitely emphasised how much is lost in translation. Call us naive, but when you hear the term "Nature Trail" you think of an easy walk with moderate grades; something you could bring your grandmother on. Obviously, the Thai translation of "Nature trail" is "a heinous primitive trail through a rainforest with scambly sections over snot-slick rocks".

The National Parks here are interesting, or at least this one was; the entrance and park headquarters were all nice and manicured, and they have no less than 11 (eleven!!) staff quarters for people to work there to manicure the lawn, plus a nice developed trail to the base of the first of several steps of the waterfalls. After that, the trail became heinous (as described above), for a good couple hours, with the only 'trail improvements, being one shabby frayed rope, which was cut halfway, and too short to provide adequate security down the rock band it was supposed to protect. Probably no money left in the budget after manicuring all those lawns...

On the way back we explored a couple of large caves, which were definitely worthwhile, and I enjoyed quite a bit. We returned to Krabi, just in the nick of time no less, just as we arrived in our rooms, the heavens opened again, and the daily deluge did not disappoint.

Tomorrow we head for Raileh... stay tuned.

"I'm so Glad We Didn't Die Today"

So we decided to rent scooters today, figuring it would give us the chance to explore the area without being restricted to public transportation. I (Ron) have never ridden anything motorized with two wheels before, while Carole had back in University. So the rental lady was nice enough to give us a demo, and didn't laugh too hard at our lurching circuit around the parking lot. One scooter was almost empty, so our first task was to fill it up, and of course, the gas station is off the most busy road around, and of course, we got lost.

Once filled up, we then found a quiet area where we could practice turning, stopping, and going forwards. This seemed easy enough. The real challenge: doing this in Thai traffic. We wanted to go to Wat Tham Sua, or Tiger Cave Monastery. Traffic here is not quite on the scale of India, but it not exactly a paragon of order. On a fairly busy road (think McLeod Trail in Calgary), you would have vehicles backing up on the side of the road, backing up onto the road, pulling over, and stopping for no apparent reason. Vehicles behind are nice enough to go around you, but might makes right, and vehicles turning onto the road do not wait for motor bikes, they will pull in front of you, and you have to swerve around. Thai drivers are generally polite, but I suspect our erratic driving and ignorance of the unspoken rules of the road made for a few close calls.

We finally made it to Wat Tham Sua, and took a deep breath when we got off our bikes. The monastery is built to one side of a huge karst pillar. We wandered around, then went of one of the trails which took is into rainforest, where we wandered around in the presence of 1000 year old trees (or so they are called - but they are big!) At the base of the pillar were a series of caves and small shrines. Today, walking in a rainforest and stumbling across a Buddha statue at the base of a limestone cliff, we felt like we were in Thailand.

We then ascended the 1237 steps which took us up the pillar to the shrine at the top, which had a fairly large Buddha statue there. Unfortunately, the air was quite humid, and thus the visibility was limited; I'm sure the vistas would be stellar on a clear day. I had to wonder how they constructed the concrete staircase, very steep in places. There must have been a lot of monk-power involved.

Our return home seemed much more relaxing; not sure if the traffic was less, or we were finally getting the hang of the scooters and traffic. It was quite the white-knuckle adventure today. Considering the conditions for learning this, I kept telling Carole after we parked our bikes: "I'm so glad we didn't die today!" So guess what we're doing tomorrow?

Travel Day to Krabi

So today we had an alpine start, which seemed a bit odd, since there is not much alpine in the vicinity. A 5AM start to wake up, pack up, and catch a 6AM shuttle to Thong Sala, on the west end of Ko Phangan, catch the 7AM ferry, arrive at 9:30 at the Donsak Pier, catch a bus to Surat Thani, arrive at 11 - have a lunch stop, then catch the 12:00 bus to Krabi, arrive at 3:30, then catch a Songthaew to downtown Krabi, and check into the Green Tea Guesthouse. Whew! This place is basic but spotless and costing us $8 a night.

As the bus approached Krabi, we got tantalizing view of the Karst formations that this region is renowned for. We're looking forward to exploring the area.

After checking in, we wandered around briefly before sunset (it's like someone shutting off a light - no drawn out twilight here like in Alaska). Then we went and checked out the night market, dining there. Dinner for both of us was $5 - I find it amazing that the street vendors are able to make money at these prices. Plus, they have to pay their costs, and I'm sure there is a distribution chain for the food and fuel that needs to take their cut. I suspect they make it up by volume and/or long days.

It was an early night... I think we were in bed by 9. It is suprisingly tiring sitting on your butt all day!

Half Moon Party

Today we wandered around Hat Rin, a small town on Ko Phangan. It rained quite a bit in the morning. While on the East side we bumped into two Aussies ladies, Jo and Rio. They were very friendly and quite a hoot. Jo had dregs, and Rio was younger, in her early 20s. We eventually realized that they were mother and daughter; quite the cool mom.

We spent the day hanging out and relaxing, had dinner, then a bit of a snooze, then wandered over to the Coral Bugalows around 10PM, which was hosting a pre-Half-Moon party. We bumped into Jo and Rio there, and spent the evening chatting, drinking and dancing. At around midnight the body paint came out, and everyone became aglow under the black lights. At around 2AM, we then wandered over to the beach with them and hung out and chatted some more, heading back home at around 3:30 AM.

Quite the fun evening.

Day 5: Travel to Ko Phangan

Originally we were going to take the train down the peninsula to the Southern Islands, but alas, they were all booked solid for the next few days. So, instead we booked some last-minute discount plane tickets to fly down to Surat Thani.

This morning we packed up, checked out, and headed for the airport. The flight itself was uneventful, and when we arrived there was a bus ready to take us to the Ferry Terminal for the trip to Ko Phangan. The ferry trip went smoothly as well; though as we approached the island, there was an ominous wall-cloud of rain around it.

We checked in to some small bungalows just on the outskirts of Hat Rin, the party town on the southern tip of the island. The rustic beach-front bungalows here definitely makes it seem like you're living in a post-card fantasy, and its less than $10 a night.

It costs less to hang out in a beach-front bungalow surrounded by coconut trees and before a white sand beach and azure sea than it does to spent a night at a campground in Alaska: life is good.

Day 3: The Grand Palace and Pho Wat

Today we went over and checked out the Grand Palace, (which includes Wat Phra Kaew) and Wat Pho.


We're not sure if it was the novelty factor of Thai architecture for us be we were totally blown away. The grounds of Wat Phra Kaew, or 'Temple of the Emerald Buddha' was a sight to behold. The architecture is amazing and the the buildings are lavishly decorated with glass mosaic, most of them in their entirety. The individuals fragments are no bigger than a square centimetre, and they cover a number of the buildings in their entirety. I could not help but wonder if someone ever did the math to estimate how many glass pieces there are; it must be in the millions.

Within the main temple itself was, of course, the Emerald Buddha. Not imposing in size itself, the alter it was on was massive and incredibly ornate. Actually made of Jade, and though of no special pedigree, at one point it was covered up in plaster to conceal it from potential looters and forgotten. Only much later on, when it was accidentally chipped and the inner treasure revealed, did it attained the special significance it has today.

Finally we went to Wat Pho, or Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The large temple building seemed to barely squeeze in the Buddha, which is 46m long and 15m high. I found the expression of the Buddha very soothing (not sure if that's the right word, but the facial impression does strike the emotions in a way that's hard to describe.)


We then took a water taxi back to our guesthouse, which was quite the experience: Chaos on water.

*New* Blogging Format: Haiku

As faithful readers to this blog will know, I very much strive to provide an interesting and enoyable reading experience. However, facts are facts: I'm an engineer, and being quite left-brained, felt that my writing might be too prosaic for all the right-brain artsy types out there.

While pondering this connundrum last night in a jet-lag induced bout of insomnia, a way to ameliorate this problem occured to me: Haiku.

The reasons:

1. It seems appropriate since it is an Asian art from (though originating in Japan, not Thailand).
   
2. Though it can be profound and dense, in terms of the benefit to me, its simple structure is much easier than trying to write poetry with the meter and rhyme use by say, a Robert Service ballad.


3. In terms of benefit to you, the reader, the poems are mercifully short.

So here are some of the results created in said bout of insomnia:

Vogon Poetry:
Third worst in the universe
Challenge accepted

Suspicious Pairing:
Old white men, lovely Thai girls
Plato confounded

Thai markets bustle
Shops sell all that's imagined
But not umbrellas

Day 2: Chatuchak

Today we headed over to Chatuchak, which is the outdoor market in Bangkok. It is huge, and has several thousand vendors crammed into a dizzying maze of stalls. Each vendor specializes on one particular item: shirts, pants, necklaces, shoes, handbags, but alas, no umbrellas. You figure at least one person would figure that selling umbrellas during monsoon season would be a profitable idea!

Ever wonder where your old university texts wind up? I found a used book stall just filled with old engineering texts, including an old digital text I had during my second year. Not sure which Thai or tourist would be so inclined to buy it, but it's there for the taking!

Though it is frequented by tourists, Chatuchak has far more locals at it. For a while we got a bit lost, and stumbled onto the true 'local's section' of the market. They sold live animals, lots of fish, as well as deep fried grasshoppers and beetle grubs. Who needs Fear Factor? Just head over to the market in on a motorcycle taxi to chow down some grubs, and you've got all the thrills you need.

On the way back, we got rained on again. I couldn't have imagined Noah seeing more rain as the Ark rose up. You can intellectualize what a monsoon rain is like, but until you've experienced it, you can't really know. But to simulate: Go to your shower, turn it full blast to lukewarm, then jump in and stand there for an hour. For good measure, have someone throw some extra buckets of water on you sporadically.... that'll be a good start.

After that, we went out for dinner and are now updating our blog. Typing this sentence. And now this one. You get the idea....

Day 1: Acclimatizing to Bangkok

All things considered, Bangkok is a pretty easy introduction into this part of the world (I was going to say third world, but I don't think it qualifies anymore). It is clean, modern, and English seems to be the unofficial second language (as far as you can expect, anyways). It is not the full-frontal assault that I experienced while arriving in Dehli last year (an amazing place and I loved it, but you definitely feel the culture shock when you arrive).

We began our day exploring the environs around the backpacker ghetto that is Khao San Road, got rained on (again), then had lunch at a street-vendor stall - it was an amazing lunch, and only cost $1.50 for both of us!

After a 3 hour siesta, we headed out to wander around Siam Square, then went to the Suan Luam Night Bizzare. It was OK but seemed very touristy. They had a big stage and some group singing Thai pop songs and the beer gardens in front were populated by tourists.

In both places, we tried looking for an umbrella, but to no avail; store here are incredibly specialized: one selling shoes, another shirts, another cell phones. One sold windows and another curtains, but no umbrellas.

After that, we headed back to Khao San Road. What a gong show! Last night and this morning, it was quite subdued. In the afternoon, it became a little more busy, but nothing prepared us for the sea of humanity that it became in the evening.

We made it!

So our flights went quite well; no real problems, just a very long travel day (28 hours). I must say, Korean Air is amazingly punctual; on both flights, one 12 hours and one six, they departed and arrived at the gate to within a couple minutes of the scheduled times; they must be the Germans of Asia.

One of the first things I noticed arriving at the airport was that I was noticeable taller than the general population. The airport itself was amazing - I haven't been to Chicago and LAX only once a long time ago, but I think it's one of the biggest airports I've been to.

Seconds within being dropped off by our cab from the airport at 2AM, we got a bit lost, and spent a fair bit of time wandering around a bit in the torrential downpour that is the monsoon. Carole's umbrella was outside her backpack and it got trashed during transport, but luckily I still had mine. Note to self: must find replacement umbrella... how hard can it be in the Capital City of Shopping that is Bangkok?

However, we did manage to find our hotel, and crashed shortly afterwards.

The Adventure Continues: Part II

So our flight for Bangkok leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning, just over 13 hours from now - meaning a 3AM wake-up. I'm debating whether we should even bother going to bed, and just go out partying instead, but then again we will be travelling for the next 28 hours - becoming more sensible with age really does suck sometime.

So the plan is to fly into Bangkok, spend a few days there, then head south down the peninsula and take in the islands, beaches and sunshine (we hope - it's still the tail end monsoon season). After that, we're going up to the northern region - Chiang Mai and environs. From there, we're going to wander over to Laos, head down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (gotta love that name), then over to Vientiane, then somehow make our way down to Angkor Wat (through Laos or Thailand - not sure yet). From there we will meander back to Bangkok for our flight back, perhaps hitting Ko Chang along the way. Of course all this is subject to subsequent whims.

Two months sounds like a long time until you start going through the guidebooks/Internet in detail and realize how much there is to see in any particular place; plus, I'm sure we'll hear of other interesting things once we get there.

Stay Tuned......