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Published: December 1st 2006
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Me and my new specs
I didn't realize how similar they were to my old ones until I saw this picture! Well, here it is December 1st already. I am back in Bangkok for two days, and then it is off to Cambodia, a whole other adventure awaiting me there. I can't believe my time in Thailand is done. I already feel nostalgic about it. I am sitting in the interent cafe on Khao San fighting the tear in my eye, thinking of all I have experienced here, and all the great people I met while doing it. *sigh*
I have had an amazing week in Southern Thailand. We left Ao Nang for Koh Muk on a long tail boat, and got to the island just in time for lunch at our bungalows. The island is small, and as near to deserted as I think you can find in Thailand these days. There are only a handful of bungalow operators there, so not that many people at all, which suited me perfectly. It was pristine and gorgeous, with more white sand and crystal clear turqoise/aqua water that was actually hot in places. Most of the people were quiet and reserved, though not unfriendly. It was just a beautiful laid back island. Quiet and peaceful. We only stayed the one night, then
it was off to Koh Ruk for a 2 day and night camping trip. On the way there we made a small detour to Emerald Cave. I'm not really sure how to describe it, really. You had to jump out of the boat into the ocean, and swim through a very small channel about 100meters, where upon you arrived in a lagoon like area that was stunning. It was like a huge hole in the mountain. We were standing on the floor in the middle of a circle of cliff faces that rose up and up and up, all covered with greenery of every kind. At just the right time the sun would shine down into the hole and just light up the jungle, giving the entire area an emerald hue. Thus the name Emerald Cave. It's so hard to describe to you what it was like there. All we as a group could do was stand in awe, slack jawed, looking like a bunch of drooling idiots.
Back onto the boat, for a very long and slow ride to Koh Ruk. Koh Ruk is part of a National Park that the governent declared a few years ago to
Entrace to Emerald Cave
That's the hole we had to swim to to get to the lagoon. try to save the islands from the perils of tourism and fishermen. For the most part it worked, which is good, and you could really tell on Koh Ruk. Completely deserted except for a few tents set up by the ever present army folk. Many people take day trips there, but they were all gone by 2pm, and from then on our group had the island literally to ourselves. Not another soul around. We set up our tents on the beach, or as near to the beach as we felt comfortable, and had open fire barbeques and ate by candle light. The only noise was the wind in the trees and the roosters, though not much noise from them as the roaming monitor lizards fancied them for tasty snacks. The toilets were occasionaly inacessable due to the lizards completely blocking off the entry way with their giant bulk. I think they thought it a great joke, not letting the stupid farangs go to pee. They would sit there for hours, with a glint in their eye. I am pretty sure I heard them snickering when they saw one of us coming. That evening we climbed to the top of the
island via a large, long set of very steep stairs that almost killed me. I have been idoling (I know that's spelled wrong, but I can't figure out the right spelling) my days away that to do the stairs really messed me up! We saw the sun set from the top of the island, then it was down the stairs back to camp. If I thought coming up was hard, you should have seen me coming down. The steps were about a foot and a half high, no word of a lie, so it was really hard work getting down the damn stairs too. Dinner of fish caught fresh that day was waiting for us back at the camp, and then a night of card playing by candle light and flash light. It's so amazing there!
The next day was a morning of snorkelling and fishing. By far the best snorkelling I have seen since I came to Thailand. The coral here was so amazing! Hard and soft corals, and I even saw some very small fan coral, which is pretty amazing as I thought it would all be wiped out by the tsunami. Saw some small baracuda and
some eels, along with so many other kinds of fish. I still can't help but feel an utter sense of awe and delight while snorkelling. It really is a whole other world down there and it makes me hope that I will be able to dive again someday. Another afternoon of laying on the beach, wasting away the hours. Swimming, snorkelling, napping, reading. It was a tough life, let me tell ya. When it cooled off a bit we were able to play a game of utlimate frisbee on the beach. Short lived though, as we were all huffing and puffing pretty hard in the heat. Another dinner of fresh caught baraccuda from that day, along with bbq'd baked potatoes and some thai stuff. All that was missing was the sour cream and chives.
The next day it was back to Koh Muk. After two nights of sleeping on the hard hard ground a Thai massage was in order, and as luck would have it there was a place on the beach where a thai massage could be had. So there I lay, getting rubbed and twisted and cracked, all with the ocean breeze on my face and while
Monitor Lizard
Staking it's claim at the toilets on Koh Ruk watching the waves crashing in. One of the other girls and I rented a scooter for an hour to take a ride to the fishing village on the other side of the island. God, what a riot! The guy renting it to us actually drove us the first little way, as we were so patheticc getting started. Finally we kind of have the mechanics sort of worked out, and it's off we go, two women with the wind in our hair and the dirt on our faces. We definately didn't scream like girls when roosters/kids/kittens/dogs/a bump in the road got in our way. (There's a bloody lot of obstacles while scootering in a Thai fishing village!). And when it was my turn to drive I most definately did not ride right off the road and into someones back yard. If that had of happened we would have needed the occupants help to push the bike back onto the road, and we wouldn't want that. The whole village would have shown up and laughed at the two white girls, and that would have been incredibly embarrasing. So it's back to the bungalows for a well deserved drink, that for me led
BBQ'd squid
Every night at Koh Ruk we'd dine on various fish caught that day, including these squid and baracuda to more and more. And more. And before I know it it's 1am and I am on the beach drinking with a bunch of cute English men. Not a bad life, really. It was, however, a bad morning the next day. I won't go into details on that.
Next is a travel day. A long boat back to the mainland, bus to Trang, and then after a few hours of being completely lost in the city of Trang, it's on to the train for a 15 hour overnight ride back to Bangkok. And now here I am, in the big city, back in the fancy hotel room, waiting to go on to Cambodia. I have a feeling it's not going to be quite as relaxing as the last two weeks has been. But it will be a blast, I know.
I had been having second doubts about spending so much money on the hotel in Bangkok. That was until I got back there and remembered what it was like to not have to squat to pee. To not have to throw the used toilet paper in the trash. To not have to sweat yourself to sleep at night.
Camp site on Koh Ruk
You wouldn't be able to find a site like this in Canada, that's for sure Money well spent. Especially after Cambodia, I am sure, as the places I pick to sleep will not be nearly as nice as the ones I have been staying in.
Just two more weeks, then it's back to the ol' grind. Trying not to think about that at all.
Hugs and kisses to all,
Cathy
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Sharon
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Dumb and Dumber
Oh my friend the laughs that I have had while reading your blogs I must say that I will be very sad to see them end but perhaps you could continue on with your witty writing style and put princeton on the map with your tales of driving back and forth to work...You are a good driver rememeber when you drove me to the Chiropractors office ( that was nice ) I am picturing The scene from Dumb and Dumber while LLoyd ( two L's ) Christmas and Harry are ridin upon the scooter but I don't think that they went barreling into a lovely thai familys backyard and then make the lovely family push them back out but I could be wrong I think perhaps there is a part 3 comming out on Dec. 16 Dumb and dumber in Thailand I cannot wait to see it , What about you !!!!!!! Happy travels my friend like the new specs they look a little something something like the ones I adorn ! Miss you lots see you soon Sharon !