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Moray Eel
That was just the head.We spent a week or so splashing around in the Andaman Sea, which lies to the west of the isthmus that connects Thailand to Malaysia. This narrow strip of land was our route from Penang, Malaysia to Thailand. Our intention is to travel from Malaysia, through Thailand, east into Laos, south into Cambodia, east again into Vietnam then north to its capital, Hanoi, by bus, train and boat.
The islands of southern Thailand are no strangers to foreign visitors, including many of our friends and family. Many are developed for tourism, for better or worse.
Our first stop was Phuket, Thailand’s largest island. As such it exhibits the full spectrum of Thai tourism, from fantastic food and pristine palm tree fringed golden beaches, to seedy nightlife and obnoxiously drunk Russians package-holiday-makers and Aussie backpackers.
Enough of that, we thought, and spent a few days on boats, reacquainting ourselves with salt-water for the first time in a couple of months. Thailand is renowned for its diving, but some of its appeal is waning, sadly. Over-fishing, over-diving, climate change and the tsunami in 2005 have all played their part in reducing the diversity and intensity of aquatic life. For us,
Ornate Ghost Pipefish
A tiny creature, finger sized. the diving didn’t quite match what we had experienced in Indonesia or Tonga, even at the remote Similan Islands. Having said that, most dives were still very good. In addition to the creatures we saw and photographed, there were also impressive underwater seascapes, with caves, swim-throughs, steep walls, huge boulders and pinnacles.
The scenery above water level is arguably even more impressive. In Ao Phang-Nga Marine National Park, vast karst limestone towers rise from the sparkling sea, whose corrosive waters eat the rocks from below. Into narrow gaps and through dark passageways we kayaked through the rock to walled lagoons. It must have been amazing to be among the first to discover these isolated pockets of nature. We, though, shared our visit with numerous other people like us.
It was even busier with tourists at ‘James Bond island’, so called as it features as Scaramanga’s lair in ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. We couldn’t help suspecting that many of the tourists and tour operators hadn’t seen the film, despite their keenness to make the pilgrimage and jostle for the best photo position.
The spiciness of the food moved up a notch as we travelled from Malaysia
to Thailand. It was never more aptly demonstrated than by a frog curry at a night market on Phuket. Having quickly got over his minimal reservations about eating a frog, and its bone-riddled flesh, Ben was confronted with a foe far more deadly than his squeamishness. A fiery heat that seemed to penetrate the entire face, resulting in an uncontrollable pouring from sweat glands, tear ducts and nose (there may also have been steam coming from the ears, but it was dark and therefore difficult to tell), effectively rendered the dish inedible, despite Ben’s hunger. Thankfully, we were in the ideal place to simply try another, hopefully one with less heat than a nuclear reaction.
After a week or so with no further face-meltingly hot food, we bade the shimmering sea farewell; to journey north in the last two berths on any sleeper train that night, fortuitously purchased just moments earlier. Clearly our luck was in, so we ate more strange food without fear.
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Ali
Ali Watters
Ornate Ghost Pipefish!
Related and a fantastic shot :) Congrats on your first appearance on the front page!