Jungle scares!

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Tuesday 30th
Wake up at 6am again, but luxuriate in my own space... Then quickly get bored with what is on the TV and decide to catch up with my aim to read the New Testament on this trip (am just a little behind!) and get to the 32nd chapter. Shower, down for (bland) breakfast - come back to sort out bag/debate going to Post Office but watch some TV then 915 decide to check-out and run the gauntlet of taxi drivers to walk to the Khao San Road for the airport bus. Checkout easily, and run into David who's staying in Bangkok for another day.

Get past all the drivers... One even offers me a metered taxi, not sure I believe him (or whether he'd take me straight to the airport), and anyway, bus looks fine and is fixed @ 150 Baht. Cross the massive intersection, which is easier than the then gauntlet of tuk-tuk drivers... Just keep on walking, and I get to the stop 930 just as the bus pulls is (is this a late 9am, or early 10am?) - get ticket, first on bus (luggage beside me) and 15 minutes later we leave. Probably the most pleasant travel experience I've has in Bangkok, get to the airport by 1030 (little early for my 1150 check-in), but running another gauntlet of taxi drivers (no, I don't want to go back to Bangkok!), I find departures, can check-in already (15.3kg, but you want to see the number of books in my bag!) so find some water/snacks, sit and write some blog then go through security.

Loads of shops here, selling sports gear, usual airport stuff.. Including a branch of Boots! Make way to gate and they are enforcing the one bag/liquids policy (first time on my internal flights in Asia) so a quick re-work (amazing what coat pockets will fit) and I'm ready to board. Onto the bus, the plane - it's a scramble for seats flight but for an hour or so I don't really care. Anna, who's just flown in from the UK/Hong Kong/Bangkok and is straight to Krabi, sits next to me and we chat all the way to Krabi - she's just finished a doctorate in clinical psychology and is taking 2 months to travel before work - good plan!

Land, see my luggage arrive (always a bonus) and look for my transfer (I've organised as taxi is the only way into the resort and seems to be the cheapest way)... Realise am looking in the wrong place but outside I find him. We drive the 35km to the resort, him pointing out rubber/palm oil trees, and patting his 2 week old car, through quite a poor looking village to the resort. Glad arrived in daylight as the greenery is lush... Am taken to my bungalow, which is basic chic, but I have en suite, a fan and a mosquito net (although I also try to put my own up but it's not long enough, so theirs looks OK!), and a balcony with a nice view (just to note, no internet!)... Also, some geckos, possibly the odd ant/spider, and he chucks out tiny snake! Chuck everything down and go for a wander along the paths - find the promised open spring swimming pool - looks good, although can tell this resort is still pretty off-season. Hear a rumble of thunder, turn round and huge grey clouds have gathered and is starting to spot rain so make way back, and sit and watch the view as it becomes enveloped in rain!

Read away at Lonely Planet Islands... Deciding where next. Think because of the weather may only do 2 nights here... Been told all the trekking is off as it's too slippery, as is proved when make my way down for dinner and nearly slide down the path (yes, I walked on the grass after that). I decide to order Chicken Pad Thai as I've not had it yet - it's delicious and I even make an effort with the chopsticks! Finish off as I drink a lemon tea, and sit there for an hour or so reading more Lonely Planet and listening to the Dutch couple talking to the owner (in English!) about their trip to the Huey Falls today (they hired motorbikes). I ask Mr Som (qualified dive instructor!) about what to do and he said the Falls were easier to get to from Krabi or Ao Nang, where I think I'm going to go to next, and that the Tiger Caves would probably be better to get the taxi to take me to on the way back on Thursday. In the meantime, tomorrow I can take myself on a 2km walk to a 'beautiful reservoir', look at the 'beautiful plants', and then look briefly into the jungle (too dangerous slippery wise to go further), then maybe a swim, chill with a book and sleep before heading into town the next day... I just need to ring the accommodation I'm looking at to get fixed, will do tomorrow - feels really late but by the time I've washed a couple of things and sat on my bed it's still only 8pm... Early night no harm, and here's praying for a good weather day tomorrow!

Wednesday 31st
Wake, again, it's 615, but maybe the fact that there's nothing much to do today kicks in and I fall back to sleep til 830, when I read my book, and then see the sun is shining so shower, dress (with hiking boots - maybe it's worth bringing them after all!)... And go down for breakfast. Decide to give the porridge with fruits a go... Interesting - definitely porridge but pretty watery (well, I guess that's how they have their rice porridge), but with banana, pineapple and papaya in it. Save the banana for last, then go and change as the hiking boots are too hot, as are the full trousers!

Set off up the track, see a guy on a moto coming into the guest house, then pass me, then find him swimming in the next river crossing. Chat for a while, he's Australian, into his second year of travelling - sounds great! He asks what I'm off to see so we set up the path to the reservoir/jungle I've been told about, he runs back as he realises he's left his keys in the moto... Not a good plan! I look at the plants... And there's a banana plant. Everything's so lush/vibrant out here! He's back so we head up the track, find the reservoir then some waterfalls... I don't have any swimmers on so I dangle my feet whilst he swims - think will come back here this afternoon. He gives me a lift back the final bit on the moto, and I find out his name is Steven! Head in for lunch, settle for chicken fried rice and a banana shake, both delicious...

After all that decide it's too early to swim so sit on the balcony reading Lonely Planet's the Best of Singapore... As I watch the crowds roll in, and it starts to rain again, not as heavy as yesterday though and it soon clears. About 4pm, having read about 3/4 of Monica McInerney's 'Family Baggage', I decide to have a quick dip in the natural spring pool which was one of the attractions here (along with its close proximity to Tiger Cave and Huey Waterfalls, both of which are easier to get to from town!), quite nice but feels a bit weird and see some nice plants so decide to grab my camera and take some photos of that as well as test the self-portrait options again. See some good views and some banana/mango trees, go back, read some more and about 6 decide to get dinner - pork penang curry, pretty hot, but tasty. Get back to the bungalow (and yes, it has its own little garden) and realise I've forgotten to take water - one thing I can't survive without tonight, so have to walk back down the still rather slippery path (with torch!) to fetch. Back through the jungle noises - some of them so loud my ears hurt, re-pack for tomorrow, and settle into my little 'tent' (that anti-mosquito electrical thing must be working - there's far less of them in the room, although I can see a cockroach, urgh, but I guess that's all part of the 'natural' experience...!) for postcards, reading and working out what next! Hope to get another good night's sleep, but I think I'll be in single rooms for the rest of SE Asia, dorms from Singapore onwards!

Just to note it wasn't the most peaceful getting to sleep, although once I was asleep, not so bad... saw a cockroach crawl across my mosquito net, then an inch-long hornet type thing got inside my net - I couldn't sleep until I'd bashed it over the head several times with my water bottle and then wrapped it inside the bin after it got out the first time! Tomorrow, the beaches of Ao Nang! Have 2 days booked in the same hotel as Kym, if I like it may stay there longer...

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Comments

[anonymous]

that's not a mango tree, it's a papaya tree.

[drbexl]

mangos/papayas
It's difficult to tell in the dusk, whoever that comment was from...