Ko Adang, Ko Tarrutao and a mischief of monkeys.

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Good day, since i last wrote I have done some things, including at some point, eating cockroaches as a healthy snack.
Mid December and went up to the north of Ko Phangan to a very remote beach called Hat Khom, where there was just one restaurant and one place to stay, all owned by a Thai family with a crazy gun toting dad. (when we informed dad that we were going to get a taxi bus up the road to the full moon party instead of with him as it was nearly half the price, he said ‘they are not a family!’ and made gun hand gestures in their direction. We went with dad.)

The beach was amazing and that but the tide was all ballsed up for some reason so there was no sand to sit on for the time we were there. We headed to a more southern beach called Hat Yao, which was still pretty quiet but had people we could talk to and meet, so we stayed there for 2 weeks, over Christmas. Much drinking and that was done by all as the people me and Ali knocked about with were Scottish. I came down south to do a visa run at the Malaysian border and then head to the Tarutao national marine park to meet Dave and Katherine for New Years Eve shenanigans.



I bought my ticket for a 10 am boat from the agency in the guest house, but when I arrived everyone was just standing about looking confused but trying not to look pissed off. You know, Thai style. After trying to force my way on I was told I had to ‘check in’ first (for a little speed boat? Get over yourselves will yer) so had to wait for 4 hours. This is when I wrote my last email to the collective you.

I was heading to a little island called Ko Adang and after steadfastly refusing to get off at the more developed/destroyed Ko Lippe island opposite, which, I was assured, is were falang go.

It was eventually agreed I could carry on to the little paradise of Adang, where I met up with Dave pretty easily, after walking around the campsite hollering his and Katherine’s name to bemused looks.

Adang (as you may refer to it if you spend longer than 5 days there) is simply beautiful, amazing and all that stuff. Within minutes we were on the beach quaffing red wine and talking excitedly of our majestic adventures of the past and whimsical hopes for the future. I was on my way back to the tent when a Thai lad in a hammock pointed to me and said ‘my name is….’ Pissed up I replied tika tika slim shady’ but he just looked disappointed, and rightly so. I went back to say hello except all he could say in English was ‘my name is…’ and point to his mates and then say their name. They were offering me cigarettes so I got my whiskey out for the lads and we all sat up using nothing but gestures and faces to communicate. When I got my iPod and speakers out they all looked chuffed to bits, like they should offer passersby cigarettes more often. The next day they woke me up with a coffee, They’d bought some Whiskey out and they were all putting it in their coffees. Also they offered cigarettes wrapped in bamboo papers which, you know, interesting, acquired taste.. um..was generous, I mean it’s the thought that counts.

Dave, Katherine and I all went for a morning swim in the sea every morning which puts you in such a good mood, then there was nothing to do, just relax on the beach. Just one restaurant which had a stressed out and Rick Moranis lookalike working there 24 hours a day, who stuck rigidly to the menu and charged 50 baht for an omelet or 40 baht for an omelet with rice. Work that one out. And if you got eggs on toast they had to be fried, even though the next item on the menu was scrambled eggs. Honestly.

I tried not to let it get me down. There was only one shop selling next to nothing on a good day, which was all fantastic and gave the island an extremely slow relaxing feel. We were there for 7 days and then we got an hour boat ride to another island called Ko Taruttao, which is a national marine park also and full of jungle teeming with wildlife suck as crab eating macaques (monkeys,) crabs, jungle pigs whom I saw a family of cross the road in front of me one after another in an orderly fashion. I approached to get a closer look but they all quickly got off except one little baby pig that was stuck on the other side of the road and was too frightened to cross over when it saw me. It would poke its head out and see I was about 100 yards away and scarper as fast as its little legs would carry it back into the jungle. Unwilling as I was to create a wild boar orphan I let them be. Also present were lots of birds, I saw a huge ‘stalk type thingy’ I think its scientific name was, a wide variety of snakes and, probably, lots of other scary stuff that the Thais don’t tell you about. But mainly monkeys.

We spent a few days in the main beach area called Pante Melaka (which had EXACTLY the same menu as the last island,) and I could have stayed there forever as it was a stunning beach, and I was content sitting in a hammock reading a book. I did a little bit of exploring elsewhere on the island which involved a 12 km walk up and down hills and this was when I saw most of the wildlife. We headed to Talo Wao Bay where there was no restaurant or shop or accommodation but we knew this before we set off in the belief we could stay in the ranger station or in our hammocks. When we asked the ranger if he would put us up he said no, so we asked again as he was clearly mistaken. When he concurred we left our belongings outside and went for a short walk to drink our can of warm beer we had carried. On return we were full of anticipation of how wonderful our instant noodles would taste, should the ranger allow us to use his cooking utensils. And bowls and cutlery. But we were greeted by the sight of a trail of instant noodle packet contents going all the way up a tree and a flaggle of monkeys stuffing their faces with dried noodles with mischievous grins on their cute (i.e. slappable) faces. Never one to waste energy they just run about five paces then turn their heads to see if they are being pursued, and if not they just sort of grin. The little cherubs.

Thats all for now i wil send some photos with my next one in a few days, I love you all more than life itself -(but your all fuckin nuts)

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