Advertisement
Published: September 17th 2010
September 16, 2010
On our final day at the resort we finally got off the resort property. We had breakfast and then met our tuk tuk driver for the morning. Man, one of the local employees of the resort went along as our guide. The Island is small, but quite hilly in the interior. The jungle is to the north, the west side of the island contains the rice fields and spread throughout the island are rubber plantations. Our first stop on the tour was in fact a rubber plantation. They were not working today as you cannot harvest the rubber after it rains. Rubber is harvested much like maple service is in Vermont. A small bucket is attached to the tree; however, while maple is the actual sap, rubber is from the bark. So the bark is sliced and then the latex drips into the small pale. From there it is put in a metal pan and mixed with some special water. Next it is rolled out like pie dough, by hand. The final step done at the plantation is rolling the rubber in to pads using one of two machines. One is electric the other is a
hand crank. This is then what is sold to rubber companies in the US and elsewhere to make our tires and all other things rubber. The entire process is done by hand. It takes 9 years before a tree will produce rubber, and then they can harvest from the tree for 35 years. To make good use of the land, when the tree is not producing rubber, they will plant fruit, such as pineapple, between the rows of trees.
Our next stop was a small village. This island is 90% Muslim in population. There is a Mosque in every village but not a single Wat on the Island. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the country. There is no alcohol in any village, except the main village, and that is only sold at a Buddhist market and primarily for tourists and the resorts. Each village has a sign upon entering that sets forth the rules of that village, the main rule is no alcohol allowed in the village.
We then traveled in to the hills on our way to the west side. The only wild life we saw were water buffalo, which aren’t really wild,
but owned by the farmers, just allowed to roam free. We then came to the rice fields, the island produces rice only for the Island, and it is not exported. Except for the plowing of the field, rice is also planted entirely by hand. This day they were transferring the rice from the land to the water. Rice is first grown on land for 2 months, and then transferred to what we refer to as a rice paddy; they never call it that, they only call it a rice field.
The final stop on our tour was the main village, we stopped and did a bit of shopping, I finally found a pair of pants that were in my size. Even here 7-eleven has a presence; it is the only store that is air conditioned.
We then returned to the resort and spent the mid part of the day, swimming and laying in the sun. At 2 we returned to the spa. Jerry had a foot cleaning; they scraped all of the dead skin off his feet and returned his feet to baby smooth. I had a manicure, and combined head and foot massage. I was basically in
Fish Cage
Man, our guide for the day.a coma for 60 minutes. Four hands, two on my head, two on my feet. Both were very nice, but the head massage really got deep and left some residual pain, which I am still feeling today, Friday. It could be a combination of the massage and the head and chest cold I am just about over.
After the massage, we returned to the pool for about an hour. We had a nice conversation with the residential manger of the resort. He is originally from France. It is interesting, while everyone that works here is Thai, and most are locals that they have trained to work at the resort; the two people in charge are 1) men 2) white and 3) European. I guess not much changes no matter where you are in the world.
After a very tough day of island touring, swimming and massages, we headed for our last happy hour. Michelle (Michael) bought us around of drinks and we enjoyed the evening air. The weather this day was perfect, sun was out the entire day. When the sun is directly overhead, it is so very very hot. We are at 8° above the equator so
that sun is very intense. As hot as it was, it still felt great beating down on my chest, hopefully burning the congestion right out of me. And not to worry, the appropriate level of block was worn at all times, the result is that we are not as dark as I had hopped for, but better that than skin cancer or a bad burn.
At about 8:30 we went to dinner, we were the last guest to arrive, most everyone else, save one French couple was already back in their rooms. Surprisingly enough the French ate very American food, we of course had Thai food, no detail tonight, not because it wasn’t good but, because I am a little lazy today.
When we first arrived a dinner both Michelle (the general manager) Florian (the residential manager) were just finishing dinner, when I walked in Michelle asked if I was ok, since I was walking very slowly. I said I was fine, just very very relaxed. It is true, I was moving very slowly, but not because I was ill or tired, just because, I was more relaxed than I have been perhaps in my entire life. We
had a nice dinner and then retired for the evening. I got the best sleep of the night. Jerry however, woke up shivering and had to get an extra blanket. Yes, he now has what I just go over. I have already given him a doze of the Thai Herb to knock it out of him.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
