Permaculture Perak and Krabi

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The weekends at PP are always busy. Many people who read the same article Jenna and I saw in the newspaper have come to visit or plan to in the future. Even in the time we visited there were phone calls every day with inquiries about the homestay... the word is out! The visitors were all just so pleased to be in some real wilderness and eating so well. There is also a group of folks who come up from Kuala Lumpur most weekends to get away from the city. It is such a diverse group, most of whom are working in KL on visas and many of them warned jenna and i about "getting stuck" in Malaysia and how many of them never really planned to stay so long.

Week 2 was much hotter, dryer, and quieter than week 1. It rained only once or twice instead of daily and most of the volunteers had left who were there when we began. Projects abound though; Jenna and i built a solar dryer for herbs and fruits, of which the farm was in great need. It was a great side project and in a few days it was up and running. We needed to do a test run so we picked some tea leaves and made fresh green and fermented black tea. There are still many tea plants leftover from the previous tea farm that once occupied the space and it is always nice to learn how to work with a new crop. Best of all the tea dried quickly and perfectly which was a double success. The gardens occupied the most of our time for the rest of our stay. The first area completed, we helped to prepare more terraces for planting. We got to witness the first little shoots of pak choi and beans come out of the ground and it was so exciting as it has been a while for us. We promised the owners we would come back to the farm to try the veggies we planted. It will be nice to rest from the road there again and it is very feesible for the route we plan to take through this area.

We plan on doing a circular path (with a few wobbles) through Lao, vietnam, then cambodia and will come back through thailand to go once again to Malaysia. There are tons of cheap flights to the area of Sumatra we want to visit and it means we can visit our friends at Permaculture perak.

Currently we are in the Krabi penninsula. It is pretty touristy but its the kind of folks who are more into outdoor sports rather than just beachbumming it. There are still resorts here but you never see those people as they have Air con , television and couches in their rooms. This pennisula has several small beaches all with different atmosphere and setup. Ours is the cheap beach where you can't even swim because the tides are soo strong there is no beach at all but most people base here as its only 10-20 minutes walk to the other nice beaches. The west beach has the soft sand and good smiwwing, the south beach is all about the craggy cliffs and the north beach is also for climbing but less populated. All in all its a buffet of outdoor fun here if you care to pay for it. 2 days ago we hiked and rocked climbed up a craggy Karst formation and then canyoned down into a brackish lagoon where only the brave can get to. I am not being elitist, it is quite unsafe to do the trek unless ouhave good climbing and hiking experience but also you need good shoees and this is all flip flop town. The lagoon is apparently leftover from the prehistoric time when this whole region was a seabed full of crustaceans; now its a few hundred meters straight up the straight down to enter. There are ropes but they are all covered in mud and slippery which is basically how you are as well... great combo. A few of the overhangs lead onto sharp muddy rocks and aren't pleasant to glance at but the nervewrecking decent is worth it.

It rained the last couple days here which hampered my plans of scaling these cliffs but there are lots of rocks in the world right? Tomorrow we leave for the regional capital of ranong, steps away from the border with Burma (NOT Myanmar!) where we catch a small boat to the supposed nearly desserted Ko Phayam. The farm folks told us we need to go here if we like solitude and snorkling; we do so why argue. After the island we go to the home of the largest outdoor market in the world.... Bangkok. Its as crazy as a city gets from all reports but if its scarier than an indian city i may just puke. We only have 15days on our visa so a few days there and then its off to Lao, a country of which i know almost nothing except that with every meal you get a basket of vegetables. Not much but its a good start for me.

That's all for now. If there is anyone who is considering a trip and like climbing this may well be the best place in the world for them. It's cheap, the water is the warmest Jenna or i has ever felt that isn't volcanic, the views are breathtaking, and the monkeys don't attack you.

Best wishes to everyone!
Brian and Jenna

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Comments

[Dean]

Climbing
Love the idea of climbing but I am not sure about the mud slick ropes. Hope you survive Bangkok!