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The local bus
check out the A/C7th mar Even though i set my alarm for 8 so i could actually get up and do something, i was so buggered that i just kept on sleeping. I tried to get my hair cut but the lady wasn't in till 12 so i just packed up my stuff, said bye to the guys so i could head to Phuket on my own, but i would see the guys in Koh Tao in a few days time. It was a local bus and the air conditioning consisted of fans attached to the roof and i was the only ferang which was cool. Once in Phuket i walk to the Thavorn inn which was recommended to me in the Cameron highlands by a guy from Manchester. It's a bit expensive but i guess that's because i am on my own. I head straight to the shops to enquire about a Phi Phi Islands Tour as it looked too expensive to do on my own. The travel agent recommends a place to get my hair cut which costed me only 200B, however whilst sitting there i was slightly paranoid as her hands were very shaky and she seemed to have had no
Phuket Town
The only photo i got, the jewlery shops all in a row experience. I also wasn't sure if she understood what i was asking for with my pigeon english and hand gestures explaining layers!!! I eat at a little local place and then head back to book my tour, which i wasn't completely happy with but i had no other option with my limited time and limited money (it's not very eco). Whilst booking the tour i tell the guy where i am staying so i can get the transfer and he tells me that i need to be careful. I ask him why and he tells me in a round about way that it's not safe for women staying there as men hang in the alley and wait for the girls. I was already safety conscious coming here thanks to Steph but this guy really made me scared for the first time on my trip. I went straight back to my room before it got dark locked the doors and windows, closed the curtains and just hung out in my room all night. A really eventful night where i did the girly things like shave, pluck and wash my hair where i was surprised that i had a pretty good cut,
and even entertained myself playing cards. The tap is not only dripping but the sink is about to fall off the wall!
For the first time on my trip its just me in my room, no dorm and no friends in the room next door. Its a weird feeling, especially in here in phuket where i am a little scared. I have my panic alarm next to the bed and a dog is barking really loud outside. I wonder what everyone is doing at home, sleeping i guess...
8th mar After a crappy sleep i get up before the alarm with a stiff neck. My pick up is between 8:15 and 8:30 so i get downstairs at 8:05. As soon as i get to the front of Thavorn the taxi guy asks me if i want a taxi. I say no and he then realises i was waiting for a pickup. When it got to 8:15 he tried to tell me that the bus must be late and that he would drive me and then the company can just pay me back. I trusted my gut feeling that he was trying to scam me. I showed him my
ticket and told him i still had another 15mins to wait before i should start to worry. Then the guy from the Thavorn desk also tells me to get the cab!!!! I am so glad that my gut is usually right and i continued to wait. The agent then came and told me that the pickup is on the way, but it was a little late. It ended up arriving at 8:45 but i didn't care i was just happy that i trusted myself and it came through...The tour was split up into 2 groups and i ended up on the better tour as the boat was faster so we got to the islands quicker. Our tour guide was Bam Bam and he was quite funny. The first stop at Khai Nok Island was definitely not a highlight. The coral was all broken from the tourists stepping on it and there was quite a bit of rubbish around. The tourists were also encouraged to feed the fish. As i picked up some litter i was highly disturbed and thought why do tourists think they can A) Leave litter behind, B) Feed the fish and C) Not realise their effect on
notice the butt
cigarette that is. not happy jan the env!!! We had some snacks and left making our way to Phi Phi Don where the cliffs were amazing. Arriving in Monkey Bay everyone bar me got off to feed the Monkeys as i was not going to participate even if they paid me (or give myself the opportunity to be attacked!!) We did have a great lunch on Phi Phi Don and i had a quick walk around the main area where i was shocked at how highly touristy it was. This was also a place that was hit badly by the Tsunami but you wouldn't think it now. It was like Ao Nang! I bought 2 bracelets and got back to the boat. This was when the good stuff began. In leaving Phi Phi Don we welcomed Phi Phi Lei. We saw the Viking Cave where the Thai's use the saliva from the swallows bird nests to make soup! We then moved to Pi Leh Cave which had towering limestone cliff, bright blue water which was totally clear and you could see the bright fish and coral right to the bottom. We didn't swim here as there were too many boats but cruising along there was great.
So so beautiful. Next around the corner was Lo Sa Ma Bay where we got to snorkel. Bam Bam warned us to stay away from the propeller as he didn't wanna hear "OH MY BUDDAH, WHERE'S MY HEAD" or "OH MY BUDDAH, WHERE'S MY LEGS"... I used the life jacket to keep me afloat making it a great snorkel not having to make any effort to stay afloat. I saw so much amazing stuff including all different types of coral and fish, cucumber slugs, butterfly fish, loads of parrot fish including a huge one, sea urchins, blue mollusc's, sea anemones and sea anemone fish (nemo's), there was even a lion fish but i didn't get a very good look at it. Bummer. There was an Aussie couple on the boat that were on their honeymoon. The wife had the same coloured hair as me, the same cosie bottoms with Billabong written across the bum and we both had life jackets on. The husband almost pinched me on the ass thinking i was his wife!!! Great start to the marriage! Our last destination, saving the best till last, was Ma ya Bay. I wasn't surprised when they announced to actually get
Monkey Beach
Where i stayed on the boat off onto the island you need to pay 200B entrance fee as it was a National Park. If you didn't want to go on you could go an snorkel but i had already done that and this bay was the main reason for me doing the tour. So i pay it and head onto the island with only a few others and do a small walk and am pretty shocked to see that its pretty touristy. You may recognise this place as the paradise in the movie "The Beach" and yes its still a paradise but i am afraid that its no longer an unknown paradise thanks to the movie! The longboats are constantly coming and going and they even have to section off a part of the water so you can swim there. I didn't wanna leave Maya bay once i was finally there. It was so beautiful and i decided right there that i would come back one day and camp on the island...something i didn't realise you could do...So we head back and Bam Bam continued to talk about the Tsunami and it seemed that that was all he talked about the whole day, which was fine,
but it made me wonder, what did he talk about before the Tsunami happened?
So the tour finishes and i get my transfer back. I eat the most expensive pad thai yet 50B (still nothing) and have the most annoying tourist ever sitting at the table next to me. He was so loud and kept repeating everything he was saying to this Thai lady who didn't seem too bothered by what he had to say. She was more interested in playing with her hair and the food that he was buying for her. So it was getting dark and i once again head back to my room to lock myself in!!! I also scarred myself by thinking that i heard someone at the window...I am freaking myself out!!!!!
9th mar I got out of Thavorn by 9ish and headed to the bus stop (actually they were swangi's but more like a truck). After waiting and and asking all the drivers if they were going to Bang Pae Falls i found the right one and after waiting for 1/2 hour we were on our way out of Phuket Town (thank god!!) I have come to notice that what i
consider my personal space is space that a thai person considers available...the man next to me was close enough to kiss (i wasn't going there!) and was leaning all over my leg and 2 young girls in front of me on the middle seat were playing with my pack locks and leaning all over my bag which was pushing onto my legs. I am dropped off and all the locals look at me like a am crazy as i have a 1km walk with my pack to my destination for the day. It was pretty hot just like any other day and before i reach the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project i can hear them calling. Their calls echoed right through my body and they sounded completely amazing. Once again, before i reached them i had to pay an entrance fee of 200B as it was inside a national park. I was completely peed off as the Lonely Planet Book that i borrowed from Carson said that entrance was free. I argued saying i didn't wanna see the waterfall but i ended up paying as i really once again had no choice (which is the real reason for the frustration), and i
The Viking Cave
Where swallow saliva is gathered to make soup... had already come all this way!!! After putting my pack down at the local kiosk i head up to where the Gibbons were. I stood around for a lot longer then anyone else reading all the information and just watching them high above me in their cages. I did go and see the waterfall considering i had paid to see it and it was also pretty crappy. (Yet to see a good one in Thailand, prob as not in wet season!). I purchased a top and some postcards (where the money goes to the Gibbons) and sat around talking to the volunteers for a while (one had been there for 7 months!). I got to see the feeding time where they use a pulley system so there is minimal human contact. If you want to volunteer its a minimum of 3 weeks so hopefully when i come back to Thailand i will do my bit for these gorgeous creatures.
Here is some Gibbon Info i would love to share with you all:
The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) is a research division of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation (WAR) and aims to save Gibbons and their rainforest habitat through
rehabilitation and education. Gibbons are small monogamous territorial apes that can be recognised by their unique loud territorial songs which can be heard for several kilometers in the rainforest. They can live for up to 30years, however Thailand's Gibbons are threatened by the destruction of their rainforests, poaching for their meat, medicine, and the lucrative pet trade. Baby Gibbons are acquired when their mothers are shot, they are sold illegally as pets or for tourist attractions. They sometimes end up in bars being taunted by tourists and forced to drink whisky and smoke cigarettes. When the Gibbon reaches sexual maturity (6-7yrs) they can become quite aggressive (as in the wild they would be searching for a mate) so they are often killed or dumped. If kept, their canines are either pulled out or filed down and chained up or caged. All 9 species of the Gibbon in South East Asia are listed in Appendix 1 of the Conservation in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) and it has been illegal to take a Gibbon from the wild in Thailand since 1992.
They are a Non Government Organisation (NGO) which means they don't receive any Government funding so the 200B
Feel like a swim
dont need to ask me twice... that you pay for the NP doesn't contribute at all to the Gibbons. It was sad to see them in their cages but it wasn't like a zoo as you are pretty far away from them. You only see a couple of them and the ones who are more ready to be released you dint see at all as they are further up in the rainforest. They put the Gibbons into a family before they release them as this is the best shot they have. Also made me reconsider eating so much beef (I hear you cheering neens!) as rainforests are cleared to raise cattle!...So when its time to leave i ask one of the volunteers what time the buses head back to the main road. She tells me that they have finished for the day and i will have to hitch...What the??? Crap. She assures me that its perfectly safe as she and the other vol's do it all the time. This made me feel better about it so i start on my 1 km walk back to where the bus dropped me off. I am halfway down the road and i hear a motorbike behind me. I don't
Lo Sama Bay
This is where i snorkelled bother to flag it down as i figure with me and my pack there is no way there will be enough room. Anyways next thing i hear "Madam" and she pretty much forces me on the bike even though i am scared that i am going to fall off backwards. I kept telling myself "just land on the pack, land on the pack" and she drops me where the bus dropped me and i thank her but she is already on her way. I then start to walk again on my way to the main road and i stick my hand out trying to hitch a lift. No one seemed to want to pick me up and then as i start to doubt the situation, with the beads of sweat starting to poor and my legs starting to ache, a little truck pulls over ahead of me. I run to them show them on the map where i want to go and the family inside agree to take me there. So the father is driving, the mother is in the front and their son is squished in the back with my heavy pack on his legs and i have my
day pack on mine. Just as i was enjoying the cool wind in my face i feel something dripping down the back of my legs. Where is that coming from? As i think and check with my hands i realise its the sweat from the back of my knees!! Gross... Anyways they drop me off at my destination and i thank them. Well my first hitching turned out to be great and very safe. I then wait for my bus to Phang-Nga. After waiting for quite a while i begin to worry and some locals say that it will be a mini bus and they will tell me when it gets here but i noticed that they weren't really paying any attention. I figured that it wasn't going to be a mini bus and next thing i hear him on the phone saying mini bus and Phang-Nga in the same sentence! I decided i wouldn't wait for him to tell tell and continue to ask all the buses that were passing. At one of them i yelled Phang-Nga and it slowed down. I turned and asked the guy and he turns to his friend with an odd look on his
Some of the fish i got to meet
the water was much clearer then what it looks like in the photo face so i get up and show the bus man the map and says yes. So i get on not even looking at the bugger who was obviously calling his friend and were going to probably charge me a fortune instead of paying the 60B that i did for the bus. I even got to listen to some thai music as included in the price so i was happy with that (i don't mind the music!)
Arriving in Phang-Nga was great. Not highly touristy and it instantly gives me a great vibe. There were cliffs all around and I must thank Brad for recommending me to this place. I had done so much walking that i just decided to stay at the first place which ended up being pretty cheap and also really clean and nice (Rattanapong Hotel). I even got a balcony with cliff views and also an old black rooftop! I head straight back out booking my tour for the next day and then to the local markets (the orange shake was way too strong) and i stumble across some Thai Traffic Police who are booking people for not wearing their helmets. One of them speaks pretty
good English and he had me laughing for quite a while at his explanations of a game i was watching some locals playing. After reading the Lonely Planet its called Takraw but also sometimes called Siamese Football. When i was able to pull myself away from the copper i went over and asked for permission to watch. They all allowed me and i sat there in amazement watching this cool game as they jump in the air with ease and perform all sorts of moves like they are in a circus. The Lonely Planet also says this about Takraw:
"A popular variation of Takraw is played like volleyball, with a net, but with only feet and head permitted to touch the ball. Its amazing to see the players perform aerial pirouettes, spiking the ball over the net with their feet. A woven rattan ball about 12cm in diameter, sometimes plastic - called a luuk tatraw is used."
There are actually three different ways to play, the volleyball version that i watched, standing in a circle and keeping it off the ground (similar to Hacki Sac) and a basketball version with a 4.5m high hoop with no backboard and only
using feet!
After a while they start to ask me the typical questions like married? Single? blah blah so i lie and tell them i have a boyfriend back at home...just to eliminate any proposals....!!! I could have watched for ages but they started to set me up with one of the one of the guys and they were talking about me in Thai. They had had also finished their game so i went further down the street to watch a game of soccer that was being played. The copper shows up and makes me laugh again. So i watch this game where there are about 30 men playing where the pitch is over 50% dirt and the goals are so tiny, only about 1m by 1m. Crazy but they still get one in! It seems everyone here loves soccer and whenever i tell them i am Aussie they say "ah, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell" which seems to be the only Aussies they know, (i don't blame them they are the only ones i know too!) So after the game ends i head back to the markets (I feel so much safer here ), get a cheap dinner
Moo in Maya Bay
It was really beautiful and head back to my room. I sit on my balcony with the cool breeze writing in my journal and i notice on the ground a man peeing against the wall. How's that for serenity!!
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Sally
non-member comment
Hey Moo Loved this travel blog - what a beautiful place Maya bay is. Glad to see you remain true to yourself by following your gut feeling - this will never send you wrong if you truly believe. love Sal