Out of Time

We left Koh Nangyuan at lunchtime and spent the rest of the afternoon on Koh Tao writing blogs, and generally killing time before Nick and I briefly went our seperate ways - Nick straight to Koh Lanta, and me on a quick Visa run to Burma/Myanmar before heading down to re-unite.

Nighttime fell and it was time for us to jump on our ferries. I was booked to travel on a car ferry which I made me think of a cross channel ferry crossing from England to France. It was of courser nothing like it, and I got on the ferry which would probably house about 8 cars maximum. I dropped my head almost immediately in the provided bunks.

The next day was a day I'd rather not repeat, whisked across Thailand by minibus and dropped at Thai immigration. I paid up my dues (I'd overstayed on my visa) and then we jumped back in the minibus to get on the "Big-Boat Visa Run". On the "Big Boat" I got, and after some waiting, we were crusing along some (comparatively to my last 6weeks) ugly surroundings - a lot more backward and dirty. After about 40minutes, we allighted the boat at Kaw Thuang, Mayanmar. We were allowed a whole 10minutes to explore the country. I got about 30 seconds of those 10minutes to myself as local touts offering an assortment of drugs, viagra, cigars Burmese whisky etc. follow you wherever you walk. After declining the opportunity of walking some Class A back into Thailand (and that's not to say I bought any of that other stuff on offer!), I was headed back to Ranong, Thailand. I saw my first episode of 'River-Rage' as we moored - two long-tail boat drivers got in a scrap as one wouldn't yield to the other, and seconds later, the skinnier of the two chaps found himself in the wet-stuff - the comedy highlight of my day.

Then followed 3 long arduous bus rides of differing comfort, starting at 10.30am, and eventually winding up in Krabbi at about 6.30m. I jumped on a motorbike taxi and pointed fot the docks to catch my boat to Koh Lanta, the driver spotted a minibus going directly there - though I wasn't entirely sure how a minibus would get directly to an island but I gave it a go none the less. 2 Car ferry trips and another 10minutes of driving meant I finally got in at about 9pm. A 24hour Visa run complete.

So, for around 8 days, it was business as usual. Wake-up, breakfast with fresh banana shake, a wander to the beach, some lunch, a wander back followed by dinner... then sleep!

To break the routine, we took a day trip to Koh Phi Phi. We saw a fair amount of damage from the Tsunami but were quite surprised how quickly things had been rebuilt.

Our boat tour then took us around Phi Phi Lai, the main island and we saw a pretty cool lagoon. We then crossed the choppy sea to arrive on the other island of Phi Phi. This is now perhaps the biggest tourist puller of the area now, mainly due to the movie 'The Beach'. We saw 'The Beach but due to the amount of boats moored up, and people on it, we declined the offer of paying 200baht to go stand on it for 15minutes!

We arrived then for lunch at a tiny secluded beach with just us; a Dutch couple & son, 2 tour guides, Nick and myself... and 2 dozen monkeys. Hungry monkeys.

We devoured our lunch whilst throwing warning stones at the cheeky primates. A football had washed up on the beach too, I claimed it and was happy to be playing 'keepy-uppy' once again.

After lunch we did a spot of snorkelling. It was quite surprising how much we could see, it was in fact a better session snorkelling than one or two of our deeper sea scuba dives. I found an Anenome with a family of Clown fish, Nick spotted a Sea Snake - plus all manner of other marine life.

So the time on Lanta drew to a close, it was now at the forefront of my mind that life was about to take a dramatic turn of pace as we headed back toward Western Civilisation. It was on the beach there at Lanta that I decided that I'd like to work in Perth virtually on arrival. Nick was contemplating waiting there for around 1 month for his girlfriend to arrive. We toyed with the idea of staying in Thailand a little longer, but I'd already stayed longer than planned. Perth would be expensive to hang around for a month, so solo again, I left Koh Lanta destined for Kuala Lumpa on the 28th of January.

We shook hands and said goodbye at 7.30am after around 3 hours sleep (intentionally - sleep less the night before and you get to sleep really easily whist embarking on long tedious journeys). By 9, I'd reached Trang, breakfast, another minibus ride to Haad Yai - arrival 11.30 - to be told, the bus for Malaysia leaves at 5.30pm. Time to kill.

I think I covered just about every street and block of this pretty featureless city. The saving grace was that the Chinese New Year decorations did brighten the place up a bit. Haad Yai once thrived from Malaysians coming for cheap shopping - then the Thai goverment banned the currency from being spent so the economics went a little stagnent. I thought I'd help the situation as I needed a new camera.

5.30 rolled around, and a tuk tuk arrived - not quite what I was expecting to take me to Kuala Lumpa. 3minutes later I was dropped around the corner and told to wait until 8. I met a couple of Swedish gals also making the trip, so killed the time with a couple of beers.

Finally the bus showed up. I was stunned to see what it was. So many times we have been promised "VIP buses" across Asia, this was the first one that lived up to the name. 3 huge reclining chairs per row instead of the usual cramped 4 or 5. I drifted into a slumber within seconds of arriving in Malaysia.

5am I was awoken by an almost familiar sounding "Mister, Mister, time to get off". I had arrived in a very dark pre-sunrise Kuala Lumpa.

Did I Dream?

So, on the road again, I arrived in Tong Sala - the port of Koh Phangan. I got my 2nd haircut of my trip as I realised I was looking like some kind of hippy. Into Sexy Scissors I went, the Thai girl asked what style I'd liked and pointed to some 20yr old photos on the wall... I wasn't impressed. So I opted for short back n sides. She lopped a load of hair off and I paid my 150baht and jumped on a boat destined for a tiny island off of Koh Tao call Koh Nangyuan.

A series of 3 islands connected by 2 sandy straights that are only above sea level 2 thirds of each day. 1 resort, 1 restaurant, 1 dive school, no shops, searing sunshine, smack in the middle of Thailands national marine park... perfection. I was dropped on a small jetty out front of the reception and shown to the bungalow by a Thai chap who insisted on carying my bag. Normally I'd feel really bad about letting someone do this, but after 2 mins walking across the pristine beach, I realised I wasn't that close to the room which Nick had arrived at the day previous. After what seemed like a trek to rival those in Nepal I got to room F14 - I think the F stands for "Faraway". Nonetheless, after leaving what I thought was a pretty good beach on Koh Phangan, I was bowled over at the beauty of Koh Nangyuan. Shortly after, the two of us were re-united and immediately got to updating each other on what had been happening the past 3 weeks. I got some things through from home - Jeans, new pants and wine gums... it's the little things in life...

We visited the dive shop and got ourselves enrolled on the PADI Open Water qualification course. Once you've achieved this, you are certified to dive to 18metres depth by yourself. The course gives a fair amount of theory and homework which we'd have to keep up with, and then an exam at the end after 4 proper dives incorporating all that we'd learned.

We spent the first full day mainly in the classroom and then around 90minutes under water learning basic skills. Although a section most might normally do in a swimming pool, we were distracted many times by the amazing fish that came to check us out regularly.

Day 2 of our course, and we got to go for our first eral dives. The first to an area known as the Japanese Garden (top right of the1st photo). After getting out of the water, we both agreed how cool the experience was, seeing so much new wildlife and experiencing weightlessness in water for the first time. After a 2nd amazing dive, it was time for us to jump on a boat and leave our little island - the full moon was due which meant only one thing - the Koh Phangan Full Moon Party.

We travelled over to Koh Tao, the main island near ours, and jumped on board the "Party Boat" that played some interesting remixes of classic songs - with hard techno backing beats in accompaniament. After an exhuasting day in the water, we opted to wait till after we'd grabbed some dinner to join in the festivities.

The moment came and by about 9pm we rolled onto Haad Rin beach. Within 2 minutes we'd seen a guy already passed out.

That kind of set the tone for this 'legendary' party and once we'd taken a walk up and down the beach we realised it was pretty much your Ibiza/Magaluf party out here in Thailand. So, when in Rome and all that... I purchased a bucket. Not a regular bucket like I'd had previous, this one had the usual Red Bull & Coke in but also an entire bottle of Samsong Whisky... I didn't plan to get any more after this one!

By midnight, the two of us had found plenty of other party people and we were chucking out shapes in between watching the various fire shows and fun down the beach.

Our boat that dropped us off, was coming to get us at 7am - which meant if you were gonna sleep, you were doing it on the beach... unless you have the greatest idea of all time at 4am after you've had enough of drinking and dancing... Thai massage! So for 2hours, I had what could've been the best or worst foot massage of all time, I was soundo after 5 minutes and only got up when she uttered the words "Mister, Fini' ". We walked back to the port ultra relaxed, jumped on the boat and drifted back off into slumber atop of some random padded life jackets for a bed.


At around 10am after a fry-up on Koh Tao, we arrived back on Koh Nangyuan. Nick went straight to sleep, but the bright light and crystal waters wouldn't let me do that. I picked up my snorkel and went for a dip with my camera. I was the only person in the water at that time, and so all of the fish that normally try their luck for food, crowded me to an almost claustrophobic level. It was an amazing feeling, at least up until a small fish called a Cleaning Wrasse decided he wanted a piece of me. He went on nipping away at my still heeling knee cap, though it wasn't painful so I thought I'd let him carry on.

I got out of the water and completed my diving exam (somehow!), the afternoon slipped away and before I knew it, I was having an early night...

Our final day of diving arrived, this time we boarded a boat to take us to the dive sites. We went as low as 18metres which was really cool, especially for seeing how far away the surface had become. We performed some tomfoolery for the camera man that was there; someone had to!
After dive no.4, we were announced as certified open water divers. We enjoyed the course so much we enrolled on the advanced course that day!

So for the past 3 days we had some more new experiences, Deep diving (to 30metres), Underwater Navigation, Naturalist dive (not Naturist!), Night dive and the reason I put on a Scuba tank in the first place; DPV diving.

The night dive allowed us to see a complete different set of aquatic life. The daytime fish go off to sleep, and you get to see more crustaceans, eels, rays; we even saw an extremely poisonous Scorpion fish. When we'd finished the dive, we were instructed to switch off our lights and in the darkness, wave our hands. This set off the phosperecent algae once again - I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing that stuff! When we surfaced, the stars were amazingly crystal clear so we floated around for a while starwatching.

The DPVs arrived at the dive shop and a buzz of excitement overcame me. Anyone who ever saw Thunderball and another Bond that escapes me now, will remember those little underwater scooters. So we each had our own ones to buzz around the sea bed with. It's the closest thing I've experieced to being Superman. Loop the loops, barrel rolls and the ability to keep up with schools of fish - you have to try it!!!

So now, in a week I've gone from no dive experience to 10 dives. I'm all dived ot now so will wait a while till my next one. We celebrated with the guys at the dive school with a Steak BBQ and drink session last night. Dannesh showed us his awesome Hungarian Techno collection and a cool time was had by all.

Our time on Nangyuan has now come to a close, tomorrow I will depart for a quick stop over in Burma to get some extra time on my Visa before heading down to Koh Phi Phi on the West side of Thailand.

Island in the Sun

After Christmas in Samui, I aimed to spend until the new year on Koh Phangan. 7 days somehow stretched to 16, and although it seemed very much to me like I'd been doing nothing - I gave it some thought and decided to write about some of the highlights that kept me on the sedate and remote beach of Thong Nai Pan Yai.

After daytimes of sun lounging, frisbee-ing and footballing (not to mention convalessing), my evening times would quite often end eating a large Thai meal - either fresh fish BBQ (Snapper, Shark & Barracuda some of the options) or a typical Thai curry dish. All the food seemed to be good especially the crispy fried Tuna steak eaten Al fresco at the Welcome restaurant. As you lean back with a full belly and a beer in one hand, looking to the moon & stars, the palm leaves slightly obscuring your view just lend even more to making me realise how lucky I am right now.

A special mention to the Bombay Chicken Baguette from the Game Bar - excellent post drink food!

On my penultimate day, the sea was unusually choppy. I had been making regular kayak trips most mornings and thought this to be no exception. The waves though only around 3ft, were unrelentless in coming. Just climbing aboard was a real effort. Then I'd have to paddle hard and fast, dipping the nose into each oncoming wave to break through and not get thrown off. Eventually I'd break free and was able to turn 180 degrees and try something new - kayak surfing! If you catch the wave at the right moment, you get hoisted to the crest of the wave and can ride it all the way back to shore in triple quick time.

After meeting a new group of friends in Max, Pascale, Carla and Ellie, another new friend joined us - Norbert. A cute black dog that would follow us around the beach, to pubs and clubs and then guide us home through the darkened streets.

The one night Norbert wasn't present, we stepped off in the wrong direction. Luckily we got an extended beach walk home past what I'd been waiting a long time to see for myself... Phospherescent Algae. As the waves churned in, hundreds of blue specs would wash up. You could pick them out and with some movement, keep them glowing for quite some time. It seemed that word spread fast as soon, many people were up to see this at 4am!

Most nights of the week would be one of the beachfront bars turn to put on a special night to draw in the crowds. One such night, the Chai Bar had "Fire Night" where fireworks and daring firey feats would be performed live. The fire batton twirling was really cool too. (Norbert left us once the fireworks started!)

Of course a quick mention of Phangans local delicacies - the bucket. A kids bucket (as in "bucket and spade" filled with Red Bull, Lemonade and your choice of spirit! Add to that 5 or 6 straws and you have a drink that keeps a whole groups thrist quenched! Plenty of these were consumed over the nights out at the Buddha Bar, Game Bar, Chai Bar, Dolphin Bar, Central Bar and any other Bar I can't think of right now!

Over my 16 days, I did actually get to do some sight seeing - I saw 2 other towns and 3 waterfalls. One of which gave a great view from up high over the island. The waterfalls seem to attract the Thais (locals) as well as tourists which was quite odd compared to the other SE Asian countries so far.

Luckily my injuries had heeled quite nicely owing hugely to a fresh supply of Aloe Vera growing out the front of our bungalows - natures cure for all!

Nick was due back and so my lazy Christmas drew to a close. I'd grown really fond of the great beach, staff and friends I'd met so it was with some regret when I boarded the taxi headed for the port. I didn't realise how surprisingly good the next stop would be however...

Pain

As the blog takes a kind of seasonal sabaticle, I have wandered to myself (whilst lying on the beach) what I might write in each new post. I guess this could have been just asking for fate to intervene with some interesting stuff for you to have a read of!

I travelled the 20 metre journey down to the beach with my feet still raw from the football the day before. I hadn't done enough however. The group of us decided to take kayaks around to the next beach along. It was a pretty warm day, the water was especially clear which made for some cool viewing.

After arriving back on our beach (pictured above), I dried off for a while before venturing out with my snorkel and mask. I'm just starting to get to grips with the whole thing, and even spotted a stingray, some crabs and a fish - yes, one fish. Rubbish! The little fella was darting in and out behind some coral as I tried my best to catch a half decent picture. After that adventure, it was time to get in some Frisbee. Anyone that thinks I may be wasting time with this whole travel thing, will eat their words when they find out how good my forehand frisbee throwing has progressed in the last week!

New Years eve was creeping up and we'd still not really seen any of Koh Pha-Ngan. So on the eve itself, a few of us decided to rent motorbikes to help us go check out the islands waterfalls, and also Haad Rin (The location of the islands Full Moon & New Years Parties). After fueling the hogs, we set off on some of the most dubious roads I've ever ridden on - let alone driven. It was not far that we met our first steep incline. The road had lots of washed sand across it as well as large cracks in what once may have been tarmac. I had to slip the bike down through the gears as two of us were on it. As I hit first, the gearbox must've caught hard as I felt the back wheel travel under me and the horizon disappeared and was quickly replaced with a set of motorcycle handlebars. My mate fell off the back and in doing so let the front fall toward the ground again - though the bike had spun 180 degrees. I held on like an Ewok (hmm, those who know me well will know this isn't the first time!) and battled the bike away from the road and toward some shrubbery. I slipped and gave some unneeded gas which sent me off the back being dragged by the kneecaps.

Whoops.

With claret running down my shins I pulled the bike back up and zipped back to the bungalow for my medical supplies.

Strapped up, we headed toward the waterfalls. By the time of arrival, my joints were pretty well seizing up so I didn't have much of an appetite to clamber over the falls. We carried on in to the afternoon and made it to Haad Rin. I had the Schitzel and recommend it! (As far as the beach goes, there were a couple of thousand bodies on it - we were happy to turn back and spend new years in our chilled little village and on a beach where we wouldn't be fighting youngens for space!

New Years Eve was happening. A group of 10(ish) got together and after dinner, we headed on our secluded beachside village bar crawl. As midnight struck, fireworks were let off all around the bay throwing awesome reflections across the calm low tide.
Maybe after the days earlier trauma I was in mood for some food - somehow I managed to eat a Bombay bagguette, several cookies and 3 banana and chocolate pancakes. Well fed, I boogied the new year in, in style (legs not moving on the dance floor style). HAPPY NEW YEAR! (200 litres???)

New Years day I awoke in slightly more pain than I fell asleep with. So I thought it wise to go to the hospital to get me left knee checked out properly. I took great delight getting carted around in a wheel chair for a while. I got an X-Ray and awaited the doctors inspection...

It isn't broken!!!

24hours on, the pain and swelling has reduced considerably, so hopefully I should be back on my feet and ready to contest some more beach soccer by the weekend.