Category: Thailand

It was touch and go this morning, but I am safe and sound at a hotel ten minutes from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is stinking hot in the city despite being a couple of degrees cooler as far as official temperatures are concerned; freeways and concrete hold the heat a lot better than sand and sea.

So the shuttle that I booked and paid for last week in Krabi did not show at the appointed time of 06:45. The resort manager started calling on my behalf at 07:05 and a van finally arrived a full hour late. Of course, they forgot to book the early one but there was no,way they were going to admit it. Luckily it’s Sunday and traffic was light so I made it to Krabi Airport in time. I did, however, abandon all hope of seeing the artwork that they promised to deliver to the airport, and that proved to be a wise decision on my part because it was nowhere to be seen. They finally said they’d send it by taxi at my cost but I knew it was a pipe dream and told them to keep it. The hotel room that EVA Air was supposed to book and pay for on my behalf because of their schedule change has not materialized either, but I was one step ahead and I will not be sleeping at Pearson Airport tomorrow night.

My hotel has a pool! Quite possibly the smallest hotel pool I’ve ever seen, but it’s water, and I wasted no time immersing myself and letting the stress and heat of the day dissipate. Wonder of wonders, there is a statue of Ganesha overlooking the water…my all-time favourite Hindu god. I have no idea what he is doing In a predominantly Buddhist country but I am taking it as a sign that I should get a Ganesha tattoo… What else could it mean??

Three take-offs, three landings, 21 hours flying time, a ten-hour layover in Toronto, 35 km from Stanfield International to Fisherman’s Cove. And a home-cooked meal.

This is my last full day on Koh Lanta. Bright and early tomorrow morning, the van is scheduled to arrive to take me to Krabi airport. Theoretically, I have tons of time. Flight at 11:40, van to arrive at resort 6:45. But the journey to reach the resort is still fresh in my mind, so I am not totally convinced that I won’t be sprinting across the tarmac as the plane taxis down the runway. Time will tell.

It also looks like I’ll be reunited with a couple of pieces of art that I inadvertently left at the bus station in Krabi when I arrived. The guy at reception called them this morning, and they said they would get it to the airport for me…a miracle in the making?

The tide is high this morning so I spent a couple of hours playing in the water. Truthfully, it is not as refreshing as the pool which tends to be a bit cooler at the start of the day. The ocean is so warm that I’m barely aware of a temperature change when it touches my skin, but sometimes if I swim out a bit, there’s a hint of coolness.

As I’ve mentioned, the resort is surrounded by water.

These signs are all over the resort and all the way into Sala Dan, pointing the way to safety just in case… A little disconcerting given that I saw some of the devastation following the 2004 tsunami.

And on the other side of the spectrum, the grounds are tinder dry as they bake under the tropical sun. Though not a lush time of year, nature still manages…

One of the things that has had me baffled since my arrival has been what looks like designs drawn in the sand. At first I thought that some creative kid or kids had spent the day doing abstract art classes In the sand, but there was far too much to have been done by kids…even entire art schools couldn’t have managed the volume.

Tonight, mystery solved. The past few days, the tide has been super low. The small boat that is moored out in front of the resort ends up sitting in the midst of a sea of sand at the tide’s lowest point. And today those creative works of sand art covered at least half of the entire beach. It called for a closer look…

On my way to dinner tonight, I stopped and spent some time examining  the designs up close. The first thing I noticed was a telltale hole more or less at the centre of each. Then I noticed the movement…subtle, but definitely something. Yup…crabs. Teeny, tiny, itsy bitsy crabbies doing monumental excavation work, rolling the sand into uniform balls, heaving them out of their holes, moving the balls a considerable distance.
They’re shy little critters, so it took some time with me standing there not daring to breathe before the guy I was watching cautiously resumed his work. Isn’t nature grand?

Of course, now that I know there are millions of these little guys under the surface, it will be difficult to walk the beach without feeling a tad guilty about all the damage I’m doing to their tunnel system. Ignorance was bliss!

Dinner tonight on the beach at a great little spot called Black Coral. There couldn’t be a better place to watch the sun go down.

Nitey-nite!

The sea was like glass this morning. Not a ripple disturbed the surface, like when you’ve been meditating regularly and thoughts are no longer strong enough to break your serenity… This does not describe my current state of mind but I have been there, and in a place like this it’s possible I’ll be there again.

I walked down the beach last evening to one of the many restaurants set up all along the shore. The spot I chose was about 700 metres away, and the stroll along the water’s edge in the dying light of day was magical.

The walk back was in darkness. OK, there were stars, but the moon was under cloud cover so once I got away from the lights of civilization, it was, well, dark… I admit to some tense moments, thinking about other parts of the world where beaches are patrolled by security people with guns, wondering why I hadn’t asked about the safety of walking alone in the dark, etc. I needn’t have worried. The most dangerous thing on the beach were a number of holes dug by children during the day.

I cycled for about 90 minutes this morning. The heat almost killed me. Spent the rest of the day in and out of the pool.

I am lounging on the verandah in front of my cabin, looking out over one of two small bays that sandwich my resort. . Water in front of me, water behind, and a nice infinity pool that’s open 24 hours. That’s about right…

It is quiet here. The road from town to the resort comes to a dead end about half a kilometre from here, so it’s mostly local traffic, the odd delivery truck. I walked into town this morning…a tiny place called Saladan… and rented a bicycle for the next week, given that this is the first place in three months where I actually feel safe on the road…sorta…

There are few things on my agenda. I spent about three hours in the pool so far today, and I have a date with the ocean coming up. Otherwise, I am just going to breathe…

Chiang Mai is different before sunrise. One can really appreciate the old city walls and the moat that I assume once served as protection for ancient inhabitants. I enjoyed my time here, doing next to nothing.

I had a sleepless night for a couple of reasons. One was my early flight to Krabi in southern Thailand and being a bit antsy about sleeping through my alarm. The second, and more important reason, mosquitos. I had a wonderful stay at Nat Len guesthouse but every damn night I was attacked by mosquitos regardless of what I did to prevent it. I just couldn’t bear the thought of slathering myself with DEET so I chose to do head-on battle. Only one bite…not bad.

Migi from the guest house drove me to the airport in her tiny, shiny tuk-tuk. She sleeps in the reception area as they often have guests who arrive in the middle of the night. Migi is a renaissance woman of sorts. She used to be a fighter…boxer I think. Her dad made her quit because he was afraid she’d taken one too many shots to the head. She has a physique resembling that of a man, an impressive number of tattoos, and despite having long, dark hair, a number of designs shaven into her head. She is a teddy bear mostly, but I sense it inadvisable to end up in her bad books…

The domestic area of Bangkok airport wasn’t overly busy. My flight to Krabi – changed planes in Bangkok – was uneventful except for the overwhelming number of children on the second leg. Wonder if they’re all heading for my resort…

There are two ferries involved in getting to my resort. It is now 3:45 and I’ve been up for 12 hours and in transit for much of that. Tuk-tuk, two planes, bus to Krabi town, mini van, ferry to Koh Lanta and now another to get to the hotel less than 4 km away. It is so hot in this van that I’m having flashbacks to the Phonsavanh trip, minus the spitting.

It’s the weekend in Chiang Mai and you know what that means…one more reason to shop until you drop!  And that’s pretty much how it went last night as I experienced the “small” walking street market just outside of the south city gate.

The area is a brisk ten-minute walk from my guest house but it’s along the waterway that circles the old city, so it’s impossible to rush it.  The area is a dichotomy. There are fountains every 50 metres or so, ruins of the old city walls, beautiful flowers and trees of every description. Then there are the ever-present cars, songthaew, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, tour buses etc. I play a game of mental gymnastics each time it becomes necessary to cross the street; not Saigon but still not a walk in the park (pun intended).

I loved this market! The absolute highlight were all of the musicians and entertainers who set up shop in the most unexpected of places. Like the middle of the street, seated single-file on the pavement. Some were four piece ensembles playing beautiful ethnic melodies, others appeared to be down-on-their-luck homeless people hoping to make a little bit of food money from tourists. All added to the atmosphere in what turned out to be a fabulous, exhausting experience!

In addition to entertainment, there was food – lots and lots of food – and all the usual market merchandise along with folks offering cheap foot massages, portrait artists, lottery ticket vendors, etc.

I read in several sources that the Saturday market is much smaller with less attendance than the one on Sunday. That’s kinda scary, since I’m thinking of going tonight too…

 

The rain is easing slightly. I sincerely hope that the siren I heard a few moments ago does not involve the young couple who left here on a motorbike. She had the tiniest umbrella I’ve ever seen and it must have been annihilated in the downpour that hit shortly after their departure. The streets get slick when wet; there are rivers running through them at the moment.

I am in Trat, my first stop in the journey to the Cambodian border. The Thai name looks slightly like the title of this post. I committed it to memory because I had no idea where I was supposed to disembark. In the end, I needn’t have worried as the driver and assistant were looking out for me. They even let me out before we reached the bus station because I spotted my guest house. That was easy!

Trat is a smallish town on the narrow strip of land between neighbouring Cambodia and the sea. My stay, though short, has been a breath of fresh air both literally and figuratively. Pop’s family-run guest house is not only clean, comfortable and cheap, but they’ve also arranged my entire trip to Sihanoukville for a nominal fee. My only worry for today will be the possibility of corrupt border crossing officials. I hear they try to charge enormously-inflated fees. I will smile and hand over $30 US and I’m prepared to stand there all day if I  must! You’ll know who won if my next post is from jail.

Sitting on comfy cushions at the rooftop restaurant at my guest house. I ordered a camomile tea, and the waiter assured me he brought one. I’ll have to take his word for it because, while good, it tasted nothing like what I expected. It was cold and orange…

Had a bit of a meltdown this morning. First off, I did it again. Applied sunscreen to my forehead. Never, never do this in high humidity or at any other time when there is a likelihood that sweat will be pouring down your face like a river. It gets in your eyes. It stings a little at first, then your eyes close up completely and stream tears for about 30 minutes, til the chemical has been flushed.

The fact that this happened in 30 degree temperatures and 150% humidity in a line-up of what had to have been thousands of tourists trying to get into the Grand Palace at the same time did not help. Thankfully, I knew in advance about the no-bare-shoulders rule so I proudly produced my shawl and slipped it on at the gate. It wasn’t until I (blindly – see above) handed my ticket to the final gate keeper that they decided the shawl wouldn’t work. She indicated that I needed to go all the way back to “rent” a tee shirt.

It doesn’t seem like much but I couldn’t see and I was soaking wet and I just couldn’t do it. I wondered aloud about the possibility of getting a refund. Wonder of wonders, a young woman standing nearby heard me and offered to buy my ticket. She had lost hers and wasn’t interested in going all the way back to stand in line for another.  Sold!

i walked to Wat Pho, about ten minutes a away, paid 1/5th the admission, my shawl was welcome, and no crowds! Gorgeous Buddhas, and I even managed some meditation. Om.