I had a clanger in Ko Chang. Only hours after arriving on this tropical island I realized my Faux Pas. My visa card was missing, lost, left in the ATM machine on the mainland. I might outline this sorry episode later in this post, more for my own therapy, and with the promise that Ill give you the option to skip that bit.

Of more interest to you, and usually to myself, is what Ive been up to in these long days where the sun always shines and the mosquitos always bite. I popped on to Ko Chang, partly on your recommendation Vick, to see what I could see see sea. A good place to decompress after Asia before India and a good place to do an Advanced Dive course.
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Reflecting on my posts thus far in Thailand, I notice the absence of mention of the spirit of the Thai people. And it’s more than worth a mention. Outside of Bangkok, a head banging shambles of a city though encrusted with a few jewels, the people have always a smile to give. I’d say its infectous. And in this land of smiles who would want to be caught with their bottom lip hanging out? There is the odd exception, like the heavily touristed areas where the need to make a sale becomes wearisome. But right now I’m thinking of the people of Chang Kong, a small village in Northern Thailand notable only as a point of departure for my slow boat to Laos.

I arrived in the evening and, with Debbie, walked the main road, the only road, through the village. Everyone said hello, or Sawadee, the kids always wave, and all the smiles are welcoming ones. Down the road we chanced upon a hut with a group of Thai men drinking, singing, playing instruments. They called us over and of course we went in. They spoke little English and we spoke little Thai and didn’t know their songs. But we sung and we drank their red Whisky brew and kept the beat. The evenings drinking was anticipating the annual festival at their Wat the next day. We put some baht on the money tree, as they had. The names of everyone that contributes is read out by the monks the next day. And when we went to leave, in a break in the rain, we were offered a tuk tuk back to our guesthouse, with the insistence of no payment (though we still tipped). In Laos I’m expecting greater poverty, but I’m hoping the children still have a similar brightness in their eyes.

Briefed and equipped, we left our backpackers residence, set for the jungles of the north. Ahead of us lay new sights, smells, sounds and tastes, all brilliantly vivid, none easy to forget. One and a half hours out of Chiang Mai we began our trek, gently at first and then deeper into the land of the Karen Tribe. Humidity was high but the sun was forgiving and we made good progress.

We couldn’t have had a better group of ten - our personalities splashed together like kiddie poster paint. Our guides, Pun and Ken, were easy to trust and knew this land. Over and over they proved themselves - Sharp eyes, sharp instincts, sharp knives. I saw what was visible and came to me, butterflys, dragonflys, the land, water and path ahead. They saw the invisible - wasp nests, mud frogs, bristled catipillars, termite mounds, spiders and snakes.
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RAIN, torrents of it, falling like a waterfall. Patong just couldnt cope. Because of the scale of recent development here, and instead of natural drainage into the soils, water bounced off the concrete and into storm water drains until bursting. I had thought that, being a dull afternoon, I’d get a Thai Massage from accross the road. I couldn’t get across the road. The heaviest rain fell for only about 6 hours in which time roads floaded into low lying shops, streaming at speed. I watched from the lobby. A bycycle floated by.
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Whenever I relocate to another port of call, that day is almost a right off as far as any serious adventuring goes. But I try to treat it as the activity of the day and am getting pretty relaxed about moving around. You meet people, you go somewhere, no probs. I just dont understand the attitude of the odd traveller that has to be there NOW and how nothing works like clockwork. Thats just not true.

Phi Phi Isl was an interesting place.. its actually a national park but obviously has some areas designated for ‘light’ development. Foot is the main mode of transport. Lanes are very narrow suitable only for foot traffic. (Thais riding bikes down the narrow Soi actually call out “beep beep” when there are coming!) It really would be quite idylic if there werent so many people in a small place, and dominated by resort accomodation. If I come back to Phi Phi I’d stay at Long Beach (which I hadnt known about till the next day) which is more the bungalow backpacker scene and requires a longboat taxi to get there and away.
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Just out of Krabi, known for its rock climbing, is Ao Nang, a quieter beach village. Travellers seemed to be on a different vibe than those at Samui which suited me just fine. I met this couple from Leeds, Nicki and Paul, that were just so cool to hang out with. First night we went out for street food - 25bht Pad Thais (and boy have I eaten a lot of those lately) - and drinks at a few local spots of choice. And here the bar tenders just love to play games! Connect Four and Jenga over a few Chang Beers.

We took a longtail boat out to Poda Is and Chicken Is the next day. These boats line the beach so its only a matter of walking down the road and youll be asked if you want to go somewhere. This day trip had it all - sunshine, perfect uninhabited beaches (about time I found a few), brilliant aqua water, powder fine sands. We took it all in. Paul and I snapped some mad postcard shots (see photolog). And we watched the mood change on the mainland as clouds rolled in and thought how grandiose Krabi’s cliffs looked in that light.
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Thailand is known for its blind eye to copyright © and tourists love buying up the cheap stuff that would cost a bomb back home. I’m pretty relaxed about the whole thing, I haven’t bought my DVD’s yet but I picked up some nice Oakleys for 200bht. If you want something that they dont have, they’ll have it - “same same, but different”. But what really cracks me up is how much the idea of ‘original art’ can be blurred, smudged, in the painting galleries all along Ko Samui’s Chaweng Beach.

What painting would you like? Pick from an art book and they’ll paint it for you in 3-5 days (very good technically). How large would you like it? You can change the colours to suit your lounge suite. The funny bit is hearing tourists talking about ‘original’ oil painting. Not only are the paintings theyre commissioning reproduced from a book, but they’re also signed ‘Picasso’ or ‘Van Gogh’ or whatever. They paint Andy Warhol screenprints (a process for making multiple copies). Their galleries often held 2 or 3 copies of the same reproduced work waiting for purchase. And funnier still, all of these galleries all paint copies of the same works!

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Chaweng Beach was not a place I’d recommend to a backpacker. It was ok. But Chewang was definitely geared to the consumer tourist or resort bunny. And it rained a lot. I heard tourists doing business on cellphones, saw jetskis mow the beaches, planes fly in, and put up with hearing “Nobody wants to be lonely” (Ricky Martin Christina Aguillera) and others. The Thainess of Samui was missing.

But on the up side I did get to a Caberet show (bumped into the Canadians again at the full moon), toured the island in a hired 4wd and climbed a track to 80m Namuang Waterfall and checked out some Thai boxing with some Poms I met. The Waterfall was a real slog to climb, a really poorly cut track and some real steep bits where you need ropes to pull yourself up, and balmy humidity through the bush. The Thai boxing was actually Thai women boxing (missed the men the night before). I was going along with the poms who I thought knew their stuff. We were dropped at Lamai Beach by the ring but surrounded by pink light tents. That means ladies. I have some appreciation of what its like for a girl to be harrassed in Muslim countries. Thai girls descend in packs on guys asking if you want a good time. Not this time (or the next). By the time it all kicked off Lamai Ring was fuller and safer. Ladies - and ladyboys - sparred it out. I should have guessed.

I left this morning for Krabi and am staying along from Hat Rai Lei Beach. Sometimes I like the travel bit of moving from place to place. You get talking to some great people. The downside of itinerary being quite fixed is that I can’t really float along with them. Going out for a few tonight with an english couple and maybe hitting Rai Lei west tomorrow. Doing a bit of mind-mapping thoughts on everything under the sun, started sketching and am dabbling in poetry. Quite the romantic idea of a traveller I know.

I’m off to buy the T-shirt: Same Same, but different!

The last place anyone wants to be in a developing country’s run down hospital. Fortunately thats not where I was. I had a sore left rib/lung when I woke up on the 28th, the day after I finished my dive course. I took it easy that day (even didnt shake my thang to hard at Full Moon) but woke up yesterday with the same persistant pain when I breathe and laugh (ouchy).

Was this lung over-expansion injury? I didn’t think I ever held my breath when diving? (diving 101: Dont hold your breath, breathe continuously. At 10m for example air density is 2x that at the surface and air volume is 1/2. So if taking a breath, holding it and ascending from 10m this air in your lungs expands to 2x the volume.) I contacted the dive school who put me on to DR M (real name lol) at the Thai International Hospital (TIH) who specialises in dive injuries.
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The infamous Full Moon party exploded on Hati Beach. Thousands and thousands of people poured to the main beach of Ko Pha-ngan, some like me took a speedboat across that night from Ko Samui. Id had a wee kip beforehand to make sure I could last the night. There was plenty of action all along the beach with the clubs all pumping out decibels of Dance music of every genre. Lights, glowsticks, neon body painting all added to the friendly festival atmosphere. I even ran into most of the people I met on Ko Tao, amazing given the masses.

Everyone seemed to be on something. From the clubs you would buy mini buckets of mixed drinks (eg Whiskey+coke). Of course there were drugs being pushed on the beach, but you would have had to have been stupid to take something from a Thai person posing as a dealer. Is it E, is it rat poison, is it a sting? The tip of the day was not to fall asleep on the beach if you didnt want your pockets cleaned out (hence no pics, left my camera at home). One german guy I met had been cornered by three Thais in the bathrooms and mugged of 900bt. But all in all a sweet night, dancing it away and talking nonsense. I caught my taxi speedboat back as the sun was rising at 6:00am.

Just finished my Open Water Dive course and.. Im now qualified to dive to 18metres. Whoop! Ive now completed 4 dives at different sites off Ko Tao and seen some pretty amazing tropical fish - Sargeant Majors (very ferocious), Parrot fish, Trigger fish and a Stingray + others. Just had such a great time doing it and made some great friends. Crystal Dive at Ko Tao had some great Instuctors (Andy and Anabelle) who were as sharp with their wit as they were with their fins (er scrub that..)

Initially was slightly nervous, not being exactly a water baby, but had no probs. Jacinta I think it was way easier for me to tread water for 15mins in the sea than in a pool! Oh yes, no problems except for equalising properly (ear pressure). Mum, Janet that must be from your side? JUst meant I had to decend and ascend slower than most but apparently the more you dive the freer these passages become. Im really into diving coming out of that course and there’s a good chance Ill go back there after Cambodia to do my Avanced. Ko Tao just has amazing visibility and some beautiful colours.
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