| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 09 February 2005 |
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Having no choice we could
see, we climbed on for the two-and-a-half hour, 30B (US$1.20) ride.
In Thailand, bandits sometimes stop and rob tourist buses. We
had no fear they would stop this one. It wasn't quite as poor as
the bus in ROMANCING THE STONE (and the man who walked past it with
the goats *didn't* get on), but it would have been a sorry take for
a highway robbery. We were, of course, the only foreigners on this
bus; one Thai who wanted to practice his English engaged Binayak and
Barbara in conversation for almost the whole trip. This was
relatively easy--though there were two seats on either side of the
aisle, the numbering (and the conductor) made it clear that there
were supposed to be three people in them.
With the windows open, it was very windy, but not too hot. I
put a bandana on my head, which other people on the bus found
amusing. In spite of all the problems, this was a good part of the
trip--we weren't isolated from people on a special bus and if most
of our interactions consisted of smiles and telling the conductor
that the payment was for the 'five farangs' (which got a laugh from
him), that was okay too.
Food service, by the way, consisted of vendors selling chicken
and rice wrapped in banana leaves and soda in a bag at Trang. It
wasn't until Krabi that the bus stopped long enough for people to
get off for a rest break or some food. Actually, the bus doesn't
stop in Krabi, but at a bus terminus five kilometers out where hotel
touts swarm all over you when you get off. We called a couple of
places and decided to try the one whose number had changed, with its
more expensive neighbor that we *could* reach as a backup. These
were also outside Krabi at Ao Nang, so we first took a seelor (here
called a mini-bus) into town for 5B (US$0.20) each, then changed to
another mini-bus headed for Ao Nang and the Ao Nang Villa. This was
about twenty kilometers out of town, so cost 15B (US$0.60) each for
the half-hour ride. (We seem to be spending a lot of time riding in
the backs of trucks.) On our way out we met a Swiss couple who were
staying at the Ao Nang Villa and said it was nice and had empty
rooms. At 500B (US$20) a night for an air-conditioned bungalow on
the beach, it sounded perfect.
Well, as Steve described it, it's just another damn tropical
paradise. Our bungalows were just a short walk from the shell-and-
sand beach. The water was warm and both the water and the beach
were clean. There were maybe two dozen people on the entire stretch
of beach.
Since we hadn't really had lunch, we ate an early dinner, then
walked along the beach at sunset. After three days in Bangkok and a
long trip on what Barbara dubbed the 'chicken bus' (even though we
pointed out there were no chickens on the bus), this was a welcome
change of pace.
October 18, 1990: Mark and I woke up early, so we went for a
morning swim. This is the sort of thing you see in travel
brochures: empty beach, perfect weather, warm water, beautiful
islands in the background, .... If I could actually swim it would
have been perfect.
After breakfast on the terrace, we went back to the beach with
the others. The perfection was wearing off-the sun was very hot,
there was no natural shade, and the beach mats we bought we so
over-dyed that Mark looked like a shark victim after lying for
fifteen minutes on the red and yellow pattern.
After a couple of hours of this, we had lunch: chicken on
coconut curry for me, and something not translated from the Thai for
Mark. The waiter tried to talk him out of it by suggesting
something else. Mark agreed, but they were out of this, so he went
back to his original choice, which turned out sliced cucumber with a
bowl of paste (dip?) made from garlic, onions, and chili.
This exhausted us so much that we took a nap. (Actually, it
was the heat, up around 100 degrees Fahrenheit.) We had a power
failure about 3 PM which lasted until dusk--just when we opened the
windows to get a breeze the air conditioning came back on.
At 6 PM we took the mini-bus into Krabi and went to Ka Tung for
dinner. This was recommended by the Lonely Planet and was open! We
had combination seafood in hot pot, some sort of bivalve shellfish,
soured squid salad, a vegetable dish, and soup. The 'manager' (who
turned out to be the owner's retired brother) looked somewhat
askance at us when we came in, but after we ate everything (we
haven't left food on the table yet), he decided we were okay and
came over to talk. We were the first patrons he had from New Jersey
(he said) so now he probably thinks all New Jersey people are big
eaters who love Thai food.
We walked around the market a bit, but it was mostly for
locals: housewares, clothing (often used), etc. At 9 PM things
started to close up and we started to look for a mini-bus. The
first one we stopped said 300B (US$12) to Ao Nang Villa! What
happened to 15B per person? Eventually someone came along who
explained it. Mini-bus service ends at 6 PM. (We must have caught
the last one.) After that, only private taxis run and they charge a
lot more. This person offered us a ride in an air-conditioned
mini-van for 250B and, not having much choice, we took that.
Compared to Thai prices this is high, yet in Amsterdam we paid that
for a ride less than one-fifth the length and thought it reasonable.
Everything is relative, I guess.
At least at that hour the electioneering trucks were gone.
They were in the midst of an election campaign and trucks with
loudspeakers were driving around spouting campaign promises (we
assume--it's all in Thai, of course). The posters for the various
candidates show what their ballot line looks like. The numbers are
represented both in Thai numerals and in dots (for the illiterate).
October 19, 1990: We had booked a tour of Phang Nga through
the same company who sold us the taxi ride last night--they happened
to be the one that our hotel was affiliated with (at least to the
extent that they sold their tours). So we took the 8 AM mini-bus
into Krabi, where we got a mini-van with a few other people for a
ninety-minute ride to where the tour proper began. Two of the other
people were women from the Netherlands, so we talked to them about
our recent trip there. There was also scenery and villages to see,
but after several days of train and bus riding, the scenery fails to
excite.
At about 10:30 AM we got on a boat similar to the one we rode
on the khlong and began by cruising through a mangrove swamp. This
looked more the way people picture a Louisiana bayou than a
Louisiana bayou does. Of course, the boat motor scared away any
wildlife that might have been there. (Even on our rafting trip we
didn't see any crocodiles or other interesting animals.) We rode
through a stalactite cave. The guide also talked about stalagmites
but we didn't see any. I guess that go together in people's mind,
like flotsam and jetsam (which I never could keep straight).
After some more swamp we headed out to sea to see Nail Rock and
James Bond Island. As we rode, it got darker and then started
raining. We beached on James Bond Island and everyone got out of
the boat (which was covered, but still didn't provide much
protection from the rain). There was a cave--mostly full of people
from other boats getting out of the rain--and we ran for it. The
plan was apparently to have us walk around the island, take pictures
of Nail Rock, and buy trinkets from the souvenir vendors. The rain
put a bit of a dent in this plan, so the vendors were walking among
the tourists carrying samples of their wares. Also for sale were
opportunities to photograph your companions with a falcon or a
monkey, and food. Mark got some dried cuttlefish which had been
pressed in something like a clothes wringer and we all had some of
that.
This island is called James Bond Island because one of the
James Bond films (THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN) was filmed here.
Nail Rock is just next to it, a rock whose top (a hundred feet or so
above the water level) is wider than its 'base' at water level. It
looks more like a spike or a wedge than a nail, but I guess to
someone it looked nail-like.
After about fifteen minutes climbing over other tourists, we
returned to the boat. Now thoroughly drenched, and with a cold
breeze blowing in yet more rain, we returned towards land, stopping
at Ko Panyi, a 'Muslim fishing village,' for lunch. At one time
this was a real fishing village built on stilts above the water
around another picturesque island, but now the main industry is
definitely tourism, with several restaurants catering to tours such
as ours and dozens of shops selling T-shirts and all the other usual
souvenirs. As one walks back from the shops through the village,
signs (in English) point to the mosque and other points of interest.
At least the rain eased up a bit here, but soon after we left
it caught up with us again, making the remainder of the boat ride
fairly miserable. On returning to the dock, I bought a T-shirt for
Mark, who had a cold and was now sitting in a totally wet shirt.
Having about thirty seconds in which to do this, I didn't even
bargain, but paid the outrageous sum of 120B (US$4.80) when I knew I
could have bargained it down to 100B. At least it's made in
Singapore--I figure it's less likely to shrink or run than some of
the local products.
After a short drive we got to Wat Tham Seua (Tiger Cave
Monastery), set in a natural amphitheatre of caves and trees. A
large reclining Buddha is inside the main cave, where a monk was
blessing worshipers who had come here. I guess caves are considered
outdoors rather than indoors, since we didn't have to remove our
shoes to enter, something one normally does when entering a Buddhist
temple where there is a statue of Buddha. Of more interest to many
of the tourists than the temple were the monkeys around the cave
entrance who begged for peanuts (for sale at a kiosk there). There
were also bats--no one was feeding them.
By now the rain had completely stopped so Mark changed into his
T-shirt and felt somewhat better. Our next stop was at a waterfall,
or rather a series of waterfalls, somewhat artificial, that couldn't
compare to the one in Chiang Mai. There were vendors, however, and
this gave people a chance to buy more food. Our eating habits on
this trip may best be described as 'grazing' (as I have already
labeled it)--we walk along buying food from street vendors. Squid
on a stick here, grilled chicken there--pretty soon you're full and
you've never sat down for a meal.
We returned to Krabi by way of a rubber plantation. All along
the road we had been seeing what looked like dozens of bath mats
hanging on clothes lines at various houses. These were raw rubber
being prepared for shipment. Other people found the dripping of
rubber from the trees interesting (as they had found the unreeling
of silk thread from the cocoons in Chiang Mai), but we had seen this
in Peru and it had lost some of its magic.
The scenery in this area is dominated by limestone karsts.
When we were in China, they claimed that only Guilin and Yugoslavia
had these karst formations, but that clearly isn't true. Maybe they
meant only these two had as extensive formations. |
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