Thailand Round 2
A few days of travelling from Cambodia we finally arrived in
Phuket to meet our good friend Ippy. Our
first night he took us out for a great seafood dinner, then for some drinks on
Walking Street. Pretty crazy, happening night life in Patong Bay. Loads of
dancing girls, fire blowers, street vendors and of course, lots of booze. And
none of it cheap!! We went into a bar called Rock City and saw an AC/DC and
Metallica Thai cover band!! Very cool.
We spent a day on motorbikes cruising around the island
making a stop at the Big Buddha. It was huge, at the top of one of the highest
points of Phuket, with staggering 360 degree views. On the way back we went
through a check stop. Actually we didn’t go through, we were stopped. And
ticketed for not having drivers licenses on us. Ugh...1000 baht for both Britt
and I, Ippy had his ID with him and was spared!! Last time we ride without
ours.
To celebrate we went out for all-you-can-eat sushi dinner!!
And believe me, we ate all we could. It was great. We had a wonderful time with
Ippy but had to say goodbye as he was heading back to Australia and we were
heading north to meet up with some other friends in Surathani.
So our 4 hour bus ride took 8, but luckily Reffa and X were
still able to pick us up on their scooters in the middle of a downpour. They
are so accommodating, friendly and kind. This was the first time we had
actually met these two. They are friends of the Attack Addict boys and were
referred to us when they knew we were going to Thailand. We really lucked out
with this connection. Reffa spent months prior to our meeting sending us all
sorts of helpful information on Thailand, travel, sights and the best places to
see. So kind.
The next morning we arose very early (they gave us their bed
and slept on the floor) and jumped on their scooters heading for the ferry.
They have 2 bikes so Britt and I rode one while they doubled on the other. It
was a long drive but very scenic. On the way we saw a snake that had been hit
by a car during the night. It was HUGE!! I remember it being 10 feet long at
least and a 4 inch diameter girth. It was sad, but made a nice breakfast for a
scavenging dog.
The ferry ride took an hour and half or so and we arrived in
Koh Samui. During another tropical downpour we found our new home for the
weekend. Beautiful beachfront bungalows. And for FREE!!! Reffa has a friend who
works there and she got us a steal of a deal!! Also we got a great discount for
the island hopping, snorkelling, kayaking, hiking trip in the National Marine
Park for the next day. We started early in the morning with some kayaking and a
little hike to the Emerald Lake. Gorgeous. After lunch we did some snorkelling
and Britt, Reffa and X climbed to the view point 500m up. I wussed out as my
sandals were too slippery. That was my weak excuse anyway!! Before we headed
back to Samui we fooled around jumping
off the roof of the boat. I love that stuff. X tried showing off with a front
flip and landed right on his face. OUCH!! I love that stuff!
A few more days of touring Koh Samui, a highlight was
visiting a temple where a monk is encased in glass, but before he died he put
some kind of spell on himself so his body would live on forever. He has been
dead for ages and his body is not breaking down. He still has hair!! X walked
us through a traditional ceremony with incense burning and candle lighting and
fortune reading. Very interesting.
X and Reffa had to head home for the work
week. They were kind enough to let us keep our big packs at their home, we got to
travel light for a while, so we knew we would get to meet up with them again.
We were off to Koh Phangan to join a Muay Thai kickboxing camp!!
We found our camp on top of a beautiful cliff overlooking a
crystal blue bay. The bay was called Haad Thien and was only accessible by boat
so it was very quiet. A strange community there, but very cool. On the beach
there was a resort called The Sanctuary. Down there you could train in Yoga,
meditation, detox and even Tantra. And above the beach you could learn how to
kick some ass!! Very diverse. And strangely enough Jamie, our friend we met in
Bangkok, was staying there as well. Great to see and hang out with him again.
We were staying in a hut a few meters from the gym. We trained 5 hours a day. 2
and a half hours at 8am and another 2 and a half at 4pm. It was very intense
but very, very fun. I couldn’t move for the first few days but after I got over
the initial body shock I got right in to it. Flying knees and elbows, superman
punches and alot of pad work and cardio. It was an amazing experience. Some of
our fellow students actually signed up for sanctioned fights. Taking a boat a
few bays over we went and cheered them on. The boat ride over was harrowing to
say the least. Huge waves and pouring rain had all ten of us absolutely
drenched, how we remained for the duration of the night. Bex fought and stopped
the other girl in the second round. It was awesome. I couldn’t speak after the
fight I was screaming so much. A few days later Luke fought. I was ecstatic as
I got to be the corner man along with Max, Lukes brother. I got to wear the
camp vest and was pumped and ready to get in the ring between rounds to give
water and rub his legs or whatever. But Luke knocked the guy out in the first
round and shattered my dreams!!
We didn’t train on Saturdays so were excited about the huge
Friday night party that happened back at Haad Thien. Jamie had been there for a
month by this time and told us that most of the locals tend to go to bed early
on Friday night and wake up very early to join the party for sunrise. Which is
what we did. That was by far the earliest I have ever started drinking!! What a
riot though. Max and our trainer Phu were cutely passed out together on a bench
by 10am!! So funny.
Our trainer Phu is a legend. He has had over 400 fights. He
stopped counting. But he won over 350 of them. I will try and post some of his
highlight reels. He is incredible. Sadly he has quite the drinking problem.
Locals call him Master Mao, which means drunk in Thai. Everybody on the island
knows who he is and when we tell them we’re training with him they ask us to
tell him to put down the bottle. Very sad. But he is one hell of a fighter and
one hell of a guy. I liked him very much.
As always it was hard to say good bye to our new friends and
home. I wish we could have stayed and trained for months. I was really getting
in to it and feeling better physically. But it was time to move on. To Koh Tao
to take our Open Water Scuba Diving course.
On the ferry to Koh Tao we decide that Phoenix Divers was
gonna be our diving school. We made a great decision. Our new home was a nice
little hut across the road from the beach front school. The staff and teachers
were great, and from all over the world. Klaus from Sweden, Neil from Scotland,
Keith from England, Ahmer from Israel, Off from right there in Koh Tao, and our
new friend Kim who was from Red Deer, originally from Calgary. He too is a
musician so we hit it off right away with lots of common ground, including
home.
The course consisted of 2 days in a classroom, with
homework, and 2 days diving. 1 dive in a 12ft deep outdoor pool and 4 dives in
the open ocean. Our class consisted of 6 students, one teacher and a dive
assistant. The pool dive I thought was a
piece of cake. We learned how to breathe properly, clear our masks, retrieve
our regulators, pressurize and all the basic dive signals and tactics. And
there was not a hint of claustrophobia or panic. When we first hit the open
water, though, it was a different story. I came very close to freaking out. I
was panicking inside for a few minutes. I don’t know what it was, if it was the
sheer depth or slight murkiness or what. I quickly realized that if I didn’t
calm down and get my head on right I would be in loads of trouble as by this
point we were 15 meters deep. No way to quickly get to the surface safely. So
inevitably I chilled out. Having my lovely wife right by my side helped a lot.
She was basically in the same boat, so to speak, and felt reassured by my
presence also. After the first few minutes of unsettled nerves we were able to
enjoy the coral and dense population of fish and marine life. Eventually we
were diving at 20 meters deep. That was our max. On one of our dives we
encountered a Trigger Fish which is about the size of a 4L milk jug and very
grumpy. It charged our camera man Keith a few times. We learned about these fish in class. Very
aggressive and notorious for hurting people. No teeth but they charge and bash
you like a sledge hammer!! One Trigger Fish at one dive site was named Trevor,
who was infamous in Koh Tao for figuring out that the dive instructors were
able to fend them off. So he would actually go around the instructor who was
always at the front of the pack and attack the students who were not so graceful
in the water. He also figured out to go for the face and had a hefty record of
broken noses!! Sadly, instead of not going to that site anymore, they had
Trevor killed and named the bay after him.
After 4 days we “graduated” as SSI certified Open Water Divers.
Thankyou, thankyou..... Britt decided to take another few day course
specializing in underwater photography. As we still had 4 days left before we
had to head back to Surat, and we were already there and it was so cheap, not
to mention fun, it was an easy decision. She got some amazing pictures and got
to log 2 more dives. I spent the days bumming around the shop drinking beer
with the staff who weren’t out in the water. They didn’t seem to mind one bit
and Neil even tagged us a new part of the 5 o clock crew!! Very cool people and
totally accommodating! I even got a
little bamboo tattoo on my collar bone. It says “The life I love is making
music with my friends” in Thai writing. A little tribute to Willie Nelson.
Bamboo tattooing is traditional in Thailand. It takes longer than with a
machine but has zero healing time and this one was absolutely painless.
One evening we went to a local beach front bar and watched
Kim play an acoustic set. He was really good. And he had a very Albertan sound
which took us home for a while. Good times.
We also got to meet up with our friend Jennifer whom we met in Cambodia
at Christmas time. She was working on Koh Tao as a veterinarian. Was nice to
see her again. As always it hard to say good bye to our new friends, but thanks
to Facebook and the internet we can all stay in contact.
We pre planned to arrive back in Surathani on Friday night
so we could spend the weekend with Reffa and X. Our overnight ferry landed us
at the Surat port at 4 in the morning!! Great. So we slept in a hotel lobby for
a few hours until the owner woke up for a morning toilet trip, and could check
us in.
We spent the weekend with very gracious Reffa and X. I can’t
really explain how amazing it was to have these two to show us around and take
care of us. They truly are incredible. They took us to a monkey training farm,
took us for a 2 hour massage from their friends who also gave us very
meaningful, authentic Buddhist pendants for good luck, they took us to a
seafood bbq buffet and a nice trip to X’s mothers restaurant a town away. A
very nice relaxing weekend. They even set us up with our bus tickets to our
next destination. Once again, it was sad to say goodbye. We have made some life
long friends and I hope that if or when they come to Canada we can be half as
gracious hosting them. X even came to the bus station first thing in the
morning to say goodbye once more. What a guy.
So. Our next destination was to be Ranong. A port town to
get us to little Koh Chang. I was extra excited about this as we were to be
meeting my little sister Charlie there. She was on a bus from Bangkok, by
herself, her first time in Thailand, so I was a little, well, concerned. But we
met her at the bus station in the middle of the night, she arrived without any
problems. So we celebrated with some beers on the stoop of our hotel,
exchanging stories from the past 7 months of travel, us in Asia and her in
Australia.
The plan was to get to Koh Chang the next day and spend a
week chilling out maxing relaxing all cool and all, but most of all we were all
going to get tattooed by Mr. Kai who was recommended to us by our dear friend
Dana who had been there and been worked on by him the year before. His work on
her was incredible and very affordable so the plan was set. We usually show up
somewhere, scout out a budget accommodation, plant our roots and then go about
our business. Not this time! Koh Chang is very tiny island with minimal
bungalows. We walked the very long beach for hours looking for a room but there
were none available. Finally we found a place where the people realized we were
“up the creek” and let us stay in a hut which they didn’t usually rent out as
there is no power and it was pretty run down. But beggars can’t be choosers.
Good, we had that part sorted out. Now to find Mr. Kai. Another few hours of
trying to find him and we found out that he had gone on “vacation”. No one had
seen him in a while and had no idea when he was returning. The first time he
had left the island in decades and of course it had to be now. Perfect. So we
decided to leave the next morning and come up with a new plan. So we enjoyed a
beautiful sunset together, had a great meal, a few drinks and as it was a black
sand beach the phosphorescence were enhanced incredibly. Charlie had never experienced
this before, and it was the best we had ever seen. As we walked along the
shoreline, in the complete darkness of night, our footprints were glowing blue.
It was staggering. Britt and Karli spent the better part of an hour splashing
around in the water taking it all in. Surreal.
At dawn we had our sights set on Krabi. An extremely long
day of travel landed us there at nightfall. We found a great hostel with great
dorms. Comfy beds, air con, hot showers, wifi and internet access. What else do
ya need? A step up from the huts we had been in for the last month. We toured
the town and arranged a 2 day trip to the Phi Phi islands the next day. Our
time with Charlesbad was coming to an end soon, as she was heading north back
to Bangkok to meet her Dad in a few days, so we had to cram in all we could.
The Phi Phi islands are spectacular. Brilliant limestone
peaks periscoping out of crystal blue waters. But. Extremely overloaded with
tourists. Thousands of foreigners everywhere. Quite overwhelming. So we hired a
longtail boat driver to take us to Bamboo island, as opposed to taking an
organized tour and arranged for him to pick us up the next morning. Bamboo
island was overrun with tourists as well. But at around 3 or 4 o clock everyone
left. Everyone. We were the only three people on the whole island with the
exception of the park warden and staff. They arranged us a tent, which was
crawling with spiders so the girls decided we were sleeping on the beach, under
the stars, on the sand. We spent 3 hours enjoying sunset on the beach
completely isolated from the hustle and bustle of the tourist trap. Once in a
life time experience. We set up our hammocks and took it all in. When the sun
had gone down the Park rangers set us up with hot water for our soup cups and spent
a few hours chatting the evening away with us. Our sleep was less than
comfortable once the wind picked up blowing sand all over us, but it was worth
it at sunrise. Our longtail driver showed up in the morning as planned and took
us to Maya Bay, where they filmed the movie “the Beach”. Stunning scenery but
again, overloaded with people. It was
only 9am but still.... Our driver told us of a beachless lagoon that would be
quieter so we went and swam there for a while. It was less crowded since there
was no beach, but so beautiful. The water was so blue and clear that 3 meters deep
looked like a few feet. We were dropped off back at the main island we first
arrived at and hopped on a ferry back to Krabi.
The next morning we went with Karli to the airport and said
our sad goodbyes. We spent less than a week in total with her but had such a
great time it felt a lot longer.
We stayed in Krabi for a few days awaiting the arrival of
our friend Nico from the Netherlands who we had met and hung out with in China.
I scoured the town looking for a bamboo tattoo artist. I found 4 or 5 and none
of them wanted to work on me!! It was a guaranteed few days work with a decent
income but I couldn’t get anyone to commit or that I felt good about so once
again, I went inkless.
Nico and Liesa arrived a few days later. We spent no time
getting caught up, it felt like no time since we had seen him last. We went to
the Tiger Cave with them and made a trip to the brilliant Railay Beach. We
forgot our cameras that day so please, google it. Incredible secluded place.
The next day the 4 of us took a ferry to Koh Lanta. We found
a nice place on the beach, where again we enjoyed sunset over a few beers and
delicious bbq’d fresh fish, caught that day. There was a tattoo shop on the beach
too, in which I enquired. The owners of our resort told me the shop was dirty
and a few people had gotten infections, which is horrible, but they had a
friend in town who was an artist so they drove me there to meet him. Right away
I knew I had found my guy. He was very professional and the shop was
immaculately clean. I told him what I wanted but judging by the artwork on his
wall I figured I would give him free reign of the design. He took photos of my
leg and told me to come back the next evening. When I returned he had printed
off blown up copies of my leg and drawn on the design. It was perfect!! Exactly
what I wanted. Traditional Thai art. Malee was an artist over a tattooist. He
had been tattooing for 10 years and only did bamboo. I was so happy to finally
have found this guy and glad that I had no luck up until that point finding a
bamboo artist, making this encounter all
the more worthwhile. Unfortunately he couldn’t get started for a few days and
estimated 2 days to complete. As we had to meet Britts folks in Phuket in few
days, my beautiful wife encouraged me to stay on while she went ahead to meet
her parents. So the plan was set. Before she left, Nico, Leisa, Britt and I
spent a day touring around the island on motorbikes, as we love to do. Koh
Lanta isn’t too big but some of the roads are undeveloped and 4X4 trucks are
the vehicles of choice, so cruising on these scooters was a little hairy in
parts, but fun none the less.
I said goodbye to Britt and spent the next 2 days in Malees
shop. Nico and Leisa stopped in occasionally bringing me snacks and drinks
which was nice. Now, my first bamboo tattoo was completely pain free. This one
was the contrary!! Very painful at times, but not too bad at others. The first
day I sat for 7 hours. The next I sat for 12. Half way through the second day
Malee said that he could finish this tattoo but it would be rushed and he or I
wouldn’t be happy with the finished product. I told him to take his time and
make it perfect and if we don’t finish I’ll have to come back another day. I
admired his integrity to perfectionism and agreed to come back again.
The following day Nico and Leisa headed off to Bangkok and I
back to Phuket to reunite with Britt and her folks. I realized that Britt and I
were apart for Valentines. Upon arriving at the resort that my in-laws we
residing I was floored. It was 5 star. It was 10 star!!! It was a condo style
quarters and Britt and I had our own room, own bathroom!! Very cushy, and we
loved every minute of it. We had numerous delicious meals, of all types of
cuisine. We spent many hours soaking up the sun on the beach, or by the pool,
or at the pool bar!! Ahhh. It was heavenly, especially after 7 months of
backpacking!! Quite a treat, and for that I will be forever in debt to my
wonderful “parents”. Not only did host us to a lovely revitalizing week, they
were kind enough to put up with us when they were on their holiday!!
At some point Britt suggested that since we were only 1
island away from Koh Lanta and we still had a few weeks left on our visas that
we should go back so I could get my tattoo finished. Best wife ever!! So we
arranged to get out of John and Mannis hair and head back. Before we did
though, we spent a day out of the resort with the folks seeing the sights
Phuket has to offer. Numerous temples, the Big Buddha (again, for us) a
butterfly and insect farm, and possibly the best meal I have ever had. At a
private home, which opens as a restaurant in the evening, we indulged in the
definition of fine dining. A five course dinner fit for a king. Lovely! That
evening we went to a huge performance called Fantasea. Including acrobatics,
dancing, fighting, singing, magic, elephants, tigers and intense pyrotechnics,
this was quite spectacular. A great way to end a wonderful visit with John and
Manni. We can’t thank you enough.
Back in Koh Lanta, Malee and I figured 2 more days would be
more than enough to finish this tattoo. Another day or so and I would be back
in his seat sweating and biting my lip. That being decided Britt booked us a
ferry back to Phuket so we could then fly out of Thailand before our visas
expire. 24 more hours of gruelling bamboo poking, the piece still wasn’t
finished. But we had already booked a ferry and a plane. I had no choice but to
leave with it incomplete. 1 more day and I would have it finished. Oh well. It
is beautiful as it is, and now I have an excuse to return one day to finish it.
Who wants to come with me??
Just when they thought they were rid of us, surprise!! We
were back at John and Mannis doorstep in Phuket to spend one more night before
our flight. They obviously weren’t too excited about this proposition and left
for the evening to take in some Muay Thai action!! Thanks again to the in-laws
for putting us up and putting up with us for one more night.
First thing in the morning we got to the airport, boarded
our flight and set off for Manila in the Philippines.
