Now, periodic readers of this blog (hi mum!) will know that I dislike adventuresome days, and yet, sadly, yesterday itself, although I set out quite late, had the elements of danger and action that simplistic pulp fiction novels are based on. There were deceptions, business dealings, even sickness! And health. But no marriage. In any event, I shan't begin to describe the day's proceedings until I've caught up to where I am! By which stage, of course, I will have forgotten, and simply use some photos to... oh wait, I don't have a camera. Well, I'll think of something.
And I got a mysterious comment to add to my blog! Mysterious in who sent it, not the contents, which are as mysterious as a thai cooking book. The kind NOT found at the scene of a murder with a weird hexagram in blood snugly crammed between a pad thai and a tom yum. The kind that just sit there, unmysteriously. That kind.
As for this post: I'll skim through more of thailand, although I think I've nearly finished my first visit there! Most exciting. And I should just refer people onto my friend's accounts of thailand later on... no, on hindsight I might not do that. Well, foresight.
Ok! This is a shot of a sunset from phi phi viewpoint. The viewpoint itself was at one end of the island, which is a real nuisance when you are used to only walking about 3 min in any direction. But as it happens, I decided I'd do the trek up - quite steep, but the top was it's own reward.
Imagine, sitting down to the sunset, beauty all around you, and your ears pick up the varied languages that all came from Babel. I felt so cosmopolitan! It was on this summit, where peoples all over the world can sit and share an appreciation for the work of the nature, that I felt the problems that beset us all could be cornered and watered away.
I turned and said as much to an Israeli chap sitting next to me. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then proceeded to explain that, while my idea had merits, as it so happened EVERYONE (except, at that moment, us) was speaking israeli. No dilution of borders. No sharing of world heritage. Just Israel.
That was a bit of a blow, I have to admit! Through him, I met a fair host of other israelis - most of the phi phi island visiting population, as it happens. This is during the shoulder season - in the high season, they leave, and are overtaken by the Swedes, who descend en mass here.
Still, the general demographic of a phi phi island person should be discussed - either tourist (myself and most of Israel, to be replaced by most of Sweden in December/January), dive instructor (caucasian residents, all illegally living there) and thai people. I have to say, living and working on that island would be a nice kind of paradise, and one that, if I weren't in advancing years, I'd definitely consider for a good 6 month period of my life. But I have a destiny to carve out! A world to conquer! I once read a wonderful book that was discussing the ripe age of 25, and the author decided that an appropriate comparison would be in order.
"By age 25, Alexander the Great had conquered 2 continents. Name any continents you have become emperor over"
"By age 25, Bill Gates had founded Microsoft, to become the largest corporation the world has seen. Name any global-encompassing corporations you have founded"
And on with some more pish. Even posh. Frightfully uninspiring stuff, I must admit. So I'm going to have to find some aims and set my sights on them. Big, lofty ones. But more on that later - for now, content yourselves that that's why I've decided to NOT fritter my life on alcohol, women and fun in phi phi.
Oh, and here's that photo:
And here's another one. I haven't had much success in putting these photos up the top of my banner, but I'll work that out soon enough. And when I do, goodness! I'll let you all know what coding secrets I used.
Ok, so aside from swimming in the sea, talking to people, reading books and otherwise live an enjoyable life, what else did I do, I hear you ask? Well, I don't hear, per-say. I really just assume you are asking. Anyway, if you did ask, I'd have to say something like: "well, I did a thai cooking course." And you'd say, "well, yes, I read that. But anything else?" and then I'd say... oh, this is all just going towards the next picture, but the point is I did some thai kickboxing! Yeah, with the kicking! And the boxing! It was a damn good mix!
Actually, one of the goals of this trip is to learn a martial art, and while 3 hours of lessons isn't quite what you'd call a great grounding, it's a start. My teacher for the lesson was one Ang, if I remember correctly, and he was a really nice guy.
His story is an interesting one, and so I'll recount it as faithfully as I can.
Ang was born somewhere up north, in the hill region. In Thailand, there' s really not too many ways for the impoverished people to make a living, esp if they were born in the poorer hill areas. Down south, every man and his dog can make money by running a bar or driving a tuk tuk about, but the north isn't that friendly to that kind of entrepreneurial spirit. I'm gathering, anyway, I never went north in Thailand at all! The point is, you can make a bit of money by doing the whole "tough man" routine, and learning your thai boxing. It's the national sport, and there's a lot of money to be made by being awfully good at it. Having watched the sport itself, there really doesn't seem to be alot to it - as long as you bleed less than your opponent, you'll win eventually. In fact, according to my (vaguely remembered) lonely planet sources, it was only about 2 decades ago that they decided to introduce the concept of padded gloves and protective gear of a sort. So little Ang went through the mill, and came out to be quite the formidable fighter.
I'm afraid I can't recall what his eventual title was when he retired - he was a national champion, or a Bangkok champion, or a champion of some kind. He married, and then went off to phi phi island to become a fisherman. He runs a small boat there, and does some fishing, tourist ferrying and of course, thai boxing lessons. This all went quite well, and he had two children with his wife.
Then the tsunami, as you were all no doubt aware of, struck. Actually, while I was certainly aware of it - I can remember reading about Bali non stop back in Sydney after the boxing day disaster - I really didn't realise where the tsunami hit. Seems that it didn't just hit Indonesia, or India - it also plowed right into Thailand, and among the worst hit islands was koh phi phi. And from the accounts I've read, it was pretty badly hit. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, has the information that the island was hit by TWO waves, one 3 m, and the other 6.5 m, from both sides. And of course, when they say the island, they are referring to the town in the center of phi phi, that takes 10 min to walk across, and has two beaches - one on each side.
Ang was on his boat at the time though - he'd left early to do some fishing, and he described a particularly eerie scene - of the waves being very quiet and calm, and then a large bulge flying past, tossing the boat up and then down. He headed back quickly to phi phi island, and began, with everyone else, the search for his family members. The town was mauled something atrocious - according to wiki, 70% of the buildings were gone. My own lonely planet had the barest of entries for phi phi, as there really wasn't anything for them to write at the time of publication.
When Ang returned he found his children alive and well, however his wife did not make it through the tsunami. He still runs his boat from phi phi, and teaches thai boxing, although his children live on a different island now with some relatives.
Anyway, that's Ang's story - he was a really nice guy, and a great teacher. I had a lot of fun with him, and wish him all the best. He teaches at Carlito's Bar, so if you ever find yourself in phi phi, go and get a lesson. Better yet, buy him a drink and have a chat at the Tiger Bar.
This brings me to why I HAD to leave phi phi island after a week there. The fact was, boxing and cooking aside, I really wasn't getting out what I wanted from the island - it was all swimming and partying at night, and I'd befriended the bar crowd. No discussion of my time there would be complete without mentioning Bell, the dj at Tiger bar, who I really gelled with. I helped him get over rejection from a swedish bar maid (WHY did she tell him when he was drunk? Why???), helped him up some stairs when he passed out from drinking a mixture of alcohol and lighter fluid (he was trying to light his drink. And mine, too, come to think of it. But I'm fine ARF ARF!), and also stopped him calling his mum when he became drunk. Bell works in the Tiger Bar with Toby, who runs it (Toby is from Australia. Or blighty. But he was in Oz, at some stage, anyway), and I should rummage up a photo of that mob somehow...
Bell survived the tsunami by climbing up a palm tree, and holding on for dear life. One of the other bar staff (whose name I can't recall) awoke in the morning, only to find his tv set floating at his feet. Thinking it was a practical joke by his friends, he opens the door, to be hit by a wall of water that smacked him back. He couldn't recall how he got out, he can just remember begin trapped in the room as the water level rose. He did show me one hell of a scar on his chest from where he was hit.
So after my time there, I decided that it would be best for me to run a swift de-tox program, the kind that gets one's health back on track. I head over to koh lanta, and while I'm there I'm introduced to Thai style pricing economics. On the boat over, I'm offered a room for 150 baht - it looks good, and I decide to take it. I later upgrade myself to a 400 baht room, with a fan. I also learn that
a) that's a decent price, some one else at the hotel has it
b) another person on the bus has my room-type at 550 baht
c) someone else EARLIER had that room at 1200 baht a night
d) when booking rooms, talk to everyone in the area to work out what a fair price is, as it's a free for all as far as thailand is concerned.
Koh Lanta is great, by the way. I stayed at a place called the... Lanta Riviera, which was a nice "resort" - we're not talking Hilton stuff here, but it had it's own bar, a pool, a GREAT masseuse, a restaurant - all very nice. The food in the restaurant was good too!
Here's a Lanta Beach:
At koh lanta, I met two couples who I both liked alot. One couple were from Israel, and I can't remember their names to save myself - the guy was a commando trainer in the army (or had been, during his tenure of conscription), and the girl, intelligent as she was, was at a loss as what to do with her life. They were great fun, and I had a lot of laughs with them. Sadly, I only had 2 days in their company before they headed back to Israel.
***** - ok, I can't load this photo, for whatever reason. Pffft. I'll work it out somehow.
The other couple I can remember the names of (I hope), but don't have a photo! Andrew and ... shoot, I can't recall her name! Oh well, Andrew was a pro snow boarder from Canada, and his girlfriend was a beautician (who supported him in the off season). I can clearly recall one night (well, not TOTALLY clearly, but mostly. Foggily, even) where we went out to par-tay in Koh Lanta. Andrew and I trialled out our knowledge (as I think I've already noted) or thai boxing, and he also taught me some stick fighting. It was a pretty darn wild night, but also a lot of fun.
And some more beautiful scenery! This is from a tour around the island I did, and it involves a story of a fish. A brave fish, and me. Me and the Brave Fish. Maybe I should make a new post, that's a catchy title!
The brave fish story? I'm snorkelling, and this little fish - one of those nemo-esque ones, swims straight at me! He goes for me, and I have to wave him away before he hits my snorkel! So he turns back... AND THEN SWIMS AT ME AGAIN! So we repeat the process another 3 times, and then I decide to give bravery it's due reward. I swim off in the other direction - only to feel a small nip on my leg! Yes, that's right - the little blighter has swum up and nipped me on the leg. I get the hell out of there - but I might as well pontificate that the snorkelling in phi phi? Well worth it.
If anyone out there is reading this, and is thinking of hitting phi phi island, sooner the better. It's just getting too packed - and the best time? Say, around when I visited - mid october, at the change over time. Best weather, cheapest prices, not packed!
PHEW!!! Ok, so that's Thailand I taken care of. I've missed packs out, but that's what happens when you let things drag.
Hopefully I can pick up the speed from here on - seeing as I'm sadly working from photos, and they were hardly taken in Malaysia or s'pore, well, that should be quick. But I need a break, and some chocolate right now!
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment