The King And Us

We are back in sleepy Vientiane after twenty-one days in Thailand and quite happy to be home. We had a great trip, no doubt, but there’s more to life than snorkeling and lounging on the beach, right?

Jen and I traveled by plane, bus, taxi, motorcycle taxi, van, car-ferry, speedboat, ferryboat, and most memorably, “longtail” boat. By the end of our trip, we had clambered on and off so many of these skinny, wobbly wooden boats that I elected to eschew an all-day boat tour on our last day in Krabi Province. Although it was by speedboat this time, I was pretty much “boated out” and chose to give my battered back a rest. Undeterred, Jen went by herself and visited the island (Ko Phi Phi Leh) where they filmed The Beach.

We spent a couple of more nights in big, bad Bangkok on the way back to Laos, principally to stock up on some consumer items not available in Vientiane. Bangkok is not exactly my cup of tea, I must confess. It is reminiscent of a tropical Mexico City: huge, hot, crowded, chaotic, and cursed by traffic that is, well, unbelievable. On our first journey to this metropolis, we were silly enough to arrive on the King’s birthday (for this gaffe, I take full responsibility). The taxi ride to our hotel was mercifully aborted after three hours of torturous gridlock when we finally just bailed on our arm-waving, teeth-sucking taxi driver into a massive throng of pink-shirted celebrators and hauled our bags the last couple of miles through the hot, sweaty, nighttime chaos. Talk about a tough traveling day!

A word about the aforementioned King Bhumibol (Rama IX) of Thailand . . . he is a superhero to his people and they love him with a fervor that is both overwhelming and, to us, endearing. His birthday (Dec. 5) is the biggest Thai holiday of the year and millions pour into the streets to celebrate. He has been King for sixty-four years and, at age 82, is now in precarious health. We discovered that he is a botanist, a sailor, a musician, a boat- designer, a photographer, an animal lover and much more. His image is everywhere in Thailand: on the wall of every home and business, on gigantic billboards and elaborate roadside displays celebrating his life and times. He is a sensitive looking man with thick, squarish eyeglasses that he has worn his whole life (we, of course, saw pictures of every phase of the King’s existence) and is a direct descendent of the character played by Yul Brynner in The King And I. I honestly think that what I will remember most about my trip to Thailand is the Thai people’s devotion to their King. When we finally arrived, disheveled and exhausted, at our hotel on the night of his birthday celebration, I wearily remarked to the girl behind the counter, “Wow, everyone really loves the King!”

Beaming, she answered sweetly, “I love, too!”

Island Fever, Sea Gypsies, John Denver, and other tales

Still on vacation in Southern Thailand . . . . and as all great things must come to an end, so did our stay in Lanta. Annie's generosity will not be forgotten . . . ah the toast and coffee waiting on our patio table each morning, the hot tea when I was sick, the fresh fruit delivered to our bungalow in the afternoons, the trip around the island, the prawn meals she cooked for us, the sarong she gifted to Joe, and the earrings she gave me. It made our stay in Koh Lanta so special - I even sketched "bungalow number 3" to keep the magical image in our minds...

The morning of our departure, we woke early to catch a boat to the first of our "independent" island tour destinations: Koh Ngai (pronounced Kong-ai or Kong-hai). The hour-long trip was pleasant, and as we approached the island known for it's narrow beach and thick jungle interior, small long-tail boats started picking up people from our bigger speed boat and shuttling them off to their respective resorts. Then, suddenly we started going around the island (away from the pristine beach) to float for a while for some on-board snorkelers. Hey where was our long-tail? In about 10 minutes our boat arrived with two rugged looking sea dudes. We made our way into the boat with luggage and set off out into the ocean again . . . hijacked? No, but it crossed my mind. After a splashy ride, we made it to the "Paradise" bungalows . . . on a tiny beach all its own. No apparent access to the other resorts or beaches. Although it was very picturesque, island fever got the best of us quickly and we planned our escape the next day (without a lot of consulting with the owner and subsequent phone calls in order to make boat connections). There was a lovely reef near the shore, and we were able to spend the day snorkelling a bit and picking up some sun. The next day, we were off to Koh Mook.

Koh Mook is known for being an island of fisherman and rubber plantations. Upon arrival, we took a motorcyle taxi across the island, passing thick forest and groves of rubber trees, to get to our bungalow. Although right on the beach, the bungalow we found was in the midst of a funky sea-gypsy fishing village. The people are very dark in this part of Thailand with a heavy Malay ethnic influence. Many are Muslim in addition to the Buddhist contingent you would expect. However, most sea-gypsies, known as chao-leh, live on the islands in the Andaman Sea and don't ascribe to either religion. They descend from Indonesian seafaring peoples and worship nature. The kids in the village never missed a chance to say "hellooooooooo" while having sack races among the chickens, goats, cats, and beach dogs; the adults smiled when they weren't taking their afternoon siestas. At the far end of the fishing beach, the sand started to get whiter and the beach-clutter thinned out. A fancy resort had claimed the best part of the beach keeping it clean and roping off a swimming area (see Joe's arty photo). I was able to see lots of starfish - one of them was huge! That night, our bungalow proprietor, and his spirits-loving bartender friend, barbequed fresh fish on the beach. For a nominal fee of about $3 each Joe and I dined like kings on roasted squash, green papaya salad, and whole fresh fish.We sat right on the water's edge. Not fancy, but delicious, cheap and full of local color. Not to mention, John Denver is worshipped here - so the evening included phonetic approximations of hits like "Thank god I'm a country boy" sung between sips of Thai rum.

After our two-island hop, we were ready for some mainland action. So after a night in Koh Mook, we headed for the city of Trang - a place few people stay, but many go through in transit. We had only planned to stay here for a day or two, but due to an unexpected setback due to Joe tweaking his back, we have now been here four nights. Not a bad place to recover, if you ask me. Trang is very friendly, hot, full of colorful day and night markets, and most of all not touristy at all. It's a great place to get away from the "backpackers" that fill the islands. Prices are very cheap, and the food is great. Coffee, maybe due to the Malay/Muslim influence, is a big part of life here, and you can find cafes serving strong fresh brew in little clear glasses any time of day. Every shop seems to have a song bird in a bamboo cage out front - the little guys actually chirp beautifully even in the midday sun. I saw a postcard with what looked like a "singing competition" held here every year. So, Trang has been good to us . . . a street market is amassing under our hotel window right now. We'd better get out and enjoy it as tomorrow we may be ready to head out to the coast again.

"This Lanta's my land..."

There is one thing lovely Laos does not have. Beaches. So we set off on holiday to the alluring beaches and islands of southern Thailand. Our initial travel day from Vientiane to Bangkok was, as they say, una pesadilla (I’ll save that story for elsewhere). But, after a couple of pleasant days in Bangkok, we flew down to Krabi Province, picked up the minivan, and a couple of hours and car ferries later, arrived on Ko Lanta, a good sized island in the Andaman Sea.

It has been really nice the first few days, discounting Jen’s getting sick on our first night and her spending the subsequent day in bed. Scratch that. Our bungalow is beautiful and mere steps from the sea, set on a sweet two kilometer swathe of clean sand. The sea is warm and smooth, the people are nice and the weather warm and breezy.

We have met a few characters here. The proprietress of the bungalows, Annie, is awesome and has apparently taken a shine to us. Today, she took us on a tour of the island, and tonight cooked us a delicious  Thai meal featuring the fresh prawns we bought this afternoon from the Muslim fisherfolk on the other side of the island. Unbelievable. The bar on the beach is run by Pas, a local cat who somehow identifies with American Indians and has the costuming to prove it.

Last night, I sat in with some local musicians at the “Guitar Bar”, knocking out versions of tunes from Chuck Berry to Hank Williams. Good fun. We walk on the beach, and swim in the sea, and drink beer and relax. So far so good!