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.
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.
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