Southern Thailand

We landed at the Krabi Airport after a short flight, flying business class! I can’t believe how well the conference organizers hooked us up. My dad and I had virtually no say in where we were staying or what flights we took; these women simply did everything for us for an incredibly low price.
We were taken from the airport to our hotel near the Ao Nang beach just south of Krabi. After settling in, we headed straight for the beach to explore and just get a feel for the place. It must have been 35 degrees and just off the white sand beaches the Adman Sea was nearly the same temperature. There were all sorts of little islands, literally shooting up from the middle of the ocean. It really is impossible to describe so you’ll have to see some of the pictures. We wandered the beach, found a little restaurant and drank a few Singha beers (Thailand’s oldest brewery – 1933). It was all very hard to take…
Knowing that we only had the one full day in Krabi, we were torn on what to do. There was absolutely no shortage of tours and people selling them, but what caught my eye the most was the notion of renting a scooter for a full 24 hours (at 250 bat – roughly $10). My dad and I decided that the freedom of renting a little scooter would be the best way to see the area, especially knowing that there would be incredible snorkeling at our next destination. For the rest of the night, we wandered the tourist packed shopping area of Ao Nang. There were tons of sales pitches in a whole range of broken English. I had to give the locals credit for their persistence, while not coming off as too pushy. We ended up finding a tiny restaurant, ate some delicious Thai food, and called it a night. (I have to say, my party experience in Thailand was non-existent. Traveling with your old man doesn’t necessarily permit the greatest conditions for partying – especially when he’s used to 5am wakeups. I’m sure I’ll make up for lost time in New Zealand!)
We awoke around 6, had some breakfast, and organized a day of scooting. These 125 cc scooters weren’t exactly crotch rockets, but they weren’t lawnmowers either. While my experience on there things was next to none, it was hilarious to watch my dad figure them out. It was totally foreign to him. But after 5 minutes we were cruising down the highways of Southern Thailand. Our shitty helmets were only flapping around in the wind (more likely to cause an accident by us fiddling with them over their ability to protect us), but I wasn’t about to ditch mine while Dr. Viner was riding behind me. But after about 15 minutes, he made the suggestion to lose the lid and I wasn’t complaining. There is definitely something special about having the wind blowing through your hair as you cruise a foreign country side.
During the day we found elephant trekking, and took a one hour elephant ride! I never realized how much dexterity these enormous animals had with their trunks. They were able to pick out tiny amounts of food from the palm of my hand. We also managed to navigate the traffic of the city of Krabi. I was completely surprised at the lack of honking from traffic. While we (and everyone else on scooters were weaving around cars) I never heard a single horn – and not once did I feel threatened with cars around me, even when my scooter was hitting 110 km/h! And to top off the day, we got lost. We were taking a smaller road to get back to our hotel, but ended up on a dirt road, drove past a dump and into a pineapple field and then onto a rubber plantation. While my dad and I both figured the road (well it had turned into more of a path) lead no where, we decided to follow it as far as out rides would allow us. I was definitely amazing to see these commodities being grown in their natural environments, complete with little communities set up virtually within the fields.
We found our way home after nearly 7 hours of being out and about. Since it was only 4 o’clock, we needed a way to pass the time. We ended up finding this outdoor massage parlor with an incredible view of Ao Nang beach at the wonderful price of 200 bats per hour! That’s less than minimum wage at home for a full hour of slowing being turned into butter! I left that place feeling better than I can ever remember.
That night we found a great little eatery which served a mean green curry chicken, and ate next to a genuine couple from outside of London (the one with the accents!). He was a garbage truck driver, and she worked in the civil service. We had a great conversation about life as the power shorted out for a while and as it started to rain (a very refreshing experience as I was sweating buckets just sitting and talking). It was the first of many interesting couples (with interesting occupations) we met while in Southern Thailand.
The next morning we packed up and were ready to head to Phi Phi Island (pronounced pee-pee and is one of the most sough out tourist destinations in Thailand). With a brief freak out from my dad (in fairness, the guy who he gave his passport to in order to rent to scooter was a half hour late) we narrowly caught our ferry. We stood (there was no room to sit) next to these two women also from the outskirts of London who were very friendly, maybe in their late 30s or early 40s. They were hilarious! Both women swore like drunken sailors, and were on vacation for 4 months through Thailand/Australia and NZ. From their stories they sounded like big drinkers, they said they had to spend an extra day in Bangkok because they were too hung-over to get on their plane! But as they found out that my dad was a Dr. and that I was on my way to study, they were quick to hint at the fact that they weren’t as crude and they sounded (one was an options trader in the states and the other was on her way to her PHD in Psychology).
Once the ferry docked at Phi Phi Don, we parted way with the Brits, and took a longboat to our hotel (located on the north-western tip of the island – with the exception of a couple resorts and a sea gypsy village, it was very secluded from the main town of Tonsai – a half hour by boat). The ride to our hotel was incredible! We drove right next to these 300 foot high cliffs which were perfectly set above the crystal clear ocean. Again, there are really no words which do it justice. Every where we looked, was as if it was right off a post card!
When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with a drink, and beautifully folded warm towel – looked exactly like a flower. I took mine and wiped down my face as my dad took his and started to mow down, thinking it was some type of treat. I didn’t even have to say anything – I just started laughing. It totally made up for the spicy papaya salad incident! Thinking about it now still makes me laugh!
Our stay on Phi Phi Don was incredible. Everyday was perfect beach weather and the water was both beautiful and refreshing. We spent many hours soaking up the beautiful scenery by either lying on the beach or by wandering aimlessly around the island. We managed to take two different snorkeling trips during our stay. I have never been swimming with this many fish. Literally thousands of fish just swimming by my side, completely unaware that I was would have been willing to barbeque any of them. The coral reefs were just stunning, and swimming with black-tip sharks definitely got my heart rate-up (the sharks were only between 1-2 meters long, but they were still sharks nonetheless). You’ll have to check out some pictures for all the interesting plants and fish – no shark pictures, I was too focused on making sure I knew where they were. Even though they were harmless, I was still scared shitless. On a bad note, my camera which I was so proud of, decided to suddenly stop being waterproof during my second session of snorkeling…I got all my pictures off, but I was fairly pissed off. However, you can’t really stay pissed when the scenery is that incredible.
Every night we ate at Jasmine restaurant. The place was owned by a middle aged fellow, named Peter, from London. He had been in Thailand during the Tsunami, and remembers how the water suddenly had gone from high tide to nearly 2 km away from shore. Being hung-over and sleep deprived, he remembered wandering out onto the beach, finding it odd that things had suddenly become quiet (birds had stopped singing). After the first two waves (the first being a couple of feet, and then the second being about 2 meters), he started to tell everyone to run as he noticed the third and most devastating wave off in the distance. Before he could even finish yelling, the wave was on him (moving somewhere between 400 and 500 km/h. He managed to grasp onto some wooden debris as was washed some 350 meters off shore. My dad and I were mesmerized by Peter’s story. He told us that afterwards, he had developed a close relationship with the Thai people. He married a Thai woman, and they both run this incredible restaurant right on the beach. It easily had the best food on the island.
Each night, with the restaurant being at capacity and my dad and I having snagged a table early, we had people join our table. We had an older French couple from Bordeaux who barely spoke English. I was able remember enough French to translate the conversations for my dad. Another night we had two women, a German (Andine) and an Austrian (Lina), in their late twenties join us. They were very interesting people. Andine worked for the controversial exhibit Body Worlds and Lina worked in Bangkok as a counselor at an international school. We definitely had some very interesting conversations that night.
The next morning, I began a very long travel day. It started with another Thai massage, but then the traveling commenced. There was first the longboat trip from our hotel to Tonsai, we left at 9 am and it took about 45 minutes. We boarded the ferry and chatted with another British couple for the 2 hours. There was then the drive to the airport in Krabi, the flight back to Bangkok, a 5 hour wait in a exquisite 5 star hotel, and then I parted ways with my dad (thanking him profusely for having me join him in Thailand) to start the 3rd leg of my adventure. I boarded a plane for Sydney at midnight, and was shocked at the number of pretty girls on the plane. But of course, I had two ancient Chinese women sitting next to me who barely spoke English. It was a long 9 hour flight.
After landing in Sydney and waiting another 7 hours in the airport, I got on a 3 hour flight to Wellington (landing at 11:30 pm). After nearly two days of travel I had finally arrived at the destination I had been preparing for, for over a year. It was a pretty surreal experience to get out of the airport – perhaps I was pretty sleep deprived, but I just started laughing. Knowing nobody in the country was a bit daunting, but there was a very nice girl who met me at the airport from the university’s international exchange services. They arranged for a hostel for me for a couple of days while I am still waiting for my residence to open up. I’ll move in tomorrow.
As for now, I’ve got a training session with the university football club at 2 pm today, I’m very excited. I’ve also met another international student, Michael, from the Netherlands who I’ve been spending some time with.
I can’t say that I’m fully settled yet, but I’m definitely on my way.