Laid back Lanta

We arrived to Koh Lanta seeing wet pavement and a sleepy little town. This was a foreshadowing of things to come. We instantly felt like we were in a different world than Phi Phi. The Thais here were smiling more and laughing and generally just more friendly. We had arranged to see a hotel/resort by a man on the ferry who showed us brochures and pamphlets. Since Lanta is not a ‘walking distance’ island we would need transportation to the hotel and arranging a hotel ahead of time assured we wouldn’t have to walk miles with our bags searching for a place to live.

Arriving at our hotel we were blown away by the value and specifically the value difference from our home in Phi Phi. We had a beachfront resort with a beach, 3 pools, 2 restaurants, 2 bars, a huge room, a/c, hot water shower, a flush toilet, and tv (tv nonfunctional). All this for about 18 dollars a night compared to the 24 bucks a night we were paying in Phi Phi. We were instantly happy with our decision without even searching around to other resorts around the area. The first evening was spent relaxing by the beachfront bar and swimming at the pool and enjoying the cool breeze that Koh Lanta had to offer.

Instantly we were pleased with how happy the staff was there and we got a really good laugh when a waiter ran up to me speaking Thai with a huge grin on his face and then put his arm next to mine. He compared our skin color and started laughing even harder at us (well probably just me).

The next morning after finding sustenance at the minimart at the main road we made arrangements for our transportation on Koh Lanta. The most efficient and most economical transportation in all of Thailand of course is the motorbike. A quick back story is needed here. When living on Phi Phi I saw on a daily basis people walking around with bandages. I quickly learned that these bandages were the result of either of 2 kinds of accidents: Motorbike crashes and Thai fire-dancing burns. If a person was walking onto the island with bandages it was from the former; if he/she were walking off the island it was an injury from the latter accident. Regardless we had been promised that the roads on Lanta were much safer than that of mainland Thailand. Supposedly the faster drivers yielded to helpless motorbikes until passing them on straight sections of road where risk of head-on collisions was reduced.

So off we went in our 6 dollar a day motorbike rental. Our amazing little Honda turned out to be the little bike that could. We cautiously entered the main road with me driving and Carolyn on back complaining the whole way! “Slow down!” “Watch out!” “Look out for that dog!” I by no means was reckless with our lives and had to keep reminding Carolyn that we were only going 50kph/30mph and the cars passing us were usually trying to go twice as fast. Eventually we found a speed that both of us were comfortable with and aside from the occasional squeal from behind my ear our motorbike adventure was off to a great start. Our first stop was to get gasoline (they only start you off with about a liter).

When you have only a 1 gallon tank it doesn’t make much sense to pull into a huge gas station and pump from a normal pump. These gas stations are far and few between so the Thais of course have another ingenious invention. Enter the Thai motorbike gas station. A minimart in Thailand often sells everything you could possibly need. On Lanta they also operate what would seem to look much like a lemonade stand out on the road. Each lemonade stand has a table full of old Thai whiskey bottles repurposed as petrol containers. A sign says only “40 baht/liter” and a funnel sits idly on a hook or counter or empty bottle somewhere. You pull up and park your bike and eventually a little old Thai lady comes running from inside or around the side of the building or even from nowhere. She asks how many bottles and she opens up your gas tank for you and shoves the funnel in it and starts pouring away. Ironically the bottles are 750ml bottles but they pretend you don’t know that and charge you 40 baht per bottle anyways. A small price to pay for open road freedom.

We started exploring the island. We headed off to the main town about 20 minutes away to see what we could find in terms of diving operations. We weren’t sure if we really wanted to dive around Koh Lanta but it would be nice to price it out and see how the diving worked. We quickly found the diving to be very expensive and looked unlikely in the time we had allotted for Lanta. We decided to start exploring the island by driving the perimeter road counter clockwise and headed for the lookout point. My directional sense failed however and after a couple of wrong turns and about an hour and a half of driving and stopping and taking pictures we landed back into the main town on the north end of the island from a different road. Along the way we saw countless villages, sleepy little towns, cows, goats, and the occasional elephant riding tour station.

Once again we couldn’t resist pulling over to take pictures of the elephants sitting in their pens. One place in particular had a baby elephant tied to its mother. When we stopped another group of tourists paid for bananas to feed them and we snapped off pictures of them inhaling whole bananas. Someone paid to take the mother for a ride and as they walked out of the pens we stood to the side to let the mother walk out with baby in tow. I’m not sure what I did wrong or possibly even right but before I knew it the baby elephant was running straight for me! I tried to side step the little guy but he was too fast and he head butted me in the chest. The event left a dusty imprint of a baby elephant forehead on my shirt and we laughed as we headed to the next town.

By the time we made it back to the main town a drizzle of rain had started. By 4 pm it was a complete downpour with no signs of letting up. After pulling over our motorbike a couple of times we decided it was a losing battle and we put everything of value into the drybag and slowly made our way home being pelted the entire way. Some Thais use the umbrella while driving technique. Others just block the rain from their eyes while trying to keep their eyes on the road. Upon arriving home the reception desk girls laughed and smiled at us drenched in rainwater and so we handed them the camera to capture the moment.

My friend Gee that now works on Lanta as a dive instructor has a theory about Thai people and their attitudes. Thailand has always been advertised as the land of a million smiles. On Phi Phi this didn’t feel entirely true. A lot of the people working in the service industry there seem very grumpy. Gee believes that Thai people are like mirrors. They reflect the attitude and emotions of the people they interact with every day. Since many of the people on Phi Phi are hung-over or drunk tourists, they start getting burnt out by the resultant attitude. Since Lanta is more laid back, the locals are much friendlier and happier in general.

The next day we went in search for the waterfalls on the south end of the island. The rain from the previous evening was supposedly a daily event and only for 3 or 4 hours and so we decided to venture out to the jungle anyways. The road eventually turned into dirt, mud, and rocks but the Honda persevered. We arrived at the trailhead and were told it was an easy 30 minute walk in the jungle to a pool and a waterfall. After 40 minutes of offroad terrain, bushwacking, and steep, slippery rocks we decided we must have made a wrong turn. We headed down the mountain using vines to keep us from falling and eventually we made is back to the only place we could possibly have screwed up and headed up another slightly more worn trail. A fork in the road appeared and we chose the low route. After 20 minutes of slippery mud and rocks we decided we must have chosen incorrectly again and we turned back to the fork. 3^rd time the charm and we finally arrived at the small pool two and a half hours after we started our 30 minute walk! The waterfall was refreshing and I let myself get drenched in the cold water.

After returning to the motorbike we decided to leave the park before the 4pm rains began and just as we made it back to paved road, the rain began. We stopped for food to wait out the rain and it never yielded much. We continued and eventually we were forced to stop by the rain at a quiet beach bar with a handful of Western tourists. Sitting undercover we listened to music and then I started learning how to fire dance with the ball and chains and fire staff from a friendly Thai man. Carolyn was quite amused that I was trying my hand at this mostly because she wanted to see me whack myself. Note that there was no fire involved so there were no injuries like the ones from the above back story. Eventually we realized the rain would not let up in our lifetime and we made preparations for another cold wet ride on the motorbike.

For my birthday we decided to go on an interisland snorkeling tour. The morning started off rainy but soon it cleared up and we were able to enjoy the view. Overall the snorkeling trip was a massive disappointment however. I generally don’t like to be too negative about my experiences but sometimes you have to just laugh at your mistakes. The boat was a medium sized transport vessel used sometimes as a ferry. The main cabin filled with diesel exhaust whenever the windows were closed so we spent the transits glued to a cracked window. We assumed we would get access to snacks and water as promised but nothing was ever laid out for us. The reason was that the boat was being used as a multi-purpose vessel that day. Only about 1/5 of the passengers were actually there to snorkel. Other people unwittingly paid for a ferry ticket to other islands and had to sit patiently (some not very successfully) while we snorkeled and explored.

The first stop was a ferry drop-off point so a complete waste of time for us. The second stop was probably the only redeeming event of the trip. We pulled up to a small limestone island alongside other boats. The crew said, “cave” and handed us life vests which we promptly put on the deck and walked away from. The island had some natural caves that wound into the center of the island just at sea level. We were to swim through the pitch black caves to arrive in a lagoon surrounded by sheer cliffs. The only way into this lagoon besides possibly repelling from a helicopter, is navigating the caves. Most of the customers were Thai or of our Asian descent and therefore didn’t feel comfortable swimming. They were attached a long rope and the staff pulled the floating flailing bodies through the caves with a small flashlight while they screamed, sung, and chanted. Needless to say, Carolyn and I avoided the crazy train and swam alongside it using the lights from the different guides to make our way through. The cave was amazing and the lagoon was stunning as well. It was truly worth the experience.

Meanwhile the ferry passengers paced angrily on board the boat, not permitted to join in on the fun because they hadn’t paid for the experience. We dropped more passengers off and then headed to another island for lunch. There was not enough food or drink and when the ferry passengers asked for food too they were told it was 150 baht each for the buffet meal (expensive and crappy). We eventually dropped the passengers off and headed for the first snorkel site. We parked far off the reef down current and they threw a box on the deck full of masks and snorkels. I asked for fins but they said they had none. Snorkel was supposed to be included and under my definition snorkel gear includes mask, snorkel, and fins. Since we were down current and off the reef Carolyn and I were the only two customers skilled enough to actually swim over to the reef to see the beat up, half-dead reef. The visibility was horrible and there were quite a few jellyfish in the water. The Asian customers donned their life vests and jumped in the water for about 30 seconds before climbing back on board. We went to a new site and had similar conditions and repeated the cycle. Eventually the trip was over after a long diesel filled ride home.

We continued laughing about the trip the rest of the evening learning that the other operations ran their trips exactly the same way. On the boat we had one good experience, mostly bad experiences, and lots of lessons learned. Overall we loved Koh Lanta and wished we could spend more time there. The next day we headed for Bangkok…

Return to Phi Phi for Chris and first time visit for Carolyn

After an uneventful ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi Don, Carolyn and I found ourselves waiting to get off the long line to the ferry. Our first task was to find accommodations on the overly expensive island. I had a list of places I would consider staying and Carolyn was basically laid back and ready for any experience although really really hot. This is when we started running the gantlet of old friends, coworkers, and acquaintances from my 7 and a half months on the island. After dumping our heavy dive gear laden bags at my old shop we went and found our new housing. 700 baht (21 dollars) found us a room with a fan and cold water shower in a hallway. After one night of staying there we quickly discovered the window to the hallway had absolutely no airflow and we quickly moved upstairs to an 800 baht room with a view and hot water shower. The 2 windows made the room cool off much faster and there was a breeze coming in from the balcony window that kept us from being suffocated. Did I mention the drunk unruly idiots banging on doors our first night? Did I mention the drain that didn’t drain and left 2 inches of standing water after a 3 minute shower? The move upstairs costs us 3 dollars more per night and probably was worth 50 dollars more in comfort. We stayed the rest of the time on Phi Phi upstairs with the view and airflow with no complaints.

As I mentioned earlier there was a gauntlet of people to talk to on the streets. Dive shop employees from before, friends, massage shop employees that recognized my face, restaurant waiters, etc. all wanted to stop me and ask the same questions over and over. When did you get back? Are you working here again? How long are staying? Where else are you travelling? I expected to know a couple people still here and there but I ended up seeing tons. What was more amazing was that random Thai staff that I never had any interactions with recognized me as well. It felt very nice to be so recognized and remembered. The only drawback of course was it nearly tripled our commute time every time we wanted to walk through town.

We had days of relaxing beach walks, hikes to the viewpoint (to see the sunrise, sometimes jetlag works in your favor), delicious food, and warm water swimming. I showed Carolyn my favorite restaurants, bars, and beaches and we discovered some new ones together. As usual we experienced some characteristically Thai events…

1. Thai kitty cooling:

I took Carolyn to Papaya. As one of the more authentic Thai eateries and most popular as well, it has an interesting feature. Phi Phi can be very hot during March. Much of the time spent on Phi Phi was spent acclimating to the hot and humid environment. The Thai cats at Papaya decided they don’t need to acclimate. Years ago one of them slipped into the beverage fridge for relief and families of cats have been living in the fridge over since. When they get too cold, they meow and paw, and the staff lets them out. When they get too hot they meow and paw and the staff lets them in. The Papaya cats have their servants trained so well!

2. Thai tomcat friendship:

Carolyn loves the cats and doesn’t mind petting each cat that rubs up against her. Carolyn was resisting this urge however because of fear of certain diseases like rabies (thanks Grandma and Auntie J). One meal we were getting some attention from a friendly cat and since it had a collar Carolyn broke her rule for the first time. The cat appreciated the pets and gave his thanks promptly. He turned to walk away and sprayed Carolyn’s entire lower leg. I of course laughed and said, “I told you so”. Now Carolyn only gives attention to small kittens.

3. Use of Thai Paypal:

We decided for a couple of reasons to go to Bangkok. I wanted to see a friend and I need a new camera (mine broke on the first dive of the trip). We also think there will be lots of great cultural sites to see. After finding some cheap flights up to Bangkok, we tried purchasing them online to no avail. The credit card payment would not go through. We called the airline and tried to book over the phone. They made the reservation but would only accept credit card payments if we emailed a picture of our credit card and passport. I told the operator that there was no way I would email my credit card to a random email address. She laid out the alternative. “Just pay cash at 7-11.” I initially balked at that idea thinking I must have heard her wrong but then after receiving the instruction again I was dumbfounded. “You want me to hand over cash to 7-11 and that’s how I will pay for my plane ticket?!” Apparently it’s a common thing for Thais with no credit cards. 7-11 charged us a 1 dollar fee to collect funds on behalf of the airline. We simply gave 7-11 the booking code and told them the price of the plane ticket and I got a text message from the airline shortly afterwards stating my booking confirmation. It must be the equivalent of Paypal just Thai style instead.

Carolyn and I ended up doing 3 days of diving together. For me it was like old times at my favorite Phi Phi divesites. For Carolyn it was all about discovering new fish and discovering her new gear purchased just for this trip. We had a great time together aside from some slight nausea issues that Carolyn quickly resolved by jumping into the water the second the boat stopped.

The absolute highlight of the diving (and one of the highlights of my entire diving career) was on our third day of diving. Because we had already visited the day’s first site of the day the previous days, I decided to take Carolyn to the more advanced side of the island. She had already seen seahorses, stingrays, turtles, black tip reef sharks, moray eels, puffer fish, angel fish, barracuda, shrimps, crabs, etc. etc. etc. and had been a happy diver so far. After 15 minutes of a pretty strong current and lowered visibility conditions we came around to some even stronger currents. I was just about to turn around when I saw a shadow pass over me. I looked up and saw some schools of fish and the silhouette of a boat. Right when I was about look away I realized the boat seemed to have a tail…a shark tail. I was not looking at a boat but rather a whale shark!

A little back story is probably required now. I have been diving for over 13 years now. I have over 900 dives and have never seen a whale shark except in pictures and video. My close friends Ryan and Alexia also have never seen the mysterious amazing creature. We have a running joke that whale sharks don’t really exist and that all previous sightings have been the result of hallucinations, overactive imaginations, camera glitches, and hoaxes. Whale sharks are one of the 3 types of sharks that filter feeds just like whales do (megamouth and basking sharks are the other 2). Whale sharks have been sighted up to 18 meter/60 feet in length. It is the biggest fish in the world. Because of shark finning and other human factors the gentle harmless whale shark is in massive decline. They are so elusive that scientists have no idea about the numbers and behavior of the animals.

So as I looked up at the 4.5 meter/15 foot silhouette it took a moment for my eyes to calibrate enough for me to confirm I was right before squeezing Carolyn’s hand and pointing up. She looked up too and quickly looked back to me for some kind of confirmation of our safety. I started quickly signing ‘Shark!!!’ ‘Shark!!!’ ‘Shark!!!’ to her- which really didn’t make her any happier. In my grand excitement I failed to sign the ‘W’ that would have quickly calmed her down. My fist was pumping. My breathing was accelerated. My eyes were wide. And so were Carolyn’s. She looked up. She looked around quickly. What was she thinking? “How do I get out of the water as soon as possible to get away from the animal that is obviously scaring the living daylights out of my experienced and otherwise calm dive buddy?” Carolyn has misinterpreted my massive excitement for fear. When I realized Carolyn’s eyes were huge with fear I got my wits about me and made time to sign the forgotten ‘W’ which immediately settled her concern. Over the next 35 minutes we swam along with majestic animal as it swam towards and away from the island. It swam straight for us at one point and we held our ground (water) until it turned and passed us by while looking us in the eye. Eventually it swam off into the blue and didn’t return. This was an experience of a lifetime.

We head to Koh Lanta Monday. This is a new island for both of us and supposedly a more laid back and cheap place. Pictures will be posted shortly of Phi Phi on Picasa.

CB and CB.

The return to Phuket and Phi Phi

3 days in Thailand already and loads of activities performed. We arrived late to our hotel Sunday morning around 2:30 am local time. The plan was for us to have a relaxing day acclimating to the heat and hustle and bustle of Phuket Town. Instead we ended up packing the day with things to do.

We started off the day by walking to the open air fresh market. I enjoyed this place in the past and it's interesting to be the only white people walking around. Fresh smelly fish, raw meat, peppers, spices, and flowers overloaded our senses. We picked up some fried breaded chicken and rice for breakfast and went back to our hotel to eat on the patio. Eventually we walked back to the mall looking for sim cards for the phone and coffee and discovered everything was still closed because it was Sunday. Who doesn't drink coffee because it's Sunday!?

We ended up running into a taxi driver that spoke fairly good English. We decided to start our adventure and ditched the plan to relax. First stop...Good coffee for Carolyn. Second stop...Elephant rides! We came to an elephant safari park that was really more like a tourist activity haven. They had shooting ranges, paintball, go-carts, ATV courses, and elephants. Our peaceful ride on the elephant ended up being great fun but a little weird with gunshots in the background soundtrack. Our elephant was named Watermelon and she was small and stubborn but we loved her the same.

After that we headed to a beautiful Buddhist temple. Many people were actively praying so we tried to be subtle with the picture taking. Other tourists were not quite as respectful unfortunately.

Eventually we ended up at a huge gem/jewelry showcase store. The taxi driver made it very clear to us that we didn't have to buy anything and they give him a 100 baht (3 dollar) kickback for every tourist he brings their way. He also gets 3% of whatever anyone ends up buying. It was on the way to our next destination anyway and Carolyn likes shiny things so it was a win win for everyone except for the market owners.

After that we headed to the Phuket Town viewpoint and saw the panoramic view of the city. Then we returned to the Buddhist temple that vanquished me some 1 and a half years earlier (see post from October 2009). Unfortunately Buddha still didn't like me and apparently Carolyn either because He attempted to burn the bottom of our feet with his scolding hot sun-soaked tiles and sent us running. No blood and no bruises this time so I'd say it was more of a strategic retreat as opposed to an all-out defeat.

The rest of the day we napped away our jetlag which of course was not actually helping us get rid of our jetlag any quicker. We decided that since we didn't have a whole lot to do in Phuket anymore that going to Phi Phi the next day would be the best use of our time. We finished up our busy day (besides the long nap) with some authentic streetside Thai food at the night market and headed home for sleep. I didn't get any sleep though because jetlag didn't want me to...

Back to the Blog

Well hello my blog reading friends. I'm sure some of you have been wondering why my blog has been idle for some time now. Some of you asked and got laziness as an answer. Some of you didn't seem to mind the quiet. Some of you realized I was favoring quick status updates on Facebook instead of lengthly journal entries. Well as of now I am officially reactivating the blog.

Since last I wrote I continued living in Phi Phi, Thailand until early May 2010. I kept working as a videographer making a decent living there. As April and May came around the Island slowed down as the season wound down and I quickly realized my time there was coming to an end. There were other places to visit and other opportunities as a Divemaster across Southeast Asia.

So that May I moved to Semporna, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Semporna is the jumping-off point to the dive islands of Mabul, Kapalai, and Sipadan. These world class diving spots were at the very least places I needed to visit before I died. Wouldn't it be a great thing to get to work there for a while? I started out by diving the different spots by paying and started dropping my resume/CV off to all the different dive operators. It took about 3 weeks but one day I was quickly hired and rushed to Uncle Chang's Dive Resort on Mabul to work as a divemaster.

Over the next 3 months I worked day in and day out taking intrepid divers out to the different spots for 3 dives a day. I was paid a small salary and given a room, a roommate, 3 meals a day, and free diving when I wasn't working (most employees slept during their off times while I continued to dive as much as possible). During the evenings we partied with the guests and other staff. Electricity only ran during the night. Internet was sparse. But somehow I was very happy there just diving and socializing.

In August of 2011 I decided it was time to return home to real world. My sister was expecting her second child and I wanted to be around for that. I made a decision to relocate totally to Seattle instead of the Bay Area. Since then I have been procrastinating getting a real job and starting a normal life here. I started dating a wonderful girl named Carolyn back in November and we went to Hawaii in January together.

So here is the punchline. The blog is being revived because it's important to have one again. Carolyn and I have decided to travel for a couple of months to Southeast Asia. This time we plan on doing it right. Instead of working, we will travel from spot to spot, sampling the different cultures, foods, atmospheres, and hopefully lots of great diving along the way. We have an open itinerary with a list of places we would like to see and open minds.

As of right now the rough list is as follows off the top of my head: Thailand-- Phuket, Phi Phi, Krabi, Koh Lanta. Malaysia-- Lankawi, Tioman, Perhentians, Kuala Lumpur. Indonesia-- Bali, Tulamben, Gili, Java, Komodo. Philippines-- Cebu, Boracai, Malapascu, Palawan, Moalboal, Manila.

Our flight leaves March 11th to Phuket via Seoul.

Adventure here we come!