Today we had a rest day. Sleeping in a little, taking our time over breakfast before catching the courtesy shuttle bus into the main shopping centre of Phuket. Nothing opens till 11.00am so we looked through a few street stalls until the doors opened. The centre was about as Thai as Vegemite. A real sense of something built for tourists. The people on the bus complained that the breakfast at the hotel was not western enough and that the Thai used bamboo scaffolding simply because they didn't know any better. We really can't fathom the behavior of the tourists here. We have seen them complaining and being patronizing and plain out embarrassingly bogun.
I would like to write an open letter to the Thai people and apologize for what they have to endure.
Anyhow, we shuttled back to the hotel, checked out the internet (congrats again to Mick and Julie!) and threw ourselves in the pool.
Then we walked the main strip, ate a delicious Thai dinner and walked back along Patong beach as the sun set and the stall holders packed their wares.
Keep walking, keep walking.
Ash getting more than a little attention.
Patong beach
In the room now preparing for a day caving in kayaks.
After the usual frantic corralling of 14 year-olds at 6:30am we ate a hasty breakfast and waited for our transfer to the marina to start our journey.
Morning view at Breakfast.
Breakfast. I think the hill looks like the view from Dromana. :)
I freaked out a bit when the van arrived without our names on the register but another soon followed and we were on our way. Through Phuket's main drag and up and over the ridge of the peninsula to the other side. The roads were steep and crowded with billboards and industry as usual.
The Royal Phuket Marina was a world apart; where the rich didn't have to look at the poor unless they were sweeping leaves with straw brooms. We received our yellow stickers that designated us to a group of about forty others and we soon boarded our speedboat for the 40 minute scoot over to the island.
Our guide of the day was a friendly native who called himself Mr Boy (insisting it wasn't Mr. ladyboy... random giggles amongst the passengers). He was great, constantly handing out drinks, making fish and flowers from drinking straws all to keep us entertained as the three outboards roared.
And there it was, Phi Phi Don, the larger of the two islands, rising vertically from the sea with sea eagles drawing lazy circles above. It was fantastic.
On the speedboat.
We stopped on Monkey Beach where vicious monkeys badgered us for food and we respectfully kept our distance. One hissed at Ashley and one fixed Sharon with a glare that freaked her out (rabies is quite a problem in this part of the world and they say one tourist a day sustains a bite from the little buggers).
Then we pressed on to a sheltered cove around the corner and did some snorkeling which we all loved. Fish of all varieties as well as urchins and clams an starfish populated the reef.
From there it was a short trip to the other side of the island. The weather was glorious and Mr. Boy plied us with Cokes and water and Longan fruit and bristly red Rambutan.
One of the more traditional boats moored at Phi Phi Don
These guys keep following me around.
Here we ate lunch and wandered the sleepy ocean side shops before proceeding to the smaller of the islands, Phi Phi Leh. More snorkeling was the go here and the fish were more diverse than before adding angel fish and teal parrot fish to the list.
Brad with Mr. Boy
Stunning views.
Thirty minutes of splashing about and we moved on to the beach where they filmed “The Beach” with Leonardo Di'Caprio. The site has 1000 visitors a day in the high season but mercifully for us there were only sixty or so people there. Very serene.
the beach from "The Beach" and the kids.
Last stop was another product placement stopover. Pearl island where we were ushered into a pearl store. We sidestepped the queue and sat on some deck chairs until a guy came by to charge us 50 Baht to use them. Rather than pay we got up and went for a stroll along the small island's pristine beach. A storm was rolling in to punctuate the fine weather and small crabs scuttled away from our toes and plunged into the surf. All made for some good photos.
The easy life until we had to pay for it.
The weather closing in.
The rains opened as we departed and found its way sideways into the open back of the boat. Many sat under towels for the rest of the way. Low tide meant that several (10?) boats similar to ours had become marooned on entering the marina. We queued in the rain and waited for marina police (I guess that's what they were) helped people off the stranded boats and onto smaller vessels. Ours was fine and when the backlog cleared, we powered into the marina and said goodbye to Mr. Boy.
Dinner at the hotel. A clear night with nearly full moon illuminating Phuket. Distant soundless lightning to the right and a firework display over the beaches to the left made for the perfect backdrop for a curry.
Today was fairly well lost to travel.
We rose early, still somewhat on Melbourne time and had breakfast before pasking our belongings for the trip to Phuket.
A quick wander through the busy, sometimes dilapidated looking streets that have so quicly become familiar and it was back to the lobby to wait for our transfer. On the way home we passed a makeshift shrine set on the hotel grounds where fruits and opened bottles of Coke were placed before an alter while monks chanted on a microphone and officious folk sat listening under a temporary awning. Weird.
The trip to the airport was the usual mix of excitement for a new place and pangs for the place we were leaving. Our guide's name was Poo (Pu? Pou? Puh?) which gave me lots of Dad joke material like “Hey boys, how do you get poo off the front seat of you van?”
Chiang Mai was really great.
#--- insert boring plane journey here ---- #
Phuket is more tropical and more trashy than Chiang Mai. I think of it as Thailand's Gold Coast. Intensely pretty but marred by all the cheap trinket shops and sleazy shop owners who try to lure you in to their junk shops by trying 'G'dday mate' and 'Bloody cheap prices'. Woeful. Our hotel the Blue Marine resort and Spa is up on the steep hillside and our unit in the 8th villa is at the very top. That makes it good for tsunamis and good for views (complete with Queen Mary 2) but not so good for a simple stroll down to the beach. The steep descent needs a vehicle to be rung for in advance to see you to the lobby.
We spent tonight digging our toes into the sand and feeling the surprisingly warm waters before catching a Tuk-Tuk down to the main drag. We didn't last long seeing nothing of worth there and have come home early for a good rest before the day trip to Phi Phi island and some snorkeling.
Note the Queen Mary steaming out of port in quite a hurry.
~Glenn
Day four was a little slower but just as interesting. We decided to spend the best part of the day learning to cook Thai at the Chaing Mai Thai Cookery School , Thailand's first cookery school.
We congregated in a small shop in Chaing Mai with budding chefs from other hotels. We introduced ourselves and found that almost everybody was from a different country. Our guide for the morning was a girl called Aire who drove to a local market by scooter with us tourists following behind in a minivan and open taxi truck. Once there we gathered around her and she explained her way through all of the principal ingredients in Thai cooking. All of the vegetables and rices and noodles and how coconut milk and coconut cream was produced. Despite a nagging concern that the place would be grotty and full of animal parts, or worse, live animals in tiny pens and bugs etc etc, the market was clean and bright.
I really liked these. Lemongrass Ginza (like ginger) and Tumeric ready to boil into soup.
The market was clean and crammed full of really diverse foods.
Aire, our Thai cook took us through each of the main Thai vegetables.
Dragon fruit.
All the food looked art directed. Wonderful.
Once we had been left to explore the market for 20 minutes, we regrouped and headed to the kitchen where we were to put a little of what we had just learned into action.
The place is run by a TV chef called Sompon Nabnian and his wife Elizabeth and was set in a building at their house in a beautiful suburb of Chaing Mai (gated naturally). The kitchen was open air and surrounded by a wonderful edible garden. We cooked four dishes and each was shown to us in a classroom first before we had to gather our ingredients and fire up the woks.
Each dish was presented by a different chef, one of whom was Sompon,
the owner and celebrity chef and the last by Aire who had led us through
the market. It was all in good humour and they were patient with us when
it was our turn.Some of it was quite frantic and took skill to prepare the vegetables and timing when the heat was on. We all showed our finest knife skill shredding Kaffir lime leaves and smashing garlic and diagonally slicing lemongrass.
At the cookery school.
Brad prepping some of the ingredients for the first meal.
Coconut milk bubbling as Sharon makes a chicken green curry.
Ashley at work on his Pad Med, a vegetable and noodle stir-fry.
Thai fish cakes with a sweet sauce, all made from scratch.
Tom Yum, hot and sour soup with prawns.
And we ate all of the food we prepared. So full!
After cooking and eating the four meals we wished our hosts a warm ขอขอบคุณคุณ (thank you) and drove back to our hotel where we rested in the pool for a bit before showering and hitting the street markets in search of a suitcase to stow the ceramics we bought yesterday.
Sharon in the pool of the Mai Ping Hotel.
Day four done.
Tomorrow, the airport and onto Phuket.
Where do you start with a day like today?
Step one, buffet breakfast where all of us except Sharon over eat.
We met Jan and the driver bright and early and took our private disco / karaoke bus (inside it's all leather seats and flashing mirrors) out of Chaing Mai and into the hills for our first stop, Thailand's Elephant nature park. This place is a conservation park which cares for and breeds Asian elephants to help bolster their dwindling numbers. Only 5,500 still exist.
As the city thins and becomes increasingly covered in creepers and palms we pass all manner of tiny family businesses. Roadside vendors selling roasted crickets, bugs, worms, pineapple and bananas streak by in a blur of Longan trees, abandoned buildings and coke signs.
Before long we arrive in the low hills at the Elephant nature park. We had high expectations and were all excited as we had planned the trip from home and Sharon has a real thing for elephants (but who doesn't). Once over the thrill of seeing our first Asian elephant wandering through the trees with its trainer we arrived at a stable where elephants were being harnessed in readiness to lug foreigners like us through the jungle.
We bought tied stems of sugar cane and hands of small bananas for 20 Baht a piece (70 cents-ish) and delighted in feeding them to the waiting elephants, metering the food out to extend the experience. It was really fantastic, us trying to pat them and feel the texture of their trunks while they probed for the next treat.
Sharon and her new friend.
Chris' turn.
.. and Ash.
...and Brad.
Soon after the elephants lined up in a procession, the front two holing a pole between them supporting a gong which was hit by a third smaller elephant as they walked. The rest of the conga line linked trunks to tails and walked past us to the show grounds.
The gong procession.
Once there, we were treated to a great little show where they bowed, dexterously picked up their trainers hats with their trunks and showed how elephants could drag and lift and arrange logs all with amazing precision and neatness. It really looked like they took pride in their work.
Then three of them painted quite amazingly figurative paintings of elephants and scenery. Ashley was sure to line up first to buy this favorite of the three. The stand out performer in the show was a three year old elephant cutie with a chain of bright flowers on her head who did her best to keep up with the larger elephants and painted a beautiful picture of flowers.
Little cutie.
The artist in deep thought creating a painting for Ashley.
After the show we watched as the elephants took to the river and played in the deep water oftentimes dipping out of sight leaving just their trainers sitting on the surface. Have some funny video of that little sequence of events.
Bathtime!
Finally we set off on the elephant ride. We alighted via a wooden balcony that the elephants lined up to in turn. Three elephants, each with a two seater wooden bench, for the five of us. What a fun hour. Our elephants lumbered down an embankment and into a dam before climbing out the other side and following a river bed, crossing it frequently. They have very fine motor skills for their size and navigated the ricks and pools expertly.
Ash heading into the lagoon.
Sharon and Bradley and friends.
I think Sharon enjoyed herself;)
They ate along the way. Chris and my elephant stopped to clear a felled log which cracked and splintered as he heaved it aside. His trainer, sitting without saddle on its head complained to it but it paid him no mind. Later it bull-headedly veered off the path to where a palm grew on an embankment and proceeded to yank it from the earth and carry the thing all the way up the hill, eating it until it was gone.
Dinner on the way.
Sharon and Bradley's elephant was gassy which Brad thought was hilarious and Ashley's elephant ate non stop along the way. What a peasant hour. It sped by.
Lots and lots of shaky footage taken of the ride.
After the ride, we saw how the fibrous elephant dung was cleaned, sterilized and turned into paper for sale as bookmarks and note pads and then onto the elephant nursery where four cute elephants, several only months old stood with their mothers in sheltered pens. Tiny chicks darted between their feet and we bought more bananas to feed them. Such cuties! My favorite thing of the day was how we had to peel the bananas for the tiniest as she couldn't yet stomach the peel. It was like cutting the crusts off bread for a toddler.. just couldn't be any adorable. With their soft trunks, beautiful eyes and coarse hair on their heads, we found it hard to say goodbye.
Being the off season there were only about thirty other people there so it was very peaceful. Lastly we saw some poor elephants in rehabilitation nursing misshapen legs and other afflictions and then we left for Lampang.
Distance-wise, driving to Lampang is like driving to Geelong from Melbourne. It is a much smaller town and we stopped at the Wienglakor Hotel, the town's finest, for a lunch of beef and chicken and vegetables with the obligatory Coke and Beer. Following lunch we hired carriages pulled by tiny horses and trotted, bells jingling around Lampang, following the river and many small shops and gardens and temples.
A fairly long drive for a fairly forgettable visit to a pottery factory was next and to me at least it seemed more like simple product placement than a tour of any kind. We only saw the showroom but it was cheap. Chris bought a neat Japanese looking tea set and Sharon bought some polka-dotted bowls. (which means we also need to buy another suit case). We didn't stay long and left for....
Temple-a-gogo!
I will simply show you some pictures of the temples and the story and importance of each was explained but the names were so complex and there was so much information that even now, merely hours after being there my recall is poor. Still, they were impressively old, impressively large and very, very golden.
The first was the Wat Prathat Lampang Luang, an fascinating place to visit, shoes off and kneeling. We saw a great example of a pinhole camera where a side building developed a hole and the sunlight that poured through threw a projected image of the Chedi (pagoda) onto a sheet and it's now displayed as a marvel. ( a true Kodak moment). The second detail of the second two is sketchy but the dwindling sun provided some nice lighting for us budding photographers.
Sharon with Jan, our guide for these past three days.
The sun was a low, orange disk in the afternoon due to smoke from burning fields.
A nice shot by Sharon.
Trainee monks. Sharon has to be careful of them because if a girl touched them, it would be bad for their continued monking.
We saw three temples, the last in the town of Lamphun as far from Chaing Mai as Lampang. It was almost 6:00 by this time and 10:00pm by our body clock and we all were a bit muddled by the temples and keen to get home to rest.
Chris Ash and I walked the night market again and now it's late and I;m tired of writing. Sorry this is so wordy but I do like these things as a record for us to remember things later.
