We arrived at Ko Lanta just as the sun was setting. It had been a long day and we had a quiet night on board the Makani Kai leaving the exploring for the next day. As soon as we pulled the dinghy up on the beach we could feel the relaxed vibe of the place. I would imagine this is what much of Thailand would have been like some years ago, there are of course the ominous signs of big and fancy new resorts being built but they have yet to go the way of Phuket, all sun lounges and no soul.
We were excited to see so many restaurants on the beach, our Thai food odyssey was not yet over. We settled into a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the beach, elevated enough for the cool ocean breezes to wash over us but low enough to indulge in a spot of people watching. The red faced, overweight Europeans walking around with no hats or sunglasses burnt to the colour of an Australian sunset. Haven't these people heard of sunscreen?? We ordered some fish for a change and waited for our meals only to be told they had run out of fish, it was not yet midday, a Pad Thai instead was not much of a sacrifice, the juices were fresh and cold and that was all that mattered. We ate our meals quickly and left the sun worshippers to their own devices while we went exploring.
Our attempts to hire a motorbike were met with reluctance, we only had a copy of our passport and most places required the real thing. Finally we found Deng and her family who happily hired us a brand new Honda Scooter, called a Scoopy it looks very similar to a Vespa and was so shiny that we were a little worried, when we go exploring we tend to go off road a bit.
We rode into Ban Saladan the main town of Ko Lanta, it's a mishmash of mini-marts, restaurants and souvenir shops. Turning around we headed to the other end of the island, taking random roads and ending up at a viewpoint with a restaurant, the view was awesome. Heading back down the hill we entered Old Lanta Town, this used to be the islands original commercial centre and used to provide a safe harbour for vessels travelling between Phuket, Penang and Singapore. The town boasts some really old architecture with some of the buildings being in excess of 100 years old, it's a beautiful old town that has maintained its traditionalism, providing a sleepy alternative to the more touristy Ban Saladan. It also lacks the beach front of the other side of the island instead the houses are built out over a muddy, mangrove style of waterfront. While we were there they were celebrating the Lanta Festival, stalls lined the streets of Old Lanta Town and a stage was set up for the entertainment later in the evening, restaurants advertised End of Festival parties with free shuttles home. We chose to head back to Ban Saladan and enjoyed another Thai meal overlooking the water in a restaurant on stilts where my Red Curry nearly blew my head off even though I asked for 'farang' (tourist) spicy.
Just past Old Lanta Town is Sanga-U Village, this village houses the 'Chao Le', they are sea gypsys who according to all the reading material are trying to live as traditional a life as possible. Their houses though reminded me of the houses built by the UN for locals in Sumatra, there was nothing traditional about them at all and most had been painted an awful bright orange colour. They have been in this area for quite some time though and the legend is that there was once a large stingray that landed and beached in Ao Prao inlet. The stingray later turned to stone. From that moment the local villagers saw people walking in that area as if there was a settlement there, the Shaman explained that these were the 'Lords of the Sea' and their own ancestors. Since the stingray is called Sagga-U in the Chao Le dialect they called these people Toh-I-Sagga-U and this is where the name Sanga-U Village came from.
We decided to stay an extra day and made use of the motorbike again the next day. We rode up back streets, through Rubber tree plantations and everywhere else we had missed the previous day. Finally suffering from motorbike back and bum we headed off for the final massage we would enjoy in Thailand. Jay has become quite a connoisseur of Thai massages and luckily his final one was one of the good ones. The girls there were a little rough and ready though, yelling out to everyone walking past and smoking like chimneys, something I had rarely seen while in Thailand. Reluctantly we decided to leave the next morning, next stop Ko Muk and then on to Langkawi.
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Well, all good things must come to an end and so has our journey through Thailand. We say goodbye to Phuket with reluctance and leave behind many new friends and a culture that has found a place in our hearts forever. Thailand has become a home away from home, a place we have used as a base coming and going several times over the last 2 years. We will return but maybe via an aeroplane next time!
Our last month in Thailand included quite a bit of work to the boat, we hauled out at Boat Lagoon where Kevin and the team from Solidair did a brilliant job of giving the Makani Kai a birthday including the best anti-foul job she has had for a long time! We left Boat Lagoon at least a knot faster and so shiny that you had to wear sunglasses just to look at her! Off we went to Krabi, the promise of this trip was the only thing that kept me going in the dirty heat of the marina. We met up with some more cruisers there to celebrate the birthday of Lucy off 'Soul' at a restaurant on the beach capping off the evening with a lantern being sent into the sky carrying Lucy's birthday wishes away with it. We anchored for a couple of days at Railay Beach where I am sorry to say we were disappointed. Last year we visited the area with Paul and Gemma Truman and had an absolute ball but this year it seemed much busier, the locals there not as friendly and the prices had gone through the roof, restaurants were expensive and the service terrible. A loaf of bread there cost us $10, it was a nice loaf but not that nice! The anchorage was uncomfortable and the long tails persisted in passing as close to the anchored boats as possible, regardless of where you anchored. We moved on to Ao Nang where the boat traffic was a little quieter and enjoyed a couple of days there. We found a brilliant local restaurant that served delicious, reasonably priced Thai food and beer in nice frosty ice cold glasses. We didn't hire a motorbike this time but relaxed and enjoyed our time, I indulged in a facial while Jay enjoyed a Thai massage. We tried to go shopping but people in the shops aren't interested in speaking to anyone until the sun goes down, makes you wonder why they bother to open during the day at all!
Leaving Krabi behind us for the last time we travelled to an island we hadn't yet visited. Ko Hong is a beautiful island that boasts a large 'hong' at one side of it. On a high tide you can take a small boat through and swim in the lagoon there. The first day there we left our run too late and the tide was too low to go through. The next day after one of the rolliest nights we have had in an anchorage we went through in the morning. It was awesome but somehow the magic is taken away slightly by the masses of long tails and speedboats bringing the 'farangs' from the mainland for a look and it wasn't long before we left the hong behind us and headed back to Nai Harn to enjoy our last couple of weeks.
Our days were filled with good food, massages and last minute souvenir shopping for ourselves, a couple of pieces to remind us of our journey through Thailand. A trip to Patong to do a last stock up for our trip back to Langkawi culminated a farewell to the lady boys of Phuket where we sat and had a beer while watching them entertain the tourists by dancing for tips.
Goodbye Phuket, there is a lot of things we won't miss about you. The beaches crowded with tourists, the big, fat, Europeans who get around in skimpy swimwear who are rude not only to other tourists but especially to the locals, the Indian tailors who imitate our accents and won't take no for an answer, the English backpackers who troll the streets looking for unsuspecting tourists and corner them with a scratch and win postcard, charter boats that choose to anchor as close as possible to the Makani Kai regardless of how much space is in an anchorage, the stinky poo smells that emit from underneath the footpath in amongst all the shops and restaurants, the rubbish strewn all around the place and the fishing nets and pots we have to navigate through to travel anywhere by water.
But there are far more things that we will miss. We will miss the people, the culture, the good food, the quirky signs ie. 'This bar is HIV and N1H1 free!', the t-shirts ie. 'Save World Life!', the cute little masseuse who always asked Jay, 'Where is my wife?', the motorbikes that service a family of five all at the same time!, the lack of regulation - anyone can open a restaurant or bar at the front of their house, the fact that only the driver of a motorbike has to wear a helmet (don't worry about the passenger), the fresh food markets, the shopping, the religions and their acceptance of each other, the honesty - temples have money that has been donated sitting around and even the beggars don't look at it, the lack of graffiti and vandalism, the lady boys that dance for our entertainment, the elephants by the side of the road, Tong and Kwan - our trusty motorbike hirers, Nee - owner of our favourite restaurant, Rung Arun - our massage lady who for some reason we called Duan for months and Thai food overall - how are we going to cope back in Malaysia?
Thank you Thailand for giving us so many wonderful memories to take home.
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Well, we finally bit the 'ping pong' so to speak and ventured into Patong to view our very first ping pong show! There is a seedier side to Thailand that we had yet to experience and after a couple of conversations we decided that we really couldn't leave without seeing it. Partners in crime were recruited on Australia Day and a few days later 8 of us were on our way to Patong.
Normally Jay and I get around on a motorbike, they're cheap to hire and easy to manoeuvre through the traffic which is crazy most of the time but due to the fact that we were sure to have a couple of drinks and the lateness of the hour I was sure we would be coming home we opted to catch a local taxi or tuk-tuk. I really think that they must get sick of all the yachties, we are tight with our money (we need it to last for a long time!) and argue constantly over the prices whereas the majority of the Europeans here for their 2 week holiday will pay anything and think it's cheap. And it is but its all relative and after living in this part of the world for a while you realise that most of the time you are paying too much. The tuk-tuks wanted too much money and would rather sit there all night waiting for someone to pay that amount than take a couple of trips at a slightly lower rate and make more money in the end! We ended up in a 'real' car, we haven't been in a car for a long time, it felt weird. When I say 'real' car, it had a similar look to a WRX but we couldn't see any tags on it to see what it was and our driver didn't have much English, the windows were so darkly tinted that although it was dusk and light out it was pitch black inside, his dashboard was a multitude of flashing lights, some with purpose, some without and if you had told me we were in the cockpit of a plane I wouldn't have been surprised. The stereo was loud and we could feel the vibration of the speakers in our chests, the exterior featured racing stripes, spoilers and all the bits and pieces and it rode so low that every time we hit a small bump in the road we bottomed out, might have had something to do with all of us fat farangs in the car but it made for a slow trip. The car might have looked like a racy bit of gear but it had trouble getting up the hills, we had a few 'I think I can' moments.
We finally made it to Patong though and soon merged into the groups of tourists walking the streets, we had thought that Patong was busy during the day but that was nothing compared to at night. Hawkers yelling from shops as you walk by, restaurants shoving their menus in your face and men carrying various animals around for you to pose for a photo with for 100 Baht. One in particular was a white faced monkey, a dusky langur, he was being held by a young white boy and looked really sad. He clutched the boys arm and kept his eyes downcast, these are very shy animals and the terror it must have been feeling in amongst that crowd with people reaching out to touch it, being passed from person to person would have been immeasurable.
After stopping for some dinner we continued our journey towards Bangla Road which is closed off every night to accommodate all the weird and wonderful people that come out after dark and the westerners that come to watch. Wandering through the crowd I felt something heavy latch on to my back and start crawling, sharp claws scratching at my bare shoulders, I turned my head and came face to face with a huge green iguana. One of the hawkers had put it on my back as I walked by hoping that I would pay to have a photo taken with it. Standing stock still I grabbed at Jay who told the guy off, the iguana was quickly removed and he vanished into the crowd to find another victim.
Dozens of people approached to go and see one of their 'free' ping pong shows, we resisted for a while happy just to stroll around people watching but eventually we bit the bullet and allowed ourselves to be led into the den of sin! We walked into a dark room filled with white people and the occasional Japanese businessman. Girls danced on stage in white bikinis, tops pushed aside to reveal young, pert breasts. They looked bored. The song finished and they moved along the stage to the next pole to gyrate in time to the music while looking at themselves in the mirror, in the middle of the tiny stage was a bath but we're not sure what it was for as they didn't use it at all during the show. Before the show began we were obligated to buy a beer, the show was free but the first beer cost 500 Baht and any beers after that went back closer to the normal price, so much for the 'free' show. It was actually amusing watching all the people in the room, there was an almost equal amount of women and men, there to see the show so they could say they had seen it and to leave as quickly as possible, much like us.
The show started, an older lady came on stage and proceeded to pull numerous things from her private parts, not all at the same time but leaving the stage at different intervals to come back and reveal another surprise! Among these were an incredible length of string, wool with numerous knitting needles attached (we were wondering what the knitting show was!), live fish, live birds and the grand finale, ping pongs! With the show over we escaped quickly back into the street, it was time to see some lady boys!
We found ourselves a bar on a second level overlooking the side street which featured a small circular stage at the entrance where the lady boys danced. Our bar had female dancers (fully clothed) and they were lovely, on their break some of them sat with us and pointed out which ones below were lady boys, which had real breasts, which ones had had operations to make them female and which ones still had the tackle in place. The lady boys were amazing, known as kathoey they are considered the third gender in Thailand and are men that are raised as women, there is no stigma attached to them and they are accepted as a normal part of life here. While some are quite obviously men others are absolutely beautiful with legs that any western woman would kill for. They play up to the crowd, wearing skimpy outfits and generally having fun. The most interesting part though was watching the western men reacting to them, a lot of the young guys walking past had no idea that these were men and I saw a couple asking for phone numbers. If they made that call they were in for a mighty surprise but the kathoey do not hide what they are, it is a part of their appeal and their meal ticket. They are great fun and while I would not do a ping pong show again I would definitely go and see the lady boys again. We hope to be able to get tickets to one of the cabarets here before we leave, some of them are quite famous and according to some American's comparable to anything you'd see in Vegas except it's more amazing because they are all men! It was a great night out and we eventually headed back to the boat at 3am.
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