Life’s a beach!

20/03/2006 by drops.

We started off in Phang Nga, a bay famous for its limestone crags and towering islands, and a perfect introduction to the coasts of southern Thailand. It’s a landscape that burns itself into your mind; once you see it you don’t forget it. The streaked limestone, dripping with stalagtites, was like melting candle wax. Towering islands spiked out of the water, apparently defying the laws of physics; some were actually larger at the top than at the bottom. One unique feature around there are the ‘hongs’, circular lagoons only accessible by a narrow strip of water when the tides are right. Once you’re inside one, civilization seems a million miles away. An inevitable part of the tour was a stop-off at James Bond Island, the setting for Scaramanga’s hang-out in ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. We didn’t recognize it, though. We’ll have to rent out the film when we get back.

From Phang Nga, Krabi was just a short hop away. We planned to stay there just one week. We actually tore ourselves away after three. Neil was recovering from a cough which stopped him from diving, and this place turned out to be perfect for taking it easy. Most of the time, we were based in Ao Nang, which has everything a self-respecting backpacker needs - decent restaurants, bars, minimarkets, and a decent beach - and an incredible number of Swedish tourists. It was unnerving to be greeted by Thai shopkeepers with a hearty “Hur star det till?” Evidently, Neil has a Nordic look. There is loads to do around Krabi. It’s a rock-climbing mecca, and inland there are waterfalls and jungle to explore. We settled for boat rides to beautiful beaches and islands, and lazy kayaking trips through mangrove forests and limestone canyons. Our favourite days were spent on Phra Nang Beach and feeding the fish in the turquoise waters off Ko Hong. Perfect!

After that, Ko Lanta came as a bit of a disappointment. Billed as an island of white-sand beaches, the sand is actually coarse and yellow. We weren’t tempted to do much there, and the manta rays (six-metre monsters) we had ome to dive with had all disappeared. We contented ourselves with snorkelling trips to Ko Rok and Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi was especially beautiful, with excellent snorkelling, but there are signs that it could get ruined by unregulated development again, following the tsunami. The beach where the longtail boats tie up is disfigured by building rubble, and we heard talk of raw sewage pumped out into swimming areas… Paradise lost?

At this point, we decided to tear ourselves away. Uppermost in our minds was that the temperatures were rising fast in Cambodia, and it’s no fun to clamber over temples in the baking heat. We flew in to Siem Reap, the base for the temples of Angkor, perfectly coinciding with a week’s worth of freak rain and cloud. The weather curse had hit us again. In the end, we did get some sunshine, but it was no fun getting up at five in the morning, trying to catch a sunrise over one temple or another, only to find that the sky was clouded over… When the sun did find a break through the clouds, though, the sights were unforgettable. Ornate towers, dramatic carvings, mirror-like moats, all set amidst luscious vegetation, left us breathless. To reach some of the temples, we were taken on a romantic tuk-tuk ride through rice paddies dotted with water buffaloes, ricketty wooden huts and some of the loveliest people in the world. The Cambodians must rate as one of the most smiley peoples anywhere. The food was another discovery. We got the chef in our hostel to write down her recipe for ‘amok’, fish curry in coconut milk and peanut sauce.

Neil had totally recovered from his cold by this time, so it was back to Thailand for some serious diving. We joined a liveaboard boat for three days of diving in the Similan Islands, one of the top ten dive sites in the world. We were blessed with a fantastic dive operator (Sea Dragon) who couldn’t look after us enough, and great company. The trip was rounded off with a rather merry BBQ party on the upper deck, in the course of which four of us decided to throw ourselves off into the water. Mari still has a bruise on her leg to prove it. Ouch! Still no whale sharks or manta rays - we’re beginning to think that these animals are some kind of hoax - but the diving was excellent anyway. There were loads of fish, turtles, some sharks, and we even saw a Minke whale just a few metres away, a very rare sighting.So ended our stay in Thailand! We really loved it there and would snap up an opportunity to go back any time, maybe for some more diving…Right now, we’re in Malaysia. We hope to bring you another update before we get back! Only a few more weeks to go…

Till next time!

08:36:09 - Monday, 20.03.06

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