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Travel Notes |
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Sun May 12 04:46:38 2002 (nmcfarl) Book: Moon SE Asia Location: Tipping So any where in the South Pacific you don't tip 'cause Kiwis NEver do and Aussies rarely. This is nice since I'm BAD at it. In Thailand it's supposed to be a low to now tipping situation but ... There have been 2 times we should have tipped but didn't 1) first night bell boy grabs bags from taxi while we where paying the driver at 1 am. I hate bell boys. You don't tip them in maylasia though. Here he either had a hard time with the AC or you do we concluded 5 minute after he left. 2) Zae probably should have gotten a tip. Ian almost certainly tipped him , but I didn't even think about it till we where zooming away. How much do you tip a tour guide ( for a 4 day trip) ? How do you know this stuff? Tipping is Annoying Sun May 12 04:35:36 2002 (nmcfarl) Book: Moon SE Asia Location: Kayaking So on last monday we woke up in Krabi and caught a Long Tail (thin long boats with a car engine monted on the back and a LONG rod with propeller sticking out. Very loud as they are unmufflered , also scary 'cause the drivers are young and nuts by and large) to Railey beach. Railey was scarily overpopulated , every square foot was bungalows and restuarants costs 4x what they cost in Krabi, and the beach was OK but nothing like New Caledonia. We rented a kayak for a preparatory paddle and paddled around the rust colored lime stone rocks looking all grotto-y with stalactites and mites and little sand coves. We stopped at many beaches, paddled a good bit and got a little tanner. Also did a little swim, which is always fun, swimming from a kayak. A very good day. The next day we got up early and met dave, our 'tour leader' and our meeting place. He arrived 15 min. early and started pacing instantly. Ian and Sarah, the british couple who went on the trip with us showed up '30 seconds late'. Then we drove till lunch time, ate well as we did very constantly on this trip, met Zae our 'tour guide' and went for a little paddle in the mangroves in the rain. Much of our paddling was in the rain. The next day was much cooler, starting with a great if difficult 5 mile paddle to an offshore Island, in the wind and rain. Cool though. The lunch and a kayak around to the back side along cliffs and stopping at a beach, where Zae ripped open a cocunut for a snack before moving on to the emerald cave. This was way cool. The cave is pitch black 80 meter of narrow twist cave , before you pop out on a beach with jungle surrounded on all sides by cliffs. On the way out the light was amazing , and then then lightning was amazing, if scary as it was dark and we were kayaking on the ocean. That night we drank too much and stayed up too late, and set our selves up for a bit of seasickness the next day. The next day we started with great kayak around the island the other way past villages and through mangrove trees, and finally through very choppy water past black rocky shores to the lunch place. Those wave had us a little under the weather, and it got a bit worse when after beaching we found out we'd left the airline tickets on the far side of the island. Bad. The first time we'd done that this trip too. Anyhow Zae and rachel went across island on a muddy hill track on a bike with out brakes and retrieved it . Then a nice 3 mile crossing to the next island , where we checked into our lodgings and went for an amazingly up and down kayak around the island (rachel sat it out , probably a good Idea) on the back side the wave where huge and often you couldn't see the island. Also cool flying fish and black cliffs with splashing surf. The final day got sortta called off 'cause our transport didn't show on time. A bit of a bummer -- but we headed off to Trang to eat chinese sausage (which with char sui they are famous for) after a LONG and tippy long tail ride to the shore where we parted ways. A very good trip. Sun May 12 04:07:13 2002 (rr) Book: Footprint Thailand Location: Trang kayak trip in Trang-- The weather: after days of sunshine, the morning of the trip was grey and cloudy. This would be a strong theme during our kayak trip. Rain, wind. Fortunately it was always warm, and since you get soaking wet while kayaking anyway, the rain wasn't a big deal. Wind however, can be annoying. The first day was short, so we paddled around a river with mangroves along the banks, real casual paddling, saw hornbills and lots of other birds. The next day we paddled five miles across the ocean to Koh Mook. (Koh means island) It was a hard paddle -- the first ten or fifteen minutes was sunny and calm, then a storm whipped up the water and blew a strong wind at us, making the paddling a wee bit tougher. At one point the rain was pouring down and looked very cool on the water all around us. It also made the waves calmer. I was in the front of the kayak, nathan in the stern, and I guess my technique of trying to vary my paddling stroke to not crash into waves was rather difficult to follow. I swear that it worked, though. We landed at Koh Mook Resort and ate a well-earned lunch. Later that afternoon we paddled halfway around the island to Emerald Cave. The northern part of the island has steep limestone walls covered with trees and brush, very green and beautiful. Some of the trees had completely exposed roots along a nearly vertical rock face. They grow without any real soil at all. There were some macaques in the trees. We pulled up to a beach near the Cave and ate a coconut. A rain storm blew in -- we could literally watch it start raining at one end of the beach and see it blow across the beach to us. At one point, everyone except Dave (the tour leader) was at one end of the beach, where it had stopped raining. Dave was at the other end, where it was pouring. He didn't realize it wasn't raining where we were. Reminded me of Euyore. The cave is this, well, cave. You enter through the water into darkness, which was hard to do while kayaking. I got to hold the maglite in my teeth and also got to realize that it was completely ineffective. the cave was some sharp turns and low-hanging rocks. You can only go at low tide. After 70 meters or so of holding a flashlight while shouting, to the left!, no! to the right! Ack! Stop!, and feeling rather claustrophobic, we could see some light again, and suddenly we glided out into a tiny little cove surrounded on all sides by very steep walls. It was discovered only recently by helicopters, and was thought to be a pirate lair at one time. Very beautiful spot. The water is an emerald/turquoise color. Jungle just rises straight up the limestone walls. Tour boats dump people overboard with lifevests to swim through the cave. I think I preferred our method. Leaving the cave was so much more fun than entering the cave. This is due partly to confidence from having made it through the first time, but it was also more well lit going out. I had one of my many moments where I was reminded of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Disneyland ride. A quick analysis follows. Rachel's Pirates of the Caribbean Memory. This is one of those deja-vu/memories that is always embarassing to tell anyone else (other than Brooke, since she too understands it.) since it involves comparing real-life to a Disneyland ride. This memory is evoked by a certain smell, first smelled at a young age while entering the ride. It is the smell of the ocean, of the dark, and of heat. An ocean cave in Thailand has all the right ingredients. I also often smell this smell walking around the tropics at night. This cave was even more perfect of course due to the lighting and the pirate history of the cave. The paddle back was good, until the lightning storm started up. It was a ways away, but still rather alarming. I would count the seconds between purple flashes and ominous crackling and rumbling. We discussed how fast the speed of sound was (700 miles a minute? about two seconds equals a mile? i always used the mile a second rule.). After a while, when it started also getting dark, I paddled faster and harder. At one point Dave pointed out that I was paddling harder than Nathan. The slacker. I just wanted not to get hit, therefore, lots of motivation to paddle. The lightning lit up the ocean in front of us, illuminating rocks, ocean, sky. Occasionally it sounded closer. I avoided watching the lightning because I didn't want to see how close it was. At one point my paddle hit rocks. Fortunately the kayak did not. All in all, one of those experiences best experienced afterwards when one is alive and not burnt to a crisp. The next day we paddled to Koh Kradan. The southern end of Koh Mook was windier, and after a while I began feeling queasy. I had even taken Dramamine the night before. Fortunately, we weren't going directly to Koh Kradan, but stopping at another resort, Charlie's, on Koh Mook. I sat down on the beach and tried not to close my eyes. I think part of the problem had to do with drinking a lot of beer the night before. We got drunk, something neither Nathan or myself have gotten in a long time. That, combined with big waves, was almost too much. We sat down for some banana shakes (well, everyone except myself), and Dave gave me some more Dramamine. At that point, it came to our attention that Nathan forgot to unhide our money belt at Koh Mook Resort. It was still inside the pillowcase. Charlies had no phone, but they did have a motorbike. It was decided that Zae (pronounced Say, he was our outher guide) and I would motor over and retrive it. Motorbikes are ubiquitous here. We rode along an incredibly muddy road, through countless muddy potholes, until finally the road (which is only driven on my motorbikes, no cars on this island) turned into a wide cement sidewalk, which is the road through the local village. We twisted and turned through the village, past small shops, people's homes, chickens, roosters, dogs, and cats, and lots of children, over rubbish, unti lthe road turned into beach. Over rocks, sand, shells, till the home stretch where we could see the resort. Fortunately it was low tide. Not much beach to ride on at high tide. The people who run the resort had found the money belt long ago and tried ringing Dave on his cell phone. they were going to take it over to Koh Kradan. This was probably one of the best places on the planet to have forgotten the money belt at. A few minutes later, after lots of thank yous, th emoney belt was safely strapped around me and I was again holding on to the back of the bike. Curiously enough, riding the bike made me feel less seasick, but when I sat down again I felt those waves bobbing me back and forth. The owner of Charlie's came over and after a bit of Thai discussion between Dave, Zae and the owner, he came over and gave me a head and shoulder massage. The most memorable part was where he would pull my head back, then cover my ears and suddenly pull his hands away, making a loud suction noise (due to suction of covering the ears). Very weird and very cool, also relaxing. It also involved pulling sections of my hair, and some back-slapping. I felt much better afterwards - I thought perhaps the shock of the massage made me forget about being seasick. Who knows. I enjoyed it a lot though! |
nmcfarl.org email us email Rachel email Nathan See the pictures. Palau Pictures Yap Pictures Hawaii Pictures Taiwan Pictures View the original itinerary
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