Tenta Nakara and Koh Phi Phi

So, I take up “E” on her offer for a free ride to Patong Beach. I have this vague notion that if I get to the nearest major town that I’m going in the right direction. We pile into their car and it’s a quick 30 minute ride through vaguely Mexico-esque semi-rural sprawl with signs and billboards everywhere. You can tell that underneath the signage is a beautiful island. Up and over a hill into what must have been one of the most beautiful beach towns in existence, but there’s too much commercial crap slapped on top of it. I’m dropped off on the main drag, with waves and “good luck” and I find myself walking down hotel row through the sweltering heat of late morning.
The tourists all seem to keep to themselves here. I find my way into the gay ghetto of Patong Beach, and invited in for some breakfast and free internet by Tangmo – a 50-ish drag marm who owns the establishment. I am already trying to figure out the lines between genuine friendliness, and trying to sell me something, and gauge the locals’ feelings toward tourists. Patong Beach, I later find out, is about as awful, touristy as it gets. I reach my mom on skype and find out that Shari is a day behind me, having dealt with flight delays due to Jefe’s immigration status (lots of paperwork for such a small dog) and so I call the manager of the resort on the tiny island Naka Yai to let him know I’ll be there today, and Shari tomorrow. He tells me that I am actually on the wrong side of the airport, and that I’ll have to taxi back the way I came, and then a little further to get to Ao Por Pier for the longtail boat to the island. I have a hard time remembering the names of anything, even if I read them. There are so many one syllable words that sound similar, that I can’t seem to retain a one. The boat ride to the island is short and glorious.

Tenta Nakara is a series of hut-like tents on platforms dotting a small part of a hillside by the sea. They’re perfectly comfortable, with wide, firm beds and curtains – which I leave open the entire time I’m there. There’s privacy enough in and among the banana trees. It’s jungle-y, so the crickets are chirping up a literal chirp-storm, and the birds doing their best to keep up. I think I hear a large monkey, but I find out later that it’s a bird with a large beak, and throat apparently, that sounds a lot like a primate. I spend the next few hours lounging, picking up garbage washed up along the beach at low tide, and eating. I fall asleep in my tent about 4:30pm. Wake and feign going for dinner before falling asleep for ....get this .... 12 MORE HOURS. YES! I think I had some catching up to do. I woke during the night with an eerie feeling of danger, but after reminding myself that I was perfectly safe and in a tent in the jungle, I fell back into strange dreams, but incredibly restful sleep.
I woke just about 30 minutes before sunrise. The light was just starting to think about peeking up in pink and red from behind the hills of the island in the distance to the East. I leave my tent to discover the stars still glistening in the cobalt sky; slowly fading as the morning light advances. I could see many of the same stars as at home but in a different configuration from what I’m used to. Shari arrives around 9am after an incredibly trying 3 days with very little sleep.

Here’s the Cliff Notes from my time with Shari – best pad thai ever, crab for dinner, making new friends with some international peops from Kuala Lumpur (or “KL” as the locals say. (Neal, Glen, Val and Morgan) Hot lemongrass drink in the mornings, more good food, beautiful seashells, little blind Jefe dog and some amazing sunrises. After being there a couple of days, we finally explored the island a little, finding the sweet little Muslim village in the middle of the island. Ran into a British couple who live on the island a few months a year,a nd they gave us a bit more info about the people, and the snakes. We were not told this, but the snakes that inhabit the island include cobras. Yipee! On the walk back up the beach that afternoon, we found a dead, dried blowfish. Posting pics of that on FB. It was so cool. And we took pics of ourselves on the pier on the other side of the island at sunset. They are quite entertaining...
Three days of rest and relaxation are all I can take. I take the opportunity on Tuesday morning to share boat fare with a Belgian family heading the same direction as me. And so, I leave for Phuket and the wilds beyond. There are a few tears shed between Shari and I. It’s hard to go so long without seeing each other, even though we drive each other crazy at times.

On the dock on the way to Koh Phi Phi – I am shuffled along with the tanned and tanning masses to the upper deck of the ferry. There are mostly 18-25 year-old European travelers, looking a bit antsy for their beach vacation. I accidentally sit in the middle of a group of moderately friendly Swedes, who make no conversation except among themselves. It’s a smooth, if quiet, trip across to Koh Phi Phi. Approaching the island is stunning. Huge cliffs on the side of Koh Phi Phi Leh (the island on which “the Beach” was filmed) are the first thing we pass on our way around to Phi Phi Don, the main Phi Phi where, apparently, the parties happen. As we pull into harbor, we pass small boats of people snorkeling, diving off cliffs into the crystal blue water, and many, many other boats. The bay is filled with them. The weather, like the rest of Thailand so far is perfect: blue skies, 90 degrees, slight breeze.
PP is thick with shops: tourist booking, clothing, jewelry, trinkets, shark jaws, restaurants.... 90 percent of the people are tourists. It’s kind of surreal, especially after such a quiet little beginning to the trip. After having a bit of trouble trying to find a place to stay, I happen to walk uphill a bit and find a lovely guesthouse with 300baht dorm room. I meet the girls I share the next few days with: Mimmi from Sweden, Sophie from Holland and Nathalia, the dark haired beauty from Finland via Russia. They are my companions for a fantastic seafood dinner by the water. We go to a rock club where the cover band plays songs from Doors to Guns and Roses. Quite impressive for a po-dunk band on a remote island. Funny when you can tell someone either doesn’t exactly know, or understand the words they’re singing. Feeling a bit laggy, and, faced with the literally under 25 crowd, I turn in fairly early, about midnight, and sleep til 10.
Next day: breakfast, shopping, hike up to the vista point for the view of the isthmus. There’s a funny multi-lingual 50-something Thai guy working at the snack shop at the top who engages me in conversations ranging from English to French to my limited Spanish. At this point I am feeling like a good example of an American (if not an accurate one) as people are truly surprised when they find out I speak more that just English Fortunately, the extent of my other language skills is not investigated, as it may turn out gravely lacking in depth! Dinner with the girlz and dance party on the beach. I am definitely too old for Koh Phi Phi. I don’t know who can tell, but I know, and that is all that matters. Let me clarify... I am all about the crazy paint your bikini-ed body in glowee paint and dance til dawn kind of party... just not with a bunch of kids just out of high school. I dance with my new friends for awhile, but turn in relatively early again, as the term “cougar” keeps echoing in my head.
Next day brekkie, then snorkeling trip around hi Phi Leh and swim to “the Beach”. Beautiful. Still picking up garbage wherever I go. Watch the sunset from the boat with some new Canadian/Minnasotan friends who are also staying at the guesthouse. Awesome dinner of green curry chicken and pineapple as the sun set.

Arrival: Thailand

Leaving the cocoon of Base Camp, my home for the last 5 months for the furthest destination to date. A quick stopover in Tokyo, and I’m off to meet Shari in Thailand.
First, Narita Airport. There’s something about the surreal limbo of airports, and especially Narita, with it’s clean, quiet Japanese beige-ness. I’ve never experienced an airport so quiet in he middle of the day. Vending machines for bottled beverages, soft feminine voices over the paging system. So kind and alien and comforting at the same time.
Minor headache, the lights in the stores are so bright, I’m going to try to sleep it away. The coat that I’m going to need here on the way back, I’m hoping to find a place to stash in the Bangkok airport. Still debating finding a room in which to sleep the 5 hours between BKK and Phuket airports.

Bangkok Airport, 3am. Slept all the way here from Tokyo,business class upgrade -hallelujah - now just a few hours until my flight to Phuket. A few things are open, so I got my phone service happening, and the nice guy behind the counter is charging the battery for me. I’ve left a bag with my warm clothes for Tokyo in the baggage storage facility here. It’s $3 a day, so I may pick it back up when I come back through to head to Siem Reap and Angor Wat. So, I hover here in a slightly more homey limbo. Comforting Thai-style muzak is playing softly as the other tourists waiting for flights sleep uncomfortably on bench seating. Even heard a muzak version of Abba’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” Not surprising given the Abba-Bangkok connection via the musical “Chess”. I’m sure when I get to Bangkok proper, I’ll be singing “One Night in Bangkok” in my head nonstop like I was the last few days before I got here. I know it won’t be much like the romanticized dirty third-world version of an Asian city that I imagine it to be, but I can’t wait for the open air markets, bazaars and seedy bars. I hope there are some opium den type places to find. But for now I wait for the flight directly to Phuket in the South, and my first destination: Koh Naka Yai koh=island, yai=big, so Big Yaka Island.

I bought a Southeast Asia phrase book that’s pretty thorough. Thai, Khmer, Lao, Vietnamese, and Burmese included. This will be helpful if I get to Cambodia like I’m planning. I thought about getting the Lonely Planet Thailand book, but I think I can find it for less once I get out of the airport zone. They want $30 US for it here.

I’ve done so little research, I’m feeling woefully unprepared in terms of knowing what I want to see. It’s exciting though, as I think much of my travels will be directed by the people I meet, and what opportunities present themselves. I just wish that Shari were open to traveling around with me so we could spend more time together. Ah well.

I reach Phuket airport in the light of late morning, and walking the connector to the tiny airport I can feel the tropical heat outside, and it makes me smile. The temperate clime of San Francisco is fantastic, but nothing is so perfectly comfortable to me as the tropics. I've hit it off with the Thai girl who was sitting next to me on the plane. She was kind enough to answer some of my pronunciation questions as I struggle to grasp just the first few words of the tonal Thai language. The sound "ka" can be several different words depending on the tone you use. There are 5 tones. Low, high, ascending, descending and flat. I still don't know exactly how to do these tones, they seem to be subtle when I listen in on Thai conversations. (As of now, I can say hello, and thank you and I've been here a week. I need a tutor, as reading the phrases just doesn't make them stick!) "E", the Thai girl from the plane, and her two work buddies, Tee and Sak, are heading into town, which is where I think I'm headed, and they offer me a ride. They've rented a car and have an extra seat. They refuse the gas money I offer to pitch in. Already the hospitality of Thailand extends its welcome.