to the mainland

Things I forgot – I snorkled and swam on the Monkey Beach side of Koh Phi Phi Lai ( no monkeys=sad face). There were little tiny jellyfish that freaked me out a bit, but the guides had not warned us about them, so I figured they weren’t dangerous. I got one little sting but it was not terribly painful and went away quickly. The schools of fish are beautiful. I still get the feeling that I do not belong in the ocean. I try to forget this as I float over the abyss.

My last morning on Phi Phi was spent on the internet planning, and an early afternoon getaway to Krabi, or so I thought. In trying to use a transfer for my boat to Krabi, I somehow end up on the boat back to Phuket. A little miscommunication between two people helping get my ticket sorted. I find this out just after departing the dock. Literally pulling away from KPP, I ask one of the passing pursors to make sure our destination, and she looks at me in distress and says, no, we’re on the way to Phuket. Fortunately 1. I decided that nothing was going to worry me on this trip. I believe that there is a reason things happen, even if I never know what it is. 2. My plan was to head back to the West coast and head up to Khao Sok National Park on the mainland anyway, so even though I didn’t get to see the limestone cliffs of Krabi this time, there will be other trips. And 3. the trip to Khao Sok is that much shorter, cheaper and more direct. My day was spent in transit, as days so often are in Thailand. Apparently it takes 5 hours to travel 180 km, no matter where in Thailand you are. The bus ride to Tacuapa (my transfer point to Khao Sok) was mostly in the dark. I arrived to a sleepy little town at the end of its evening. It was 9pm, and I was hoping that something would be open for food and shelter. I had eaten only some crap wannabe pancake and egg that morning, and so was starving. On my walk toward the hotel, there was this roadside open-air restaurant where lots of locals were eating dinner. One of the girls behind the counter cooking crepes was elected to communicate with me. In her limited English and my even more limited Thai (read ‘pointing at and attempting badly the phrases in my phrase book’) we managed to decide that I would eat something with chicken, vegetable and/or noodles in it. I love surprises, especially when it comes to food, and this was the best one yet. Arrived at my table a small but sufficient plate of wide rice noodles, with vegetables, egg, and a bit of chicken in a delicious sauce. I can only guess what the sauce was, a combination of the typical Thai ingredients. I just reveled in the delight of an unexpectedly fantastic meal. That and a banana crepe with honey cost me less than half of what I’d paid for every meal so far. Win! My hotel was a bit pricey (at 600 baht, roughly $20), but for a last-minute stay with a shower and clean sheets, I didn’t care. Woke at 7 and got my butt down the street to the bus station.
Sitting on the bus to Khao Sok, waiting for takeoff, I realize that I may not eat for several hours – as we well know by now, a 50 km ride can take several hours. So I ask the bus driver, he says “five minute.” Ack! I jump off the bus and run over in and among the little group of food stalls next to the station. To my absolute enamourment, there is.khanom krog, my favoritest of favorite Thai delicacies, being spooned out of their little individual cooking vessels and into to-go containers. With fire in my eyes and a growl in my belly, I ask for one – which looks sufficient to start me off for the day. 10 baht!! That’s right... about 40 cents for these little coconut and rice flour pieces of nirvana. Next door, the fried chicken and sticky rice were looking fresh, so I scooped up one of each of those, and ran for the bus as the engine revved for departure. The fried chicken may have been the best thing I’ve ever eaten next to the khanom krog. I was so bummed that Shari wasn’t with me to taste it. Although I must say, the little Thai grandmas at the Thai temple in Berkeley do a damn good job of recreating it. As opposed to everything else I’ve tried, I can’t say that it’s better here.

The bus ride – in the daylight – is beautiful. Huge rock formations – are they giant hills, or small mountains? – jut up out of the ground in groups, lending particular drama to the landscape. The sides of them exposed rock, and vegetation, palm trees everywhere. So, yes, after many stops, and some very slow climbs up hills, I arrive at Khao Sok National Park, actually, just down the road from it. I come across a cute little group of bungalows with a sign: 300 baht per night. Perfect! One day and one night here, and then on to Koh Phangan. I sign up with Nee. She and her husband – whom I later learn is called “Mr. Power”, I kid you not – run this place, and another in the mountains near Patong Beach. She is so sweet and helpful. I set my bags in my bungalow – replete with giant mosquito net hanging over the bed – and head out to the park on foot. By this time I’ve read that there are elephants, tigers, monkeys, wild boar and a few other varieties of wild animals that live in this park. Generally only seen during the wet season, that doesn’t start until May. But I hope against hope that I will see something. I see some elephant dung on one of the little side trails down to the waterside at one point (I feel so adventurous going off-road for a few minutes into jungle) but I’m not sure if it’s from wild elephants or those that they put people on to “jungle trek” through the park. I’m going to pretend that it’s wild elephant crap. It taught me to hope that maybe, just maybe... but no, I didn’t see more than lizards and birds. Very cool lizards and birds, mind you. But this lack of wild animals leaves me with this sense of humanity driving nature away to the recesses of the earth.
I have only ventured a tiny little bit into this gigantic park and I realize that I am exhausted. Not sure if it was from snorkeling and swimming, or just travel weariness, or jet lag finally making an appearance. Either way, I suck down some cold, sugary green tea drink from the park headquarters and head back to crash out in my bungalow. After a several hour nap, I wander around the garden a bit and say hello to newly arrived Guillaume, a mild-mannered French guy from near Lyons. Then Nee and Mr. Power invite us to go with them to some hot springs nearby. I’m thinking “it’s 90 degrees outside, who needs hot springs?” but I can’t turn down an invitation from my hosts; it’s exactly the kind of benefit one gets traveling alone, and I was excited to have a chance to learn more about my hosts as well. We take a 30 minute car ride to a remote river where there are so many hot springs, the whole river, as far as I walked, runs warm. There are even little bubbling pools in which, we’re told, one can boil eggs. And people do. It’s a completely undeveloped river, with a couple of pools created with rocks and sandbags, and the only people there were the Thai locals. They were very friendly and watched our every reaction to the pools, and the surroundings, like we were cute little puppies. Somehow I didn’t mind. As the sunlight disappeared from the sky we headed back to a fantastic home-cooked meal and more conversation. At dinner, I notice Shelob hanging above our heads in the rafters. One of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen, and apparently she just lives there. No big whoop. Seriously, bigger than any tarantula. See photo. Oh, yeah, and the ants here are huge and run really fast. Like they’ve got to beat the other ants to the roadkill or something. Kinda freaky, except they don’t seem to come around people. So a brief but rich glimpse into Thai life in the heart of the land bridge between South Thailand and further South Thailand, and I'm up and off to the East and more island adventures.

Just a quick note on travel in Thailand: hand sanitizer is the best thing in my possession. My second use of a boat bathroom has thoroughly convinced me of this. You see, Thais outside of the city do not use toilet paper. On land, and in some larger ferry boats, there are little high-pressure water sprayers with which one clean oneself after using the facility. However, on the smaller boats, there is a large bucket of water with a small handled pan for the same purpose. The water looks clean, which is great, but there’s no paper no nothing in which to aid you in cleaning yourself, or drying yourself for that matter. And any tissues you bring with you need to be thrown in the waste basket. So, you can imagine why I have developed a love of hand sanitizer. In the States I rarely use it. I think soap does the trick and over-sanitizing is generally unnecessary. But here, I am so happy to have a little help, as soap is sometimes hard to come by.