Leaving Thailand

So, with our minds made up and our bags packed, we set out on a long journey from Koh Tao to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The night ferry left at 10 and it was packed with a hundred salty, sunburned travelers like ourselves. It was a seven hour trip to the port city of Chumphon and we spent that time fitfully sleeping shoulder to shoulder on a hundred sticky plastic mattress pads lining the floor of the ferry. Foot stink, varied snores and breathing patterns, low murmurings in different languages, the rumble of the engine and the deep sway of the ocean... It was dank and dirty and when the boat pulled into Chumphon, that city was also dank and dirty, and mostly deserted at 5 in the morning. A fat, pushy Thai woman at the bus station insisted to Jeff that we would need Malaysian money at the border, for visas or something, and in the haze of dawn and sleeplessness we exchanged our baht for ringgits and lost some money in the transaction-- undoubtedly part of her early morning traveller scam. It was disheartening to say the least, to have it happen again because our guards were down, to be taken advantage of by another Thai person with a trick up her sleeve.

We had planned to spend a little more time in Thailand-- go up north and see beautiful Chiangmai, maybe catch a boxing match in Bangkok.. but the monsoons really tore heavily through the northern provinces this year and it felt like it was time to leave. We might return to before we fly out to India, but it seems far away enough to put it out of mind for now.

Some thoughts on Thailand upon our departure: a lot of people used skin whitening cream, and smeared it on their faces every day, like white guano. Men, women, and so many little girls and even infants. They sold it in 7 11's, grocery stores, street vendors and markets. Familiar name brands that sell anti aging products in the US have special products like "pearl whiteness cream" and "lightening serum" and "magic beauty advanced bleaching moisturizer" and all sorts of horrible gimmicky names like that. I took a class in college about the politics of skin color (which I've always taken for granted, being light-skinned and all) and it was sad to see it so naturally incorporated into the culture in Thailand, where all of the magazine covers feature stone white Asian faces and even the photos of political figures are touched up to look lighter. During our time on Sairee Beach, the cutest little toddler girl near our place was scampering about the sand and singing little Thai songs, smiling and giggling all the while with big splotchy patches of dried white cream on her cheeks. Didn't anyone think she was perfect and beautiful just the way she was?

Another thing: I think that Thai women really resent western women coming around with their outspokenness and brazen attitudes, and they don't do much to hide their disdain. I read a book about the culture and politics of Thailand, and it talked a lot about national values and the place of women. Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia to never have accepted foreign occupation (minus the Kmer regime) and they hold onto a tough mistrust of the dreaded farang (western person). Their economy depends on western tourism, and Thai women are in a unique position to take advantage of that unique group of men who come to Thailand especially for them. Old white men every where (Australian, Englishmen mostly) had teeny Thai girlfriends at their sides, tottering around on high heels with an air of pride and confidence. These women are the sole breadwinners of their families back north; they pay for their siblings' schooling, put food on the table, pay off the lien on the family farm. It's a hard pill to swallow, and the only other option is some shitty factory job for 12 hours a day.

Then I ride into town on my high white horse with my prized white boyfriend, and I buy a bikini and a Mai Tai with a big wad of western money, and I'm so young and unburdened by the difficulties of Thai life, and I guess it all just seems unfair. Hippy dippy western feminism tells you that all women are "spiritually connected" by that "internal bond" of womanhood, but with the smoldering looks from Thai women and the contempt that sneaks through their broken English, I've never felt so estranged from the sisterhood, sotospeak. It's sad and completely understandable. I guess it's just a mighty big world we live in.

So, goodbye Thailand, and tuk tuks and long boats, beautiful limestone karst formations on the horizon, banana shakes and pad Thai. Goodbye roadside beer bottles full of gasoline for sale, scuba friends and the Thai beers we shared, little hut by the beach where we nested beneath a mosquito net and dreamed of our next adventure. An archipelago called Indonesia...

8:02PM
KL, Malaysia

Koh Tao

It took a while, but we made it to Koh Tao, or "turtle island", far off the eastern coast of southern Thailand. From the moment we stumbled off the night ferry, bleary-eyed at first daylight, ragged from travel and days of rain.. It's been paradise.

Like, literally paradise: white sandy beaches, clear blue waters lapping at the shore, palm trees and coconuts and barbecues on a deck overlooking the sunset, cold Thai beers and fire dancers on the beach, frogs croaking peacefully at night... Whereas the rest of Thailand is currently flooded under several meters of rain water in a record monsoon season, Koh Tao has been the opposite: blissfully rainless, sunny and hot and slightly breezy since we arrived one week ago. Yay!

We haven't been sipping coconuts and lounging on the beach all day, however. We hit the books, went back to class, studied and practiced and became PADI Certified Advanced Open Water Divers! We can tell you all about it now: setting up your equipment, doing your checks, monitoring your gauges, using an underwater compass, understanding your dive computer, navigating the depths... We did a total of nine dives-- to different reefs around the island, to depths of 30 meters, to a real a shipwreck off the coast... We even did a night dive, which was far-out. Being down in complete darkness and seeing all the plankton shimmer and glow, watching the stingrays ripple across the sand, swimming right next to a great big barracuda on the hunt, oh man! We did it all and it was all amazing.

I had previously dived once, with my mom in St. John. It's such an amazing feeling-- being completely weightless and free, twirling through a school of fish, looking down and seeing the most beautiful and complex creature, looking up at the distant glimmering surface, silent and miles away...I've always, always wanted to get certified, so this has been a major life accomplishment for both me and J. Now we can go diving anywhere in the whole world, all on our own. We can search for treasure, explore unbelievable ecosystems, tour shipwrecks, swim with sharks, study rare species, dive down to every beautiful corner of the whole world. To top it off, Koh Tao is one of the very best places to learn (calm and warm waters, abundant wildlife, super cheap, etc) and we had a great time with our dive school, which put us up free of charge in their beautiful resort all week. Not a bad deal!

Besides diving twice a day and learning all about the aquatic life in the gulf of Thailand, we've done a little exploring around the island, some snorkeling, enjoying delicious Thai food and beach barbecues and movies on English TV channels, which have all been supreme luxuries. We rented scooters and scooted all over the island on dirt roads that were more like obstacle courses-- very dangerous but also thrilling (as long as you've got a helmet on). We found secluded little corners, booze-fueled parties on the beach, bays and nooks that were quiet and peaceful, gigantic limestone boulders, perfect for high jumping into the clearest waters 40 feet below...

It doesn't get a whole lot better than this. I keep saying how lucky we are, and so blessed to be on this wonderful island. I'm almost afraid to leave-- everywhere else in Thailand is being ravaged by rain (Bangkok is even preparing for an evacuation) so our plans are kind of up in the air. Do we take our chances going up to Chiangmai, even if the roads are washed out? Do we cut our losses and skip over to Indonesia for a few weeks? Today is our day to sit down at an Internet cafe (on the beach) and figure out our next move, buy some plane tickets, doodle down some definitive plans, etc. We could easily stay here for a month and every day would be the same, happy routine of sunshine and fruit smoothies.

Sounds nice, but we're in it for the adventure! Gotta keep on moving on, as always.

8:26AM
Koh Tao, Thailand

Advanced Open Water Divers!

amazing Korean barbeque

our secret cove

Rai Leh

The good thing about staying in Krabi (probably the only good thing) is its proximity to other desirable little nooks along the Andaman Coast. They have these boats called "longtails", which are basically traditional Thai fishing boats refitted with obnoxious motors, and for a reasonable fee (100 baht, about three bucks) they'll take you across the high seas to nearby island destinations. Our dreams of island hopping were washed away by the rain (all day every day, unfortunately) but we DID get to check out the coastal town of Rai Leh, which is isolated by giant limestone karst formations and accessible only by boat.

Once there, (and after waiting out a flash of monsoon weather) we found beaches, swathes of green jungle, and amazing limestone cliffs ascending from the bluest waters. There was a cave tucked into one end of the eastern shore called "phranang cave", after the princess who (according to local lore) was killed by jealous fishermen. Inside the cave, a shrine had been built in her honor, and now fishermen come from all over to ask for luck, good fortune and fertility. For this supposed reason, there are hundreds ad hundreds of hand-carved, red-tipped wooden phalluses strewn all over the whole cave-- I guess as gifts for the princess? Big ones, little ones, some carved into the stumps of wood on the beach... After all the statues of the Buddha around these parts, it was nice to see a little variety!

We also did a little rock climbing, down to a deep, hidden lagoon in the jungle. What a dangerous and totally awesome time this was! It was wet and slippery and muddy, and the mud was bright red and clay-like in consistency. It was so steep in some places that we had to lower ourselves down (and climb back up!) on a series of slimy, knotted ropes that someone had set up there. It was a little scary, since I've never done that sort of thing before and the conditions were so extreme. By the time we got to the bottom, both of us were streaked all over with red clay, like war paint, feeling very badass and accomplished. The lagoon was so still and silent, light blue (too murky to take a dip, I thought) with walls of stalagmites and green foliage looming up and around a circle of daylight above us. No ripples in the water, and only the sounds of our voices echoing around the walls. It felt so prehistoric and awesome being down there, like we had fallen into the land of the lost and were suddenly the only people on an ancient and wild planet.

Other than our awesome adventure at Rai Leh (the only sun we've had all week) things in Krabi have been pretty quiet. We rented a moped and scooted all over the place, to different corners of the providence and back to the sea. We climbed up to the Temple of the Tiger, which sits atop of a 1,237 step flight of stairs up the side of a big mountain. Those stairs were pretty rough, but after Yosemite I feel like we can handle anything. On top of the mountain there was an enormous statue of the Buddha, which looked across the landscape and out to sea-- very windswept and romantic.

Up there, I said a little prayer that we would have better weather this week. Rather than tempt the fates, however, we've decided this morning to hightail it out of Krabi in search of a little sunshine-- on the eastern gulf coast island of Koh Tao, to where we are currently en route. At the very least, it'll be a change of scenery... Krabi-town is all played out.

5:27PM
Surat Thani, Thailand

How did they get it all the way up there?

J

Phranang Cave

...and Penis Shrine

A Secret Lagoon

Bangkok

Bangkok is a big, weird, dirty, confusing place. We landed last week and immediately became dizzy and disoriented; whereas the public transportation in Singapore was super efficient and easy to use and labeled in many languages, directing its diverse constituents around a clean and modern city... Bangkok was more or less the exact opposite. ALL signs in squiggly Thai, totally confusing layout, dirty and crowded and noisy as hell. To top it off, most people don't speak English here, so it's hard to know who to turn to for help.

[sidenote: the language barrier is fine by us-- it's a little imperialistic to expect English out of everyone, and anyway J has been brushing up on his Thai with a handy phrasebook, so mostly we're okay. It was interesting, though, coming from Singapore-- where everyone speaks several languages and they even have public service billboards asking, "How well does your child speak English?" with a cute Malay kid next to an empty speech bubble. It just doesn't appear that the language barrier is a big concern here, for so many reasons-- variety of ethnic groups and economic classes, perceived differences between urban and provincial Thais, anti-western sentiments in the media and the government, who knows what else. I'm reading a great book right now called "Thailand Unhinged" about all this stuff.]

What makes it even harder to get around-- the people who DO speak any bit of English are the ones trying to bamboozle you! The very second we stepped out of the train station, a man came up to us out of nowhere and offered a veritable fountain of information-- he even took our map and circled all the temples and interesting sights, where to get something to eat, where to stay in the city, where the "government tourism agency" was, etc. He said that Banglampur (the neighborhood where we were headed) was flooded, and that people were leaving in droves to stay in other parts of the city. He sent us on a sort of wild goose chase, and in the end we discovered that our 'hood was not flooded, that people were not fleeing, and that he had just been trying to sell us some ridiculous vacation package. If that sounds frustrating, imagine that it happened four or five more times, mostly with tuk-tuk drivers (a tuk-tuk is a gassy, sputtering three-wheeled motorcycle taxi found all over Thailand. The drivers harangue you incessantly with "Hey you! Where you go!" over and over again) who will basically tell you anything so that you'll hop on for the ride. We were inadvertently taken to tailor shops and coerced into having suits made (somehow we resisted..) taken to temples that were only open to westerners for "government holiday", told to go south, told to go north, told all sorts of untruths and misled in every direction. It's a little disheartening, being in a new and unfamiliar place and feeling like you can't trust anyone you meet.

In the end, we bought (and overpaid for) bus tickets to Krabi, on the southern Andaman Coast. The lady who sold us the tickets also convinced us to book two weeks at a little bungalow stay in this tiny beach town, which was unwise of us to agree upon because it's been raining more or less every day we've been here and there isn't a whole lot to do but wait it out.

We'll try to figure out somewhere else to go, if the rain doesn't let up. Missing my family, missing my friends, trying to keep a chin up, even in the rain..

11:49AM
Ao Nang, Thailand

PS - In other news, Amanda Knox was just released! I don't know if anybody else has been following that story but I just saw the verdict and shed a happy little tear for her... You go girl!