CHAPTER 15 - THAILAND, PART I

Fr 4/16/99 Kathmandu to Bangkok

I was up at 6am for a quick shower and early morning cab ride through Kathmandu. We arrived the airport at 730am for our 810am flight and lined behind a horde of people. We watched the line very slowly dwindle in front of us and had to notice no one queuing behind us. We could have come in an hour and a half later with the same results.

The flight left an hour late. Without thinking, I dove into the in flight meal of an omelet, hotdog sausage, and water, then concerned myself with the Nepali made food. I am not too sure about Nepali sausages, that sounds really scary.

The flight was fine and short, only three hours. John made himself clear on the flight that priorities were in order and that the first task would have to be buying Blizzards at Dairy Queen in the Bangkok Airport.

We shared a taxi with a Kiwi couple who met in England and were now married, after four years away they are now traveling their way home.

We took someone's recommendation for a lodge near Kaosong Road called "My House". The four of us booked in, John took single room for 150 baht, while I took a double for 300 and booked an airport shuttle (70 baht).. John and I walked to Kaosong Road for lunch while watching "Something About Mary" then later did email.

Sue's flight was scheduled to land at 10:45pm, so I rode out on the 9pm shuttle then browsed the airport for the hour. I found a small store at the end of the international terminal and checked out the exotic juices and dairy products. I bought a small carton of 100 percent Kiwi juice, a can of pure pineapple juice, and a small white plastic container of blueberry drinking yogurt. I thought I was in heaven, except I had to pay for these.

I strolled past Dairy Queen and resisted temptation, past Burger King, Swenson's, the ATM machines, and so on. I was confused however when I finally figured out where arrivals came through for friends were not allowed in the waiting area outside the doors and passengers then had a choice of walking either right or left through the terminal. To confirm this I had walked to the waiting areas at each end, and because her flight now had touched down I worried that she may have past through customs expediently and I had missed her. Damn.

So, I walked back around to one end and past a hundred people waiting for passengers, some with signs of surnames or hotels to stand alone directly in front of the arrivals doors. From here I thought she could see me if she had perhaps already made it through. The experience was similar to Logan, waiting outside the arrivals doors and when they opened trying to quickly peer in to catch a glimpse before the doors automatically closed. Eventually Sue came through and she immediately found the long haired skinny tall white guy standing across the large hallway.

I tried the well proven strategy of sharing a cab to Khoa San Road but failed to find other backpackers and was instead taken by a tax across a highway I didn't recognize and through toll booths never seen before.

Sa 4/17/99 - Bangkok

Our initial Thailand strategy is to "go to the beach", meaning head south to the islands and coast, but Sue had traveled 24 hours to Thailand and keenly voted for a day in Bangkok.

Sue and I were up late, finding John downstairs amongst the many backpackers, reading. We strolled Khoa San Road, ate lunch, and mailed cold weather clothes and gifts home from the post office. We then learned about the river boats and for site seeing took one for forty-five minutes to the famous Shangri-La Hotel.

The boat cost only 5 baht, a long tail boat with a seemingly huge car motor hanging over the bow, an extension of a drive shaft extending far into the water with propeller at the end. From my point of view I was captivated by these strange boats, so long and colorful with the exotic propulsion system. We slowly made the winding Choa Phraya River, checking out the monks in bright orange robes on board, and the many temples (wats) along the shore. It was rare but occasionally we passed housing hung over the river and once saw a family swimming off their rickety wooden walkway in the dirty brown water.

We walked into the fancy Shangri-La Hotel although we were probably not dressed appropriately in shorts and sandals. The hotel was immense, full of marble and workers. We would never be able to afford the two hundred dollar room fee, but we could fantasize. On the river side were two swimming pools, at the fancier one we sat on the chairs and relaxed and said it was too bad we didn't have swim costumes.

We found a tuk-tuk (funky three wheeled motorcycle for two passengers, the driver sits in front) to Patpong, an outdoor market also noted for it's go-go bars, and ate Thai in a cafeteria setting that John and I had visited before. After wandering briefly through the market, we found a tuk-tuk driver from hell, made worse by the chanting of the two male farang behind him. He was so daring however, we ended up sitting and silent, wide eyed and didn't further urge on the young driver.

Su 4/18/99 - Bangkok to Krabi to Rai Leh.

After gathering ideas and opinions from books and people I solicited, I suggested going to Krabi, a highly recommended spot where we could easily branch off from. There are a number of good reasons to chose the Krabi area. Diving is best on the Thailand west coast with some of the world's best diving off the Similan Islands to the north of Krabi. The nearby island town of Puket is the most popular beach resort destination in Thailand. Premier rock climbing on sandstone cliffs is nearby at Rai Leh. And most importantly, it is all recommended.

So we had booked bus ticket for the night and with a full day available thought that returning to the Shangri-La with swimsuits was in order. After another water taxi ride where we ran into Veronica who we knew from Ghorak Shep and Fire and Ice in Kathmandu we strode through the ultra hotel with purpose, we had been here yesterday and knew the hotel and we belonged. We walked straight to a outside toilet to change and to the nicer pool. A uniformed man immediately walked up to us and asked if we needed towels. "Harrumph, harrumph, well certainly my good man, towels would be marvelous". Okay, we really simple said "yes", but received a unwelcome reply, "Room number?". The man looked at me, I looked at John, he said "109". I though, "Aw shit, this hotel must have fifteen floors and the first floor is the lobby, they would never use three digit numbers". The man grinned widely and shook his head side to side. We were obviously nabbed and walked away.

We found Sue walking out of her change room and re-evaluated our strategy. We would go find a real room number then try the other pool. We elevatored up a few floors, choose something like 5201 and headed to the second pool. I immediately bought two Cokes for the ridiculous price of 200 baht and dove in to join Sue and John. When they left the pool they were accosted with that stupid question, "Room number?". They workers made a phone call and returned with another stupid question, "Name?". We were nabbed again and threatened to be charged 600 baht each. I had never left the pool because I didn't care to join the fireworks and heard the exchange afterward. The last negotiation was to leave immediately and not be charged. It's not our country, maybe the police were on their way, so we packed up wet and left. Very embarrassing, although we all agreed the swim was great. We water taxied back to Khoa Son Road were is was safer.

At 6pm we joined an overnight bus south to Krabi. We had paid for a VIP bus but instead we boarded onto a fairly plain and simple one. A VIP would have reclining seats, this one didn't, we complained, and were refunded a bit more than the difference. The three of us were hurried into seats with vacant adjacent seats and kept them for the duration. Visiting rights we available though which Sue and I used. John somehow sat next to a girl from California named Bonnie for the night. I slept well for being on the bus, and when awakening through the night to find a new position, I heard John and Bonnie talking toward the front of the bus.

Mo 4/19 - Rai Leh

Our bus stopped in Surat Thani where everyone waited for the second leg on another bus. People were going on to a mass of different locations including Krabi, Phuket, and Ko Samui.

In Krabi we booked a long tail boat for Rai Leh and waited for a hard rain to stop before setting off. The long tail boats here are a bit shorter with smaller engines than in Bangkok. The loud one cylinder engines, mostly Yanmar, seemed to be custom for long boats.

The boat was filled and people maneuvered to stay dry from the lighter rain. Rai Leh seems like an island but is a peninsula - one must reach Rai Leh by water for no roads do. We pulled up at the southern shore which is an area of mud flats where the water line tidal distance is great. Here accommodation is less than on West Beach and the four of us, including Bonnie, checked into the Diamond Cave Hotel, taking a room for four (500 baht) since we were promised doubles the next day.

In the afternoon we checked out a nearby beach named Hat Tham Phra Nang (Princess Cave Beach) which was absolutely stunning. The way to Princess Cave Beach was to walk from our lodging through the little village halfway along East Beach continuing to the beach's end where huge rocks are on the left and a fancy resort to the right. The trail peters to nearly nothing inside a wooded area adjacent to a very high and straight sandstone wall before revealing a fun half cave running inside the high sandstone. At some points the sandstone is in open columns and then hanging from above is one outrageous and huge stalactite, looking like a menacing enemy warship from an old science fiction movie. It's beautiful though and surrounding are other stalactites and stalagmites. My first thought after considering the huge sand arrow impaling a chest was, "hey, these guys are normally inside caves". The walk and half cave is weird and awesome, but then there is the beach. The revealing is after a stand of trees and then a powerful sight unfolds. The ocean scene is of distance islands also of high sheer sandstone columns. The waves are crashing onto a fine sandy beach and immediately catching the eye is a huge two hundred foot cliff face to the left full of streaks of red, yellow, and black, and plastered with huge hanging stalactites. I didn’t know which way to look - at the islands or the incredible cliff face. Below the face in a high but shallow cave is a shrine with a bright table of Buddha’s, candles, incense, and various gifts. To the left of the table is a pile of a couple dozen large wooden penis's. Perhaps the rock cropping of the same shape on an island straight out from the beach initiated the carvings. The beach passes a couple of well hidden resorts and then bends where just opposite is an island reachable by wading at low tide. The far end of the beach has another high cliff, definitely interesting but not with the same excitement as the other end.

Tu 4/20/99 - Rai Leh

We woke in our four person room, beds in a row, and the wall lined with backpacks. It wasn't so bad, but I would rather be alone with Sue in one the cute bungalows in front. Our view here is of a ratty construction camp where workers normally hang and cook. They are building more bungalows around the peripheral and recently completed our building that looks most like a motel. We went to change rooms later in the morning and were disappointed that doubles didn't open up and were again promised doubles for tomorrow.

Sue, John, Bonnie, and I walked to West Beach (Hat Rai Leh West) for a few hours in the afternoon. At the far end I wonder what ma be around the outcropping of rocks attached to a high sandstone cliff and so I swam around to investigate. Once around the outcropping I could see most of another beach and not wanting to drown I stopped to rest by pushing my weak body onto some sharp rock. A few minutes later a menacing dark form in the water caught my eye. John boosted himself up and we sat chatting, the first time in a long time we had a personal chat.

After dinner, Sue and I found great pancakes (crepes) at the outdoor Ya Ya's in the center of East Beach. With the native wooden architecture, trees, and small lights dangling from above, this night time atmosphere reminded me of Disneyland and downtown Nantucket. A sign at Ya Ya's billed a fire show and we hung and watched. A man and his very small daughter / assistant entertained for hours, starting with simple contests of skills for bottles of liquor. The first contest took participants, blind folded them, spun them around, and with stick in hand pointed them in the direction of a large can. It was difficult, many tried and nearly all failed. After various games, the man and daughter put on a fire show with kerosene dipped balls at the end of chains. These were spun by hand and in the low light appear as long streaks of flame while fast spinning resulted in circles of flame. The little girl was cute, spinning endlessly even when her dad ask her to stop. Eventually the flame would flicker no its own. Later in the show she was spinning once again and catch her ankle. Instinctively she let the hand free and the free ball went flying into the front of a food stand.

We 4/21/99 - Rai Leh, Sick Day 1

Today we received our long promised cute bungalows, and for 300 baht were happy. Sue and I were feeling a little under the weather and spent a good part of the day in our bungalow. Throughout the day I was feeling worse although my appetite was still there and I pigged out for dinner. During the day we run across Veronica (Nepal, long tail boat in Bangkok) and she joined the four of us. By nighttime I felt feverish and started aspirin. Sue also felt bad, but logically I couldn't understand how two people could have a flu at exactly the same time. She didn't complain much so I regarded her few comments as sympathy pains. I left diner early to be quiet in our room and read "The Moghul" by Thomas Hoover, a small printed 560 page book, while the others finished watching another bad movie.

Th 4/22/99 - Rai Leh, Sick Day 2

Now we were without a doubt both sick. I felt very feverish and dizzier than you could imagine. I had problems standing and peeing during the night, the room spun and wobbled and I wanted to fall down. To walk about outside required all my wits. I felt I was physically completely drunk and in a bad mind boggling dream. Sue was likewise feeling awful, we were both laid out. Even though we were miserable, we liked being close to one another. We wondered aloud what the cause of our illness may be, it was strange that we were both stricken at the same time., whereas if one had caught a flu, to pass it along would take days or weeks.

We had heard that contrary to official sources, there was malaria on the Thai peninsula. We read the health section in the Lonely Planet over and over and dismissed most of the diseases listed, although dengue fever alone seemed a possibility.

Finally near noontime, we picked our sorry asses out of bed and walked across the island to a resort nurse. I couldn't walk straight, I was like a drunk, the trees and buildings spun in a blur. I could reason somewhat okay, but the physical world as I knew it was shattered.

The nurse stuck a strip thermometer on my head, 39 degrees centigrade, and then on Sue's, the same. That's 102.2F and possibly the rudimentary instrument was low. I believe Sue didn't have the same degree of deliriousness, but she was definitely bad off. She felt faint and laid herself out for a few minutes on a cot while I tried to listen to the nurse. She said something about a lung ingested infection, handed us each a pile of different types of pills, amoxicycline was the only I could remember, the others I knew only as little green guys, little white guys, and bigger white guys. I couldn't concentrate on what she said. We were also handed a batch of Tylenol, a thermometer, and hydration packets. The total for both of us came to $36, a lot of money for a budget, but a relief really - a local professional told us we wouldn't die, that we would finish out our plane tickets, and we didn't have malaria. She also asked that we return the following day at 11am - someone cares! But I didn't care that I didn't know what each pill did, I already felt dead and wanted to live again.

We spent the rest of the day in bed. I could read and I read a lot. If I didn't move my head I felt only terrible. Sue either slept or stared. That night I was into extremes of hot and cold, and in the middle of the night I slipped shivering into my sleeping bag although the room temperature was in the mid-eighties.

Fr 4/23/99 - Rai Leh, Sick Day 3

Sue and I were up for a late breakfast at our, still sick. We watched and surprisingly appreciated Eddie Murphy in "Doctor Dolittle". Bonnie was off and we said our good-byes.

We were behind schedule, we didn't make the nurse until 1pm, and found a sign saying "closed". She may have made a special trip to her office to check on us, and I felt bad about that possibility.

We stayed in bed for the day again and I chose to sleep through dinner. That was climatic for I am constantly talking of eating, and eating as much as possible. I continued to plunk down the unknown tabs without food, religious about wanting to feel better.

John and Veronica have been top roping, John leading the climbs. Every day it has rained, showers then partial clearing. At night we were lucky to hear some loud downpours.

Sa 4/24/99 - Rai Leh, Sick Day 4

We were feeling a bit better, the temperature was down, but I still felt dizzy. We breakfasted at Ya Ya's and after a nap visited West Beach, our first beach in days.

Being in the water felt incredibly soothing, a welcome change to the endless hours on the mattress. We spent an hour in the water, simply standing around and talking.

We dined with John and Veronica on the west side. Sue fell asleep at 9pm, while I read "The Moghul" until 2am.

Su 4/25/99 - Rai Leh

We were better now, although I still complained of some dizziness. John and Veronica were off to another island, Ko Phi Phi (Pee-pee) via Krabi. John had insisted that we stay on Rai Leh since we had been sick and missed so much. I wasn't sure that a large quantity of activities were left for us, but to be well and alone was cool.

We walked again to Princess Cave Beach and then to the far end where we were alone most of the time. I had mistakenly packed my swim shorts into a box I shipped home of miscellaneous items. I had used my new light cotton knock off shorts from Kathmandu as swim shorts the first day I went swimming and didn't appreciate shorts that wouldn't dry. I thought this situation a good excuse to skinny, which I did for the duration at Rai Leh.

Again I had taken a lot of pics of the fabulous cliffs at the beach end. Around noon a crashing downpour forced us to seek refuge under a rock outcropping, afterward we were back in for the swim.

Later in the afternoon we did the great climb to the "lagoon". This very fun climb starts from between East and Princess Cave Beaches, and involves a steep muddy inclined assisted by ropes and the same down the other side along with ladders. At the start of the trail is a large white board with a painted map with three destinations - low view point, high view point, and the lagoon.

Of course the view points captured by attention first and this was our initial goal. We had been warned to prepare to get muddied on the steep trails, but when I really took a look I also worried that the red mud may be similar to Gay Head's (Martha's Vineyard) red clay - impossible to remove from clothes. I wore running shoes an the custom gray hiking shorts. The whitish T-shirt I wore was placed into the day pack. Sue unfortunately wore new beige shorts and a decent shirt and shoes, although she later said she wished the shorts had remained nicely stained as a momento.

Going up was slippery and fun, using ropes for assistance in the harder places. After ten or fifteen minutes we were wandering around looking for the lookouts according to how we remembered the map at bottom. We exhausted the possibilities, and guessed that technical climbing to the top of rock cliffs was the answer. We continued on and passed a couple returning from the lagoon. Except for that one minute, we didn't see another person, we felt alone in this strange muddy jungle. Descending down the other side to the lagoon was much more of a process. Parts were very tricky with long slippery steps between rocks, roots, or ladders. I worried about Sue since she was without much

of this boyish exercise for one slip could end the vacation, but she was a trooper and did very well. The ropes and ladders really made the trail special. Seldom do we see such things back home. The steep trail into a red chasm and the bountiful trees made the effort all the more worth it - the scenery was marvelous. We reached the bottom and the lagoon after an addition forty minutes and then saw an unusual sight. It really wasn't a lagoon but a two hundred foot water filled hole amongst the sandstone This was like being in a Raiders of the Lost Ark or child’s adventure film, so different and unlike anything I had seen before, very exiting. Sue and I explored the banks by hoping over rocks between the water and mushy ground. We took pictures and stared at the pond and the sheer cliff faces and their stalactite walls.

Darkness was finding us when we left the lagoon. Our return trip up was much easier then descending, and since the lagoon side of the trek was overall tougher, we made our way back to the map fairly quickly. Taking inventory of our clothing however showed a mass of red mud stains, especially on Sue's light colored clothing - she looked like something for a battlezone.

Mo 3/26/99 - Rai Leh to Ko Phi Phi

Rai Leh was becoming monotonous and tiring to us. Maybe because we were sick, it had soured probably because we had been here for a week. Although we hadn't climbed or chartered a long tail boat to explore small islands, it was simply time to move on.

We booked a ferry straight to Ko Phi Phi to the southwest an enjoyed passing the surrounding islands, strange shaped humps of sandstone surrounded by green.

Arriving on our ferry into Ko Phi Phi Don (there are two islands, the other uninhabited called Ko Phi Phi Leh) the first observation made was the large difference in size of the town compared to Rai Leh. Ko Phi Phi's waterfront was filled with long tail boats and smallish ferry boats. The main village was stoked piled with restaurants, booking agents, and shops. The potential for wandering the village for entertainment was exciting, especially compared to the very quiet Rai Leh. Sue and I somehow met two Oz girls and together wandered about looking for lodging and settled on a strip of suitable bungalows on the beach to the southeast of the village (300 baht). Kate and Jenny would be our fun neighbors for or few days here.

Tu 3/27/99 - Ko Phi Phi

We 3/28/99 - Ko Phi Phi

After a breakfast on our small porch Sue and I stole Jenny's idea of taking a walk south along the shore. In the hot sun we past lodges with bungalows of varying degrees of comfort, winding through forest to a lodge featuring wooden huts with balconies in the shape of ship bows. It was a place I was curious about and then as we stood at the restaurant, coincidentally, rain started and we were forced into sitting for a snack. After fired eggs and toast we carried on, following the water and fine sand beaches, and passing over hills that bypassed rocky outcroppings.

At the southern end of the island we took a much longer trail that led to the eastern side. The bush was thicker, the trail more narrow, and because I walked first I cleared the trail of spider webs, something really on the disgusting side, but with practice I can almost ignore the unpleasantness. That was until I met a large scary web maker head-on. I was immediately grateful that he thought I was us ugly and scary us him for his eight legs quickly carried him toward the forest and away from me. With that immediate knowledge my scream was short and I stopped panicking to wipe the web from my chest and face. He was a slightly smaller version of a curiosity we had met in Rai Leh, an unusual long tubular yellow and black body. Both Sue and I watched him in astonishment.

The beach we found on the east side especially interesting because there was at first glance a long deserted sandy beach, perfect for a romantic few hours. At the far end we then spied a set of very local buildings and explored before setting up beach. This was a fishing village of small weathered and elevated huts. It was very quiet, not many people around. One shack stood out for the color of children’s clothes as the sat on their porch and obviously saw us. There were four cute girls, they laughed and smiled and I guess made comments about us that resulted in more laughing.

Instead of returning to the far deserted end of the beach we continued on slippery rocks ordering the water but stopped and half hid when we spotted John and Veronica walked towards us. As a joke we nonchalantly said 'hello' when they were neat, they were surprised. It had been five days since they left us at Rai Leh and funny that we would run into them on a deserted section of the island far from the village.

That evening, Sue and I, John, Veronica, Kate, and Jenny dined over looking the Asian harbor until a storm with strong windy rain forced us to the protection of cover further into the restaurant. We watched everything light fly and the help scrambling. It felt good to be with a small group of people again, a little merry social party.

Th 3/29/99 - Ko Phi Phi

I had motioned to Kate, Jenny, John, and Veronica that renting a long tail boat for one half day would be a good idea. I had researched prices, itineraries, and maps, and chartering our own was the most price efficient method. I mused that we could visit the uninhabited Ko Phi Phi Lay, a jagged piece of uninhabited sandstone sitting majestically to the south of Ko Phi Phi Don. Afterwards we could then snorkel west of Phi Phi Don where I heard snorkeling is best.

By 9:20am we were in a noisy long tail with shade covering, each of us outfitted with snorkel, mask, and fins. The total boat cost was B600 for four hours, snorkel gear B60.

I used a postcard just purchased with a bad map of the islands and small pictures of island highlights as an aid for pointing out our requested destinations to our driver. I asked the pilot of the long, narrow, and rolly boat that we be taken to Maya Bay a pretty spot on the west of Phi Phi Lay. Our pilot responded in broken English that the sea may be too rough and he would try. We were brought straight to the Viking Cave on Lay's east side. It was also on the postcard and I thought it would be interesting but I didn't expect to see a stand at the end of a pier for admission. There were a few other long boats and a conventional small fiberglass boat already there. We paid the 20 baht and walked down the suspect pier to the cave.

The entrance was really a sight, a large take off from Robinson Cursoe or Gilligan's Island. Bamboo was the structure material of choice and was plastered seemingly haphazardly everywhere around the entrance, pieces tied vertically and horizontally to rock with heavy rope, some used more conventionally for walkway and roofing. At the end of the dodgey pier was a man swaying in a hammock tied off within a open roofed bamboo room constructed for an unknown purpose. He looked comfortable but I wondered if I could be in a Disney horror movie.

I prematurely became a wise ass by calling everything "Viking" - "there's the Viking admission desk (20 baht), there's the Viking hammock, a Viking refreshment stand, ....".

Inside the Viking Cave was more bamboo, incredible vertical structures reaching high to stalagmites. We wandered separately until Sue talked with a guide who explained that the cave held very special birds nests harvested for soup. Then I remembered reading about the cave. The whole island was not inhabited to protect the bird nest industry.

I squinted up into the darkness, very high to the murky cave ceiling and slowly focused on more staging stuck against the sandstone stalagmites. I blinked and confirmed this and wondered how high I was looking - one hundred, two hundred feet? I had to find the guide and he explained the ceiling was actually 150 meters high. Very impressive. I would wager that the 150 meters is an exaggeration, that is nearly five hundred feet, but I would have to put some weight on this higher figure. On a wall near the cave opening were a series of rough paintings of multi-masted sailing ships said to be Chinese and seven hundred years old.

The long tail boat that motored us along the eastern shore of Phi Phi Leh, first entering a fairly narrow entrance to an exciting lagoon surrounding by 100 foot walls. There wasn't any sand or other land inside. Similarly to the rock walls at Phi Phi Don and around Phi Phi Leh, these walls jutted from the water vertically to a dizzying height. However, within an nearly enclosed lagoon maybe two hundred meters across, the walls appeared more shear.

We passed through another walled and landless inlet with two through points before heading toward the east side of Phi Phi don for snorkeling. Our long tail boat seemed to break through the water okay, but the time taken to reach the main island showed the amount of distance we had covered.

We rounded the islands southern end, passed the fishing village beneath from yesterday, and set anchor just a bit further north, east of the lookout point John and Veronica had crested yesterday before we bumped into them.

At our snorkeling spot were two other boats, a long tail and a larger motor boat. The six of us donned out gear and splashed in for a long awaited meeting with marine life. The water's visibility was okay, thirty feet or so, and although much of the coral was dead, there were very interesting spots that suited me fine. Snorkeling and diving can be such relaxing sports, I was gratified to swim slowly north into the current, and watch the sun playing on the colorful coral and see equally colorful fish dart about. When an estimated fifteen minutes was over, I turned back to float in a wonderful drift snorkel, simply floating on the water's surface and floating with the current. Near our long tail I found a pretty white and yellow coral head with a pocket occupied by two small orange and white fish protecting their abode. I smiled and watched as these two small wonders boldly confronted any fish swimming by and then tested them myself. When I moved my hand or facemask toward them they darted out to contest. I laughingly repeated my experiment over and over until they were perturbed and told me too boot it.

The afternoon was spent with sleep recovery and at night we met John and Veronica for dinner and later a video in a bar / restaurant with banana shakes.

Fr 3/30/99 - Ko Phi Phi to Phuket

Sue and I were up early and sitting at a travel agent in the center of the village. The large women from last night helped us with dynamic reservation information - constantly changing, and we had to compromise with an economy flight leaving not this afternoon to Chiang Mai, but tomorrow morning. This would allow us an afternoon and a night to explore Phuket, the largest coastal resort area in Thailand, known to be expensive and crowded, but beautiful.

John has decided to go on to Ko Lanta with Veronica to possibly take an advanced diving course in lieu of joining us on an expensive plane flight and short five day stint to Chiang Mai. He thought of busing there to meet us, but with two overnights, we would be leaving a few days after his arrival in the north.

Along with 3850 baht ($104) plane flights from Phuket to Chang Mai, our friendly and helpful agent arranged a high speed ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Phuket for 200 baht. The ferry left immediately, at nine o'clock, and took two hours. I sat inside, amidst air conditioned comfort, and lightly dozed while swaying to the roll of the long and narrow ferry.

The arrival port in Phuket was packed with resting fishing boats, rows of colorful vessels with all contour lines bowed in oriental fashion - both the bow and stern lifting upward. I wondered how practical the interiors would be with sloped decking and visualize food rolling across plates at dinner time.

We walked out of port area figuring wrongly that the town was a kilometer away, which it wasn't, but we unwittingly reduced our taxi fare by 20 baht each when we walked past the guard booth. We were in the "no help, no money, thank you" attitude - we knew how to get to where we were going in the least expensive way. Outside the port we reached a cross street and found no sign of the town. About the forth taxi driver had then found us, stopped, and quickly noticed our confusion in our whereabouts. He explained that the town was six kilometers away. We wrestled the fare down to fifty baht, half of our first quote inside the port area.

He dropped us at the Phuket Mansion as a lodging suggestion somewhere close the city center. I quickly checked out a room for 350 baht and not desiring an exhaustive search like our previous two go rounds, we were in.

The LP suggested Mae Porn for lunch, we bit, walked through the baking town to a good lunch and relaxing sit. Sue was adamant about reconfirming our Chiag Mai flight, so we did, then something absolutely miraculous happened - rented a motorbike for rest of day.

This was all of amazing for two reasons. Firstly, Sue had never been on a moped or motorcycle before, she didn't care for them, thought them too dangerous, and heard too many horror stories. And here she was trusting me - he who has not driven in months, who hasn't driven a motorcycle in years, who had to drive on the left side of the road within crazy Asian traffic. I was amazed that she trusted me and when I asked why, her reply was, "It is easy to just give in then listen to you whine all afternoon". I knew that wasn't the whole truth. The truth was that she really did have trust in me and wanted to show it. Maybe she also knew I occasionally have good ideas or maybe she just wanted to see as much of Puket as possible in the remaining afternoon. I like the "trust" theory.

Secondly, we had a ball.

The motorbike (B150 per day was a cross between a moped and a motorcycle - 100cc, clutchless, four speed Yamaha. One little problem that would send Sue bashing into me was shifter. Unlike a conventional motorcycle which shifts one down and four up, this one was four down. So I occasionally down shifted when I was to upshift and the rear tire would skid, the motor would race, the bike would quickly speed down, and Sue would slide into me and push me onto the gas tank. Interesting. Luckily no one was tailgating when I blundered like this.

We cruised first to Patong Beach, the largest and busiest on this big island. We took turns swimming in the large waves while the other watched our belongings. Here I felt a warmness inside, like I was home at a busy beach area like Ft. Lauderdale or somewhere in California. It isn't quite the same, but compared to Rai Leh and Phi Phi, this was like home.

We then headed north in search of a beach mentioned by LP, Laem Son. The ride was pretty, we left behind the busiest and build up Patong Beach and cruised winding and hilly road through forests and occasionally small sections of development. Laem Son is located at the bottom of a cliff at the edge of a hairpin and the two parking lots used to access the beach are pay-for so we gave it a miss.

Over a hill, around a curve, and what did we see but giant pink elephant and other giant and obscure man made theme park figures. I believe we were at Phuket's answer to Disneyland on a smaller scale. I cruised into the parking lot against Sue's fear of embarrassment of wrongful access. The park was very quiet. We could only wonder exactly what we were seeing for all writing was in Thai.

We cruised further north on Phuket's west side, passing good possibilities for a it more beach, and following fun curvy roads through forest. We entered a village and once realizing that the congestion along the road was for a open market we found a space for the motorbike and browsed the fruits, and smelly fly swathed fish and meat. A lot of the fruits an vegetables left us puzzling and guessing. Asia does have a great variety of produce. We each took a couple of pictures of colorful scenes of produce and children vendors, picked up a watermelon and headed for a beach south.

The watermelon tasted great as we sat on a quiet beach and watched the waves crash, and with it was a happy romantic calm and quietness.

Sue and I agreed that we should return the motorbike before dark to avoid the higher possibility of accident, not they we, or I, would be at fault. We hear that most accidents happen at dawn and dusk, and within one half mile of our homes. Hmmm, perhaps the further from home the more you may neglect the dusk issue. Anyway, we didn't make dark. We drove on past Patong, stop after a wrong guess at the road south along with a deluge that put us under a tree for cover. After the business of Patong, again the road ran through more rural and natural roadscapes. We cruised in the hot sunset and coming darkness passing fine long beaches and climbed into hills providing exotic and intoxicating views of the distance coastline wit

remnants of dark hued sunrays. As we descended and neared Puket town our headlight through a tunnel into the darkness of curved roadway, then we enter the urban life of the city and associated traffic. Somehow our motorbike homed back to it's stable in the city center and the cowboys dismounted. My bud Sue and I were able to see a large part of Puket with the motorbike, great scenery, the most popular beaches and then some totally deserted. All without incident. Being on a motorbike, even a small motorbike, was exhilarating. The aspect of a motorbike and the feeling once again to be in hot open air while driving at night, similar to the many rides in my convertibles on a hot summer night, was fantastic.

The last such time was after Dan and Bethann's wedding reception last year - that was a picture. I was driving John's red RX7 convertible, top down from Kent Island, Maryland, to our hotel room an hour away. Rachel was in John's lap and they both fell asleep after I had stopped to buy an Eskimo Pie (chocolate covered ice cream). I hadn't though ahead too far. I wore my full suit and trying to drive while maneuvering through the quickly melting ice cream was worse than impossible. It ran down my face and hands, dripped all over my suitcoat, into my lap. Staying between the lines was a sticky issue.

Sa 5/1/99 - Phuket to Chiang Mai

We had requested a wake up call for 5:30am but were woken earlier with a Muslim call to pray at 5am, a screeching blaring man singing over a powerful loudspeaker nearby. We had arranged a ride with a man associated with the Phuket Mansion the night before and arrived at a fee of 300 baht for the forty-five minute ride. It's a "gotcha" for tourists to get to the airport, a taxi charges 350-400 baht, there isn't a bus, although there is a airport limousine service for 80 baht a head but it originates on the town outskirts.

Fifteen minutes into the ride I asked our driver if we could stop for food, it was just after 6am, and he agreed as I watched a Seven Eleven pass by. We stopped at a typical seedy Thai restaurant, nameless, where Sue balked at the choices but I decided on a Thai breakfast of noodles. A large steel pot was steaming with a broth and a package of rice noodles and two eggs were added. The yellow soup had pieces of scallions floating and smelt good. Hey, this shouldn't be so bad. Then I noticed pieces of chicken, in particular liver floating about. While the liver added flavoring, I occasionally mistakenly ate pieces, with full sour face, and Sue had a laugh.

To be in an airport again was actually comforting, the familiarity and impending flight felt good, and knowing that I could simply sit on the plane and doze for an hour was welcome. I checked may burdensome backpack, weighing in at the limit of 20kg. The Thai Airways flight departed on time at 8am, we were served a small croissant chicken sandwich, and I repeatedly fell asleep to awaken when my jaw fell open.

Not too let an hour in Bangkok Airport go to waste, we (Bob?) ate a half dozen Thai sized donuts, chocolate milk, and blueberry drinking yogurt, then resumed our flights north reaching Chiang Mai in less than an hour.

Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, caters to tourists and thus nails you with a 90 baht taxi ride for a ten minute ride to town. Maybe I go a little overboard watching prices, but since paying for inter-Asia flights, the budget is $US15 a day. Excluded from the price watching are Magnum Almond ice cream bars and the flight we just took to help recover lost time since losing three or four days while sick in Rai Leh ($US104). Well, that flight pretty much blew the budget, but I'll try to stick to the $15 per day limit. Anyway, we didn't take the taxi to town, I caught the eye of a tuk-tuk driver as he was leaving the airport and settled for 50 baht.

Boom Boom, our driver was great, a life long friend within the fifteen minute ride. He was full of smiles, light talk, and sincere comment. Boom Boom is middle aged Buddhist with a family.

We took Boom Boom's suggestion of lodging for 200 baht (shower, western toilet with paper!, fan, no a/c) at the Wiriya House not far from the south-east corner of the huge moat that runs square around the city, and also close to the famous night market. The idea was to rest for an hour, but in a comfortable haze I rolled around in the large bed for three and a half hours, until 5:30pm.

Walking somewhat aimlessly about the city, we dropped off laundry for Sue, checked out trekking prices (trekking is popular in the north including jungle walks, seeing hilltribes, elephant riding, and bamboo rafting), then made our way to the night market.

At the market we enjoyed an outdoor restaurant, one of many in a square set back one block from the busy stalls lining the sidewalks and were humored by cute young girls trying to sell cloth bracelets and other cheap jewelry. They all had similar round faces, jet black hair, bangs, and pretty Asian eyes. Four flocked over us, laughing and half begging and pushing the bracelets onto our wrists. One repeated a tilted whining face, saying, "You money, I no money". I would mimic her face and moan and we both laughed. We grew some sort of bond with these girls, and for the remainder of Sue's trip we would reference and laugh about "you money, me no money".

On our walk back we passed a very large upscale hotel with a banner at the street advertising the Carlsberg Beer "Dynamic Band". The hotel grounds were quite impressive, something I will never be privy to on this trip. After walking by manicured gardens and waterfalls and fake bridges a outdoor dining area was spread over a large area. The stage was fortunately at the further end of us, Thai's filled most tables, waiters, waitresses, and other help were abundant. The loud Thai band started with Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" and didn't rise in my view with the Eagles, Pink Floyd, Roy Oribison, and Queen. Songs in Thai followed and when a Thai Karaoke started to fill intermission, we left.

Su 5/2/99 - Chiang Mai

Sue and I had a late start, late breakfast, and were walking toward the action of Chiang Mai when a tuk-tuk came flying at us and stopped. Boom Boom jumped out with a big smile, "my friends, I was coming to see how you were!". He was so happy to see us. We didn't have exact plans so when Boom Boom offered to drive us around the city to the most important wats an other stops for 100 baht we agreed. The catch was we would also stop a few shops along the way "just to look". The truth was that he had sat outside a big hotel all day yesterday without a fare. Also, he would probably get a kick back for showing us expensive shops, definitely if we purchased anything.

So, we flew around the city of Chiang Mai with Boom Boom an his loud tuk-tuk seeing wats and visiting a jewelry shop, a tailor, and an umbrella factory. The wats including Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Suan Dok, and Wat Chet Yot. I found Wat Suan Dok the most interesting with its burial site of seven princes and princess, a scene of mass amount of various shaped white chortens.

We did spend a long time in the impressive jewelry shop. We were assigned to a very short and squat man, dimensions very unusual, and not without our harmless covered comments. Maybe the comments were as much for his strange demeanor. Either way we enjoyed him, and although I reminded him we were "just looking", he was patient.

First we viewed jewelers at labor, watching the skills and the creative process unfold. They were making rings and pennants with sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. The large showroom was tastefully decorated and I immediately gravitated towards the large fishtank fish and commented loudly. No, that was probably not appreciated, but hey, we were the burdened customers and we are always right. Browsing through jewelry is truly fun for me, but my time limit is about ten to fifteen, and we then gravitated toward the display cases closest to the door.

Boom Boom returned us to Wiriya House, and we rested a little then went out for a wander.

Finding the time late for making a booking, we half rushed to the agent we first talked with. I find it amazing that one an book at 7pm for a three day trip departing the following day, but we did it. We booked onto a multi-part trip for 1200 baht that included transportation to the trek starting point, a side trip to a waterfall, elephant trekking, and bamboo rafting.

We were walking dimly along Tha Phae Road where we had made the booking when we passed a European couple. I noticed the girl was of small stature and as the man passed I felt his gaze follow closing. He then called out, "Bob!". It was Michael and Tina who I first met on the Everest Trek near Phakding and later Namche Bazaar. We exchanged our stories sine last seeing each other. They had been to Loas for two weeks and loved it. We then joined them for dinner near the NE corner of the moat and had a great time, talking non-stop. They're a great couple that I really enjoyed hanging with and I will never see again - we never exchanged contact information.

Afterward, Sue and I resumed our walk to the night market to search frustratingly for long cotton pants for me, mosquito wear. The fun part was running again into "me money, you no money" and the girls. The bad part was the search for pants ending with a pair too short, for too much baht, that a week later would ruin a T-shirt by running dye (as if one of my t-shirts was not already near death throws).

Mo 5/3/99 - Trekking

Today would be the start of our exciting Thailand trek. The trek helped to put focus and objective into the time Sue and I had together. Although being in bed together was great, falling flat in Rai Leh from fever at the start and then continuing with ten beach become repetitive. To book a flight north through Puket, visit Chiang Mai for cultural aspects, and then on to a trek was perfect. We had shopped around for a trek that fit our schedule, one with decent pricing and soon found that trek was sold to others in our group for up to 500 baht more. It all started pretty good for us, but didn’t end so well for fellow trekkers.

There were ten clients on the trek - Sue and I, a French couple, a French women and Moroccan man, an American guy named Holbrook, a middle aged American physics professor and Thai university administrative women pair, and a Japanese girl traveling alone. We were stuffed into a songthaew, a covered pickup with bench seats, too tight, low and uncomfortable for me. I whined. Fortunately, we had a couple of stops along the way to our start.

The first stop was a market place in a decent sized town. Sue and I wandered through the purely Thai offerings, finding lychees a good buy, so we purchased a kilo. Lychees are a round red covered fruit, the inside white, sweet, and juicy.

Second stop, Mork Fey Waterfall for a swim and lunch. The forty foot falls was impressive, and even tough there were a few groups there, Sue and I enjoyed a rare waterfall pool. Waterfalls are always a special place to swim, very natural and exhilarating.

We reached the trek starting point late in the day around 3pm. Our guides Tim and Baroo seemed pretty cool and along with the others we looked like good group.

There was an option of a short one hour walk, or a longer two hour one. Sue and I voted for the longer, but the time of day decided for us and we were Indian file through the thick. The trail was easy, not too steep, and without many obstructions.

We stopped to view a hot springs area, but I was more thrilled with the buffalo grazing nearby. Down stream from the springs was a pool for swimming, but upon investigation, I found the pool too shallow and way too hot. I can't believe anyone has attempted our guides offer.

Our first night was to be spent in a Karen village named Pong Noi. Karen are one of the eight government recognized hilltribes from Myanmar (Burma), and Laos. The hilltribes migrated to Thailand to find freedom from war 50 to 100 years ago. The hilltribes are the fundamental draw to the trekking in Thailand. Each tribe is distinctive. Their culture, dress, and other ways of existence. Some were nomadic, some slash and burn farmers, most opium growers, although the government is trying to change these matters.

Not long after arriving Pong Noi, the skies open wide and down came a torrent. We all gathered beneath the elevated accommodation building for trekkers. We rested and talked and waited for dinner.

All of the hilltribe buildings we saw were built on stilts, many in Thailand are. This is for ventilation, to dissuade pests, and in case of flooding.

This Karen village was built eight years previous by the government and the villagers were relocated here. It sounds sad in a way, like many stories of governments trying to deal with population segments out of the norm.

Baroo and Tim cooked for us, then we all bedded together in one large room on straw mats on top of bamboo flooring. I was the only one to carry along a Thermarest mattress pad, tee hee. I was, in fact, the only to carry a full pack.

Tu 5/4/99 - Trekking

Sleeping was not too bad. We stayed dry, there were no insects biting at night, and the floor wasn’t too hard for most. We breakfasted, then set out.

Unfortunately, we didn't experience the hilltribe people personally. They

had kept their distance. Only the Thai women trekker was able to communicate.

We trekked a couple of hours through beautiful forest, coming upon high points on the trail with views to mountains 60pk away in Laos. Imagine we could see Laos, how exotic and spectacular.

Again today the walk was not too rugged, Sue and I walked in front of the others until we would meet a for and wait (im)patiently. We crossed a very fun primitive bamboo bridge and stopped at Mae Ma Mai, another Karen village for a rest. I broke open the lychees and hardly had to force them on the others.

Another two hours of walking and we made the Elephant Camp, Pan Bacha, where Karen people care for elephants, and the Leahu people build bamboo rafts. The village wasn't large, a dozen buildings. It was on flat land bordered by a muddy river where a man was completing one of a few bamboo rafts. Within large spaced out trees just behind the buildings were two young elephant with front feet chained together and the feet chained to trees. A larger elephant stood a long tether near smaller trees and a building a bit further away. From where the young elephant stood a hill rose sharply into the forest, I climbed for perspective, and snapped a photo.

We all sat on long termite eaten benches at a terminate eaten table. Saw dust filtered onto our feet. After a simple lunch of more carbohydrates Sue and I took a stroll to closer inspect the young elephant where we were warned of their aggressiveness. In the heat we moved slowly, walking along the riverbank downstream passing simple bamboo huts and stopping where the trail terminated at the village end.

Below the village we watched an elephant being washed in the river. The tender yelled and with a small branch prodded the elephant into rolling onto each side as he washed her. I wondered about the cleanliness of the water and if the elephants used a special loo, but my suspicions were confirmed when one didn't hesitate to hold back.

I muttered that I did not want to be on a young elephant, I needed a monstrous bull, big, old, full of wrinkles. I thought I deserved the best. After an hour of hanging about the village, four large elephant were ridden in, and as people started becoming active the excitement built.

We were directed onto the big pachyderms. On each elephant, two sat on a wooden seat on the back, a third sat on the neck. I had watched the elephant ride into the village and analyzed the riders movements. Riders seemed to have the same coordinated hip movement of horse riders. From experience I know I am not a horse rider by nature and so Sue and I asked for the wooden bench when we were about to mount. The neck was taken by he Japanese girl.

I was confused. I wasn't sure which emotion to tend to. Firstly, I felt bad for the elephant. He was forced into labor. When we mounted we stepped onto the back of his head, onto his wrinkled neck, and up onto the wooden seat for two. I had never stepped on anyone's or any animals head before, well not those of people I liked, but definitely never on an animals. I also wondered how comfortable the seat was for our poor beast. My second worry was image. Imagine a big dopey white guy in the forests of northern Thailand sitting on a leathery gray pachyderm. Definitely out of place, and this scene would probably be less kosher on Thames Street, Newport. It just didn't seem right, like the first time on a rickshaw in Kathmandu.

Of course the ride was a blast, and the big tough animals were fine. We couldn't hurt the great wonderful beasts, it's like water on a duck. The ride started out frightful because of a steep but short descent down a hill to the river. My first thought was of the animal tumbling over sideways and crushing the three of us. He slowly and surely trotted down the hill and across the river.

We named our gray buddy Jambo.

We crossed the river many times. As we fell into the mood and rhythm of elephant trekking, silliness started. We pretended we were racing the others, calling out the unequalled virtues of our steed and predicting the inevitable outcome of the finish. Encouraging Jambo to quicken his pace and run past the others was fun but sometimes seemed to result in him stopping for a graze of bushes.

One elephant in of the group stood out because of size. He was huge around the middle, much rounder then the others, and was often in front of us so we watched and commented of the massive side saddles. Then life as we knew it changed. We heard a deep, growling, rumbling noise sounding much like one from the front end. It wasn't. Sue and I looked at each other in startled confusion and questioned the feared possibility and - whooof! The odor was atrocity! So bad we were screaming and asking Jambo to do something, anything! Urrggh!

After two hours the caravan of elephant, trekkers, guides, and elephant keepers were lumbering through the river shallows, splashing along, when village buildings, wooden and stilted could be seen in the short distance. Bong Nean, a Leahu village, was across the river, the end of our elephant journey.

I scoped the few buildings bordering the river at the bottom of a hill. A young child bent over with butt exposed from under a shirt to wash pots in water from a black hose, child labor but very cute.

The elephant walked us to a disembarking platform up a steep hill within the main village. The hill ran parallel to the river, along the top of the hill ran a sort of dirt road, and on the opposite side of the road from the river was a series of buildings. The hill side was tree covered so the river wasn't in sight. The far end of the road extended upwards on a higher hill.

Our night here at Bong Nean was interestingly different that the last, not because of location or tribe.

Sue and I walked the length of the village, five minutes normally, walking slowly and scoping the people, kids, buildings, and looking for pictures. The last building at the end of the village before the secondary hill was an opium den. We were told about it and out of curiosity considered peeking our heads inside. When other trekkers had passed by earlier they were outwardly offered opium, but now was worker appreciation time, we heard a muffled offer, "opium!" from inside but the people were too high, laughing loudly, and enjoying themselves to be outward brash salesmen.

Our meals so far have consisted of little protein because of lack of meat dairy products, nuts, and beans. This wasn't a huge deal since we would only be on the trek for a few days, but our nutrition did cross my mind. Tonight's meal, however, included chicken. Brown chicken came out in a bowl and passed around. I grabbed a drumstick. Near unanimously we looked at it as suspect. I took a bite but my teeth bounced off. Again I jawed down and only came off with a tiny shred between two teeth. I bounced the chicken leg repeated off the table like rubber. Only the Japanese girl ate her chicken and seemed very happy with it. Later on an inquiry was made, "What was up with that chicken?", and the answer, "Three years old".

Our guides, Tim and Baroo, were pleasant, friendly, and constantly smiling. Although Baroo led the tour, Tim was slightly more outgoing. He is 32 years old, and working hard for career change as a guide. Remarkably, he has been speaking English for only a year, he is that good, and even more outstanding is ability to play guitar after eight months. Tim didn't carry a guitar with him, but borrowed one from the village, and played on for hours.

In line with the tunes I have heard right through the vacation so far, he knew the Eagles and Pink Floyd, and many others. He told us that eight months ago the popular Vermont band Fish trekked for seven days, carrying along guitars and keyboard. Fish members taught and encouraged Tim to learn guitar and monthly they mailed Tim ten classic rock CD’s

It was unusual for our travels, but the kids that hung around us were real shits. The little boys, who could not speak English, pounded us in the rears, and annoyed us by placing large clinging black beetles on our shirt backs. Their mode of humor was not on, their manners lacking, pretty much all of them, except for one small boy, six years old. He wore an bright orange shirt, carried short dark hair and brown eyes on a round face, and had a demeanor above the rest. He was obviously thoughtful, intellectually curious, and gentle. Tim had a special bond with him.

The boy sat beside Tim and intently listened to him strum and sing through many songs at the candle lit table. He sometimes crossed his arms on the table an laid his head on top, eyes bright, an quietly absorbing. Then in total surprise, Tim spoke quickly to the boy in Thai, and started stroking the guitar to John Denver's "Country Road", while the little boy sang. He captured us all, his cute small high broken voice singing words he didn't understand, in an accent and rolling some consonants like a little one does. When they finished we all clapped loudly and he smiled proudly. From then on a called the cute little boy in the orange shirt, "Country Road".

"Country Road, take me home, to a place I belong. West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, take me home, Country Road...".

Outside our candle lit sitting and eating area fire flies were lighting off and after Sue did an investigative walk, she encouraged me to the darkness for a better show. Without question the most fireflies I had ever seen at one time. The black air was dense with thousands of spots of light flashing on and off all around, so intense that my jaw hung open while I muttered my enthusiasms.

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