Our Adventure Continues

We couldn't stay in paradise forever, so we decided to set off and search out more places. After getting back to town we searched for a travel store to take us to another island. After much discussing and reading, Jessica and I decided to go to Koh Tao. We were going to need to take a short ferry ride from our current island, Koh Pha Ngan. 

  Walking through the town waiting for our ferry to leave we came across a small pet store.  Outside the store there was a pair of birds, each bright white with slightly yellow tails.  I should also add that both were quite feisty.

Here is a quick photo of some friends we met up with, Hannah and Nickolas.  They were boarding another ferry and then a bus back to Bangkok.  Their next stop is going to be India.

We are now down in the hold of our ferry.  The boat was probably 100' long and 15' wide.  Seats made of solid plastic for the inevitable whipedown they will require after a pass though of some rougher seas.  Fortunately for us the seas were very mild that day, though by the end of the trip I was glad to get off still having my lunch in my stomach.

However Jessica was not so lucky.  I started off in the hold, but quickly went on deck to watch the Island as we left as well as to get some fresh air.  Jessica stayed in the hold to watch after our stuff.  After we made our way into deeper, and rougher waters, I stayed outside and received a text message from Jessica saying "Yupee!!".  The boat was going up and down a bit, but it was fun.  After and hour of this I received a text message saying that we should switch spots.  I made my way back down and Jessica headed for the deck.  As soon as she started upwards she realized that she wasn't feeling that good, and soon enough her lunch was no more.  On a positive note, she didn't feel bad after it was all said and done, which I can not say about a couple of other people who were curled up in balls wishing they would die.

A fishing boat in harbor as we leave for Kho Tao.

A look at our recently departed island Ko Pang Ngan.

Two and a half hours later, Land Ho!  Soon dry land the the relief that will come with it.

Arrival at "Freedom Cove", you have the freedom to do anything but swim, as the water is only a foot and a half deep.  Unfortunately Jessica and I were very disappointed.  The room was way to expensive for what it was, you could not swim, and the food wasn't even that good.  We decided over dinner that a one night stay would be good enough, and we would go explore another island down further south.

A beautiful sunset from the balcony of our room.

Our wandering found this.  Save money now, pay lots later.

Our boat left at 8pm and arrived back at the mainland at 4am.  We were warned that the ride could be a bit rough, and after our last experience we bought some Dramamine at the local pharmacy just to make sure.  Jessica also recommended getting some Tiger Balm as it should help a little a swell.  The owners of the boat packed us in well, just like sardines.  Jessica and I read for a while and then made it to sleep without a problem.  However the same can't be said for a number of the other occupants, and the seas were mostly calm as well.

The Unnamed Cove

Part 2

The internet has become a mainstay in the lives of most. Need a new blender? Look it up online! Want to remember the name of that song? Look it up online! Need to find others who share your incredibly rare peccadilloes? Find them online! Sure, the internet isn't perfect, like all human creations. But on the whole it has made gathering information (and misinformation) ten times more efficient for the average human with access to a computer.

Hence, the title of this post. The Unnamed cove has a name, of course. But it is also so incredibly beautiful that I don't feel like sharing it with hordes of people I have never met. If I know you, ask me the name and I'll tell you. But if I don't, tough luck. Unnamed cove it is.

Here's a couple shots of it:

That's the view from our room. Not bad, eh?

The day we arrived we had to walk across the cove, with all our bags, tricky on the sand. But what was even trickier came next. Since this side of Koh Pha Ngan is very rocky, bungalow owners inventively came up with a way to get around that problem: boardwalks. These are not made of the strongest or the most standardized materials. Here's a good example:

Looks a little precarious, doesn't it? Imagine walking along it after a few beers and a rainstorm. I have no idea if there have ever been any fatalities, but I wouldn't be surprised. Worried relatives, take a deep breath. Evan and I survived without any mishap. Here is a view of our bungalow:
It's that blue roof. After the miles of boardwalk we had to traverse, we had several flights of varying sizes of steps made of the same material up to the bungalow. Most of the boards were sound and could hold our weight no problem, but more than a few were iffy. In a country that spends so much time damp and rainy, I can see how upkeep of the boardwalks might be always ongoing. Here's the view down the stairs from our bungalow:



The Unnamed Cove has lovely water, light aqua in color. It gets deeper pretty quickly off the coast, which is great for swimming, and there are almost no rocks in the water. So there really isn't any snorkeling, but for having a quick dip a couple times a day, it can't be beat. And it's only ever a few feet from your bungalow. You can only reach The Unnamed Cove by boat, which makes it feel private and cut off from the world.

And, the food - foreign and Thai alike - is delicious, with many vegetarian choices for me. It's a little more expensive than Bangkok, but the quality and the number of choices more than make up for that. We spent 5 days here, but we should have stayed longer. It was by far the nicest part of our trip,even if all we did was sleep, swim, eat, and relax. Probably between the both of us we didn't spend more than $25 a day while we were there.

I'll leave you with a few more picture of paradise.

Ode to a Stolen iPod

It's the sort of thing that you never think will happen to you. You hear the warnings, and the terrible stories. You know people it's happened to. And you know that they've never been the same since.

But not you. It could never be you. You're better than that. The world is a kinder place than that. Right? You certainly don't deserve it. God no. Think of all those good deeds you've done. There was that blind woman you helped cross the street, the countless people you've given accurate and in depth driving directions to, the shiny coins you've tossed magnanimously to many a homeless man or woman. And don't forget all the times you said, 'Keep the change' even when you didn't really want that conniving timewaster of a taxi driver to do anything of the sort. So no. You know, it won't happen to you.

But then, it does.

At first, you're in shock. You don't believe it. There must be some mistake. Soon, however, much too soon, reality sets in and you realize you have to try and cope. But the pain is too fresh, too new, your metaphorical wound yawns open and you realize you don't know where the nearest metaphorical hospital is, or even where you parked your metaphorical car, so you'd have to take a bus there.

Anger comes next, consumes you. A vermilion haze that does not part or lift for days. You feel stronger, safer, invulnerable within it. But it doesn't last for ever, and soon you are left with a quiet despair.

This is when you realize that maybe you should just get over it and buy a new iPod. I mean, come on, they're a hundred dollars cheaper now than the last time you bought one, right?

*************

All melodrama aside, it does really suck to have your iPod stolen. It makes you feel, for one thing, like an easy mark. And Evan and I convinced myself that I must have left it at home, after we discovered it not in my bag as I expected in the first few days of the trip, so I spent the whole trip thinking it was safe and sound, only to find out when we got home that it wasn't there at all.

Yes, it's just hunk of metal with a little plastic thrown in. But it's been to 14 countries with me, been my companion in many European museums, and kept me sane at crazy desk jobs. Plus, I keep thinking of the inscription I had Apple put on the back: 'Omnia mea, mecum porto.' Which is Cicero, if your Latin's a little faulty, and basically means 'All that is mine, I carry with me.' Which is a cute (if supremely dorky) thing to write on a mass storage device, and a good motto for someone like me who schleps a bunch of crap with her everywhere she goes. But of course, it also means more. And I'm not sure if I could bring myself to reuse it on a new iPod.

Anyway, Part 2 of our saga is on its way. Just had to get this out of my system first.

Getting There

The reason it's been so long since our last post is not that we don't love you, nameless faceless internet, we do - we just had to go away for a little while. Where did we go, you ask? Good question. Make yourself a hot drink, sit back, this may take a while, but we will tell you everything. And while you're making that hot drink, make me one too, will you?

Part 1

Our winter vacation officially began at 3:20 pm on December 23, 2008. That morning we had left our house at 7:30, towing all our luggage with us so that we could head off immediately after school. Here's a rundown of that day, transportation-wise.

6:00 AM - Alarm goes off, Evan continues to sleep. As a result of this, I get dressed in the dark and later find out that I managed to put two pieces of clothing on inside out. Thanks a bunch, lazy boyfriend.

6:45 AM - Massive flurry of last minute packing and cleaning. Evan even manages to make the bed before we leave. Do we have everything? Seems like it: one large backpack/suitcase, one camera bag, one laptop bag, and one purse sort of bag.

7:30 AM - We walk out to the road, and pray for a songtaew to come rescue us so we don't have to run the 3 km to school in the half an hour we have left. Fortunately, one comes soon, we hop on with all our crap, and off we go!

7:45 AM - We get off that songtaew and switch to another one that will actually take us to the school. Come on, you didn't think it would really be that easy, did you?

7:55 AM - 20 baht poorer, but on time, we arrive at school.

3:20 PM - Done with classes, we grab our stuff, head out the door and hop into Jimmy's car, which takes us about 2 km, across the street from the police academy.

3: 45 PM - We get into the van to Bangkok. 35 baht for me, 35 baht for Evan, 35 baht for the seat we had to buy for the suitcase = 105 baht total, less than $3 for the three of us for the one hour ride into the capital of Thailand. A steal.

4: 30 PM - We arrive in Bangkok, but we're still not where we need to be, so a taxi is hailed, and the three of us (don't get confused, I'm still counting the suitcase) jump in and take a 15 minute ride to Kao San road, to find a travel agent who speaks English and can finagle us a last minute bus ticket down south.

4: 45 PM - The first place we go wants to charge 1100 baht (about $33) each to Pha Ngan. Total ripoff, so we politely decline.

4:55 PM - The second travel agent we go to is a little more reasonable. She will sell us two tickets for a bus leaving in one hour, 750 baht each. This is still a ripoff, but it's the 11th hour so we suck it up and buy the tickets. Excellent! Time for dinner.

5:05 PM - We buy a battery charger for my DSLR, as the second set of batteries has been threatening to fail for weeks now, and I apparently left the charger in California. This is a major relief, and now we have everything we need for the trip.

5:15 PM - Green curry tofu for me, Tom Yum Gai for Evan (Gai means chicken), both delicious, for a total of 70 baht (~$2.10) at our favorite streetside vender on Soi Rambuttri.

5:50 PM - Evan is compulsive about being on time when we travel, so here we are at the travel agency.

6:20 PM - Someone comes and leads all the travellers who are going south to a large street two blocks away. No explanation is offered, but theoretically a bus is coming soon to pick us up.

6:30 PM - No bus yet.

7:00 PM - Still no bus.

7: 30 PM - The mosquitoes swarm around our bags and we have nowhere to sit. We've been standing by the side of the road now for over an hour, with no idea of when the bus might show up.

7:45 PM - Finally the bus arrives, and we get some idea of our itinerary. Looks like the bus will stop at 3:30 in Chumpon, where we won't get off, and then the last stop is Surat Thani at 6 am, where we transfer to a ferry that will take us the rest of the way to Pha Ngan.

3:30 AM, December 24 (Christmas Eve) - As scheduled, the bus stops in Chumpon. We blearily crack our eyes open, then think better of it, and fall back into the half sleep that is only possible when sitting up and rocking back and forth for hours.

5:30 AM - Oh good, we're early! We stumble out of the bus, check that we still have all our limbs, and hopefully all of our luggage, and take a glance around to see what might happen next.

5:35 AM - People motion us to a truck, we get in and assume more passengers will follow, but surprisingly, no one does. So Evan and I get a private taxi ride through Surat Thani, not to the pier as we expected, but apparently to another bus station where our truck driver exchanges our ferry tickets from Suratthani to Koh Phangan for bus tickets to Don Sak (about 100 km away) and ferry tickets to Phangan from there. I assume he must have made some money in this transaction, otherwise it baffles me why this was done.

6:00 AM - We are shown to a bus and motioned to get on. Our newly acquired tickets are stamped in red 'AIR CONDITIONED BUS.' Correspondingly, of course, the bus is about 80 degrees, warmer than the temperature outside, with its only ventilation apparently originating somewhere near the tail pipe, because the air is thick with diesel fumes. This bothers Evan a lot, but I have fallen into a jaded complacency and couldn't care less. I shut my eyes and try to sleep.

6:30 AM - The bus finally starts moving.

8:00 AM - We arrive at the pier at Don Sak, and board a ferry seemingly meant only for cars, as we have to walk alongside them to board it. This doesn't phase us at all. Fortunately there are seats for people on the top deck, so we grab a couple and settle down.

10:00 AM, or thereabouts - The ferry arrives at Thongsala, the main pier on Koh Pha Ngan. You might think the journey ends here. You might be wrong.

10:15 AM - We have to get across the island, to Haad Rin, of Full Moon Party fame, and the only way to do that is in a taxi. Normally, as a tourist, you arrive on a ferry full of other tourists and form groups which then bargain for taxis together. However, since there were no other tourists to speak of on our car ferry, we were not in a good bargaining position, and were in a very good position to get hosed. So we did, and spent 400 baht to go 11 km. Oy. However, this is half of what was originally proposed to us, a stunning 800 baht for those same 11 km.

10:50 AM - Haad Rin. Now we had to get a long tail boat to take us to our destination, a cove just around the corner from Haad Rin, but not accessible by land.

1:00 PM - Unfortunately all the boatmen had been told it was Christmas Eve, and had doubled their prices. They knew they had doubled their prices, we knew they had doubled their prices, but they had the boats, and we had too much luggage to swim, so after almost 2 hours of holding out on our parts to try to get them to see reason, we bit the bullet and paid them 400 baht for a 7 minute boat ride to the wrong cove because apparently the waves were too big to land in our cove.

1:10 PM - We land in the cove next to the one we want to be in, and gather all our stuff, then we have to hike to our cove over the mountain in between the coves. It's pretty steep, there are a lot of stairs carved into the stone face of the cliffs. Imagine one of the steepest hikes you've been on, and then imagine doing that with the luggage from your last two week vacation.

1:30 PM - We finally arrive at our cove, and are greeted by Hannah. Yay! We are also filthy, very sweaty, and mentally and physically exhausted.

End of Part 1, tune in for Part 2 tomorrow!