Full Moon

The stunning Angthong National Park

There couldn't have been a greater contrast between our new home for the next couple of weeks, the island of Koh Pha-Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand, compared to Koh Phayam in the Andaman Sea. Here the sun shines, the water is like a bath and the people are friendly. In fact it's sheer bliss.

As the ferry docked we were a little nervous as the island holds the infamous full moon party where up to 75,000 revellers in the high season paint themselves in neon paint and then continue to lose their minds, literally. The Thais are a pretty shrewd bunch though as they soon realised that full moon comes around far too infrequently so they've introduced a half moon party and of course, a black moon party.

Paul on one of the Angthong islands

We were confident we'd find somewhere perfect for us though. And we did. A cosy hut on Salad beach where ironically nothing but curry passed our lips and the owners had a pet dog called Baguette which we didn’t know whether to stroke or choose off the menu. Set on a tranquil bay with turquoise waters and a good selection of eateries the order of the day was pretty simple. A swim before a leisurely breakfast, several more swims, sit in the sea to watch the sunset and then choose a location to consume more delicious Thai calories in the evening.

Reading has become the novel pastime as the last time I read a book was 18 years ago but book number four is now being thumbed through. After Vanessa's read them first of course.

Our busy schedule has been rudely interrupted a couple of times however. Firstly by us deciding to grab a moped for the obligatory look around this tropical island to confirm that we'd chosen pretty well and had no desire to move. Only Hat Rin beach where they hold the full moon party was more picturesque but only if you can ignore the smell of kerosene and the discarded bottles of just about everything. Secondly, a day trip to the stunning Angthong National Park. A string of 40 or so jungle cloaked islands with hidden emerald lagoons and perfect white sand beaches that rise out of the calm blue waters. An arduous 500m climb rewarded us with a spectacular view and aching limbs for a few days after.

The full moon shone brightly as the party-goers donned their neon body paint, fluorescent shorts, vest tops and headbands and ventured off looking really cool and original, or so they thought. Looked more like a very bad 80’s Wham video.

 

 

Burma Images

Traditional weaving, Inle Lake

Life on Inle Lake

Farmer at Inle Lake

Leg-rowing fisherman on Inle Lake

Old Burmese lady

Traditional face painting and sun protection

Bagan

Schwedagon Temple, Yangon

Schwedagon Temple, Yangon

The Prawn Lady, Mandalay

The eyes have it.

The teak U-Bein Bridge

Life on the Irrawaddy river

Ethnic ladies of Shan state

Dyed cotton drying in the sun, Inle Lake

One Night In Bangkok

Great beach but a strange place

We were already missing the big Burmese smiles and hospitality as we arrived back in Bangkok for the third and penultimate time. Suddenly it dawned on us that Joseph was no longer with us to carry our backpacks and ensure that we didn't have to think for ourselves.

Laden with backpacks we slowly slipped our brains out of neutral and into first gear and negotiated the combination of a rush hour skytrain, a taxi, a 10 hour night bus, another taxi, a speedboat and finally a pillion ride on the back of a motorcycle taxi to our next destination on the carless island of Koh Phayam situated off the west coast of Thailand. Oddly enough it was closer to mainland Burma than Thailand.

A small A-frame bungalow with an outdoor cold shower decorated in shells was our new home for the next week or so. Idyllically situated just metres away from the centre of the most perfectly formed arc of a bay which stretched for 3kms, we could hear the sounds of the ocean, the cicada filled tropical surroundings and most importantly the electric fan above our heads to keep the mosquitoes from feasting on Vanessa.

When there was an issue with the original booking due to the owner blaming us for spelling our own email address incorrectly, we didn’t really give it much thought. When after a couple of days we politely requested that both our sink and toilet needed unblocking, we were told that we shouldn’t put toilet paper down the toilet. After several months of travelling we were well accustomed to this so again we never really gave it much thought. Finally when our food order was wrong due to the waiter being totally distracted by one of the other sorry staff throwing bricks at one of the harmless stray dogs, the owner came over and once again blamed us, this time for speaking too fast. At this point we realised that these owners were bad news and it explained the sullen faced service that we received from their staff each time as they probably hated working there.

Thai New Year was upon on us which meant just one thing. Water. Not only the onset of the rainy season but also a licence for any child of any age to strategically place themselves then fire plastic water canons from every street corner or for the hard of thinking, simply just throw a bucket of water over any human being that comes within range. Great fun to be part of and a great tradition which made us wonder how it would be received at home without there being a riot, court cases and jail.  

The clouds became darker, the winds stronger, the sea rougher and the owners ruder. After a couple of days there’d been a spectacular thunderstorm which blew out the internet connection which wasn’t a problem, just Mother Nature at work. However, a few days later we politely asked the owners when they envisaged it being available again. Their reply was quite astonishing as they told us we were on vacation  and to go and rent a kayak instead of tapping away on a keyboard. Secretly we were hoping that we could stay here for a few weeks but it was time to leave as they didn’t deserve any more of our time or money.

Any lingering doubts we had about leaving were soon banished when we returned to our hut on the final evening to find our toilet and sink had been invaded by a swarm of flying ants. It was like something out of a horror film and Vanessa’s screams added to the effect when she felt brave enough to venture out there for a wee.

The whole experience hadn’t spoilt our time there but the island was a just a weird place. There was even an ‘island look’ which we received many times. It was similar to the look on a teenager’s face when their parents have just told them to be in by 10pm. It was a shame as this certainly wasn’t typical of Thailand as we’d not experieced this anywhere else.

Next morning was a relief as we arrived at the ferry dock but the owner still had a sting in her tail. As we attempted to board the speedboat to escape, who else could it have possibly been to blatantly barge in front of Vanessa? One ignorant lady owner.

A long and very overcrowded bus journey across Thailand’s peninsular meant that we couldn’t reach our chosen destination the same day so we decided to bed down for the night in Surat Thani. Instead of having to sit with our feet in the sand listening to the ocean whilst scoffing another Thai curry we thought we’d treat ourselves so we headed off to the local Tesco supermarket, bought some mature cheddar and a baguette and ate it in our room whilst watching BBC World News! Not that we’re missing anything from home of course.

 

 

 

Burma...Reflections

A monk crossing the teak U-Bein Bridge at sunrise

It was with a small amount of trepidation that we met up with our Burma (Myanmar) travel buddies as we feared we may be the oldest  in the group but we actually helped to lower the average age. Thankfully though it was a fabulous mix of wacky and wonderful characters comprising 17 English and one American girl but their names continually eluded us as there was a Jan, Janet, Jeanette, Joanna, Jane, John, Jerry and Joseph our superb guide for the whole two weeks who was strikingly similar to ‘Oddjob’ and incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about his fascinating homeland.  

Fifty years of unrest has left the country in a time warp but the people remain remarkably welcoming, greeting us with frantic waving, beaming smiles and the odd stare of curiosity.
 

Leg-rowing fisherman on Inle Lake

In temperatures reaching a blistering 42 C Joseph left us with nothing to do apart from wipe the sweat from our faces whilst we soaked up the Burmese smiles and the unique scenes in front of us. Glittering gilded temples, so many that we were in danger of being templed out at one point, red-robed monks, dusty roads with more horse and carts than cars, bullocks ploughing the fields, teak monasteries and bridges, floating gardens, stilted villages, buddhas in their thousands, glamourous face-painted women wearing colourful sarongs…and most of the men too.

Their were numerous highlights but the city of Bagan with its thousands of ancient temples scattered across the dry, red, arid landscape and the beautiful Inle Lake with its captivating and unique leg-rowing fishermen both stood out.
 

We cycled to temples and lakeside villages with their ancient cottage industries, cruised the rivers and lakes, climbed thousands of steps bare-footed, trekked the pine forest hills of Kalaw which marked the 7 month point of our trip and also my first bout of sickness which was a little embarassing as I was the first to retire to the support vehicle whilst the retirees had a silent chuckle to themselves.

The Burmese are deeply religious but despite Joseph’s best efforts to explain it, Buddhism remained a bit of a mystery when at these sacred temples a donation is required to the old man cleaning the steps whilst another man throws a bin full of rubbish over the temple wall onto the rocks below.
 

Very safe, very friendly and relatively few visitors but it will inevitably change as the country opens its doors to the world  and embraces tourism once again.

We may have got the timing just about right.

DAYS SPENT:   16

TRANSPORT:   5 planes, 2 taxis, 7 buses, 2 bikes, 2 boats, 1 tuk-tuk

NUMBER OF PLACES WE STAYED:  6 hotels

FAVOURITE EATERY:  Mr. Toe’s Restaurant on Inle Lake

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:  water buffalo, monkeys

TOURS TAKEN:  the whole tour of Burma

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY: two teas for 30 pence at the streetside cafes in Rangoon and Mandalay albeit it sat at children’s plastic table and chairs