On-the-Road Tales

I enjoyed breakfast on the deck watching men and women transport goods they would sell that day on the beach by balancing them on both ends of a long stick carried across their shoulders. I decided to take a detour on the way to Bangkok and stop on another, less crowded island call Koh Tao. The minivan came to pick me up for the ferry and launched my rucksack on top sans bungy or strap. I tried to protest but the guy kept telling me it was fine. I spent the whole ride to the boat expecting all my worldly belongings to go flying off into some abyss. One 1.5 hour hi speed catamaran got me to Koh Tao via another island famous for its ‘full moon parties’. (I think they are the asian equivilent of raves. an excuse for westerners to trip all night on a secluded beach).

Koh Tao, from the view of an approaching boat, is like a robinson crusoe village. There were all sorts of cabanas and huts built in the trees into the hillside above the shore. The place I had booked, AC two, picked me up and I was taken into the jungle — which would be my bungalow. The island is totally different than Koh Samui and I am not sure yet for the better. It is the most popular place in SE asia for diving so it caters to scuba people. Scuba people are a bit fanatical about their sport. They eat, sleep and breathe diving so there were cads of these junkies from all over the world.

Since I had splurged for 3 nights in a row on decent accommodation, I decided it was time to get back to basics. Somehow I feel that the less comfortable I make my travels, the more i will learn and be able to identify with the exploration and adventure aspect I seek. Yeah – this is pretty stupid but this mentality is what forced me to choose the non-ac option in 100 degree heat. My current abode is basically a shed, a wooden structure raised about 2 feet up. I can see the sandy ground through the floorboards and the room key is for the padlock I latch on over the door. The ‘ensuite’ includes a cold water shower which was fine since it is precisely 8000C inside my shed. The toilet looked normal until realized there was no lever to flush it – I noticed a bucket beside the throne and figured out this was the elaborate plumbing system. I was peachily adapting in stride to all this until I found my roommate. Now, I know I thought the gecko in Tahiti was big, but the friend sharing my bathroom is like a frickin stuffed animal. Exotic and colorful and bloody well massive. After I squealed and bolted from the shed, I composed myself and used the same logic as Tahiti – a. there is absolutely nothing he wants from me and b. if I was the adventurer my REI bill each year suggests I try to outfit myself to be – this should not phase me. So, I wish I could get a photo of him for my memoirs but moving the bathroom door to get enough light would disturb him and when he moves I move so…the image of this prehistoric beast will just have to keep contained inside my head.

I escaped the shed to go witness what turned out to the most amazing sunset I have seen on my trip and possibly ever. A big, flaming ball of orange slowly dropping and eventually dripping into thee ummm, whatever body of water this is between the island and mainland. Like Koh Samui, various bars and restaurants adorn the shoreline with little lights and flames. They sell paper lanterns which are lit and then carried up into the night sky. You can watch them for minutes float higher and farther away, it is amazing how far they go.. I am not exactly sure what it means, I suspect something about offerings or spirits. As I was still mesmorized watching the last lantern rise, the peacefulness was disrupted when a guy made a poor judgement of wind strength to launch the next one. It did not quite clear the tree in its path and burning embers started reigning down on diners below – guess that spirit was not quite ready to go!

I enjoyed a dinner at the Lotus bar which had a fire show happening on the beach. These guys were fast and talented though they occasionally lobbed a firestick at one another or in the air and did not quite catch the retrieval…could use a few more practice sessions. I made a mental note to sit a few rows back on the sand in the future.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 4:24 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.