On-the-Road Tales

I survived the night with Mr. Gecko and reclined on the deck for my morning toast – literally ‘on the deck’ since you are seated on the ground with these triangular cushion seat things. I can not get myself to try the traditional soup or noodle breakfasts yet. Thai food is amazing and cheap. You can get satay, cashew chicken, curry for next to nothing. Eating requires some caution though, my hibernian palatte tolerates little in the way of spicy or hot. I made the mistake of asking the waiter at dinner if the sauce with my fresh sole was ‘hot’, and he said no, not at all. Which for him I am sure was true, for me, I was breaking into a sweat. Different gauge.

I joined a group for snorkeling around the island. The guide was English and there were only 5 of us on a large boat that normally caters to 40 so we had plenty of room. Since the coral reefs are so shallow, we taxiied out to the motorboat using ‘longtail boat’. This is a frightfully unstable little buggar which uses a prop extending 6 feet or so out the rearend. We stopped at 4 various sites around the island to fin around and check out the underwater wildlife. First stop, I got up close and personal with some blacktipped reef sharks, very cool – lovely little creatures. I saw dozens of different coral, fish, squid at the various sites. If you are into marine life, this is the place to be. I chatted with the guide about some of the various horror stories he has experienced in 30 years of dive instructing around the world. Scary stuff, always check for aluminium coming out of your oxygen tanks! He told me how the movie ‘The Beach’, filmed on a nearby island, boosted tourism considerably to the country – quicker perhaps than the govt was prepared for considering the pollution and impact it has had on many areas. It continually amazes me the influence Hollywood has on entire societies and regions of the world. Our final stop of the day was to Nangyuan, a private island just off the coast. I climbed to the top of some rocks and got a splendid birds eye view of the shaded blue and green sea.

After way too much sun than my palid complexation can handle, I got back to ‘the shed’. Greeted my gecko. Took a ‘cold water’ shower which was near to boiling because the tank is probably exposed somewhere to the beating sun and headed back out. I witnessed another amazing sunset, probably second only to the one last night and tried out some more fish. It was a fitful night’s sleep with crickets clanking, cicada buzzing and presumably Mr Gecko knocking over all my toiletries at 0300. Glad I knew he was there or I might have been afraid there was some other creature in my bathroom…

Tags: Travel

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