Krabi People

Our last days in Thailand proved to be very exciting. One adventure after another, but somehow we made it through to Malaysia. Our last day in Ao Nang we decided to check out as many beaches as possible.

Ao Nang Eastern Beach

These are the long-tail boats on which our adventure began. We took one to Phra Nang beach and it was FANTASTIC. We went goggling, and looked at the coral around the islands and the fish that live there. We sunned, swam and goggled all day.
The excitment started when we wanted to head home from our new beach. We jumped in a long-tail and set our sights for Ao Nang. Unfortunately, the engine had other ideas, it wouldn't start and we sat for about 30 minutes just rocking in the boat off shore trying to amend the situation. As we are waiting, another boat tries to start beside us and stalls and a third is bailing his boat out. Things weren't looking too promising. Tyrn was starting to get a little sea sick when finally the boatman decided to let us get on another long-tail (they are payed for the ticket stubs they bring in each day, so he really didn't want to let us get off). So, we all get out, wade through the water and board another boat. After a couple minutes of sorting out tickets, our ORIGINAL long-tail starts, so then he wants everyone to get back into his boat. But, the Thai ladies in the boat have had enough and won't budge, so finally he gives up and speeds away. WELL, after about 45 minutes since we first boarded everything was set and we took off from shore in our new boat. The water was very rocky and so we were thoroughly soaked. Half way to Ao Nang, the boat stops, the motor has overheated. No we are not making this up! A passenger had to scoop water out of the Andaman Sea into the engine to cool it off. FINALLY, we are dropped off, but alas it is on the wrong beach.

Phra Nang Cave Beach

Some of the clearest and warmest water we have experienced on our trip so far.
Friendly hawkers are more than happy to serve you corn, pineapples, massages, sarongs, and drinks all day long.
This was the first beach that we experienced the floating restaurant. I loved it, however inflated the prices may have been. ($2 for delicious Pad Thai? Are you CRAZY?)
As the beach's name suggests, there are some amazing caves and rock formations on this section of sand. Tyrn showed off his climbing talents, but the razor sharp rock proved difficult.
Before leaving this area we visited 2 other beaches, all of which dazzled and amazed, but not quite as much as Phra Nang. We are getting to be beach connoisseurs, oh no, what will we do back in Alberta?
Our latest adventure was getting to Malaysia. We refused to pay the ridiculous mini van price for the trip from Krabi to Penang and so we started out on our own. We make it to the bus station easily, we have to switch buses at another town, no problem. HOWEVER, we notice that we are almost out of Baht (money), and since we are going to be using a different currency in Malaysia (Ringgit) we don't want to pay to take more out from the bank machine, so we are in a tight situation. Also, we thought the trip would take about 4 hours, which seemed reasonable. Too make a long story short, we had a hectic 10 HOUR trip and we crossed the border with only 2 BAHT, that is about 6 CENTS in our pockets. We had to pay off the border gaurd leaving Thailand, (apparently it is quite normal to have to do so) and so we had to borrow from our bus driver. Luckily Tyrn made it through the border without having to pay the extra "fee" and so we were able to pay our driver back.

Just had to include this guy!

We are now in Malaysia and loving it, the food and people are fantastic!

K

Monkey Business

We are now on our way down the Thai peninsula (finally), headed towards Malaysia and Singapore. On our way to Krabi we stopped at the Khao Sok National Park to do a little hiking in the rainforest.
There is a small town just outside the park mainly for tourists and we found very friendly people and a great little hut to rest in. Included with the hut is your standard Thai style cold shower, western toilet with a bucket for flushing, a mosquito net, and complementary monkeys.


We didn't know that monkeys were part of the deal. We had made it to our hut on a very hot and humid Thai day and so we were laying in front of the fan planning our next move, when up on the roof arose such a clatter. "What is it?" we thought and then looked up to see a MONKEY staring straight back through the window!!! He or she, (it's hard to tell) was right there inches from our faces with only a screen between us. This was my very FIRST wild monkey experience ever, so you can imagine I got excited. Unfortunately, we didn't get the camera out in time to take a picture of our peeking monkey, so this is Tyrn's reenactment of the scene.
Above is a picture of our monkey, climbing around on the railing. Below is a series of pictures from the next day as Ty and I were getting ready to leave the park. Our hut door was open and all of a sudden 3 monkey faces were at the door. Needless to say I screamed a little, but this guy below made himself at home with our garbage (turns out they are pesky little garbage eaters that the management doesn't like very much). He found a package of A535 patches used for sore muscles and carefully ripped and pulled it apart to see if it was something juicy to eat.











Our hike was awesome! The rainforest, go figure, is quite humid, and so we were SOAKED in no time. We'll spare you the visual on that situation, but take our word for it. The rainforest also, go figure, has enormous trees.

Unfortunately, the waterfalls we were hiking to see were only small trickles because it is the dry season, however the calm cool pool that remains was VERY refreshing!

We are now further south around Krabi, in search of some less developed beaches. Wish us luck, because this entire area has turned into one big resort. We've managed to find an affordable jungle shack, which comes with ant infested walls, standard cold shower, mosquito net, and FLUSH toilet. Unfortunately you'll have to wash your hands with the shower as there is no sink. Ah well, you get what you pay for! BTW, we've learned that as long as we keep the lights off, the flying ants stay in the walls.

K&T

China, We Love Thee

We loved China even more than we hoped we would. We can't wait to see how the Olympics shake down for them in August because the country is REALLY excited about it. We learned that 2008 is China's Year. 8 is the luckiest number in China, so already it's a special year. Add the Olympics and the press China is receiving for it's unrelenting modernization, and you can see why this year is a HUGE one for them. Security everywhere we went is ramped up (Ty had his bag searched at airport security) and censorship is high. We didn't realize what tight control the government keeps on the media in China. Any web-pages/news articles not approved by the government's firewall are blocked. Certain words uttered during a Skype call have led to unexplained dropped calls, and TV media in China is censored, cutting to commercials whenever any news related to Tibet or the flu is announced. Amazing.

We visited the Jesperbots in Guangzhou, a BOOMING city of 12 million and not incidentally the factory of the world. We mean it, literally. Chances are very high that anything you have that is "Made in China" is sourced, manufactured, or assembled in Guangzhou. Actually, even if it says "Made in Vancouver, BC - Canada" it could be made here, as we found out.
Shopping in Guangzhou is irresistible, and the best way to experience the city. It's hard to turn down factory-direct deals on basically ANYTHING. Electronics, outdoor gear, shoes, watches, clothes, instruments, etc. etc. etc. If we were flying home today, we would have bought everything we needed for the next 5 years.

The Food. Oh the food. Every preconception we had about Chinese food was shattered. It's not the MSG Noodle buffet they serve at the mall, or the Chinese/Western cuisine found in any small town in Canada, but a rich and varied palette of deliciousness! Our favourite dishes include any kind of eggplant dish, cold noodle salad, sugared ginseng, and kung-pow chicken. There are MANY more that we loved, we just can't remember what they were called, but Yum! Many thanks to Hav and Scott for touring us through these and many more culinary delights.

Playing in Guangzhou:

I never would have thought I'd be playing Irish folk music in a Canadian owned pub in China. That's an understatement. Scott invited me to sit in with this group for the St. Patrick's Day festivities. It was my first paying gig in WAY too long. After the jigs and reels were all played out, I joined the next group to play some familiar cover tunes at an ear-splitting decibel level.

If ever there were Olympics for seniors, China would reign. The complex the Jesperbots live in has a great public park with ping-pong tables and lots of fun exercise equipment. We saw lots of oldies in one park EXPERTLY playing what we'll have to call "Chinese hackysack", and it's not uncommon to see an 80 year old woman kicking her hands held above her head.

Scott and I practicing for the Synchronized Swinging event for the Geriatric Olympics.

We had the best possible tour of Guangzhou from our expert locals, Hav and Scott, and our expert Mandarin translators, Tom and Anne Marie.
Our main contribution was good looks:

Interesting sights in China

Thanks again to Hav, Scott, Tom, and Anne Marie for hosting and touring us around. Also, for some of the photos in these posts. We hope you enjoyed this little taste of China. Now if you feel the need to use a toothpick, be sure to cover up in true Chinese custom.

We're hooked on China and will definitely keep it on our Return-To list for the future. We wish them much success at the Olympics!

T & K

Ginger the Miracle Root

Is motion sicknesss a sign of old age? Since this trip we've found ourselves turning green on many bumpy and erratic bus rides or Portuguese trains (he he he!). For me it started in France of course, driving with our friend Cecile who, like most French drivers, would manage just fine in the Grand Prix. Anyways, we've been using gravol to tame the beast in the most severe cases but are usually knocked out for the rest of the day because of it. UNTIL NOW... Ginger really is the miracle root! Sure it tastes like hell, but sucking on a fresh root will save you from tossing your cookies on even the most wrenching of rides. Thanks to Aaron for passing this info on, which he says has been tested by mythbusters and found to be true. We tested it in the back seat of a bus that went up and over Lantau Island near Hong Kong. I would have been sick for sure if not for the miracle root.

Lantau Island:




The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens:
A Hong Kong Style BBQ: Balls instead of burgers. Here we have fish, spinach, lobster and tofu balls. We hiked up to the top of Hong Kong Island for this feast. Thanks again to Tom and Anne Marie for showing us around and giving us the skinny on Hong-Kong-How-To!
Ghostly fun on the mountain:
Can't get enough of the miracle root:

-Ty

LAST HONG KONG POST:
We are leaving on a train today to visit Hav and Scott (see Jesperbots) in Guangzhou, China. Unfortunately, Blogger is not available to us there, so we are attaching our last Hong Kong post to the end of "Ginger; the miracle root".
Ty and I spent a lot of time just wandering the city enjoying the sights, sounds and smells.
It is amazing to be in a place where you only understand about 10% of what you see. Even if you know what it is, like our lizard friend above, we have NO clue what they do with it!
Hot Pot:

Tom and Anne Marie took us onto the town for a night of hot potting. You create a dipping sauce and decide which kinds of cooking oil you want. Then you pick an array of tasty foods to be cooked, dipped and savoured.
Nellie (Anne Marie's friend from Uni) was an expert on hot pot and showed us how it is done.
Anne Marie and Tom are two of our favourite people and we had a great time in their city. They will be joining us and Hav and Scott in Guangzhou and we will tell you all about it once we are back in Bangkok.

Goodnight Hong Kong!
K