James Bond Theme - John Barry Orchestra

Thailand Khao Lak 004
see all photos »

3-29-07 Thailand

Phang Nga, day one in Thailand. After a brief yet security annoyance filled flight from Cambodia I land in Phuket and immediately get the heck off that island. All I’ve heard about the place is it’s a tourist trap resort zone (fully recovered from the tsunami) and I’m just not in that mood. I ignore all the ‘advice’ from the airport tourist board/taxi drivers and take a bus north to this little town with no beach. The hotel is cheap and has a/c. I’m happy and love proving touts wrong. I book my boat trip for the next day and am surprised to get a scooter rental for the afternoon for $3 so I can explore a local national park with cool waterfalls. Things are going well for a travel day.

Thailand Phang Nga Me n Bond Island
see all photos »

I cruise the 10k on this Honda put-put, which makes my Suzuki DR at home seem like Liam’s racing Ducati, but it’s a fun little ride nonetheless. So then I hike up this trail. At first it’s a breezy little walk with stone steps and kids playing in the tiny waterfall pools. After a while the kids and the steps disappear, then it gets a bit warmer, then the jungle closes in. I’ve been to several places around the globe folks might consider jungle. Africa, the Yucatan, Tahiti. This is the first time I have ever felt like I was seriously in a jungle. I saw Tarzan vines that were actually big enough to swing on. A first.  As I walked leafs and branches would mysteriously move with nothing else in sight. The deeper in I walked the darker it became as the trees blotted out the sun. One second the life around me would be deafening, then a moment later it would go deadly quiet. I tell you, it got creepy. Deep grumblings could be heard in the distance. Then I remembered the very rare sightings of the Southeast Asian tiger in these parts and things went past creepy. It was time to turn around. A few minutes later I realized the grumblings were thunder and the shady darkness became nearly night. I was an hour into a jungle hike when the skies opened up to the biggest rain storm I’ve ever seen. Sheets of rain, drops as big as golf balls. I-was-soaked. The little stream with waterfalls became a raging river. At first I was ‘concerned’ but once I realized I could walk through it okay things became fun and I ended up taking a swim and waterfall jacuzzi. A while later I made it to the bottom safely and waited an hour for the rain to stop before scooting back to town.

Thailand Phang Nga Jungle 025
see all photos »

That was just day one, Thailand.

3-30-07

I really wish I could hum the 007 theme song on paper. It just doesn’t translate though. So I mentioned the boat trip but never said why I came to a town with no beach. Why? Bond, James Bond. Bobbo has dropped several comments and is at this very moment visiting the Dr. No-Ursula Andress beach in Jamaica so I have to keep pace. The Man with the Golden Gun? Covered. Yep, I had to visit the island where it was filmed. Remember? The huge limestone pinnacle sticking out of the water on the island Moore’s tiny seaplane lands on? Well, it’s in the Phang Nga Reserve along with a thousand other limestone formations that are out of this world. It’s just like my south China experiences, just with sunshine and warm weather. The Chinese mist was cool but if you had to choose, go with the Thailand warmth. I had a solo longtail boat (see the rooster tail of water it spits up) to cruise through the mangroves and islands. Got to sea kayak through some caves and stuff too which was fun but the Bond island was overrun with tour boats from Phuket. I was right about avoiding that place so I bailed early and grabbed the bus to Khao Lak. I got a bungalow on the beach and will watch the sunset until my diveboat leaves for 4 days on Sunday. Life isn’t so bad. Thailand Part II in a week or so.

Thailand Phang Nga 064
see all photos »

Bill