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The minibus was early today - half an hour early!! Bart came knocking on my door to tell me they were waiting downstairs already. Fortunately, I was up and almost ready, but my goodness... Half an hour!! Needless to say, the other passengers weren't thrilled about having to wait for us, but then the ferry didn't leave for half an hour after we got there. So it all turned out okay.
It did put a rough start on the morning, but that didn't last for long. Shortly after the boat took off, a little boy walked by us waving a balloon sword...and Bart pulled out HIS balloons and made a belt for the sword!! So Bart makes balloons. Crazy. :-)
Not surprisingly, Bart headed downstairs to find the source of the balloon shapes, and I took a few minutes to journal. But soon I grew curious, so I picked up our things and went downstairs to find out just what had happened to my balloon-making travel buddy.
There he was, making balloon hats and balloon flowers and balloon fairy wings for the crowd that had gathered there! We spent the rest of the trip using up balloons and lots of camera memory!
During that time, we picked up another travel companion - an Aussie named Steve. He had just begun a month-long vacation away from the stresses of being a single parent and widower, having left his daughter in the care of his former in-laws. He seemed pretty happy to be in the company of a couple young and energetic travellers!
When we landed, we haggled with the taxi boats, trying to get a good deal for our trip to the other side of the island, but there were only three of us heading for that destination, so we were stuck: pay 500 Baht to Ao Ran Tee...or hike over the mountain with our heavy packs to the other side. We paid the 500 Baht.
Ao Ran Tee, or Ran Tee Bay, is one of the more remote parts of the island, which is exactly what we were looking for...far from the noise and crowds of Tonsai Bay and Long Beach! It really was a beautiful sight as we approached the bay - nothing but trees, beach, water, and a dozen or so little bungalows scattered through the palms. Perfect!
The first bungalows we checked were 1,000 Baht per night - too much! The bungalows in the middle of the beach were about half that, so we went for those ones instead.
Oh goodness...these bungalows... The room itself wasn't bad - just a bed with a mosquito net and a small shelf with a mirror. The bathroom was what took the cake - no roof, no flush for the toilet (just a big bucket of water and a dipper!), and a big plant growing next to the shower, the water from which was slightly salty.
But hey, it's part of the adventure, right? I mean, I could stay on Long Beach and have pure running water, but then I'd have to share the beach with a hundred other people. And how many people are here? Maybe a dozen. Yeah, we made the right choice. :-)
After a quick dip in the ocean, we had some lunch (yummy yellow curry chicken - mmmm!!) and then went snorkeling in our bay. There were far too many sea urchins for comfort, so Bart and I rented a kayak and went a few hundred meters south to deeper waters. The water was clear, and there were plenty of fish to see.
I had to convince Bart to get off the kayak and into the water (there aren't any urchins or sharks here, Bart!!), but at last we were both in the water. Just moments later, however, I kicked some coral with my left toes, which hurt quite a bit. Ironic.
Soon it was time to return the kayak (or pay for another hour), so we headed back to our bay. When we got back, Bart and Steve decided we should hike over to Tonsai Bay for dinner, and I thought it sounded like a reasonable idea. Of course, I had no idea how strenuous the hike up the mountain would be!
It was at least ten minutes of nearly breathless hiking uphill for the first 800 meters, and that was just to the viewpoint! It gave me a good chance to realize how very out of shape I am, though. At last we hit the top and began the slow descent to Tonsai Bay...and dinner!
A cooling rain hit as we entered "town" - a rain which I think we all appreciated! We found an all-you-can-eat buffet for 222 Baht at a place called Hibachi something or other, and since we were all famished, that place was the place of choice! We were all stuffed silly by the time we left!
Well, Bart was starting to regret having just one night on Koh Phi Phi, so he started looking for a way to delay his flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. While he was hunting for a way to stay longer, Steve was out hunting for our next activity, and he found a good one: down the road a bit was a bar that was advertising firedancers!
The show was great, and afterward Bart found out from one of the dancers that there was going to be another show at a different place on the beach! So we got moving and found this beachfront hippie bar where there were firedancers all over the beach! It was so cool!!
Oh, as it turns out, Bart is not only a balloon-making clown, but he also does poi, the official name for the Maori tradition of firedancing. No wonder he enjoyed the fire shows so much! What else will I find out about this fascinating Belgian buddy of mine??
We stayed late on the beach, and by the time we wanted to go back to Ao Ran Tee, the taxi boats were no longer running. So...we hiked back. At 2:30 in the morning. By flashlight. Yes, it was craxy. Yes, we were crazy to do it. But what a great addition to the day's adventures!! And heck, we only got lost once, and not for very long (we had just missed the signs to our bay).
Several times I stopped to listen to the night sounds, and a couple times I was able to hear masses of ants or termites moving through dead foliage around the path. Creepy and cool!
We finally made it back to our bungalows at nearly 4am - and totally exhausted!!!
previous travel blog entry
Big Daddy says:
What a great trip and what a good writer you are. It's like I was there with you!