(no subject)
I am at present in Ranong, the border town between Thailand and Burma and I have just left paradise.
I arrived in Ranong before dawn a couple of days ago determined to find a dive shop in town and go on a dive. (Dawn is sooo late here I can't get used to it). Sleep on the overnight bus was impossible, even for me, the number one master/mistress of sleeping on buses.
It was an odd bus - it had pink bobbled curtains, an onboard loo, three staff who traveled in the downstairs cargo bay, and seats that reclined in the strangest possible to imagine way. There were also purple blankets in sealed bags, and the lights got put on everytime the bus was about to stop (frequently), with the hostess circulating with chilled face washes. No sleep.
After seven hours of this I emerged blearily into a pre-dawn bus stop to be assaulted by people trying to give me rides in taxis and on scooters. Because of the chaos I was swept up in the wake of three European backpackers who were going to the dock, they seemed to know where they were going, I didn't and it meant a peacefull moment.
We got to the dock, which was smelly chaotic and dark, coffee happened eventually, and more and more trevelers straggled in up till 9AM when the ferry left. I had vaguely considered going to an Island called Koh Chang, it was mean to be less developed but had a dive shop, the nice backpackers were going to a further Island with a bigger rep for backpackers.
The boat was wooden, very low in the water and had only four other travelers in it and English was not spoken by the poor, confused, but very nice Thai boy - I had been given the ticket to the wrong Island, which worried him. What worried him excessively more was that I could not tell him what resort I was going to. I had none booked, because I was going there accidentally, it would not have occured to me to book in any case and the word 'resort' gives me hives - I associate them with high end travel and hate them normally. Eventually I looked at the map another passenger had, and invented a resort to make him happy, but he still looked worried. Rightly so as it turned out.
I had imagined I would get off the boat at the pier, be swamped by people trying to take me places and then wander up and down the main drag untill I found somthing I liked the look of. Niet.
There was no pier, no road on the Island, no anything, except a few strung out 'resorts' with bungalows 3-5 meters from the beach, there is one 'shop' and one school ans a monestery. The boat went as close in as possible at each stop that was requested, you climbed down the ladder, into the water and they handed your lugguge, and groceries down to the people who had run down to collect them.
This Island is as close to paradise as I think you can get on earth. If I am ever caught up the the star trek vortex this is where I will find myself with only a very, very few minor changes. Pictures will be posted, but I ran my battery flat there so I need to recharge it first. There is no electricity either, each night after the spectacular sunset, the generator gets turned on, the lights flicker and dim as the old generator gutters and coughs for the few hours it is on and then it is dark again.
I did book a Similar Island dive tour to start on the 8th of feb after my tour. I have really high hopes of this dive company, they are really, hardcore divers and I am so lucky to have had that weird sequence of events that led me to
1) Koh Chang, (the Island of heaven on earth).
2)Cashew Resort, (200 Baht a night for your own bungalow, good home cooked food for about 40 Baht per dish, and happy, happy people totally unfased by unbooked people arriving unexpectedly on their beach. Probably totaly unfased by anything).
3)Alladin Dive company, (I wandered into what seemed to be an open plan living room with people having a social gathering. Bewildered I asked 'Is this a dive shop' they laughed, said yes, sat me down and someone started showing me their photos from the trip they had just got off the boat from...).
I arrived in Ranong before dawn a couple of days ago determined to find a dive shop in town and go on a dive. (Dawn is sooo late here I can't get used to it). Sleep on the overnight bus was impossible, even for me, the number one master/mistress of sleeping on buses.
It was an odd bus - it had pink bobbled curtains, an onboard loo, three staff who traveled in the downstairs cargo bay, and seats that reclined in the strangest possible to imagine way. There were also purple blankets in sealed bags, and the lights got put on everytime the bus was about to stop (frequently), with the hostess circulating with chilled face washes. No sleep.
After seven hours of this I emerged blearily into a pre-dawn bus stop to be assaulted by people trying to give me rides in taxis and on scooters. Because of the chaos I was swept up in the wake of three European backpackers who were going to the dock, they seemed to know where they were going, I didn't and it meant a peacefull moment.
We got to the dock, which was smelly chaotic and dark, coffee happened eventually, and more and more trevelers straggled in up till 9AM when the ferry left. I had vaguely considered going to an Island called Koh Chang, it was mean to be less developed but had a dive shop, the nice backpackers were going to a further Island with a bigger rep for backpackers.
The boat was wooden, very low in the water and had only four other travelers in it and English was not spoken by the poor, confused, but very nice Thai boy - I had been given the ticket to the wrong Island, which worried him. What worried him excessively more was that I could not tell him what resort I was going to. I had none booked, because I was going there accidentally, it would not have occured to me to book in any case and the word 'resort' gives me hives - I associate them with high end travel and hate them normally. Eventually I looked at the map another passenger had, and invented a resort to make him happy, but he still looked worried. Rightly so as it turned out.
I had imagined I would get off the boat at the pier, be swamped by people trying to take me places and then wander up and down the main drag untill I found somthing I liked the look of. Niet.
There was no pier, no road on the Island, no anything, except a few strung out 'resorts' with bungalows 3-5 meters from the beach, there is one 'shop' and one school ans a monestery. The boat went as close in as possible at each stop that was requested, you climbed down the ladder, into the water and they handed your lugguge, and groceries down to the people who had run down to collect them.
This Island is as close to paradise as I think you can get on earth. If I am ever caught up the the star trek vortex this is where I will find myself with only a very, very few minor changes. Pictures will be posted, but I ran my battery flat there so I need to recharge it first. There is no electricity either, each night after the spectacular sunset, the generator gets turned on, the lights flicker and dim as the old generator gutters and coughs for the few hours it is on and then it is dark again.
I did book a Similar Island dive tour to start on the 8th of feb after my tour. I have really high hopes of this dive company, they are really, hardcore divers and I am so lucky to have had that weird sequence of events that led me to
1) Koh Chang, (the Island of heaven on earth).
2)Cashew Resort, (200 Baht a night for your own bungalow, good home cooked food for about 40 Baht per dish, and happy, happy people totally unfased by unbooked people arriving unexpectedly on their beach. Probably totaly unfased by anything).
3)Alladin Dive company, (I wandered into what seemed to be an open plan living room with people having a social gathering. Bewildered I asked 'Is this a dive shop' they laughed, said yes, sat me down and someone started showing me their photos from the trip they had just got off the boat from...).