Koh Tao: January 2006

Our cultural correspondent, Po Scard, brings us up to date with Ray and Nikki's travel itinerary and finds out what they have been up to over the last eight weeks, as well as giving us a peek at some of their future plans.

Many people have an image of Thailand as a place where you are guaranteed to find all day sunshine, with beautiful palm trees and powdery white sand and clear blue waters on the beaches.  In fact, November marked the start of the "wet" season in the south and Koh Samui, the largest of three islands in the Gulf of Thailand was about as far from the popular image as you could get weatherwise!  Torrential rain was falling every day for virtually a month, without even a short break on some days.  The worst monsoon on record for 30 years was how the local people were talking about it.

Ray wades through flood water on the main road in Koh Samui

The timing of this attrocious weather co-incided with Ray and Nikki joining up in Koh Samui to begin their travels of the Far East.  They quickly realised that they would be going nowhere for a while as most of the roads on the island were badly flooded and the army had to be called in to make the roads passable after 3-4 days of severe flooding brought everything to a standstill.

Not the Army amphibious vehicle testing ground, but the main road near Bo Phut!

Not the best of starts then for Ray and Nikki? "Not at all" said Ray. "We left England to experience life in other countries - for the real authentic experience - not the picture postcard idea that tourists sometimes want if they only have limited time.  We have never seen rain like this in England, or anyhwere else for that matter, so we are very glad that we have experienced it first hand here, although we would not rush to be in the same situation as you can never get properly dry. Our best investment has been our pac-a-macs, which cost 100 baht (about one pound fifty) - they have kept us from getting severely depressed on several days here in Samui!"

The pier in Bo Phut Fisherman's village takes a hammering - less than 50 metres away from where Ray and Nikki were staying

During their five weeks in Samui, the weather was a major constraint for Ray and Nikki as they were unable to get around easily and see many of Samui's attractions.  One exception was the Loy Kruton festival in Big Buddha, near Bo Phut village where the two of them were staying.  

This is a wonderful evening experience by the sea, in which the local Thai people celebrate the water and apologise to it for the pollution they cause.  It is also an opportunity for people to construct small floating lanterns which they speak secret wishes into, and then push them out on to the water with candle and incense burning.  It is a spectacular sight at night as the dark ocean is lit up by hundreds of floating lanterns as they move further and further away from the shore. 

I spoke briefly with Nikki after the festival and she said "It was an honour to share an authentic religious festival with local people, rather than tourists (known by Thai's as 'Farang').  We enjoyed eating real Thai food with local people and there was a huge spread on offer. The setting was especially beautiful with the Big Buddha as a backdrop and fireworks to round off the evening".

Big Buddha, lit for the festival, looks down on everyone gathered

Ray and Tamara with lanterns, ready to send their wishes out to sea

Lanterns drift out to sea carrying the wishes of everyone present (above)

One of the many delicious Thai dishes on offer at Loy Kruton

Ray and Nikki left Koh Samui on December 20th to take the 30 minute boat crossing to Koh Phangan, a sister island to the north of Samui.  After taking up residence on a remote beach in Haad Yao, they were both pleasantly surprised to discover that one of Ray's best friends from his school days in Welwyn Garden City, Dave Cox, was going to be joining them on Christmas Day! "I was thrilled when I got the call from Coxy and he said he was coming down to see us" said Ray. "It was really great to be spending Christmas with such good friends in such a beautiful place". 

Ray and David Cox link up in Koh Phangan

David now lives and works in Spain and decided to spend 4-5 weeks travelling before the start of a new project. The three of them made the most of their time on the island and decided to have their first taste of driving a 4WD Jeep.  This is essential if you want to get around on Ko Phangan as many of the "roads" are just very rutted dirt tracks and very steep and wet in some places.   Highlights included a day trek up to the Phaeng waterfall, the climbing of Khao Raa, which at 627 meters is Phangan's highest mountain and a visit to the herbal steam room at Wat Pho, a buddhist temple.  After their ascent of Kaoh Raa, I spoke to them about the experience. "Although this was not the highest peak I have climbed, I found it particularly challenging because of the exhausting heat and the added pressure of avoiding spiders webs, snakes and other tropical creatures!" said a triumphant Nikki.

The way up to the top is through thick jungle vegetation and gets progressively steeper and sweatier

"Wow! It was really worth it for this view" said Nikki and Ray

Nikki, Ray and Dave decided to leave Koh Phangan on 31st December, to make another boat hop over to the island of Koh Tao, where they would see in the New Year.  "We had heard that Koh Tao was the smallest and most beautiful of the three islands, so we just had to go there" said Ray.

One of Koh Tao's many beautiful bays

They were definitely not disappointed.  Having spent New Years Eve on the beach having supper together, the three of them joined the other revellers from around the world at the most beautiful beach party you could imagine and danced into the small hours of 2006. 

David decided to leave a couple of days later to head north to Chiang Mai, whilst Nikki got herself together to make the first of what will probably be several "visa runs" that our intrepid travellers will have to make.  These are common in Thailand for people travelling on tourist visa's.  Basically, the Thai authorities require all non residents to go out of the country and come back in again, renewing their visa in the process, every 30 days.  Consequently, a whole industry has sprung up to cater for people who need to be taken to the nearest border and brought straight back again, usually overnight and within a 24 hour period. "The round trip took 17 hours and involved four boats and two buses, so I am glad I do not have to do it again for two months, although Ray has yet to make the trip" said Nikki upon her return.

Editors Note: At the time of writing, we heard from Ray and Nikki that they are planning to go on to the mainland in the next couple of weeks.  Some of the things they intend to do include a 10 day silent retreat in a Buddhist Monastery, a visit to the National Park north of Phuket and extended stays in Bangkok and Chiang Mai where they may study to gain their Teach English qualification.  We will keep you posted about their news as we get the stories here at The Daily Lama.   AMBER SOLAIRE

Post A Comment