The people looked different, I think they looked.....Asian. And they were speaking a different language, I think it was....Asian. Long gone are the days of leisurely strolls down to the Lyttelton Coffee Company to lounge around with the cuzzie bros, driving around the port hills in the Su-BAR-u, and early morning repeats of the World Cup on the ol' SKY telly box. All are now but distant memories of time well spent. As is the idea of fresh air, which seems a foreign concept in the humid monsoon season of Southern Thailand. It's boiling hot and humid all day round. But that's not a complaint, because it feels flippin' great to be back on the road again.
After another ten day 'break from travelling', exploring Phuket island with Woody's mum and Peter, eating hefty bacon breakfasts and doing things we couldn't normally afford to do, I feel it's appropriate here to re-reinforce just how lucky we are both feeling to be standing at the beginning of yet another spectacular looking path. It has meant a lot to be able to share some of the experiences along the way with our families. It seems to be a rarity in the backpacking world (which can be 50% legends and 50% wankers, depending on your location) to do that - to meet family along the way, and it's a blessing that we've been fortunate enough to do that. To have had a year which has seen us having Christmas on a Florida beach with Dorothy and Peter, been drenched by the majestic force of the Iguazu falls with my dear ol' ma and sister, meandered from winery to winery in the Autumn sunshine of the Marlborough region with my dad - the Rabster - and LJ, and shared countless meals, stories, jokes and laughs with Anneli and Keith in Lyttelton is nothing short of astounding.
It's also important to say here that without Anneli and Keith's unfaltering kindness to take our scruffy little selves in for much longer than they bargained for, the trip would have taken on a different (probably less interesting) shape. New Zealand would have ended up costing us an arm and a leg - much more than we'd anticipated. Effectively, their kindness is a huge part of why we're able to start this next chapter, to come and enjoy South East Asia. Amen to that.
That's not to mention the innumerable emails and phonecalls coming from home (cheers to Brian and Linda) which really mean a lot, and the Christmas and birthday gifts which have been sent out to us. In short - make no mistake, we know how lucky we are to have you all. Bless that, and thankyou.
Hey that's all a bit heavy for an 'exciting first blog from Asia', but it won't happen again so there you go. Normal service will be resumed in three....two....one....
You've got mail...............GENITALIA. Is it gay if you think a ladyboy's good looking? Just joking - but not really. Surely it's not gay if they look like a girl - that wouldn't be gay would it? Not gay if they look female. Surely. Who cares. In Trainspotting, Renton says something along the lines of "it's not about being gay or straight, it's just about who ye fancy". Either way, Dot and Peter descended into Thailand and dragged us straight into the gutter to see a ladyboy cabaret show in Patong. Simultaneously hilarious and strange. More silicon breasts than you could shake a stick at. Indeed some of the ladyboys in question could shake a stick at it, if you know what I'm sayin'. (What I'm sayin'.........is that some of them had dicks. get it? Sticks/dicks? It rhymes.) It's all fine by me - those trannies can sing. Well, they can mime with the best of them at any rate...
Besides the highbrow culture there was a birthday trip to the stunning limestone islands around Ao Phang Nga, the area where Roger Moore and Christopher Lee duked it out in the 007 film 'The Man With the Golden Gun'. That film is a boyhood treasure and the day didn't disappoint. Whizzing around in a speedboat, surrounded by flying fish, snorkelling in the crystal waters with the sun beating down, exploring lagoons and caves and even getting caught in a downpour in a mangrove - and that was Tuesday. There was also plenty of opportunity to engage with some of Thailand's wildlife on Phuket island. We went on an elephant trek into the hills above Kata, with excellent views of the Andaman Sea below, checked out a gibbon rehabilitation centre and had an interesting encounter with some 'nibblefish'. The idea behind a 'Fish Spa' is that you dunk your feet in a tank full of these 'nibblefish' and if you stay still, they start to eat the dead skin cells off your little piggies. You could liken the sensation to that of pins and needles - not entirely unpleasant but slightly un-nerving. After twenty minutes I'm not convinced that my feet were any softer. Granted, with extended flip-flop wearing it would take a shark with a chisel to soften up these bad boys. We also took in a snake show where, in between shrieks of terror from Dorothy and delight from Woody, me and Peter were bound at the calf by a huge python. It constricted us below the knee quite uncomfortably, until it was peeled off by Jimmy, his handler.
From one bonding experience to another, we were lured off the street by a friendly Nepalese tailor angling for a sale. He dubbed Peter 'The Boss' and me 'The Brother'. in another time and place that's a Marvel crime-fighting duo just waiting to happen. Woody and her mum wre charmed by a young girl across the street - pashminas were bought. Four return trips to the tailor later, the Boss's suit fitted and final alterations made to the 'Brothershirt'. All we need now is a batcave, a butler and a fancy car and we're good to go...
Phuket town itself was a really interesting place to explore. Late last year, my esteemed colleague Garry Weir visited and asserted the following: "Somewhat fortuitously I was staying inland in Phuket town" G. Weir, Nov. 2009. I would agree with that entirely. Their is a noticeable Chinese influence in the architecture of the town, so after D+P jetted off we decided to hang around an extra day and pad around the streets. Plenty of temples, monks and human activity to keep us going for the day - as the sun went down we watched some tai-chi, yoga, keepy ups and muay-thai training all happen withing one hundred feet of each other, the groups all sharing the space in total harmony. We ducked out of a downpour to enjoy some classic Thai food and some classic Thai rum. Why is the rum always gone? You know why Woody, you know why....
Back on the buses, over the other side of the Andaman coast to Krabi. Here we met some most excellent South Africans who are among the best people we've met on our entire trip so far. Kyle and Marene are a great laugh. Their pride for Africa is only matched by their powers of persuasion. After only a couple of hours we were all geared up to join them the next day for another speedboating adventure round the Phi Phi islands, aquamarine sea and beautiful beaches. Indeed one beach so beautiful it was used as the beach in the film of the same name. Which was called 'The Beach'. We jumped off the front of the boat to swim and snorkel - plenty of danger in them thar seas, sea snakes and painful looking black sea urchins among the more visible of them. As we pulled up to the last island of the day, a cracking monsoon battered the beach below. We sat in the sea as the warm rain racketed down all around us and looked out over the turquoise waters up to the threatening skies above. A surprisingly calm and peaceful experience and a definite highlight of the day. That was Wednesday...
In South America it was often impressive to see just how many people it was possible to cram onto a single moped. Standard two, sometimes three, maybe four at a push. In Thailand they're really on top of the game; entire families, pets included, buzzing and weaving down the road seemingly as light as a feather. In Krabi there were plenty of motorbike taxis eager to prove their credentials as expert balancers of people. Just the two of you? No ploblem. So with little compact Woody sandwiched in between the driver and me, all arms and legs like a baby giraffe perched on the raised pillion seat, he twists the throttle and away we go like some sort of macabre bi-racial circus sideshow. It's only marginally more comfortable than it sounds. On the way back into town our driver ran out of petrol - much to the hilarity of the locals at the side of the road. We walked, the three of us, to the nearest petrol station, our driver smiling and skipping around and pushing his bike along 'so sorry, so sorry"...
The reason for all the bikery was a trip to Wat Tham Sua - The Tiger Cave Temple. There's a 1237 step climb to the Buddha at the top and fantastic views out to sea and beyond to the islands. Best done in the middle of the day, I say, when the sun is at it's hottest. Cheers. Well worth the sweat and burning calf and thigh muscles for the view - as well as soaking up the spiritual atmosphere all on our own at the top. Down at the bottom there are monk's dwellings built into the side of the caves, where Woody got a few hundred photographs under her belt, relishing being back in some fascinating and unfamiliar culture. I think it's.....Asian.
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