Phuket may be an international destination for those seeking a beach paradise and respite from the chill of winter, but it isn't quite the authentic Thai culture and experience we were anticipating. So after spending months in and around Phuket Island, we ventured inland to Chiang Mai and the surrounds in northern Thailand, followed by a short visit to Bangkok on the return trip.
Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand after Bangkok, but it feels more quaint. The old city is surrounded by a moat, and we stayed just outside the east side. Just a quick scamper across the traffic on the roads either side of the moat and we were at the local market, an assortment of restaurants and many lovely temples well within walking distance.
Mr Egg and Tuk-Tuk at Wat Champoo
We hired Mr. Egg and his "tuk-tuk" (sort of a motor-scooter-like taxi for two plus driver, think motorized rickshaw) to see some of the local temples, or "wats" as well as the requisite handicraft centers. Despite the fact that it was a tourist attraction, we were delighted with our visit to the Thai Silk Village. We saw the silk worms in action, munching voraciously on mulberry leaves, saw them spinning cocoons, and then learned about the entire silk-making process. Their retail shop had hundreds of luscious fabrics and 24-hour custom tailoring. We had shirts made which are exquisite. Hmmm... but when will we have an opportunity to wear beautiful dressy silk shirts?
Wat Phra Singh
We spent several days exploring locally, including visits to the major temples, the three cultural museums, the Saturday and Sunday walking street markets, getting a massage, and then headed to the Elephant Nature Park for a two-day adventure! See Beyond Phuket... A Taste of Thailand - part II: Elephants, yippee!
It's been a while since we last posted on our blog, and we haven't been out sailing either. We decided to spend the SW monsoon season on the north side of Phuket Island at the Yacht Haven marina in Thailand. Unlike the southern regions of Phuket, the north side isn't a real tourist destination and the marina is in a fairly remote location. That's not a bad thing though, as we wanted our time here to be restful. It does mean that we need to rent a car to do provisioning or get anywhere. While we have EQ at the marina, we're enjoying some time with friends and some land travel... we have already been to the US and AU, and are heading to Chiang Mai and surrounds in northern Thailand next week. We hope to visit Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar before we head out for the next leg of our sailing adventures.
Yacht Haven marina sunset
Poolside fun with friends in Ao Po, Phuket, Thailand
Pretty soon we'll need to get on some boat projects and start preparing for our next sailing adventures! We'll post more when we are on our way again... zoom!
We visited the Tiger Kingdom in Phuket, where one gets to spend a bit of time with some of their tigers. These big kitties have been raised in captivity and are used to human contact... they are also very well fed, minimizing their interest in contemplating visitors as dinner. It was an amazing experience. We spent time with the smallest tiger cubs (about 4 months old) and then with the really big guys.
You can't imagine how BIG these guys are... and my, what sharp teeth they have! Good we stayed at the end that doesn't bite. Although truth be told, he was yawning not roaring. :)
The smallest cubs were simply adorable. Yes, I'm allergic to cats, but couldn't help myself. Luckily (and happily) I really didn't have any adverse reaction... just a wee sniffle.
Hello Kitty!!! Well, aren't YOU just the sweetest little one? It was simply a purrrrrfect visit at the Tiger Kingdom!
With great anticipation, and with lovely friends from Singapore along as "crew cadets", we made our way from Langkawi, Malaysia into the waters of Thailand. We meandered up to Phuket, taking our time along the way, arriving five days later. As we got closer to Phuket, Ko Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh, we got a taste of what visiting the area was like in the high, high season. Tourists and tour boats everywhere! This is, of course, because the Phuket area is notoriously famous for its beautiful beaches, stunning limestone cliff islands and balmy weather. We picked up a mooring in Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh island, where they filmed the movie "The Beach" (we'll need to rent that sometime). Very stunning! They also filmed one of the James Bond movies at an island in north Phang Nga bay close to where we anchored, and although it has a proper Thai name (Ko Phing Kan), it is referred to simply as "James Bond" island.
We made our way to Ao (bay) Chalong, just south of Phuket town on the SE side of Phuket island, and after checking in with the authorities and enjoying our first Thai meal and traditional massage in Thailand, headed out to some of the islands for snorkelling and later kayaking. What great fun that was! How cool to kayak under stalactites and bats hanging from the ceiling! In some places we could paddle through a cave from the outside into an inner pool, and then another cave into another inner pool, and yet again. So there we where, sitting in our kayaks in the middle of the island surrounded by 200 foot vertical walls. Amazing places.
We found a few spots to anchor that were more isolated and enjoyed that time just relaxing as well. Phuket is crazy. Some expat locals we know say there is Phuket, and then there is the rest of Thailand. Picture a very big speed boat with 900 hp outboards and a 20 year old Thai driver loaded with tourists zooming in and out of the bays. And not just one, but an endless stream of them all day. But about 5:00 they all go home and peace and the subtle beauty returns.
Next, we're going to head up the west coast of Phuket island where all the beautiful beaches and resorts are. But more importantly, we're getting out of Dodge! We'll head up to the Burma border area where the tourists thin out and find some fisherman to buy more prawns from. Yum! Reportedly there are several quiet and lovely little islands and bays to see up the west coast of Thailand on the edge of the Andaman Sea. From there, we'll go out to the Surin and Similan islands offshore for some diving.
OK, that's the news from EQ, where the Winds are fair, the seas following, and the crew content.
Pirates everywhere! Well OK, maybe not anymore, but it's been an adventure dodging fishing boats and drift nets. We did one over night passage up to Port Dickson from Singapore with a few thumps in the night on the hull, but no big dramas thankfully. Lots of stuff floating around in these waters, from coconuts to trees to very large tankers and freighters. And very hot with little to no wind.
Singapore was a lovely city and we enjoyed spending time with friends and, oh yes, more boat projects. Got the injectors cleaned and engine tuned up, so now she's humming along. :) We put into the Admiral Marina for a month to leave EQ on her own while we travelled back to see the MomCat for Thanksgiving and a few friends in SF. Other than being cold and Roger having a very nasty eye injection, it was wonderful to see everyone, albeit too short a time. We did manage to spend a couple of days being tourists in the old town of Malacca, the original pirate capital. Lots of history here. Did we mention it's hot?
We then did a few long day sails (or motor-sails) up through the rest of the Malacca Straits, finally arriving at Penang. We pulled into a quiet little anchorage behind Jerejak Island which turned out to be right in front of Sherry's old employer, Agilent Technologies. How funny is that! We did get a spot in the Straits Quay Marina for a couple of days so we could get our Thai visas and tour the city of old Georgetown. Incredible Buddhist temples here and a lovely island. Lots of history here too. And did we mention it's hot?
We then set off for Langkawi, a destination we've been looking forward too. It's really quite lovely here, but most of all the NE monsoon has set in and we now have a breeze everyday. Yippy!!!! We can even sleep at night without sweating and the fans blasting away. :) We're going to just sit for a few days behind this lovely wall of mountains with Princess Lake hidden just beyond view before we head into the Rebak Marina on Christmas Eve. Life is good!
OK, that's the news from EQ, where the winds are fair (finally), the seas following (almost), and the crew content (and not sweating anymore, at least at the moment).
The Kumai River and Tanjung Putimg NP was certainly a highlight of Indonesia, but our cruising permit was coming to an end and we still had 650 miles to go to Singapore and only a couple of weeks to get there so that we didn't overstay the permit (with very steep fines), so we set forth, stopping at several islands along the way. We had a couple of over-nighters, but it was all fairly easy, though we did a bunch of motoring as the winds were light. We also crossed the Equator, back into the Northern hemisphere, on 17 October @ 05:12 am (local time). It's been over 9 years since EQ has done that. Hope she doesn't get confused. :) We do miss seeing the Southern cross at night though.
We finally did make it to Nongsa Point, our first (and last) marina in Indonesia to check out of the country and say good bye to a wonder-filled 3 months, the "Magical Mystery Tour" coming to an end, but also the start of another adventure up the Malacca Straits to Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand. And this new adventure started with crossing the shipping lanes in the Singapore Straits, an adventure in itself, literally a 1000 ships toing and froing, our chart plotter getting overwhelmed with AIS targets pasted all over the chart. We stopped at the "Western Quarantine" anchorage to check into Singapore with Immigrations, customs, etc. We never even dropped the anchor, the officials came over to us, we passed our papers via a fishing net, they processed us in and we were on our way. Singapore is very efficient! They'd have to be, being the largest container port on the planet. So, having caught the tides right (for a change) we headed around the back western side of S'pore to Raffles marina, were we will sit for a few weeks, resting, exploring this lovely city (a very big city when you consider where we've been), visiting friends that live here, and of course attending to those boat projects that have been accumulating (the ever present and growing "List").
SO, that's the news from EQ, where the winds are fair (if at all), the seas calm (flat as), and the crew content (and well dressed with new Bali shirts). Ta, ta...
Monday morning
found us waiting for our pick up... and waiting, and waiting. This operation was definitely
working on Indonesian "rubber time". We finally got everyone
collected onto our large river cruise boat... well-used “rustic” would describe
the boat best. Although we had three boats for sleeping (16 of us in our group)
on the 3-day/2-night cruise in the Tanjung Puting National Park, we all traveled and ate together on one boat.
We visited three
orangutan feeding stations, one each day of the trip. Many of the orangs are
totally wild, but some are semi-wild, having been orphans released back into
the forest after rehabilitation. They are still somewhat dependent on the daily
feedings. Those feedings also help the tourism, as many of us were there
watching and snapping photos. Below are two of
the MomOrangs… the babies will hold on and travel with their moms for about the
first 4-5 years and then they will start venturing on their own, but still stay
close to mom.
There were times
past when people bought and sold orangs, not caring for them properly, etc.
Thankfully, the Indonesian government has outlawed this and the orangs seem to
be holding their own in the national park. They are still threatened elsewhere,
as rainforest and jungle are being cut down and replaced with palm oil
plantations. I recently learned that it is less the palm oil in foods we eat,
and more as a supplement for fuel... or maybe they can use it as fuel on its
own... not sure about that. But what I am sure about is that only 37% of the
rainforest remains in Borneo and the animals are losing their habitat. This,
along with the pervasive trash problem all over Indonesia, makes me terribly
sad.
On day 2 while
several boats were rafted up and waiting to hike into the feeding station, we
watched a mischievous orang sneak on board the boat next to us and steal a can
of condensed milk from the table. Other cruisers who had done the tour just
before us reported the same event, so I somehow suspect that this was part of
the routine show. The orang knew just what to grab and the boat operators knew
exactly when to look the other way and leave the table unattended! :-) Here is the thief with loot in hand…
On the way to the orang feeding, an Orang walked
along the path with us. Then she reached up and took the arm of one of the
cruisers, who I’m sure was in a state of shock and fright. Then she walked on
and let others on the tour hold her (or she them). Eventually she got smart and
put hands and feet up so that some of the folks were carrying her most of the
way.Now that’s a good example of how intelligent
the Orangs are… they are fed daily and somehow arrange to be carried to the
feeding area as well! Yep, I’m on the left (below) walking with a new friend.
That same day,
on the way back from the orang feeding, we had a very close encounter with a
male orang. I was walking along the path ahead of Roger and we were both back a
bit from the rest of our group. I heard a rustling to my right and stopped to
look. There, larger than life, was a big male orang. We looked at each other
and then I saw Roger heading right for him. I yelled for him to stop, but he
kept on until I repeated it more urgently. He said, "whaaaat?" and
when I told him to look to his right, he saw him. He put out his hand, which
might have been interpreted as a somewhat aggressive gesture, and the orang made threatening
noises and postures, so Roger decided to head back up the path in the direction
we came from... the orang followed him. Luckily there was another tour group
and the guide told Roger just to move off the path... the orang just wanted to
get by him and get to the food. Whew!... what a scare! On
the last day of the tour we saw the big king below left... what an
impressive creature he is.
We feel so fortunate to have been able to do this trip and visit with the Orangs (as well as our friends traveling with us!
