Tag Archives: thailand

Fujisan aka Fujiyama

2020-03-28 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I took a bus to Mt. Fuji after my delightful time in Kyoto and found myself in yet another awe inspiring part of Japan. I stayed at the Backpackers Hostel K’s House Mt. Fuji, near Lake Kawagughiko for I believe 5 days to a week and wasted no time wandering around the town (as I normally do) getting acquainted with my surroundings and occasionally lost.

Little Shrine

View from the Top

Lake View

View from the Top_2

Walking around

Little Garden

My favorite memories of staying at Mt. Fuji, were of course the volcano itself, the day tour I engaged in, the surprise of meeting a celebrity (Jeannie Mai from the TV show ‘How Do I Look?’ and last but not least having an hour long conversation over dinner with an old Japanese man, who spoke not a single word of English, and I only a few phrases.

Lake View_3

Lake View_2

Mt. Fuji_3

Another View

Mt. Fuji

Mt. Fuji_2

Mt. Haneko Trail

Mt. Haneko Trail_2

From the second I saw Mt. Fuji from my hostel room, I was simply in love. Tried as I did however, no matter how many hundreds of pictures I took of the volcano, I never felt satisfied that I was able to actual capture the true beauty of Mt. Fuji. Seriously, if you could see my original pictures, I had about 200! I do recall that being one of the frustrating points of being there… That I couldn’t quite capture how glorious it was (sigh).

Mt. Haneko Trail_3

Mt. Haneko Trail_4

Mt. Haneko Trail_5

Close up

The second highlight of my trip was opting to go on a day tour. The tour was simply called “Mt. Fuji Tour” and was operated through the hostel. We stopped at 5 destinations: Fuji Sengen Shrine, which was the original entrance to the trail to climb to the pinnacle of Mt. Fuji. If memory serves, devote Japanese people would annually use this trail to get to the top of Mt. Fuji, instead of simply starting at Station 5, like most tourists. This trail was obviously MUCH longer and harder than getting a leg up to 2305m…

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_2

Inside Trail Temple_2

Inside Trail Temple

Inside Trail Temple_3

Dragon Fountain

Trail Temple

Little Mice

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_3

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail Entrance

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_5

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_4

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_6

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_7

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail_8

Yoshidagushi Climbing Trail Main Entrance

The second and third destinations included the Aokigahara Lava Forest, and Shiraito Falls. Both places were such splendid displays of nature! The lava forest was so serene, while the falls were absolutely breathtaking! I recall the color of the water there. So clear with specks of purples, greens and blue… And the sound of all that water pouring into the lake below. It was incredible!

Shiraito Falls

Shiraito Falls_2

Shiraito Falls_3

Shiraito Falls_4

Shiraito Falls_5

Shiraito Falls_6

Shiraito Falls_7

The Grotto

Inside the Grotto

Inside the Grotto_2

Even Deeper

Grotto from Above

Grotto from Above_2

Evidence of Lava

Aokigahara Lava Forest

Aokigahara Lava Forest_2

Aokigahara Lava Forest_3

Lake Motosuko was a fourth destination of the tour. And while I believe in general this is the spot where the majority of photographs adequately capture how glorious Mt. Fuji is, again, I wasn’t able to:( Also the clouds didn’t help;) Our last stop was to the 5th Station of Mt. Fuji. I was there at a time where it was out of season to go beyond the 5th station, and even attempting to do so could lead to serious injury or death. Not to mention no one really wanting to come to your rescue if you were dumb enough to try and go further! However, it was still fun to be able to get closer to the top, without being too extreme.

Lake Motosuko

Mt Fuji 5th Station

Mt Fuji 5th Station_2

Mt Fuji 5th Station_3

Mt Fuji 5th Station_4

Mt Fuji 5th Station_5

Mt Fuji 5th Station_6

Mt Fuji 5th Station_7

Mt Fuji 5th Station_8

Mt Fuji 5th Station_9

Mt Fuji 5th Station_10

En route to Station 5

En route to Station 5_2

My final two best memories of my time in Mt. Fuji was randomly meeting Jeannie Mai. So a little backstory here: When I was living in Koh Tao, Thailand, the place I rented for a couple months had a TV. That TV only had one channel where English was spoken. And on that channel, one of the daily shows that would air was “How Do I Look?” hosted by Jeannie Mai. It became a daily habit after attending my morning Muy Thai training and having 6 cups of coffee at my favorite coffee shop, Through the Looking Glass, to head home and chill for a little bit by watching TV.

Fast forward to Mt. Fuji, one evening I went back to a restaurant I had gone to a couple times before. It was a gringo restaurant, meaning the cuisine was American, burgers, fries, etc. while the sitting style was all Japanese (on the floor). Anyway, as was my usual habit in the evenings, I went there, got a little tipsy and had some dinner. While I was there, I don’t recall if Jeannie and her mom were there when I arrived, or if they arrived later, but the three of us were the only customers in the place. At a certain point we all got to talking. Sharing stories, learning little things about each other, etc.

I kept thinking while we were talking that there was something so familiar about her. Her mannerisms, her voice, her face… It never clicked with me at that point. I ended up finishing my meal and drinking and headed back to the hostel (just down the road). For whatever reason, I just couldn’t get out of my head how familiar she seemed. So I got online and typed in Jeannie… and there she popped up and it immediately clicked that I knew her from watching her in Thailand! So, silly me, I then proceeded to go back to the restaurant, apologized profusely for my next question and asked, “Are you Jeannie Mai from “How Do I Look?”? She laughed and said yes, and was tickled I had recognized her. She was so gracious and also tickled that I had seen her on TV while living in Thailand. Her and her mom were such sweethearts and were kind enough to let me snap a picture with them. I even exchanged emails with her mom (which reminds me I should touch base with her again!). It was such a fun and unexpected encounter! Interestingly enough, we were both at the bus station leaving at the same time! We again ran into each other on our respective ways out, and once again, Jeannie (I didn’t get to see her mom as she wasn’t with Jeannie at the time) was so gracious, kind and loving. Absolutely amazing!

Celebrity Sighting

Wandering Around

Around Town

View from Hostel

Lake View_3

Lake View_4

My final memory of Mt. Fuji was an evening I spent at a restaurant, 3 doors down from the “gringo” one. This one however was 100% Japanese and it was just one old man running the place and cooking. The food was absolutely delicious and because we were the only two in the entire place, we of course got to trying to communicate with each other. Miracle of miracles, he had a tablet with some sort of program with the most advanced translating capabilities I had ever seen. He would speak to it in Japanese and it would translate to English writing. I would read the question, answer in English, and he would read my response! It wasn’t Google… I honestly should have gotten the name of that program, but regardless, we literally spent the next hour or so talking about everything! Why/where I traveled, politics, religion, about his family, etc. It was one of the most unique and honoring experiences I had ever had. To sit with a stranger, neither of us knowing the others language, and yet to be able to have a conversation. It was a beautiful evening. My only regret was not having my camera in tow, so I wasn’t able to get a picture with him.

On to Tokyo

Back to Japan

Back to Homepage

Australia, Travel

Best Times on the Farm

2016-07-10 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

In no particular order:

Playing I spy (and mostly winning, though another would disagree ;)) on the way to Victoria with horses in tow. Mind you it was a 12-14 hour drive each way, so we had lots of time to kill:)

Rudy: A rooster on the property that just one day showed up and staked his claim on the land was one of the many creatures that roamed around. Though I had never really had an issue with him (I bribed him daily with food!) any time a new person came on the property, he would try to attack them. He was rather sneaky at it too, even going so far as to attack unsuspecting people who had been on the property before from behind! Many people had stories of their encounters with the rooster ending in bloodshed (on the humans part, not the rooster’s!) or very close calls. Luckily I was never one of them, so from my perspective it was extra entertaining to hear about others close calls!

General wildlife on the property: goats (ham and cheese), burger the bull, bats, wallaby, kangaroo in the valley, snakes, huntsman, frogs, moths, bunnies, foxes, black cockatoos, parrots in the valley… the beauty of the wilderness that surrounded us daily was unbelievable and amazing!!

Twins

Curious Girl

Dried bat: I had been used to (somewhat) encountering many a huntsman spider while opening and closing gates around the property as the sneaky buggers loved to hide out in the wood. They mostly stayed away from gates that were opened often, but ones that weren’t operated daily were havens for the gigantic arachnids. So one day while very cautiously going to open a seldom used gate, as the wood plank slid back and a giant fuzzy THING dropped out from the gate, I couldn’t help but scream and run away! Of course I was laughed at and for good reason that time… It turned out the furry thing that fell out wasn’t at all a huntsman, but a flattened dried, very dead little bat:( Poor buddy!!!

Mama and Baby

Beautiful Boy!

Goodness snakes alive!!! I had about 6 close encounters of the slithery kind while on the farm. Luckily though they were only encounters with the shy red-bellied black snakes! While they are still quite poisonous to people and animals, thankfully their first line of attack was to simply slither away. My two most harrowing encounters go as follows: one evening while enjoying a cocktail (or two) as I was sitting outside, one appeared from under the truck heading directly toward me. I didn’t know whether to move or stay still! Options raced through my drunken mind as it got closer and closer. Finally I made my move and very slowly lifted my legs off the ground to the chair. Thankfully that was enough to alert the snake to my presence and it abruptly lifted its head, flipped 180 degrees in the opposite direction and scurried away! My closest encounter however was while I was walking across the lawn (again a wee bit intoxicated, though a different day). I was taking confident strides to my destination until I noticed a coiled red-bellied black snake not three feet in front of me sunning itself in the afternoon sun. We literally didn’t notice each other until we noticed each other! I stopped and squealed and it uncoiled at warp speed and hauled away from me as quick as it could, lol!!

Red-bellied Black Snake

Local Python

A wallaby sighting: in the valley around sunset it was a common sight to see several dozen kangaroos in the fields just off the main road. But never had I seen any ‘roos’ or their smaller counterparts in the mountains until one early morning while collecting one of the horses from their field. Normally this horse was always calm and relaxed as we walked out of her field, but on this day as we exited she startled quite abruptly and stared in wonderment behind her. While wondering what was wrong with her, I followed her gaze behind us only to spot a little wallaby at the entrance to her field staring back at us. We all stood frozen for a few moments checking each other out until the little guy hopped away. Very cool!

Watching My Kitchen Rules with ‘S’ and getting drunk: I had discovered the TV reality show My Kitchen Rules while in Thailand and it quickly became one of my favorite evening shows to watch and relax to. I introduced my house mate ‘S’ to the show and it wasn’t long before we started making nightly ‘dates’ to enjoy our meals and company while watching the show together. Often times we would get (or already be) a bit tipsy on our drinks of choice and would laugh hysterically throughout the show with our added commentaries. Loved it!

Scratching on Mom

Baby boy

Hey there!

T’s account of Rudy’s beating by the farrier: Just the visual of this one still makes me laugh! T, a French rider at the farm, while very good at speaking and understanding the English language still had a few things here and there that he was learning along the way. The phrase “beat the $h!t out of…” was one phrase he was introduced to. It came about as the farrier told ‘T’ about how Rudy had attacked him relentlessly one day, forcing him to retaliate in self-defense. As the rooster continuously attacked the farrier, he defended himself by striking the rooster until one particular blow ended up knocking the rooster unconscious. Hence, the phrase “he beat the $h!t out of Rudy” became a new phrase in T’s repertoire, and his recounting of the story the farrier told him was simply hilarious, lol!! And don’t worry readers- Rudy is just fine!! He is alive and well and still attacks who and when he pleases!

Enjoying a scratch

Out to Field

Listening to music on the front porch and talking for hours with A: ‘A’ was another groom I had the pleasure of working with. We had so much in common that I called him my male twin. Evening after evening we would sit on the front porch after a long day with drinks in hand and conversations for hours while listening to music from all ages and genres. One particularly fantastic night, ‘A’ put a blanket on the front lawn and we just lay there listening to music while watching a gloriously beautiful night sky, sparkling bright with every star from the heavens. Absolutely gorgeous!

Jumping over jumps drunk: ok, so I’m noticing that many of my stories here involve drinking… But hey, there really wasn’t much else to do on the property after finishing with the horses and drinking just brings out the fun in myself and my company! On this particular night, it was myself, ‘S’ and the Australian ‘T’ who got our drinks on thought it would be a great idea to try to jump over the jumps set up for the horses! In all reality however, it was mainly ‘T’ who was doing the jumping while ‘S’ and I simply laughed our rears off while running around the arena. Good times!!

Sunsets on the bench: Self explanatory

Lovely Lady

Beautiful Land

Home sweet Home

Smokes falling asleep on my hands: One of the shows I had the privilege of being a part of was down near Melbourne and unlike previous shows, it was 4 days long. All our horses were doing really well and one in particular, Smokes (my nickname for him) made it to the final round as a contender for Champion of Champions. After his jumping round I stood on the sidelines holding him while watching the other contenders being ridden. Now, Smokes since I’d met him had a habit of always wanting to lick, whether it was our hands or arms. Normally I wouldn’t allow this behavior in case it led to a nip, but he had been such a good boy all weekend that I allowed him his guilty pleasure. I stood to his side with my hands clasped under his muzzle allowing him to lick the salt off while I watched the others do their course. A couple of minutes later I realized that his licks had subsided and that he was simply resting his muzzle in my hands. A few minutes after that I started to notice how heavy he was feeling in my hands… It was about then that I noticed his eyes were closed and his body had a very gentle sway to it… He had fallen asleep in my hands!! I gently woke him giving him some loving pats while whispering in his ear that the show was almost over. Bless him!! By the way, he did win the Champion of Champions!

Smokes

Smokes licking

Champion of Champions!

Worming a young stud: I think the picture says it all! While I thought he had swallowed, he apparently didn’t and instead spat all the medicine right back on me!

Worming Failure

Reconstructing my San Blas anklet: my anklet from the San Blas Islands had at some point come undone, so I made it a project to reconstruct. Since we had a road trip coming up, I brought it along to help kill time. What I wasn’t expecting however was how involved ‘T’ (Australian rider) got into the project himself! Along with providing helpful suggestions on how to make the slow and sometimes painful process of stringing hundreds of teeny beads on a teeny rope, he was also my cheerleader, egging me on to keep going and get the project done! It was on the leg back to the farm that I finally did complete the anklet and got it back to its place around my ankle.

Peggy the possum: Possums were common creatures to see during the night but usually only from afar. A couple of them however ended up becoming quite brave! One particular evening as we sat on the front porch having a few drinks, we noticed this creature walking along the stone path directly up to the front porch steps. It came up so confidently in its movement that we all at first thought it was a cat! But no, it was a possum!! It stopped just shy of getting on the porch, perching itself on the stairs. It looked at us, we looked at it in amazement, and it simply turned away from us, scampered to a nearby tree, climbed it to the roof, ran across the roof overhead us, down the tree on the other side of the porch to a little spot we often threw bits of old bread or muffins. Absolutely surreal! We named this possum Peggy:)

In her nest

Possum with baby

Gabrielle the frog and T’s reaction to the frog: The French rider ‘T’ may kill me for posting this, but we had a frog that seemed to appear nightly in the same spot, so it was named Gabrielle. One particular night, ‘T’ left the porch and entered the house and let out a scream that put 5-year-old girls to shame! ‘A’ and I went to investigate what happened and it turned out that one of the frogs (maybe Gabby?) got into the house and startled ‘T’. Needless to say I was cracking up over the sound of ‘T’s’ scream, and once he calmed down he too had a little chuckle over it;)

Of course there are many more, but since this post is getting rather lengthy, I will leave it at that!

On to Wildlife Park & Jenolan Caves

Back to Australia

Bajo, Indonesia

Favorite Memories from Bajo

2016-03-28 ramblintraveler 3 Comments

Not in any particular order:)

Riding on the motorbike with Ainul: This one has a little back story. We were all out in Belopa hanging out at one of Faisal’s friends place (Misba) and among other things we got into a conversation about the Muslim religion. I learned about ‘haram’ (forbidden) and ‘halal’ (allowed) and about proper ways to interact with other Muslim men and women. On our way back to Bajo, I rode with one of the students, Ainul (Arabic for ‘eye of God’ essentially) and he continued to educate me about the religion during our 15 minute drive back. He told me that the Muslim religion teaches to love your family, your neighbors and yourself. To treat others with respect and kindness. To give what you can and be grateful for what you have. Then he asked (which still brings tears to my eyes thinking of it) whether I had heard of the recent bombings in France (November 2015). I replied yes, I had. To which he said ‘those people are not Muslims. Our true religion teaches love, not hate. Those people doing those bad things are not true Muslims.’ Through my welled-up eyes I simply replied “I know.”. People so often judge others and their religions based on the evil behavior of a few who claim to be of the same religion. But at the real heart of every religion lies the same undeniable truth: Love one another and be good to one another. We are each here just trying to live our lives in the best way possible for ourselves, our families and friends. It’s a shame those with evil intentions and evil in their hearts try to ruin it.

School’s Recycle Center

School House

Iswan’s Grandfather

Bajo from the Mountain

Hiking the Mountain

Spicy food: Ok, so I love, LOVE spicy food!!! I thought up to this point in my travels that I’d already encountered the spiciest food available in Asia, but I was wrong!! Indonesia (at least South Sulawesi) has THE spiciest food I’d ever tasted!! Even something simple like nasi goreng (fried rice) was so unbelievably hot that I was in heaven!! Truth be told however I couldn’t always finish all my food because of the heat of the meal and the heat of the day! Indonesia blew both Thailand and Malaysia out of the water in the category of spicy foods!

Hiking the Mountain_2

Bringing in Water

Inside the Mountain Home

Mountain Home View

Bajo from Above

Cooking with Faisal: Watching this young man teach english was a marvel enough, but amazingly he’s also a talented chef! I enjoyed joining him in the kitchen several nights a week to watch him whip up delicious traditional Indonesian dishes full of intense flavors and of course spice!

Lovely Children

Salma’s Backyard

Baby Ducks!

Salma’s Mom Herding Ducks

Salma at a Rice Field (Sawa)

Meeting his friends: Misba, Ucok, Mita, Iswan, Andre, Aput, Ainul, Lily, Diarah… the list of his beautiful friends could go on forever!

Collecting Coconuts

Salma’s machete Skills

Salma’s mom plucking mangos

Getting Ready

All Finished

Helping to make Kapurung with Mama and at Iswan’s house with his family.

Mama, Makeup artist and 3 volunteers

Awaiting the photo shoot

Aquika Spread

New Baby

Blessings

Amazing Hospitality: Everywhere you went, the hospitality was unbelievable. Such beautiful people and so giving in every way

Posing with baby and Grandmother

Happy Father and Sister

Too Adorable!!

Happy Family

Treated like a celebrity: Seriously if you’ve ever wanted to know what it must be like to be a celebrity, GO TO Bajo!!! People literally stop and stare, ask for photos and want to get close to you! They are all of course very respectful and will ask for pictures etc, but once you give the ‘go ahead’ they will come in close and one picture turns into about 70, lol!! ‘Lagi, lagi’ (again, again) was the common word heard during picture time. Even just walking down the street to the store I would be stopped by people driving by for a picture with them. Seriously an ego boost! Though truthfully there were lots of times when the honor wore off! I would still always acquiesce to pictures with the people, but after that experience certainly would never want to be a real celebrity!!

Ucok’s Home

Ucok’s Neighborhood

Tree House

Cemetary

Hiking the mountain: The name of it escapes me but it was one of the tallest in our area. Iswan had a family home at the top of the mountains and after a 2 hour hike, we enjoyed a beautifully relaxing, quiet and calm afternoon chilling at their home. We practiced our shooting skills with a pellet gun (only shooting targets, no animals!!!) and ate fresh food cooked up by the boys literally plucked from the earth. So beautiful!

Offerings for the Dead

Tightrope Skills

Ice Cream Time!

Playing Games

The Bridge!

Going to Iswan and Ucok’s home: Such amazing families and homes!! They were simple yet so gorgeous! Animals roamed around as we sat on the floor eating home cooked traditional foods and talked. We tried some palm wine (normally haram, but was only served to myself and the two other volunteers so it was all good!). We met the most amazing man, Iswan’s grandfather who was apparently over 100 years old, yet looked as if he was maybe 60! He loved meeting tourists and though he didn’t speak a word of English, his smile and constant laugh said it all. You couldn’t help but smile and laugh with him non-stop any time you were in his presence!!

Class Time!

Class Time!_2

Class Time!_3

High School Class

Making Faces

Mama: Faisal’s mother was just too cute! She didn’t speak any English yet was still able to communicate in her own way. She was warm, welcoming and always a bright spirit to be around! I loved going to the markets with her or just hanging out with her on the front porch.

Volunteer House Blessing Night

The Poem

Finishing Touches

Lol!

Building Talent

Learning Bahasa: I started to carry a little notebook with me so I could write down any new words of Bahasa to refer back to when needed. I would always write the word phonetically so I could pronounce it correctly and was often corrected in my spelling, lol!!

Class Time_5

2nd High School Class

2nd High School Class_2

Karaoke!

Karaoke!_2

Salma: One of Faisal’s cousin is an amazing! She invited me to her beautiful home and served me kapurung (a traditional soup made with sagu, vegetables and meat) then took me to her sister’s house for a tour of their land. I actually learned the majority of Bahasa words from her. She couldn’t really construct sentences, but she knew a lot of individual words so as I watched her prepare lunch she would point to items and say their equivalent in Bahasa. One of my favorite afternoons!

Dressed in local wedding attire: What an amazing experience this was!! Another cousin of Faisal, brother of Salma was a make-up artist and he turned myself and the two other volunteers into brides complete with the full traditional hair, make-up and gowns! We were then whisked off to Belopa to several locations to have professional pictures taken by 3 individuals (Aput-the real pro and Andre were 2 of them). Talk about feeling like a star again! We even went to the home and met one of the Queen’s of South Sulawesi (one of 8!) and were allowed to take pictures inside her home:)

Karaoke!_3

Living Room at Night

Sifting Cement

Sifting Cement_2

Sifting Cement_3

Karaoke: As part of a going-away gift, Faisal, Ucok and Iswan treated myself and another volunteer from Spain to a night of karaoke! Sooooooo much FUN!!!!! We had our own booth and jammed away until our time was cut off, lol!! Loved it!

The students: Attentive, respectful, full of life, cheery, smart, inquisitive, beautiful students!! From the 6 year olds up to the 18 year olds, what a wonderful group of kids to have been given the pleasure of teaching!

Visit to recycle center: My first task upon arriving at the request of Faisal was to help set up a recycling center at his home. Traditionally all trash is burned (not good for the air!) but luckily a recycle center was located in Belopa. So we visited the center and arranged for us to be able to bring in our recycling. I set up a little center near the school and we educated then encouraged the kids to bring in their plastics, paper and metals to us so we could collect them and take them to the main center. Faisal would even get some money from the recycling, which could in turn be put back into helping fund his school! Visit Faisal’s Environmental Page!

Leaving Bajo: This one was definitely a bitter-sweet memory. I didn’t want to leave, yet at the same time was ready to. I received one of the most beautiful send-offs however. They loaded me with parting gifts and hugs. I tried my best not to get emotional and cry, but that was just impossible. I was a big ball of sopping wet tears by the time I got on the bus. I still carry each of their gifts with me and smile whenever I see or wear them. My eyes are welling up again…

Building and blessing the volunteer house: I really can’t take credit for this bit as I didn’t actually help build any part of it, lol!! I kept hanging around and asking if they needed help, but the boys and Faisal’s father had everything under control. They built a beautiful 2 room home for volunteers just behind the school-house. I did help with some of the painting however and with a little poem written on the inside of each room, but that was the extent of my contribution, lol! Once complete, we had a gathering in one of the rooms with food and the entire family and friends and had a little prayer to bless the new space.

Spiderman/Justin Bieber: One of Faisal’s nephews, a feisty character of a young man was often at the house as many other young family members were. We’d often play games of hide-and-seek or watch them rollerblade around, and the reason he got the nickname ‘Spiderman’ was because you would literally have to look up the walls or to the ceiling to find where he was hiding! Quite the talented climber that one was. And he’d constantly sneak up on you from the most random of directions while we were painting or writing on the walls of the volunteer house. Can’t recall why he also got the nickname ‘Justin Bieber’, but using either of those two nicknames and everyone knew who we were referring to, lol!!

Spider Man/Justin Bieber

Card stacking talent!

The guitar and songs: Hanging out with Faisal, whether at his home or Misba’s place, one of my favorite times was watching him and listening to him play his guitar. Self-taught and brilliant! I could listen to him play for hours while either humming along or simply sitting quietly.

Children, children and more children: Aside from the school children we were accompanied daily by younger family members and in general anywhere around town or other people’s homes would be swarmed by them. Too cute!!

Invited to an ‘Aquika’: Not at all as you should spell that word I’m sure, but essentially an aquika is a series of blessings given to newborn babies. Family and friends gathered together to eat and watch the blessings and celebrate the new life. The first blessing was to ensure good fertility, the second was to ward off bad spirits in her life and the third to grant her good health throughout her life. Absolutely amazing to be a part of!

Learning the Bajo way of cracking eggs. Basically use one egg to crack the other! To crack the last egg they use the table top of course. I crack my eggs the Bajo way now:).

Going to Faisal’s sisters house to watch her make (and us subsequently eat) donuts and muffins for her bakery business.

On to Learning Bahasa

Back to Indonesia

Langkawi, Malaysia

Duty-Free Langkawi

2016-01-06 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I finally left Thailand via ferry from the Tammalang Port at Satun and about an hour and a half later was greeted into the Northernmost island in the Andaman sea of Malaysia, called Langkawi. After clearing customs I grabbed a cab for the T-Star hotel in Cenang.

Naughty Monkeys

Cenang Beach

Cenang Beach_2

During the 40 minute cab ride my driver informed me of some interesting facts about the island. According to him, Langkawi was barely visible on the map of tourism and tourists until the 70’s when the Prime Minister declared the island Duty Free. Since then, Langkawi has skyrocketed as a hot spot for tourism (loads of tours from feeding eagles to snorkeling are available) and shopaholics looking for the best deals on booze, makeup, chocolate, perfumes, etc.

Cenang Beach_3

Cenang Beach_4

Cenang Beach_5

Another tidbit he shared with me was that the population on the island was about 85% muslim, 10% Indian and the rest a mix of Chinese, Expats, and Europeans. After having been in Thailand for so long with diversity in foods only being available in larger cities, Langkawi was a breath of fresh air on that front with a large variety of cuisine choices to choose from. Of course they also had traditional Malay foods, which consist of rice, fish, chicken and lots of vegetable varieties. The foods are generally a bit spicy (though not as spicy as Thailand) and their national meal is Nasi Lemak, which is a rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf 🙂

Cenang Beach_6

Cenang Beach_7

Naughty Monkeys_2

I went to Langkawi with one specific goal in mind: to check out the animal shelter on the island and see if they needed volunteers. T-Star, my chosen hotel for the week was an absolutely delightful place and only about a 45 minute walk to the shelter. Every day, at least twice a day troops of the macaque monkeys came through the hotel leaping from balcony to balcony in search of any sort of food. There were signs everywhere to beware of things left on the balcony as they may be snatched and for good reason because those little guys were fast in snatching things!!

Naughty Monkeys_3

Naughty Monkeys_4

Naughty Monkeys_5

The day after I arrived I started my wander toward the animal shelter to check it out. I was a bit confused about it at first because online they seemed somehow located at a hotel resort, which didn’t make a ton of sense until I got there and learned the story. The Bon Ton resort, located next to The Temple Tree hotel is owned and operated by an animal lover. The owner started both hotels and the restaurants attached to them and uses moneys from the hotel and restaurant to fund an animal shelter located just in front of the resorts. There, over 100 dogs and over 100 cats find shelter and a loving home.

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I arrived a little after 10am and chatted with the volunteer coordinator, Dorothy, and began the next day doing half days at first (since I was walking 5 km there and 5 back daily). Morning activities consisted of taking over 50 dogs for walks around the hotel grounds with fellow volunteers, then picking up after them and finally serving them lunch, which consisted of rice cooked in beef broth with chunks of beef and a variety of vegetables, all prepared FRESH daily by the restaurant chef!!

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So for the first week I walked to and from my hotel to help walk the doggies in the morning, then spent my afternoons trying out new restaurants in the area and walking along the Cenang beach. As my week started to come to an end, it turned out that one of the Nepalese workers for the shelter had to go back home, so I was asked if I wanted to stay in one of the volunteer rooms so I could help with full-day activities along with the other 2 full-time volunteers. I agreed and moved in to my new accommodations (complete with 2 yard dogs, John and Mummy) and began full day activities. Of course, though I’d only planned at first for a month there, it quickly turned into two:)

On to Bon Ton Animal Shelter

Back to Malaysia

Thailand, Travel

Don’t Mess with Thailand

2015-12-15 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I will say for the record that yes, the following scenario was pretty much 100% my fault, and no, I don’t recommend anyone else to follow in my footsteps (as the ending results may vary greatly!!).

When I first arrived in Thailand in December of 2014 I didn’t bother to look at my passport stamp before leaving the immigration desk. Instead it was probably the next day, after I’d slept for several hours catching up on lost sleep, that I bothered to look (out of curiosity) at the stamp in my passport.

It was then that I’d noticed something interesting about my stamp… The entrance date was correct, but the “valid until” stamp said December, 2015…

A year later??? That can’t be right!? As I started to research information on tourist visas for Thailand, I quickly realized that a mistake had been made. Tourist visas if entering by plane are ONLY valid for 30 days. If entering by land I believe it is only 15 days. To get more than 30 days, extensions must be made and paid for.

Well, at first I was a bit panicked about this incorrect stamp but nothing online seemed to address my issue. All the visa problems were related to stamps giving LESS than the proper time allotted, never once did I run into anyone saying they were given MORE.

Perhaps that was due to people not wanting the outside world to know they had been “granted” longer than legally allowed… In any event, I was still worried about what to do in the several weeks that followed and almost did a border run within the 30 days, but the more I spoke with fellow tourists (some who had been there for months on end with proper extensions) it seemed that it really wasn’t a big deal. There was no special stamp for 30 days vs. extended stays, so I thought no biggie!

Everyone (seasoned Thailand travelers) seemed in agreement that there wasn’t even a special visa stamp for year applications. So needless to say, I simply blew off making border runs and figured I would deal with it whenever I was ready to leave Thailand.

So the day came, about 9 months later, that I was ready to leave. Up to the border patrol in Tammalang Pier I strolled with my ticket in hand for Langkawi, Malaysia. I passed over my passport to the seasoned employee… All seemed well for a few seconds… Then his eyebrows furrowed.

I was asked to step out of line and into the back where I was basically scolded for my mistake. I tried to reason with them saying it was one of their own people’s fault for giving me the wrong stamp, but really when it came down to it (and I knew this already) it was my own fault. So I was given two choices. A) Pay the maximum fine for over-staying my visa (20,000 baht) or B) Go to the Police station.

Needless to say I picked A!! I wasn’t even going to test choosing option B, lol!! But the only problem then was that I needed cash! I only had about 70 baht on me, so I basically begged for and borrowed a motorbike, drove myself into town, got the max allowed out of an ATM (20,000 baht), drove back, paid my fine, got a lovely full-page stamp in my passport outlining the infraction (stating boldly my mistake in full detail), finally got my exit stamp, and boarded the ferry to Langkawi Malaysia.

It was kinda humorous at the end there as when I had to return to the main immigration desk hours later (after paying the fine) I ended up with the same officer who caught my mistake. When I approached, he just gave me a jovial smile and shake of the head. I had to chuckle at that and smiled. No hard feelings 🙂 At least I wasn’t asked never to return to Thailand! I paid my fees and got straight with the law.

So I’ve learned my lesson, which I’d actually seen written several times in visa blog discussions: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR STAMP BEFORE LEAVING THE IMMIGRATION DESK!!! Avoid future hassles!!

As for the money, if you really think about it, it’s probably the same amount I would have had to spend in border runs and legal extensions of my tourist visa anyway. C’est la vie!

That’s my story and my warnings!!

On to Malaysia

Back to Thailand

Koh Lipe, Thailand

Koh Lipe Trash Hero!

2015-12-14 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

While on the island of Koh Tao, I’d volunteered to be Trash Hero on several occasions and was tickled to see that Koh Lipe had their own Trash Hero organization as well!

Koh Lipe has amazingly beautiful clean and clear waters surrounding all its edges, which honestly was surprising seeing how many longtail boats (easily over 100 with petrol run engines) were parked along the shores and the amount of trash that could be found washed up along the beaches.

Yes, this was my only critique of this otherwise lovely island. Trash could be found everywhere on the beaches. Generally the trash was washed up fairly high along the coast line so you could easily find spots closer to the water free from trash to lay on, but still seeing all the waste was disconcerting.

The Trash Hero chapter on Koh Lipe thankfully is quite well organized however. They meet every Monday at the start of the Walking Street along Pattaya Beach (if at other locations, someone at the Dive shop there will direct you). Along with the weekly trash pick-ups on Mondays they offer full day and even week-long trash volunteer programs where you can be dropped off on an island for up to 2 weeks, camp and eat there, enjoy the nature and pick up trash for 4 hours a day! Had I the time to stay longer, I would have signed up for that adventure, but alas…

I showed up along with 2 other volunteers at the end of the Walking Street on a Monday morning, and we were directed by one of the Dive Shop employees that the meeting location had been moved to the north end of Sunrise beach. So we headed off and were joined with another 5 people waiting to volunteer.

From there, we hopped on a longtail boat and headed to a nearby island (Ko Adang) to get started on picking up trash. To my surprise, when we arrived, there were at least 5 other longtail boats already there, each carrying at least 5-10 people! So in total, between the organizers (about 5) and the volunteers, there were probably about 30 of us! It was amazing to see such a great turnout!!!

We spent several hours picking up trash, then enjoyed a nice break with fresh watermelon and beers! Volunteers even enjoyed a nice swim at the end some even did some snorkeling 🙂 The amount of trash picked up in such a small amount of space was astounding!! I would venture to guess over 50 large trash bags worth! Absolutely unbelievable as the stretch of beach we picked trash from was no more than about 50 meters long.

Once the beers were consumed and the swimming was finished, we loaded the trash into the boats and headed back to Koh Lipe. From there, the group went to a local bar for some lunch and socializing.

A few things I’d recommend for anyone out there wanting to volunteer for Trash Hero on Koh Lipe: First, bring a camera because you never know where you are going to go and the beauty to be seen! Second, wear your bathing suit so you can join in with the swimming! Third, bring money and don’t make any plans after the fact if you are wanting to join the others for a late lunch after volunteering:)

But most importantly, if you are going to visit Koh Lipe, please do your part. Don’t litter while there, and join in to be a Trash Hero!!

Picture courtesy of Google Images 🙂

On to Don’t Mess with Thailand!

Back to Thailand

Koh Lipe, Thailand

The Beauty of Ko Lipe

2015-12-13 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

Getting to this beautiful and teeny little island in the Andaman Sea was quite treacherous at some points, but very much well worth the trip!!

Walking Street

Along Walking Street

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Really I should (or rather could) simply blame the travel treachery on the fact that I was traveling during low season. There’s a reason why it’s low season! Simply stated the seas are unpredictable. In high season it is relatively easy (due to calm waters) and cheaper to get from island to island via a longtail taxi boat or other ferry boats, however once again because of low season the options were limited.

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Northern Side

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I left Ko Muk (Mook) easily on the morning ferry (which seemed to not only haul a couple of tourists but also local commuters to the mainland and bundles of rubber ready to be processed into final products) for the mainland where I was met by a mini bus. Several very rainy hours later, we came upon a stop where I was told to exit the mini bus. The name of the town, I can’t at this point recall, but it was a good 20 minute motorbike ride to the Pak Bara pier for Ko Lipe.

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Pattaya Beach

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Seaside Resort

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100 baht and 20-ish minutes later and I was at a teeny tour place near the pier buying my roundtrip (open return!) ticket for Ko Lipe. As I waited for the powerboat, I encountered my first and only unsettling experience as a solo traveler. Ladies, if you are traveling solo (or even with people!) to or from this pier, beware of the very large (literally) local. He’s on the younger side, but you can’t miss which one he is because he really is quite obese. When I first arrived I thought he was part of the working crew at the pier, but after observing him for a bit, I figured out he wasn’t. What made him unsettling was he kept trying to get VERY close to me and other female tourists. He would sit next to you on a bench, then try to shake your hand, then try to hug you, and even tried to lean in to kiss you!

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Dog Daily Swim

Bars along Pattaya

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What was more suspicious of his behavior as I watched, was that he would first look around as he tried to sit with a female, and if he didn’t spot any actual workers or security guards, he would sit. But if he did (even when halfway down) he would immediately jump up and walk away. With me, he did get as far as sitting next to me and trying for a hug to which I immediately put a very harsh stop to his behavior. He left me alone for the remainder of my wait, but when coming back to the pier on my way back Ko Lipe, he was there again up to the same antics! Beware female travelers!

Hunting Sea Urchins

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Pattaya Sunset

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Now the only other unpleasant portion of getting to Ko Lipe was the powerboat ride itself. Again, it was because of the unpredictable low season seas, but if you are one who gets sea sick easily, I recommend to travel only when the seas are calm!! The ride was only a couple of hours long but they were very bumpy, and at some points a bit unnerving as the powerboat launched skyward and then slammed down onto an oncoming wave. Just about everyone on the boat (except the locals chilling all their way in the back smoking away) lost their lunch, and some even lost their breakfast, and perhaps even the meals from the day before! Yes, it was THAT rough! I almost lost it at one point smelling all the vomit surrounding me, but thankfully I didn’t… But I won’t share what I kept saying to myself in order to prevent myself from getting sick because it may make some readers lose their lunches just reading it, lol!

Wandering Around

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When we arrived to Ko Lipe, the seas were calm (protected by beautifully lush surrounding islands) as we disembarked on a floating dock and switched to a longtail taxi boat for the 2 minute transfer to the island. Once again, I didn’t have a room booked anywhere, so once on land I started my usual walk around to try to find a place. We were dropped off by the longtail boats on Sunrise beach (beautiful beach along the East side of the island) and it wasn’t until I made it to Pattaya beach along the South side of the island that I was able to find a place.

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Again, because of low season, many of the places along Sunrise beach were closed. In fact, even walking along the walking street in the middle of the day, the island felt relatively deserted, giving the place a slightly spooky feel to it. As I wandered along Pattaya beach with my backpack and sweating my rear off (despite the cloud cover) I finally spotted a little sign for The Seaside Resort. For 500 baht a night, I got my own bungalow with a bathroom and lovely porch, only about a 30 second walk from the stunning beach. The people were very friendly (though they didn’t speak a ton of English) and accommodating for my week stay there.

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While at first I wasn’t entirely convinced I liked Ko Lipe (due to the initial spooky vibe I got), after my first full day there I was in love with the place and honestly would never want to go there during high season just because I grew to adore how quiet it was and couldn’t imagine it stuffed to the gills with tourists.

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Though it is a teeny island, there was plenty of walking and hiking trails to various areas of the island and the snorkeling on Pattaya beach was stunning!! I spent hours for days on end watching clown fish nestling against sea anemones (the first in nature I’d ever seen!! I’d seen plenty of anemones, but never the clown fish with them!!); sea urchins and sea cucumbers chilling on the ocean floor; puffer fish swimming by; angel fish, damsels of all kinds, corals, clams, you name it, they pretty much had it! I was so enamored with the variety of tropical life just off the shore! And while there were several times I wished I had a waterproof camera, part of me is thankful that I was actually present for the experience instead of being fussed by getting the perfect shot and looking constantly through a lens.

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Leaving

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Water Clarity

Seriously, while Ko Lipe does have a couple of shortcomings (revealed in Ko Lipe Trash Hero!) it is NOT an island of Thailand to miss!!

On to Koh Lipe Trash Hero!

Back to Thailand

Ko Muk, Thailand

Ko Muk (Mook)

2015-12-12 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

While getting to Koh Ngai (Hai) was easy and cheap, leaving the island was a very different story! Since it was low season (therefore very little traffic to and from the island except on tour boats that would take you back to Ko Lanta) the opportunities to leave the island were very limited. Basically it all came down to “if and when” a local taxi boat operator wanted to take us to the next island . And the price was not cheap either… Of course they could basically charge whatever they wanted (despite our attempts to negotiate) because hey, it’s an island. You got here, but if you want to get off you’re gonna have to pay what they say to pay or not leave at all!

Coco Lodge Beach

Snakes Alive!

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View of Pier

Welcome!

So it was one semi-stormy mid-afternoon that we decided to head out for Koh Mook (Muk) at the not so bargain price of 1500 baht. It was just Anna and I so of course the price was pumped a bit. Had there been more people going it would have been cheaper for the individual, obviously. Funnily enough however we did spot an older couple with a younger child who had arrived on the island in the morning and wondered whether they were staying or going on to Koh Muk. Neither myself nor Anna were brave enough to approach them to ask whether they were staying or going, but as it turned out, they were on their way to Koh Muk, so had we asked them we could have possibly gotten a cheaper ride there… In any event…

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We loaded up on our private longtail taxi boat and headed out on the stormy sea. The two crew men (brothers- one driver, one look-out) were chatty and quite entertaining as we headed into what originally looked like a calm enough sea. Pah-ah-ti (wrong spelling but phonetically sound and means “sun” in Thai) was the older and more “experienced driving boats” brother. When we set out he said his younger brother needed more practice in rougher seas, so he let him drive first, but “not to worry, if the sea gets really bad I will take over”… The closer we got into the open sea, no longer that sheltered from the neighboring islands, the rougher it got. Anna wasn’t feeling so hot, but I didn’t mind it so much until Pah-ah-ti climbed from the front to the back to take over driving… Not a good sign!! The waves got larger and more turbulent. Sea water splashed over the sides and we were often hit with sea spray from the sides and front of the boat as it crashed into the oncoming waves. A couple of times it was a bit worrisome (especially when the engine noise of the boat suddenly changed to include an ominous clanking noise) but eventually we made it to the north side of the island and banked onshore.

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Beach View

Wood Home

Daily Catch

Colorful Home

Pier

The motor on the boat was killed and Pah-ah-ti hopped out with us to help us ask whether there was any accommodations available there. Being low season there too however, all the accommodations were closed and we were directed to go to the east side of the island to Coco Lodge. Back in the boat we went, however when the engine went to start, well, it didn’t… The brothers fussed over it for 10-15 minutes (mostly by simply hitting the side of the motor with a wrench) until deciding there was something very wrong with the engine and that they would need a mechanic. Thankfully the engine died when on land and not in the middle of the ocean when the odd noises started coming from it! And thankfully it was low tide at the time, so Pah-ah-ti, Anna and myself were able to walk (with bags in tow) around the edges of the island, through the sea gypsy village and over to Coco’s Lodge.

View from Pier

Homes on Beach

Goats!

Town

Boat Peek

Pah-ah-ti bid his farewells and headed further into town to get parts for the boat while Anna and I settled into Coco Lodge. Now, throughout my travels in Thailand I had stayed at many very nice and cozy places that were also very cheap . But none had even come close to the quaintness, comfort, style and class that we found at Coco’s Lodge. The owner and his wife were unbelievably accommodating and the individual bamboo huts were immaculate and very comfortable.

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Looking Out

Jungle Trail

Lush Land

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I’m going to have to side track for a bit here just to further sing the praises of Coco’s Lodge. The location (right on the beach and a 5 minute walk to the pier) was superb. The food in their restaurant was absolutely delicious (from the massaman curry to the fruit pancakes for breakfast). When it rained (which was quite often during our time there) the owner or his wife would come around to the bungalows and offer us umbrellas. A cleaning staff cleaned our room EVERY DAY (something I hadn’t encountered anywhere else in Thailand). All palm trees located above each bungalow were completely bare of coconuts, so none could fall on the roofs! The beds were the most comfortable I’d ever slept on. The rooms themselves had touches of personal details (like seashells lovingly placed in the bathrooms as decoration) that made the place feel like home. The ever-increasing number of dogs that decided to live there during our stay were all friendly and lovable and while none actually belonged to the place, they would still give them food scraps from left over dishes. Any time Anna and I were chilling for a long period of time in the restaurant after eating (due to adverse weather and not much else to do) board and card games were offered to us for entertainment. In other words, just about anything and everything one could imagine needing in a place was offered there! And all of this hospitality came at only 500 baht per night!! It blew me away! I 100% recommend Coco’s Lodge for anyone looking to travel to Koh Muk!!

Inland Lake

Rubber Plantation

Large Leaves

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Seriously?

Moving on however, the main reason Anna and I picked Koh Muk as our next island stay was so we could visit the famed Emerald cave. Though we stayed on the island for the remaining time that Anna was able to visit (then I stayed on myself for another several days after she departed for Scotland) we never actually made it to the Emerald cave. This was NOT because we were too drunk or hung over to, but rather because the weather never cooperated and none of the tours were running there. See, to get to the Emerald cave, the tides have to be just right (low) and then you have to swim with a guide 80 meters through a cave until you reach the other end (the Emerald lake). So with all the stormy weather we had daily, even with the tides being low, it just wasn’t safe to swim through the cave and visit the lake… Or perhaps lagoon would be a better description? In any event, we did still enjoy our time there walking the island to the various points, enjoying cocktails on the beach (of course!) or just chilling at our bungalow, playing games and hanging with the dogs.

The island itself I will say was quite a conundrum. It too had been hit by a tsunami years ago and while some parts of the island had recovered nicely, other more inland parts were very shabby and trashy. One sea village a bit inland in particular had feet upon feet of trash piled under the homes (luckily on stilts) with seemingly no efforts or cares to clean up. I will admit when we first arrived on the island, neither myself nor Anna were really sure we liked the place. But alas, it grew on us. And while we still marveled as to why no efforts were put (in some areas) into cleaning the place up, I guess it just became part of the character of the island that eventually you just overlook. Last point, about Koh Muk: the beaches weren’t really all that to write home about. This may have been due to the bad weather stirring up the ocean waters so they didn’t look clear, but also there were some areas where there were warnings about strong currents. So needless to say not much swimming was really enjoyed while there. Oh yea, and while there aren’t ANY ATMs on the island, there is one coffee shop that will allow you to withdraw money for a 7% (or maybe it was 10…) fee. So just be sure you bring enough cash for your stay there!!

Charlie’s Beach

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Sadly, it was time for Anna to get back on to mainland Thailand and head to Bangkok to get home, while I stayed on several more days catching up on blogging about our trip so far. My next destination: Ko Lipe!

Charlie’s Beach Hermit Crab

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Leaving

P.S. As some may notice, most all pictures were taken on one of the ONLY sunny days there, lol!

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Ko Muk From Sea

On to The Beauty of Koh Lipe

Back to Thailand

Koh Ngai, Thailand

Hangover to Koh Ngai (Hai)

2015-11-08 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

The time had come to leave Ko Lanta (Lantaaaah) and do some more Thai island hopping. Ko Ngai, pronounced “Hai” was the next destination. Up until this point in our travels together, Anna and I would enjoy drinking nightly and so far had been very tame about it. No hangovers, no overdoing it, we had been behaving! A couple of days before we left Ko Lanta, there was a Buddhist holiday for 2 days where booze were not allowed to be sold in any stores. You could still get them in restaurants however, but in honor of the holiday, we decided to abstain ourselves.

Rain at Sea

Soaked Driver

Koh Ngai Beach

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Pensive Anna

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However… The night before we left Ko Lanta, which was no longer one of the holiday days, we went a teeny bit overboard. I guess you could say we were making up for lost time! We were due to leave the next morning at 8am for a taxi boat… And we ended up staying up the night before drinking until about 2am, then chatting away until about 4am. Or maybe it was 5… So needless to say, when the alarm went off at an ungodly hour of the morning (7ish) we were not happy campers!! The only good thing that we did do was pack our things before falling asleep, so all that was really necessary was to drag our rears to the front office with all our things and wait for the taxi.

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Koh Ngai Villa

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Jumping for Joy

Anna Jumping for Joy

The Bungalow

Princess Bed

While we did manage to make the taxi relatively on time, it was just painful to be awake at all! I wasn’t so hung over from the booze as I was just grumpy and not feeling well due to lack of sleep. After a very long delay in picking up more people from other hotels, we made it to the taxi boat and headed out. All morning it had been sunny, but about 10 minutes into our boat ride it began pouring rain! The poor taxi boat driver looked miserable in the back getting soaking wet!! Yet somehow he was still able to light and smoke a cigarette…

Sunset Point

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Night Boats

Beaches

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Moving on, we made it to Ko Ngai (Hai) probably 40 minutes later. The taxi boat driver ran us onshore and Anna and I got off. As it turned out, all the other people on the taxi boat were on an island hopping snorkeling tour, so they were heading to a different island first. Made me wonder how good the snorkeling would be with all the rain around, but I digress.

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Koh Ngai Villa Front

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We were dropped off on the shore of a cheap place (our request of course) and got settled into one of the bungalows. Well, it really wasn’t that simple. Anna and I were both still exhausted and grumpy to ridiculous levels. We barely spoke to each other all morning, neither of us wanted to make any decisions, everything seemed ugly and miserable. Everything was annoying. Everything sucked. We were just plain out of ourselves. So at first we had turned down the “horrible” cheap bungalows and tried to go elsewhere but were stopped shortly after leaving by an english speaking local who said that every other hotel/bungalow (literally) on the island was MUCH more expensive… I’m talking into the thousands per night! So really it was (at first) with GREAT reluctance that we settled into the Koh Ngai Villa.

Taxi Boat

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Sailboat

Meal with a View

Posh Bungalows

Food was the next agenda item. Neither of us was really hungry, but we knew it had to be done. We wandered next door to another hotel where they served food and ordered. I found a teeny roach in my soup, and honestly would normally not have said anything (it’s just one of those things you get used to picking out and setting aside when traveling) but because I was so darn grumpy still, I pointed out the little critter to the staff. Mind you, I still continued eating the soup because, well why not? And I wasn’t expecting anything to come out of it, I just wanted to let them know about it. But when the bill came, they said they wouldn’t charge me for the dish (though I tried to pay still) and that they had decided to close down for the rest of the low season because they felt like they were “losing face”… I felt absolutely a million times worse after hearing that for even pointing out the bug!! It broke my heart! But certainly they will be back up and running again in time for high season.

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Beach Dog

It wasn’t until the next morning, when we woke up sober and well rested that we really realized what an absolutely beautiful little island we were on! The water was clear and warm, and had this gentle current that ran parallel to the shore where you could literally swim in it and not actually go anywhere! Great exercise!! The beaches were white and clean and the beach dogs were all so very friendly. It was quiet and serene and every evening the tide would go out so far that you could walk all the way to the Southern tip of the island to watch the sunsets. We even ended up really liking our bungalow and “princess bed” at the Koh Ngai Villa! It’s amazing how your view can shift so easily when you aren’t really yourself! In any event, I would recommend this island for a visit, though I would also recommend showing up for it sober;)

On to Koh Muk (Mook)

Back to Thailand

Koh Lanta, Thailand

Elephant Trekking

2015-10-19 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

The morning of our tour started out interesting. Long story short, Win (who set up our tour on the ferry ride over from Phi Phi) didn’t alert the tour people that we needed a pickup and the women at the hotel (the first unfriendly people we had come across on the entire island) weren’t at all helpful. In fact, we were even yelled at for not making the reservation through them! But, eventually we were able to get a gentleman from the hotel to help us call the elephant trekking people to let them know we were scheduled for a tour that day.

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Cave Entrance

We were at least a half hour late from when our tour was supposed to start, but when the pickup came for us the employees were very apologetic for having missed us. And once we arrived to the tour location, the vibe was so chilled and relaxed that you could immediately tell that even though they had tour “start times” they really didn’t pay that much attention to them!

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Looking Above Cave

Trees Growing in Cave

Cave

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Bats!

Instead of starting with the elephant trekking, we went off on a guided hike (on foot) through the jungle to the bat cave and waterfall. We started with the bat cave and while it wasn’t that deep to walk through, the most impressive thing about it was that there were trees growing just inside the cave and the trunks of the trees had grown through the roof of the cave! Also there was a very large mushroom (magic??) growing deep inside the cave beyond the point of light reaching, which I’d never seen before either! The bats were teeny and so freaking cute!! Every now and again one would stir and fly around a bit or simply stretch its wings then curl back up for a nap.

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Magic Mushroom?

After the cave we walked to the waterfall, which unfortunately due to lack of rain was rather lackluster. However, it was still quite pretty and due to the heat of the day felt very nice to stand under the water to cool off! The best part about the waterfall were the cleaner fish AND a cleaner shrimp!! After cooling off under the waterfall Anna and I stood around in the shallow areas of the waterfall pool and watched as the fish surrounded Anna’s feet nibbled away. None of the fish were interested in my feet until suddenly I felt a little tickle on my pinky toe and looked down to see a cleaner shrimp nibbling!! He was just adorable to watch as his little front pincers hacked away dead skin around my toe:) I could have stayed there all day getting my free shrimp pedicure, but alas it was time to head back and hop on an elephant:)

Roots!

Waterfall

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Waterfall_3

Elephant

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When we had first arrived to the elephant area, another couple were coming in from their elephant trek and one of the people was sitting in the “saddle” while the other was riding on the front of the elephant… I wasn’t sure if this was allowed for everyone to do, but I was going to ask anyway! I was informed that it was ok to sit on the front of the elephant, but I had to properly, meaning I had to sit as far forward as possible on the elephants neck so that the sensitive area would not be damaged or strained. We climbed the stairs to a platform and first I mounted on the head (essentially) of the elephant while Anna got on in the saddle. I asked if I was sitting forward enough to which the trainer said “more forward”. So I pushed forward. “More forward” he said again, so I moved further forward…

Elephant_3

Anna Feeding

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Anna Feeding_2

Me with Elephant

Me with Elephant_2

Now, I’ve been a horse back rider for over 20 years, so I do know my way around riding horses and the feeling and sensation of that, so I figured it couldn’t be THAT different to ride an elephant… I was wrong!! You literally had to sit so far forward on the neck so that you were tucked directly behind the elephants ears and all you had in front of you was the head of the elephant and then the ground. You would think that with the size of the elephant’s head, that it would give you comfort of not falling off, but seriously, once on top, it really isn’t that much space! The safe space on the neck is so far forward and so narrow that it was hard to feel 100% comfortable about not falling off. I had to keep my palms flat on the top of the elephant’s head to help with balance and her movement was so foreign that I had to hold on for dear life with my thighs too!

Me with Elephant_3

Anna Feeding Elephant_3

Posing with Elephant

Elephants

Beautiful Close-up

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About half-way through the trek Anna and I switched places (with the trainer again telling Anna several times to “move forward” before continuing on) and what I found amazing was we both had similar stories in that every time either of us felt like we were losing balance to the left or right, the elephant would flatten her ear against our leg as if she was holding us steady! Throughout the ride her ears were constantly flapping around to keep the mosquitos and flies off of her, but the minute we felt like we were losing balance in either direction, the corresponding ear would stop slapping and it would snap shut around our leg for a couple of seconds until we were back in balance, then they would resume their regular fly swatting action. Absolutely amazing!!!

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Wrapped Ears

Elephant Ride

Elephant Ride_2

That experience was one of the most amazing I’ve had. And again, while I was a bit reluctant at first to sign up for the tour because of not knowing how they treated the animals, I can say with assurance that these elephants are well taken care of and loved. The trainers were constantly loving on them in one way or another, none of the trainers had a hook prod that you often see at other elephant places, but rather they only had a thin bamboo stick, which they used as walking sticks for themselves more than anything else. They never once struck an elephant and during the trek, they walked behind the elephants simply chatting amongst themselves. If the elephants stopped to grab a bite to eat, the trainers would say something to them, give them a pat, and wait until the elephant was ready to walk on. They were all so chill, comfortable and good with the elephants that it was amazing to see.

Elephant Ride_3

Elephant Ride_4

Elephant Ride_5

After our trek we spent, I don’t even know how much money, buying bananas for the elephants to nibble on as a thank you. Of course a gazillion pictures were also snapped and lots of loving and praise was given to the beautiful beasts. It was an experience I won’t ever forget and feel so grateful to have been able to do. Thank you Anna!!!

On to Hangover to Koh Ngai (Hai)

Back to Thailand