Khao Lak/Similan Islands/Phuket
After running around like a headless chicken in crazy and noisy Bangkok, I slowly made my way down to the southern tip of Thailand where I had the strangest experience ever where I believed I had stepped into a portal into a parallel universe, but I'll get to that later.
After an expensive transfer from Phuket Airport to Khao Lak, I had a full day and a half to kill before I was picked up for my 4 days diving adventure on a boat. I checked into my hotel, put on my thongs, walked down the main street to grab dinner to realize that I'm going to have a very difficult time to keep myself busy for a day and a half. Khao Lak is overrunned by retired Scandinavians and Germans with mediocre food at tourist prices and non existing night life. There was a waterfall which was about 10km away but I couldn't be bothered to spend more money on transport just for falling water, so decided to spend the day by the beach, hoping to see white sands and clear water like on the post cards. To my great disapointment, the beaches in Khao Lak are similar to the ones I've seen in Bali. Are all the postcards of Thailand photoshopped?!
A day and a half later, I was finally picked up to the dive center for a very much anticipated 4 days around Similian Islands. A smiling international staff greeted us and we all proceeded to try on the equipment and paying the remaining balance. I went outside and introduced myself the other guests who I will be spending the next 4 days with. I felt I was at the G7 summit as I met people from all over the globe! I was intimiated as most of the guests have over 200 dives under my belt where I had a mere 35 dives. The boat was quite big and t dives were nothing short of amazing. Colorful corals (purple, red, yellow, you name it!) and fishes, manta rays, nudibranches (of all size), the illusive orangutang crab and harlequin shrimps, sharks were only a mere fraction of the underwater wildlife I saw. Since most of the dives were over 20m deep, it didn't take much convincing to take my Nitrox certification, which proved to be very useful as I got to explore in greater details at greather depth.
The 4 days went by quickly and by the time we all noticed, we came back to shore. Having booked a hotel in Karon Beach, I couldn't join the staff and celebrate Prue (one of the dive masters)'s birthday, but I think it was a very wise decision as I spent about 2h around Karon Beach to find food and book a transport to Tonsai before I blacked out in my bed due to sheer exhaustion of the dives. The transport picked me up bright and early and we arrived on the ferry to Ao Nang. I was glad I spent the money to take the ferry as the view was spectacular!! The postcards of Thailand are not photoshopped at all! White sandy beaches, beautiful islands surrounded with clear turquoise water. It was paradise. A longtail ride later, I stepped into a parallel universe of Thailand which brought me to Tonsai, a mecca for rock climbers.
As soon as I got off the boat, the first thing I noticed was the sound of Bob Marley's greatest hit and a faint smell of weed. As I walked closer to the music, I almost believed that Bob came back from the dead as I saw a skinny dark skinned man with a goatie, dashiqui and dreadlocks. A male caucasian with dreadlock at the bar ordered a gram of weed and proceed to roll it and smoke it. Where was I? I went to the climbing school, booked a day class and proceed to find accomodation. I was recommended to go to Forest Lodge resort, thinking that it would be a nice resort. The definition of resort in Ton Sai is several rows of bamboo shack. In each bamboo shack is a bed with mosquito nets, a fan, a door to a toilet with a shower head, bucket and a toilet with no flush. The bucket is used to flush. Power only runs from 6pm to 2am and there are no power plugs. As my class is tomorrow, I spent the entire day wondering around the tiny beach of ton sai figuring out what to do. I ended up spending the afternoon finishing my Patricia Conwell book as I was sipping a lemon tea at a reggae bar. After a not so comfortable and humid sleep, I went for my outdoor rock climbing class which is what I've been waiting for. Outdoor rockclimbing is very similar to indoor as you have to be belayed and climb up a wall of rocks, but the main difficulty is that there are no clear marking on where to put your hands for a grip (unlike indoors where there are clear color marked rocks) and the rocks are SHARP. I skillfully climbed 2 walls, and on the 3rd, I had a deep cut on my index due to my stubborness to let go. During lunch, a monsoon like storm hit for 20 minutes, cancelling the 2nd half of my class. I've been offered to go to a deep water soloing trip for free as a make up. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Deep water soloing is what most climbers describe as "climbing at its purest form". No ropes around you, nobody to belay you. It's you, the rock and water below you. Feel tired? jump off the cliff into the water. Done with the climb? Jump off a 15+ meter rock into the water. I would think that would be a great way for me to conquor my fear of heights. Jokes was on me. The first wall was quite challenging and I couldn't get to the top of the path I chose. Although I was up at around 5 meters, it took alot of mental effort to jump off the cliff. Fail. We spent lunch at a secluded beach between two cliffs, a beach which can only be described as paradise. White sand, clear warm blue water, just us climbers. No stupid drunken expats or frat boys. I could spend the rest of the day here if i could. The 2nd wall was my everest, which i couldn't climb. I could barely get off the rope ladder to get on the rock. After struggling for 5 minutes, I gave up, went back on the boat and rest. Being stubborn as I am, I attempted a 2nd try but in vain as I wasn't able to get up that damn ladder. I guess patience is a virtue as I was wasting my arms trying to pull my 180lbs body. I was gutted but I will put this challenge in storage for now, and bulk up the upper body before trying again. Not my cup of tea for now.
As we got off the boat to get back to our huts, we have been informed that a tsunami alert has been issued on the island because of a 8.6 magnitude earthquake and a 8.4 aftershock off the coast of Indonesia. The entire beach was empty with the exception of some crazy expats (including myself) who are at the beach. It was either being eaten alive by mosquitos or die from a tsunami. I chose the latter. We were all at the only bar that was open by the beach, watching a thai news channel about the tsunami. As soon as I saw the epicenter on Tv, the geologist in me knew exactly that there is absolutely nothing to fear about, but I had to find a way to find internet on the island (all the internet cafes were closed) to call home and let everybody know that I'm alive.
After a final night in my hut, I realized I reached my breaking point of Thailand. I'm sick and tired of living without air con (jokes on me, you'll know why), fighting for transport and negociate with people who are trying to screw me over for either goods or transports. I need modern technology and a clean washroom where I don't have to flush with a bucket of water. I was looking forward to my trip to Japan, but before that, I had to make my way to back to Bangkok where I lived the craziest moments of my life. It even beats my crazy house warming party in Sydney.
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