Phuket (part 3) ... I know it's a month ago...

Day 3

Damn, It’s been 2 weeks, and I still have not finish this. Well let’s see if I could remember what happen. Oh, if I’m not mistaken we had a chat with the owner of the hostel the night before only to find out (after looking around for the for so long) that he actually offer the best trips around. (with very reasonable price as well) After some surveying, we decided to go for the Canoeing trip, which cost 1300 Baht per person. The owner was a very nice person to talk to (not to mention that he was the very few Thais that can speak good English) he was telling us about the time when the Tsunami hit (For you guys who forgot, it was boxing day 26 Dec 04), the damage was really bad until most of the beachside restaurants and clubs were mostly gone. He also mentioned that he lost some friends and how some survived by climbing up a tree, so lesson one, see Tsunami, don’t run away- you’ll never be able to outrun it, go high. It really was a tragic day, I was quite surprised when he told me that the waves not only hit once, but about 4-5 times. He was saying that some kids actually went to beach to collect the fishes that were washed ashore, only to be taken by the next wave that hit. One of his friends who had a few hotels in South Thailand actually lost it all when the Tsunami hit, sad…

But when we were walking along the beach, most of the shops and restaurants were mostly rebuilt back. There was Macdonald’s, Starbucks, supermarket and countless restaurants. To be able to rebuilt so many things back in less than a year is pretty impressive (since the photos we saw on the damage done is pretty drastic), but I guess they do not have any choice (as what is said by the owner), I’m quite sure if you are reading until now, you’ll figure that the whole islands economy strive on tourism. You can just imagine how much money they’ll loose if they stop business for even one day.

Anyways, it’s day 3 and we went for this canoe trip recommended by the hostel owner. Had breakfast and one of the cafes just beside where we stayed since the pickup is from our place. When we entered the Toyota Corona (taxi) which will bring us to the port, we met a Japanese couple. I said hello and that’s about it. The 1^st thing we noticed is the Jap Chick for sure. Hahaha… that chick has the nicest tan I’ve ever saw in any Asian girls… Especially when she was in her yellow bikini. Oooh… Ok now, snap out of it already.

So we went down to the jetty and went into one of this “long tail boat” (which is use for shallow waters and the propeller part and be raised up and down depending on the water depth) which is like a sampan fitted with a car engine, I’m not joking, Kai Weng was telling me where the fuel pump and all the engine parts were). You can actually see it has a rope connected to the accelerator cable (That thing that is pulled when you step on the gas you’d see if you open the bonnet) and the “driver” was just pulling the rope to rev the engine and the small boat fitted with about 20+ people (yes! That much!) was skimming across the shallow waters towards the big boat. We went on top the huge boat(about 20m long and  2 decks) and went upstairs where they were about 30-40 seats available. After waiting for the second batch of people to arrive on the boat, we took off. About 5 minutes later, there was this person who introduced himself as “Woody” briefed us on where we were going and the schedule for the day. Saw a family (German I think) who brought a long their 8months old baby, which has blue eyes and really cute. Didn’t think anyone would bring their babies on such a trip. I even saw them carrying the 8 month old onto the canoe on one of the trips (I don’t think my brother (or anyone I know) would dare to bring his 18months daughter (my cute little niece!) to this kinda trip).

Phuket Siam Canoe was the name of the tour, the first stop we were of to was one of this islands (which I forgot the name), all of us was being ferried of to the beach using the individual canoes that can fit 2 at a time. Some just jump straight into the water and swam to the beach. Quite a nice place but the water was not that clear if compared to the few islands that we went the day before. So we decided to take the canoe and paddle ourselves around the beach. As the stop there was only for about 45 minutes, we had to leave after some swimming and lepaking by the beach. It was in this island that I took a picture with a cool looking (but timid) eagle. It’s not often that we can see eagles around as there are quite rare in our country, crows we have a lot…haha.

After that, we made a 20-minute stop at the famous James Bond Island (called that because one of the 007 movies was shot there). No place to swim or canoe here, so it was just some sightseeing and walking around. After that, we went back to our boat for lunch. The food was pretty good, considering that it was cooked on the ship itself and they made sure that it was more than enough for everyone, lots of fruits as well (although it’s the standard watermelon and pineapple which is the standard fruits given everywhere we go). Drinks and snacks were free-flow along the trip as well.

After lunch, we headed to the next stop for some canoeing (although we don’t paddle ourselves). We were taken into quite a number of caves, lagoons which was really beautiful and quite since it was quite secluded. We had to go through quite a few tunnel like caves where we had to lie down to get through (Don’t ask me how the people with huge bellies gonna get through cos I didn’t see any k!) On the way to one of the locations, one of the staff took some chicken meat (I think) and whistled to attract some eagles along the island. Then there were like 15-20 eagles soaring along the boat trying to get the food thrown into the water, Cool! I haven’t seen so many eagles at a time before, even on TV! At the last stop, we had to bring a torchlight as it was pitch dark when we entered one of the caves. There was this foul smell (I think it’s Guano!) once we entered the cave, we really can’t see anything, luckily the staff knew where we were going (I think they can practically paddle and find the way with their eyes close since they do it quite often)

After the last stop, it started to rain quite heavily, we were quite lucky since it was after the last trip and it was quite a huge boat making the ride quite smooth (it would have been suicide if it rained on the day before when we were on the speedboat!). On the way back, the staff ( I think there was about 15 of them) on board, even throw a show for us. There were some singing & dancing, which was quite fun & funny, making the 45minute trip back to the port less boring and quicker.

All in all, the trip was really fun and the service by the on board staff was really superb along the way, a lot of attention were given constantly and we even saw one of them applied bandage for one of the people who got injured on his ankle while swimming. They were always willing to serve drinks, mop the floor when someone spilled a drink, collecting rubbish & finished drinks from us. Heck, I think some of the hotels don’t even have that good service. So conclusion - well worth the 1300baht that we paid for. So if you ever plan to go there, you can try to opt for them (Phuket Siam Canoe )

After going back and taking a bath, we decided to look for some place cheaper (and more local) to have dinner. Went into one of these small coffeeshop-like place and ordered some fried rice and a bowl of Seafood Tom Yam. The fried rice was really good, the Tom Yam was not as hot as we thought though - maybe we were served with those they cooked for tourist. After that, I think we went to this place where there was Muay Tai (Thai Boxing) going on, didn’t have to pay anything, just buy a cup of drink. The precious ones that we went to check costs 700baht! The fight was really fake, it was like the opponents will shout “I’m hitting you now” every time they throw a punch or kick. After a match, the boxers will actually come to each table to shake everyone’s hands and we need to give them some tips. The other tables usually gave 100baht each, we were almost broke by then and just gave 20baht. Left before the second match(which was even more fake) was finished.

When we were back, the owner approached us asking of we mind having a Scottish lady that couldn’t find any place to sleep to stay next to our room (kinda connected as there was like an opening between the rooms where the air-cond can reach the other room), and we were given a 100baht discount as well. Was quite surprised since the owner didn't really need to approach us as it was actually a room by itself. So it was only RM20 a night! Woohoo! I don’t that that you can find any rooms (even without air-cond) with that price in Phuket or even KL. With nothing much to do I think we went back and slept at about 10:30PM! which is even earlier than the usual days when I’m working! Felt quite tired that day I guess.