Malaysia, Taman Negara, and the end of my Adventure
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tuesday, February 10

How come nothing is ever a boring day on this trip?

Keira left this morning, she had to catch an early flight home. It was great traveling with you Keira, have a safe flight!

We woke up just in time for breakfast and some last minute frantic shopping before our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We managed to pick up a couple things, souvenirs, gifts, etc. Too bad we didn’t have more time for shopping, I could use some clothing!

Anyways, made it to airport, managed to spend my last baht (don’t want to be carrying any spare, unusable cash) before boarding.

We flew Air Asia, a new discount airline (we’re talking DISCOUNT. No food, no assigned seats, and mega cheap fares!). The flight was slightly delayed, but it was an eventful flight.

This was apparently a new route for this fledgling airline, so the CEO (Tony Fernandez, can’t confirm my spelling) decided to tag along, and say hi to the passengers etc. Well, that’s what we thought anyway. He was actually returning from a meeting with the King of Thailand!

The funny thing is that Winston recognized him from a magazine article so ended up chatting with him for a little while; apparently is was a pretty cool talk (he’s only 35! It’s pretty scary how successful he is).

In order to make the flight more interesting, the staff decided to play a few games. I volunteered and stepped up in front of all the passengers to do the safety demonstration. It was pretty entertaining. Maybe I should change my job, hmmmmm? Got a nice travel cup out of it too. Other passengers were asked to hum a tune and answer skill testing questions. I’d say it was a memorable flight.

We took a long taxi ride to Kuala Lumpur. Everything was pretty nice and quite developed. It reminded me of Bangkok somewhat, I don’t have much to compare to.

We met up with an old friend of Jen’s, Maria. She is a ball of energy: loud, playful, and a lot of fun. It’s quite infectious but we were pretty tired from the last few days and could barely keep up!

We met up with another old friend, Evelyn (I can neither spell nor pronounce her name in Malay) and took off for some stall type food in this big pavilion. We had some nice laksa, satay and whole bunch of other stuff I can’t pronounce. It was great and very spicy.

Maria then took us on a quick car ride to see some “sights” around town. These ranged from the Petronas Twin Towers, the KL Communications Tower (kinda like the CN tower), China Town, to a back alley and a dumpster… you could say it was a complete tour!

It was an entertaining night, but now I have to crash and get ready for 3 days at Taman Negara Park. I’ll blog some more after that!


C’ya!



Friday, February 13

Okay, I’m at Winston’s Aunt Maria’s place. It is a very nice change from the hostel we just left in Taman Negara Park. Let’s recap what has happened in the last couple days…


Wednesday, Feb 11

Okay, we traveled to Taman Negara park today. Taman Negara is a massive park, covering over 4300 square kilometers (over 7 times the size of Singapore, but that’s not saying much). It is also the oldest rainforest in the world, being 135 million years old, pretty cool huh?

I didn’t realize how far the park was from KL. It takes most of the day to get to and from the park (4.5 hours by bus and a 2-3 hour boat ride). Oh well, I guess our 3 day trip is really an extended day trip.

We decided on the full boat tour package instead of the trekking adventure, had enough crazy adventure for now, just a leisurely tour. Well, it was pretty leisurely.

The site was pretty touristy, with a resort on one side, and the hostel on the other side (where we stayed). Not exactly “jungle”, but it got pretty wild out of the resort boundaries. We went on a walk to the local watering hole for swimming. It was definitely a hole, swimming is not recommended in the stagnant water. The quiet environment was spoiled by speedboats whizzing by; it’s funny how people never consider trying to maintain a semblance of nature when doing the tourist thing. We mused how a canoe would be ideal here, bah.

We had our package dinner (pretty good) and then took off for a “night jungle walk”. The thing about this park is that since it is a very natural setting, the animals are very hard to find. It was basically a bug expedition (ironic since I’m not a great bug fan). Jen noted that the stars were very clear because we were far from the city lights. It is true, the constellations were brilliant.

The sounds of the night are pretty amazing. It’s called the “symphony of the jungle”. The cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, and other insects, envelope you with their song. It’s quite an experience, eerie and exhilarating at the same time.

We did see some cool insects and such: grasshoppers, walking stick, a black scorpion, moths, crickets, biting ants, cicadas (a type of flying beetle, looks a bit like a fly to me, except it’s 1-2 inches long, UGH!).

Cicadas are interesting because they emit a piercing wail, it’s a mating call! After mating, the male is spent and typically dies (only 2 weeks to live!). Walking sticks also have cool mating habits. They mate for two days and then the male dies (hmmm, spot a trend?). Better than praying Mantis’s where the female eats the male after mating (youch!).

One interesting thing: Male animals in nature typically are much more flamboyant to attract the plainer looking female. If that were true for humans, all the women should be wearing very boring, staid clothes and sensible shoes; men should be wearing all the flowery dresses and strappy sandals to attract the women. Boggles the mind doesn’t it?

Okay, we also went to a nearby hide and saw some samba deer. Pretty cool, you can’t see the deer, just the glow of their eyes.

Back to the hostel after that. The hostel was pretty typically scummy, I believe. I’ve never stayed at a hostel before (believe it or not!). It had some luxuries: air conditioning, and a private (smelly) bathroom. Unfortunately Jen got assaulted by quite a few bedbugs and is still tortured by all the bites! I didn’t sleep much that night, oh well… Should sleep better the second night.

Thursday, Feb 12th

Okay, today is the day of “adventure”. We got up for a walk to Bukit Teresek, which is a local viewpoint. It was fun hiking in the forest/jungle, hot and humid, but a good workout. We bounded to the top and took a few pictures, nothing too special.

Next we headed down and went to the canopy walkway. This is a pretty cool area. The walkway looks a lot like an aluminum ladder, laid on end, with boards placed over the rungs. Ropes with some netting around you and give you something to hang on to. The walkways are up to 70 meters long and up to 45 meters in the air. Again, this is not a good thing for people who don’t like heights (like me!). It was pretty cool though. You don’t see any animals anymore, seems loud tourists have scared them all away. It’s still an adventure worth trying out. Unfortunately half the walkway was shut down for renovation, but it was still cool.

Next, we’re back for some lunch and rest.

After lunch, we shoot the “rapids”. This is basically running upstream in a big powerboat. Not horribly wild rapids, but we get pretty soaked.

After that, we go see the Orang Asli, the local people. It is basically a nomadic tribe tourists visit often. I dunno, it’s hard to gauge just how “authentic” this tribe actually is. It was cool seeing them make the make the darts for the blow guns. It was also cool seeing them target practice with the blow guns. We tried, we suck. Felt a bit weird taking pictures, intruding on their life, but then again, it could just be a business. Pretty funny seeing the tribesman with a Beckham shirt on. Oh well.

Next up: tubing. We grab some big inner tubes and shoot the rapids. It was fun, but again, the rapids are fairly tame. We get a few bumps, but no one catches air or crashes into rocks. Pretty fun, and relaxing between the rapids.

We head home to dry off and grab some dinner. After dinner we hitch a ride for the “night safari”. We ride a pickup truck around a palm oil plantation, a guide sits on the roof panning with a huge spotlight, hoping to freeze animals in their tracks.

It was okay, we saw some cool stuff:

- A group of about 20 wild boars, cool.
- Some “leopard cats”. Looked like a cat ambling away, until we saw a close up. Yep, mini leopard!
- Some water buffalo.
- Cows, who don’t sleep standing up.
- A bat.

Overall, decent, but not spectacular.

The park experience was fun, but a bit more touristy and mellow than we thought. I didn’t have any real expectations, so it was okay for me.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the cicadas tonight. They were buzzing like mad in the restaurant tonight, bashing into the lamps, wreaking a bit of havoc. One smacked into my leg, causing me to yelp loudly, bashing my leg into the table, spilling Jen’s soup and causing a bit of a scene. Most of the restaurant stifled their giggles, but the damage was done. Did I mention I REALLY don’t like bugs? Not the right place for me to be, eh?

Friday, Feb 13

Today was finally a mellow day. We got up, had breakfast, and headed home. We arrived back in KL in the afternoon, and wandered the night market a bit. Picked up a wallet (probably got gouged too, man I suck at bargaining) and just chilled. Winston noted that I was likely the most scantily clad person in KL (in my tank top and shorts, I was still roasting!).

We ended the day by heading over to Winston’s Aunt Maria’s place where we were treated to a home cooked meal (Yum!) and some family hospitality. It was a nice way to conclude my vacation. Winston’s cousin, Paul, an overworked IT worker (is there any other kind?) came home “early” (7 ish?) to join us for some dinner and conversation. We may head off to the Petronas towers for some night photography, but they are closed for renovations, so I will not be able to see them tomorrow (D’oh!). Should be able to see the KL tower though (cool). Some last minute sightseeing tomorrow, then head home!



A funny note:

The Many Faces of Gunga

Okay, I’m half Vietnamese (well 5/8’s) and half Chinese. Canadian born and raised, curly hair, with a medium build. What nationality do you think I am?

Winston’s Aunt just said I look like a Maori, because of my dark (tanned!) skin and curly hair. Here’s a partial list of what people think I am:

- Caucasian (in Vietnam!)
- Thai
- Cambodian (Marcus, you goof!)
- Hawaiian
- African? (because of the Gunga)
- Japanese
- Korean
- Maori

So far, no one has ever guessed that I was Vietnamese (except when they see my passport). Weird huh? What do YOU think?




I’m outta time for now, have to head out and hang out, and then pack for my trip home. Anyways, this concludes my blogs for this trip/epic adventure/experience. I will wrap up with my epilog blog after I return to Vancouver. Hope you enjoyed the ride! I certainly did.

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Island Hopping - Part 2
Bangkok, Thailand

Monday, February 09

Okay, I’m looking over my last logs (done in an internet café) and finding all my spelling mistakes and typos. Man, I really suck without spell-check. Oh well.

Anyways, what’s happening now? Let’s go back to the dive day…


Saturday, Feb 7th

Okay, today’s the day. We get up for an early breakfast, and take off for our day of diving.

Things are a little different this time. Our videographer is doing double duty as our dive-master (our scheduled dive-master is sick). We also have a couple extra people in our group. We are a group of 5, which is okay, but a bit crowded for our liking. 3 or 4 would be better.

Our dive-master had quite a bit to deal with on our dives because the equipment was not in good shape. The BCD’s all leaked more or less, the wetsuits were very well worn (some ripped) and there were some issues with the boat captains. Our overall experience with Visa Divers was only fair. The dive-masters seem pretty cool (thanks for everything Monique!), and we were told that all the gear was in the middle of being upgraded, but I can only give a luke-warm review based on our experiences. Approach with caution.

Okay, enough with the griping, how did the dives go?

Our first dive was at Koh Bida, a local sight known for it’s leopard sharks. Apparently you would have to be unlucky to not see a shark. I guess I’m unlucky. No dice. The fish were nice; we did see some barracuda, and trumpet fish, scorpion fish and some other new ones. Overall, there seem to be more fish than Koh Haa, but the visibility was a little more limited and the water a bit more turbid. Everything just looked a bit duller, less vibrant. It was a neat experience being on film during a dive though. It was a pretty cool dive overall.

We stopped over to Maya Bay for the surface interval. This is the bay used for the film “The Beach” on Phi Phi Ley. You could tell because the bay was choked with tourist boats, mostly from Phuket. It was a pretty annoying scene, not exactly idyllic.

The snorkeling at the bay was quite a lot of fun. Swimming with schools of needle fish was a highlight. There was a good variety of fish, but it was pretty disgusting seeing all the crap floating around in the waters. Unfortunately there are no enforced laws against that kind of thing around here. It’s a shame to see such amazing habitats spoiled by litter and pollution. Geez, is it that hard to not throw your junk into the ocean?

Like most of the snorkeling around here, there seems to be a lot of sea lice (I think that’s what they’re called). I have no idea what they are like, but they do sting a lot like jellyfish! Luckily it’s just a temporary thing; the stings don’t swell up like jellyfish stings.

Our second dive is in Maya Bay. My choice would have been Palong Bay because it is a known habitat for Black Tip Reef sharks (did I mention I was a thrill seeker?). This dive was not so hot.

We decided to ham it up on this dive, so we started with a few minutes of fooling around. Most of us tried cool 007 style flip entries into the water. Jen decided that wasn’t right and ended up with a classic face-plant entry (you have to be there to appreciate just how funny it was). Next, we had some underwater fun, mugging for the camera and doing all sorts of goofy things (highlighted by Winston bashing his head on an underwater spin).

The conditions were fair, pretty poor visibility and a decent amount of current to deal with. The variety of fish was fair, nice, but nothing we haven’t seen before in better conditions. There were some pretty cool swim-through caverns on this dive, slinking through the narrow passages proved to be entertaining. There were some cool glass fish and such, but I missed a bunch of that.

You see, I had a few problems on this dive. I got kicked in the face and flooded my mask. I’m not comfortable flooded underwater, and I ended up messing up my buoyancy and somehow ended up losing a fin when I popped up in the middle of the dive. It was a bit embarrassing and nerve-wracking at the time. Luckily it wasn’t too deep (maybe 10 meters) and I didn’t do anything too messed up. I was in between the island and a reef, which seemed like a decent place to stay at the time. Unfortunately the current picked up and I was soon caught in some pretty big swell. The waves were crashing over my head and I got thrown into the reef a few times. I’m sure I ended up trying to hold on so that I wouldn’t get smashed around but the razor sharp reef did not provide a good grip. I ended up slicing up my hands and arms quite a bit (ever have a really bad paper cut? Now imagine about 50 of those).

Eventually the rest of the crew surfaced after losing me underwater. Luckily the dive boat popped around at this time and I hobbled my way over. The rest of the dive continued for a bit while I recovered.

I was pretty pissed about messing up the dive, but no permanent damage done. I’ll have to practice more and get more comfortable underwater.

We headed back to shore where I had to find a needle to extract the rock fragments from my fingers (ouch!). We had to cancel the shark snorkeling, seemed like a bad idea.

After heading home and enjoying a relaxing shower, Marcus, our old high-school friend, showed up.

It was pretty cool seeing Marcus again. Haven’t seen nor heard much from him in a year or two. We went out, shared a few drinks, and grabbed some dinner.

Next restaurant recommendation: Lemon Grass Thai restaurant. The food and prices were good and the portions were generous. Flavours were rich and spicy. Definitely worth a look.

We were all pretty tired from diving today (I was especially wasted) so we decided to call it an early night.

Sunday, Feb 9th

Today started a bit better. We ended up booking a shark snorkel for this morning. It was a crappy local outfit. Cheaper than our original choice (The Adventure Club, which was full) and probably worse. Our guide was only fair at best.

In any case, we DID see sharks. There were about half a dozen black tip reef sharks most of the group noticed (I only saw about 4). They are pretty shy critters and tend to flee when humans approach (even my bleeding knee did not help!). Our guide was satisfied at that point and let us explore after that. One other person saw quite a few more sharks, but we couldn’t find them.

I have to admit, even though we didn’t see a lot of sharks, there were a decent number of pretty big fish. This provided a decent amount of texture to the dive and made it more fun. Fish like pineapple it seems because I was feeding the fish and had swarms of them in my face! It was pretty wild having that many fish gorging about 6 inches from your face. It’s amazing how they can all feed and somehow never touch me.

Like all our trips, we got pineapple and water. I only mention this because I have had pineapple like everyday for a while and I LOVE it. It’s just so much milder and sweeter than what we get in Vancouver. If you don’t like pineapple you are SOL though.

Okay, back to Phi Phi for lunch.

We do a bit of negotiating and manage to book a little half-day trip. Thanks to Andrew at the Adventure Club for helping us out after we cancelled at the last minute on our shark trip. I still wish we could’ve done the shark snorkel with this group.

A cool thing we noticed on our trip was the dolphins! They were jumping out of the water, putting on quite a little display. Unfortunately a lot of other people noticed too as a bunch of speedboats kept trying to get a close look, almost running them down in the process. I’m a traveler/tourist too, but it astounds me how some people just don’t seem to respect other life-forms.

Our trip started at Hin Klang reef. This is a mid-ocean reef known for it’s large number and variety of fish. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before but I liked it because of the size and volume. We saw literally thousands of fish. The best part was playing with the massive schools of fish, seeing how close we could get to them.

The reef was crowded with tons of tourist boats. It’s too bad; it would’ve been a more pleasant experience with fewer crowds. It was pretty amusing see people trying to snorkel in life jackets though. Geez, you may as well be in a glass bottom boat…

The fun thing was hanging around the boats that were feeding the fish. Again, snorkeling in a horde of fish proves to be fun. It entertained the other tourists too. I’m getting a bit tired of all the snorkeling, but it does thrill me every time. Fish are just cool to check out. The rich tapestry of life, the vibrant colours, the intriguing variety, it just keeps you coming back time and again.

Next we ended up at Bamboo Island. This is reputed to be one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. It’s hard for me to say if it’s that good, but it was very nice. Clear waters, white sands, pretty nice. We cancelled the later snorkeling portion of the trip in favour of some beach time. Sand castles, playing with sea cucumbers, frolicking in the sand, it was all very nice. Sometimes you just have to slow down I guess.

We headed back to town to grab a big seafood dinner. It’s quite surprising just how big the fish and prawns are here. We also got hit by a big storm (one of a few we had). No harm done since we were under cover (the people dining by the water were none too pleased however).

After dinner? We all went for a relaxing Thai massage. Just brilliant. Most of us fell asleep, and we didn’t feel like doing much partying after that. Oh well, a nice way to end a day, eh?

Monday, Feb 9th

Okay, back to real time. Today we took a ferry ride and bus to Phuket, said our goodbyes to Marcus, and took a flight back to Bangkok.

It’s funny how cool it feels at night in Bangkok (in comparison to Southern Thailand). We ended up doing a bit of shopping (cheap software!) and enjoying the wicked, cheap, tasty street food (LOVE the Bangkok street food). Unfortunately Keira twisted her ankle so the shopping was cut short a bit.

A funny note was the proposition we got from a “vendor”. A fellow asked us where we were from, then proceeded to offer us “boom-boom, rub-rub” for 1500 Baht (about $38) all the while showing us little brochures with a couple women in several compromising positions. “You wife not have to know, I won’t tell” he promises after Winston brandishes his ring. Pretty funny.

No massage tonight.

Tonight is the last night in Thailand ‘cause tomorrow we fly out to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and chill out in the massive National Park (the name eludes me at this time, something like Tama Nigara?). Maybe we’ll try to get a little last minute shopping done in the morning. Dunno how the blogging will go in Malaysia. My last bit of blogging may be from home, we’ll see…

A few other random notes:

-We have traveled to 11 islands in the last week.
-So far we’ve managed to sample almost every form of travel: train, boat (long-tail, ferry, speed boat), mini-bus, sauna bus, back of pick-up truck, tuk-tuk (motorcycle cab), plane. I’ve managed to fall asleep on most of them too!
-Winston’s favorite phrase: “I didn’t realize I was that hungry.”
-One of Jen’s favorites: “I want fries!”
-Bat droppings are a lot like hamster droppings.
-It’s great hanging out with good, old friends. The history you share is irreplaceable.
-The crazy pace of this vacation is pretty fun, but I would have to slow if down a bit if I wanted to sustain it for more than a month. Jen and Winston have a lot of stamina.
-Fans are great but air conditioning is SUBLIME.
-“Finding Nemo” looks even better after snorkeling/diving the tropics.
-Blogging is a ton of work but it’s also a great way to record your trip (and it IS fun).
-How come guys who wear Speedos do so all the time? Eating breakfast, ambling down the street, is it really necessary? Also, the guys who wear Speedos REALLY shouldn’t.
-Yes, we’ve been having far too much chicken and eggs. So far, no flu-like symptoms.
-How come every sunscreen is labeled water-proof and non-greasy yet they always require reapplication after bathing or sweating and they all feel greasy?
-Digital cameras are cool, but I miss the quality, speed, and control of an SLR. Digital SLR’s are cool, too bad about the cost and size though… maybe next time.

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Island Hopping - Part 1
Bangkok, Thailand

Okay, I’m doing the total GEEK vacation thing. After a day of sweet, sweet diving, I’m sitting on the beach in Koh Lanta, lounging and blogging. A feathery breeze slips in, funky-jazz music plays in the background… nice. It doesn’t get much better than this eh? (Insert geeky snort here).

Okay, let’s go back (and forth!) in time to see what has happened since my last barrage of blogs.

Sunday, Feb 1st

Okay, just finished far too many hours of blogging. Headed over to the train station, far too hot, the ventilation system was out, UGH! Forget to mention that a friend from Seattle (Keira, friend of Winston and Jen’s) is joining us for the Thailand portion of the tour.

A funny note: Keira and Jen were out shopping for jewelry, anklets in particular, when a handsome stranger noted how pale Keira was. He remarked “Anklets are for summer you know. Do they have summer in Seattle?” We will be conducting a tan watch to see how dark Keira gets for the next while…

We headed out on the “express” train to Trang. The express train takes about 14 hours (it’s almost across the entire country!) but I could probably bike faster than this thing.

A funny side note, we were served dinner by THAI Ken! He’s a spitting image of Ken (we have pix!) and even has similar mannerisms and expressions (except in Thai). Wild. Makes you wonder if you have a twin somewhere in this world, eh?

Sleeping on the train was interesting. The oversized overhead luggage compartment bunk was decent but cramped and a bit stuffy (no A/C seats left). It was “an experience”. Pretty pleasant overall, a neat way to travel.

Monday, Feb 2nd

Okay, we’re a bit scummy, hot, and weary, but after the train ride, we’re in Trang! Trang is just a little town, nothing exotic. We stumbled around and found a ticket to Koh Muk, then proceeded to head over to the market for some yummy snacks and lunch. It was fun wandering through the aisles of raw meat (chicken, run!) and fresh fruit, ogling the shrink wrapped electronics and shopping for flip-flops.

A mini-van and boat ride later (about 2 - 3 hours total), we’re in Koh Muk! We check in at Charlie’s Beach Resort, a somewhat touristy place on one of the beaches. The rates are decent and the rooms are nice (actually the nicest bungalows in South Thailand that we stayed in). The beach is pretty small, but the sand and the water were nice.

It was a nice mellow day. Hanging out, swimming, a little mild snorkeling, sleeping, reading. We were all a bit burnt out, so the rest was nice. Didn’t even take pictures!

Note: I’m not a big fan of sunscreen, but it definitely does work. I haphazardly applied some ‘screen before heading off to the water and got a very geometric sunburn (OUCH!). I forgot that anti-malaria meds make you more photo-sensitive!


Tuesday, Feb 3rd

This morning we start our many days of island hopping. We take a long-tail (so named due to the propeller mounted at the end of a long stalk) to Koh Rok Nawk. This is an uninhabited little island where we are planning to camp and veg out in complete isolation (well, there will be a guide who will cook for us and provide tents and such).

Didn’t quite work out that way. There actually were fresh water showers available (heavenly in the intense heat) and toilet facilities (squatters. Ugh). Also, there were several other groups set up on the beach when we arrived. Most left by the end of the day though, so it was semi-private.

We snorkeled in the clear water, taking in all…

AUGH! Jen and Keira are talking about bikinis and breasts right now, it’s pretty FREAKIN’ hard to concentrate! There are lots of very toned, tanned, attractive women here… Men too, I think. I’ll ask Jen.

Okay, snorkeling was WICKED. We saw soooooo many fish. I’m going to have to see “Finding Nemo” again, so I can go over the fish we saw. Some of the characters that made an appearance:

Nemo and Marlin (Clownfish) chllin’ in the anemone
Scar (Moorish Idol) or was he named Gill?
Dory (Blue Tang)
Brother Blow (Puffer fish, not the same one though)

I think we saw some others, but I can’t remember all the character names. We had some buns for fish feeding too. It was pretty funny being swarmed by hungry and surprising aggressive fish. The rich, vibrant colours, the abundance of life, schools of fish in your face, it was a nice experience.

The rest of the day? More vegging and beach time. It was peaceful and nice.

Some other cool notes:

Koh Rok is known for its monitor lizards (think Komodo Dragon). We ran into several (between 3 -5 feet long). They were pretty mellow and tended to ignore people. In fact, I was trying to take a picture of one, when I notice another chillin’ beside me. Took a picture about 2 feet away from it! Cooooool.
Hermit crabs are all over the place! They are fun little critters too, quite photogenic. They also seem to wander into the water in droves at night. Rush hour for crabs!


We settled down in our TINY tents for the night. Not a pleasant experience. There was no air circulation so the mini-tents felt much like saunas. I couldn’t handle it after a while so I ended up sleeping on the beach under the stars. There was a bit of light rain, bugs snacking on my face, and perhaps hermit crabs cursing me for blocking their pathway, but at least I got some sleep.

Wednesday, Feb 4th

I awoke this next morning to the sun blasting me in the face. Pretty relaxing way to rise, eh?

We had a light breakfast, then motored back to Koh Muk for some lunch (and well deserved showers).

Whoops, forgot to mention that we stopped off at the Emerald caves. This is a pretty cool lagoon that is hidden, only accessible after an 80 meter swim in some pretty dark caverns. It was quite entertaining trying to follow the dim flashlights of the guides. Everyone ends up bumping each other a lot. The lagoon itself feels like the mouth of a volcano. This cave used to be where people would gather sparrows nests (used for bird’s nest soup). Later, pirates used to store their treasure here. Cool.

Next up: the slow ferry to Koh Lanta.

We ended up making a short stop in Koh Kradan. This area has somewhat lousy beaches but amazingly beautiful, clear waters.

The rest of the long ride was pretty dull, a good time to catch up on some reading. I’m currently reading Catfish and Mandala by Andrew X. Pham. It’s a pretty interesting story about a man who bikes home to Vietnam for some soul searching. Ask me about it sometime.

Koh Lanta is a medium island, not so developed as Koh Phi Phi, but it has long stretches of beach and lots of diving. We settle in the Kaw Kwang Beach resort. Prices are pretty reasonable, the rooms are only fair though (every freakin’ sink leaks because they didn’t install them correctly!). You pay a big premium if you want air conditioning though. Not the best place, but okay I guess.

Not much happening today just grabbed some dinner and wandered around to set up diving for tomorrow.

Thursday Feb 5th

Okay, we settle on Lanta Diver (one of like 8 dive shops in the small Northern Town). This turns out to be a great choice. They are not the cheapest in town, but they seem very well run. Highly recommended.

Jen and I head off to Koh Haa, a group of 5 (well, actually 6-7) small islands for a refresher dive and some nice exploring. We haven’t been under for a couple years so the refresher is much needed and appreciated. Winston took off for Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, reputed to be one of the world’s top dive sites. I’ll let him comment on his experiences.

Koh Haa is a beautiful site. The warm waters (28 degrees celcius), good visibility (at least 15 - 20 meters) and the abundance of colourful fish made for a great experience. Here’s a partial listing of the fish we saw on our two dives:

Octopus
Blue Tang
Banner fish
Moorish Idol
Lizard fish
Shrimp
Moray Eel
Feather star
Puffer fish
Juvenile rock-mover wrasse
Lion fish
Scorpion fish
Grouper
Anemone fish (like clown fish)
Sergeant fish
Trigger fish
Banded snake eels.

I could attempt to describe them all, but you should just grab a book.

The first dive was an exploration around island 2. I can’t remember the island for the second dive, but we did swim through some pretty cool caverns.

Scuba diving is like entering an alien world. You are hovering around (assuming you can control your buoyancy), observing a totally different way of life. Colourful and interesting fish abound, going about their day to day, usually avoiding or ignoring the weird, bubbling creatures in masks.

Tropical diving, in particular, is a totally exhilarating experience. There is so much colour and beauty, it can really take your breath away. Even something as simple as an urchin can be stunning. If you look closely, a lot of urchins have bold orange and purple highlights between some of the spines. Take a peek sometime.

For me, dive tourism is a great experience. You are taken to and from the sites, experienced dive masters show you the sights and watch out for you. You’re fed, they prep and clean your gear; it really takes a lot of the work out of diving and adds a lot to the fun quotient. Also, our dive master was a very cute, hard working British girl (thanks for taking care of us Cait!)

I know that many will tell you that Vancouver has the best cold water diving, and that doing it all yourself is a great experience, but I’m pretty spoiled here, and I like it! I’m just lazy I guess (that and I’m not fond of diving in cold water).

We ended the day at a cool, fun bar-restaurant called the funky fish. It’s a little establishment where a lot of dive masters and instructors like to hang out. They serve good thin-crust pizza as well as a variety of other choices, local and European. Prices are decent and it’s a nice mellow place to take in the night scene, and quaff a few beers. Recommended. Good luck finding it though. Our cab driver didn’t speak much English, and it took like an hour to find the poorly marked bar (it’s at the Northern end of long beach). We joined Winston’s dive master (Bow) for some drinks. She is a computer programmer turned dive master. It’s pretty cool that she was able to drop the shackles of the corporate ladder to do something she’s really interested in. She’s quite articulate, very intelligent, and speaks with a cool accent (cute too!). Happy diving Bow! Hope you see another whale shark soon!


Friday, Feb 6th

Okay, we’re off again! Today, we get up late (well, the boys do), have a mediocre breakfast (include in the room rate) and grab the ferry to our next destination: Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi is a very popular dive destination in Thailand consisting of two islands, Koh Phi Phi Don and Koh Phi Phi Ley. The less developed island (Koh Phi Phi Ley) was used as the location for the movie “The Beach”. While not developed, the Phi Phi Ley is supposed to be choked with tourists. We’ll probably take a pass on that one.

After a decent ferry ride, full of engaging discussion and conversation (is happiness the same as contentment? Do you have to have money to be happy? Content? Lots of philosophical debates…), we arrive in Phi Phi Don, and grab some bungalows in our next place, the Phi Phi Island Cabana Hotel. This place ends up being quite costly, but the bungalows are a bit disappointing. The main hotel rooms may be better, not sure. One nice thing we haven’t had since Bangkok: hot water in the showers. Most places have cold water only.

You’re paying mostly for the nice pool (with the Las Vegas style butt ugly fountain) and posh lobby and restaurants. The Runtee café is NOT recommended though. Service is slow and the food is costly. Avoid it if possible.

We wander the village and look for some diving.

Man, this place is PACKED with dive shops. You can’t walk a block without hitting a shop. All prices are about the same too, so look around, talk to the operators and see what feels best to you.

We settle on Visa Divers (another pretty nice, smaller outfit is PPK divers) due to scheduling and a very good feel. We will be diving the Koh Bida islands tomorrow where Leopard sharks are known to live. They have no teeth though, so it’s not too scary (unless you are afraid of being gummed to death!).

After the diving, we will be heading to long beach for some shark snorkeling. Apparently we should be swimming among 10 - 20 black tip reef sharks (these ones have teeth!). I wanted to dive with the sharks too (in Palong Bay) but Jen is not too interested (D’oh!).

Should be a full and exciting day. Yep, I really DON’T know how to relax…

Also, an old high-school chum should be joining us tomorrow for a couple days in Phi Phi. I’ll report on that tomorrow after the day in the water!

One more thing. We dine at a place called Pum. This place is a Thai restaurant but also offers cooking classes. It is terminally trendy and would not look out of place in Yaletown. The food was decent, the portions were small but stylish, and the prices were fairly reasonable. It had great atmosphere, and good tunes. Worth checking out, if only to see what such a trendy place looks like in Phi Phi. If we were staying longer, it might be fun to take some cooking classes here. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to come back someday.

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