Sitting on the porch of my Koh Mook Rubber Tree Hotel bungalow on the waning moments of the trip as the cicadas buzz away- in a couple hours I’ll start a 48 hour journey to the other side of the world for a work meeting. 4 days have passed – two in the Bungalow at Koh Mook and 2 in a tent at Koh Rok. Sleep has been fitful as it’s just too hot – even when the power’s on the fan here provides little relief, though naps on the beach and lazy days also have something to do with it.
Update: now waiting to get on the sleeper train back to Bangkok. The islands were extremely sparse – Koh Mook has just a few resorts and restaurants, and a small beach.
It was a two hour longtail boat ride to Koh Rok, the engine grating on my ears. The sand at Koh Rok was like flour – when it’s wet it stratified on the water and you’d call it muck if it wasn’t so pretty. There’s no resort or massages, only tents. More tourists come from 10-2 each day but then leave; there are about 20 of us with a whole island to ourselves. I’ve never had this much beach to myself. I go exploring and find a dead lobster being picked over by crabs and a wrecked longtail boat. This must be what it feels like to be on Survivor.
The bathroom had plumbing for the showers and toilets were bucket flush – both in the same room (why not connect the toilet too?). Huge crocodile sized lizards hung out nearby in the evenings, and the leaves rustled with hermit crabs on the prowl. I slept in a beach hammock one night, my first night in a hammock- the lights of the calamari boats in the distance, male campers walking by every few hours to take a leak in the sea (presumably to avoid the inland lizards or spiders or cockroaches or rats). It was cooler in than the hot tent, but sleep was still fitful. I awoke startled a couple times as unknown creatures tickled my toes, but the breeze and my DEET were strong enough to keep the mosquitoes away.
We could swim 30 feet off the beach to the most amazing snorkeling; my back got the best tan. My favorites were the clownfish pairs darting in and our of their anemones and the giant clams with their florescent mantles embedded deep in the rock. I still had mask fitting problems with the new equipment, and the reefs were so shallow I ended up scraping the tops of my feet up while treading water a few times. We went deep sea fishing one afternoon with the staff – I caught a small tuna and some other fish which the staff cooked for us that night. The fish with red curry (which I had to request special since they don’t serve the tourists spicy food by default) was the best dish of the trip.
Now, the sleeper train has started it’s roll out of the tiny station in Traang (“Traang Station”). The rickety fans are blowing the air conditioning around. It’s 2:30am in the US, I should try to grab some slep if I know what’s good for me.
(new pics start here)
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The bov · February 23, 2010 at 3:44 AM
Wow… sounds like an amazing adventure! Do those lizards attack people?! I would freak the eff out if that was near me!