Khao Lak, Tuesday, November 17, 2009

-
I woke up when I heard the boat motor slow down. The cabin lights soon came on and everyone quietly got up and picked up their packs and left. Everyone had slept dressed or almost dressed.
It was about 5:30 and still dark but the boat lights and some lights on shore allowed us to carefully walk the narrow pathway off the scow. Slipping and falling into the scow or off the side could have hurt. There were no handrails, and both sets of steps are small and narrow.

We were each asked 'Where are you going?'. I said 'Khao Lak', and was told 'Let me see your ticket.' I showed it and was pointed to the minivan nearby. I climbed into the back with all my bags. The van was full and we were driven to a cafe a few miles into town. Someone said 'Khao Lak, stay here.' The passenger by the door got out and I hunched down and squeezed between the others to get out. I was glad my back was not sore and I had done some stretching before I got up.

I was the only one getting off. The minivan took off and I was in the main office for the Fame Tour Company, which is also a cafe. I ordered a fruit, yogurt and muesli, for 80B, and it was good. It was now about 6:30 and I needed more stretching, so I walked down the sidewalk to the train station, then down the main road til 7, then walked back.

I had been told to be there at 7:45, but when I got back at 7:25, a woman motioned me to follow her to her scooter. I got on back with my bags and we rode a half mile, slowing down for 2 speed bumps, to the old bus station. She said she would be back in 20 minutes to buy ticket. She road across to the pickup taxis, and rode off with a little boy on the back. She returned in 20 minutes, bought a ticket for me and I got on the big bus.

I had both seats to myself the entire 6.5 hour ride to Khao Lak, except for a few minutes when the ticket taker sat next to me. I asked him when we would be in Khao Lak.He said '1440'.

Sometime in the morning, probably as we came to the Andaman Sea coast, I glimpsed a waterfall not far away from the road, among the trees, then saw a green valley with small islands along the edge. Wish we could have stopped to look longer and take photos.

At noon we stopped at a large cafe, and small store building. I showed my free meal ticket, which I had received with my bus ticket, to the ticket taker and he waved his arm toward the cafe. When I asked how long, he said '10 minutes, then 15 minutes.' I saw others using the same meal ticket in exchange for a plate of rice with a choice of 8 toppings. I pointed to the vegetables, and nodded yes when she pointed to a deep fried patty of something, so I had 2 toppings. The patty looked and tasted like a mixture of finely chopped vegetables and spices, but could have been a fishcake. Everything tasted good. A cup of water was also provided.

We stopped about 2:30 by several pickup taxis and a plastic sheet shelter. The rain was pouring down. I was 'told Khao Lak', and I got off, taking my backpack from the luggage compartment, then moving under the shelter. The taxi drivers wanted to know where I was going. I told them 'Tiffy Cafe'. One said '700 meter' and pointed the direction we had come from and said 'this side'. I said I would wait, and in 20 minutes the rain stopped.

I walked aways and started looking for a sign. At one rooming place a woman, probably Indian, called out 'room?'. I said 'Tiffy's Cafe.' She said 'Cheap.' I said 'Yes', and she pointed down the road and said 'near.' And it was just beyond the sign blocking the view. Tiffy's Cafe and Backpacker Inn. There was one dorm bed left in the 6 or maybe 8 bed room, all bunks. I got an upper bunk, for 180B, with a key deposit of 200B. I met only 2 of the other guests, both young women. The one I spoke to very briefly was from Wales.

Although I had 2 meals enroute today, I was still hungry, so I had a bowl of coconut soup, Kha Tom, for 90B, and mango juice, 60B, and rice, 40B, at the cafe. The hard vegetables, the carrots and beans, were undercooked, but edible. The 4 large slices of ginger were for flavor, since they were very hard. I chomped down part of one, anyway. Right after that I brought out my netbook and logged onto the internet with the code they gave me. I started uploading photos, and checking sites about snorkeling and liveaboard boats in the Similan Islands and Khao Lak area, but when I took the netbook back to the room, the upload failed. I called Demon Diving because the site was informative and easy to read, but got no answer, and left no message, but Paul returned my call. They were booked for diving and liveaboards now, but could send me on a snorkel tour of the Surin Islands, which are better for snorkeling because the shelf in the islands is wider. I knew that the 3 day tours offered by other companies were 9500B to 9900B, so when I found the price to be 9900B and I could go tomorrow, I said I would finish my dinner and walk down there to sign up. I had started on my evening meal, a vegetables, squid and rice dish that was very good, for 100B. My total for food there was 290B, about twice what I had been paying in most of Thailand, but I was in the high rent tourist area, in high season.

At Demon Diving I could understand everything Paul said since I think he is from the US, although I forgot where. The charge on my American Express failed, but the Visa accepted the charge. I was told to be ready outside Tiffy's Cafe at 7:10 and that Sophie would be going along. We were to be driven for an hour in a minivan to Khuru Buri to get on the speed boat for the hour long ride to the Surins, where we would meet our guide, Mikey, born in the Bay Area. I asked about weights to neutralize the buoyancy of my camcorder housing. Paul gave me a dive weight to use, about 2 pounds size and 2 zip ties.

When I returned about 9:30, the dorm room was locked because everyone was out. I had showered when I arrived and so I locked the door and went to sleep quickly.

So my outlay for today is 550B, $16.50, plus the tour charge of 990B, almost $300