Southern Thailand

After some airport running, we flew from Hanoi to Phuket, Thailand. We stayed in Phuket town the first night and took a bus to spend a few hours on the beach where we relaxed and did absolutely nothing. The water was warm and clear with few waves, perfect for swimming. One day was all it took and we moved to a new guesthouse ten minutes from the water after purchasing more sunscreen, hats and sarongs. We spent the next day at the beach people-watching from our umbrella, and oh what a lot there was to see! Women going topless and men in speedos all over the place and more than a few of them showing off goods that weren't exactly attractive. Everything was a bit more expensive at the beach, but I guess that is the way it goes. The next day we started looking into scuba diving. There were many options but we finally went with a Scandinavian company that seemed legit. Again, we spent the rest of the day at the beach watching the sun set and the parasailers take off and land on the beach. One of the locals would run with the person parasailing and "hop on" into the ropes above their heads, and they were then able to steer the parasail to a safe landing back on the beach. Pretty impressive. The next morning started off with a drive to meet the dive boat. I took a refresher course and Mike was able to do a "discovery dive" (he's never been diving before). I had to go through and set up all my own gear and remember everything from my certification from a few years back. It was quite a lot to remember on top of being sea sick. After two hours of rolling waves, we made it to the first dive site. We geared up and jumped in the water with our instructor, Patrick. The waves were still high and we had a ways to swim to get to shallow water where we could work on skills. We both felt like we were drowning with all the gear on and swallowing way too much sea water - yuck. It took a good 20 minutes to get rid of the fear, trust our breathing equipment, and go under. I was really wondering what the hell we had been thinking. After about 20 minutes at 9 feet, we were ready to do a little exploring in deeper water (max of 12 meters for Mike) and it was fantastic. The water was so clear and the fish so colorful. Really amazing to be that close to all the underwater life. Mike actually got to see a 3 foot long sea turtle go lazily swimming past him. We ate lunch back on the boat and travelled to another island for the second dive. Also equally amazing and so much fun to explore. Mike had a little bit of trouble clearing his ears but I was just excited and enjoying it all. It really was a great day of diving with beautiful islands to see on the boatride back and smoother waters.

Photos from Phuket

We were off to the island of Ko Phi Phi the next day, a gorgeous island that was hit by the tsunami in 2004. We finally found accomodation and checked out the beach. Plenty of chairs and shade umbrellas complete with little stands serving mango and banana shakes. The water was also clear and warm, although in the afternoons the tide went out and only left little pools. It seemed that one could walk two miles into the bay and the water was only up to your knees. Some cheaper food (as the one side of the island is more backpacker friendly than the other resort side) and a couple beers at the beach bar. Mike woke me up the next morning saying that he had excruciating ear pain and diminished hearing and that we either had to find a Dr. or take the three hour boat ride back to Phuket, a bigger town with a hospital. We did find a small hospital and otitis media (basically, a middle or inner ear injury due to diving) was the diagnosis. We were given some drugs and sent on our way. I settled Mike into the guesthouse with drugs to try and sleep it off but to no avail. He came to the beach saying the pain was worse and back to the hospital we went. They gave him pain meds, antibiotics, and anti inflammatories. He felt a little better and was able to sleep more comfortably. I treated myself to a pedicure and some BBQ kebabs (don't worry, I went back often to check on Mike and bring him food, although the whole side of your face hurts with an ear infection and you don't want to eat because of the pain). He was able to eat a little for breakfast the next morning and I was back at the beach and that afternoon, he was able to join me. We decided to climb one of the hills for a view of the twin bays of the island and we were just in time for sunset. It was so beautiful. We were also able to compare a picture of the aftermath of the tsunami with the view we were seeing before us. We tried to imagine the force of the waves to have caused such damage. We had dinner and a beer on the patio of our guesthouse and called it a night, deciding that we would get up and catch the sunrise which can also be seen from the viewpoint. Next morning, we were up at 6 am and I realized that my ear was hurting. We climbed up and caught the sunrise, although it was not as spectacular as the sunset had been, but there were far fewer people.

Photos from Ko Phi Phi

We stopped by a pharmacy where I bought some of the same drugs they put Mike on, just in case, and we took a boat to Krabi and then a bus and then a long tail boat to get to a little beach spot called Ton Sai. We found a bungalow and rented a kayak to check out the islands and limestone formations, which this part of Thailand is famous for. By the time we brought the kayak back, the tide had gone out and we had to haul the kayak through deep, sucking mud-not much fun. But Ton Sai was definitly a spot we thought we could spend some time in. That night, however, my ear had different plans and it was a very painful, tear-filled, sleepless night for me. Poor Mike got little sleep with all my sobbing. As soon as we thought we could catch a longtail boat back to town, we got up and got on one (Ton Sai is only accessible by boat and only has electricity from 6 pm to 7 am). After a boat ride and a couple of tuk-tuk rides, we finally found ourselves in Krabi Hospital, where we waited for another 2 hours to see the Dr. Antibiotics for me and we decided to stay in Krabi for the night just in case. Poor Mike had to travel all the way back to Ton Sai and gather all of our stuff, 2 big backpacks and 2 small backpacks and bring them all the way back (4 hours roundtrip of buses and boats). He is my hero (Mike's note: I prefer "wind beneath her wings"). Shortly after he got back, my pain came back and we walked back to the ER where I begged them to give me something for the pain. Morphine was given and somewhat effective, it took the edge off and then made me sick. All in all, we spent another 2 nights in Krabi, me sick and Mike bored and we both had fun stuff draining from our ears and had lost all hearing in our right ears. Never get an ear infection! The pain is terrible!

We finally felt healthy enough to leave Krabi and headed back to Ton Sai, which is well known for its amazing rock climbing. We spent the afternoon looking at climbing courses and finally settled on taking a three day lead climbing course. Our instructor, Nueng, was a pretty laid back Thai guy who smoked like a chimney and never wore anything more in the 4 days we saw him than 2 particular pairs of basketball shorts and some flip flops. The course was gruelling but fun and turned out to be more of a three and a half day course. We got in a lot of climbing and we learned more than we can probably remember. We've both decided that we'll have to get serious about climbing back in Seattle so we don't lose it all.

Photos from Hat Ton Sai

Today, we took a longtail boat and a couple of mini-buses to end up in Pak Bara, further south. Tomorrow, we will head to the little island of Ko Lipe.