After three months of constantly being on the move our week on this island has already come as a bit of a blessing. From talking to some of our Swedish friends it confirms that feeling that staying somewhere for a while, I.e for a few weeks, can help to build a connection rather than create a feeling of being too comfortable, of wanting to move on. it's a fascinating prospect that we will leave here with some great friends, which is something I hope will continue.
Anyway, Christmas eve. Aruna and chai, very popular figures on the island it seems, were hosting a party at the hotel, which was great given the fact that we had this huge party with amazing food and a great sound-system just outside our room. All we had to do was bring alcohol so being the good Brits we are (with a hint of homesickness) we wheeled out the gin and tonics. Added to this, and not to be outdone by any of other guys cooking dishes, I managed to cook my popular (with shell anyway) tuna fishcakes. I had a hankering to do something quintessentially British, like a big Beef Wellington but hey, this is a Thai island!
In the morning we headed for the biggest town on the island, Saladan and acquired the right ingredients from a few of the local Market stalls (potatoes, red chillies, coriander, tuna) and of course the gin, and London gin at that!
after the Market we had just enough time to fit in a spot of lunch at a wicked little place called Peak cafe run by two Thai sisters in the next bay who after chatting about their place for a while turned out they would be attending the same party later on.
Back at Baan Rao we got straight down to cooking (and drinking) before the rest of the guests turned up. It was an amazing feeling to be back in the kitchen and something (in fact the only thing) I am looking forward to doing when we get home (apart from seeing friends and family of course!). The fishcakes turned out beautifully and when presented to the first few guests were gone within minutes, I even hung around people eating them way too much to gage their reaction, like some demented weirdo.
After showering, we had our first gin and tonics and started to mix with the other guests. It was a cool mix of people with a few of them owning bars on Lanta and Phi-Phi. The others were made up of their friends (who all seemed to be connected by working in, at or for music festivals in the UK) and Baan Rso guests including Lotte and Andreas and Klara, a wicked Swedish couple. We all had a great time and the food was great. We ended the evening laid out on cushions on the terrace looking up at the stairs at 3am. Sounds like on of those cliched things to do but given Lanta's lack of light pollution, makes for great night skies.
One of the odd things we have found with spending time with all these Scandinavians is the way they seem to celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve which is odd, given the fact that it is the day before Christmas day, Hence the name! The advantage is that when it came around to the morning we had a whole other day to celebrate!
Waking then on the big day we Rose like zombied bodies out into the heat of the day to at least give a helping hand to the big clean up. After soaking a few plates we retreated back inside where Aruna had prepared a huge Christmas brunch consisting of various salads, Indian scrambled eggs and homecooked bread, all with a very Swedish twist, which was great for the Swedish family and Andreas and Karla. In all honestly it was delicious, much needed after a heavy night!
From there we headed to the beach sporting our whacky Christmas hats and tinsel, all to the amusement of the bemused locals. It was a very strange feeling, unsurprisingly it didn't feel like the big day at all. It feels almost as if summer 2011 never ended and that we have somehow found a tropical piece of say, Devon, and that it's had a record-breaking Indian summer. For Shell, it was hard, I could tell throughout the whole period. For a girl so desperately family-orientated as shell, this time was always going to be hard. But hey, we got through it and we had a great time. Christmas day was strange and ended up being pretty quiet but the whole experience just lacked family and friends, something which, as we progress into the New Year celebrations will be particularly hard.
We have been lucky enough though to make some great friends here and so the next day we hopped on the motorbike and met up with Andreas and Karla, a few miles down the coast so we could visit the national park together. On the way we all stopped at some truly breathtaking locations, places that wouldn't look out of place in a bounty advert.
After paying the entrance fee we headed into the park where we were instantly surrounded by monkeys. Added to this was the wind, which was so strong by this point, didn't make great reading for tomorrows boat trip!
We decided to take the trek around the park that would climb some very steep hills through thick, dense jungle, to some indeterminate location around the headland. At about the halfway point and literally dripping with sweat we came across a very large tree that had recently toppled over onto the path causing quite obviously, a large obstruction that would need to be scaled. Sure enough myself and Andreas climbed over because let's face it, we needed to let the girls know that we were indeed alpha males! Shell went next, she hooked her leg over so that she was straddling the very large tree and grabbed on to myself. All she needed to do next was kick her leg over, a process that seemed pretty straightforward, 'seemed', Shell then proceeded to freeze as she rolled herself over the log. I don't know if any of you have tried but if you blow into the face of a rabbit it becomes completely frozen, this would be Shell. Like a beetle on it's back shell retained the straddle position until she was on the floor facing upwards. If anything is needed to firmly cement a friendship then it is definitely mimicking a stunned beetle.
Anyway, the guidebook apparently said this 'trek' would last two hours but after about 30 mins the track suddenly came across a road, it had ended! So much for the Indiana jones expedition!
Anyway, after taking some posing photos around the lighthouse (see above) we headed back along the road to a beach we had found earlier. We holed ourselves up in a bar in the sun on cushions and mats and spoke for hours about the differences between Sweden and the UK, which coincidentally are few and far between. It's easy, I suppose, living in the UK to firmly believe that the social problems we face i.e how to control immigration, a disaffected youth, banking crises and astronomical housing prices are purely British problems. If we can take anything away from this trip it would be the realisation that the worries we face at home are felt almost everywhere else. I think it helps me anyway.
After a few hours in the sun drinking a few beers we headed off in pursuit of food so travelled a good 10kms up the coast to a place Andreas and Klara had stayed a week ago, right on the beach. We had a good night talking about our families and friends before being completely drowned out by a compilation tape, seemingly recorded by my dad featuring Dire Straits, Queen and Genesis. It will be the first and last time I am drowned out by Money for Nothing...
After an early night we were picked up early to be taken to the pier for our 5 island tour to the south. The day was just incredible. At three of the islands we stopped and jumped off the back of the boat to go snorkelling amidst a technicolor of tropical fish. The snorkelling was just fantastic, not quite as clear as the Gili islands but more abundant in fish. The only problem was that we felt as if we were being burned, especially on our legs. Turns out that jelly fish release tiny fragments of tentacle that still manage to sting. Which means these pathetic excuses for organisms not only have no meaning but they carry on having no meaning once they are disconnected from the stupid creatures. Jellyfish and wasps, the scourge of society, maybe ones that have been backed by David Cameron. Pathetic beasts.
The highlight of the day, despite an amazing buffet lunch of chicken curry, was the emerald cave. The boat actually moored up to an island that seemingly had no way in. We were then told to don lifejackets and swim behind the leader into a small gap in the rock. We swam for around 80 metres through a cave that seemed to be glowing from below in the most spectacular green you can imagine. The cave passage then went completely dark, save that of the leaders dim torchlight. After 15 minutes we reached daylight at the opposite end and swam out into a secluded beach and astonishing emerald waters, flanked by rock and vines on all sides. It's a place, apparently, where pirates used to hide their treasure. It was astonishing, even more astonishing that someone had found it.
It was a remarkable day and gave us a tantalising glimpse of what to expect on our two-day camping trip on a tiny island called Koh Rok, a completely uninhabited island to the west. All that to come as we progress into 2012
Anyway, we did a lot over this time so sorry for the length but whenever you see Shell turn instantaneously into a beetle and a cave you couldn't even imagine, they have to be told. Now, go grab yourself a chocolate digestive, make yourself a brew and have piece of mind that everything is going to be OK.
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, Tommo and shellface xxx
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