Ko Kret

We hopped on bikes for a day trip to Ko Kret. I had ventured to this car-less island once before and I wanted to show Lexie this adorable non-touristic diamond in the ruff. (Did I mention Lexie is now here? She is pretty much the best thing that happened to Bangkok since the pink colored taxi!) But I am not going to lie, she doesn't love the bike and this adventure brought on some stress in that realm- although she did great! After crossing a four-lane highway alive, I knew we were bound for success. I remembered the general direction of the river so I just started peddling that way. Lexie didn't question me, even when I would say "looks like we have to go the other way" as I passed her in the middle of a wide U-turn, changing our direction.

The roads to Ko Kret were narrow and quiet (except for the two street simulating I-94, which each took us at least ten minutes to get off our bikes and run across safely!) The streets resembled alleyways, tangling us through backroads of little neighborhoods that not too many people even accidentally cruise past. A barbed wired building filled two of our blocks with the sounds of children's laughter, the school was incognito from the streets surrounding it's perimeter. The open fields across from it, were so filled with garbage I was surprised to see that some families' homes shared this hot filth pile. We passed some middle class houses as well, decorated with potted plants and nicely painted exteriors.

I recognized the Wat, buddhist temple, that denotes the dock landing for the boat that constantly ferries across from mainland to Ko Kret and back again throughout the day. The two pieces of land are close enough that any professional football player could spiral a ball from one land mass to the other. The ferry was 4 Bt a piece ($.10) The boat was on its return trip from the island as we reached the end of the dock (think catching sunnies in northern MN dock) and we hopped onto the boat's deck as it bumped into the mini tires bordering the dock. Lexie and I and our bikes barely fit on the deck of the boat, but it wasn't a long ride so we managed. No photos could be taken because one hand had to hold on to the bike while the other grasped the boat.

Once on Ko Kret, everything seemed much more relaxed. The island is tiny. The map on the side of the pier shows the 2 km island's only road to follow... so we took it! It is a concrete path ranging from widths varying from 4'-8'. Walkers, bicyclists, and motor-bikers were the fastest moving things on the road; pigs, dogs, an extremely old women pushing three wheeled carts were among the slowest. The road is sometimes as high as five feet above the island floor and sometimes too narrow to fit two bikes across! The sights from the cruise are spectacular, although, taking photos while biking felt a bit dangerous at times! Banana trees, tropical gardens, and shanty homes. The foliage and farms were amazing. The fields had hand dug trenches going through them and the average house is lifted about 8' off the floor in anticipation for the wet season. The houses are sporadically placed around the road, some right up against the concrete, others a long elevated sandbag hike to the front door. Everyone was extremely nice, and when I asked how one man's day was he was shocked and replied, "You speak thai very good!" So they are used to tourism on this little island away from the chaos of Bangkok. I guess most tourists visit during the weekend, when the pottery focused market is hosted by the Ko Kret community, originally known as the Mon tribe. We definitely saw traces of their ancient craft, but will have to peruse the island on a weekend day to get the full view.

A town you should name drink after.

Speed boating through the Andaman Sea and after a week in southern Thailand, I am still awestruck at the soaring jagged limestone peaks jetting out of the jade water. The white sandy beaches a dime a dozen. The sun shines warmly in the late morning sky, which is airbrushed with thin cirrus clouds. The dark sea is deceiving in its welcoming feel. Empty looking, it is full of life of another world. Calm seeming, it is full of power. Safe feeling, it is deadly.

Looking out the open-ended tail of the covered speedboat, the vast sea sparks internal reflection. Life is amazing. Simply a series of events bringing you to exactly where you are and need to be. I watch the wake of the two 225 “four stroke” Honda motors. Of the miles and miles of deep blue water my eyes focus on the crashing of the foamy wake.

At this time of the day, the water seems to lay still and wait for the boats to slice through it; individual droplets jump high in victory. The potential energy of the entire ocean is only prevalent in the trail of these white waves. Similar to the potential energy of the human race, only being prevalent in the few that jump out of the huge pool of those of us who are just living.

The boat is full of 20 strangers whose lives have also brought them here. Sure, we brought ourselves here through efforts of hard work (or the beg, borrow, and dream method!) but not everyone could get here. The barefoot girls begging with their kid brother on their hips by the coconut stand in India will doubtfully have an attainable path here. Similarly, the fisherman on their family’s long tail boats that we pass may never be on the top of an untracked snow covered mountain, another magnificent paradise.

The sun fills me with energy. I couldn’t be more thankful for the series of events in life that have brought me to this paradise. I wonder if I was just in the right place at the right time like the water the happened to be pushed into this splashing wake. (I am a fortunate woman full of luck!) But are we not always “in the right place at the right time” if our mind is in a constant paradise? Maybe… but getting out of my thoughts and back to the view!

"Krabi is the most beautiful province in Thailand. It’s the kind of place that comes to mind when you’re daydreaming about paradise. A fairytale creation of dramatic krast formations juxtaposed, and sometimes enveloped, by a warm emerald silk sea.”

-The Lonely Planet

Since arriving to Krabi we have toured this paradise through several modes of transportation, a pimped out taxi van, the back of a pick-up truck, a motorbike, a speedboat, and a long tail boat. The long tail boat is the traditional fishing boat used in southern Thailand and was my most memorable day.

We are picked up at the villa at 8 a.m. The crew for the day includes my parents, the Peterson parents, Lexie, and myself. Mot meets us at the pier holding the nose of the 30-foot (or so) beauty of a boat. It looked ancient, the wood looked thirsty for varnish. Personalized by the blue and white scarves wrapped around the tall rising bow of the craft. Covered by a tarp for weather protection, there were three benches for us to sit on. The boat swayed with every step we took as we made our way to our seats. I don’t know much about building a boat, but the floorboards were not laid out by a perfectionist. A variety of size gaps through the floor, showing the belly of the boat filled with water or small piles of garbage. The life jackets that are strung by a disintegrating orange cord would not have saved anyone- completely faded in color by the years of sun and ripped at most of the seems. Still, I feel very safe in water, and I trust this man who must have spent every day of his 20 –some years in this boat. We trade a few sentences in Thai and I find out that he has a little English in his vocabulary. With the start of a ridiculously loud motor (a reconstructed an old car) we set off toward the open water.

It is one of our first days in Krabi and the warmth is truly enjoyed by the Minnesota visitors. The water is calm in the absent winds of the morning. We hit our first of four island stops after 40 minutes of wind and salt water kissing our faces. It is absolutely breath taking and we only have to share it with a few other families. The tropical forest is such a brilliant green and rock formations dramatically jets skyward. The beach so clean and white, meeting the endless ocean that is a color blue I have never seen before. We walk around the hiking trails that barely introduce us to the islands ecosystem. After a few hundred meters inland, the trail brings us to three mangled long tail boats. They look sick and resemble death. There is a sign that elegantly explains the power of nature. On December 26, 2004 these boats were thrown from the ocean into this forest. We discuss the sadness of this natural disaster. The severity of it stays in the forefront of our minds for the rest of the day, as we explore the areas that only four years ago was ripped apart by this tsunami.

The long boat island tour was perfect. We were on our own schedule, hopping around semi-secluded islands witnessing the raw beauty of a true paradise. We went to four islands, each beautifully pristine with nothing less than Eden to offer its visitors. We played for a few hours in the warm water with soft sand tickling our toes. After the first island we were brought to a hidden cove that had a sandbar full of scurrying crabs. We watched the tide peacefully come in as we boarded the boat to our next destination.

Bringing our own food and water, and having a modest mode of transportation, was refreshing. I was getting tired of all the touristy events. The beaches were quiet and the boat ride was family, everything about the day was wonderfully chill. The last part of the journey with Mot, he snuck us into a canal where I think only kayaks were “allowed.” He was heading full blast toward the shoreline; At this point I was confused with exactly what our plan was. Only a few hundred feet away, the entrance was completely hidden from view. We entered a narrow waterway, with 70-foot canyon walls decorated with vines, trees, and families of monkeys!

The motor clicked off and we floated through this hidden trail system. It snaked deeper than expected, and it had a few side routes sneaking off through mangrove forests. An enormous tree narrowing the waterway to a width only a kayak could squeeze through made us turn around. On the float tracing our steps back to the ocean, we stopped on a tiny beach that held an entire neighborhood of monkeys! Really. We jumped out of the boat and when I asked about the dilapidated wood structure that was on this tiny hidden beach in the shadows, Mot’s eyes light up. Through two verbal languages and a lot of signing I only understood that when the Tsunami hit this area Mot was in his boat. Three waves possibly as tall as 20 meters tried to shake his life from him. The waves took this small lunch spot that was created to feed the visiting kayakers, but it has never been replaced. This is one of the spots Lexie and I are considering opening our Pina Colada stand. Another ten minutes in the boat brought us back to the pier with the pick up truck. A lovely day had by all.

A handful of Chiang Mai photos

Chiang Mai!

It hit my heart hard as we touched down in Chiang Mai, a northern mountain town of Thailand. I stared hard at the lush tropical forest covered mountains pushing back the horizon, trying to figure out why my gut had dropped with desire. My pulse has an entirely different beat when it is being fed the energy of high rising ridge lines and cool night breezes. Maybe next week the beach will give me comparable feelings of excitement and balance, of peace and wonder... or maybe some lives grow best in certain types of soil.

My parents and the Peterson parents (forever family friends) arrived five jam-packed days ago. I have now adjusted to the tourism-focused filled days, but I felt as jet lagged with the new busy schedule as the recent arrivals did (and they spent 24 hours on a plane and lost a day.) I am used to my Zen-ed out days filled with nothing significant but the thoughts bubbling in my head. Three days in Bangkok with the fab-four I did more sight seeing than I had done in the month here alone! It was great and informative and appreciated, but Exhausting! On Day 3.5 (or something) we hopped on a plane to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is the second biggest city (area-wise) to Bangkok, but still doesn't hold a flame next to its fire in size, population, or utter chaos. The abounding street markets show that this city thrives on tourism. The streets are filled with traffic but are much more well kept. On street corners, brightly flowered bushes are found instead of piles of garbage . Freshly painted white bridges and street signs with English pronunciation are more common here. The financial juxtaposition is less prevalent, very few beggars. The streets are still dominated by Thais, but our driver Mr. Chan explained that most of the Chiang Mai tourism this year is from Bangkok because of the week the airport was closed down due to protesters.

It is beautiful here. Hot afternoons are capped with cool evenings. Vegetation overpowers industry and the stars shine bright in the unpolluted night sky. I will come back in the following few months I have in Thailand. I want to take a one-week hike in the hills that hug this city, resting each night with a different hill tribe. I yearn to play in the mountains, although I also fear the unfamiliarity of this forest and its inhabitants! Here, a day hike ends in a village holding an ancient civilization, not a view of a recognizable valley.

I am traveling with three grow-up couples and one baby. My low-key routine has currently been put on hold to travel with others who have busy lives in the states and are fortunate to get two weeks to travel across the world (they keep talking about this thing called "work" that they need to return to.) This four day trip to Chiang Mai is dominated by the goal of "seeing everything". I am willingly on the schedule of my visitors, which is ambitious and full of informative sights.

We have visited an elephant farm, the zoo, a hot springs, and a heritage village to see silk being spun and silver being cast. We spent time at the Winter Palace where the royal family frequents and a eco-cultural Reservation Center (or something) to see hand made village crafts and women who lengthen their neck via gold wire wraps. We walked the day market, the night bizarre, and 360 steps on tallest mountain (Dio Suthep) to see a temple packed with Thais celebrating the New Year. We have eaten on the river, in a treehouse, and within a tiger farm.

We all live in one huge villa made of brick and wood in some bizarre traditional Thai meets log cabin style house. Actually, it feels like we are staying in the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse. My parents and I share the basement that consists of three mattresses on an elevated step= great bonding! Breakfast begins around 8 a.m. in order to be picked up at 9 a.m. by our driver who whips us from one location to the next. It's vacation boot camp! The hardwood floors creek loudly with every move, so I try to move so quietly during my early morning yoga. Usually people start waking up and cooking around 7, nothing like stretching to the smell of bacon.

Weirdly, the animals we were exposed to have been my favorite part of this town. The elephants were unreal. The camp we visited values creating a natural and healthy environment and works to conserve and breed them due to the dwindling number of Asian elephants left in the wild. The elephants put on a show- dancing around, playing games, and painting pictures. They had even the biggest of children (my father) jumping out of their seat with big smiles and excited laughter. They may have been trained to be clowns but they attain a natural precision in all that I saw them do. Those elephants are amazing, both in physical stature and personality. Winning my affection, I could have spent all day watching the elephants eat huge amounts of food and parade around their grounds. I feel like maybe I was an elephant in one of my past lives (but my toes would have been painted a fantastic magenta pink)

Second to the elephants were the Rhinos at the zoo! Those enormous creatures are crazy! They floated (somehow) in a deep pool with their mouths open wide, waiting for the food that zoo visitors were encouraged to toss into their gaping grin. Entire cucumbers and carrots- into the garbage disposal of an animal. Thailand definitely has different "codes and standards" for risk management at their zoos. Hands of children were a mere three feet away from the tusk like canines of those beasts. No fences and barely a railing. Oh! and the Pandas at the zoo! (Which were behind a wall of glass.) The Pandas are on a long term loan from China and just sit on a wooden bench and eat bamboo. They resembled a fat guy on a recliner eating potato chips, except they were cute instead of disgusting. The pandas, the koalas, and the white tigers- all amazing!

I am not sure why I am choosing not to elaborate on the hill tribe village, the temple on the side of the mountain, being blessed by a monk, or visiting a silk factory (watching the process starting with the breeding of the worms!) They were all highlights and fantastic sights, but I just don't have the desire to detail each part out. I will return, and with my own schedule, I will be able to pay more respect to this area's touristic wonders.