AT

04/11/11

After running in the humidity last night we decided to give the morning a go to compare the two and it started well, with a cloudy early morning sky and nice solid sand near the waves we both felt fresh and awake at 8am. That all changed as the sun came out and the temperature jumped 20c in seconds and suddenly I felt like I was running in treacle , how is it possible to be this hot this early in the day?

As the restaurant was closed on Fridays we decided to rent the bike and eat on the road somewhere. Our destination today was the national park and lighthouse on the southern tip of the island a good 30k away but mostly straight roads, according to the map. I must have looked a complete prat as I pulled away from the hire place with Bex on the back, feet out to the side trying to keep my balance on a bright orange moped, but before long I was nipping along enjoying the breeze in my face. After a roadside stop for pancakes and a quick nose through the bookshop joined to the cafe we started back on the road for the lighthouse, well at least we thought we were. The scenery was lush and green and reminded us both of Vietnam with the rubber trees and dense jungle just off the road and small villages no bigger than four or five houses lining the roadsides. The breeze was taking the heat out of the sun and it was the perfect day for riding a bike, roads all but clear and the long winding bends up the hills made sure I was kept awake and not distracted too much, before long we hit the coast, but no light house?

We sat looking at the map wondering where we had gone wrong, it was a straight road, nowhere to turn off unless you wanted too, i can't be that big an idiot? Just then an  Aussie couple arrived on their bike looking for the same thing, somehow we had ended up on the south east of the island rather than south west, without a clue how it had happened. Wishing each other luck we rode back the route we had come and after 15k I saw a sign for some caves which had not been visible from the other direction ( back to my Crete de je vie again!) I pulled over and looked at the map, the west coast road must be the next left and sure enough at the next left we pulled in and within 1k saw signs for the national park, no signs at all at the junction and not a straight road as drawn on the map, bloody Crete!

The ocean was now on our right, but apart from that everything else was the same, breeze, sun, hills and both of us enjoying the moment. We had been warned that the road finishes before the park and the dirt tracks can be a little dodgy, but the Thai's had been busy and had almost connected the Tarmac in all but a few places and before long we were at the park entrance, which was 200 Baht per person, but this included everything so there were no surprises when we got to the lighthouse.

Perched on a small hill right at the southern tip was a White lighthouse roughly 50 feet high, the door was gated and locked so you couldn't go inside but from the rugged coastline you could see why it was needed. Another thirty feet on you could see a set of concrete steps which led to nowhere, I guessed this is where a lighthouse used to be but the cliffs are made of sandstone in places and it probably fell into the sea or got moved to the current location. Around the park are signs saying don't feed the monkeys and I was yet to even hear one let alone see any, so we set off on a walk around the parks grounds. As the path crossed between two ponds we saw a large iguana plodding towards us, Tongue out and giving us the eye. I had just been reading about the Komodo Dragons on the islands near Bali and here was a 3ft lizard giving me the come on then shuffle, suddenly there was a splash to our left and another appeared out of the pond, saw us and dived back in again, had they eaten all the monkeys? The one in front of us turned and walked into the same pond leaving filming it with cameras and taking pictures ( on review it looks like a geko, damn zoom lens!) walking along the path we finally found the monkeys, they were busy tearing up some ones house, but at least they existed!

Walk finished we returned to the bike and made our way north again, we stopped off at the book shop so I could buy a Clive Cussler I had been looking for then rode on into town to do some shopping for Christmas presents, everyone bought for we made it back just before a thunderstorm started. Our only decision left was which DVD to watch tonight?

05/11/11

Day off from running today and a bit of a lazy morning too. We decided to spend our last day in Thailand back in Phuket, but this time in the north near to the airport so I set about trying to book a couple of nights in hotels but high season prices had kicked in and it was making the choices difficult. We also decided to kayak through the mangroves and tried to book that trip, at first the company refused saying they were closed on Sunday's but open on Monday, so I said thanks but we leave on Monday. Realising they were now missing out on some money, the company was suddenly open on Sunday's and would pick us up in the afternoon, who says money doesn't talk?

Another bike booked for the afternoon, but this time a manual, which I had never ridden before but changing gear always looked so easy, how hard could it be? The bike was older than me and clunked and rattled we sped south again towards the caves we had seen signs for yesterday. Somebody had also taken all the springs out of the suspension, or that's what it felt like as we bumped off road to the information hut for tiger cave. They wanted 600 Baht to show us around a single cave, not a cave system but a single cave, I think they got that one wrong and my theory was proved correct as we stopped for a drink and i watched person after person arrive and then leave as soon as they heard the price. November may be high season, but it's not high season crowds just yet, greed got the better of them!

We continued around the north east of the island, taking pictures and chatting with locals and by late afternoon we had covered the whole road system, so after a quick stop at the port to buy our ticket off we returned back for dinner and, yep you guessed it, a movie or two!

06/11/11

Pickup for the kayaking and monkey school was not until 1300 so we went for a run and used the bike to nip into town to run errands. Our ferry pickup was going to be 7 am so we wouldn't have time to get cash etc beforehand. Our accommodation in Phuket had come back to us and confirmed our booking which was a bonus so we set about planning Panang and KL and how we connect the two. Our original plan of visiting the Cameron Highlands went out of the window when we realised transport links and timescales made it impossible ( we only have 5 full days before we fly from Singapore to Jakarta) and Panang to Cameron Highlands takes 6hrs by bus and the same again to KL afterwards. We found a night train which runs to KL, but the timetable made as much sense as quantum physics so we left that until we are actually in Panang ( hopefully the hotel can help with that) once the accommodation was emailed we were ready for the kayaking. The reason we were so keen to do this trip was two fold, first we get to paddle around the mangrove rivers and secondly, we get to see monkeys in the wild and if were lucky get them close to the boats for pictures etc. Our pick up arrived and he told us that that we were the only ones doing this today, that's a bit of a bonus I thought, no hanging around for people paddling in circles and we get to do the whole thing at our own pace. After a short and bumpy ride we arrived at the dock and walked out to the kayaks over some of the dodgiest looking raised decking I have ever seen but looking down you could see all the mud skippers and crabs rushing through the swamp mud, so you kind of ignored the the missing planks, or three!

For the most part the sun had stayed hidden while we punted along with our guide, fortunately he did this every day so knew how to stroke and at times I struggled to keep up with him going across the current. It was low tide so the mangroves look even more imposing with the long roots stretching out like tentacles into the muddy waters below, but apart from the odd bird there was no signs of life in the trees. We entered a big open stretch of channel and our guide pointed to the opposite bank and said "monkeys" I looked across but all I could see was two more brightly coloured kayaks, bugger, I thought, beaten to it. We dug in and made good time across the current, fortunately the other kayaks were just moving on but I could see what they had been doing, throwing bits of fruit onto the beach to encourage the monkeys out and out they had come. There must have been 30 or so monkeys of all ages on the beach or in the surrounding trees and as we got closer the ones on the beach started to swim out towards us, and then board us until we had 5 or 6 sitting on various parts of the kayak. This made for some great photos and as long as we didn't try to grab one or stroke it, they would be quite happy drying off on board and floating down stream with us, how comfortable I was having a large monkey with testicles the size of melons sitting on my shoulder was another matter. Pretty soon the pack moved off through the trees, but we were able to follow them from the river and thats where we had our tv moment. Over one of the side rivers was a large tree branch which was probably 10 feet from the ground, but the monkeys were climbing to the end and leaping for the bank on the other side, some of them no bigger than my hand were flying through the air with varying degrees of success. These were the kind of images you see on Discovery or in National Geographic and hopefully some of the pictures we took will be ok, but it's funny how the simple things can make your trip and those couple of minutes had made it all worthwhile.

From the mangroves we rode on a motorbike side cage ( no side cars here, just cages) to the monkey school to see where they train monkeys to pick coconuts. I may not agree with the training monkeys and keeping them on leashes, but they were all well fed and looked happy as they picked nuts from trees and threw them at us. One little fella took a shine to me and for the next 15 minutes I had a baby monkey either sat in my hand or on my head, he went bananas (sorry!) every time I moved my hand up or down or span around, bouncing up and down with a huge grin on his face. Just as we were about to go he climbed inside my bag, probably in an escape attempt and had Bex seen him she would probably have taken him and left me instead! I know my place....

That evening we had the biggest and loudest thunderstorm I have ever seen and ear plugs only dulled the noise slightly. Bex was like a Mexican jumping bean next to me every time a crash of thunder hit the bungalow, but it was a fitting way to end our stay on Lanta.

Our thanks to Jens and Caroline for making the 5 nights relaxing and for assisting us with our questions and I hope Chilli ( the dog) gets better soon.