Ko Yao Noi
As I sit in an internet cafe back in Phuket Town I am reminded of many things about Thailand. The Thai are patient. There is a German woman here who is constantly complaining that she cannot find this key or that key and the young man and the young woman (Both Thai) have been over to help her many times with greater patience than I would ever have! There is a young man (her partner it seems) who came in a bit later and was talking the the young Thai man and asking him if it was OK if he took off his t-shirt when he did the internet as he had to show his tattoos on the web cam for some reason. The Thai are very tolerant (even beyond that.. but I don't have the word at the moment). There is a dog laying outside on the pavement by the door as dogs always are, and they never bark and are just part of every scene as I am here in this country. There are many pairs of shoes outside as is the custom here. And the young men in this internet place are playing their internet games. (Somethings are the same!)
I have dodged the traffic in town--Phuket has it big time! My hotel had the karoke bar right beneath my room so I was up until 1 in the morning waiting for the music to end (I have a new room tonight). Immigration has given me the paper that I needed after being here for three months (you have to check in)--the officer liked Americans ("they are nice"). He also liked cowboy movies and Clint Eastwood (me too.. and especially today!). So that is checked off!
It always seems so long ago when moving from one place to another... but let me start back in another busy place--Bangkok.
I was up at 3:30 in the morning, getting ready and knowing that one of the young women from the hotel was going to wake me up (a knock on the door--a wake up call at the White Lodge). By 4:15, I was out the door and on the way to the airport in light traffic with my speedy driver making my heart have more than a few "pauses". A croissant and a coffee later, I was at gate 3 and on the ground in Phuket by 8:30. It was a 20 minute ride to the Bang Rong Pier and there was a long tail boat loading up with about 10 passengers and 2 motorcyles (it was amazing to see these unloaded UP to a pier about 5 feet HIGHER than the edge of the boat!)
In an hour across choppy water, I was met with a small tuk tuk and off to my guesthouse. 
My bungalow is a wooden stilted building with "over the bed mosquito netting" which brings to my mind that I might have some visiting night creatures besides the inevitable mozzies--so earplugs by the bed. All afternoon, there was a strong wind off the bay, which was refreshing after the heat of my last two places. It was a relaxed afternoon, with a short bike ride down the road and a dinner at the guesthouse. There were three women who ran the place --grandma, mom and Sa, the fourteen year old daughter, and a young man who spoke some English.
Since I had nothing I had to do in the morning, I just made it a slow one. The first call to prayer for the island Muslims comes at 5 AM, and the sunrise is bringing on the day about 6, so needless to say I was awake if not up very early!
The young man asked me what I wanted to do... and I said that I wanted to see the island, but since a bike had not worked out (too short) and I was not going to rent a scooter, it seemed that the choice was by foot as he seemed to have no suggestions otherwise. I started on the 7 km walk down the coast to the south of the island. The road is sometimes red dirt, sometimes cement and sometimes a mix of both. The people who passed, mostly with a smile and a hello from their bikes or trucks, or from the porch on the hill or from the workers at the building site (2 new resorts are going up).
As I walked the island I went by a major building project for a new resort complete with corregated metal housing for all the workers and familes. It was a small city.
Along the road, a crew of men were creating the next segment of road by hand. It was getting smoothed out and then lines put in it for traction. Next along the way was the Ko Yao Island Resort, where for $240 a NIGHT you can stay at this beautiful place. Me--I had a pricey chocolate shake and enjoyed the view and the relax mid walking trip. The pool here is one of those that perfectly matches the edge of the sea as one looks out to the horizon. 
Rubber trees are growing in abundance here and the cups collect the dripping latex, the machines roll it out and slabs fill a truck and are taken to the pier to load on a boat to make all those latex gloves and condoms for the world. Making this is labor intensive. The grasses must be mowed and that is by weed wacker or maybe a mower. The trees must be cut and the latex gathered and rolled. Once back at my own bungalow-- a shower and a sit on the porch--the air was very still--so out with the bug spray. In the early evening there was thunder in the distance and that makes me long for thunderstorms like I remember as a kid--when I would sit on the big stone porch and count the seconds between thunder and lightning. The next day there was a group of Thai people that came. I met Rattana that afternoon. She spend several years in Ohio getting her degree, so she was happy to talk to someone who was from the US. She is a 38 year old woman and was visiting from Bangkok with a longtime friend and her three children from Phuket. They were going swimming and I was invited to go along. We all went on three motorbike.. I was on the one with Sa's sister-Mai. We were dropped at a sandy cove and swam for about a half an hour till Sa and Mai were back to pick us up. The sky looked quite threatening anyway, so it was time to get out. As we rode back it POURED!! and continued to rain into the evening. As the next day we were to go on a three island boat trip, I was hoping it would be sunny in the morning. It was.
At breakfast the next morning, I sat with Rattana and friends and another man sat down with us and introduced himself--"Mut (prounounced 'moot'). He was the owner of the guesthouse and wanted to know how I found out about the guesthouse (it is usually one of two things.. Lonely Planet or another traveler). He splits his time between his kayak business on Phuket and Ko Yao and talked about the problem of over touristy Phuket and how Ko Yao is trying not to do that.
We left on the long tail boat at 9 and were out at our first island in about a half an hour. Each of
the islands were uninhabited (though don't let that make you think they were unFOUND!! as there were a fair number of tourist boats in and out of each place). Probably the most beautiful place was almost completely enclosed by tall limestone cliffs with pool that you could touch 
bottom in to swim. They had to be back to leave in the early, so we were back by 1:00and they were off by 2:00. The afternoon was a quiet one.. with more rain, but not as hard. As I watched the tide ebb out, I thought about packing up the next day and leaving on the ferry boat... or maybe staying another day.
I have dodged the traffic in town--Phuket has it big time! My hotel had the karoke bar right beneath my room so I was up until 1 in the morning waiting for the music to end (I have a new room tonight). Immigration has given me the paper that I needed after being here for three months (you have to check in)--the officer liked Americans ("they are nice"). He also liked cowboy movies and Clint Eastwood (me too.. and especially today!). So that is checked off!
It always seems so long ago when moving from one place to another... but let me start back in another busy place--Bangkok.
I was up at 3:30 in the morning, getting ready and knowing that one of the young women from the hotel was going to wake me up (a knock on the door--a wake up call at the White Lodge). By 4:15, I was out the door and on the way to the airport in light traffic with my speedy driver making my heart have more than a few "pauses". A croissant and a coffee later, I was at gate 3 and on the ground in Phuket by 8:30. It was a 20 minute ride to the Bang Rong Pier and there was a long tail boat loading up with about 10 passengers and 2 motorcyles (it was amazing to see these unloaded UP to a pier about 5 feet HIGHER than the edge of the boat!)
In an hour across choppy water, I was met with a small tuk tuk and off to my guesthouse. 
My bungalow is a wooden stilted building with "over the bed mosquito netting" which brings to my mind that I might have some visiting night creatures besides the inevitable mozzies--so earplugs by the bed. All afternoon, there was a strong wind off the bay, which was refreshing after the heat of my last two places. It was a relaxed afternoon, with a short bike ride down the road and a dinner at the guesthouse. There were three women who ran the place --grandma, mom and Sa, the fourteen year old daughter, and a young man who spoke some English.
Since I had nothing I had to do in the morning, I just made it a slow one. The first call to prayer for the island Muslims comes at 5 AM, and the sunrise is bringing on the day about 6, so needless to say I was awake if not up very early!The young man asked me what I wanted to do... and I said that I wanted to see the island, but since a bike had not worked out (too short) and I was not going to rent a scooter, it seemed that the choice was by foot as he seemed to have no suggestions otherwise. I started on the 7 km walk down the coast to the south of the island. The road is sometimes red dirt, sometimes cement and sometimes a mix of both. The people who passed, mostly with a smile and a hello from their bikes or trucks, or from the porch on the hill or from the workers at the building site (2 new resorts are going up).
As I walked the island I went by a major building project for a new resort complete with corregated metal housing for all the workers and familes. It was a small city.
Along the road, a crew of men were creating the next segment of road by hand. It was getting smoothed out and then lines put in it for traction. Next along the way was the Ko Yao Island Resort, where for $240 a NIGHT you can stay at this beautiful place. Me--I had a pricey chocolate shake and enjoyed the view and the relax mid walking trip. The pool here is one of those that perfectly matches the edge of the sea as one looks out to the horizon. 
Rubber trees are growing in abundance here and the cups collect the dripping latex, the machines roll it out and slabs fill a truck and are taken to the pier to load on a boat to make all those latex gloves and condoms for the world. Making this is labor intensive. The grasses must be mowed and that is by weed wacker or maybe a mower. The trees must be cut and the latex gathered and rolled. Once back at my own bungalow-- a shower and a sit on the porch--the air was very still--so out with the bug spray. In the early evening there was thunder in the distance and that makes me long for thunderstorms like I remember as a kid--when I would sit on the big stone porch and count the seconds between thunder and lightning. The next day there was a group of Thai people that came. I met Rattana that afternoon. She spend several years in Ohio getting her degree, so she was happy to talk to someone who was from the US. She is a 38 year old woman and was visiting from Bangkok with a longtime friend and her three children from Phuket. They were going swimming and I was invited to go along. We all went on three motorbike.. I was on the one with Sa's sister-Mai. We were dropped at a sandy cove and swam for about a half an hour till Sa and Mai were back to pick us up. The sky looked quite threatening anyway, so it was time to get out. As we rode back it POURED!! and continued to rain into the evening. As the next day we were to go on a three island boat trip, I was hoping it would be sunny in the morning. It was.At breakfast the next morning, I sat with Rattana and friends and another man sat down with us and introduced himself--"Mut (prounounced 'moot'). He was the owner of the guesthouse and wanted to know how I found out about the guesthouse (it is usually one of two things.. Lonely Planet or another traveler). He splits his time between his kayak business on Phuket and Ko Yao and talked about the problem of over touristy Phuket and how Ko Yao is trying not to do that.
We left on the long tail boat at 9 and were out at our first island in about a half an hour. Each of the islands were uninhabited (though don't let that make you think they were unFOUND!! as there were a fair number of tourist boats in and out of each place). Probably the most beautiful place was almost completely enclosed by tall limestone cliffs with pool that you could touch 
bottom in to swim. They had to be back to leave in the early, so we were back by 1:00and they were off by 2:00. The afternoon was a quiet one.. with more rain, but not as hard. As I watched the tide ebb out, I thought about packing up the next day and leaving on the ferry boat... or maybe staying another day.
posted by Tracy at
5:41 PM
