Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Leaving The Tourist Trap
The 23rd of January saw us getting up and out pretty late. Francesca wasn’t feeling fantastic, so we didn’t get out until 5:00 PM. We had seen flyers and posters for the ‘Phuket Local Food Festival’ around town for a few days already and, me being a foreign food aficionado, I wanted to go there. Apparently, it was a little ways outside of the center of Phuket, so we walked for about half an hour before getting to the entrance of the festival. The food stalls were neatly lined up, most of them with a translation of the unknown food they were selling available. We tried some local fried snacks covered in coconut, and found that the sugar was the only thing making it taste good. I was feeling a little hungrier than Francesca so I also tried the Phuket Rice Salad. It was extremely spicy and I needed a bottle of water to wash it down. It did taste pretty good though!
As we walked down the rows of stalls, Francesca and I spotted a large stage on the terrain: there would be performances later that evening. In the meantime I was feeling a little thirsty still and a kind man offered his cashew apple juice – apple juice and cashew syrup mixed with soda water. I didn’t expect it to taste fantastic, but it actually wasn’t half bad. We also got to try some beans that looked like fruit, and tasted like neither. By then Francesca was feeling really bad and I took her home, making sure she didn’t have to walk. After picking up some food, we had a taxi drop us off at the guest house and that was it for the day.
The 24th was a continuation of the previous day: Francesca was a little sick and so we stayed in. We had a tour booked for the following day and did not want to risk her getting more sick by doing things. Instead, we watched movies and series on the laptop. Thank god we brought that apparatus!
Lo! And behold: the next day Francesca was indeed feeling a lot better. We were picked up early in the morning for the tour to Ko Phang Nga – better known as James Bond Island. Our first stop was a cave we had seen before – but only in the movies. Remember when Nicolas Cage escapes to the countryside with his girlfriend in ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ he enters a temple/cave with a large Reclining Buddha? That’s the one we went to see. Not as large as the one in Bangkok, but you can’t have it all! The official name of the temple is ‘Wat Suwan Kuha.’ The main pull of the cave is the 15 meter long Reclining Buddha, but the ‘light cave’ and ‘dark cave’ behind it were also pretty neat. It reminded us a little of a much smaller version of the ‘Batu Caves.’
When we got to the ‘light cave’ we saw it was in fact an open cave, and the light fell on a sitting figure. The ‘dark cave’ was to the left of us and looked much bigger. The ceiling was entirely covered in bats, giving it an eerie feel. I climbed up some ‘stairs’ cut out in the limestone to a small vantage point. The view was not extremely impressive, so I carefully made my way down with my flip-flops slipping on the dust-covered stone. I took a few more pictures and Francesca and I went outside. Here we were greeted by a group of macaques, which was just coming down to snack. We went back to the bus, leaving the monkeys behind and left for the harbor, where our boat was waiting.
We got our life-vests and jumped in the large long-tail boat. We immediately saw the stunning nature around us, and knew today was going to be good for this reason alone. We got to spend a good 40 minutes on the water, looking and marveling at the amazing rock formations that seemed to have shot out of the water. All covered in plants and trees, the little islands looked wonderfully pristine. Phang Nga much less so: once we got there we joined a large group of tourists in their exploration of the tiny island. Combined with the abundance of stalls with cheap Chinese souvenirs it made this stop a little less fun than it could have been. For those that haven’t seen/don’t remember: “James Bond Island, known originally and locally as Ko Tapu or Nail Island, found fame through the 1974 Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun". The film starred Roger Moore and Christopher Lee (as the three nippled arch-villain Scaramanga) but it was the scenic topography that helped make the film into a firm Bond favorite.”
Indeed, the ‘scenic topography’ was nice, so Francesca and I decided to walk around the island. We took the mandatory shots of the ‘nail’ that made the island so famous, and had to work hard not to get any other tourists in the shots. We did manage to get some people to take pictures of us. I climbed a little ahead of Francesca and had a look at the other side of the island. Here too were many tourists and just another little bay, so I turned around and we went back towards the boat. A few more pictures later we hopped back onboard our vessel and returned to admiring the view.
As we passed more little islands we also spotted a long string of kayaking people. The benefit of kayaking is the ability to enter little caves along the way. When we realized our guide was taking the boat right through a large cave we couldn’t help but smile. No physical labor, same views! Francesca took the camera as we continued towards lunch in a Moken (sea gypsy) village. The whole of it is built out over water on stilts and has a giant rock monolith guarding its rear. The village has its own school, a mosque, a health center, lots of small souvenir shops and a handful of large restaurants, one of which we entered to have a sumptuous lunch. The buffet was one of the better ones we’ve seen and filled us up good.
We got some time after lunch to explore Panyi and did so. I got Francesca a little bracelet with a stone heart. The little pathways first led us through the army of souvenir stalls, but finally rewarded us with a view of the village proper. We saw the stilts under the houses, the garbage under the houses and the laundry hanging outside to dry. We peeked into the mosque and found a broken toy soldier. The pearl farms were right in front of the first houses. It was nice to see one of the villagers pointing us in the right direction and for a second we felt like the only two tourists around. Unfortunately our dream was rudely ended by more souvenirs and thus more tourists… We had to get back on the boat and so we said goodbye to the sea gypsies.
The boat trip had to end and so our guide took us back to the little harbor for the final mandatory part of our tour. We got to enjoy the scenery for another 20 minutes or so, handed back our life vests, were offered some cheesy souvenir plates, declined the offer and got back in the minivan. The first stop on the way back to Phuket was a ‘Cashew Factory.’ We got to try a wide variety of cashew products, as well as other some fruits. We got some roasted cashew nuts with salt, with chilies, some coated with white sesame seeds, and others with honey. The samples were delicious and Francesca and I kept going around trying more and more. We also found out that the factory was the home of ‘Cashewy,’ the same cashew apple juice I had tried before. We sampled some with soda water, and found that one very tasty. Francesca wanted to get some cans, but as we opened one, we discovered it had been mixed with regular water and didn’t taste as spectacular.
The final stop for the day was the ‘Phuket Gems Gallery,’ where we watched a little introduction video of jewelry we can’t afford right now. The video was followed by some free time in the factory itself, where we saw a large group of men working on rings, necklaces and other valuable trinkets. We also looked around at the marvelous collection of gems and jewelry inside the store. Almost every tour company takes you to place like this, hoping you’ll buy something so they get a fat commission. We walked around for a while and spent some time talking to a hilarious gay Thai man, who was completely ‘in love’ with the States. He said he was the first one in town with a Chevy, and proudly showed his keys. The best part was that he wasn’t even trying to sell us jewelry – he was too busy hearing himself talk. Eventually we managed to say goodbye to him and headed back to Phuket. The tour had been a success, even though it had been quite touristy. The nature and the sea gypsy village had made up for it. Satisfied with our day we went to bed.
The 26th was our last day in Phuket, so we took it easy and packed our bags during the day. We went for an early dinner at a little restaurant just down the street. Francesca enjoyed a delicious strawberry smoothie, before going back to our guesthouse for one last night in Phuket. The next day we got a taxi, went to the airport and flew off to newer and better places.
As we walked down the rows of stalls, Francesca and I spotted a large stage on the terrain: there would be performances later that evening. In the meantime I was feeling a little thirsty still and a kind man offered his cashew apple juice – apple juice and cashew syrup mixed with soda water. I didn’t expect it to taste fantastic, but it actually wasn’t half bad. We also got to try some beans that looked like fruit, and tasted like neither. By then Francesca was feeling really bad and I took her home, making sure she didn’t have to walk. After picking up some food, we had a taxi drop us off at the guest house and that was it for the day.
The 24th was a continuation of the previous day: Francesca was a little sick and so we stayed in. We had a tour booked for the following day and did not want to risk her getting more sick by doing things. Instead, we watched movies and series on the laptop. Thank god we brought that apparatus!
Lo! And behold: the next day Francesca was indeed feeling a lot better. We were picked up early in the morning for the tour to Ko Phang Nga – better known as James Bond Island. Our first stop was a cave we had seen before – but only in the movies. Remember when Nicolas Cage escapes to the countryside with his girlfriend in ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ he enters a temple/cave with a large Reclining Buddha? That’s the one we went to see. Not as large as the one in Bangkok, but you can’t have it all! The official name of the temple is ‘Wat Suwan Kuha.’ The main pull of the cave is the 15 meter long Reclining Buddha, but the ‘light cave’ and ‘dark cave’ behind it were also pretty neat. It reminded us a little of a much smaller version of the ‘Batu Caves.’
When we got to the ‘light cave’ we saw it was in fact an open cave, and the light fell on a sitting figure. The ‘dark cave’ was to the left of us and looked much bigger. The ceiling was entirely covered in bats, giving it an eerie feel. I climbed up some ‘stairs’ cut out in the limestone to a small vantage point. The view was not extremely impressive, so I carefully made my way down with my flip-flops slipping on the dust-covered stone. I took a few more pictures and Francesca and I went outside. Here we were greeted by a group of macaques, which was just coming down to snack. We went back to the bus, leaving the monkeys behind and left for the harbor, where our boat was waiting.
We got our life-vests and jumped in the large long-tail boat. We immediately saw the stunning nature around us, and knew today was going to be good for this reason alone. We got to spend a good 40 minutes on the water, looking and marveling at the amazing rock formations that seemed to have shot out of the water. All covered in plants and trees, the little islands looked wonderfully pristine. Phang Nga much less so: once we got there we joined a large group of tourists in their exploration of the tiny island. Combined with the abundance of stalls with cheap Chinese souvenirs it made this stop a little less fun than it could have been. For those that haven’t seen/don’t remember: “James Bond Island, known originally and locally as Ko Tapu or Nail Island, found fame through the 1974 Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun". The film starred Roger Moore and Christopher Lee (as the three nippled arch-villain Scaramanga) but it was the scenic topography that helped make the film into a firm Bond favorite.”
Indeed, the ‘scenic topography’ was nice, so Francesca and I decided to walk around the island. We took the mandatory shots of the ‘nail’ that made the island so famous, and had to work hard not to get any other tourists in the shots. We did manage to get some people to take pictures of us. I climbed a little ahead of Francesca and had a look at the other side of the island. Here too were many tourists and just another little bay, so I turned around and we went back towards the boat. A few more pictures later we hopped back onboard our vessel and returned to admiring the view.
As we passed more little islands we also spotted a long string of kayaking people. The benefit of kayaking is the ability to enter little caves along the way. When we realized our guide was taking the boat right through a large cave we couldn’t help but smile. No physical labor, same views! Francesca took the camera as we continued towards lunch in a Moken (sea gypsy) village. The whole of it is built out over water on stilts and has a giant rock monolith guarding its rear. The village has its own school, a mosque, a health center, lots of small souvenir shops and a handful of large restaurants, one of which we entered to have a sumptuous lunch. The buffet was one of the better ones we’ve seen and filled us up good.
We got some time after lunch to explore Panyi and did so. I got Francesca a little bracelet with a stone heart. The little pathways first led us through the army of souvenir stalls, but finally rewarded us with a view of the village proper. We saw the stilts under the houses, the garbage under the houses and the laundry hanging outside to dry. We peeked into the mosque and found a broken toy soldier. The pearl farms were right in front of the first houses. It was nice to see one of the villagers pointing us in the right direction and for a second we felt like the only two tourists around. Unfortunately our dream was rudely ended by more souvenirs and thus more tourists… We had to get back on the boat and so we said goodbye to the sea gypsies.
The boat trip had to end and so our guide took us back to the little harbor for the final mandatory part of our tour. We got to enjoy the scenery for another 20 minutes or so, handed back our life vests, were offered some cheesy souvenir plates, declined the offer and got back in the minivan. The first stop on the way back to Phuket was a ‘Cashew Factory.’ We got to try a wide variety of cashew products, as well as other some fruits. We got some roasted cashew nuts with salt, with chilies, some coated with white sesame seeds, and others with honey. The samples were delicious and Francesca and I kept going around trying more and more. We also found out that the factory was the home of ‘Cashewy,’ the same cashew apple juice I had tried before. We sampled some with soda water, and found that one very tasty. Francesca wanted to get some cans, but as we opened one, we discovered it had been mixed with regular water and didn’t taste as spectacular.
The final stop for the day was the ‘Phuket Gems Gallery,’ where we watched a little introduction video of jewelry we can’t afford right now. The video was followed by some free time in the factory itself, where we saw a large group of men working on rings, necklaces and other valuable trinkets. We also looked around at the marvelous collection of gems and jewelry inside the store. Almost every tour company takes you to place like this, hoping you’ll buy something so they get a fat commission. We walked around for a while and spent some time talking to a hilarious gay Thai man, who was completely ‘in love’ with the States. He said he was the first one in town with a Chevy, and proudly showed his keys. The best part was that he wasn’t even trying to sell us jewelry – he was too busy hearing himself talk. Eventually we managed to say goodbye to him and headed back to Phuket. The tour had been a success, even though it had been quite touristy. The nature and the sea gypsy village had made up for it. Satisfied with our day we went to bed.
The 26th was our last day in Phuket, so we took it easy and packed our bags during the day. We went for an early dinner at a little restaurant just down the street. Francesca enjoyed a delicious strawberry smoothie, before going back to our guesthouse for one last night in Phuket. The next day we got a taxi, went to the airport and flew off to newer and better places.
