November 9, 2011
A good day in Karabi. I took a long walk around the city this morning. I wondered into the large public market and took in the sights and smells of row after row of seafood, produce, and prepared foods. I took it all in and tried to look like I had a purpose, though being the only franang in the market comes with its fair amount of confidence sucking glances. But I truly enjoyed wondering and watching people buy their daily food. I retreated back to the tourist district and had a tall ice coffee and dove into a book. Then I went to a travel agent and booked a ferry and accommodations on Koh jum for tomorrow. I'm off to a much less developed island to do some reading, writing, and off the grid disappearing. I love yo u all, but I'm ready for a technology lapse.
In the afternoon I went to the beach with a German women who was also traveling alone. We took the public bus, which is a pickup truck converted to carry passengers to Au Nang about 20 min away. After a lunch of spicy tuna salad we spent a few hours in the sun and waves before coming back to regroup. This evening we went the night market by the pier where street venders with translated menus cook Thai meals on the street. I had braised pork over morning glory greens. Healthy and delicious washed down with a cold beer. We did a little more wondering and did one last sweep through the holiday market. A good day of planning and activity. Tomorrow I'm off to a beach and peace. I will update when I find some Internet. All is well and I'm having a fantastic time.
Amanda Mar
Krabi Town, Thailand
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Karabi Town
November 8, 2011
I took the long tail from Railey back to Krabi and checked into a much better guesthouse in Krabi town. Most travelers don't spend much time here, but this clean little town has grown on me. It is a nice introduction to the Thailand beyond the tourist beaches. I've enjoyed urban hiking taking in the street stalls, markets, food, fish, and traffic. Everyone I have encountered have been so helpful and honest I can understand why they call this place the land of smiles. I went back to the vegetarian restaurant and got another giant plate of rice and vegetables for under a dollar. I did a few more errands, bought a hammock, changed some money, and bought some toiletries at the expensive western pharmacy. Then I had my first traditional Thai message. Amazing and cheap and how the body should feel. Then I went back to the Special market and ate spicy BBQ chicken, noodles, and fresh banana bread. I'm resisting the urge to do it all right now, the beauty of solo travel is the pace. I'm enjoying just taking time to wonder, write, people watch, sleep, and let my stuff explode in my gust room. Personal space both physical and emotional is a beautiful thing and the point of this sabbatical.
Smiles,
Amanda Mar
Karabi town, Thailand
I took the long tail from Railey back to Krabi and checked into a much better guesthouse in Krabi town. Most travelers don't spend much time here, but this clean little town has grown on me. It is a nice introduction to the Thailand beyond the tourist beaches. I've enjoyed urban hiking taking in the street stalls, markets, food, fish, and traffic. Everyone I have encountered have been so helpful and honest I can understand why they call this place the land of smiles. I went back to the vegetarian restaurant and got another giant plate of rice and vegetables for under a dollar. I did a few more errands, bought a hammock, changed some money, and bought some toiletries at the expensive western pharmacy. Then I had my first traditional Thai message. Amazing and cheap and how the body should feel. Then I went back to the Special market and ate spicy BBQ chicken, noodles, and fresh banana bread. I'm resisting the urge to do it all right now, the beauty of solo travel is the pace. I'm enjoying just taking time to wonder, write, people watch, sleep, and let my stuff explode in my gust room. Personal space both physical and emotional is a beautiful thing and the point of this sabbatical.
Smiles,
Amanda Mar
Karabi town, Thailand
Railey, Thailand
November 6, 2011
I started the day with a delicious coffee and fruit breakfast (the Thais thanks to the French) have perfected the art of coffee. From sweet Thai ice coffees and teas to the perfect cappuccino coffee is everywhere here. I caught a long tail from the pier at Krabi to the peninsula of Railey. Long tails are the local water taxies. The planked wooden short keeled boats rock back and forth with every weight change or boat wake. They are named for their odd outboard engine configuration. A dry exhaust outboard with out a housing is attached to a 6-10 foot shaft with a propellor at the end. The shaft shoots aft and the propellor is only a few inches under water. This allows the driver to menuver in shallow water and to make sharp turned by pulling the shaft out of the water and placing it left or right to move the bow. The 40 minuet ride along the mangroves was beautiful, but constantly disrupted by floating trash and the traces of humans. We arrived at the beach at low tide so I had to wade in shin deep water with my backpack strapped to my back. I am thankful again for choosing such a small bag.
I chose a basic bungalow set on a hillside surrounded by high limestone cliffs. The rooms were nicer at the guesthouse next door, but the character and front porch of the bamboo thatched huts is better. You can hear monkeys in the background and as cocktail hour begins the staff are lighting campfires and playing dub reggae. Thankfully it is still shoulder season and there isn't much of a draw tonight.
After waking up at 3 last night I decided to tire myself out to beat the jet lag. I spent two hours kayaking around cliffs and escaping the hordes of beach goers in a water logged double kayak. 10 dollars well spent for the views, solitude, and promise of sleep. Some pictures of the cliffs and my bungalow for you....
Riley is too crowded and too tourist centric for me. There are plenty of young people ready to party, but the result is a slightly dirty and disheveled bit of paradise. So many sunburt white bodies everywhere. Unless it charms me this evening I think I'll spend one more night here and head back to Karabi to book a boat to a much less developed island. I'm planning a sunrise hike to Pra Nang cove to beat the hordes.
Smiles,
Amanda Mar
Railay Beach East, Thailand
November 7, 2011
I woke up to roasters crowing around 5:30. After falling asleep quickly and early after dinner my body was wide awake and ready to explore before most of the beach awoke from their holiday commas. I walked to Pra Nang cove where I kayaked yesterday. I shared the beach with one other tourist and a man hauling away yesterdays loads of plastic water bottles. In the quiet of early morning before the first long tail engines broke the silence this spit of calm gave herself to me. The towering and intricate limestone cliffs shoot out of the sea towards the sky. The water is clear and becalmed at day break like so many bodies of water I have witnessed before. I took a nice swim along the rock cliffs which reveal lots of caves and coves to explore. In the distance islands with similar jetting rock cliffs appear as ghosts on the horizon. There is reason to worry about the sustainability of this place and it's easy to fantasize about what it was like before eroding concrete pathways, speed boats, and the high end resort which attempts to dominate the beach. A story told over and over again of warm places along the sea. People, plastic, development make me feel a great sense of loss. In a few short days in Thailand I'm beginning to consider what kind of traveler I am and how that will alter my path during these next days. I will keep reminding myself of my bias and to stop judging. Even in simple holiday beach paradise I am thinking constantly. The good news is two nights in a thatched aluminum roofed bungalow and my pace and priorities are slowing down to an appropriate chill.
This afternoon I hiked to Ton Si, the much more laid back backpacker rock climbing side of the island. The hike was short and steep. There were monkeys in the tres and bobby trapped communication
wires across the trail. Ton Si is thick with bungalows, low laying lounges, and hippie beach side bars. I had a late lunch of shrimp curry and a tall beer beach side and people watchers. Rock climbers lead climb on the beach, blinding hippie toddlers play in the sand and a old man with a guitar plays to the see. Long tail engines give the place a rhythm and young people create a slow pace of life. But still I'm choosing not to linger here. Tomorrow I'm going to take another early morning swim and catch a long tail back to Karabi for a day to regroup and book a boat to Ko Jam. Ko jam is a quiet and underdeveloped fishing island with a handful of bungalows. I think for now I want to disappear ago write, hike, swim and enjoy some solitude.
I started the day with a delicious coffee and fruit breakfast (the Thais thanks to the French) have perfected the art of coffee. From sweet Thai ice coffees and teas to the perfect cappuccino coffee is everywhere here. I caught a long tail from the pier at Krabi to the peninsula of Railey. Long tails are the local water taxies. The planked wooden short keeled boats rock back and forth with every weight change or boat wake. They are named for their odd outboard engine configuration. A dry exhaust outboard with out a housing is attached to a 6-10 foot shaft with a propellor at the end. The shaft shoots aft and the propellor is only a few inches under water. This allows the driver to menuver in shallow water and to make sharp turned by pulling the shaft out of the water and placing it left or right to move the bow. The 40 minuet ride along the mangroves was beautiful, but constantly disrupted by floating trash and the traces of humans. We arrived at the beach at low tide so I had to wade in shin deep water with my backpack strapped to my back. I am thankful again for choosing such a small bag.
I chose a basic bungalow set on a hillside surrounded by high limestone cliffs. The rooms were nicer at the guesthouse next door, but the character and front porch of the bamboo thatched huts is better. You can hear monkeys in the background and as cocktail hour begins the staff are lighting campfires and playing dub reggae. Thankfully it is still shoulder season and there isn't much of a draw tonight.
After waking up at 3 last night I decided to tire myself out to beat the jet lag. I spent two hours kayaking around cliffs and escaping the hordes of beach goers in a water logged double kayak. 10 dollars well spent for the views, solitude, and promise of sleep. Some pictures of the cliffs and my bungalow for you....
Riley is too crowded and too tourist centric for me. There are plenty of young people ready to party, but the result is a slightly dirty and disheveled bit of paradise. So many sunburt white bodies everywhere. Unless it charms me this evening I think I'll spend one more night here and head back to Karabi to book a boat to a much less developed island. I'm planning a sunrise hike to Pra Nang cove to beat the hordes.
Smiles,
Amanda Mar
Railay Beach East, Thailand
November 7, 2011
I woke up to roasters crowing around 5:30. After falling asleep quickly and early after dinner my body was wide awake and ready to explore before most of the beach awoke from their holiday commas. I walked to Pra Nang cove where I kayaked yesterday. I shared the beach with one other tourist and a man hauling away yesterdays loads of plastic water bottles. In the quiet of early morning before the first long tail engines broke the silence this spit of calm gave herself to me. The towering and intricate limestone cliffs shoot out of the sea towards the sky. The water is clear and becalmed at day break like so many bodies of water I have witnessed before. I took a nice swim along the rock cliffs which reveal lots of caves and coves to explore. In the distance islands with similar jetting rock cliffs appear as ghosts on the horizon. There is reason to worry about the sustainability of this place and it's easy to fantasize about what it was like before eroding concrete pathways, speed boats, and the high end resort which attempts to dominate the beach. A story told over and over again of warm places along the sea. People, plastic, development make me feel a great sense of loss. In a few short days in Thailand I'm beginning to consider what kind of traveler I am and how that will alter my path during these next days. I will keep reminding myself of my bias and to stop judging. Even in simple holiday beach paradise I am thinking constantly. The good news is two nights in a thatched aluminum roofed bungalow and my pace and priorities are slowing down to an appropriate chill.
This afternoon I hiked to Ton Si, the much more laid back backpacker rock climbing side of the island. The hike was short and steep. There were monkeys in the tres and bobby trapped communication
wires across the trail. Ton Si is thick with bungalows, low laying lounges, and hippie beach side bars. I had a late lunch of shrimp curry and a tall beer beach side and people watchers. Rock climbers lead climb on the beach, blinding hippie toddlers play in the sand and a old man with a guitar plays to the see. Long tail engines give the place a rhythm and young people create a slow pace of life. But still I'm choosing not to linger here. Tomorrow I'm going to take another early morning swim and catch a long tail back to Karabi for a day to regroup and book a boat to Ko Jam. Ko jam is a quiet and underdeveloped fishing island with a handful of bungalows. I think for now I want to disappear ago write, hike, swim and enjoy some solitude.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
In Karabi
november 5, 2011
Day two in Thailand. Im feeling at ease and settled after two days in Karabi sleeping and wondering. The act of traveling is much easier then I anticipated. In the tourist center so many people speak english and the goods and services to help you move from one place to another are endless. I walked around town today with a women I met on my flight from Bangkok who has been to Karabi many times. She took me to a delicious vegetarian lunch for under a dollar. We walked along the estuary and though a pathway in some mangroves. The water is brown and muddy from the rainy season. We spotted monkeys fishing for crab under the mangroves. This afternoon I sat in a cafe and sipped sweet Thai ice coffee and thought about my next steps and wrote in my journal. This evening we went to a night market in town for a week on account of a holiday I didn't catch the name of. With its mixed religious background and social lifestyle Holidays spot the calendar. Families, couples, and groups of friends flood the street stalls selling all varieties of food, trinkets, and clothing. I ate a grilled squid on a stick whose center offered a surprising yet tasty texture. Then I got a egg battered pancake filled with mussels and dipped in sweet chili sauce, delicious and filling. Socializing and shopping appear to be a huge part of the everyday Thai experience. The streets of the special market were full, but just around the corner was the regular weekend market with more people shopping, eating, drinking, and listening to a sequined dancing singer belt out pop songs over an electronic beat. The weekend market collided with the nightly fruit market where we bought a pampino (oversized sweet grapefruit).
My two days in Karabi town were an easy introduction filled with sleep and small excursions. Tomorrow morning I am taking a longtail boat to Railay beach. It is a tourist peninsula only accessible by water known for its stellar limestone rock climbing cliffs. I'm excited to be in a hill side bungalow with a beach within walking distance. Over all its been a good first two days in Thailand and I'm ready for lots more.
Amanda Mar
Krabi Town, Thailand
Day two in Thailand. Im feeling at ease and settled after two days in Karabi sleeping and wondering. The act of traveling is much easier then I anticipated. In the tourist center so many people speak english and the goods and services to help you move from one place to another are endless. I walked around town today with a women I met on my flight from Bangkok who has been to Karabi many times. She took me to a delicious vegetarian lunch for under a dollar. We walked along the estuary and though a pathway in some mangroves. The water is brown and muddy from the rainy season. We spotted monkeys fishing for crab under the mangroves. This afternoon I sat in a cafe and sipped sweet Thai ice coffee and thought about my next steps and wrote in my journal. This evening we went to a night market in town for a week on account of a holiday I didn't catch the name of. With its mixed religious background and social lifestyle Holidays spot the calendar. Families, couples, and groups of friends flood the street stalls selling all varieties of food, trinkets, and clothing. I ate a grilled squid on a stick whose center offered a surprising yet tasty texture. Then I got a egg battered pancake filled with mussels and dipped in sweet chili sauce, delicious and filling. Socializing and shopping appear to be a huge part of the everyday Thai experience. The streets of the special market were full, but just around the corner was the regular weekend market with more people shopping, eating, drinking, and listening to a sequined dancing singer belt out pop songs over an electronic beat. The weekend market collided with the nightly fruit market where we bought a pampino (oversized sweet grapefruit).
My two days in Karabi town were an easy introduction filled with sleep and small excursions. Tomorrow morning I am taking a longtail boat to Railay beach. It is a tourist peninsula only accessible by water known for its stellar limestone rock climbing cliffs. I'm excited to be in a hill side bungalow with a beach within walking distance. Over all its been a good first two days in Thailand and I'm ready for lots more.
Amanda Mar
Krabi Town, Thailand
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