My last entry was pretty pathetic....I realized after I signed out that I spent more time talking about my sickness than the snorkel trip. Mom did a much better job, so here are her words about the trip. And yes, she was the "snorkel star" (or snorkel nazi....depends on your perspective) of the group. First in the water, and last out. And her and dad were the only two to jump in late at night and experience the phosporesence....mom first, then after lots of convincing dad followed. Here is what mom had to say:
Our snorkeling trip was fun. The crew guide, Marcus, Swedish, was cute and very likeable. His accent and cute use of English phrases such as, "Yes, it is possible to swim to the beach" and "So...yes, we swim and it will be very beautiful." He did the unthinkable, he left two of us (out of 16 passengers) at a snorkeling spot and had the boat drive away. We were all pigging out at lunch when one of the passengers mentioned, "Where is the Dutch couple?" and Marcus jumped up and had the captain turn the boat around; the captain didn't believe he had to turn around. (There is a little communication difficulty between them). The couple were waving from a rock when we returned to the island. All was ok, they were the strongest swimmers of the bunch but they did remark that it seemed to take a long time for us to realize they were not at the lunch table. We even noticed two plates not being used but guessed they were still below deck. Anyway, they'll have a great story to tell.
The coral was beautiful, many,many fish, a turtle that let us follow him for quite a while, a moray eel and sea snakes. We visited an island manned by the navy on which they are raising baby turtles (they take the eggs from the nests and raise them for a few months and then release) That seems to be a good use for navy guys if you ask me. We slept below deck and surprisingly slept well. All that salt water activity. Marcus was impressed with my swimming, being the oldest gal on board. We were dropped from the dingy too far and Em and I had to swim back to see the great sea fans that he told us about. There were cute corals or urchins that closed up fast when Marcus dove down. When they closed, they changed from blue to white and he called it a Christmas tree. There was a beautiful garden of coral, all blues and greens. We had a Thai cook that had to work in a tiny space crouching down, cooking hot delicious meals for 16 people. We had traditional Thai lunches and dinners and American egg breakfasts, lots of pineapple and watermelons, bananas. We ate everything! My Dramamine worked like a charm except one morning I kept sleeping and no one woke me for breakfast. When I said why didn't anyone save me any, Keith said "That is not possible...."
Poseidon Resort is run by Swedes and they were not overly friendly or helpful. We checked out the area north of our resort but were disappointed that it was too touristy. Em and I got another massage;
it was great. The whole area was devastated by the tsunami but is recovering quickly, altho Marcus says the money is being used to build way too many houses. He wonders what work there will be for the
people. He wishes the money could be used for education, especially on environmental areas. He says they are building lots of fishing boats but the fish are being overcaught already. So much money pouring in.
One of the Europeans on board noticed on a website that they asked people to stop donating money. Interesting. Why couldn't they bank some of it for future use.
We spent the last two days in a small town called Phang Nga, or as we came to call it, Stinky Town. Not a great place. Most people pass through, or use it as a base to explore more of those karsts from boats, the most famous one being the James Bond Island - the island where 'Man With a Golden Gun' was filmed. We ended up not doing the tour boat as the place is overrun with daytrippers from Phuket, and we had seen plenty of that already. So instead we rented motorbikes again and cruised around the outlying areas around Phang Nga, visiting some very lovely parks and back roads.
We left Phang Nga early yesterday morning, and spent the day on 'Airport Beach', a lovely and perfect swimming beach about 5 km from the Phuket airport. We wanted one more dip in a Thailand ocean, and did not want to bide our time in Phang Nga waiting for our evening flight to Bangkok. It was a nice, relaxing day where all of the transport went incredibly smoothly (it's amazing how having a good transport experience can affect your mood). And then we flew into Bangkok very late, and took a taxi straight to a hotel where we had rooms waiting for us.
Today we went out and saw Bangkok. And later after getting back to the room after visiting huge reclining buddhas, and emerald buddhas and Grand Palaces and the skinny crowded markets of China Town, I go to check in on my folks, and find my dad curled up in the fetal position staring at the wall. OK, so he was joking, but he did not enjoy those crowded streets one bit. I don't think home as ever looked so good to him! We are not even trying to attempt public transport here. There are taxis everywhere, and taking a taxi is refreshingly cheap and easy (as long as you can communicate where it is you want to go). It's a big and dirty city, with all modes of transport either driving at breakneck speed or not moving at all. It's dirty in a heavily air pollutioned way, but surprisingly little rubbish on the ground. An interesting place, but you definitely have to be mentally prepared for the bombardment of noise and activity and physically prepared for the heat.
My folks have one more full day here tomorrow - we'll see how much of it my dad spends outside the room. Luckily there is a nice coffee shop next to our hotel. Then they leave, and Keith and I will be back on our own and will spend a few days getting logistics and the next stage of our trip planned (visas, airline tickets, etc). We are going to try and minimize our time in this city, but we may end up needing to spend a full week here.
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