We also had a date with our new South African friends for our island tour at 8am. They showed up right at 8, but then the boatman we had negotiated with the day before wasn't around. After half an hour of waiting, asking, and talking to the boatmen that were around, we got put in a longboat with a different boatman anyway.
The boat stopped alongside one of the cliff-sided islands... And it didn't start again. The battery that just barely got the motor started at Ao Nang was completely dead. After whacking it a few times with a wrench, he called for back-up. Some of the girls couldn't wait to get in the clear blue water, so jumped off the edge, treading water until another boat came with an extra battery.
Our first "official" stop was the side of Chicken Island to snorkel on some coral. Compared to the Similan Islands we visited on our liveaboard, visibility was just ok at about 30 feet and the number of fish varieties was low at about a dozen. However, it was much more relaxing to not have to worry about buoyancy and equalizing and time and air remaining.
We puttered to another patch of coral with a few more fish species by a second island (potentially Poda) before the boys started asking about lunch.
Some of the islands are part of a reserve, so at the beach area of Chicken Island, where a food stand was, an agent was collecting the 200 baht ($6) fee per person.
Hanging out with the students gave us a renewed appreciation for the flexibility of our budget - they negotiated to have only one of us leave the boat to get food while the rest of us stayed near the boat so we didn't have to pay the fee. Sharon picked up the containers of fried rice and fried noodles, and we were on our way again.
The quest for a beach where we didn't have to pay led us to the most idyllic place yet. It was a small cove with a soft, sandy beach, surrounded by caves, and topped with lush trees and vines.
Of course, caves meant there was adventuring to be done. This area is known for amazing climbing routes - the six foot wall up to the cave was just wet and sandy enough to discourage me from attempting anything harder, but it led to a beautiful frame around the already gorgeous inlet.
After that, it was an hour of being rocked by the waves as we examined the blue and yellow fish that swarmed at the surface. This - this is vacation.
The caves had gotten the others excited for some cliff-jumping, so we cruised around to one of the routes. A rope ladder led up to the face of a wall, and some ridges extended horizontally along it.
Of course I climbed up, went along the wall a few feet, then jumped into the clear blue. Adrenaline-filled, but a one-in-a-lifetime experience.
We next went to Pranang beach and cave. "Pranang" means princess, and the cave is where Thais ask for the princess to fulfill there wishes. As a symbol of that, they leave wooden phallises. Yup, you read that right - it was a cave full of penis sculptures. The phallus actually has a specific meaning: it is the life-giving connection the makes the universe whole (or something very meta like that).
A pair of monkeys were sitting in a tree nearby, and quite a few people were attempting their own monkey business by climbing up the walls bordering the beach. In general, it was a bustling, multi-cultural beachside.
Alisa and I just enjoyed our very cheap and delicious fruit shakes. I think I'll have a banana shake every day until I leave - the small, sweet tropical bananas are too delicious.
It was approaching 3pm, and the afternoon clouds rolled in, with a smattering of rain along with them. We congregated back at the boat, but our tour had one more stop on Railay Beach before heading back to Ao Nang.
Alisa and I are planning on going to Railay tomorrow, so we stayed in the boat with half of the other group. A few ventured out to find beer or explore - squeeze those last baht out of the trip. I was just ready for a shower.
It was a steady drizzle when we pulled up to Ao Nang. We wished everyone a good holiday, then splashed back to our hotel.
A shower and a few tv programs later, we emerged for "Thai pancakes." They have crepe-like tendencies, but are ultimately fried, not just cooked. We got a few varieties (with banana-Nutella being the clear favorite), and picked up a bottle of wine and Lays at the neighboring FamilyMart. (FamilyMart is one of APT's couple Asian clients, so I was excited to support them.) One of the Chicagoans from yesterday was a flavor scientist at a liquor company (and the other worked with a food processor, so a match made in a kitchen) and they were talking about how America mimicks Asian flavors. This, and talk about delicious chip flavor, led us to complement our wine and pancake with bags of Lays.
Yup, that's seaweed, salmon, seafood, and "Italian" (which was cheesy goodness). We scarfed it all down while watching "Mona Lisa Smile" then power-napped.
I might have been overly insistent that we leave the hotel one more time before we hit the sack, so I dragged a tired and apathetic Alisa to the nightlife hot spot (which was a neon, trashy mix of Thai women and male tourists being loud and obnoxious over clubby music), then found something more lowkey in a restaurant with a guy and gal covering guitar-heavy 90s and 2000s pop. Their lyrics were quite a few mumbles with the clearer refrains between, but it was a nice way to pass the the time as we ate and observed.
With the cooler air, I wanted to wander a bit. We walked back toward the beach, then turned along a street we hadn't tried before.
A few blocks down was a group sitting in the middle of the road on chairs they had borrowed from a garden nearby. As we approach, their faces and voices became more clear... And it was the South Africans with their German friends once again.
We moved two more chairs (which got the guard interested, but thankfully he agreed to let us stay until we were done) and dove right into their conversation on socialism, philanthrophy, and God's will for us.
Both Alisa and I weren't expecting the foreign, attractive twenty-year-old med students to be quoting from Scripture to make their points, but it led to what I hope was a discussion that opened their eyes a bit (and opened mine a bit too). Their views on marriage, mental illness, and the "2%" (I guess the top 1% isn't enough?) were some of the reasons I travel, to talk and hear these perspectives.
It was one in the morning when the conversation turned to sleep. Perhaps it is goodbye for good, but we can always expect the unexpected.
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