It’s Thanksgiving next week!
Our last post was from Phuket, and a lot has happened since then. After spending 4 nights in Phuket, we took a bus headed to Takua Pa and hopped of at Nam Khem. Nam Khem is a small town that has a pier where we took a 10 minute longtail boat road to the island of Koh Kho Khao. We spent five nights on Koh Kho Khao and it was amazing. When we arrived we noticed very quickly that there weren’t many people on the island, everything was very quiet, and we didn’t have free wi-fi. We thought it would be great to be disconnected from the world on a beautiful island but that we would be ready to get back to civilization after 5 nights. We were wrong! We were not ready to leave! Now a little more about Koh Kho Khao…
To get there we took a bus from Karon Beach (where we were staying) to Phuket Town, and then a bus from there to Nam Khem (just north of Khao Lok). There was a little sign that said Koh Kho Khao with an arrow pointing left, so we started walking that way. After about .5km, a truck stopped and a man speaking no English whatsoever gestured for us to get in - which we were grateful for because we drove for at least 2km before reaching the water.
Rather than reaching a pier like we were expecting, we ended up at his house. He sat us down, gave us each a cold fresh coconut, tried again to convey his meaning to us, and then left us alone for a minute. He came back out with a phone and dialed his nephew, who spoke great English, and who explained everything to us. The pier was just next door, but the man thought we must be tired after our trip and wanted us to relax for a minute before getting on the ferry, which he would take us to when we were ready. Before we left, he showed us around his property, which was huge and beautiful and had lots of different tanks with koi in them. He had to have been a koi breeder; he had at least 20 tanks each with at least 10-12 fish in them. He also had a few big scary guard dogs that started coming at us and barking, but after a quick reprimand from him they turned and walked away slowly. After walking around his property, we ended up at end of a walk way, we were able to walk out on a little cement deck over the water. He pointed to the pier, which was probably only 30m away.
From that pier, we took a 'long-tail boat' the short ways across to our new island home. These are noisy and slow, but look pretty cool. From there, we hopped in the back of a jeep which took us to our hotel. It's listed as a four-star hotel, and it's clear why. Our room was huge, with a giant tub and rainfall shower. We had a large private balcony facing west with two hammock-chairs. While we don't have a view of the ocean, every other room-type does (and each of those is much more expensive than our room). They also have private pools, and the highest-class version is a two-story bungalow. High season hasn't started yet, which is why we basically have it to ourselves now - but I'm sure it is packed from Dec-Feb.
Our second or third morning, we rented a motorbike for the first time in order to explore the island. On the way (we were walking along the side of the road, and again didn't know exactly where we were going) to the rental place, a lady pulled over and asked us where we were going. We told her, and she said she'd give us a ride there. This wouldn't be too out of the ordinary, but she happened to be driving a blind man somewhere when she spotted us. She left him on the side of the road to drive us there (after both of them reassured us that he wouldn't mind waiting there for a minute)! It was only a short distance, but it’s a good story to illustrate how generous people were on the island and how happy they are to have us visiting. Phang Nga province, where Koh Kho Khao is located, was one of the most badly affected by the tsunami in 2004 (especially this island). While they have done an amazing job rebuilding, it’s clear that tourism hasn't fully rebounded there, and so people were always more than happy to help out where they can.
It's less than $10 a day to rent a motorbike and much easier to drive than we were expecting. We drove the 14km to the northern most tip of the island where we were greeted by a wooden sign with 'Virgin Beach' painted on it. The sign was right - absolutely nothing there except for sand and water. As we walked down to the beach, hundreds of little crabs scattered - apparently they aren't as accustomed to seeing people as elsewhere. There wasn't even another set of footprints in the sand. Our next stop was at another beach for lunch. As beautiful as the rest - you can find the pictures that we took of it online (see below!).
After lunch we went back to the pier, which is at the southernmost tip of the island and is where we rented the motorbike to fill up on gas. It was in old liquor bottles. We stocked up on snacks (since there are no stores near our hotel at all) and hurried back to the hotel, trying to beat the rain but *just* losing out to it. We spent most late afternoons on our balcony watching the rain pour down and reading our kindles.
Leaving Koh Kho Khao was hard but it was time to get back to real life. We’ve been back in Bangkok for about a week and half now. So, what else is new? My school cancelled the rest of the term. Classes had been cancelled for 3 full weeks when we received an email late one night that the rest of the term had been cancelled. We had been closed so long due to the flooding in Thailand that had finally reached Bangkok. Our school (and the neighborhood where we live) has yet to see any water, but many of our students and teachers homes and families have been greatly affected. I still come to work every day, we’re having meetings and workshops, and planning for the next term which starts January 4th.
It seems like the floods are finally subsiding, at least in some places. The prime minister said today that some parts of Bangkok could still be flooded into next year. It’s hard to find accurate news though; we’ve heard so many different sides of the story at this point. There has been lots of frustration and protests about how the situation is being handled. Angry residents have been tearing down walls of sandbags and blocking major highways. The frustration is coming from the fact that some parts of Bangkok are suffering badly while the city center has stayed dry (due to strategic floodwalls and diverting of water). Last I heard, damage is estimated at around $6 billion USD.
In other news, Jacob had his interview for Goizueta Business School at Emory at 11pm our time last night. It was funny having him shower, shave and put on a suit and tie at 10-10:30pm! It went well, and this morning he got an email inviting him to interview for Stanford. Those are the two schools he applied to first round (business school had three rounds of applications), so he’s doing well.
We’re currently figuring out visa stuff for our trip to India in January. We’re going to Assam and Kolkata with Jacob’s aunt and uncle. We need to leave Thailand a few days before Christmas because of Jacob’s tourist visa. We don’t know where we are going yet, but wherever it is we will leave from there to India in early January, and not return to Bangkok until the end of the second week of January. The third week of January Jacob’s parents are coming to Thailand and we’re currently in the process of planning that trip – probably a couple days in Bangkok followed by a few days in Chiang Mai, then a few days back in Bangkok to end the trip.
Now for some pictures! You can find them at:
Thailand Month 2!
Phuket
Koh Kho Khao
And more pictures at my picture-a-day blog too!
