Since leaving Khao Sok National park, I have basically headed for the West towards the Andaman coast, and then followed it down south. The Andaman coast is known for its lovely beaches, and is also west facing, meaning lots of opportunities for cool sunsets.
The first location that I would have got to on the coast, had I gone exactly straight on from Khao Sok would have been Phang-Nga, but I had read that the town itself of Phang-Nga, (unlike it’s associated beaches, which were further away,) isn’t actually that great… AND I had read about some pretty cool sounding natural attractions in the nearby slightly more inland national park of Thanbok Khorani, so I made a detour to go there instead.
Thanbok Khorani is a lesser visited attraction in this part of Thailand, although it is in the guidebooks, but efforts are being made to develop it into a hub for Community Based Tourism (CBT.) This model basically involves designing tourism around the existing community and using it to generate jobs for local people, for example as cooks, growers of produce for guest’s meals, drivers, and tour guides. Through working in the tourist industry the local people can also gain skills and qualifications, and much of the money generated goes back into the community. This is in contrast to the typical model of tourism where large companies from big cities move into rural areas to run tours, employ people from the city who are more qualified than the local people, and funnel the money back into their companies and the cities, without any benefit for the people were actually born and live in the places that the tourists are visiting.
I was told in detail about this great initiative, by Dende, the lovely owner of the homestay that I stayed in and one of the driving forces behind CBT in the area, in-between listening to and singing along with songs that he was playing on his guitar as we relaxed and socialised in the evening along with some of the other homestay guests. Songs included “don’t worry, be happy” – Bobby McFerrin, “One Love” – Bob Marley, and ” have you ever seen the rain?” – Credence Clearwater Revival, as well as some popular Thai songs. He also passed around a few little marracas, and people beat out rhythms like drums on their chairs and on the tables, so everyone there was involved in the music. It was a magical evening. The following morning I went and joined in on one of the CBT tours that he had been telling us about – a kayaking trip around the caves and Lagoons of the Thanbok Khorani national park – it was fantastic!
When I finally did reach the actual coast, it was at AO Nang beach, a popular tourist beach belonging to Krabi town. The buildings along the promenade were the typical tourist town disaster of tacky bars, restaurants, and ugly hotels, (there was even a car driving up and down the road by the beachfront with a recorded message in English loudly blaring out through a loudspeaker, extolling the virtues of one particular bar which, it boasted, had “drinks offers, beer pong, and even fuseball!” – ugh! ) However, the sunset that I watched from the beachfront was pretty spectacular, so that almost made up for it. I then snuggled down for the night in my hostel instead of hanging around disaster town, and went out to explore the beach some more just before dawn began to break. Amazingly, the whole place seemed a lot nicer without all the noise and people!
The next beach along that I arrived at was Pak Meng beach. This beach is only about a two hour drive further along from Ao Nang if you have a car but is largely undiscovered, (or at least not ruined,) by western tourists. It is apparently quite a popular location for Thai people to go on holiday. In my opinion, it was much nicer. After eating some delicious spicy rice from a seafront cafe I wondered up and down the beach happily looking at the amazing views and watching the little groups of children and families dotted around enjoying the sand. Gradually, the sun sunk into another amazing sunset. The area just behind the beach was grassy and quite quiet so I had decided to sleep out in the open (I had carried the gear for doing so with me on my bike so I figured I probably should make the most of it when the opportunity presented.) I settled down for the night in my bivvy listening to the noise of the sea and of the insects chirruping around me, and was rewarded the next morning with an amazing view to wake up to!
From Pak Meng, it was only a further two days until I reached the Malaysian border. While I was still roughly following the coastline, the actual road, though more or less parallel, was a little way in land, so I didn’t see any more beaches. Some notable things I did spot, however, where the many mosques along the road. Southern Thailand has a large Muslim population (possibly due to the influence of neighbouring officially Islam Malaysia,) and this influences both it’s cuisine and it’s architecture. Though I did spot the occasional temple, it was nothing like the quantity in the North of Thailand. In these parts, mosques are clearly in vogue.
The border crossing into Malaysia was the easiest one yet. It turns out that Brits don’t need a visa to enter Malaysia, so the border guard simply stamped my passport and I was through! No filling in forms, no standing in queues, no photos…nothing! It was great! Another surprising but convenient fact is that they use British plugs here,so no need for adapters. I’m assuming this is all linked to our previous colonial associations with Malaysia. In any case, I’m not complaining.
Having crossed the border, I carried on hugging the coastline – pedaling along by the seaside and through countyside on quite backroads, rather than following the main trunk roads which are further inland. It was amazing! I had missed out on watching the sunset from the seaside town I stopped in the day I arrived in Malaysia as I was feeling too tired and lazy to leave my hotel room, but the views along the road the following morning more than made up for it! To my right as I rode along was the sea, (which in the morning, was pretty far out from the shore,) and to my left were bright green waterlogged fields which I’m presuming were paddy fields (although the paddy harvest has already taken place in the other countries that I’ve been through, but I guess the seasons down here are different.) With so much water and nutrients around in the muddy sea flats on the one side and the fields on the other side, life was everywhere! Swarms of pretty, twinkling dragonflies flitted about, and there were SO many birds, of all shapes and sizes – taking off, landing, diving, and constantly chattering to each other. It wasn’t even like a “dawn chorus” thing as it carried on late into the morning for as long as I was along that road, there were just LOTS of birds!
Another thing that I spotted whilst pedaling along by the seaside were PEOPLE out in the mudflats. And when I say in, I mean in. They were dotted around all along the shore, thigh deep in the thick, oozing, squelchy mud. They were pulling behind them little carts which ran along the surface of the mudflats, presumably collecting shellfish or something. There were both men and women doing it and it did cross my mind that whilst in Muslim countries women are expected to dress modestly, sometimes there’s just not much you can do about it – everybody looks pretty much the same when they are covered in mud!
Eventually I did have to turn away from the quiet country roads and head for the highways in order to reach the place where I am writing this from: Georgetown, Penang Island. I am, however, still firmly “by the seaside” – you can’t really be much more by the seaside than on a small island! Now that I am here, I have a couple of days off to rest and to look around. Then, I am finally heading inland. To the mountains!
Dancing in the Dawn 