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| THAILAND - following We bought snorkelling gear and started to explore the underwater world. In Kho Pha-ngan, we saw many sea-cucumbers. For those who never heard of them, they look like a big... hmm shit really, they are black and soft and look completly lifeless. I wonder what God had on his mind sometimes when I see his creations. Anyway, we saw some colorful fishes but nothing to compare with the Similian Islands, the next paradise we visited. We came back on the mainland on a night ferry and arrived at around 5o'clock in the morning, and had still no idea where we were going next. There we negociated with a taxi driver the price to get to the bus station. As we were driving we realised that we were doing a circle around the pier. And suddendly the man stops and asks us to get off in a back street. We asked what was going on, he said that there were no buses yet, and that he would bring us later. He brought us to a friends' coffee stall. we get angry at him and have no choice but to stay there until sunrise. This story is really one out of hundreds that happened to us but that we don't even bother to tell because now it is normal for us, just part of our everyday life in Asia... But then, at this coffee stall, we meet a couple from England and Sweden who are both diving teachers in Thailand. They are moving to the similian Islands and starting a new life there. They tell us about the new place where they are going to work. As we didn't know yet where to go next, we decided to follow them. The similian Islands are classified in the world's top ten for both under and over the water beauty!!! On a clear day, it is possible to see to up 30 meters from the surface!!needless to say how beautiful it was - we went snorkelling only, but it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. There were hundreds of colorful fishes dancing around us, small, big, purple, yellow, orange, black, huge compositions of corals... We saw 2 small sharks and a sea turtle! It was like in a dream, I never thought I would see that one day. highly recommendable. But the good news are : we bought a waterproof camera... we developped the pictures already and we will scann them as soon as we can. When we went back the bungalows that day, our neighbour told us about a place where we should go near Krabi, a beach that you can only access by boat, and where you can climb to a hidden lagoon. Hmm...it sounds nice! He drew us a map on a piece of paper and we headed to the beach. On the way we teamed up with a german girl we met, Cordula.We took a boat to the beach in the evening, it took us about 45 min, and we arrived just at sunset. It was beatiful, it looked like one of the scenery of the movie "the beach". Then we had to take a boat to a second beach behind the first one. well we were really hidden there! but there were still loads of people : the same evening, we heard there was a rave on the beach, and it seemed it was waiting for us to kick off! It was a great night... The next day, we went to the hidden lagoon...We crossed the jungle to get to the next beach.We could hear so many weird noises out there! The jungle happened to be exactly like I had imagined it.The air is heavy, wet and warm, the vegetation so thick that only a few sunrays make it to the ground. Sometimes, you can see a little breeze blowing trough the huge leaves and the lianas and you can hear it coming closer until it blows right trough you and moves the tree leaves around in a delicate sound and then leave to another place. You can see minidragons climbing up the tree troncs and hear the calling of the big birds. It's another world, the kingdom of nature, where everything is peacefull and perfectly balanced, a world where humans have no control whatsoever. We got to the path that leaded to the lagoon - a steep path. We had to climb up for 15 min and then go right down for another 30 min. There was a rope all the way down to the lagoon so you could help yourself when it was too steep. The end was particularly hard, there were 3 steep cliffs to pass where you really had to hang on the the rope if you didn't want to look like a pancake once on the ground. The lagoon was really special, it is believed to be a ancient crater. It is completly closed, round with high cliffs making this path the only way to access it. It is a jungle microecosystem with a few tropical plants and animals, and a small lake. The next day we left the beach and headed towards Malaysia. Our last stop in thailand was Had Yai, a busy city down south, well known for protitution and rats crawling all over the place. It was only a stopover on the way. There we left Cordula who had to meet up with a friend. MALAYSIA - 10.02.03 / 01.03.03 Malaysia is a quiet rich country : it is easy to travel. We took a train from the border to Penang, an Island off the west coast. We couldn't believe our eyes how comfortable it was to travel 3rd class on the trains! It was just like in Europe. We enjoyed this ride very much, it just made us feel at home for a couple of hours. Penang wasn't very special, but we stayed a week, doing a few formalities, like washing clothes and send a package home. We bought something really cool in Penang : a microcassette recorder. So we have started to collect the sounds of the world. We have recorded nice things already, like a demonstration in Penang against the war in Irak , the noises of the jungle, or agressive souvenirs sellers, it's the best thing we bought on this travel. Our next stop was fantastic : Taman Negara, one of the oldest virgin jungle in the world! The national park is only accessible by the river, so we entered the jungle by long tail boat, a ride that took 2 hours. While on the boat, we were looking around us trying to realize we were in the jungle! I mean there are tigers and elephants, rhinos, leopards living there! We were lucky I think , we saw quiet a few animals. The first day, as we were walking down the road to go to eat, suddenly we hear a noise in the bushes, and a long black snake comes out and runs away from us. Now, who do you think was the most scared ? Later, we asked the locals, and from our description, they said it was a black spitting cobra! We were so scared : I mean, what kinds of animals are we going to meet while trekking when we could see black cobras right beside the bungalows? The first evening, we went for a nite jungle walk with a local guide. We saw spiders, a scorpion, giant ants, thermites, a mouse deer, branch insects and other weird creatures I can't remember the names. But I think the worst that night was the attack of the leech : They are awful little worms-like animals who climb up on your shoes to get onto your skins and suck your blood thoroughly.their bodies move histerically as if they wanted to penetrate you skin. |