Thailand Wrap-up

We've had a few emails from people wondering why there haven't been any updates lately. The truth is we've been extremely lazy and consequently haven't had much to report. However, we've just arrived in Indonesia opening a new chapter in our adventures.

From Phuket we went to Koh Lanta a quiet island off the west coast of southern Thailand. We chose Lanta because of its proximity to the second best dive sites in Thailand. People told us it would be much more relaxed and less built up than the famous Koh Phi Phi where "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. The diving was definitely fantastic but after two days of that we decided to save our diving money for Bali and other parts of Indonesia. I lobbied for an extra day in Koh Lanta because the bed in our beachside bungalow was the most comfortable we had encountered in Southeast Asia. The Thais seem to have a special talent for finding the most uncomfortable matresses in the world.

From Koh Lanta we passed through Khao Sok National Park which lies between the east and west coasts of southern Thailand. Khao Sok is famous for guest houses comprised of treehouse bungalows and jungle treks. Unfortunately, we ended up staying in a bungalow that was firmly on the ground. Our big activities in Kao Sok were cruising down the river on inner tubes and following the jungle path from waterfall to waterfall. Mostly, we took it easy.

After 2 days in Khao Sok we headed to Koh Samui, an island off the east coast. In Samui we stayed in a bamboo hut that was less than 20 feet from where the waves lapped up onto the beach. This setting inspired true laziness. We spent about three days sitting on the beach reading and relaxing. We had a couple of nasty rain storms and we were surprised and happy to see how well our bamboo walls and thatched roof held up. That said, on our last night we opened the bathroom door to discover a cockroach taking an evening stroll across Edan's toothbrush.
We took in some serious entertainment in Samui. One night we attended a Thai boxing match which was actually comprised of 7 separate matches between opponents ranging in age from 5 to 25. Thai boxing is reputedly one of the most vicious forms of boxing in the world so it was pretty bizarre to see the little kids going at it. Definitely not something you'd see at home. On our last night we saw a fantastic Philipino cover band who played everything from U2 to Alanis Moriset and Metallica. They put on an incredible show including a number that involved balancing large bottles of liquor on their heads while performing various stunts with their instruments and random parts of their bodies set to the music of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Very entertaining.

From Samui we headed to Bangkok where our main objective was to get fitted for our custom-made suits. We took in a couple of movies - Thai movie theatres are really plush, like sitting in your living room with a massive screen. In an attempt to be good tourists we went to the famous Jim Thompson House and yet another temple but couldn't be bothered to stick around for very long.

We landed in Jakarta on the 15th and fell happily into the embrace of family hospitality. More later on our adventures in Yogjakarta with Sydney, Wayne and Sam (my cousins) .....

Warning: Explicit Content - Phuket Vegetarian Festival

We had the good luck to be in Phuket during the annual vegetarian festival. The event is a nine day festival running for the first nine days of the ninth month of the Chinese calendar, and honours nine emperor gods. The festival consists, in most of Thailand, of the public preparation and consumption of vegetarian foods. In Phuket and a few other cities it becomes far more complex, a ritual celebration involving acts of self mutilation and street processions. The local myth is that the festival rose to prominence some 200 years ago, when a wandering Chinese circus troop took ill in Phuket. Thinking that they had offended the nine emperor gods, they engaged in various painful rites of flesh-mortification to appease the heavenly ennead .

According to our guide book, a more likely explanation is that the ascetic traditions of neighbouring Indian communities migrated to Phuket. Regardless, it's a bloody and good show.

Our boat from the Similan Islands docked on Oct. 28th, and the festival ended Oct. 30th. The night of the 29th involved fire walking, but owing to a misprint in the english version of the info pamphlet, and given the paucity of directions, by the time we found the shrine they were raking up the coals. So we set out early the next morning to visit a different local shrine that was to be the starting point for one of the final street processions. We arrived a little early, just in time to see people lining up their cars and setting off fireworks as a prelude to the grand parade. Jenna was soon bored, and asked whether this mulling around was all we had come to see. As if on cue....