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Tuesday 12th July 2016
Perth to Khaolak.

I know, I know I haven’t completed the blog to Cuba yet but I just thought that you might like to know that we don’t always take trips to far-flung places and just for once we are enjoying a more conventional week away at the Beyond Khaolak Beach resort.

Gail had in fact booked this week almost 18 months ago and with all the recent travel we were a bit underwhelmed at the thought of another trip away.
The flight from Perth to Singapore departed at 1.30 am and it proved to be the most turbulent 6 hours flying we have ever encountered.
A short stopover in Singapore then it’s on to Phuket.
It takes us almost 2 hours to get through Immigration with Gail constantly checking adjoining lines in a manner which has become familiar to me when shopping with her in Coles!
We are picked up to be taken to the resort at Khaolak about 1 1/2 hours north of Phuket.
It’s in a beautiful location overlooking Pakweep Beach and offers all that one could wish for a week away. This coastal area suffered major damage and huge loss of life from the tsunami of 2004 and signs of the devastation caused are still evident. The present resort was built just over 4 years ago.

On a lovely afternoon we wander down to the beach and have a light meal at a cafe which is not part of the Beyond resort.

Generally check out the whole complex and then it’s off to bed.

Wednesday 13th July 2016

Khaolak Resort

Breakfast is a glutton’s delight after which we generally chill out around the pool and set off up the beach after crossing a decidedly rickety old footbridge to reach the area north of our resort.

Afternoon sees us in a meeting with Carsten, the German-born tour organiser, discussing with him the various options available to us over the coming days.
Since arriving at the resort my neck and shoulders have been getting more stiff and painful and I, therefore , book in for a half hour massage at the resort spa. This seems to loosen things up a little for a while at least.
By way of explanation the very special deal for this week offers the following:
16 vouchers which we can use for massages, cocktails or beers, 2 dinners at any of the restaurants and 20 per cent off all drinks. Added to that the resort is strictly No Children.

Dinner at the main restaurant Siam on another fine evening. If all that sounds uneventful that’s because it was but after the full-on timetable of South America and Cuba it’s very welcome.

Thursday 14th July 2016

After the usual hearty breakfast we head off to one of the many swimming pools overlooking the beach and then more walking, this time south along the beach.

We had planned to get a bus into Khaolak town but our plans are thwarted by a torrential thunderstorm so typical for these parts at this time of the year.

For a change we have booked a Thai seafood BBQ dinner at the Good Friends restaurant on the beach. As something of a novelty we cook the food ourselves at our table and it’s very much a ‘eat as much as you like’ situation.

Friday 15th July 2016

Up very early as we leave the resort at 5.15 am on a Local Life tour with Boy as our guide and Ran as the driver of the mini bus.
First port of call is a local market where we purchase various items which we then donate to the Buddhist monks who walk along the adjoining streets. As Boy has spent time as a monk on 3 previous occasions he is able to provide a real insight into this religion and the culture.

We return to the market for a second stroll around and sample some very tasty but no doubt very unhealthy deep-fried snacks offered to us by Boy. Time to walk through the Old Town with so many reminders of the town’s halcyon tin mining past.

An interesting moment when Boy stops to talk to a young Bhuddist monk , a friend of Boy’s who has an MBA, comes from a very wealthy family but has renounced all of this to join the religious order. Boy arranges to meet up with him later in the day when we visit the temple.

It’s still only just gone 7 am when we stop off for a very welcome breakfast at a Chinese cafe. This takes a fair time and suddenly we are piling back into the van to arrive at a local private school in time for a flag- raising ceremony and watch their outdoor assembly before they head off to their classrooms.

One can’t help but notice the cleanliness of the school and the discipline shown by the very smartly dressed children in their school uniforms.
Interesting to note the public naming and shaming of certain classes who have let their standards slip in keeping their classroom tidy.
Our own schools could learn a lot from this example.

We now move on to the Buddhist Temple where we are presented with gifts of various items which we in turn present to the monk whom Boy had spoken to earlier.

We were then allowed a few moments to pose questions directly to the monk with Boy acting as interpreter. This event was overseen by the Leader of the temple who was full of bonhomie and humour and quite ready to interject with some wry comments of his own. Certainly no hint of a mysterious, closed religious order here.
We finish our visit by each of us shaking chopsticks out of a tube until one falls to the ground. The number on the stick is then matched up to a printed fortune. Gail received a very favourable one but Leanne, a girl from New Zealand , and I received very grim forecasts which Boy encouraged us to return to a nearby letter box for future use!

The Buddhist temple is quite resplendent with gold leaf much in evidence and is in sharp contrast to a Chinese temple which we visit shortly afterwards. This was to say the least in dire need of repair.

Lunch was next on the agenda and we were treated to some fine fare in a restaurant located in a very fertile rural setting.
Once again we are offered some jack fruit but its rather slimy mango-like texture makes for a taste that I for one has never acquired.

We are next taken to a Chinese bakery where immigrants from China have been making some very tasty cookies for four generations. We are given a tour of the bakery but unfortunately I have to return to the bus prematurely as my neck and shoulder have taken a real turn for the worse.

To round off a very fine tour we visit the Namkhem Tsunami Memorial Park where we meet a man who had lost a son in the disaster and now works at the memorial. Two boats left stranded about 1 kilometre inland offer a graphic reminder of the magnitude of the tsunami in 2004 which killed so many tourists especially from Germany, Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.

The many poignant messages left next to the photographs of loved ones bear testimony to the emotional scars left to this day by this tragedy.

We, along with many others, have been invited to a Cocktail Party on the beach and we therefore skip the usual evening dinner.

 

Saturday 16th July 2016

A very early start to the day as shortly after midnight the pain in my neck had become excruciating and Gail and I came to the conclusion that I had to get to a doctor. Staff at the resort had earlier advised us against going to a medical centre in Khaolak and given the time we arranged for a taxi to take both of us to Emergency at Phuket Bangkok Hospital.
Immediately on my arrival I was seen by the medical staff and eventually it was decided that I would be kept in hospital overnight. We were provided with a private room with sleeping facilities for Gail.
The next morning I awoke to a team of nurses carrying out the usual checks for BP, pulse etc and I was then visited by an orthopaedic surgeon who arranged for an X-Ray to be taken. I was also given some physiotherapy treatment.
The results of the X-Ray showed some slight degenerative changes (to the vertebrae, not my brain!) and the conclusion reached was that the excessively rough flight from Perth had resulted in a muscular problem and I was provided with a neck brace. I now realise that the female chemist in the TV series Doc Martin doesn’t need to do much acting as any neck movement is almost impossible.
To cut a long story short I was released from hospital later that afternoon having received medical attention of the highest order from the unfailingly polite, happy and friendly staff. Truly a 5 star hospital.
Another taxi back to the resort and then dinner at the Siam restaurant complete with my fashion statement neck brace making its first public appearance. I still can’t walk very far without the brace on but hopefully it will gradually improve.

Sunday 17th July 2016

After the usual breakfast it was off to the pool for a bit of relaxation. In contrast to most of the other guests who seem to spend the greater part of their time trying to get a tan on the poolside loungers or drinking at the pool bar we have for the most part contented ourselves with walks along the beach or tours offered by the resort.

Lunch is taken in the Beach restaurant and we also make full use of Happy Hour.
The afternoon was spent back at our unit but just as we were about to venture out for dinner out the resort is hit by the mother of all thunderstorms so we settle for a couple of bananas from the complimentary fruit pack delivered to our unit every day.

Monday 18th July 2016

The weather has finally cleared after the storm which had continued on through the whole night and it’s evident from the significantly higher water level in the resort lake that this was no ordinary drenching.
Gail and I are booked into a Thai cooking class which Gail thought was at 10.00 am but it turns out to be at noon. We, therefore, set off on a walk along the beach to the north of Beyond Resort, once again tackling the rickety bridge over the river leading into the ocean.
My shoulder and neck problems continue to give me some grief so Gail returns alone for the cooking class while I venture further up the beach on what is turning out to be a lovely day, weather-wise.
I eventually get back to the cooking class just as Gail is sitting down to her self-cooked meal. The restaurant staff take pity on me with my all-too-obvious neck brace and I enjoy a great Thai lunch without having to expose my culinary ineptitude.

The rest of the day is spent relaxing at the resort and we then meet up with Brian Swan ( Swannie) and his wife Lianne from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand for a very pleasant dinner at the Beach restaurant.
A truly spectacular sunset over the water rounds off a great day.

Tuesday 19th July 2016.

In a weak moment we have booked ourselves on the Hong Island and Sea Cave Canoe Tour which means a 3.30 am wake-up call and a 4.00 departure by bus from the resort. The reasons for this lunacy are two-fold. Firstly, we wish to get to the island before the hordes of tourists descend on the area and secondly with 7 metre tides we have only a relatively short window of opportunity to visit the hidden caves and grottoes and avoid being blocked in until the afternoon by the rising water.
Our guide for the day, Otto, is very experienced and we are told by Carsten at Beyond Resort that his knowledge of the tides, weather conditions and other local issues enables him to thoroughly plan ahead and change the itinerary as the need arises.

After a 1 hour bus trip we arrive at a jetty on Phang-Nga Bay but before boarding a traditional Thai Longtail boat we try to make the most of the breakfast packs given to us at the resort. Disappointingly these prove to be virtually inedible which comes as a real surprise given the excellent meals provided at the numerous Beyond restaurants.

Scenery as we head off down the bay is very reminiscent of Halong Bay in Vietnam although the rock formations are probably more spectacular. The water, if still not exactly pristine, is still vastly cleaner than the open sewer of Halong.
Along the way Otto points out a Roxy outcrop supposedly in the shape of a dog which is obviously suffering from some form of birth defect as it bears little resemblance to any canine I have seen.

Far more convincing are the Viking rock paintings on the imposing cliffs lining the bay.

  

The first island ( Koh in Thai ) we visit is the small Koh Panyee a Muslim Village extending on stilts out over the water. An extravagantly gilded mosque is clearly visible as we approach the island, the inhabitants of which are chiefly fishermen and of Javanese origin, Koh Panyee clearly caters for visitors with its souvenir shops and seafood restaurants. We also come across an unexpected sports field on a platform above the water.

  

After progressing through the myriad islands we arrive at Khao Ta Poo , these days better known as James Bond Island after it was featured in the film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ in 1974. The locals now make the most of this by charging 300 baht person to visit the island. Fortunately, this is included in our all- inclusive ticket for the tour.
Notwithstanding the commercialisation it is a beautiful island with its main feature being a rock stack at its entrance.

        

After a fairly long trip we arrive at Hong Island where we get onto canoes (2 passengers plus local oarsman). We have a very pleasant young fellow Si who speaks little English but nevertheless makes the canoe excursion into the many collapsed caves a memorable experience.
On a number of occasions we are required to lie flat in the canoes as the entrance to the caves has very little clearance to the rock face above. By the time we exit from the cave system the water level is noticeably higher and it doesn’t take much imagination to understand how some people can get caught out and have to stay until the afternoon low tide.

A Queensland guy in our group, presumably in trying to impress his female partner, asks Otto for an extra 10 minutes with the two of them taking the canoe out on their own. 30 minutes later our would-be James Bond appears with one very unimpressed partner and a whole group of equally unimpressed fellow tourists. It appears that he lost his way and judging from his rowing prowess he won’t need to worry about the Zika virus in Rio!

After travelling south past Koh Panak we come to Tham Kang- kao (Bat Cave ) where we disembark and armed with headlamps we are able to view bats both large and small and some remarkable stalactites and stalagmites.

       

A short boat trip brings us back to the canoes and it’s time to venture into the mangrove forest (swamp) where our oarsmen take time out to check the nets for crabs (of which there are very few). It’s just good to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the area.

Once back on the Longtail boat we stop off at a small landing and make a short walk to an area well known for the Viking rock paintings and human bones.
Nothing spectacular but a young German fellow from Bielefeld makes our day when he totally freaks out when he has to walk under an admittedly fairly large spider in its web over our trail. At first we all assume it’s just an act but it soon becomes clear that the young guy really does suffer from arachnophobia.

 

Time for lunch and we stop off at another Muslim village for a very tasty meal before heading off back to our Echo Khaolak bus.

Stop on the way back to Beyond Resort at a lovely waterfall and our last port of call is the Buddha Cave and Temple in Phang  Nga  which has become known to many as the Monkey  Cave,hardly surprising given the hordes of the beasts to be found near the entrance and around the car park. Nearby stallholders try to cash in on this by selling packs of bananas to the visitors ( btw the bananas are for the monkeys! ) The Temple is in a spectacular setting although just for once we decide to act our age and not clamber up some very steep and slippery slopes to the upper levels.All in all a great way to end what has been a long day but a very rewarding experience.

 

As a change we have decided to dine outside the resort at a small restaurant across the road from the entrance.
We had forgotten that today is a Bhuddist holiday and therefore no alcohol can be served. However, we enjoy a very fine meal at a fraction of the prices charged in the resort and the service is as always wonderful.

Off to bed with yours truly wondering whether there will be any repercussions from the exertion of the boat trip and the longer walk to the restaurant.

Wednesday 20th July 2016.

My neck and shoulder have provided me with the answer during the night but the Doc Martin fashion accessory will have to come to my aid for the journey back to Singapore and then Perth.
During the morning the weather takes a turn for the worse but by take-off the skies have cleared and both legs of the return journey are trouble -free.

Arrive back at Perth at 11.30pm to be picked up by Lyn and Bert.

This has been our first ‘resort-type’ holiday and it has proved to be a very pleasant surprise. We would certainly consider coming back to this area which seems to be a far cry from Patong Beach near Phuket or Kuta Beach in Bali.

I was hoping to debunk the myth that the Obese Ferret is a prolix old windbag only capable of writing ‘War and Peace’ style blogs but instead I have merely confirmed my reputation! Sorry folks.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

 

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