Sun, Over There! Quick!! (Thailand)

Mid March, 2006

Fleeing the impertinent wet weather on Koh Tao, (how dare it rain on my year in the sun!), I found myself on a bus to the port of Krabi which is on the other side of the thin peninsula. My destination was the island of Koh Lanta, where I had no reason to believe the weather was any better but I was probably heading that way anyway - just a little sooner than I might have!

On the bus I met Mel, a Canadian dance teacher who was in Thailand for a few weeks and was also heading to Koh Lanta. Mel was heading out to the island the next morning, however I was planning to stay in Krabi for a couple of nights. I had business to attend to in Krabi; the serious matter of hair that hadn't been cut since December!

Those familiar with my habits know that I have my hair cut every three weeks to prevent it becoming an unruly stack, and that over the last thirteen or so years it has only been cut by two highly-trusted professionals, (hello Paul and Lee!). I had let it go so far on this trip out of a mixture of curiosity to let it grown long again, and trepidation at what an Indian/Thai haircut might entail. But since I was now starting to resemble Don King, or Henry from David Lynch's Eraserhead, it was definitely time to tame the barnet and I reckoned Krabi was a sufficiently large place for me to find a competent tamer! However, since "downtown Krabi" failed to impress either Mel or myself on the night we arrived, I decided that Koh Lanta must have at least one reasonable hair-cutting emporium, and so also left for the island the following morning.

Mel had in mind a place to stay which was at Klong Nin beach, halfway down the island and away from the main town and the busiest beach. We bargained with a moto taxi, and one quite long ride later installed ourselves at "Sunset Bungalows". We came across a little hairdressing business nearby and the nice Thai lady set about her task with brisk efficiency. My confidence in her abilities was buoyed up by the plethora of certificates on the wall, and the photos of her receiving what appeared to be prizes and awards, (although for all I knew these could have been for her ability to grow vegetables). The result was a relief - fussy boy here was happy with his clip. Mel joined in by getting a girly pampering pedicure.

The weather on Koh Lanta wasn't much better than Koh Tao and wasn't really what you'd call beachy, but it didn't stop me swimming in the sea, which was the standard Thai 30 lovely-degrees-Celsius! I swam through a couple of heavy rain showers; if you're in the water it doesn't really matter if it's raining above! The area around our beach seemed pretty quiet, which was what we were looking for. However, since this was my first visit to a place affected by the tsunami in 2004, I wondered if tourists were assuming that it would be a mess and staying away. As far as I could see, any damage on our part of the island had been pretty much cleared up.

Mel's friend Canadian Kate arrived, and we spent a couple of nights on Klong Nin beach before they took off north for a trip living on a boat for three days, diving in the Similan Islands. We had planned for me to go too but there weren't enough places left on the boat, so I decided to go on a trip leaving a week or two later. Mel was into making hemp jewelry, and sat down on the beach one evening to make me a really nice ankle bracelet.

So after a few days I found myself yet again fleeing somewhere to try to outrun the drizzly weather! This time I headed south to Malaysia. I had decided to expand my plans to see a little of that country while I was nearby, and anyway my 30-day Thai visa was running out so I needed to nip across the border...