Tuesday, 11 April 2017
At Sea — Gulf of Thailand
Stats @ Ship’s Time 10:20p (ICT) … UTC 3:20p (11 April)
Temp: 84.2F (29C)
Position: 9.03.57N / 100.41.66E
Take only memories, leave only footprints.
~ Chief Seattle ~
It was hot. It was humid. We sweated buckets. Enough about the weather. Let’s move on to the story of our day in Koh Samui — which was our port of call for my 59th birthday!
Koh means island in the Thai language. So today’s port of call was on the Island of Samui — a resort island to which tourists and Thai people alike flock to enjoy the beaches. It wasn’t a beach day for us. No, we joined a tour that Sonia booked for USD $85/person with Tours Koh Samui to see some of the attractions of the island. Rounding out our group of eight were Pat & Norm and Rob & Sharry.
This was a tender port. So we all gathered in the Insignia Lounge at 9:45a to collect our tickets. The ship was at its anchorage already, but John Freedman was still at the podium for one of his lectures. It was a while before the Destinations people set up to give out tender tickets. Norm managed to get eight red tickets for our group … meaning we would be on the first tender to leave the ship. Then we waited, and we waited, and we waited. First we were told that we were awaiting the arrival of the authorities to clear the ship. We were coming from Bangkok, for heavens sake … why the formalities? Then we waited for said authorities to actually clear the ship. Finally, around 10:30a, ½-hour after our scheduled arrival time, the first tender was called.
What an experience this tender ride turned out to be. With strong union presence in Thailand, the ship was not allowed to use its own tenders to ferry us to shore. Okey dokey. Instead, boats with larger capacity tied up to our tender platform to do the job. Theoretically this was a good thing since more passengers could be disembarked faster. Except for one thing. The boats were sloooooooow. Really sloooooooow. It took us another ½-hour to get ashore. And then we had to disembark … more passengers = longer time to get off the boat. Luckily, York, our guide was right there at the bottom of the gangway, so we did not have to waste time looking for him. But we did have to forego the last stop of our tour — at a local beach for a swim — since we were an hour later getting started than originally planned.
A primary — and most inexpensive — mode of transportation on the island is what’s called a Songgthaew. These are pickups or utility vehicles that have a covered truck bed and benches for passengers to sit on … with seatbelts for those who choose to use them. In essence, they are shared taxis and some of them are used for touring the island. Not sure if all are 4WD, but ours was … and a good thing too … as we would find out later.
With everyone settled into the vehicle off we went to our first stop, the Namuang Waterfall. The site is an important one for the Thai people as members of the Chakri Dynasty — the current ruling family — have visited here … including Rama V, Rama VII, and the recently deceased Rama IX. From the parking lot, it was a short walk to the falls that stream down the face of a cliff. The pool at the bottom is a popular swimming hole … there were plenty of people swimming, but from our group only Pat took a dip.
Our next stop was at the elephant trekking park of Baanchang. Frankly, I had mixed feelings about doing this activity. However, the use of elephants as beasts of burden is part of the Thai culture — something I had to remind myself of before deciding my non-participation was not going to change things today. We’d already seen elephants at the waterfalls, but York had said they don’t work with that vendor because they don’t treat their elephants well. At this concession, part of the money made was used for the care of the elephants, which were kept in the shade between rides, and they were also given a day off as well. The ride was included in the price of our tour, but the official photo was an extra THB300 … ~ USD $8.70. Our mahout later asked me to give him my phone and he also took photos — as well as a video — so our ride was well-documented.
This was not our first time on an elephant. We rode an African elephant in Zambia in 2004. On that occasion we sat astride its back, and the ride was quite smooth. This time, we were on a bench seat positioned crosswise on the elephant’s back and the experience was a lot more jiggly … definitely not for anyone who has back problems. After the ride, we had a chance to interact with our elephant — a 20-year old named Annie — but unlike in Africa, there was no opportunity to feed it.
The third stop of our tour was at Wat Khunaram. This is a fairly typical temple used by the local people to make merit and pray. What makes it an oft-visited place is the mummified body of a Buddhist monk by the name of Loung Pordaeng. He became the abbot of the temple late in his life. Here he practiced the meditation skills he learned in Bangkok. He is said to have predicted his own death, instructing his followers to cremate him if his body began decomposing. Otherwise, he asked that he be kept upright in a glass casket to serve as an inspiration for future generations to follow the teachings of the Buddha.
Loung Pordaeng died in 1973. He was 79 years old at the time. That his body did not decompose is attributed by some to the slowing down of his metabolism during the week-long meditation that preceded his death — with no food or drink … thus reduced need for oxygen. He remains in the meditative pose he was holding at the time of his death and his body shows few signs of any major decay. He is displayed with dark glasses that hide his eyes, because the dried out eyeballs are rather unsightly — especially to westerners who stop by the temple to see the “Mummy Monk.”
Lunch was at the Blue Star Mountain Restaurant. Our driver had to engage 4WD to get us up to it. We dined with a lovely view of the heavily-forested mountains and distant glimpses of the ocean. The menu was set and included a selection of Thai dishes — stir fried vegetables, fried spring rolls, tom yum soup, and chicken stew served with steamed rice. The food was a lot spicier than what we ate in Bangkok, so I abstained from most of it. Drinks were extra — I ordered a large (because I didn’t have a choice) Chang beer; Mui had a Thai coffee and a mango smoothie … all for the grand total of THB340 (~ USD $9.85).
Back down the mountain after lunch, our first stop was to see the monkeys that have been trained to gather coconuts. Again, part of the Thai culture, so who am I to sit in judgment. That said, I wasn’t expecting the monkeys to be wearing chains, so that did bother me. Apparently the monkeys are much faster at harvesting the coconuts from the tree tops, and do the job handily. At the place we stopped, bunches up coconuts had been hoisted up to the top of the tree for demonstration purposes, and the monkey followed the instructions of its handler to twist a couple of coconuts off and drop them to the ground.
Our next stop was at Hin Ta & Hin Yai … known to tourists as the Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks. There is a folk tale associated with the rocks. It tells of an old couple who lived with their son. The son having come of marriageable age, they decided to sail to the neighboring province to ask for the hand of a girl. Their boat capsized in a storm and they died at sea, turning into the rocks we visited today … proof of their true intentions to the would-be bride’s family. Mother nature’s sense of humor is quite apparent in the anatomically correct rocks shaped like male and female genitalia.
Our last stop — the Big Buddha on the mountain top. This is the lesser known of the two big Buddhas on Koh Samui — with good reason. There is no way for tours on big busses to make it up to the top. Getting up to it required a rockin’ and rollin’ roller coaster type drive … the very reason why a 4WD vehicle was essential today. We went up and up — about 2,130 feet (650m) above sea level — over a road that was poured concrete in some places and little more than a washed out goat path in others … and almost as narrow and rough. We hung on tight to the bars of the truck bed to stay in our seats, wondering which one of us would have the most colorful bruises the next day.
When we arrived at the observation platform on which the Buddha image stands, we found two Naga snakes guarding the entrance. The Big Buddha stood on a pedestal with elephants on three sides, and a sitting Buddha in front. Around the perimeter were statues representing the signs of the eastern horoscope. Unfortunately, they were quite weathered and desperately in need of some TLC. I can’t say that this was our best Buddha experience, but the views over the island were quite beautiful — even with the veiling haze.
We were to have gone to a beach to wrap up the tour with a swim break, but our delayed arrival this morning meant that we had to take it off the itinerary. I think we could have still fit it in, but we all agreed we wanted to be back at the tender pier in Nathon by 4:00p … especially since we knew the tender ride back to the ship would be a slow one. And it was. At least, the boat wasn’t packed to capacity. This time we sat on the bench seats on the open deck — the shade from the overhead canopy and the light breeze keeping us more comfortable. We were back in our cabin by 4:30p … to find that Karen and August, our room stewards, had decorated it with balloons and towel-roses to mark my special day. I was glad that we had pushed back my birthday dinner to 7:00p as I needed every minute of that extra ½-hour to recharge my batteries.
I would not have chosen Koh Samui as the one place around the world to celebrate my 59th … but having my birthday on the RTW made it a special day nonetheless. And celebrating with friends new and old — we invited the Gelmans, Holloways, and Zs to dine with us — made it an even lovelier occasion. Of course having dinner in the Grand Dining Room meant there was no escaping the birthday song. I was serenaded by a chorus of waiters accompanying Nenad, who is a music teacher by trade and who has an impressive set of pipes to be sure. General Manager Yves sent over a bottle of champagne to add to the celebration … and of course, there was the traditional chocolate birthday cake as well … quite tasty.
We lose an hour tonight … boo, hiss, and all that. But at least we do so on the eve of a much needed day at sea. That is something to celebrate!
© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
Happy Birthday! I turned 59 the year we started fulltiming. That seems like such a long time ago now.
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