Off Grid on an Island in the Andaman Sea

I have been off on a retreat on a very small island in the middle of the Andaman Sea called Ko Phra Thong (Golden Buddha Island). So called because there's supposed to be a Golden Buddha buried treasure somewhere on the island. No, sadly I didn't find it!

The Island is run on an eco-friendly basis for example the coconut milk we drank was from the coconuts gathered that day from around the camp, the jam we ate at breakfast was made from the local Hibiscus trees, fish we ate was caught by the locals from the surrounding seas.



Hibiscus flowers drying

There's a central reception/lounge/restaurant area that is owned by an American who's lived in Thailand for the last 30 years. Surrounding the main reception congregation area are cabins which stretch out along the gorgeous beach. All the cabins are built with native wood, bamboo and have Thai thatched roofs. The bathroom is an attachment to each cabin but is actually outdoors and surrounded by nice thick bamboo walls. Nothing beats having a cold water shower at 6:00am in the morning watching the sunrise.

I shared my cabin with some other residents, though I was supposed to have a single room. There was Larry the Lizard, Harry the Bullfrog, George the grasshopper and his extended family and finally Hermin the Ferret House (rat really). Hermin had this habit of stealing my little bars of soap so kindly provided by the cleaning staff every day. He only liked the manufactured soap, natural soaps were not to his taste. And on occasion a curious macac monkey would hang around the cabin at night, it's green eyes glowing in the dark.





Cottage #3, also called Hibiscus, before tsunami




Cottage #3 after tsunami


Electricity was available during the day between 6:00pm and 11:00pm, provided by 2 generators on the island. The generators were old and cranky and had fits where they simply stopped working, so everyone carries torches just in case, and repairs were inventive as access to spare parts or a store to replace a broken piece is not an option. Goods deliveries were once a day by local longtail boat.

Internet access and phone connections were all via satellite, which is a little unreliable and extremely expensive to use. Besides the fact that there was only 1 laptop connected for guests to use email.

The island has a Sea Turtle Conservation project which monitors for turtle laying very early each morning. One of the volunteers, Rebecca, gave me a great introduction to what her work and the Project was all about. In the little pool under attached to the Conservation Project 3 baby turtles were being reared, and would later be released to the sea.




Sea Turtle Project

Yoga classes ran from 7:30am - 10:00am and from 4:00pm - 5:30pm and were held on the outdoor yoga deck which faced the beach. Each morning we faced Sunrise to start our yogic day :-)



Yoga Sala where yoga sessions were conducted morning and evening

Long-tailed macac monkeys, who are native to this island, seemed to find us a curious sight. Each day they came down close to the yoga deck and sat a little way off 'watching' us while eating their early morning breakfast of coconuts. They ran up the coconut trees to throw coconuts to the ground, then they peeled off the outer layer of straw and used a rock or stump of a tree to crack open the coconut for it's delicious milk and flesh.

In the center is Savannagh like area. Originally it was tropical forest like the rest of the island, but it had been mined for tin, leaving a flat landscape which now looks like the African Savannagh with sand so white and fine it's nearly blinding in the mid-day sunlight.



Savannah region in the center of the island

One day off from Yoga took us to the Surin island where snorkelling is about the best in the world. I'm sure I found the Garden of Eden, it's under the water in the Surin Islands. The coral is absolutely magnificent, with gardens of all different kinds popping up everywhere you look. Reef life is abundant and it's fascinating to watch fish fight for their terrirtory, defend their young or simply feed off the corals.

I saw my first black tipped reef shark - about a meter long but still just awesome. I'd been hoping to see one and had come close a few weeks earlier when we were snorkelling around the Ko Phi Phi are, but though I saw after that one I missed seeing it.

Around the Surin islands are small villages of Moken Sea Gypsies. These people are a seafaring culture, about 1000 years old who live on their boats. Only coming ashore to temporary stilt villages by the oceans edge when there are storms or it's not the fishing season. They have a distinct language and roam around Thailand and Burma as they have always done. As a result they really don't have any citizenship. However Thailand recently has begun issuing those Moken who can speak fluent Thai with residency cards.

Visiting one of the few remaining Moken villages on the Surin islands was a humbling experience. People survive here with even less than I carry in my backpack. As their lifestyle is threatened by the approaching tourism Thailand has created a barrier by creating the Surin National Park, stopping local Thai from fishing these waters so that the Moken can continue their traditional lifestyle. We were one of only a very few visitors who go to this particular island to visit with the Moken.



Moken village Ko Surin Island

After ohm'ing and yoga'ing for 8 days I don't think I've ever been so flexible or relaxed in all my life. Now if only I can keep that feeling going ;-)

So for now, Namaste, Happy XMas, New Year, Hannuka and all other celebrations.

UPDATE: I wrote this from Patong Beach shortly after the Retreat ended. I stayed on Patong Beach until 22nd December, going to Bangkok on that day. On December 25th Jeff and I flew to San Francisco. Needless the ensuing weeks were terrible. The tsunami had taken everything I had experienced away in it's wake.

Heading to an island in the Andaman Sea for Yoga

I had been lookinig forward to the Yoga Retreat on Golden Buddha Beach for a long time. An email from the Yoga teacher had let me know that about 30 people would be taking part. Wow. I had only expected about 10 - 15, this was way more Farang together in the one place than I had anticipated or had been around in a long time.

One description of GBB goes "Golden Buddha Beach is a sweeping green lawn under the coconut palms overlooking a serene bay with two gem-like islands. A remote island where the wildlife population far exceeds the human". And it's true.




I can't improve on the descriptions already about GBB so here's more:

"Koh Phra Thong, so the story goes, is named such because the hidden treasure of the Golden Buddha is buried on the island. Apparently many years ago, pirates came here and hid the solid gold statue of the Buddha. But the question is, does it still remain hidden?

Fishing is an important industry for the island. The island has three fishing villages and they are reliant on the resident squid, shrimps and jellyfish of the Andaman Sea for their livelihoods. A famous delicacy is gabi, (fish paste) where at certain times of the year, shrimp appear near the beach, where the boats scoop them up in their spool like nets. Islanders then ferment the shrimp into a paste and they will trade it on the mainland.

Communities on the island prosper and in recent years, the local government enlarged the three schools, one for each village. Every year, volunteers conduct conservation classes in the schools, sponsored by Golden Buddha Beach Resort. This ensures that outsiders' influence and impact is as positive as possible."

THIS IS THE POST I HAD PREPARED BEFORE THE TSUNAMI HIT THAILAND.

Clubhouse Before Tsunami






Clubhouse After Tsunami - view of pond





Clubhouse After Tsunami - Entire building is gone

Rented a 4 wheel drive for a day

We rented a 4 wheel drive truck and took off to tour around the area and specifically more of the beaches further along than Patong.

The first stop though was at the go-kart racing. It's so much fun and the karts are able to move pretty fast. Not like in the US where they are slow-karts, not go-karts. People don't normally sue in Thailand whereas the US fears that from any customer.

Ya Nui Bun near Kata beach was lovely. Kata beach is somewhat similar to Patong except it was way less touristy. It still had the umbrellas and chairs and the inevitable vendors but it didn't have the regretable girlie bars of Patong.

We had lunch at the Palms right on Kata Beach which was fine, if a bit expensive. But then I guess it is a bit more 'up market' than what we usually go for.

The most interesting beach was Nui Beach. Luckily we had a four wheel drive as the road to this beach was literally a dirt track and up and down-hill. We travelled along it at a snail's pace avoiding the huge pot-holes and other debris along the way. Finally at the entrance to our surprise it had a cover fee. And this was expensive. A whopping 250 baht each. Yet looking down on the beach it looked like it was worth it. So we paid up.

The beach had about a half a dozen very well spaced chairs and umbrellas. It was just about possible to catch the sound of a neighbors conversation on the breeze. Quite the opposite of most of the other commercial beaches. The entrance fee included a soft drink. The bar was set at the back of the beach up on the hilltop so it was a bit of a hike to get to it.

The sand on the beach was rough with large grains of sand, really good for an exfoliation actually. The waves came at the beach from two angles, and there was a large undertow. Close to the shore it took only moments to go from knee-high to shoulder-high water levels because of a steep shelf. I can imagine in rough weather this is not the place to be.

Despite the undertow and the steep shelf it was so great to swim in and against the waves.

As we left the beach 2 other tourists were enquiring about the entrance fee. They decided it was too much for them and began walking back up the steep hill. They'd left their motorcycle some distance away to walk the final road down to the beach. As we pulled out of the parking space we offered them a lift. The girl knew quite a bit of Thai, her companion I think was from France and had neither much English or Thai.

Later at the Guest House that evening we met Carl from San Diego, a new resident just arrived that day, and already 2 sheets to the wind. Jeff stayed and chatted with him while I went up to pack and shower. Later joining them for a glass of wine.

Carl used to be a Chief Petty officer in the Canadian Navy. As Jeff and I left to get dinner - some chicken soup at the local vendor's stand, relly good, I figured Carl would be completely soused by the time we got back.

Dinner was followed by stopping off at the Aussie bar Two Black Sheep for a couple of beers. To entertain ourselves we started playing a game of Eye Spy. I know, there must have been much more entertainment available simply with the passing crowds, but you get really really tired of watching the white Farang guys with the tiny Thai girls attached to their arms. Most of our game was around the signage we could see. It's amazing how many signs there are in this partular part of Patong. They tend to actually obscure what they are attempting to promote as they make little or no sense in lots of instances.

The King's birthday celebrations

Dec 5th is the King's birthday and official celebrations take place all over Thailand. Restaurants are open but Bars are closed. It's strange to see the tourist bar strip area in Patong closed and quiet.

However the hotels with restaurants could keep their bars open so we headed for the Lamai and it's nightly music. Well that's what we thought. As soon as the band started up playing the local Police came into the restaurant/bar and told them to stop. I guess you can't play on the King's birthday.

Taking a trip to Ko Phi Phi island

Jeff's arrived down from Bangkok ready for a break away from work. As we'd had such a lovely time in Ko Phi Phi the last time we were there we decided that's where we'd go for a couple of days away.

It's easy booking the tickets and making all the arrangements. But don't get too impatient when the minibus that takes you to the boat is 45 minutes or more late. We were up at 6:30am, ready and waiting by 7:00am. The minibus decided to arrive about 7:40am. They had to hold the boat at the pier for us for 15 minutes. At least they held it, anywhere else I think it might just have taken off on time.

Knowing the accommodation is pretty slim on Ko Phi Phi we positioned ourselves to get off the boat first and made a beeline for the Pavilion Resort Bungalows. It was worth the effort. Once we checked in we returned to put our valuables in the reception lockers and at that point they were turning customers away because they were full.

Swimming on the beach again was just amazing. That evening we went in search of our favorite Beach bar. The bar is litterally on the beach, has straw mats set in the sand and candles lit to see by. Sadly it wasn't there anymore and worse, had been replaced by it's evil twin. Someone had taken the casual beach bar idea and spiffed it up, made it popular and destroyed the original idea and atmosphere.

Later on we ate at Salsa & Pepe and figured out a snorkelling trip for the next day.

To our surprise the next day the snorkelling boat was big. We'd expected a little speed boat, but this was comfy and the crew were great. We snorkelled off Monkey island, Phi Phi Ley. The visibility and coral reefs were not the best, but we did manage to snorkel through the Viking cave, timing the swim-through to co-incide with the waves crashing through the cave hole.

That evening we had dinner in the muslim district of Ko Phi Phi. Boy can they make hot (ie bird pepper hot) food. I could nearly see the steam coming out Jeff's ears. After dinner we sat at a new beach bar we found, had a Samsong set and watched the night crabbers at work.

The following day we rented some Kayaks and took off to do our own little snorkelling tour back to Monkey beach. This time we saw an absolutely huge Parrot fish, a really long Flute fish. In the evening we had Pizza, ice-cream and beer - what else!

The next day we made the reverse boat/minibus trip back to Patong. The boat trip was just gorgeous, sitting up on the top deck for the nearly 2 hours it took to get back to the mainland. However finding our minibus for the final leg back to Patong was pretty difficult. To find your minibus you gave the tour guide the village you were going to, he then shouted out the village name and the driver of the bus to that village raised his hand for you. But the tour guide guy was surrounded by everyone who had just got off the boat. Hundreds of people, it was utter chaos. We did get the right minibus finally and headed 'home' to Patong and the iNet Guest House.