10 April 2008 – 05:45
Ao Nang
After a disturbed night, I packed my bag and bode farewell to a relaxing stay in Khao Lang.
Our ferry back to Krabi was a relaxed few hours, soaking up the early morning sun on the top deck of the boat. From the port we took a short mini-bus ride to our last hotel together.
The Mild Bungalows resort, a mile or so back from the sea front, was a series of chalets set in a picturesque layout of lawns and fruit trees, almost like a Thai style orchard. The bungalows themselves were cool and comfortable on the inside with plenty of room and facilities. On the outside the bungalows had a small veranda with a chair or two outside, as with most of our accommodation; the chairs acted as a good spot to dry our towels.
We arrived at lunchtime, so took the opportunity to unpack and grab a spot to eat before we took our next excursion, this time to do a spot of kayaking.
After a short drive we arrived at a sheltered shore that faced a
long island about ¼ mile away, that presumably was the source of the shelter
from the ocean beyond. Once again we buddied up, as it was two people per
kayak. This time Christophe had pulled the short straw, and joined me. Each
kayak took some bananas and a couple of bottles of water in a dry bag, the
water was for us, but the bananas were not.
We crossed the open water at a leisurely pace, some of us getting about half way before we realised our guide had yet to start. We didn’t have to worry for long as he soon caught up with us and we all made our way to the island. The actual island was actually smaller that at first it appeared, and was a series of rocks and smaller islands bound together in a mangrove type of swamp. We followed the guide leisurely into the mouth of what looked like a small river, but in fact was a clearing of mangroves that channelled us into the heart of the island.
At first the kayaking was easy. We paddled in single file, taking it in turns to follow behind the guide, although kayaking came easier than others, in the main part we negotiated most of the twists and turns with ease. As we continued into the mangroves, the water became shallower and the roots more pronounced, making any manoeuvring more difficult. Occasionally we would snag a paddle against a root, or run too quickly and miss the best angle to make a good turn, and having to back paddle – much to the disgust of the people immediately behind!
As we ventured further still inside the island, the guide took us to an opening, not dissimilar to the pirate’s hideaway we had seen the other day. As we turned a corner round a particularly steep rocky outcrop, we moved into an enclosed rocky area that was sheltered and utterly peaceful (no Japanese tourists here!). We took in the scenery for a little while, and some grabbed the opportunity to take a drink. Although the kayaking wasn’t hard work, it was still very warm.
We moved on, exiting the same way we had entered the sheltered area, and weaved our way further round the island.
Suddenly we
weren’t alone. Through the trees we spotted at first two macaques who clearly
knew better than us what was to follow. The guide suggested we toss a couple of
bananas towards the monkeys. One caught the banana in mid air, while the other
missed the poorly thrown banana and dove into the water to retrieve the fruit.
Word had got round and within seconds all their friends had joined in.
Fights soon broke out, with squabbling and snatching left and right. A few more bold macaques jumped on to our kayak and grabbed my poorly defended bunch of bananas. With a successful smash and grab raid, I’d hoped the thief would return to his tree, but alas, decided that staying on the kayak was safer! More macaques followed suit and made similar moves of several other kayaks, as well as two more joining the first on our kayak in attempt to steal the bananas from his friend.
The chaos almost stopped as soon as it had started once the realisation that all the fruit had been taken. One macaque remained, and as it turned out was well known to the guide and tame by comparison to the others. He stayed much longer with the boats as we made fast our escape, with a few of the troop following us through the trees a little further before they lost interest and disappeared – presumably making plans for the next batch of tourists!
The friendly macaque eventually was let off near a tree, and as we continued the mangroves made way for more rocks as we negotiated our way out of the labyrinth back into open water. Recognising our way back, some of use powered ahead (unofficially racing, but more realistically just unwinding) back to the shore from where we started a couple of hours or so earlier.
Once back on dry land, some of us took a quick shower, and gratefully accepted some water melon before we jumped back on to the vans that would take us back to the Mild Bungalows.
Not all of us had chosen to go kayaking, but on our return, Katie shepherded us all together to go down to the beach front to a fish bar for out evening meal.
The restaurant did serve more traditionally prepared and served food, but at the front was a well presented selection of fish that you could point at to ask to be cooked the way of your choosing. Alas, I think everyone wimped out of that more “interesting” option, and instead stuck with the options on the fixed menu. We were seated in a open air part of the restaurant that was on stilts and sat slightly in the sea. If it was daytime, we probably could have seen the water lapping under our feet through the cracks in the wooden floor.
Thankfully night time saved us that view, but there was surprisingly little air movement, and the atmosphere was quite humid. The owners did put out a number of fans which helped a little. The food was ok; I chose shark steak that was fairly unremarkable and too similar to cooked tuna to feel special but was better than some choices. Felip on the other hand chose to have a shellfish platter with Katarina that had everyone taking note. They shared oysters for a starter course, followed by a mixture of prawns, mussels and calamari that I could see for their main meal.
After the meal, we all split up and wandered round the local market taking in the local sights and sounds and finding a few bargains along the route. Some left about 23:30 to return to the Mild Bungalows, while others enjoyed the rest of the evening after they found a bar. I chose not to go for more drinks as tomorrow was the scuba dive, and I was certainly not going to miss out on that.