Page 102 - quebec
P. 102

Dear Ron,

           We drove around the island today. Most people
            rent motorbikes, we rented a car.  Well, not
            exactly a car. More like an overgrown golf cart.
            No sides, aluminum roof.  Thank god it’s not
            rainy season. Of course there’s the problem of
            driving on the wrong side of the road. And the
            steering wheel’s on the wrong side, too.

           The central part of the island is mountainous
            and wooded. So the paved roads mostly hug the
            coast. We drove past banana groves and rubber
            tree plantations -- little cups stuck on the
            trunks catching rubber sap.  Mangrove swamps
            fringe much of the island as do the villages of
            fisherfolk, who’ve built their tin-roofed homes
            on stilts out over the water. Aground in tidal
            flats, long-tails wait for high tide, their bows
            draped with brightly colored scarves. Every so
            often we pass a sign pointing out the tsunami
            evacuation route.

            In the afternoon we trekked to Had Yao Beach.
           We say “trekked” because there’s no paved road.       a guy was selling bottled water and soft drinks.  Two hundred yards
           There’s hardly a road at all. More like a mountain bike trail. After   up the beach, a young couple was sunbathing nude.  There wasn’t
            winding through the jungle for a half hour we reached a steep, rut-  anybody else
            ted stretch that disappeared over a rise ahead of us. We looked at the
            ruts. We looked at the big golf cart.  We parked and started walking.  Love
           Amazingly, Had Yao Beach was just over the rise. In 10 minutes we   John and Jody
            were swimming in the crystalline water. Behind us, amid palm trees,


                                                                 Hong island we spotted a guy camped out in an island cave about
                                                                 30 feet above the water. Don said that he’s harvesting the nests of
                                                                 the Swiftlet, a bird that roosts in caves and makes a home from its
                                                                 own saliva. The dried bird spit is the key ingredient in  “Bird’s Nest
                                                                 Soup.”

                                                                 We hung out in Lah Ding for an hour, snorkeling with schools of
                                                                 brightly striped Siamese Tiger Fish. We were trying to keep ahead
                                                                 of sightseeing crowds so when a long-tail load of Chinese tourists
                                                                 arrived Don took us to Nok Island for lunch and a surprise.

                                                                 Nok Island is just a tiny bump in the Bay. But hidden on a be-jun-
                                                                 gled slope is a trail to the top. “Steep” doesn’t do the trail justice.
                                                                 For most of the way we pulled ourselves up on ropes. We reached
                                                                 the top sweating and shaking 30 minutes later.  Don walked up
                                                                 the rocky trail barefoot, smiling. By himself, he can climb it in 10
                                                                 minutes.
             Dear Ron,                                           Our last stop was Yao Noi’s big-sister island of Yao Yai. The long
                                                                 white-sand beach at Hua Lam Haad is less than 2 miles from Yao
             We spent the day exploring those magical islands we’d zipped past   Noi but there’s even less development here.
             on our first boat ride. Our captain-guide was a Thai local with one
             of those mile-long unpronounceable Thai names. “Just call me Don,”  For nearly an hour we had the place to ourselves until another
             he said                                             gang of Chinese arrived and it was time to go.  In 20 minutes Don
                                                                 motored us up to Villaguna. It was high tide; he ran right up to the
             We got on his long-tail at 8:00 in the morning and didn’t get back   beach not 30 yards from our front porch. Just in time to idle by the
             until 4:00.  In between we visited Hong, Lah Ding and Nok islands   pool.
             and circled Pah Bea Yai and Pah Bea Noi, two massive chunks of
             rock that jut up out of the water like tree-covered skyscrapers.  Love

             These limestone formations hollow out easily and on the way to   John and Jody

            102    Wine Dine & Travel  Summer 2014
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