The neutral zone

On Phayam I spent a lot of time just absorbing the goings on around me. When you’re in the Neutral Zone it’s recommended that, if you can afford the time, you take a few days out, go somewhere on your own with no books or television or other distractions. You should spent your time doing nothing in particular just paying attention to your surroundings and taking it all in. It’s recommended that you keep a diary of your experiences for later reflection. I learnt about the Neutral Zone concept during a change management subject at uni and it really resonated with me. Hence the name of this blog! For more information on the Neutral Zone look up Bill Bridges on the web or check out some of his books.

So what did i notice while just paying attention to my surroundings. Heaps! It’s amazing how much goes on around us that we don’t realise. Here’s a couple of examples of the types of things I noticed.

I was lying in my hammock in the late afternoon when I noticed a lizard climb part way up a nearby cashew tree. It would climb half a metre then stop for a few minutes and move its head up and down in a jerking motion whilst keeping its eyes fixed ahead on something I couldn’t see. Sometimes it would stop moving its head for a while and remain still but at other times it would jerk constantly. Eventually after several minuites it disappeared out of sight.

While I was watching the lizard I heard a loud buzzing noise above me. I thought it must be an insect flying around but I couldn’t see one. Then I saw it. I was an insect but it was hovering in mid-air a couple of metres above me near a branch on the tree. It seemed to be holding itself there for no reason I could tell. I spent a while glancing back and forward between the lizard and the insect. Then the insect suddenly charged forward and must have hit another insect since they both came falling rapidly towards me. Startled I tried to move out of the way but both insects managed to change course and missed me. I didn’t see them again after that. I presumed I’d witnessed one insect trying to kill another or some kind of mating ritual.

Paradise on Koh Phayam

On March 17 I left Ranong for Koh Phayam. The boat leaves at 9 in the morning. I had no interest in hanging around Ranong any longer than I had to so I got to the pier about 7:30am, got some breaky and waited.

I’ve been getting up pretty early for most of the trip so far. It’s still quite cool then and you can pack so much more into your day. By 11am it feels like I’ve spent a whole day wondering about and there’s still most of the day to go. Bonza!

It was a couple of hours or so on the slow boat to Koh Phayam. I’d been hanging out to get to this island since I left home since it came on very high recommendation from a couple of friends at home and it didn’t disappoint. Cheers Matt & Liv!

After we’d docked I thought I’d try my chances with a tout at the pier rather than walking around finding a place myself. One of the touts was a lovely young girl called Wan, who spoke good English and had a great smile. Sold.

Here’s a pic of Wan.

The bungalow I stayed in was on the sand just back from the beach. It also had a hammock which always wins me over. Here’s a pic:

I spent the next few days riding around the island on a motorbike. There’s a great 3km+ long beach on the west side of the island that has decent shore breaks so I did a bit of body surfing. The island is very underdeveloped. There’s a few bungalows tastefully spread out along the long beach and a very tiny village based around the pier but besides that it’s pretty empty. There’s no cars on the island and the few laid roads that exist are only wide enough for a couple of motorbikes. Most of the roads are sandy tracks. There weren’t many foreigners around although I would usually pass a handful, often playing volleyball, as I walked along the beach. The place I stayed has 24 hour electricity because they had solar panels but most places only power up for a couple of hours at night. The emptiness and tranquility of Koh Phayam is exactly what I was looking for.

One of the first things you notice on Phayam is the smell of rotting fruit. The main industry on the island is cashew farming. And there’s loads of the fruits that fall to the ground and rot. But the smell is actually quite nice and I’ve been wanting to smell it again since I left. Apparently the fruit is no good for eating but the nut is inside a shell which is actually the stem of the fruit. I’d never seen a cashew tree before so this was all very fascinating for me.

Pampered in Ranong

After Koh Tao it was time to head to a little known island called Koh Phayam off the west coast of Thailand. Peach had left Tao after a couple of days to go to a yoga retreat and Tess had left a day or so before me so I was flying solo.

To get to Phayam it was a boat to Chumpon and then a minivan to Ranong. Probably a good 8 hours or so in total. I got into Ranong too late to get the boat to Phayam so I booked into a sleazy looking, very weathered, hotel and set out to explore the town. There were some hot springs nearby so i headed to them. Several army personnel were hanging out near the springs. I think their base was nearby. I got to talking to them and had a good laugh. I was surprised to see they were able to have long hair (nearly shoulder length) and ear rings. They invited me to sink some beers and whiskey with them but I was starving so I told them I’d be back after I grabbed some food and had a dip in the springs.

The springs consisted of a public bathing area or you could go into a very plush looking health spa and use the springs in there. I’d yet to indulge in anything like this so I thought that as well as a spa I’d get a herbal thai massage as well. The massage lady was built like a brick shithouse. She asked me if I wanted light, medium or heavy. I was feeling pretty tough so I said medium-heavy. She then proceeded to treat my body like play dough for an hour. It was really good for teh most part except a couple of times when I laughed as she dug her elbow and who knows what else into some sensitive parts. I’ve only ever had one or two thai massages in the past since my leg muscles tend to be tighter rather than looser afterwards and this was no different. It’s probably more to do with my calves normally tightening up at the drop of a hat rather than the massage. Regardless I was so relaxed afterwards that I could have had a kip. But it was time to hit the spas instead.

There was one large spa that was surrounded by private rooms. I started out in the large one. The sign on the wall advised not to get in too quickly as the water is very hot. No shit. Apparently they can boil eggs in the water. After a couple of minutes I’d eased into the water and was resting against a super hot jet. The sign on the wall also advised not to stay in the water longer than 10-15 minutes at a time. Signs for saunas back home say similar things and I can usually go the distance or longer but this water was so hot I reckon I was lucky to last 7 minutes before I had to hope out. I had a pleasant head spin and tingles all over my body. Off to a private room where you could run a bath with the spring water. I spent a while in there relaxing and covering myself with water before heading out for another go at the large spa with similar results as the first time. There was also a sauna and steam room in the complex so I thought I’d try the steam. Crikey! If I thought the spa was hot the steam was insane. My head spin and tingles doubled and after a couple of minutes I was back in the large spa which seemed very refreshing now.

After an hour or so of hoping between large spa, private bath and the steam room I decided to call it quits. I headed to the showers and let the cold water run over me for several minutes. It did diddily-squat for my head spin or tingles. Nor did it stop the sweat continuously beading on my forehead. No matter I was still feeling very relaxed.

Outside my army mates had deserted me so I floated back to my hotel to change before heading out for a stroll around the streets. Ranong is pretty quiet at night. There’s a few bars and restaurants but not many people around. The kind of place I imaging most travellers only stay one night – if they’re forced too like me. So I grabbed a curry for dinner and headed back to my room for the evening.

Koh Tao diving

On the morning of March 8 we booked the next boat from Samui to Koh Tao. The boat was leaving in an hour which meant that we could almost make it if we packed our stuff up and checked out of our bungalow asap. Our free taxi arrived with plenty of time to spare which was great. The problem was Tess wasn’t anywhere to be found and she was supposed to be coming with. Eventually she was located and somehow between the ensuing shouting match between Peach and Tess they got packed up and we were about to jump in the cab when Tess realised she didn’t have enough cash to pay for her share of the room and Peach and I didn’t have enough to cover her. Conveniently the bungalow temporarily couldn’t take credit card either. By this time we were running really late and the cab driver was _very_ pissed with us. Tess headed down the street while Peach started what has since become a regular pattern of totally stressing out everytime there’s a remote chance we could miss any type of transport.

In a few minutes Tess returned, paid the remaining room bill and we headed off. The taxi driver’s silence was deafening. Within moments we were stuck in gridlock.

I’m always relaxed in these situations since there’s nothing you can really do but laugh. I mean the worst thing that could happen is that we’d have to catch another boat another few hours later. Pain in the arse for sure but hardly worth freaking out about. Peach didn’t see the funny side at all and I started a regular pattern of stoking the fire whenever we’re in a similar situation. (Just wait for my upcoming posts on Myanmar for more on that)

In the end we rushed out of the taxi, along the pier and onto the boat with a couple of minutes to spare. No point stressing at all was there?

The boat ride was ok but the real fun started with the search for accomodation. It seems everyone who went to the full moon party on Phangan headed to Koh Tao a couple of days later. So after a couple of hours or more walking around we’d come up with 2 options. One of them offered free accomodation if we planned on scuba diving with them. Sold.

And so began 8 or 9 days which pretty much followed this pattern:

• head out for a couple of dives at 8 or 9am
• come back in, eat lunch
• sometimes head out for another dive or two around 1pm
• come back in, lay on the beach until sunset
• go and watch a movie at a nearby bar

Originally I was just going to stay 4 days to do the PADI open water diving certification but I was loving it so much that I stayed on longer to do the advanced open water certification too. With the advanced certification you get to do much cooler things like go down to 30m (as opposed to 18m), do a photographic dive and do a night dive. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see any whale sharks which was one of the area’s big drawcards. Bummer. Still I had a ball and am looking forward to the next time I have a chance to dive.

Check out some of the underwater photos

Here’s a couple of my favourite pics:

The Thai Gold Coast

So after the full moon fallout I was on Samui (March 6). I often joke that Samui is the Thai version of the Gold Coast. Good if you just want to lay on the beach but otherwise pretty crap. Due to it being chock full of tourists it also costs a fortune. I’m convinced most Samui taxi drivers make more than their Melbourne counterparts. It’s a flat fee to go most places and not negotiable. The accomodation Peach was staying in was also 10 times more expensive than I’d paid in other parts (granted it had all the mod cons, but still) and it was apparently the cheapest they could find. The good thing was that we had a handful of friends from home there too which was fun. They were heading home in a couple of days so it was good to be able to hang out with them for the last time in who knows how long.

Unfortunately I got food poisoning for a couple of days. You’d think paying 3 times more for a meal than you would elsewhere in Thailand the food would be ok. Nope. Strangely I was ok during the day then at night it would be fever and associated toilet excursions. So it wasn’t much of an interuption in the end.

The day after I arrived Peach and I hired a motorbike and rode around the island. I love fanging around on the little 125cc bikes and usually always make a point of hiring one to explore the area I’m staying – except Bangkok. I don’t have a death wish. We didn’t really have a plan for the day so we started by visiting the Big Buddha which, except for a couple of waterfalls, is the only real tourist attraction on the island besides the beaches. Next we circumnavigated the island and explored a few tiny coves. We found a couple of really nice ones. At one point whilst walking around a rocky cove I interupted a couple on the verge of making sweet love. Whoops. I just looked straight ahead and kept walking whilst they rolled into a position somewhat less incriminating. Haha. We also discoved the upmarket area of the island. We presumed the wealthy business people (and taxi drivers) of the island lived here. Lots of very modern, very uber looking houses.

A short while into our ride we got a flat tire. Crap. I was having visions of wheeling the bike to the nearest repair place when about 20 metres ahead a woman with a street stall was motioning towards us. She’d heard the tire blow out and conveniently her hubbie was a backyard mechanic of sorts and would be able to get us back on the road in no time. It was almost too convenient really. Happy to be back on the road half an hour later we were thankful with the ease at which everything had worked out. It was almost too easy. In fact, we were right – it was too easy. A few hours later we were on the exact opposite side of the island from where we were staying and had just headed for home (since the sun was going down and we were supposed to meet everyone else for dinner) when the tire that we’d just replaced started wobbling violently. We stopped outside a travel agent who were the only business for a couple of km’s and wondered whether we could make it safely to the nearest town. All the time we were cursing the people that had rented us this dodgey piece of junk in the first place. In the end the travel agent rode his bike to the nearest town, found someone that could fix it and brought him back. We negotiated a fee, although in our position we didn’t have much sway, and he rode off on our bike returning 15 minutes later. Good as new. Phew.

After a testing ride home in which the adventure continued with a wrong turn or two and almost running out of petrol we made it back to our bungalows. Despite our fears that we’d missed dinner we made it just in time. So it was all good.

Full mooning

I took it pretty easy on the day of the full moon party on Koh Phangan (4th March). Chilling on the beach reading or marvelling at the number of beautiful people laying around me.

After dinner I wandered down to the beach and was surprised to bump into Peach and a bunch of her friends. Due to email problems I thought she wasn’t coming to the party and she thought I was dead. Haha.

I thought I’d kick start proceedings with a “special” shake from a bar up on the cliff at the end of the beach. I’d had these shakes last time I was on Phangan 18 months earlier and they’d had no effect. Unfortunately nothing had changed. Even after I downed two of them. Boo!! So it looked like I’d have to turn to the dreaded evil buckets to help blow my wig back. If you don’t know what a bucket is it’s literally a small bucket into which a 375ml bottle of Thai whiskey. a can of coke and a red bull get poured. They’re cheap as, taste rank and make you very messy. As well as being wasted drunk the coke and redbull make you so wired that you can’t sleep.

By the time I’d finished my first bucket I was rocking and ready for another. Cue podium dancing.

I’d lost everyone I knew and it was only by chance that I bumped into a couple of the girls, Jess & Dan, later on. They’d had all their stuff stolen. Ouch! To their credit though they decided not to let it ruin their evening and decided to bury their sorrows in a couple of buckets of their own.

By 8:30am I was knackered and ready to call it quits. I said bye to the girls and gave them my hotel details in case they needed a place to crash and walked back to my room to pass out. Due to those evil buckets though I couldn’t sleep and spend most of the day tossing and turning trying to will myself to sleep. I was supposed to catch a boat to Samui that morning to reunite with Peach and co but was in no state for that so I decided to stay another night and head to Samui the next day. Since Jess and Dan didn’t show in my room they would let everyone know my plans when they got back to Samui.

When I finally dragged my arse out of bed around 7pm and checked email the shit was hitting the fan. Apparently Jess and Dan hadn’t made it back to Samui and no one there had heard anything so it was assumed we were all dead (natural conclusion yeah?). Apparently the gang on Samui had filed a missing persons report regarding Jess and Dan (but not me for some reason?) and had been in contact with the Australian embassy about it. Bloody hell. Not exactly the wake up call I was expecting after the night before.

I knew Jess and Dan would be fine. I reckoned they’d probably met some people and were hanging with them or had found a room somewhere and were sleeping it off. So I did my best to send calming emails to the others. Then set out on foot and did several laps of Haad Rin looking for the girls. No luck.

Turns out Jess and Dan had rocked on to a jungle after party, ran out of money and been stranded on another part of the island all day. Eventually they were able to convince a guesthouse and the boat ticket seller they’d return in a couple of days so they got a room for the night and caught the first boat back the next morning. Overjoyed at seeing there friends again they were met with a frosty blast from everyone on Samui. After hearing of their return in the morning I jumped on the next boat to Samui and had a good laugh with Jess and Dan about the whole thing. No one else saw the humour in it. Maybe it’ll be funny in a year or so. Sure a friendly email to let everyone on Samui know what was going on should have been sent but since it wasn’t everyone involved now has a story they can tell for the rest of their lives.

Needle in the Koh Phangan haystack

At midnight on March 3nd I left Hua Hin on an overnight bus/boat to Koh Phangan to boogie it up at a full moon party. I arrived on the island sometime before 9am. Despite just getting a few hours of “eyes-shut-but-not-really-asleep” sleep during the night I was feeling pretty good. I was originally suppose to go and meet Peach on Koh Samui where she’d been since the day after we arrived in Bangers but decided to try my luck scoring last minute accommodation on Phangan instead – despite hearing that I’d be dreaming to find a room. I was up for the challenge though and crikey what a challenge it was.

I was determined to stay in Haad Rin – the part of the island where the party is held so I didn’t even give the other parts a look in. After walking, taxi-ing and walking some more for over 3 hours stopping and asking for available rooms at virtually every place in Haad Rin I finally found a room and the Tanyaporn Hotel. It was a decent room with a suitably inflated price for the party and had great views of the sunset from the balcony as the pic below shows. It was also a 10 minute walk from the beach so with any luck I might get some peace and quiet.

Luckily I didn’t have to haul all my gear around the full 3 hours I was searching for a room. Part way into the search a kind bungalow owner saw I was soaked in sweat and offered to watch my bags until I found a place. By this time it was really getting hot and I’d lost my earlier burst of energy.

In retrospect I should have waited until 11am before looking for a room. That’s check out time and a handful of places had rooms come available then. Lesson learned!

After checking in and freshening up I spent the arvo relaxing on the beach before crashing out in my room just after dinner. The long haul to get to the island and find a place took it out of me and I ended up sleeping for 12 hours solid.

Bridge over the River Kwai

On my last day in Hua Hin I went on a tour to the infamous bridge over the River Kwai and the Death Railway. Australia lost nearly 3000 men building the railway from Thailand to Burma. Being a patriotic Aussie I had to go and see it.

The first destination was a war cemetary for some of the P.O.W’s that died building the “death railway”. The sadness hit me as soon as I got off the bus – like a smack in the face. There was a section of Aussie graves just inside the excellently maintained grounds. It was pretty tough seeing those graves. I’d only looked at a couple when an old Australian guy asked me if I was Australian too. I couldn’t really speak but managed to squeeze out a “yup”. His voice sounded pretty croaky from emotion as he said “hits you pretty hard doesn’t it”. “Sure does” I replied. I was feeling emotional too.

Next we headed to the JEATH war museum. It was pretty run down and I think a new one is being built. It had photos of P.O.W’s and articles about them. I was surprised at how happy they looked. I guess in that situation you’ve got to keep your spirits up. Pretty amazing given their circumstances.

Next it was on to the bridge itself. Another sombre affair. Bigot Sam started talking about why wars are necessary and how victory is the only option but I was in no mood to joust with him so I turned a deaf ear.

After lunch we went for a ride on the train on a part of the railway. It was pleasant enough but didn’t excite me that much. Although I did wonder if we were going to fall into the river just after we left the station since the train was creaking, grinding and groaning as it snaked around a part of the track built into the river embankment.

Bigot Sam

On the day trip to Sam Roi Yot I met Bigot Sam. Bigot Sam is 71 years old and doing pretty well for his age I must say. Sam is a self-proclaimed “Great American” from Virginia. Throughout the day he talked in great detail about his life and his views.

Bigot Sam professed to want to treat all people equally but the problem as he said it was that due to a “genetic defect” all blacks and latinos are “fuck ups” who are “power hungry” and only thinking of themselves rather than the greater good. He also considers George W. Bush one of the greatest Presidents of all time and predicted that in 25 years he’ll be remembered as “the only one with enough balls enough to stand up to the muslims who are trying to take over the world”. Crikey! I’d never met anyone like this in my life! At first I kept quiet but as the day went on I couldn’t help but start firing back at him.

I helped Bigot Sam with an email problem after we got back to Hua Hin. You see he sends out regular e-newsletters to 90+ people sprooking his demented views. You can read his blog here. He shouted me a couple of beers to say thanks and that’s when I really got stuck into his views and assumptions.

Bigot Sam told me he hated being proven wrong. When I asked him to back up some of his claims with facts he told me that he didn’t like dealing with facts. (wtf!?) I pointed out that this was probably because they often proved him wrong – and he agreed!! For fuck’s sake!

One of his arguments was that the slaves originally brought to America were “the worst fuck ups in Africa – so of course the African warlords wanted to get rid of them”. I pointed out that Australia was originally a penal colony so by his argument we are a country of fuck ups too. He admitted that maybe he was wrong on that one.

Despite not drawing on fact to support any arguments he professed a desire to come up with a single sentance that would be irrefutable regarding his claim that muslims are taking over the world. I pointed out that he’d never be successful if he continued to rely on his (admitted) subjectivity. He accepted my point but said he was gonna work on it anyway.

Despite being an absolute fool Bigot Sam when it came to the use of any kind of rationale he was a nice guy. I think he enjoyed the debate with someone who knows a thing or two about history and world politics. Looks like my undergrad degree is finally paying dividends. He was very impressed when I told him political science was one of my majors.

There was a great few minutes where a U.S. expat who’s live in the Philippines for 20 years joined the conversation. He was the total opposite of Bigot Sam and started talking conspiracy theories about how 9/11 was the act of the U.S. government, possibly involving powerbrokers within the oil business. I was having a ball sitting in the middle stoking the fire between these two.

Interestingly neither of them minded Americans losing jobs to overseas companies or the havoc that would be caused to the U.S. ecomony if GM or Ford went under. Sam’s message to people in this situation was “fuck ‘em, they can get another job”. Economic ruin was fine to Sam because even though it could have much worst effects on many more peope at least it wasn’t violent. Speaking of violence Bigot Sam’s also a life-member of the NRA and regularly donates to their kitty. I wonder what he’s got to say about the recent shootings in his home state.

Bigot Sam had been on the road for 3 months when I met him. He’s disenchanted with America. He was raised to live by the creed that “you don’t lie, cheat, or steal”. Apparently recently in America something’s changed and this creed isn’t being observed anymore. (Only recently?) So Sam’s on the road on a mission to find true love. He has no plans to return home.

In one attempt at finding love he was on a train from Malaysia to Thailand when “the prettiest girl you ever saw” walked past his carriage. He invited her in and eventually one thing led to another. When he got her skirt off she had a dick. Haha! Apparently nothing like that had happened to same since he was in the Navy.

Regarding love Sam doesn’t mind if he meets someone who doesn’t love him or is just in it for his money. As long as he’s in love with her. That’s the important thing. Bloody hell!

Bigot Sam gave me enough material for a dozen dinner party conversations but I’ll leave it there for now.

A cave and a farm

While in Hua Hin I did a day tour to the nearby Soi Roi Yot national park. We caught a slow boat from the mainland to a nearby island passing a couple of fishing villages on the way.

When we got the island we had a sweaty half hour climb up a steep path before arriving at a cave called Tham Phraya Nakhon. The cave was amazing. Much better than the two I’d seen a couple of days back in Phetchburi. There was an opening in the hill above the cave so that enough natural light and water got in to allow vegetation to grow. In the base of the cave there was a golden shrine. I would have been great to be able to stay in the cave overnight. The cave itself has been visited by three Thai kings so it’s held in high esteem by the Thais.

After visiting the cave we had lunch on a farm. After lunch our guide showed us around and explained the different types of produce grown there and various harvesting techniques. Very interesting stuff. There’s no irrigation except for natural rainfall. The owners are mostly self-suffiecient which is handy because apparently they make very small profits. Some of the produce grown included: rice, banana, pineapple, chilli, jackfruit, eggplant, herbs, coconut. They also had a few kinds of livestock, including fish they kept in a pond. Impressive!