This was to be a pitstop to drop off our garbage, replenish our fruit and vegetables and enjoy a meal at the marina restaurant. However, two unforeseen events materialised; after staying onboard for an hour or two to observe how we sat at anchor relative to the other yachts with the current, tide change and wind, we were ready to dinghy ashore when a number of thunderstorms passed over, packing winds of 30-33 Kts, accompanied a deluge of rain.
By the time the storms had subsided, it was too late to replenish our supplies and it was more prudent for one of us to remain onboard, given the unpredictable weather. So, change of plan, dispose of our garbage and get takeaways for dinner. There was just one small snag with the latter; there wasn’t a restaurant to be found anywhere in the marina.
After querying a few cruisers, Roy was then pointed in the direction of the “best, more expensive restaurant”, located outside the marina complex and a fair walk to get to. It wasn’t long, though, before he discovered that the only choices available were beef burgers and various pizzas, with steak, lamb chops and kebabs as the additional option for in-house dining. Guess it had to be a burger each, as we’d made pizzas onboard the night before; not Elaine’s favourite meal, but “beggars can’t be choosers”! However, we were rewarded with a stunning sunset, our first since leaving the Langkawi archipelago in Malaysia.
Elaine, in the interim, had enjoyed a nice long chat to her folks in Ireland, not realising just how far Roy had to walk to get something for dinner. On hindsight, cooking onboard would have been a far easier option. Roy did get the opportunity, though, to chat to Richard, off Charon, after spotting him on the dock and got the scoop on the services available in the nearby village, albeit it limited, including laundry facilities, car hire, fruit stalls, the grocery store, etc.
This morning, Roy was up early to combine his exercise walk with a walk to the village, in search of fresh produce and the services Richard had mentioned. Not realising just how far this walk was too, he opted for a return ride in a “songthaew”, the only excitement for the day, but not before he’d purchased mangoes pineapples, pawpaws, passion fruit, bananas, apples and fresh prawns, the latter for another Thai Pad dinner, all at a ridiculously low price.
By the time Roy returned, Elaine had surfaced, but it wasn’t long before we both returned to bed for a late morning nap. At least Elaine had an excuse being a Sunday and her usual medication “off day”, but clearly the heat, combined with a slightly more active lifestyle, compared to sitting in a marina for months on end, has left it’s mark as well. We did, however, manage one or two chores today, including untangling our davit lines that get twisted from time to time and, after Roy’s reconnaissance, we decided to explore the little town near the Ao Po marina first, before deciding which of these two marinas we’ll use as our base moving forward.
Our specific plans for the day, however, weren’t affected, as we still ran the watermaker while enjoying a slow motor across the bay and Elaine used the time to get the laundry done. By the time we arrived, we’d managed to get a few extra chores completed too.
By then an afternoon nap was in order, although Elaine enjoyed a meditation session beforehand, followed by sundowners on the foredeck, dinner and a movie. It was over a dinner of barbecued chops, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, however, that this exchange took place: “Is it just me or do these potatoes have a peculiar taste?”, at which point Roy burst out laughing and asked: “When you put the potatoes in the shopping basket, did you actually check the label to make sure they were potatoes?”. Completely clueless Elaine replied: “Ah, no, they looked like potatoes, so I just lifted a bag!”. Clearly, given that it had been more than a year since Elaine had accompanied Roy to do any kind of grocery shopping, she was a little rusty and we now have no idea what vegetable we are actually eating. It has a taste combination of a potato, a sweet potato and a yam and is definitely not to our liking, but there’s a whole packet of them to be eaten, so guess we’ll be acquiring the taste, no doubt!
Yesterday saw the start of the bad weather arriving, particularly the rain, as we’re well protected from the wind. The jury is still out on the swell, though. So far we’ve had a slight swell; less than a foot, but the forecast keeps indicating something higher.
The day did brighten up, however, allowing us to get a few small projects completed off the list of “things to do when we have the time or inclination“. Yesterday those included the replacement of the velcro strips on the cockpit cushions to secure them properly and redoing some of our labels around the yacht which were looking decidedly tired and worn. Today we replaced all the bungee chords, again, on the sunscreens and side-skirts. We haven’t been able to find decent bungee anywhere since leaving Australia, but fortunately one of the chandleries at the Boat Lagoon marina had a better quality supply. Roy, however, also had to tackle a persistent gremlin on Paw Paw with the generator. After replacing the lift pump for the second time, we had hoped we’d eventually resolved the issue and it appeared we had until this evening when it started to splutter again, albeit briefly; We’ve done everything possible to troubleshoot this problem, including blowing all the fuel pipes to ensure there were no blockages and polishing the fuel to ensure we weren’t dealing with dirty fuel, but everything came back to the new pump we had installed less than three months ago, or so we thought! Now, the only other explanation could be that the return valve is faulty. If that doesn’t solve it, it can just splutter away!
A nice long chat to Elaine’s sister in Ireland, a chat to Craig, off Il Sogno, in Malaysia and watching the second half of our movie from Wednesday night wrapped up our day.
With more rain overnight, we woke to a lovely cool morning today, albeit overcast, so Elaine enjoyed her stretches on the foredeck before breakfast and then found a nice cool, breezy spot in the cockpit to while away her day, although she did surface to get back to her painting and we enjoyed a nice late afternoon walk on the beach.
Roy spent the remainder of his day continuing his efforts on the next release of the Anchor Plus application, working with his “band of merry sailors” around the globe; Ronnie, off Campechano, in Puerto Rico and Bas, off TiSento, in Spain. Our thanks go out to both of them for their help, perseverance and persistence.
The one we were able to see at high tide this morning, though, was a cutout cove surrounded in the same limestone cliffs and lush vegetation, but with a sandy white beach to one side. It was actually breathtaking, it was so beautiful.
The Thai translation of the word “hong” is “room”, but the naturally created “hongs” are described as “a secret, hidden garden, with a beautiful and peculiar landscape to explore; a sanctuary within the limestone karst islands of the Andaman Sea” and that is exactly what we had the good fortune of enjoying today.
Geological, however, they are sinkholes within the rugged karst cliffs, which create a unique lagoon, that can be up to 300 metres in diameter, supporting a unique and thriving ecosystem, as the lush vegetation gets plenty of rain and sunlight through the open “roof”, which in turn supports monkeys, birds, insects, lizards and snakes, while crabs and fish thrive in the lagoon. Unfortunately, these are also known collection locations for bird’s nests.
However, it’s not only the “hongs” that provide the spectacular scenery of this area. It’s the myriad of “toothy karst peaks”, providing the most striking and interesting rock formations, together with the colourful, dense jungle in which they are clad, rising dramatically out of the sea, the latter varying in colour from a deep jade to shades of blues and turquoise, as well as the unusual bird life we’ve seen. There was also, however, a rather odd, if not creepy, setup we saw in one of the caves and decided not to linger.
In between our dinghy excursions, it was baking day on Paw Paw, which resulted in a loaf of bread for Roy and a gluten-free banana loaf to share. This afternoon we also enjoyed a lovely long walk on one of the nearby beaches and we swam of the back of Paw Paw; twice today!
We were definitely immersing ourselves back into our sailing lifestyle, but, as Roy rightly pointed out, it was: “a pity we’re having to enjoy it in isolation”!
Of course, this meant we enjoyed a wonderful downwind sail across Phang Nga Bay to our chosen anchorage for the next few days on the northeastern coast of Ko Yao Noi and passed the Ao Phang Nga National Park en route, with its stunning monoliths.
Rounding the north end of Ko Yao Noi, the scenery was just as stunning and we were pleasantly surprised at the setting of the anchorage; with a monolithic cliff-face to the north, the bay has a white sandy beach fronting the Paradise Ko Yao Resort, were a bungalow would ordinarily cost around $350USD per night and a treehouse villa $400USD, but due to the pandemic, one can now get a room for $100USD per night.
It was lunchtime by the time we were anchored. So, lunch in the cockpit was followed by an afternoon nap before we eventually got to swim for the first time in more than a year, but swimming in clean, clear water again was simply fabulous!
After nearly a month in the marina on Phuket Island, however, we did learn about a number of Thai customs and traditions, including the “wai”; the Thai greeting, consisting of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. With no clue on what was appropriate in using this gesture or in responding to it, research revealed that, once again, we indeed have it all wrong initially; we were waiing indiscriminately, I’m sure to the amusement of those caught off guard, but were kind enough to return our gestures, nonetheless.
Having its origins in Buddhism and in the Indian Añjali Mudrā, like the Indian “namaste” in Hinduism and the Burmese “mingalaba”, the higher the hands are held in relation to the face and the lower the bow, the more respect or reverence the giver of the “wai” is showing.
“Waiing” is an extremely important part of social behavior amongst Thais and there are “rules” around this salutation. For instance, it’s performed on entering and leaving a home, it is commonly used as a way to express gratitude or apology and, for foreign tourists and other visitors, who are unaccustomed to the intricacies of the Thai language and culture, should not “wai” someone younger than themselves. However, one should always return a “wai” that is offered as a sign of respect, even if doing so is difficult for some or other reason; for instance, if you happened to be carrying groceries, one should still show the respect by making a physical effort to return the greeting somehow.
The word often spoken with the “wai”, as a greeting or a farewell, is "sawat di" and is usually followed by "kha" when spoken by a female and by "khrap" when spoken by a male.
With this newfound knowledge, at least, we redeemed ourselves before our departure.
After a brief stop at Koh Rang Yai and Koh Rang Noi, to survey the conditions, we decided to return to Koh Nakha Yai instead and, by mid-morning, we were securely anchored in the company of a few other yachts. Lunch and dinner in the cockpit were our treats, but receiving videos of the twins graduating from pre-school was the cherry on the top. It was hard to believe they were off to kindergarten after the summer and William would be going to “big school”. While Carter won an award for his creative doodling and indicated that he wanted to be a fire fighter when he grew up, Brayden won the award for the individual most likely to star in a movie. It was, however, his answer to what his favourite food was, that had us all in dismay: “broccoli”, although he didn’t get his nickname from Grandpa of “Mr Beans”, for nothing, while Carter earned his, “Mr Carrots”, too. We’ve never seen two toddlers munch their way through a heap of vegetables like they did and, apparently, that hasn’t changed.
This morning we were up early to enjoy our first dinghy exploration since October 2019 in Belitung, Indonesia, and what we found was somewhat saddening; a beautiful closed up clamping resort and a number of closed up restaurants and beach bars. In pre-pandemic days, these places would have been abuzz with tourists or day trippers and the washed up garbage fringing the high water mark would most certainly have been cleaned up; the latter a common denominator we’ve seen all over SE Asia.
A lazy Sunday in the cool breeze of the cockpit, under sunny skies, was, however, the perfect way to spend the rest of our day!
Roy did muster up a bit of energy, though, when he decided to cook up a storm in the galley, trying his hand at a Pad Thai; delicious!
Wednesday was also spent sanitising and stowing the last of our provisions, but we were both delighted to set this activity aside to enjoy a lovely surprise video call from Anne and Stuart, off Time Bandit, who’d made it safely to the Seychelles. It was wonderful to catch up, given that the last time we’d spoken, they were still in the Maldives and we were still in Straits Quay marina, Malaysia, and had no idea about what was about to unfold with the visa amnesty being rescinded. It was wonderful to hear about their adventures in Chagos and their very favourable views on the Seychelles; definitely destinations to look forward to.
We also continued to receive good news out of Arizona, in that Brooke’s dad was on the mend and they all had one remaining day of isolation. However, it seems “no good deed goes unpunished”, given that a video call from Keenan this morning revealed that he had contracted Valley Fever, a lung infection created by spores in the desert dust, acquired by spending too much time outdoors in the dusty, poor air quality, rather than being indoors in a COVID-19 infected house. Speechless! This, unfortunately, also ended up impacting his training and has resulted in his IOE having to be rescheduled until he recovers.
We also had the opportunity to catch up with William, who was riding his motorbike at dusk versus during the day, after getting too much sun from being outside in the pool for too many consecutive days. The twins were unfortunately sleeping again, as it was way past their bedtime, but we received great news regarding them; they have been assessed to start kindergarten a year earlier and will be undertaking their placement tests as a result. What was interesting is that Keenan and Brooke were asked if they wanted to split the twins up once they started school. Curious about the question, it was revealed that their weaknesses cannot be assessed as they compensate for each other; just brilliant! In the end, it was agreed to keep them together, at least for their first year, and to re-evaluate the situation at a later stage.
Yesterday morning we decided a walk around the neighbourhood was needed, followed by breakfast at Dean and Deluca. However, after Elaine’s unsuccessful attempt at being adventurous with her gastronomic selections during our previous breakfast outing at the Hardstand Café, we both opted for a straightforward breakfast special of bacon, eggs and a croissant. Of course, there’s always the opportunity for matters getting lost in translation, so, instead of Elaine getting well done fried eggs, Roy got one well done fried egg and one sunny-side up, which, needless to say, had us in fits of laughter by this stage. On the upside, we had a very pleasant walk before the heat of the day set in and, with the water being so clear, we could see the schools of fish by simply standing on the dock.
Then, while Roy continued his efforts on his Anchor Plus application enhancements, in between walking back and forth multiple times to the various facilities around the complex, including the chandlery and the marina office, Elaine spent her day clearing out, cleaning and sorting out our dry food storage area and was surprised to find that we actually didn’t have too many expired products onboard. It did, however, reveal that we were low on a few staple products like rice, gluten-free pastas and non-gluten-free flours, forcing Roy to make yet another trip to the grocery store, combining that with picking up the last of our laundry. Cleaning the cockpit fridge before stowing all the beverages was the last of the “spring cleaning” activities, but having all the clean throw cushion covers back on just seemed to make all the efforts of late worthwhile; besides looking all shiny and new on the outside, Paw Paw looked all shiny and new on the inside too, especially with the additional touch of some fresh cut flowers and, to add a pleasant aroma to our home, Elaine also baked a Banana Loaf.
Both tired from our day, we opted for a takeaway dinner from the Resort Café; a stir-fried chicken for Roy and a Pad Thai for Elaine, although both were presented a little differently to what we’ve had before; the chicken was minced and very spicy, while the Pad Thai was enclosed in something that resembled an omelette and consisted of various seafood, not just prawns. Tasty nonetheless! A movie night wrapped up another busy day.
Today we treated ourselves to another delicious lunch at the “9th Degree Waterfront Restaurant and Wine Bar”; “4 Balls on a Plank” for starters, which consisted of two items we recognised; goat cheese rolled in herbs and an onion bhaji with saffron. As for the other two, no clue! This was followed by “Khoa Soi Chicken” and “Lanna Gaeng Hang Ley”, both dishes apparently from the northern regions of Thailand. Unfortunately, with a commotion that occurred in between our courses, resulting in us having to move tables, Elaine forgot to take a photograph of our main course, beautifully presented again and scrumptious! We can definitely vouch for the phrase: “Dinner in Phuket blends the most eclectic tastes; Thai heat, Chinese blandness and Indian richness”.
The group of expatriate women who moved from the patio, not a mask in sight, laughing and shouting and blatantly contravening the very clearly stated rules regarding social gatherings of any kind on Phuket Island at the moment, ruined the outing somewhat, though, forcing Elaine to keep her mask on in between mouthfuls. As Roy said: “they’re just out having a good time”, but at the expense of other people’s lives, literally!
This behaviour of expatriates, however, is something we witnessed in Malaysia as well and it’s clearly a problem in Thailand too, to the extent that recently reports indicated that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had reached out to all the Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions to request the cooperation of their citizens to help fight this 3rd wave. Additionally, the Phuket News is consistently reporting incidences of foreigners being arrested for breaching the COVID-19 restrictions, especially holding parties or congregating with alcohol at various venues. As unpleasant as these restrictions may be and, for the likes of us, who have spent the last 18 months in and out of lockdowns in Malaysia, while Thailand enjoyed a very contained 1st and 2nd wave, it’s infuriating to see this behaviour when these people are guests in a foreign country. It’s acts like this that have consequences for all of us, as what happened in Malaysia with the visa amnesty being suddenly rescinded.
We also woke to the news that Keenan, Brooke and all the grandchildren had tested negative for COVID-19, which was a huge relief, especially pertaining to Keenan, since he’s been the one providing the direct care to Brooke’s dad, while the mom has been at work. The other bit of positive news was that the patient was improving too, given his temperature had dropped, although a followup COVID-19 test yesterday indicated that he was still positive and, therefore, had a few more days to remain isolated.
Elaine then spent her day working on our latest video, “Tantalising Thailand - Our First Few Weeks on Phuket Island“, which, unfortunately, had to have parts redone due to a copyright restriction on the first song she’d chosen to accompany the video footage. She, nonetheless, got it completed and uploaded yesterday. In between that, she received a video call from both Justine and her sister in Ireland, which was a lovely surprise and great to catch up.
After sorting out the shore power issue, Roy decided to cook up another storm in the galley by trying his hand at the Thai cuisine; specifically Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Scrimp Soup). Making a less spicy version for Elaine so she could, at least, taste this iconic dish and more spicy for himself, resulted in an absolutely delicious meal. Created from quintessential Thai ingredients like lemongrass, chilli, galangal, kaffier lime leaves, shallots, fresh lime juice, fish sauce, mushrooms and fresh prawns, Chez Roy excelled once again! Apparently coconut cream can be added for a creamy version, if one prefers.
Yesterday morning, with cooler temperatures and sunny skies, we enjoyed an early morning walk before settling down to breakfast at the Hardstand Café. This, however, was one occasion where Elaine’s adventurous spirit with the Thai food didn’t quite work out as planned; her meal of a smoked salmon and egg roti, which arrived with a huge side salad, was, in fact, a lunchtime meal and her face says it all. But, not harm, no foul; for lunch she opted to have a bowl of cereal!
We’d just returned to Paw Paw when we received a video call from Keenan and enjoyed another long chat to him and a quick chat to William while the twins slept. William was all delighted to show off his new motorbike and how well he’s riding it. The call ended when William had finished preparing both water guns, ready for a showdown with his dad and stating, with a twinkle in his eye: “Grandma said I need to make sure you’re dead!”, which, of course, I didn’t say, but that’s how my words of encouragement were interpreted, nonetheless, and had Keenan in fits of laughter and Grandma profusely denying all wrong doing.
Roy started his efforts on the next enhancements to the Anchor Plus application, although these won’t benefit any English speaking customers. Fortunately he has a number of cruising friends assisting with the effort.
Today, although we had cooler temperatures overnight, we woke to an absolutely sweltering day, but our plans for the day continued; running errands in our hired car in preparation for our departure from Boat Lagoon marina, including purchasing our fresh produce, topping up on a few other provisions, picking up and dropping off our laundry, Elaine’s followup appointment at the hospital for the allergic reaction to an insect bite and finally the mall. Getting back to Paw Paw by late afternoon meant we had a mountain of provisions to be sanitised and stowed, something Elaine decided to leave for another day, with the exception of getting the fresh produce put in the fridge or freezer.
Fortunately dinner was somewhat of a local fair; a salad accompanied by a barbecued rotisserie chicken we purchased on our way home from a roadside stall that we both regret not videoing or, at least, taking a photograph of. What an insight into local life and scrumptious at that, like many of the other Thai dishes we’ve tasted thus far:
Pad Thai, apparently the most popular street food on Phuket Island; a stir-fried dish made with rice noodles, eggs, tofu, fish sauce, shrimp, garlic or shallots, red chilli peppers and palm sugar, served with lime wedges, bean sprouts and garlic chives. This is definitely Elaine’s favourite.
Roti (Pancake) is the favourite snack or dessert, using various fillings like banana, chocolate, condensed milk, etc. We chose mango and banana, which was served with yoghurt, cream and honey. Yum!
Som Tum Thai (Spicy Green Papaya Salad) or Som Tum Poo Pala (Papaya Salad with Fermented Crab) hails from the northeastern region of Thailand and usually served with grilled catfish, grilled chicken or grilled pork. The classic version consists of shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrots, peanuts, dried shrimp, runner beans, palm sugar, tamarind pulp, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and plenty of chillies. When ordering this dish, as we learnt in Malaysia, specifying the degree of spiciness is extremely important and learning phrases like “Mai Pet”, meaning “not spicy” versus “Pet Mak”, meaning “very spicy”, will save your mouth from a fiery fury.
Khao Pad Kai (Fried Rice with Chicken) is another one of our favourites. Although it is usually cooked with pork, chicken or seafood and is always served with precisely three cucumber slices, we’ve enjoyed a variation of having pineapple added.
Kai Med Ma Muang (Chicken with Cashew Nuts) is another one of our favourites and vastly different from the Chinese variation. This sweet and flavourful dish consists of stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, soy sauce, honey, onions, chillies, peppers, mushrooms and whatever vegetables the chef has on hand.
Kai Yang (Grilled Chicken), a delicious takeaway meal, cooked on a tiny cart over a coal fire. Apparently it’s best eaten with sticky rice, “Khao Niaow”, which we didn’t know at the time, but finger licking good regardless.
Beef Massaman Curry is a rich, relatively mild Thai curry from the southern Thailand regions and was recommended by the restaurant owner during our outing to Old Town Phuket. It’s a fusion dish, with flavours originally brought to Thailand by Muslim traders from Persia, the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Archipelago, which are combined with more local commonly used flavours, to make the Massaman Curry paste. This is then combined with beef, coconut milk, potatoes and peanuts to create a delectable feast.
So, although, we’ve experienced a number of Thailand’s gastronomic delights, and there’s a number of dishes we haven’t mentioned, because, quite frankly, we have no idea what we were eating, there’s a few more yet to be sampled, like Tom Kha Gai (Chicken in Coconut Soup), a cousin to Tom Yum Goong, “Kuay Teow” (Noodle Soup), although we’ll have to remember the phrase: “Mai Nai” meaning “no entrails” when we decide to sample this particular dish. There’s also “Moo Ping” (Pork Satay) grilled over a little barbecue, similar to the chicken satays grilled throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, “Khao Ka Moo”, (Stewed Pork Leg with Rice), “ Phad See We” (Fried Yellow Noodles with Chicken, Pork or Shrimp) and not the same as “Pad Thai”, since it uses yellow noodles and no eggs, “Kanom Jeeb” (Thai Steamed Dumplings), “Yam Talay” (Spicy Seafood Salad) usually a combination of squid, shrimp, mussels, scallops or crabmeat, added to tomatoes, onions and rice glass noodles. Finally, there’s a dessert, “Kao Niew Ma Muang” made with sticky rice, fresh mango slices and sweet condensed milk. Definitely looking forward to this one!
However, the one dish Elaine will definitely not be trying, although Roy may well, is Gaeng Keow Wan (Green Curry), originating in central Thailand, and is the spiciest of them all!
