Matthew Blain

summer camp

I spent the last week in summer camp. Or something rather like it. I was in
Ko Phayam, which is sometimes billed as the 'last remaining paradise', as it
and Ko Chang (between Ko Phayam and Ranong town, not near the cambodian
border) are two of the few islands which have tourist accomidation but not
enormous amounts of it. After a two hour boat ride from Ranong (now twice a
day or more if needed) you end up at a tiny villiage on a small island. Of
course since we had let it be known where we were going, motorcycle taxis
were there to help the three of us headed to the opposite side of the
island. The 'road' was paved, concrete 3 feet wide, through the cashew
groves. The tree branches were mostly trimmed above the height of a
motorcycle rider, but not always, so ducking was the order of the day. They
dropped us off at the end of the road, near but not on the beach, with
instructions to walk on another 5 minutes. Yes, the promised bungalows were
there, not some empty expanse of sand nor a man-eating monster which
protects the islands inhabitants.

The beach has 5 sets of bungalows, with 4-15 bungalows each, and that's it.
So after the first day, my schedule followed the same pattern every day:
wake up, eat some food, swim, eat some food, read a book, eat, nap, swim,
eat, and sleep again. Often sleeping in the hammock since it is much softer
than the matress (which is filled with concrete or something) and doesn't
collect sand from the air like beds do on the beach, even if you take off
all your clothes and shower before getting in.

So that was my week. Today I took a motorbike back to the villiage, on to
the boat and back to Ranong town. After lunch and a hot shower, I went off
to Myanmar. What can I say? It was a half hour via longtail, I spent an hour
wandering around the southernmost villiage, which seems to have a large
muslim population (malay?) and came back to thailand and got another 30 day
visa. Now I'll probably head a bit further south, then north, then who knows
where...

--Matthew