Lazy Beach Days

Travelling in SE Asia had so far been a thoroughly enjoyable and truly rewarding experience. I had immersed myself in the cultures, eaten…interesting…local cuisine, and made friends from around the world. What this trip had not provided so far, however, was much downtime. While most of my trips took me to interesting regions and beautiful parts of the world, many (most) these places were also filled with suffering and such a significant disparity between our lives as Americans (or any 1^st world country residents) and those of these countries that it was hard to divorce myself from the depressed feelings they inspired. No matter how beautiful, it was hard to forget that the people around me were often living on less than $1 per day and didn’t even have access to clean water or housing. And, on the whole, I think that this is absolutely necessary if you are going to travel in SE Asia. Part of truly travelling is experiencing how the locals live for yourself and immersing yourself in that lifestyle (to a certain degree – I never gave up my fondness and preference for Western toilets).

But after almost 3 whole months living in that manner, I came to the point where I just needed a break and I said to myself: I wish I could just take a day off at the beach. Well, for our second full day in Phuket, Zenia and I did just that – we took a day off at the beach. As per our usual method of travelling, Zenia and I spent the first day of our trip sightseeing and exploring our location (sure, we did it quite leisurely by boat and even had our kayaks paddled by someone else, thus completely negating any physical activity on our parts, but it counts). On this second day, however, we decided that we needed to take a day off and simply relax, enjoy our time in this island paradise. After all, how could you visit the islands of Thailand without spending a day lounging on warm, white sand beaches and swimming in the beautiful blue-green sea? Inconceivable!

We arose early once again and headed to the docks for our second day out on the water. The day was once again cloudy and gray, although the rain had stopped before we arrived at the boat, allowing us a dry start to our day (relatively – this is SE Asia after all, a place that defines “sultry”). We headed out on the open water in a speed boat, flying across the sea at a breakneck pace. I suspect our driver was racing the other speed boats headed out at the same time and based on the rapid pace our boat adopted, we won. Soon, however, we broke away from the pack and our boat was racing around the myriad islands rising out of the water. Zenia and I rode in the bow of the boat, the best place to sit when in a speed boat, and thoroughly enjoyed the wind whipping through our hair as we anticipated our day of swimming and beach lazing.

Our first stop of the morning was at a white sandy beach. The beach was located on a large island boasting three jutting hills covered in trees and shrubs, all cradling a beautiful beach. The beach was clearly a place to relax and swim and was already covered in speed boats and people enjoying the water. Our boat slowly pulled up to shore and we all clambered off and into the water. The water was once again a glorious blue-green color, softened by the white sand of the beach and ocean floor. The beach was inlaid enough into the island to create a small bay with a gently sloping ocean floor, providing a wonderfully shallow area to swim. Zenia and I wasted no time finding a place on the beach for our towels and clothes and then hopped into the crystal clear water. The temperature was amazing, everything you imagine a tropical beach to be. Sliding into the water felt like sliding into a gently warmed bath and immediately all our cares and troubles slid out of our minds. For the first time, we were able to relax.

All too soon we were called away from this idyllic spot by our captain and we returned to the boat for more adventures – a tour of some nearby islands. One island in particular was pointed out to us as a location that had appeared in several films, although the only film I can remember it being in at present is “The Beach,” which I’ve never seen myself. The islands were beautiful, however, regardless of the supposed fame added by their cinematic history and the smaller size of our boat today allowed us to get a closer look at some of the soaring and sheer cliffs that predominate these islands.

We stopped at the base of one such cliff and were provided slices of stale bread. We were then told to lean over the side and throw pieces of the bread in the water to see the pretty fish. Well, as some of you may know, I have an irrational fear of little fish (I always feel as if they are going to bite off my toes, but for some reason I only fear little fish, those that could not possibly accomplish this feat – weird). I’m really not sure where this phobia came from, but it certainly seems to be here to stay and the experience of feeding these fish definitely did not help. As we all dropped small chunks of bread in the water, dozens, nay, hundreds of small fish appeared and ripped them apart. Small yellow and black striped fish (think clown fish, but with neon yellow and black/brown stripes) attacked the bread and decimated it in seconds. As soon as one piece of bread was gone, the group would disperse from the tangled ball they had become and would await the next offer of food. We stayed until all the bread was gone and all I could think about during this display was how easily fish could take over the world (or at least the ocean) if they all simply made a concentrated effort to work together and attacked boats. (Think about it.)

After fattening up those small fishes, our boat moved on to another rapacious and dangerous wild animal to feed (why, oh why were these people obsessed with feeding wild animals that shouldn’t be fed by humans??) – monkeys. After arduous research (typing the words Thailand and monkey into a google search), I have discovered that these monkeys were long-tailed macaques. While it might not seem so bad to feed a wild monkey, it is not really a smart move as these are wild animals that could easily spread diseases and so should not become too comfortable with human interaction. Nevertheless, our boat stopped along a cliff face on an island where ropes had been hung and where the monkeys knew to congregate in order to get free treats from tourists. We were each given a bag of food and encouraged to let the monkeys eat out of our hands. Being of a more practical nature and fearing a “Planet of the Apes” scenario, I relinquished my bag of food to others and stayed away from the scavenging beasts (killers). And after five to ten minutes, I was more than happy to move on.

Our boat took us a little ways out to sea and passed out goggles and snorkels to all passengers who wanted an up close and personal look at the ocean floor and inhabitants. I wasted no time grabbing my equipment and jumped into the water, eager to swim and enjoy ocean life. The water felt incredible – so warm it was almost hard to believe I was in the ocean. I have visited some other warm watered areas, namely Hawaii, but I’ve found that even in those places the water is always a bit brisk and never the temperature we imagine of exotic locales. Well, Thailand more than lived up to my expectations. I’ve never felt such a wonderful sea and I spent as much time as possible in the water before the boat moved on. Underwater I saw quite a few species of fish and was entranced by the sight. Unfortunately, however, it is hard to escape the obvious deleterious effect humans have had on this ocean environment. Perhaps at one time the ocean floors of Thailand were covered in beautiful sea life, but the burgeoning tourist trade (of which I was now a part) has taken its toll and beyond a few craggy rocks underwater and some beautifully colored fish, there is no life to speak of at a depth for the average snorkeler. While I enjoyed what I saw and the warmth of the water I swam in, I couldn’t help but miss the reefs I had seen in Hawaii that were covered in myriad plant and animal life, protected by the government from additional harm by visitors. Not so in Thailand, where no restrictions had ever been placed on tourists. Still, the experience was amazing and I loved the opportunity to see Thailand ocean life.

We docked for lunch at a large island where a small community existed along another gorgeous white sand beach. After quickly eating a rather forgettable meal (provided by the tour), Zenia and I began exploring the island shops before heading back to the beach and the boat for the final leg of our day. Our final stop was on the furthest island out on our trip. This island was a small speck of land, but unique amongst the many thousands of islands in that it boasted a large mountainous region occupying one half of the island, but pure white sands along the other half. The island’s entire purpose was for relaxing and enjoying the sun and water. The white sand was covered in low seated beach chairs and umbrellas and offered a full service bar along the base of the mountains. Of course, the chairs were to be rented and the drinks were ridiculously expensive (keep in mind, ridiculously expensive in SE Asia is about $3 per drink), but as this was our final adventure, Zenia and splurged. We rented two covered chairs and ordered a pina colada in a coconut for Zenia and a pineapple drink in a pineapple for me, complete with little flowers and fruit. The afternoon was amazing. The sky cleared just as we arrived on the island and set up our camp and as the temperature rose, Zenia and I would alternate between sitting on our chairs, listening to music, and relaxing in the sun and shade and taking dips in the beautiful ocean. We spent about two hours just sitting and enjoying the beach. It was blissful after three months of constant travel and activity.

It seemed like no time at all before our captain called our group back to the boat and we returned to Phuket. Not wanting to give up our day quite yet, Zenia and I hopped into our guesthouse’s pool upon our return, continuing our lazy day until the sun went down and it was time to shower and get ready for our evening. I wish I could now regale you with tales of a fabulous evening out, but in reality, Zenia and I put on some more dresses we bought in Cambodia, took a red truck downtown, and merely spent the evening walking around and enjoying the sights. We returned to our guesthouse somewhat early, exhausted from our lazy day, yet completely satisfied with our time in Phuket.