AN ESCAPE TO 'THE ISLAND'

 

AN ESCAPE TO THE ISLAND

By Ajith M S

 

Trying to find sleep inside a crammed budget airliner is a task, especially when your tummy is filled with excitement and heart empty enough to fill countless memories, hence the time was ripe for a cinematic gaze into the serenity of the dark skies through the window while it whisked us through boundless darkness across the Indian ocean.

Into the heights of it, we were greeted by the pilot, “good morning ladies and gentlemen we are now cruising at an altitude of 32,000 feet at about 780 kilometer per hour,  we will be commencing our descent to the Don Mueang Airport, Bangkok shortly“.

Don Mueang Airport is Bangkok’s oldest airport that serves budget carriers exclusively, it does save a lot on flight charges if we book our flights to Don Mueang than to the posh and busy Suvarnabhumi airport of Bangkok.

Choosing Don Mueang or DMK also comes with another advantage, the queues for visa on arrival and immigration there are shorter and easier to traverse, but even then our queue stretched a couple of hours but finally, we were stamped to enter the The Kingdom of Thailand.

What is most exciting was the fact that the only thing that was planned for this trip was to get to Khao San Road in Bangkok and the rest was to be decided from there leaving much space to explore beyond the ‘guide-books and ‘travelogues’.

To get there, 'Limobuses' is the best option, despite the 150 baht price tag that they carry, they are comfortable for the 45 minute journey through the freeways and the metropolis dotted by tall skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes of grandeur.

After the long cruise the coach finally arrived at a place that was dotted with the familiar sights of backpacks, travelers and hostels, yes we have reached Khao San Road, the converging point of travelers for entire southeast Asia, it is where most of them meet, plan and start their journey from. This crowd is not limited to Europeans and Americans with their backpacks it also extends to travelers from the farthest and closest points of Asia and Africa too.

This one kilometer long street, preps you up for your journey and also gives you a glimpse of what Thailand is. The street has accommodations from small bed only accommodations to three star hotels, there are also eateries, that serve everything from Indian to Mexican. By then “Sawasdee Ka” had got into my conversations, it is the Thai phrase that is used to greet people and the same phrase is used while bidding adieu also.

Khao San Road is a destination by itself, in the morning it has all the elements of a calm and quiet holiday destination but by night it transforms into a hotbed of fun, busy with street food joints and clubs.

For our morning we found a red walled oriental looking Nat café run by Mian, with her peaceful smile. Mian amazed us with her memory, she greets every traveler with a greeting in their language, her memory was so strong that she even remembered an American and his choice of breakfast eventhough his last visit was a year ago.

She was quite impressive for a person who meets probably thousands of faces every day, for us, Mian and her place gave the much needed break after the overnight journey across time zones.

With the time passing and night arriving, its lights offered us a different Khao San Road, bustling with crowds of all sorts, mostly travelers and happy faces who were club surfing and acquainting with other travellers.

There were plenty of street food vendors who even had fried insects including scorpions thoughtfully set up like lollipops in sticks selling for 20 Bahts each, but to our rescue there were food carts that sold ‘pad Thai, the famed go-to street food of Thailand, a stir-fired rice noodle dish rich in fish sauce, peanuts and pepper with a tinge of sweetness to it.

Outside of Khao San Road, the city of Bangkok was beautiful with its tall buildings illuminated with flashy lights, it was like the city was waiting to get dark. But our joy was in exploring the nature and its beaches so we retired to our rooms after booking a ticket to Ko Pha Ngan, the island.

Trip to Ko Pha Ngan was decided at Khao San Road since it was in the Samui Archipelago and was not really raining at that point of time and the cheapest way to get there was by booking a bus and ferry combo ideally by the travel company Songserm.

The first leg of the journey was by a double decked bus that took us to a place called ‘Surathani’ south of Thailand overnight, from there by late morning we were shifted to Don Sak Pier, the gateway to Ko Pha Ngan.

The sight at Don Sak was really inviting, it seemed like the perfect stepping stone to an island destination, a pier amidst limestone islands and blue waters, and it reminded us of nothing that we had imagined.

We were lost in the sheer beauty of the coastlines so much so that the long wait for the ferry and the time spent in the sea went unnoticed until we reached the Ko Pha Ngan we were mesmerized by the dreamy sights that surrounded us.

We were welcomed to Ko Pha Ngan by a gentle breeze of warm island air and by near empty streets and shops. Mostly due the fact that the island is home to just about 12,000 people and tourists crowd here only during the full moon or half-moon days for beach parties and luckily for us it was neither a half nor a full moon day.

The first thing on our list was a visit to ‘HUB sports bar’ a bike renting place that we had read about. To explore Ko Pha Ngan, renting a two-wheeler is the best option and HUB was the safest to get one from going by the reviews. We had also read about the dangers of hiring a bike on the island, as we have to pledge our passports to get one and there had been many incidents with the agencies charging a bomb even for minor damages and pre-existing ones, but at the HUB , a gentleman ‘Chai’ was a blessing for us, he gave us a good bike and even shared a coffee with us.

Ko Pha Ngan is pampered with the best beaches of this part of the world, beaches that are calm, with really small waves, rich in sea life, clean and shallow water. The most famous among them are the Than Sadet, Salad Beach, Had Yao, Had Rin, Baan Tai, Mae haad and Bottle Beach.

Going by the recommendations of the room boy where we booked our room, our day one, was for the famed bottle beach and since it was in the northern tip of the island we had to drive through the mountainous jungle which is a classified national park.

Much of the road was concreted but even before could thank the authorities for the smooth roads, towards the last leg of the ride, the road just ended abruptly. What followed was a muddy trail that doubled up as a water stream probably. What made it even more difficult for us was that the path ran slant by at least 60 degrees and the fact that I was riding a gearless scooter adding to the situation. It took us one hour to cover three kilometers of the final stretch, and what originally was just a bike ride turned out into a skiing expedition.

But what followed it made all the efforts worthwhile, Bottle beach. With just over a dozen people at the beach, it offered a post card like serenity devoid of any commercial activity and constructions. To cool off from the adventurous mountain ride, we went for a brief dip in the waters. It was as if the serenity stretched to the waters too, there were swarms of bright colored fish swimming right around us. It is one thing to see these creatures in the sea unlike in an aquarium, enjoying their freedom promised by never ending oceans, we will feel it, the ecstasy of liberation, in their eyes. And swimming with them was one experience altogether.

The beach also surprised us with its variety of birds. Also surprising was the fact that people usually take boat taxis to reach bottle beach, to avoid the treacherous ride, but we were not disappointed, after all, traveling is about experiences and adventures and not just a carefree nap on the hammocks. The return journey was equally challenging but was lesser in duration as it was an uphill ride.

We dedicated the next day for the much-talked-about Haad Rin. Reaching there was also challenging since the road that led to Haad Rin also passed through twists, turns and equally crazier climbs and drops. But Haad Rin was so much unlike the Bottle Beach, crowded and commercialized. This was largely expected since it regularly hosts the full moon party which is celebrated under every full moon night at beach bars in Haad Rin. The celebrations are mostly about loud Psychedelic trance tunes and dancing. They say that full moon parties attract over 20,000 tourists to Ko Pha Gnan.

But for us, the idea of a beach sojourns is its calm, idyllic, less crowded ambience and loud glaring parties were definitely not in the agenda so we had no plans of attending one and ironically our return flight was scheduled on a full moon day.

In the next few days we covered the north western part of the island. Which is preferred by divers and diving enthusiasts due to deeper shores. There also we had beaches like salad beach, a beach frequented by families, then Mae Haad and Haad yao  beaches.

Out of the beaches in the north west of the island, Mae Haad is a must visit, it is very scenic and has a small island, Ko Ma connected through a sand bridge. Easily one of the best photo perfect spots of Ko Pha Ngan it is also famous for the shades of trees right at the beach.

We met travelers who had come from other beaches to Mae Haad, just for a nap under the tree shades. Mae Haad is also great for snorkeling except on a high tide day.

But, I had kept the best for the last, it is the sunset at Ko Pha Ngan. Much has been heard and read about it, but what was there in front of my eyes was beyond them all, It was like a Dylan Thomas poem right on the horizon, the sun was raging his beauty against the night and he was not ready to go gentle into the dark. There he was, with all his beauty beyond even our imaginations.

It also gave the realization that travelling is not just about ticking off a bucket list or visiting the most number of places doing the most number of things, it does not come with a checklist, rather it is instead about feeling the place, about being at the place, being with its essence, it is about experiences and memories.

The sight of the sinking sun played a million times in my mind until it was time for me to board the flight back home. The thought of leaving this beautiful land, did prick me at once, but I did realized that beauty is impermanent, and if we are to call it beauty we should appreciate its passing too.

With all those thoughts it was time for another cinematic gaze out through the window which had the glowing Indian ocean under a full moon it seemed as if the light was still raging under the dark.