Last weekend we had an extra day of holiday so it was a three day weekend. We all wanted to make the best of our time so we booked a bus and went to Ko Samet which is one of the nearer decent beaches to Bangkok. It is not too far from the Cambodian border and is a teardrop of an island hanging half a. mile off the mainland. It is a 2 ½. hour drive and then a speed boat to the island. Since we arrived in the dark the speedboat journey is an experience by itself. However after about twenty minutes the engines slow and the boat swings into a bay lined with twinkling lights and jugglers throwing blazing sticks into the air. You collect your luggage and step off the back of the boat into a warm sea, with fine white sand crunching under your toes at every step. Soon you. have settled into your room and are sitting out in the open, under the night sky eating your Mussaman curry. You enjoy a beer and a bit of chat with your friends then set off to bed. Then the blood party animals start and the bass grinds on until 4.00 in the morning. By which time I was climbing up the wall. At one point I was out of bed and on my way to the disco to ask them to 'turn the bloody music down. Don't you know people are trying to sleep 'then I realised that I sounded just like Victor Meldrew and went and sat on a beach lounger instead. Then the sun came up. Everyone talks about it as if it is paradise, but we weren't that impressed (and it wasn't our age, the others had mixed views too!). The island is meant to be a National Nature Reserve but it has become very. degraded with litter and rubbish everywhere, especially behind the coastal stretch.
But there were highlights. The first was to get out of Bangkok as we live and work in the same place - our living room overlooks the school and I hadn't realised how claustrophobic it was until I saw countryside and the sea. Secondly we didn. 't have to get up at 5.30am and be in at work for 6.30am then work til 5.30pm, quick tea and then bed! Thirdly we went snorkelling. Neither of us had done this before but nearly everyone else had. We (14. of us) hired a speed boat for 3 hours and were taken out to coral reefs. I put on the mask and nearly freaked out as my nose was covered and I couldn't breathe. I think being asthmatic this was too much for me. But dad talked me through it and eventually I controlled the panic, breathed through my mouth and finally put my heasd underwater. Well I was just entranced - the life below water was fascinating - the colours and shapes of fish and coral and other sea life. So I snorkelled twice at 2 different spots and would do it again!
On Thursday we went out with Dad's workmates. He is really happy now - loves his work - in fact he feels that he is not doing enough to earn his money. He works with pupils and has always enjoyed building their self esteem so now that is. what he does all day and finishes and doesn't have to bring anything home including worries. And he gets paid more than me! So things are really looking up - he's not tired or stressed and looking relaxed.
So to today and to the Flight of the Gibbons. It was quite fantastic. It was provided by the secondary school as a team building opportunity for the new staff. However I was allowed to take Eunice along as my partner. We set off at 6.15 this morning in the relative cool of the early morning. The sun was just rising and it was already 28degrees. It was a one hour journey down to Khoao Khieo near to Chonburi and it was great to get out of Bangkok city once again and drive past horizons of steep wooded hills framed by palm trees and scrub land. When we entered the park, the buses were directed up steep, rutted tracks that wound into the hills.
We finally came to a halt in a heavily wooded area with the exotic calls of Hornbills and Laughing Thrush to complete the atmosphere of a tropical rainforest. We nervously collected together in an open-sided wooden hut and were introduced to our guides. The harnesses were then strapped round our bodies and we set off into the forest, climbing a steep narrow path that wove through the dense undergrowth. At one point one of our guides. shot out his hand like lightening and when he opened it he revelled a lizard trapped between his finger and thumb. One of the other guides whispered to me 'He comes from the north. They are very poor up there. They eat anything! '. The other guide, aware of our western sensibilities released the lizard which scuttled off comically, head raised and legs akimbo to live another day. Finally the undergrowth thinned and we stood at the base of towering rainforest giant. Spiralling up around the side of the tree was a staircase. It was like something from Tarzan. Eagerly we mounted the steps and climbed upwards until we reached the foliage of the canopy. A narrow platform was constructed around the trunk. We collected together and waited apprehensively, chatting nervously about what was to come. A zip wire was strung out across the abyss to the next tree. I glanced down to the foliage far below us. These really are tall trees. The view in front of us was breathtaking, treetops extending far into the distance before they climbed. a steep ridge and disappeared from sight. An eagle circled lazily along the ridge, riding the thermals of the sweltering heat. Cicadas buzzed and swifts swept past us, hawking for insects amongst the upper branches.
One of our two guides launched himself into space and swept across the void to a similar platform 50 metres away. Eunice was up first. Our guide clipped her safety wire to the zip wire and she nervously shuffled to the edge, her toes hanging over the platform. The guide repeated the safety instructions and Eunice carefully positioned her hands in the correct manner. She glanced back at me nervously at which point the guide gave her a shove and she was off. Feet dangling, adrenaline pumping and wind whistling, she sped across the chasm to arrive safely at the other side. When I joined her a few minutes later her eyes were still shining with excitement and the sense of achievement.
'Do you remember the time we went to the Tivoli Gardens on the Ferris Wheel?' She asked. I nodded remembering how as the wheel had slowly rotated she had clung to me as if her life depended on it.
'I never thought I would be doing this. It is fantastic. I wouldn't have missed this for the world. '.
Twenty three zip wires, 2 aerial bridges and two plunging abseils of 30 metres and nothing had changed our sense of achievement or exhilaration. As we both commented to each other on the trip back, new experiences, it's what we came to Thailand for and it isn't disappointing.
