I finally have been able to forget what day of the week and what the date actually is on a consistant basis now. While in Phuket, I was able to keep with current events due to being in constant contact with cheap Internet access. Now that Super Information Highway is rare and not-so-super.
It began when I arrived in Rangon to extend my visa. Didn't do too much there, it's not much of a Big-time town, it was the final day of the Vegetarian Festival. Unfortunately, the followers here just don't seem as hard-core as the people in Phuket are. Aside from the lower number of "spirits" present (I only counted maybe ten people), these spirits didn't have any fresh scars on their faces (though I didn't check to see if anyone had sliced their tongue).
I did meet a Danish man named Preban. He married a woman from Bangkok and moved to this area about six years ago. Fortunately for me, he was also a biker. He took me out to the Rangon Canyon, a forty kilometer round trip. A few hills, but is getting me in condition for what I expect to experience when I roll up north.
After finishing the ride, I grabbed my stuff and jumped on a PT bus for Laem Son national park. Not much of a stop, though. The tsunami did a job along the coastline/beach, but there was not any commercial areas demolished. Supposedly, there are lotsa birds around, but I didn't see many. The next morning, I jumped on a bus and headed for Kaoh Sok again.
I only got a taste of this national park a month ago. It was just a weekend and I was only in the park at night for a lame hike. This time was great. The park is supposed to be older than the Amazon Rainforest and I can believe it. I saw the weirdest insects, plants, fungi, spiders and such. There are many waterfalls along the way.
As much of a great time I had in the park, half the fun of the area was outside the park. The river from the waterfalls form one river leading out of the park and along many of the resorts and bungalows. One of the places that I stayed in did a real nice job of landscaping. One particular bungalow was on stilts, up to the third story. One tree was rooted underneath the bungalow, but grew around the building and over the river. Within the tree were other plants growing. They were using the tree's branches as support and the roots would just fall downward. In front of the patio to this bungalow hung all these roots. The bungalow was empty, so I was just hanging out while it rained. I got the idea that this is what Tarazan would swing on to get from tree to tree. These roots actually felt like soft bark on a tree, no more than a half-inch in diameter.
On the other side of the river, another tree had other plants growing within it and was angled over the river. Eventually thru time, these plants grew and created a wall from one tree to the other. It seems that tree branches would fall from a tree, but a plant below would catch the branch and use it to grow outward. Eventually, a wall formed.
It rained each day I was in Kaoh Sok. I was able to do something in the morning, but after lunch, clouds would roll in and douse the park. After five days of this, I moved southwards on to Krabbi. It's been two days now, and the town has grown on me. There's a night market that busts out some great food. I've had this fish ceviche using chopped garlic, chili peppers, cilantro and lime. There's waffles on a stick, fresh fortune-cookies (instead of a fortune, there's coconut jelly), fried bananas, donuts, mussels and fried chicken.
I've climbed 1227 stairs, up 600 meters, to see a golden buddha on top of a hill. It overlooks the countryside, with nothing impeding it's vision.
Today, I took a cooking class. I now know how to make five types of curry pastes: Massaman (the yellow Muslim curry), Red, Green, Pagnan ( red curry based) and Jungle (red curry with many vegetables simmered). The teacher got carried away and showed us Pad Thai, Thai Fried Rice and Tom Yum Goon (sweet & sour soup).
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow... I'm still feeling exausted from the 1200 steps.
