Thailand
Tits, togs, and Thailand. Still.
I think that you can tell a lot about regional tourism demographics by counting tits and togs. A third category, the ‘douche bag’ was recently dropped from this highly precise science. They are the bronzed class populated by the shiny, the bodily hairless who carry a distinct reek of someone trying to fit in at any cost. They walk with a swagger that would embarrass those they are unsuccessfully trying to emulate. There’s the surf douche, the jock douche, the biker douche et all. They couldn’t be ignored and so found a place in the formula for a while until we realized that like some viruses they are frighteningly prolific with no geographic boundaries. I’ve concluded that today’s douche bag is too ubiquitous to provide any statistical ‘origin of tourist’ insight, so he’s been dropped.
So we are anchored in Nai Harn now, it’s on the south western tip of Phuket and judging by the tits and togs quotient has a remarkably high concentration of southern Mediterranean tourists. Judging by the douche bag quotient it’s just like any other place in the world with a scene. It is a refreshingly beautiful change from Ao Chalang though. Here we take a guilty pleasure from the status that landing our dinghy on a tourist packed beach affords us. Of course this weeklong vacation crowd has no idea how categorically unglamorous our life actually is, but who are we to dissuade them?
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Thailand has this interesting union of the devout and the debauched. Monasteries are a stone throw from 25 naked Thai chicks with numbers on their wrists; they get paid to do the wild thing. Then you’ve got beaches like this one flooded with topless and tog wearing Europeans, contrasted against the never nude psyche of the traditionally living locals 2 kilometres away. It’s even reflected in the local cuisine; the blend of hot and sour, sweet and spicy, fried and fresh. Sport? No exception, the nearly religious respect and tradition inherent in their national sport (kick boxing) stands in total distinction from the protagonists ultimately kicking the ever loving shit out of each other. Even our own experience seems to have been infected. The endless hours of boat drudgery we would rather forget were contrasted against truly unforgettable friends and experiences. I love a good juxtaposition, and Thailand has served it up in spades.
 05-Feb-2011 02:15, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
Speaking of which, our recent mostly by chance encounter with Mark, aka Fearless. Back in Fiji he captained the marauding crew of Kaohale Kai that stole our damned boat. The first of many reasons for our delay in leaving this Thailand was due to his impending arrival and the opportunity to meet his new squeeze Lisa. It was a delay well worth it. Our reunion took place back at the scene of an earlier crime (New Years Eve ) on Bangla Road in Patong. After catching up on what they’ve been up to since we parted ways in Tonga, we carried on like we had never left, and like we had known Lisa for years, she was just that kind of person. Very good times, maybe too good (as you can see) but definitely too short. After an overnight trip to see them that ended up lasting three days we finally got back to the boat and tried to get on with things. Central to keeping that from happening were a couple more characters from our recent past.
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Michael and Phil each have their own boats and have woven themselves into the Ao Chalang fabric. Confirming our suspicions that the mystery noise which had presented itself after our engine installation was in fact something worth worrying about, they helped us fill the time that it took to have the problem addressed. We found ourselves in a series of blurry Ao Chalang adventures which were invariably spawned from the Mini Mart launch pad. I can’t say too much about the location (to expose it to the douche bags would ruin it) but can with clean conscience describe it as a table always ready with some of the best company and undoubtedly the cheapest self serve beer the town has to offer. Jaime was befriended by the knitting hookers (nobody’s sure which of their trades came first… are they knitting to supplement the hooking or the other way around?). They were lovely and had hearts of gold. We miss them already and will remember the one two punch of the Ao Chalang Mini Mart and candy massage with great fondness.
06-Feb-2011 01:29, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
Eventually we cajoled our Boat Lagoon mechanics back onto the Slapdash to sort this alignment problem out. Basically you adjust the engine mounts (4 little rubber feet the engine sits on) until the engine, gearbox, and prop shaft all line up perfectly. The manual only allows for tolerances of 0.25 of a millimetre so it’s definitely something we needed perfect before setting off on a 4000 plus service starved nautical miles up to the Mediterranean. After all of the opinions solicited, the debating and the waiting, the mechanics quiet arrival and 1 hour spent on board wrench turning was kind of anti climactic. We tested it out and there are no funny sounds, no vibration, and nothing stopping us from leaving Thailand… well, almost nothing.
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Pirates! No really. Nearly the eve of our departure and word around the sea shore starts spreading fast that there has been a recent spike in activity along our intended route. “50 boats have been pirated, people are turning around and coming back to Thailand!” was the message reverberating furiously through the yachtie haunts yesterday. We heard it over and over. As usual the origins of this sudden proclamation were difficult to track down. Although highly doubtful we decided that it warranted a look.
Maybe it’s our own fault for being flip regarding the topic, but I assure you that despite some opinions we have certainly not ignored the risk, and vehemently disagree that ‘we are crazy to take this route now’ as we have been told. We have carefully evaluated the risk, discussed the risk, and totally accepted the risk (however infinitesimal it may be). Based on the most recent blip we decided to contact friends already in the Maldives and scoured the internet for factual reports. Maybe something had changed; it would only be prudent to give this some scrutiny right? After all our plan has nothing to do with armaments, military escort or convoy; it’s based on an assessment of the facts, and the facts overwhelmingly support our opinion that these very real pirates often attack merchant vessels between the Maldives and the Red Sea. In 2010 one attack on a yacht has been reported. One. More than ten times that many yachts have been lost right here in Thailand over the past month due to a far less sensational word; weather! Based on that fact I’m surprised anyone at all here leaves the safety of land in a boat. But apparently we had some new ones, so it was time to consider them.
The facts supporting this recent flare appear to be the same. There really has been a spike (whether this is a week to week, or year over year comparison I don’t know for sure) but they have all been on merchant vessels; so from that regard the number doesn’t matter (to us), its business as usual. The other notable change is that pirates now seem to be operating outside of their predictable zones. Speculation has it that this is due to the increasing multi-national military presence finally blowing the bastards up in the established hot spots, and the innovative pirate’s subsequent measure of launching attack boats from offshore mother ships. This is bad news for merchant vessels taking the long way around to avoid trouble areas; clearly the pirates now have greater range. This is good news for us, since we will be transiting the patrolled areas that they seem to be vacating. If you are going to lose sleep please do it for one of the hundred other things that could go wrong. Not to replace one fear with another, it’s just that we find this particular concern ironic and misplaced. Our highest risk activities take place on land (Odds on favourites? Scooters and questionable company). On the ocean experience tells us that we are most likely to lose our boat while at anchor. On passage weather is always a friend and foe worthy of our preparations (especially this season). Jaime’s closest brush? Falling between the fenders while rafted up to another boat. Mine? An Indonesian scooter crash resulting in a couple of scrapes. Let’s get off the pirate thing. It’s beginning to demand unwarranted attention in a pop star’s nipple kind of way.
Moving on to weather. What the hell is going on? Something strange is afoot. Nothing seems to be linking up quite the way it should this season. Sure, a term like ‘prevailing conditions’ allows room for the unexpected, but synonyms for prevailing like; general, widespread, and popular indicate that over a given period of time you will encounter them more often than most. We value local opinion more than most when it comes to this topic (who knows the neighbourhood variances season over season any better?) and nearly all we’ve met between here and Bali have complained of the same missing consistency that we’ve noticed. Late as usual, we are well into February now and still seem to be waiting for the clockwork appearance of the Northeast monsoon that is supposed to be comfortably pushing us to Sri Lanka. We are anchored in a spot right now that should be completely sheltered this time of year. Instead I’m constantly looking over my shoulder frowning at strong westerly gusts that threaten to turn our chosen spot into a lee shore situation. The reason I’m writing this right now instead of looking over my shoulder at a shrinking Thailand is because of this strange un-forecast weather. We would be under power and beating directly into 20 knots of wind instead of enjoying what is meant to be a thousand mile downhill pleasure cruise.
So here we are. The rumours dispelled, the boat sorted and staged sitting around counting tits and togs. The water, diesel, propane trifecta already replenished after being eroded during our long wait since the last time we were ‘ready to go’. Waiting for the wind. We had accepted that there would be very little. We were surprised by finding a lot coming from exactly the wrong direction that it’s meant to this time of year. We’ve spent up all of our local currency, we’ve downloaded our (increasingly irrelevant) forecasts. In other words we are physically and mentally prepared to get on with our longest passage since leaving Australia. Since we are ready to get underway as soon as conditions permit, it’s unlikely that you will see another post from us before we get to Sri Lanka but can now keep the site updated with ‘location and condition’ type messages via the sat phone. Track our progress there, and see you in Sri Lanka!
04-Feb-2011 23:49, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.5, 10.34mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 80 |
05-Feb-2011 08:03, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
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Techie geek sailors
Jaime is at the pool, I am at the Coconut bar. Actually I am in charge of the Coconut bar. Scary but true. The trusting Thai owner lady just asked me to take care of things while she takes her friend to the airport to pick up her sister. Beer prices range from 35 baht to 80 here. I meant to write them down, but didn’t and of course already forget which price matches which beer. My improvised plan is to just charge 60 for everything and keep everyone’s empties to reconcile the tab when she gets back. Hope we don’t get too many customers… hope she doesn’t read this.
This post is in response to all the requests we keep getting to elaborate on boat things. This always makes us laugh, why in the world would anyone ask us about this stuff? We generally keep things non-technical because the countries we visit, the people we meet, and the crazy shit that happens along the way is more interesting to us than techie stuff. Let’s face it, there are hundreds of better informed more passionate purveyors of boat information out there than us.
On the other hand, against all odds we have managed to learn a couple of things about boats along the way. Telling our version of the truth is easy because we feel no competitive need to have the best solar output, fuel economy, range, reception, weather router or any other random topic that often monopolize some people’s conversation time. Some stuff we picked up ourselves by way of reading and hard knocks. Some really good stuff has been passed on to us by people out here actually doing it, the ones that show up in a dinghy with a toolbox ready to help. Their collective real life, field tested, not for sale knowledge (unless you count cold beers as currency, and out here they very much are) has easily been worth tens times that of any book, seminar or forum. We’ve accomplished more with a six pack than we ever have with our credit card.
We talked about all of the emails asking about the nuts and bolts of boat life and remembered how hard it was to know what was important, and then find good information about those things. This post is an attempt to address some of the more common questions we get all the time. You will either think it’s about time we did, or the most boring thing I’ve ever written. Feel free to comment accordingly.
The engine. Ours has been awesome, and our recent decision to pull it has led to some questions regarding our sanity. First off I’m a total geek about preventative maintenance. I carry out all of the manufacturers recommendations regarding oil changes, filter changes (oil and fuel), zinc replacements etc. We perform the recommended checks each time before starting it, unless of course it’s being started to save us from a lee shore as it did recently. Admittedly, I did not check oil levels and belt tension before firing it up the night we nearly found ourselves anchored on Pulau Rimau instead of beside it. We record everything in a maintenance log which I’m sure will please the future owner of Slapdash, as it pleased us when we bought ‘Wingin It’. We are sensitive about fuel and usually filter it before depositing it into our tanks. It’s then filtered three more times before it reaches a cylinder. We had a funky fuel dilemma on our Tonga to New Zealand passage which hammered home the importance of this practice. As uncomfortable as that night was we were lucky it happened in the middle of the ocean, there are plenty of times when the same thing could have resulted in much bigger problems than a little discomfort. After that we added a redundant primary fuel filter that we could simply switch over to should the need arise.
25-Jan-2011 18:42, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.1, 6.53mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 80 |
Our little 3 cylinder Westerbeke 30B has just over 3000 hours on it, we’ve put 1700 of those on since we bought the boat in September 2007. It has been running fine so our decision to pull it was indeed preventative maintenance to the extreme. We had just completed a Bali to Phuket mission. This passage put heavy demands on our engine, and we are now looking ahead to the Red Sea and Med which are two more areas we expect to be doing some motoring. Carrying out the tests and repairs in a controlled and easy access shop environment seemed to outweigh the known risk of pulling and reinstalling an engine. It also gave us the ability to strip and repaint it all in an affordable place. The same work in the Med would have easily cost us 4 or 5 times what we paid. In the end we replaced every hose, the fuel pump, the water pump, the jets, and completed every bit of maintenance and test recommended by the manufacturer. This may have been the smartest move ever, or the dumbest. It’s a traumatic procedure so my guess is that we will land somewhere in between. Time will tell if we should have left well enough alone.
Drive leg. What good is the engine if it doesn’t have a means of converting that power into thrust? We keep our drive leg in mint shape. We’ve stripped and repainted it twice now to keep any corrosion at bay. We check oil level and grease before every passage. We’ve replaced the seals, rebuilt the bottom end in New Zealand, changed that pesky prop anode and steering lines. Depending on how you like to sail you may not need your engine much, but no matter how die hard we choose to be about abandoning our primary means of propulsion (wind) in favour of your secondary (internal combustion) we want it to start immediately, run and stay running every time. Since I’m not a competent mechanic we err on the side of caution when it comes to this stuff. I can do all of the routine maintenance stuff myself now, and our mantra has always been 26 ounces of prevention.
25-Jan-2011 18:54, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
Dinghy. We are on our third. Our first one fell apart, our second was an expensive Cadillac but too heavy, and I would like to say like Goldilocks did that the third one is just right, but it’s not. This is one of those things that you will use almost every single day. Your dinghy and engine will either bring you joy or make you wet and frustrated every time you use it. Most likely it will land somewhere in between. You will see every dinghy make model material and size in use. All of them will get their owners around the world with their pros and cons so this can be a highly contested issue. Our opinion is that you should get the best set-up that you can afford in terms of weight and dollars. As non-sexy as this item is it will be one of the most frequently used pieces of equipment on your boat. Hypalon (can’t be beat in the tropics), aluminum bottom (unless you need a roll up due to space issues) and a 2 stroke engine that can plane with both of you in the dinghy (ours doesn’t) are at the top of our wish list. We miss on two out of those three items and are doing just fine, so don’t worry about it too much. We had a cover made for ours in Indonesia because it was cheap, and because our PVC (not Hypalon) dinghy will completely fall apart in the tropics, the glue just doesn’t hold up. The two stroke recommendation is because they have a better weight to power ratio, and because they have bigger jets than a 4 stroke (since they require their lubricating oil to be mixed into the fuel supply), seem to be less finicky when it comes to processing funky fuel without letting you down. Hypalon is way more expensive than PVC and aluminum is light, rigid and strong. It maintains control while planning and prevents you from having to stress when dragging it over a rocky beach like you would with a high pressure inflatable bottom. Fibreglass does all the same things but its way heavier, which is exactly why we sold our brand new AB in New Zealand. A double floor is unnecessary in an RIB (you won’t sink anyway) and only serves to add more weight to the equation. It’s easier to repair than aluminum though, so there you go everything’s a compromise.
25-Jan-2011 18:43, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.0, 5.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
Sail bag. We finally got around to having a stack pack built, a welcome addition to our boat. Not only does it look clean and tidy, but it reduces our mainsail deployment time considerably. It was inexpensive to have made here, and we used our old sail cover for material. Now instead of undoing the line from the mast, all of those clips, and then the 4 lines around the sail before rolling everything up and stowing it, I just zip back this big zipper the length of the boom and heave away. Once we’re finished just drop the main and zip it back up. Cheap, tidy, simple, sold! We aren’t always in the trade winds. Places like this, the Bahamas, or anywhere fluky winds and killer tropical heat prevail always leave me wondering if the 10 minutes of potential usefulness will outweigh the effort of deploying and repacking the main. It can be mighty tempting just to keep on motoring, using your headsail , or both. This addition removes a lot of the hassle and will likely have us using the main at times or in conditions that wouldn’t have formerly made the effort worth it.
25-Jan-2011 18:43, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.0, 5.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Electrics. We keep our power demand low so don’t need a high output alternator, a wind generator or thousands of dollars worth of solar panels. We have one 125 watt panel which, on its best day, will put 7 amps an hour into our bank, the average is closer to 3 or 4. We have four 75 amp hour AGM batteries. I don’t isolate a starting battery. We used to but with such a small house bank decided that it would best serve us in the mix and not just there on standby just in case. We lived for 6 months on the boat in New Zealand without plugging in so the set up seems to work. The old AGM’s served us 4 years before being replaced in Singapore. We had West Marine batteries originally and now have Trojans. We have a propane powered refrigerator, lot’s of LED bulbs and low draw Hella fans so the highest energy demand tends to be our laptop, something easily managed. The only time we run into a power imbalance is when we are holed up on the boat during bad weather (solar panel not contributing and nothing to do but watch movies on the laptop) or during long mixed weather passages when the solar panel isn’t able to grab enough energy, the autopilot is on 24/7, and tri color is on all night. In these cases we start up the engine every few days to let the alternator do its thing for an hour or two. No biggie.
The two W’s. We don’t have a windlass or water maker. These are two items that float on a fine line between want and need for us. There’s no doubt that they would both make our lives more comfortable. I may even accept the argument that the windlass would make things safer; maybe we wouldn’t think as hard about pulling up and re-anchoring when things aren’t perfect if I didn’t have to get up on deck and heave it in hand over hand. On the other hand maybe we’re better at getting it right the first time since we know that re-anchoring could be a major pain in the ass so who knows? We don’t accept the safety card in regards to the water maker. Since fresh water is a finite resource for us we put more thought into our fresh water availability and consumption for any given passage than most. We never get too far from the source without more than double our requirement distributed between two main tanks and several jerry cans, this dissemination protecting us against contamination. Having spent my fair share of time sweating it out with countless water runs in the dinghy and one (maybe two?) isolated cases of changing our plans based on fresh water availability I will bow to the convenience argument every time. Space (hauling around 5 jerry’s), convenience, comfort (fresh water showers for boat and crew), wear and tear on my back and dinghy are what I would consider the top pro water maker arguments. We have nothing against this equipment and would have both of these items on our boat tomorrow if cost wasn’t such a big factor.
We haven’t used radar so can’t comment. We haven’t used an SSB so can’t comment. But in the spirit of this post, will. Unlike the previous two items which would literally see daily use we haven’t come across anyone that has been able to convince us that these things are absolutely necessary. The idea of cutting up and complicating our boat to install some piece of expensive ancient technology (SSB) so that I can have spotty unreliable communication with another boat a thousand miles away who’s wanking on about the weather (no offence to the wankers or the weather) does not hold any appeal. We’ll catch shit on this one for sure, but until there’s something more reliable, modern and cheap than a single side band radio we won’t be cutting any holes in our boat to install one. We also think nets are stupid but that’s just us. Tons of people love them and have all of this gear so suit yourself.
Radar seems to have more practical applications than gossiping with your girlfriends so we won’t fault you for having one. We don’t, but maintain a 24 hour watch and are not a tugboat in the Pacific Northwest. AIS is the way to go in our opinion, which will seem ironic to anyone who has read the last post. Ours only lasted for 3 months before it crapped out, but in terms of marine based electrical equipment nobody can take the reliability position and stand on stable ground. In other words, yes our AIS crapped out but radars do to, luck of the draw so not a solid argument for or against. It gave us great information on vessels transmitting but nothing on approaching storms or vessels that were not transmitting. Single hander’s love their radars and rightly so, they can set a proximity alarm and get some much needed sleep. They are probably indispensable in trafficked areas prone to fog. At times we would have liked one to track a squall or storm on the horizon but through necessity have adopted a ‘take what we get’ approach. Sometimes trying to manoeuvre around such weather isn’t possible or efficient anyway and there’s a good chance we will finish this circumnavigation having encountered approximately the same number of storms and squalls as most on this route, regardless of whether or not they have radar. A functioning AIS and radar with enough power for both would be the best of both worlds but I really have no solid argument for or against these items in our application (tropical circumnavigation via the canals), so would place them behind windlass, watermaker, and AIS but way ahead of a stupid SSB.
Charts. We don’t use paper charts. We’ve had them, and once we even made an effort to plot our position on one because we were green and afraid of lightening but for all intents and purposes we are a paperless boat. We have the world’s charts on C-Map, we read these charts on our laptops of which we have three. We have a full sized laptop (great for movies) a net book (great for long life batteries) and a gifted old spare (thanks Pam!) which serves as a backup and won’t be used unless the first two fail. We plug a cheap GPS mouse (or puck) into a USB port which gives us real time positioning on these detailed charts when we need it. It’s dead simple and with the exception of the hardware virtually free (grey area). Don’t underestimate the time and frustration factor in setting all of this up though. I am pretty good at it now and would still give you an estimate of one day and 8 beers to do it, unless you are using Vista then the price goes way up. For passage planning we use the aforementioned system to plot out our course and then take the waypoints (GPS positions) and overlay them onto our plotter. We have a crappy little discontinued Garmin 492 that just won’t quit. It sits out in out cockpit in all weather and has been an awesomely reliable companion. We wouldn’t need to transfer these waypoints all the time (admittedly a pain in the ass) if we just coughed up for the proprietary Garmin chips that plug into it turning the terribly ambiguous world map that comes pre-programmed with it into a super detailed chart, but they are stupid expensive. By stupid I mean several hundred dollars per region. I find this unacceptable and just plain rude and would rather install Max Sea onto Vista (euphemism for poke yourself in the eye with a fork) than feed any more into the extortion racket that is marine electronics. If that sounds bitter it’s because our big capital outlay for a brand new Garmin AIS didn’t even warrant a returned email or phone call from either manufacturer or retailer when the POS (Piece of Shit) crapped on us. So you know what? Piss on Garmin and their 300 hundred dollar sim cards. My friend Roger has demonstrated that one of the most simple and versatile plotters would be a GPS enabled ipad with the super cheap ap that allows for real time wireless positioning on very detailed marine charts. A fraction of the cost plus it can manage your emails, browser, music, videos, and a bunch of other stuff. If more people realized this the marine electronic dinosaurs would be in serious trouble.
We anchor using a 30 pound delta attached to 150 feet of 5/16 chain and an additional 150 feet of braided rode after that. We are always generous with our scope when at anchor, and anchor shallow (15 feet probably average) whenever possible. Half way around the world and that Pulau Rimau incident was our first drag using this set-up (we hadn’t set this configuration up yet in Key Largo). Since all three boats in the anchorage had trouble that night we chalk it up to poor holding, big wind exposed to big sea. The incident has not caused us to revisit our anchor plan. Having said that I would recommend the biggest anchor and most chain you can afford in dollars, space and weight. You hang your whole lifestyle off that anchor every night, and when it gets nasty nothing beats the security of a good anchor set-up.
Recently Captain H. from Palapa gifted us a spinnaker but sadly it will probably remain in the bag it came with until we catch up to him because we have no idea how to use it. We have done a lot more down wind sailing than we expected though, so if you have something like this in your sail plan and are on a trip like ours then it will probably help. We have had some success with the wing and wing strategy, but you kind of have to be on top of that, but I suppose you could say the same thing for flying a spinnaker. One of those fancy roll up cruiser spinnaker things would be pretty sweet though, basically an oversized light air headsail from what I understand. It’s about a six thousand and something dollar option on our boat though so we don’t have one. Necessary? We think not. Nice to have? Sure, why not.
I’ve saved the best for last, boat choice. It was the biggest question that we grappled with once we had decided to sail around the world. Our hearts were set on a catamaran but our wallets seemed to have us destined for a half boat, aka mono hull. We found Wingin’ It (now Slapdash) in Myrtle Beach South Carolina and haven’t looked back. It’s small, quick, sexy and tough. Sure, we would have a Gunboat if we could afford it but we got the best boat possible for us, and for the money. Sure I wish the manufacturers would return my emails, but they were very supportive during the first half of our trip and have previously demonstrated pride in their product. We haven’t heard back from them during phase two of our trip but think that they probably have weightier concerns on their minds, or perhaps our novelty has worn off. Either way, they built us a pretty good boat and have probably done more than most manufacturers would have by way of support. They’ve dropped from awesome to a solid good, but our allegiance is still intact and we have high hopes.
Sometimes bigger is better, sometimes it’s not. Neither Jaime or I can get caught up in this argument other than to rush to the defense of any boat owner (one hull or two, power or sail, glass or wood, metal , composite or other) that has actually used it enough to qualify them to be in the conversation in the first place. We’ve met friends for life in the sub 30 foot sail category, the mega yacht category, and pretty much every category in between (including the small but very appealing trans-Atlantic rowboat category) and to tell any of them that their boat ‘wasn’t good enough’ are generally considered fighting words. Maybe the forums have provided the overly opinionated and under qualified with an arena too insulated from the real world… weather, experience, track record and left hooks inclusive. Anybody can google up a bunch of long winded rhetoric, we’ll listen to the people who are out here with us. Once again, time, ocean miles, luck, or circumstance may cause us to eat those words, but at least we’re out here creating the opportunity to prove somebody right.
For miles of real world answers to questions like these including to our own unedited opinion about boat choice check out the Interview with a cruiser project (interviewwithacruiser.blogspot.com). We have no affiliation other than having been participants and wish it had been around when we were planning our trip. It’s filling a gap with solid information from the people who are actually doing the big sailing. Notwithstanding some exceptionally boring responses from people far more concerned with bilge pumps and recipes than we are, its setting itself up to be a warehouse of both practical and lifestyle based knowledge from long range cruisers. Nice work Livia!
We mostly consider ourselves travelers before sailors, so bear that in mind. If you fall into the latter category you are likely the only ones still reading this, and may disagree with most of what we’ve said. We don’t blame you and would expect nothing less. There’s as many ways to set up for a trip like this as there are places to visit, so take our opinions in the spirit that they’re offered. Learning about this stuff has been exasperating, expensive, satisfying and sometimes fun. It’s all a part of our journey and we reserve the right to change our minds as often as we change our underwear. Oh yeah, don’t own any, another post entirely.
So I’ve sold 16 beers on behalf of my unexpected boss before her return and somehow collected 1120 baht. The friend of unexpected (and inexplicably trustworthy) boss has offered to crew with us in exchange for passage across the Atlantic. Micah, if you were still here you would be arguing her case strongly. I turned down the potential crew member, but kept the various shapes and sizes of the bottles as planned so that unexpected boss could tally things up. I paid her out. Turns out my simplified approach left me ahead by about 200 baht. Big Leo’s are 60 baht here, so that pays for the entire post. Just another one of the measures that the Slapdash have taken in order to keep this website affordable and attainable for its readers.
Thailand and other nonsense
We’re back.
I’m writing this at ‘The Haven’, a bar restaurant near Yacht Haven Marina on the Northern bit of Phuket currently playing a Hotel Costes CD on repeat… probably going to cause one of those dreams that have you waking up wondering where you are. They have a two for one happy hour special here between 5 and 7. We arrived at our table at 6:25PM which leaves only 35 minutes to make the most of this generous offer. Not to worry, I’ve managed to leverage our repeat clientele status in order to convince the lovely Thai server to open my next round of large Leo’s and keep them in the fridge, thereby ensuring that this update stays affordably lubricated.
The circumstances of this privileged status at The Haven bear mentioning. We were here nearly a month ago with a couple of trouble making friends who decided at some point during our evenings merry making that it would be a good idea to wear several of the establishments decorations while posing for several pictures. Instead of being irritated the bar staff kindly offered to take and then forward them on to us (a promise they later made good on). Once we had decided to move on, one decoration in particular inexplicably found itself attached to the face of an associate. In this manner it transited itself, along with the group, onto our next unplanned destination. We found this quite hilarious (too many Leo’s?) and the adornment went on to become a focal point during our evening out. It’s unclear whether or not this was intentional but we here at the Slapdash certainly do not condone this kind of behavior and did our utmost to encourage it. The hilarity continued until the guilty party visited the Haven again some days later, at which time the staff kindly requested that their property be returned. Busted! We found this part especially entertaining since we had no part in the sober return of the contraband. Now a month later we’re back, we’re recognized, and perhaps most surprisingly… welcomed.
Our time in Thailand began sometime near the end of November, or maybe it was early December (ambiguity intentional). Our memories of Northern Malaysia and Southern Thailand sort of blur together into a fluid experience that doesn’t necessitate further clarification.
If you’ve been keeping up with us on www.facebook.com/theslapdash or www.twitter.com/theslapdash then you may rightly be annoyed with us but at least know that nothing sinister has happened. If you are not in with this socially savvy crowd, then you may still think we are in Singapore as our last post has faithfully declared for the past several weeks (months?). The more intuitive in the latter category would deduct that we wouldn’t have been able to afford an extended stay in Singapore and would have perhaps assumed, as one reader named Rich did, that we had been “taken hostage by a jealous monohuller ”. Rich, we thank you for your concern and must report that this actually took place. The motive was not jealousy but we were in fact taken hostage by a ‘monohuller’. It is only one of the misadventures that we’ve found ourselves in since you have last heard from us, and since we are mere days away from a monster passage to Sri Lanka I will now take on the frightening challenge of bringing you up to speed.
For those of you partaking, this would be a good opportunity to join me in another whatever you’re having. For those of you at work, this would be a good time to take your blackberry to the bathroom stall for an extended visit. For our friends at home, tuck the kids, dogs, or anything else tuckable-inable and get comfortable. Here’s what we owe you:
1. 2 countries
2. 6 islands
3. 1 week on the hard
4. 4 marinas
5. 1 dead guy
6. An abduction
7. 2 major holidays
8. An epic ride
9. A brand new plan
Each of these topics warrant their individual posts. Since we have spent all of our time working on the boat or playing we have chosen to illustrate the sequence of events pictorially (when possible or appropriate) with lead in descriptors. The strategy chosen will enable us to get on with being reckless, The Haven to free up this table, and you to get up to speed having some context regarding our imminent passage to Sri Lanka (that’s West yah?). Please forward all complaints directly to jaime@theslapdash.com
Malaysia was a trip. Muslim, beer-deprived, cheap, and high-end marina enhanced. The Malacca Straight posed no really dramatic trouble. The warnings of shipping proved unwarranted. We have no radar, a fizzled out AIS (the sole passage we bought the damned thing for) and still no trouble. The shipping was there to be sure but the shear density of the massive carriers calls for strictly adhered to traffic lanes. Yes, it’s narrow at times but their steady ant- like procession was an easily identified trail of red and green running lights.
We ran up the eastern edge of the shipping lanes, outside of the heavies and offshore of the troublesome fish boats and their nets. Far more traffic that a typical passage to be sure but far less frightening. You can count on an officer of the watch actually being on watch because they all have the same impression of the Straight you do, and have far more to lose. Only a few times did we have to have both of us up on deck trying to decipher the closeness of an approaching freighter, and each time from behind us. The South bound ships were always so far west that, although visible, didn’t bear any concern. As mentioned we were running just east of the north bound big ships so the potential head-on-head collision would have had to blitz our big assed blockers before we ever had to consider them a threat. Those of you reading this in preparation for an upcoming passage through the Straight; don’t sweat the shipping, it’s totally predictable. Don’t sweat the pirates, totally off topic. Plot a course along the eastern line of the shipping lanes and you will be offshore of the local boats and inside of the behemoths. Sweet as.
Worry about the weather. Currents won’t screw your progress, they seem to balance out. We were doing 7 knots and 4 respectively. Interestingly we seemed to exceed our cruising speed (under power) more often that we were pushed below it. Our impression is that the current is a non-factor as far as overall passage time is concerned. When averaged over the Singapore to Langkawi stretch it was either a wash or more probably favorable.
Don’t get me wrong, this was no shits and giggles passage for us. The lack of wind or contrary wind had us motoring 99% of the time. When it kicked up against the tricky currents things went from sublime to shitty very fast. We never felt truly endangered, but short, squared off, standing waves left us extremely uncomfortable at least three times on this passage. On one such occasion we decided to make for the conveniently placed Pangkor Marina. It turned out to be a recently built hasty looking establishment surrounded by an unfinished hotel complex. The Pangkor Marina was certainly no trip highlight, but we were fortunate to have a memorable dinner that night on our friends Tim and Ruth’s boat who were there just ahead of us. They were making their way north at the same time, we met them through Kirk on Salsa way back in Bali and happened to share the same stretch of crap water that night. We kept in touch with them with the VHF and when things went from shite to shitey Tim suggested the stop at Pangkor, an idea we were all too happy to jump on. They were a few miles ahead of us and kindly guided us in based on their own advanced approach. We were all exhausted when we arrived in the early hours of November 14th so when Tim’s help securing the Slapdash preceded Ruth’s dinner offer we were very grateful (especially since we had already sampled her cooking back in Indonesia).
After not enough sleep (Tim and Ruth were very good hosts) and none the night previously due to our aquatic turmoil, we made our way north to Penang bright and early. We decided on an anchorage off the southern of Penang just north of a little island called Kendi. We chatted with Tim and Ruth who were now anchored next to us and both decided to settle into a mellow and early evening aboard our respective boats. It had been an early start to the 70NM day which had followed that gnarly little trip to Pangkor so Jaime and I were both pretty happy to just chill out , eat some hurry curry, and watch mindless television on the laptop while lusting over a well earned early bed.
As usual I finished my plate before Jaime. I put it aside and had no idea that this would be the third definitive moment on this trip that she had clearly saved our boat from disaster (there was the early experience in Key Largo when under serious stress she suggested that we cut the anchor line, and much later in the Tuamotos while on the bow during a particularly sketchy passage into the Atoll of Manihi she gave the helmsmen [me] counterintuitive instructions that kept us off a dangerous reef). Call it intuition, luck, timing or whatever; just as something unmemorable was about to happen during episode 6 of Pushing Daisiey’s, Jaime looked up from her plate of hurry curry and said:
“We’re dragging”.
The timing of this statement deserved our quick reaction. We were anchored off of what was now a lee shore of a rocky little bay, about to be punched in the teeth by a particularly nasty thunderstorm. By the time we made it to the cockpit we were in the midst of a monster that clearly had no intention of pitying the three little boats in this anchorage (ours as usual being the littlest). Jaime was right. We were absolutely dragging, and dragging fast. Straight toward the beach which, thanks to the unanticipated wind direction, was now much closer than when we had anchored in benign conditions a couple hours earlier. For added terror, respectable sized surf began crashing just behind us and remained quite audible during the early stages of the storm.
Drop the drive leg. Press the pre- heat button. Hit the starter. Brrrrrummm. Phew! We were 20 yards from disaster (or about 60 seconds depending on how you prefer to look at it) when our beloved little Beaker kicked in. Transmission all the way forward and full blast on the throttle. First it stemmed our backwards march towards disaster, then slowly we started making headway. At this point the rain had reduced visibility to almost zero. Tim and Ruth were pinned back with anchor holding but motors running. They weren’t far off our port side. The bright lights off their big catamaran gave us an additional reference point in the hellish conditions. Breath deep. Sigh. Got it under control? Enter electricity. Massive strikes started booming down around us. Unbelievable. Normally we would have driven up the anchor and re-set it but this light show had us trapped in the cockpit. I was at the helm motoring against the storm trying to keep us off the beach and from swinging into our neighbors, periodically testing the anchor to see if it had reset. Jaime was below monitoring the charts to keep a handle on our position relative to the lee shore. This was critical since my only reference points at the helm were brief glimpses of our neighbor’s running lights through the sleeting rain and the terrifying views of rocks and white water briefly illuminated by the ever increasing lightening crashes flashing up around us. Several times I turned Jaime back into the cabin for fear of a strike. At the worst it seemed almost a certainty, at best it would have been unsurprising. Another drama was unfolding beside us, the third boat in the anchorage was dragging fast now and straight towards Tim and Ruth. With no room to maneuver they could only wait and hope for the best. Collision looked inevitable, but fortunately turned into an incredibly close call instead. Finally during a lull the wind dropped below 30 knots. Instead of the nearly blinding explosions, we counted 1 or 2 seconds between the light and sound of each strike. By no means out of the woods but a welcome relief. We were still precariously close to the crashing surf behind and 5 foot steep waves ahead with an unset anchor (the slightest engine fart would have finished us off). Jaime took the helm as I went forward and began taking up anchor chain. She drove us forward into the storm. We were on a shelf so once the anchor was up we were able to motor several hundred meters straight into the wind before dropping the anchor again in almost the same depth. This allowed us to let out nearly all of our chain and rode, and still have some comfortable (relative term) room between the Slapdash and shore. The suddenness and intensity of the storm led us to believe that it would pass quickly which is why we decided to re-anchor instead of taking the considerable chance of a nighttime navigation through the area in these conditions.
We hung back on over 300 feet of chain and rode in 20 feet of water, a massive 15 to 1 overkill but given what had just happened it still wasn’t quite enough for us to just settle down and shut the engine off. As Beaker idled away ready for further action we dozed on the settee and discussed the scenario. Here we were after a couple bloody difficult days of work enjoying a reprieve. A nice dinner, a glass of red, and a bit of mindless television. All expectations point towards a benign evening with bellies full of warm comfort food when suddenly all hell is breaking loose threatening to destroy your lifestyle. It’s the defining difference between our old life and our new one. Fair to say comfort and perceived security has been traded for freedom and uncertainty. It depends on exactly when you ask us, but as long as we have the opportunity for retrospect (as we do now) we’ll probably tell you that we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The storm eventually subsided. We shut off the engine and went to sleep on the settee. Even with a petered out wind the sea conditions made it too uncomfortable to be in the forward cabin.
Fortunately the next days passage to Langkawi was far less exciting. It was another 70 mile day, but we had a reunion to look forward to. Roger and Karli from Palapa were there and had scouted out a great anchorage, beach, and beach bar for us which sums up our Langkawi experience pretty accurately. We did manage to break from the party long enough to stock up on their super cheap duty free booze. At some point I drunkenly invited this homeless guy to the boat for a meal. He claimed to have been a chef in a former life so it seemed like a good idea at the time. It turned out okay, and made the guy’s day but put me in the doghouse. Jaime made me promise to tell her before inviting random homeless people to the boat. Seemed reasonable and on these grounds we were able to reach a tentative cease fire. That’s when I heard a knock on the hull. Jaime was napping and the swimmer didn’t look familiar. Turns out I had pointed out the boat from the beach the night before and told this random guy that if he swam out the next day I would give him a beer. What could I do? This was only minutes after Jaime and I had come to our agreement, but I couldn’t just send the guy back to shore. Nothing to do but make good on my offer. Jaime was understandably shocked that I could blow our agreement in record time but fortunately he turned out to be a great guy with an interesting story which saved my ass. So after 4 days terrorizing the residents we set off across the water to Ko Lipe.
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Our first island in Thailand was a fun stop. Basically a tiny little backpacker island stuffed with beach bars, dive shops and massage parlors. We had already put in some hard time in Langkawi so our time on Ko Lipe was pretty chill. We made an exception on one night as our visit coincided with a full moon party. Hundreds of paper lanterns held aloft by little flickering flames filled the sky. You are meant to send a prayer or wish up with them or something like that, but they look pretty cool and seemed to drift up endlessly on this windless night. I’m not sure what they are called but if you’ve been to Thailand I’m sure you’ve seen hundreds of them.
A little further north we ended up on a free mooring off an island called Ko Rok Nok. It was really beautiful, and mostly visited by day boats. There wasn’t much development so we just relaxed and enjoyed the beach and crystal clear water. Strange setting for this story to unfold, the boat next to us had just found a dead guy bobbing around and were wondering what they should do. Apparently it was too bloated and mushy to do anything with so attempts were made to contact the park rangers ashore while we speculated on his story. Fisherman? Foul play? Our darkest version had him labeled as one of the annoying jet skiers that had been buzzing us a few days before . We would never know. We left for Pi Pi Don while the lucky boat that found him continued trying to report the strange incident.
For some crazy reason most cruising guides still label the southern bay on Pi Pi Don as a suitable anchorage. What a nightmare. It’s deep and surrounded by cliffs that do a good job of containing the wash from dozens of long tails, dive boats, and high speed ferries that blast through. It’s polluted and jam packed. Anchoring for any length of time would almost guarantee some kind of unwanted drama. We couldn’t find a single spot to drop the hook, but desperately needed fuel. We were running on fumes and had no choice but to stop here to fill some jerry cans. We managed to maneuver our way through the chaos and grabbed some mangy mooring line. Fully expecting somebody to start yelling at us or show up demanding their mooring we left the engine running. Jaime stayed on the boat and I launched the dink and headed for shore with a few empty cans. Just getting the dink to shore was life threatening. Nearly run down by a ferry and chopped up by a long tail I almost made it to the beach only to be welcomed by a pile of lines and trash. This was voted one of the most beautiful islands in the world but from this perspective it was a hot chaotic garbage dump. This didn’t look promising, but all of the long tails have diesel engines so I knew it had to be around. Before long I found an old Chinese lady who was pumping diesel out of a 45 gallon drum by hand. She started the agonizingly slow process of filling up my jerry cans while I set off to find an ATM to finally pick up some Thai Baht. We were a bit frazzled by the whole thing but before too long we were on our way the hell out of there. Fortunately Roger and Karli had already explored the island and tipped us off on some free moorings on the much more relaxed north western side of the island. We motored around the corner and found the place. Before long they returned from a day sail and anchored beside us. For the next 4 days we partied, swam, hiked, and even beached the Slapdash. We had Roger and Karli over for a “Slapdash fun day” complete with mystery destination. We timed the tides and skimmed over the reef and right up onto the beach. We had to leave before too long because we were right in the way of the parasail outfit, but as the pictures should demonstrate this was a cheeky move. It was worth it just to see the looks on the faces of the sunbathers and people wading around when they turned to see the Slapdash rocking up on their beach.
27-Nov-2010 02:36, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200 |
26-Nov-2010 00:21, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
27-Nov-2010 01:20, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 250 |
25-Nov-2010 23:29, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 80 |
21-Nov-2010 20:30, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.0, 5.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
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23-Nov-2010 23:17, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.4, 8.89mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 80 |
Our next stop was Ao Chalong on Phuket. And so began our slow decent into boat drudgery. With dirty water, a big tidal exchange, and exposure to the prevailing winds Ao Chalong is not a pleasant place to stay this time of year. But it’s cheap, welcoming, and has just about everything you need. We needed propane. We rented a scooter, strapped an empty to our back, and went off in search of the filling station. The local spot was unable to fill our tank so we made our way to Boat Lagoon, about 40 minutes away. Then it started raining. We had expected to drop the tank off and I would return for it later without Jaime. Instead they filled it immediately and 3 minutes after finally finding the place we were left standing there. Two ferangs, a small Thai scooter, and a 20 pound bottle of propane now much heavier. Somehow we managed to get all three of us onto the little bike (the tank into a backpack) to make the sweaty trip back to Ao Chalong. We were in a slump already and this little excursion was meant to be a simple task that we could knock off and feel good about in short order. Instead it turned into an unpleasant somewhat dangerous half day odyssey. It was so bad that we could only laugh, so back at the water we celebrated our ridiculous life with a cold beer. Unbeknownst to us an especially high tide had crept up on our dinghy while we were away. I walked down to the beach to have a leak and check on the boat. Our dinghy was completely submerged and being battered against the sea wall. My attempts to bail it out were totally useless, each crashing wave knocking me back and added 5 times the amount that I was able to scoop out. When I predictably declared defeat and returned to the bar I had been gone a little longer than expected. I was also shirtless, shoeless, and soaked through. I expected the inevitable question, “what the hell happened to you?”. Our buddy Phil sized up the situation with me, scoffed at my plan to let the tide take care of itself, stripped down and leapt in without hesitation. Skeptical but unwilling to stand by while my friend risked life and limb to save our dinghy I jumped in for round two. With two of us madly bailing water between swamping we managed to get enough water out that we could drag the dinghy up just enough to keep a few of the waves out. With that accomplished we began to make serious headway. Before long we had the dinghy floating and attached to the pulley system (the one smart people use to keep their dinghies offshore in Ao Chalong to prevent things like this from happening). Amazingly the very damp engine started right up. Over the next hour or so we managed to get three dinghies with wet occupants safely launched, including our own complete with propane tank and plastic wrapped laundry. We rinsed off the salt water back at the boat and spent an uncomfortable night wishing we were dead while listening to the waves smash us around. This is a suitable introduction to what kind of mood most of the next month would find us in. Party time was over, it was time to get to work.
03-Dec-2010 02:00, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 500 |
03-Dec-2010 02:00, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 500 |
A myriad of boat maintenance items had been building up on us since we left Bali. A little history; Slapdash was sailed hard and put away wet. After a massive bit of sailing -virtually non-stop from the Solomon Islands to Bali- we left the boat and went home to work for 7 months. Boats are jealous creatures, they thrive on attention. We returned to Bali last August and worked hard to make up for our neglect. We left in good condition, but have been plagued by one thing after another since we left. That much time unused under a tropical sun took its toll. Field repairs were conducted on the essential pieces, and everything else landed on our “Thailand list”. All the obvious practical reasons for having your boat ship shape on a trip like this aside, there’s a huge part of it that’s just about morale. If your boat just represents a pile of unfinished tasks and looks like crap you just don’t want to be on it. We like our boat to make us smile when we see it. It’s the centerpiece for us; it’s our biggest ally, our home. It was time to pay the piper in earnest, and we were both committed to making this the best month the Slapdash had ever had. We hauled out shortly after the propane dinghy experience.
We spent a week on the hard. For the initiated, this is something like living in a car at the auto wreckers. You spent your days dirty, often bleeding and usually huffing some truly evil chemicals. The boat is a jobsite. It’s grimy and disassembled. It’s outside of the environment that it was designed for. Being propped up on a trailer requires a ladder for access. Our boatyard was cheap and full of really competent and friendly guys. From that perspective it was our best yet. In terms of amenities, well there were none really. Jaime and I are both pretty stubborn people though, at times like this it’s our biggest strength. We basically accepted the misery and just pig headed our way through it. Between the boatyard and the marina (Boat Lagoon) we later moved to, we spent almost 30 straight days without a break. We painted the bottom, detailed everything inside and out, attended to fiberglass repairs, gel coat repairs, and repainted the drive leg. We had a stack pack built (with matching black fender covers). We tuned the rig, fixed the air conditioner, generator, and rewired the AIS. I found the tiny little LED bulb to replace the burnt out one in our compass. We pulled the sick refrigerator and amazingly managed to repair it with some voodoo that a refrigeration techie guy passed along to us. Our dinghy engine now looks (and acts) like it’s brand new. We repaired every leak we could find on our dinghy. We replaced our missing radar reflector, rebuilt the head pump, pulled and cleaned the water tanks, identified and fixed the frustrating air leak that caused the water pump to run and run. I found the bits to rebuild our spare autopilot, and we now have a fully functioning bolt on spare. We pulled the engine for a major servicing. The water pump was rebuilt, a new fuel pump fitted, new jets, new hose kit, rewired some bits, then stripped and repainted the whole thing. It passed our battery of tests with flying colors and looks damn good. We spent days rewiring and testing everything connected to the AIS. Eventually every cause was eliminated leaving us with the only possible explanation, a crap unit. We bought it brand new, installed it in Bali and it was non functional by the time we left Singapore. Neither manufacturer (Garmin) or retailer (Northern Marine Electronics) will so much as return our calls or even reply to our emails! What a huge waste of money and time, I can’t express my disgust with that particular situation strongly enough.
04-Dec-2010 15:13, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 80 |
05-Dec-2010 18:01, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.0, 10.34mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
04-Dec-2010 20:27, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 80 |
05-Dec-2010 18:02, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.0, 8.89mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
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17-Dec-2010 20:06, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.5, 10.34mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 80 |
17-Dec-2010 21:08, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
This stuff kept us completely occupied. It was expensive and it had been a while since we had seen any of our friends. The disappointment was plain in Roger’s voice when I talked to him on the phone (mostly because his voice was saying “we’re really disappointed”) and I explained that our engine installation was behind schedule and that we would not be able to join them for Christmas. They had made elaborate plans for an offshore excursion on an unpopulated paradise island so it was understandable, but what could we do? They were set to leave the next morning, so we offered to drive up to their marina that night, have dinner and a party, crash on their boat, breakfast the next morning and see them off before returning to our loser life of perpetual boat work. So that’s what we did. I packed an overnight bag and Jaime and I hopped on our scooter and blasted up to see them. We had an awesome night. The boat was full of friends in a very festive mood who basically teased us the whole time for being so lame as to let a little thing like an engine installation get in the way of this fun. Roger barbequed mind blowing monster prawns wrapped in bacon for a little sample of what we would be missing. I should have noticed that Roger was doing an exceptional job of keeping my Rum topped off, but since it’s typical of his hospitality I didn’t think much of it.
Cutting a long story short; we did sleep on Palapa that night as planned, but Palapa didn’t sleep in her berth. Instead she cut a path through the water by light of moon, and anchored next to a little island unknown to us, which is where we woke up the next morning. We had been shanghaied!
That’s how our first break from the boat work since Ao Chalon came to be. Hostages to fortune!
I hate Christmas. I won’t explain myself. Fellow haters, I suggest that you get yourself kidnapped and try a Christmas Lord of the Flies style. You might change your notion. We were on an uninhabited tropical island. At low tide a small opening in the cliff face next to a beautiful beach led into a massive grotto, or karst as they’re called here. The only way in or out was through this tiny opening but once inside it was massive. You were surrounded on all sides by monster limestone cliffs, complete with thousands of bats that spiraled out the top of the karst to hunt each night. There was a small beach area where we set up. We used the natural features of the rocks on the beach and lit a small fire. Once we had a nice set of hot coals to work with Roger dropped the grill on top and stated cooking up some more prawns Crusoe style. Behind the cooking area we had set up a respectably sized bonfire, and behind that the atmosphere was completed by an authentic 5 foot tall Tiki. It was the real deal, carved from a solid piece of rosewood, weighing in at about 100 pounds and imported thousands of miles from Hiva Oa for the occasion (it’s how we roll). Originally a ten foot Tiki, Roger bought this with a friend on the way through the Marquesas. They cut it in half and each kept a piece.This one has been collecting termites wrapped up in a blanket at the bottom of one of his holds ever since. We dug it out that morning and towed it to shore. It remained on the beach for the party, looking particularly awesome lit by the bon fire with shadows dancing around behind it.
Maybe it was the exotic, isolated and ethereal atmosphere, maybe it was the good company of the seven lucky people who shared the experience, maybe it was the novelty of our abduction. It was more probably feasting on the beach-cooked bacon wrapped prawns. But whatever it was it added up to create a most unforgettable Christmas. An aside, the Tiki still stands guard in our karst waiting for us to return. If you find this cave have a look around, you may not see it at first but it’s there. Once you see it you will realize why it had to stay. Its new home looks as though it had grown up around it. Well played Roger.
24-Dec-2010 01:43, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
24-Dec-2010 06:07, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
24-Dec-2010 16:49, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.6, 6.53mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 80 |
25-Dec-2010 21:54, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 160 |
26-Dec-2010 00:10, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.25 sec, ISO 400 |
26-Dec-2010 00:24, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.1, 6.53mm, 4 sec, ISO 160 |
Our return back to the boat treated us to another few days of frustration. This was broken up by a 3 day trip to Patong for a debauched New Years celebration. We rendezvoused with a bunch of clowns and crushed onto Bangla road with several thousand others for the kind of night that takes the recollections of the whole cast in order to piece together the events. None of the crew suffered any permanent damage. We’ll chalk it up as a success.
31-Dec-2010 03:45, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
01-Jan-2011 03:54, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
01-Jan-2011 03:38, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
By January 5th we had finished up our boat work and moved the boat up to Yacht Haven. The very same day we were standing on the side of the road waiting for a bus. It seemed a little sketchy, and in our desire to not be stranded on a random stretch of Thai road, we tried to get on any bus that went past. Fortunately there were 4 cops stationed there at a checkpoint who guided us onto the right one. By 8PM we were seated on an overnight ride to Bangkok.
A few days on the debauched Khao San Rd served up plenty of Leo, a sky train, the river boats, and maggots for dinner (beetles and giant grasshoppers – only 10 baht per bag!) We checked out the girlie bars and occasionally tried to sleep while the party raged on outside without us. Ears buzzing and livers splitting we were primed for another push north. This time the destination was relaxed Chiang Mai.The mode of transport was a comfortable overnight sleeper cabin on a lawless Thai train. We loved it. Kirk was with us, Roger and Karli flew ahead and were waiting for us when we arrived. It was a 13 hour trip, and the train travel was fun and social. There’s a bar, a restaurant, and not many rules. Nothing stops you from sliding open a door between cars and hanging out over the side watching tracks whiz by, nothing except common sense I guess. We’re apparently not burdened with too much and had a blast exploring every car ducking our heads in and out as the train lurched back and forth around corners. When the novelty wore off and the beer ran out no problem. Your booth folds down into a private compartment and you are rocked to sleep. In the morning we meet in the dining car for breakfast and before you know it the trip is over and you’re negotiating with a tuk-tuk driver in Chang Mai. We had been looking forward to this trip and it didn’t disappoint. We were also lucky to be travelling with Kirk who had already made the trip once and spent weeks in Bangkok. We had our own guide along for the ride.
07-Jan-2011 23:16, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 160 |
08-Jan-2011 02:39, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
08-Jan-2011 20:25, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 80 |
08-Jan-2011 23:14, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
08-Jan-2011 23:22, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
08-Jan-2011 23:22, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.1, 6.53mm, 0.167 sec, ISO 200 |
09-Jan-2011 00:22, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.1, 6.53mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 160 |
09-Jan-2011 02:07, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
09-Jan-2011 03:12, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
09-Jan-2011 04:11, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
09-Jan-2011 04:12, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 5.1, 18.2mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 640 |
Chiang Mai is a cool town. The old city is surrounded by a moat and wall built presumably to keep out Burmese invaders back in the day. Like most visitors we stayed in the old city in a nice place (free wifi, clean, hot and cold water, fridge, unneeded air con) for 10 bucks a night. A little scouting around will usually allow you to find big Leo’s for 50 baht.There’s an incredible market on Sunday’s and a massage opportunity on every corner. A one hour Thai massage at the place right next to our hotel cost 100 baht, about 3 bucks. We hung out there for a few days until Roger and Karli left. After that it was time to get down to business.
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09-Jan-2011 23:35, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 400 |
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Kirk, Jaime, and I each rented a scooter and then started hitting markets and second hand stores. We were looking for jackets, shoes, socks, warm layered clothing and jeans. Why? We were prepping for the Mae Hon Son loop. It’s labeled an ‘epic’ ride, something most seem to translate into the need for big expensive bikes and huge gear demands (we saw riders decked out in full body armor more than once). We took another approach, 125cc scooters and a rabble of ugly second hand clothes. Nothing really fit, we didn’t have a wrench between the three of us, and we looked like gypsies, but we fit up the whole gang for under 50 bucks, and nobody was paying more than 5 bucks a day for their bike.
We would get up early and make frequent stops to warm up with hot liquids and thaw out our frozen fingers. Lunch was always on the side of the road somewhere and we were usually in our next town with plenty of time to shop around for accommodation. Once beds were secured we ditched our bags, had showers, a massage, some food, some beer, a bed, then repeat. It was sublime.
The first stop was a tiny town called Hot, a couple hours ride South from Chiang Mai. We generally tried to get ourselves lost on some side road at least once every day, and began to learn that being lost in Thailand means you are eventually going to be found by a Buddhist Monastery. There was always a little shack ready to warm us up with hot coffee or tea, and every trail seemed to lead to a waterfall or little Thai village or both. The little villages were quite cool, tiny winding roads lined up with screaming kids laughing and waving at you. From Hot we visited Mae Sariang, MaeHong Song, Pai, and looped back down to Chiang Mai. Every day the road seemed more spectacular than the last, and we were always climbing some mountain, had views into Burma while skirting along a ridge or twisting through hairpin curves and shooting steep descents.
My bike proved to be the weak link. I broke down twice and had a flat rear tire. The first time was right in front of a little shed, beside it was a small kitchen with a few chairs serving up noodles. We had just climbed a steep stretch, and thinking that the bike was simply flooded or something, I coasted all the way back down the hill trying to jump start it. Kirk followed and at the bottom asked why I didn’t just take it in to the mechanic that I broke down beside. Great info, bad timing. Luckily I had packed my trusty sarong. We used it as a tow rope and he drug me and my ailing scooter back up to the top. We ate an early lunch while the mechanic tore pieces off my bike. We were on our way within an hour, and made it all the way to Mae Hong Son before I broke down again. Another shop, another hour, and another 200 baht for their parts and service. The flat tire was at the top of a big summit on the way to Pai. Here a helpful Thai cop helped me round up a bicycle pump. The cop, the pump owner, and a few curious kids all crowded around the wheel and took turns pumping it up. It was still leaking but bought me enough time to get down off the mountain and into a shop where the repair and a new tube set me back 100 baht (3 bucks).
The trip was probably the highlight of our Thai experience. In all we covered about a thousand kilometers through some of the best scenery in Thailand. The climate was better up north (although very cold at night and morning), the people chilled and friendly, cheaper beer, just a good all around experience, and if you take our approach, an exceptional value. If you’re here don’t miss it. Five minutes on google will probably tell you everything you would want to know. There seems to be a whole industry built around the ride; you could plan it out in as much detail as you want. We of course recommend that you do not. No matter what anyone says, it’s all optional. All but a decent map and warm clothes. We’re talking jackets, shoes, scarves, gloves, the lot. If you start before 11, expect to freeze your ass off.
We were back in Chiang Mai on the 16th and booked a cheap flight on Air Asia straight back to Phuket on the 19th. It was so easy to kill the few days off in Chiang Mai. Easy except for my trip to the Thai dentist. Two broken teeth, and two cavities. Four fillings with no freezing. I’ll spare the blow by blow. It’s already covered pretty well when the same thing happened back in Cuba. The good news is all 4 fillings, a cleaning and polish only cost about 60 bucks. That’s less than what it would have cost at home even with a good dental plan.
12-Jan-2011 15:48, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
12-Jan-2011 16:08, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.167 sec, ISO 200 |
13-Jan-2011 14:26, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
13-Jan-2011 15:37, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.7, 11.76mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 80 |
13-Jan-2011 15:50, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 80 |
13-Jan-2011 16:41, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.5, 8.89mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
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14-Jan-2011 14:24, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.25 sec, ISO 250 |
14-Jan-2011 17:51, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.4, 8.89mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 80 |
14-Jan-2011 19:22, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 4.5, 5.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80 |
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17-Jan-2011 01:13, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 500 |
18-Jan-2011 02:44, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u1030SW,S1030SW , 3.5, 5.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 160 |
So we’re back in the boat. We’ve got a big passage to get ready for and over the coming days we’ll be rounding up our necessities and moving the boat clockwise around Phuket to stage ourselves for the next big leg of our adventure… Sri Lanka!
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