Krabi, Koh Jum & Fireworks, lots of them
Trip Start
Dec 16, 2011
1
2
5
Trip End
Feb 10, 2012
Koh Jum, Thailand
Monday, January 2, 2012
There was a communication error for our original booking at Krabi, The Orange Tree, no-ones fault just lost in translation so we stayed at the City hotel for the night. We stayed at the Orange Tree on our way back from Koh Jum and quite nice it was too.
Next day we caught the ferry to Koh Jum, an island opposite Koh Phi Phi and on the way to Koh Lanta. We had stayed here 12 years ago with friends and Dave's sister Peta and her husband Bradders. This time we were back, one tsunami later, again with friends, Peta, Bradders and their two children now in existence, Hannah & Casey.
12 years ago we celebrated the new millennium on Koh Jum, staying at Joy Bunglaows where the Thai staff took great delight in trying to shoot us with fireworks. This time we were getting our own fireworks to shoot them back.
Joy Bunglaows hadn't really changed that much, some updated Bunglaows, some with solar power but not much else. The island hadn't really changed that much either, a few more sets of bungalows along the long eastern beach, some new ones in the southern side on the cliffs and the towns are larger ( not that they are very big). The three towns are a mixture of Muslim and Hindu and apart from Koh Jum town which cater for tourists seem to keep mainly to themselves. The island as a whole apparently only got electricity a couple of years ago. One restaurant owner said to us that some tourists had told her that now that the island had electricity it would be ruined and turned into a party place like Koh Lanta. She actually seemed quite worried about it but said it was so much better for them, they could now keep food much longer being one advantage. We'd like to know how these stupid tourists think its okay for them to enjoy a beautiful island holiday and then fly back home to their 24 hour powered apartments or houses but lament that luxury for anyone else. Tossers.
Anyway enough of a rant. The main entertainment at Koh Jum is to read a book, lie in a hammock, drink beer, paddle a canoe and go for long walks along the beach. In the afternoon the guys in our group would return from a successful day hunting in the local town for fireworks and comparing what they'd picked up with the others.
We went on a tuk tuk tour run by a lovely husband and wife team across to the other side of the island and around. Koh Jum has a lot of rubber plantations on it. The husband told us that the price per kilo was around $1. An incredibly small amount considering all the work that goes into producing it. There is still some jungle on the island,but as said a lot of rubber and coconut plantations.
We also took a couple of long boats across to Koh Phi Phi, party central island. The island was badly hit by the Tsumi but there was no evidence of that now. The only thing I thought from last time was that the walkway looked cleaner, like a rather spotless and new Kuta in Bali. The snorkeling areas had picked up in traffic as well. It was busy when we were there last time but now had alot more powerful speed boats crowding in the little bays and coves. Still the water colour and clarity is beautiful and there were lots of colourful fish around for snorkeling. We were glad to get back to Koh Jum, the biggest sensation on the beach in front of Joy Bungalow was a small yacht showing up.
At night Dave and I would retire to our bungalow and listen to the night noises. These included the usual bird, animal sounds and a curious call which went off at Random intervals, Yip, Yip, Woohoo, yip, Yahoo!!! what sort of animal was it?? A couple of nights later we worked out wasn't an animal, it was a person, animals don't also snore and talk in their sleep and well as Yip Yip noises at the top of their voice. Must have been a hell of dream.
The other noise was the Demonic Child noise, this small creature didn't just cry, it roared, complete with no doubt head turning, speaking in tongues and levitation. We felt sorry for the parents and wondered if they wanted any help abandoning the child in the jungle to be raised by the Islands monkeys.
Each evening leading up to the New Year the men in our group (& Casey) would set up fireworks On the beach and gleefully let them off. The night before Casey had built a trench in the beach and would yell 'Take Cover' before diving into the trench every time a firework went off. But after the first night he too, was entranced and stood with the men with a sense of wonderment on their faces. This sense was only lessened with one firework going out and not up, at which point the men stopped looking entranced, and resembled headless chickens.
As loud and colourful as the fireworks were not far away on the beach were a group of tourists letting off large lanterns one by one to float up over the sea. It was a beautiful sight and in complete contrast to the fireworks. This couldn't continue this way. The lanterns were too much of a target and we discussed various methods of shooting them down with the fireworks. Obviously we couldn't shoot someone else's lanterns, we would have to get our own and then find the most suitable firework and practice, practice, practice preferably with bigger, louder ones.
On New Years eve some of our group were told no more Thai whiskey, we think because it was a family bungalow and the staff wanted a quiet night from the band that played at the bar a couple of nights earlier as no one in our group was being particularly loud. The band had played quite late, and one of the staff members thought it was a good time to introduce his brother to the world of falangs (tourists), his brother spoke no English so we gave each other impromptu thai-english lessons. We also got to watch Steve pratice his T-Rex dancing and Michelle got to have a lot of photos taken with the band, the staff and anyone else in the bar. The brother decided he wanted to work at a resort after that night. So we either did something right or corrupted the poor bloke (probably the latter).
Undeterred from being banned Thai whiskey,Steve, Andy, Michelle, Glen, Dave and I wandered down the beach to the bar where on one was banning anyone from doing anything.
We never knew exactly when it was midnight, Koh Lanta across the bay looked liked they were trying to blow their island up they had so many fireworks, Koh Phi Phi across the other bay joined in. Following suit the guys let off their carefully hoarded collection and Dave attempted to blow up the bar where Michelle and I were sitting when one of his fireworks fell over. Afterwards Michelle & I weren't sure if people in the bar were hugging because it was New Year or if it was because they were still alive. On the way back from that bar Dave & I stopped at another bar and met up with some of the staff from Joy, one staff member looked a little sad, another person explained that her boyfriend lived overseas and didn't treat her very well, acting like she was his own personal mistress when on the island then dumping until he came back. Gave another insight into the world of tourism.
The next day (or later in the morning depending on how you looked at it) Dave and I waved everyone to leaving for other destinations. We still had a day but were thwarted from doing anything as it rained constantly. It was like the island of Koh Jum was saying to us, you've had your fun, now go lie in a hammock, I've got a headache.
Next stop. Yangon Burma.
