Overdue goodbye?
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
49
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Kanchanburi,
Thailand
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
The rest of my island hopping was fantastic. After Samui I moved on to Ko Phi Phi which was so unbelieveably different from the picture postcard image since the tsunami it's unreal. I mean, they've rebuilt A LOT of it and for the most part on first glance you can't really see that there was ever a problem. However, the palm trees that famously divide one part of the island are hardly even there any more and as you walk around and investigate a little more you can see how the tourism stuff, like Sri Lanka, has been worked on first and many people are still without homes. That said, it was still probably one of the more beautiful islands once I got away from the main part of it. I decided to stay in a place about 10 minutes from the town on Long Beach and I went for a guest house up in the hills, called P.P.Hill (original huh?!) which, as their advert describes, "is untouchable by the tsunami"..
01 A nap on Hern
. what an advert! It was apparently the only place on the entire island to not be affected by it in some way.I just relaxed for the first 2 days and ate more good food and then I decided on day 3 to take a boat trip which took you around a whole lot of nearby islands, including Phi Phi Lek on which there are no hotels etc and is made famous by the film 'The Beach'. I have to say that this must be one of the richest islands in the world. With all the money that must have been pumped into it from the movie they then have the cheek to charge you an additional 200 baht (about 3 pounds) just to set foot on the beach. And it's not like it goes much further back than you can see! Our boat just settled for snorkelling around and the fish were amazing - even if one school did decide following me and eating my feet would be fun! Scared the life out of me! After the trip I wished I had one more day 'cos I would've loved to go diving there too. However, the holiday was over and the funds were running low so I headed to Phuket where Jom was spending some time with friends at a chopper bike week thing to embark on the journey from hell... which, I'm sure to some foreigners would be the most fun way to do things and a great way to experience the Thai way... to me it was something akin to how I imagine hell would be!!!
Oh, one thing I should probably mention before the journey is the unbelieveably horrific sunburn I got from the boat tour on Phi Phi. I mean horrific and I've had some bad sunburn in my lifetime! My back and upper thighs were quite honestly redder than a red chilli and as I got warmer some beautiful blisters started to appear - some of which were just tiny like pips of an apple but some of which were quite honestly the size of a cherry tomato
01.1 Driving away from the temple :(
. I'm not kidding. Now, I'm already in a mood 'cos I've been rushed away from Phi Phi as we're 'leaving early' and then told we're not leaving until 3pm. I then had been told we were heading straight to Bangkok but was informed that we would be stopping off to see a friend and staying overnight in Chumpon first. So, around 4pm we left with 7 of us bundled into a car ("it's not full" he said, "plenty of room"), with Jom and I sitting in the boot bit and embarked on what I was told would be a 3 hour journey. Granted, it was actually fairly spacious and in a normal state probably would've been fairly comfortable. We go for about 20 minutes and then stop at a bike shop... "bap diao" I'm told (one minute). Over an hour later we pile back into the car and finally head off.3 hours later and we're still in the car. Having stopped every hour or so for about half an hour each time for numerous reasons unknown to me. I then see a sign for Chumpon which says something like 210 kilometres. Now, I'm no fool and I know that we're not gonna make that distance in a few minutes. "3 hours my ass" enters my head and I start to become a little frustrated. It doesn't help that the driver is completely insane and I honestly think I might die on this trip. To then top it all the air con breaks so all hope of any sleep to forget where I am goes out of the window. I'm not Thai. I can't sleep anywhere
02 Me and Harn
. I also have on my mind that fact that this friend will probably have a typical Thai home which means kipping on a mat on the floor possibly with no fan resulting in what I'm sure will be a lack of sleep that night.Around 1am we finally arrive in Chumpon. A 9 hour journey. How the hell 300km (the distance I was later told) takes 9 hours when you're going waaaaay above the speed limit, I have no idea but it did. That's ridiculous even for 'Thai Time'! Anyway, all I have on my mind is sleep and after sulking for a long time we head to his friends house which, to my utter delight has rooms with aircon and a bed. I'm saved. A good night's sleep is possible. Even with my painful back!
The nexy day I'm told we'll be leaving in the morning. Around 11. 11 arrives and I start asking Jom what time we're leaving. Apparently he's neglected to tell me that there's a problem with the car and so we'll be leaving later, possibly the following day. I just about exploded and demanded to be on the next bus out of there. Bearing in mind that had I just got the bus from Phuket it would've taken about 14 hours total, I would've had aircon the entire way and a movie to watch too!! So, after calling around they're all full. Of course they are it's then end of Songkran, Thai new year, and everyone's heading home. So, nothing to do but wait. And wait. And wait. Around 5 we left. Now, the bus to Chumpon took about 6 hours so I'm thinking that with our reckless driver and even with stops it shouldn't take much longer than 7. We go for quite a long time without stopping and then suddenly we're stopping every 20 minutes or so. Apparently we're sticking with the choppers for this part and there's a problem with one of them. We stop and end up being there for over an hour again
03 Peering out from behind Nanfa
.Jom tells me a friend is coming to take one of the bikes back to Bangkok so we're waiting for him and then we'll head back with him 'cos he can drop us straight at the bus station to get the bus at 5am (I flat refused to stay with another friend in Bangkok for the night!!). We should get there about 1 he tells me, so we'll have to wait a long time. I manage to make myself comfortable sleeping in the back of a pickup with a chopper and then we stop again. Another problem with another bike. We're gonna have to load the 2nd one in to I'll have to move inside - somewhere I didn't wanna go at all 'cos it's a small ass cab bit in the back and with people I don't know and am in no mood to talk broken Thai with at 12am. There's not a problem with the other bike at all by the way, I was moved for no reason.
Anyway, we finally arrive at 3am (yes, a 10 hour journey) and manage to get on a 4:30 bus. And home it is. I've never been so happy to be in Kanch as I was at the moment. Never, eevr again will I embark on a 'faster' journey with Thai people. The bus it is for me! As you can tell I'm still feeling a little bitter about the whole episode and I could not wait to get back to the tiger temple away from Thai people who have no concept of time!!
And there I stayed.... for about 4 days. I had planned to stay a week but events there meant I had to get out before I yelled at a monk! The day after I got back we were walking to work when we were asked if we missed the cubs. We were very confused until one of the girls told us they had been given to a place in Laos. This is the same place where apparently one of our other tigers got traded (all of which, by the way, is highly illegal) and rumours have been passed around that he got sold on to China which would almost certainly mean he'd be dead by now
04 A quick kiss with Chom!
. Suddenly all fell into place - the reason they hadn't been coming up to the temple, the reason we've been allowed no contact with them and that they haven't really been humanised. The fact they're girls didn't help matters 'cos the boys are much more compliant when it comes to the tourists coming to visit.As we're walking back to our rooms we can hear a little cry. We go over and there's a tiny, petrified, hungry cub just left alone in the small cage. Judging from my work with the lions I wouldn't say it was more than 3 weeks old - and that at a push. It couldn't walk and it's eyes were open but it couldn't see yet. We asked everyone for the key to the cage just so we could sit with it but everyone claimed not to have. Including the monk who did. That evening we spoke to the Abbott and said we were very worried about it and asked if we could spend some time with it - making sure he knew who we'd already asked for the key. He said of course, that it was no problem at all and that he would speak to the boys tomorrow. We asked if anyone was spending the night with it which he found highly amusing (so, a no then) and we wanted to make sure someone was feeding it. He said a monk was and then proceeded to tell us that it had been a 2 boys for 2 girls deal but one of them had died the previous night. Helena thinks it may have been to transportation... which, of course, is a possibility but I think it was probably more due to lack of care.
Anyway, the following day, after a lot of heated words with one of the boys, we managed to get the key. We were told it wasn't good for people to touch it and play with it as that's apparently how Dalika got dislocated hips... not inbreeding? We didn't wanna play, just sit with it for its comfort and after waiting a long time, sat with it all morning
05 Gonna miss my baby
. We even fed it. Just before canyon it got moved inside - next to the cage of Sangtawaen who just lost her cubs and naturally hates other cubs anyway. Smart idea huh? I went with it and because the monk was angry that I wanted to stay with it, he locked me in the cage, knowing I had no way out without his key. Once Helena realised she asked Lumpur is she could come and swap with me to sit with it and he said that was fine. Instead they let me out, took it outside, swung it side to side like a baby, put it on the dirty floor to try and walk around and then picked it and played with it a lot... but of course, it's not good to touch it and play with it. I was under the impression that at that small age it should also be fed every 4 hours... we fed it at 11 and at 5 it still hadn't been fed. I didn't think it would survive but Helena tells me it's doing okay. Thank god.Anyway, the following day they'd locked it away in the big cage with 2 padlocks so we had no hope of getting it. I just decided I was sick of being treated like someone who wanted to murder the poor thing, was sick of the sexist attitude, sick of only being called to help when they're scared of a tiger and just generally feeling inferior when our knowledge of animal care is 100 times better than theirs. I had to get out. So I did. I packed up everything, worked my last afternoon - making sure I got to be with my baby FaDaeng on my last day - and said goodbye to Lumpur the following morning. I wanted to tell him how I felt about everything but Helena and I have fought so hard after volunteers running to Lumpur to squeal to get a remotely equal status that we've decided to write a letter between us which she will give him when she leaves - otherwise they would've just made her life hell all over again!
Helena and I spent a few relaxing days in Bangkok just watching movies, sleeping and eating A LOT and then I've come back to spend a week or so here before moving on
06 Ahhh the facemasks!
. On Saturday I fly to Singapore (yes flying - it was 5 pound more than the train and it saved 3 days of travelling with bad connections!) and then on Sunday I fly to Oz! Which reminds me, I need to get a new visa before I go!And that brings me to now. Of course I will miss a lot about Thailand and its culture and I am heading to the temple tomorrow to say my final goodbyes - mainly to FaDaeng - 'cos I just kind of left without telling too many people. I'm sure lots of tears will flow when leaving my baby but I just can't do it anymore. I'd love to get her out and take her somewhere else... who knows.. eventually. There's always hope.
What a long entry! Hope it wasn't too boring! I should be able to catch up on a few emails in Oz and I will hopefully be seeing a few of you too! Hope all is well with everyone and I'll also try to add a load of pics while I'm there! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Comments
Tiger Abuse
Is this you holly, it is sybelle, i'm doing the doco are you interested? Contact me sybellefoxcroft@bigpond.com
Tiger Abuse
HOlly is that you, its sybelle, i'm doing a doco are you interested?
contact me sybellefoxcroft@bigpond.com