Ko Pha Ngan - 3 days in the hospital...

You most probably know that I was admitted to an hospital on the 23rd of December in this beautiful island. I am staying at the First Western Hospital. As mentioned I am fine and making a quick recovery. The truth is that if that would have happened in Europe I would have probably make it out of the hospital the same day. Unfortunately, due to the local reality (tropical weather and risk of infections...) they don't take much risks and almost systematically keep wounded patient for 24/48 hours depending on the severity of the injury.

My wounds are located on my left lower leg, both my forearms and the palm of both hands. For the hospital.

I spent a total of 3 days and 2 nights there. Around 60 hours...
Everyday have looked like one another. Lying in bed waiting for the morning wound cleaning.
Lying in bed waiting for food served 3 times a day at fixed hours: breakfast at 7am, lunch at 11:30 diner at 6pm.

Nothing to complain about there, the food was amazing and the choice very very large. they had the best shake and smoothies ever.
I made a few friends there but mostly spent my time with Marju from Finland occupying the bed in front of mine.

Marju - my hospital buddy and I. Window view.

It was an interesting experience altogether and was very nice to receive the visits of Joshua!

Unfortunately I set my travelling back for 3 days and I had to stay on the island instead of joining my cousin in Bangkok and running the 10,5km on Xmas day.

Health and recovery was more important and I am happy with the recovery so far.

I would leave on the 25th at 7pm (merry Xmas to me!!!!) just in time for what turned out to be the longest commute... ever!!!

This is how they make you feel at home for Xmas. The owner being Santa and distributing sweets :)

The best internet connexion I had so far. Thank god for Netflix.

Ko Pha Ngan - Challenging day 22.12

I had mark the day in my calendar. I had told Joshua - my Dutch friend that arrived on the island the night before - to join me there for some hours of fun and physical exercises. We met at 10 am for breakfast (it is as well the opening hour of the water park) and get energized for the day.

I was so excited.

Soooo, the challenge is composed of multiple modules you have to go through, some are mandatory (if you fall you have to pass it again) and some others can be "skipped" if you fall (you then have to swim to the next element which makes you loss quite some time$9.

Here goes the course: 

- You start from a plate form where you take a swing. You release yourself in the water and get to the first module - The Balance Beam

- The Balance Beam is composed of a very narrow beam with 3 red cylinders in the way. As the name suggests it, balance is key there.

- You then turn onto the Swinging Shapes, 5 hanging shapes very unstable. You need very good hand/foot coordination and very strong upper body. These 2 pieces are mandatory, if you fall, you have to start both again. 

- Completing this, you are a dive away from the Rolling Barrels. You get up a small plate form and face 3 cylinders. Several techniques can be used to cross this obstacle: "crawling" from one barrel to another, or running/jumping from one to one. I decided to run which was much faster and dive straight into the Floating Shapes.

- The Floating Shapes is one of the 2 modules I could not master. It is composed of 4 floating cubes that are very light and incredibly unstable. You need to be so fast and light on these... It is almost impossible. I did try but I have always been falling on the second or third one. 

- You are then having a 20/30m swim to the Pyramid, an inflated structure you have to climb until the top. Not very technical but very demanding physically. 

- From the Pyramid, you take a dive to get onto the Monkey Bars. This one is pretty straight forward... You hang from one bar to the next one but difficulty is increased having your legs hanging in the water. 

- Last element is the Satan's Balls, 3 massives round floating red shapes you have to run through. This is by far the most difficult part and the one where you can loose most time. I have not manage a single time to cross it. I have been spending almost 2 hours going on and off the departure zone trying to master it... without success. The closest I got was jumping from the 3rd ball onto the finishing area... but arriving on the plate form my back first, just bouncing against the white inflated module down the water... So close.

- The time stops when you are standing on this last piece.

First part of the course from the starting plate form. 

Second and final part of the course.

We spent with Joshua a good hour evaluated all elements and practicing crossing techniques before taking upon The Challenge - the timed run of the entire track. The all time record was 2 minutes and 16 secondes by a French guy. My initial objective was to make it into the top 20 and complete the course in around 3 minutes.

On my first try, I noticed how tired I already was from all the time spent climbing, swimming and trying out the modules. I would rest a little, have lunch and try again. My first time was 3 minutes 20 sec... just 3 seconds away of making the top 20. I know I could do much better and already identified areas of improvements.

After lunch, I decided straight away to warm up, swimming and stretching a little bit and try directly.

As expected, I started trying to dive off the swing and going through the first elements slowly but surely as these are mandatory. I failed to pass the Floating Rocks and swam rapidly to the pyramid, climbed as quick as I can and jumped straight into the water, flew passed the monkey bars and climbed facing the red balls. I focused a few seconds... and failed pathetically :D. I was just left with swimming around and climbing to the last plate form. And standing triumphantly. 

My time for this attempt was 2:48. I had my spot in the Top 10 and the best time of the day (besides that staff member... that completed the course in 1 minute and 3 secondes.... He was flying through the entire thing like if it was a walk in the park).

Again, I knew I could do better but was not really sure how much energy I had left. The key for me was these balls... completed it and it is top 3 guaranteed. I spent the next 2 hours as mentioned before up there, jumping from one ball to another. Or at least trying because I would always end up in the water.

On my third and final attempt, I improved my time by just 1 second. I was left empty and already sore feeling each muscle in my body.

All time ranking!

It was time to call it a day, go to visit our Dutch friend at the Flying Dutchman and witness a beautiful sunset. We stopped on the way in order to snap a picture or 2 of that amazing scenery.

Sunset and Ang Thong National park in the far back.

Ko Pha-Ngan - Opening day tradition

December 21st.

Solid tradition now !!

New place, early morning run.

This time again, tropical rain.

Since it is 6 days before the race I took it easy. 40 minutes easy run.

I then went on to change accommodation.

The bungalow I had was ok, but there were cheaper and better option.

I decided to head to the North East part of the Island, on the opposite corner to the party area in a much quieter place to the Shiralea resort.

The resort is a perfect place with swimming pool, close to beautiful beaches.

After lunch (pad thai ... what else) and check in, I headed to Ko Ma, an island / peninsula you can walk on to... you have max 50 cm shallow cristal clear deep water for 100m to get there. The place is perfect for snorkeling. Beaches are full of corals of any color you can imagine. It feels like a giant fish tank.

Coral beach of Ko Ma

Happy dog chillin' in front of Ko Ma

My snorkeling spot on Ko Ma

It was soon time for diner. For this I was looking for a perfect spot to record a timelapse and enjoy a nice pad thai (sorry for this obsession of mine - if you don't know what a pad thai is, go to a Thai restaurant. Please.).

We stopped at the Flying Dutchman... One of the nicest place I have been to so far. It is quiet, peaceful heartwarming and the food is de-li-cious.

View from the Flying Dutchman

Tomorrow will be an important day... The day of THE CHALLENGE. My expectations have been building up so high. The place looks like a Wipeout playground for whoever is up for the "Challenge". Can't wait.

The "short commute" from Krabi to Ko Pha Ngan

Another day of commute. 

This 20th of December was funny making the "short" trip from Krabi to Ko Pha Ngan island in the bay of Thailand (269km only...).

One of the main reason I choose this island over Ko Samui I that there is something to this island I really want to experience: The Challenge (dedicated post to come). I randomly discovered this when I was checking where to go and what to do... This was Ze key differentiator!

I first got pick up by a mini van from the hostel in Krabi Town.

The taxi got us to the head office of a travel agency where half a dozen mini vans arrived. While waiting an hour or so, groups would be made depending the destination. Pink for Ko Pha Ngan and yellow for Samui. We would then board the same bus to Donsak in the Surat Thani region en route to the ferry. After waiting for another hour, we would finally board the boat. First stop Ko Samui for 30 minutes then Ko Pha Ngan where we would be taking taxi to the different part of the island where everybody would be dropped of at their hotel. I would make it for diner arriving at 7:30. And would found the company of a cute little cat in my empty restaurant.

The total commute was as short as the distance between the 2 locations - 8 hours and thirty minutes.

No picture today - no time at all I guess :P


UPDATE:
I have found a cute picture of my diner companion I wanted to share with you :) sorry for the poor quality I was a bit shaky and in low light. The cat jumped on my lap spontaneously and left when I was done. Nice little diner buddy.

Pad Thai - Cat flavor.

Krabi - Scooter, Tiger and Railay

When I went to bed in my hostel on the 18th of December in Krabi I was the only folk there. No one in my dorm, no one in the dorm next door. Imagine my surprise when I saw Joshua when I woke up.

Joshua is a Dutch folk I met first in Kuala Lumpur. We randomly saw each other on the beach in Langkawi... and now Krabi. 

After a nice Thai Ice Coffee for breakfast, we rented a scooter to provide us the freedom to move around this amazing region. Ahhh these Limestone formation everywhere!!!

First stop: Tiger Cave Temple. A nice touristy area composed of a Buddhist temple, a stairway (to Heaven???) of 1237 stairs to climb to access a view point, and a cave area which is home to the local monks.

The view from that hill is breathtaking. Absolutely gorgeous and totally worth the effort to climb up.

Top of the Tiger cave temple

We then headed towards Ao Nammao, a village on the sea where we took a boat to Railay... another piece of paradise accessible by sea only. Joshua and I spent the afternoon in that location. Going around Railay beach takes approximately 15 minutes altogether, but there are couple of location that requires a little bit of effort to access not to mention a bit more time: the viewpoint and the lagoon.

To arrive to both location, the hike is pretty spectacular and incredibly difficult because of the incline and the mud (it is raining everyday at some point, making it very muddy). Again, the view from up there is pretty special. The lagoon is another story. after the climb up, there is a 100m climb down which is very very technical... that place is made exceptional by its difficulty to be reach. We I got down to the lagoon, there were 3 persons only... and very few tried to go there that day apparently.

Viewpoint in Railay

The princess lagoon in Railay - picture credit

It was quickly time returned to Ao Nammao with the last boat at 6pm.

Leaving Railay

Of course the ride back to Krabi town (around 20km) was humid - we played catch and seek with a tropical storm but made it safe back to the hostel. To keep the tradition alive, the day ended at the night market for some live music and some food. Unfortunately no egg wrapped pad thai. but some nice spring rolls.

Tomorrow will be another day in the transports. 

Krabi - Life is THE Beach

Oddly enough, I had to change the time when I arrived in Thailand. We are in the time zone UTC +7 hours. It does make a difference regarding my running. I am still going running every second day as early as possible which basically means when the sun rise. In Malaysia it was between 7 and 7:15 in the morning. In Krabi, I went for my morning run before 6:30.

The mini marathon next week will start at 5:45 in the morning... better getting use to it!!!

So I did run a little on the bank of the river... Quite a few runners out there. Interval trainings it was, trying to get some speed. It is a training that makes me very inconfortable. I am out of breath most of the time, at a pace I can't handle... but it helps apparently. My brother suggested that I do intervals of 30 seconds for 10 minutes which means 30 sec very quick and 30 sec recovery for 10 minutes... then slow pace for 10 minutes just to have your heart rate going down... and do it again.

Impossible for me today. I went to bed very late the day before as I was speaking with a couple of English and an Australia at my hotel (the first persons I have met that did not enjoy their stay in Thailand at all). I completed only half of the training set by Simon... 5 minutes intervals of 30 seconds twice with a 5 minutes recovery run in between. I did not feel the sleep was missing, I should maybe just do this more often and increase slowly the reps. We will see in the coming weeks how I can squeeze this kind of specific trainings in the travelling plans.

I had booked a last minute tour to visit some islands located in the "bay" of Krabi (which, as I learnt, is called the Andaman sea... Thank you google...). Many many many (and many more) tour options... James Bond Islands, Monkey Island, Phi Phi Islands, etc etc etc.

I went full on Leo style and choose the Phi Phi Islands tour package. Phi Phi Islands are a group of 2 main islands known for the movie the Beach starring Leonardo Dicaprio... and Virginie Ledoyen. I really though she was forgotten by international audience by now, but seeing 95% of the girl getting recorded out of the water like this I understood how wrong I was.

The tour was taking out the group to places absolutely incredible. Again, it is hard to put words on the landscapes, the color of the water, the islands, the feeling of that perfect sand on your feet... You have to see it for yourself and make yourself an opinion about these places. I am not going to lie, it was amazing and as you probably guess, incredibly busy everywhere we went. 

Here is a small summary of the day and the visits.

Departure by boat from Ao Nang, a nice little beach resort 20 km away from Krabi town.

40 minutes wandering on Bamboo Island - an island without bamboo... but a LOT of corals.

We went for short picture stop where we stayed on the boat to see the Viking Cave. This is a place known for its bird nest. Apparently a bird nest found there can be sold up to 100.000 Bahts according to our guide (2600 euros approximately)... A delicatessen in Asia were we told.

We had a swim in Pileh lagoon together with doyens of other groups from alternative tour companies.

We spent 45min on Ko Phi Phi Lee. We were dropped off Maya Bay - the Beach of "The Beach".

We spent 5 minutes off shore of Monkeys Beach snapping a few pictures... and feeding the monkeys.

We then headed to Ko Phi Phi Don for lunch. A buffet for hungry tourists with local food.

Our final stop was for snorkeling close to Nui Beach, a little creek breathtaking.

We return to Ao Nang, all absolutely exhausted. I slept most of the 30 minutes return to my hotel... and therefore was ready for yet another my egg wrapped pad thai :D

Coming back from this and since I have been wondering how such a landscape was formed I did a little research. I learnt that these seascape elements are called karst and are (surprise, surprise!!) NOT the results of millions of years of erosion but of a chemical process acting over thousands and thousands of year. More info here and here.

There are worst ways to spend a day really.

Post Scriptum: It is hard to pick a few pictures from all these places. There are 2 that I really like: one from "the back of The Beach" on Ko Phi Phi Lee (everybody stays on the Beach while 2 minutes of walking takes you to a no man's land with that view) and one from the snorkeling. What do you think?

Island in the back of Maya Bay.

Fishes photo-bombing my selfie.

Bye Bye Malaysia - Hello Thailand

Another day, another adventure could be an alternative title to this one.

After 2 nights in Langkawi, I had made my choice to leave Malaysia and head to Thailand. It was a hard decision as the place is a little paradise with plenty of entertainment around and a very laid back feel in general. This is an island after all. I should be back here, maybe... I will be in Malaysia again in February anyway, on my way back to Europe. Future will tell. For now I was set for another long journey towards Krabi.

Bye Langkawi.

A taxi picked me up at 7:20am at the hotel. One last stop en route to the ferry terminal as we were picking up another person. And I would be travelling all day with Lee. He is travelling solo just as I am and heading to Phuket (that would add at least 3 hours compare to my already long journey... can't even imagine how happy he was to finally get there).

Anyway, we got to the ferry terminal by 8am, had a coffee, waited a little at Malaysian immigration, embarked at 8:45, left at 9, arrived in Tammalang at 10:30, passed through Thai immigration, took a songthaew to the local bus station, arrived right on time for our bus at 11am and left...

Because we would travel during the day and it was hot and sunny outside we did not suffer so much from extreme cold that is usually ruling Thai buses... The drivers in South East Asia are hardcore fan of air conditioning, and it is common to have polar temperature in these rolling things.

I arrived in Krabi bus station in the middle of the afternoon and said goodbye to Lee - one advise he gave me could impact tremendously my travels in the next weeks... more on this soon :) - Where was I exactly, I had no clue. Where would I spend the night, I had no clue. One sure thing, we were NOT in Krabi town... I went for the easy was and took a taxi to the center where I would have much more chance to find an accommodation for the night. Finding a place took me very little time... After 15 minutes walking around, I had a winner. The place looked clean, very close to the markets - the fresh food market and the night market - and cheap.

Perfect combination.

I was finally ready for what I had patiently waited since February: a Pad Thai in Thailand!

And the best place to find one was at the night market.

Going through the shacks on my quest, something I did not expect at all happened at 6pm sharp. A loud Thai music was blasting in every direction and EVERYBODY stopped whatever activity they where doing. At first I wanted to laugh out loud then I realised it was probably the national anthem and stayed quiet. Google confirmed that it was indeed the national anthem and that it was played twice a day at 8am and 6pm. Not being aware of this at first, I thought a second I was taking part in the world largest Mannequin Challenge... It was that intense!

Night Market Krabi seconds before National anthem being played.

And around the corner it was... The Pad Thai Shack! A special one as the recipe was upgraded to a egg wrapped pad thai. It was absolutely delicious.

This is how it's done. That simple.

As I like to say in Thailand: one pad thai a day keeps the grumpy face away. 

Pad Thai egg wrapped.