When I woke up today, I was the odd man out. Everyone else was packing, because they all leave today for other destinations. Jason and Jana are heading North to Chiang Mai, and then into Laos. Rory, Emrys and Kristi are flying back to the USA. I had some food and just chilled while they all got ready. Once everyone had packed, we were all standing around the tables in the lobby of the On On. I had my camera with me, and managed to convince everyone to crowd in for a group photo, despite some groans of protest.
My plan for today was to say goodbye to Jason & Jana first, and accompany the other three up to Nai Yang beach, which is right near the airport. The other three weren’t flying out ’til around 4pm, so we figured we’d chill on the beach, have some food, and just lounge the day away until they had to go. Nai Yang is about a half hour drive from Phuket Town, and they all had their luggage with them, so they were heading there either by taxi cab or tuk tuk. However, I needed to return to Phuket Town after they left for the airport, and I certainly didn’t need anything as fancy as a cab, so I rented a motorbike. After all, they only cost 175฿ ($7) for 24 hours, and I wouldn’t use more than $2 in gasoline. A cab would easily cost 400฿ each way.
I had my motorbike rented and ready to go. Rory, Emrys and Kristi were bringing their luggage to the street to flag down a taxi. I went into the Internet Cafe to give goodbye hugs to Jason and Jana. I thanked Jason for inviting me along for such an amazing trip. It was a bit of a weird goodbye, because I had no idea when I’d be seeing them again. It could be years.
I left the cafe, got on my bike, and idled up to the edge of the street. Rory, Emrys and Kristi had completely vanished. No cab, no luggage, no them. Just gone. They had said they’d wait for me in their cab, so that I could follow the cab to Nai Yang, since I’d never driven that part of the island before. I turned off the bike’s ignition and just waited around for about ten minutes, thinking that maybe they’d have the cabbie circle the block and come back around. They didn’t return, so I knew I’d have to find my own way up there. I went to the counter at the front of the hotel where the tour guide sits. This is the same guy I’d been renting the bike from. He’s a really nice guy, very good with directions, and was also the same guy with whom I’d booked my sea canoe tour. He gave me a map of the island roads, and told me which way to go through town in order to get to find the highway. If I remember correctly, it was a left, another left, and then a right.
Before setting out, I stared at the map for awhile and burned the route into my mind. It was pretty simple once I was on the highway, and I figured I’d just read the signs as I went. I had those oh-so-familiar butterflies in my stomach. I knew I could do this, but if I fucked it up somehow, or if the bike fucked up, it’d be pretty difficult to get back. I made sure I had enough money with me to cover a cab home if I needed one.
I started up the bike and pulled out into traffic. It was a gorgeous day: humid with a big hot sun looming overhead. I rode with my sunglasses on and the helmet visor flipped up, because it was all scratchy and too hard to see through. I was hoping to catch up to the taxi, and once I hit the highway I was doing about 80-90km/h. This may not sound like much, but on a little Honda Click scooter, it feels pretty goddamn fast. I weaved around the other scooters and zoomed up the highway as fast as that bike could carry me.
Highway 402. It is the main artery of Phuket. Leaving Phuket Town, it’s lined with established businesses, but as you travel North, it changes to little shops and fruit stands and tiny shacks. Scooters stay to the far left, which is pretty much just a wide shoulder of the road. In the other lanes, cars, tuk-tuks and larger vehicles zoom by at various speeds, some of them rather alarming. I did my best to stay the fuck away from the cars careening at break-neck speeds because, y’know, I didn’t want to break my neck. I was wearing only my swim trunks, and a singlet (a.k.a. undershirt/wifebeater), so I was not dressed to withstand road rash.
I needed to exit at route 4031 and start making my way toward the coast to hit Nai Yang Beach. I made the turn and instantly my surroundings were exponentially more rural-looking. It was gorgeous. I slowed right down and really took in my surroundings. I wish I had taken my camera with me, though I wouldn’t have had a safe & dry place to keep it. In some wooded areas, the trees were planted in perfect lines and I stared out at them as I rode by, the way I stare at rows of corn back in Ontario.
When I got to Nai Yang, I parked my bike and walked to the water’s edge. This beach was long, and I couldn’t see the others anywhere. I figured they’d stick out easily, being white and tattooed, but there were plenty of white folks on this beach and most were too far away to distinguish tattoos. I was about 2/3 of the way to the North end of the beach, so I figured I’d walk all the way to the North end and then sweep back.
It looked not nearly as far as it actually was. Turned out it took me a long time to walk to the North end, but I was kind of taking my time anyways, examining shells and chasing crabs and whatnot. I had assumed that I probably wouldn’t find them, so I figured I’d have a nice stroll. As I approached the North end, I was passing fishing boats that were anchored not far from shore, with fishermen emptying their gear and walking back and forth through the shallow water. I stepped over the ropes of their boats, and soon found myself at the top end of the beach. If I walked any further, I’d be heading toward the airport, and I saw no humans down that way.
I started walking back and began to feel foolish for not having brought any water on my little walk. I was dehydrating quickly in this heat, and the sun was high since it was around lunchtime. I walked back to where I started, and then a bit further down the beach. I ended up walking past some little beach-side restaurant so I stopped in for some shade, a drink, and a light meal before walking any further. I needed to chill and be nourished. I had not eaten any meat since the day before I left for Thailand, and I spotted a chicken burger on this menu and I went for it. I was about half-way through my anticlimactic burger when I spotted Emrys walking by on the beach.
I shouted “EMRYS!” and heard my voice get carried away by the ocean’s breeze. I ran toward the water, since he was walking through the tide, and shouted again. He heard me.
“Dude we’ve been looking for you! I’m glad you made it” He said.
He pointed to where Rory was sitting with their luggage. I told him the short version about me getting there, and let him know that I’d pay for my meal and then join them.
With everyone reunited, we sat on some beach lounge chairs and just talked for awhile. The others were hungry, but I’d just eaten. Emrys and Kristi wandered off to grab some Indian food from a restaurant they’d seen earlier. Rory and I just chilled.
I had an odd sensation in my gut. I knew this was all coming to an end, and I didn’t want it to end.
Em and Kristi returned with their food and it smelled so good that it almost made me hungry again. After they ate we walked the beach, back North, the way I’d already been. Kristi enjoys chasing and tormenting the little crabs and sea crustaceans. I told her about a couple hermit crabs I’d seen up at the far North end so we decided to stroll that way. It was a nice walk, but I have to say, I wasn’t expecting the amount of trash that was all over this beach. It was totally destroyed by all types of garbage that had washed ashore. Phuket is funny that way. One beach can be totally pristine (like Kata Noi) and another one, not half an hour away, can be totally destroyed. All that trash totally killed any desire I had to swim.
We couldn’t find the hermit crabs, but we found tons of other tiny crabs and Kristi seemed to have fun chasing them around. Her child-like wonder was contagious, and soon Emrys and I were chasing them too, blocking them with our feet and forcing to turn around and run in the other direction. These little crabbies were fast and it was hard to catch up to them sometimes. Eventually they’d give up and duck down into a little hole in the sand and we’d have to find another one to torment.
We slowly walked back along the beach to where Rory was sitting with all the luggage, reading a book. Off in the distance, some storm clouds were looming. I looked away for a couple minutes and when I looked back, they seemed a hell of a lot closer. I watched them for awhile, and I could see them moving in. I could also see the curtain of rain making its way toward us. It was way earlier than I planned on leaving that afternoon, but I figured if I left now I might be able to outrun the impending storm. I was on a motorbike after all, and didn’t feel like riding in the rain.
I just feel the need to reiterate my logic here. I felt that I could outrun a tropical storm. On a scooter. *slaps forehead*
So I said my goodbyes to the others, hopped on my bike, and I was on my way. I’d already seen all the scenery so I cranked the throttle as fast as it’d go and just bolted. I passed some old ladies who were driving slow on their scooters and were wearing plastic bags on their heads… for the coming rain I guess??
I wasn’t on the road for ten minutes and that storm hit like a big watery punch to the back of my helmet. The wind had whipped up and I was being blown sideways and had to hold the handlebars really hard to stay in the same part of the road. My mirrored “aviator” sunglasses were my only eye protection, since the visor on the helmet was useless. The sun had darkened things considerably, so I was really wishing I had something more transparent because I was having a hard time seeing. I was squinting hard to keep the water out of my eyes and doing my best to ride around the massive puddles and keep out of the way of larger vehicles, which didn’t seem to have slowed down much despite the torrential downpour. I, on the other hand, could only do about 40-50km/h and feel safe while riding.
It took me a long time to get back to Phuket Town, and at no point did the rain let up. I was soaked to the bone, so I’m glad the rain was warm. Actually the rain was almost hot, it was kind of weird. I made it all the way back to the On On without getting lost once, and when I pulled in, parked the bike, and hopped off, I felt pretty fucking great. I felt like I had conquered something. Even though it was just riding home in the rain, it was riding back to my hotel room in a very foreign country, through the heaviest rain I’d ever experienced, and not getting lost. This whole trip, I haven’t ever really had a good idea of where I am, and I’ve been lost a few times. So this felt huge. I felt amazing and had a big stupid grin on my face when I got back to my hotel room. I stripped down, hung up my clothes, took a shower, and hit the bed.
I lay there and rested for awhile. I had been pretty tense while I was on the bike so it felt good to relax. Eventually I had to head out for food though because I felt like I was starving. There was a bar just up the street and I didn’t feel like walking far, because of the rain. I ducked in to “Roxy”, and it turns out that they have amazing Turkish food! I had something, and I don’t recall the name of the dish, but it was FANTASTIC. I also met a guy from San Francisco who’d moved there permanently as a teacher and married a Thai woman, as well as a young French girl who kicked my ass at billiards. I was goddamn tired though, so I didn’t stay too late, and went home to crash out in my hotel room. And here I am. Goodnight world.
