Day 64, Year 4: Merry Christmas from Windbird
Date: Thursday, December 25, 2008
Weather: Overcast, Rainy Day
Latitude: 08 degrees 01.582 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 49.055 minutes E
Location: Ao Nang, Krabi Province, Thailand
CHRISTMAS EVE-I’ll start by backing up a bit. We wrote our little Night Before Christmas poem in the log last night, but I didn’t get to write about our day. We had hoped to check into Thailand at 9 am and be on our way by 10:00. But that didn’t work out. For whatever reason, the Port Authority offices didn’t open until after 10:30 and it was noon before we got back to Windbird. That didn’t leave us enough time to make it to our destination, so we made new plans. Phuket is an island that hangs off the western coast of southern Thailand peninsula forming Phang-Nga Bay. It is about thirty miles across the bay to the Krabi Province. Right in the middle of that bay there are couple of large islands, so we decided to go halfway and stop on the southern tip of Ko Yao Yai. The winds are blowing from the northeast now and we were headed northeast. Lucky for us, there wasn’t much wind yesterday, so we made the trip just fine. We had our Christmas turkey on the way-Spam Turkey. I bought this in Singapore to have when Kevin and Claire were with us. It was in a conversation with Kevin’s parents a few years ago that I was convinced that Spam might not be as bad as I thought. So in honor of the Kevin’s parents, we enjoyed Spam Turkey for lunch!
Once anchored, we headed for shore to explore one of the Muslim stilt fishing villages in the bay. We tried to reach the northwestern part of the bay to a village mentioned in the cruising guides, but it was just too shallow, so we went to a village of the eastern side of the bay. There was a concrete wharf that we tied to and then made our way up the steps. There were a few men fishing off the dock and even though they spoke almost no English and we speak no Thai, we understood that it was fine to walk through the village. As always, the children were so very friendly chanting “hello, hello, hello” and we found one young man who could speak a little English. The sign said Ban Khlongdinniu, so we are assuming this was the name of the village. We walked down the concrete road and watched men making fish traps, took pictures of the children, stopped by the little store they call a mini-mart, and took photos of the surroundings. All of the homes and buildings in these seaside villages are built on stilts. At high tide they are sitting in water, but it was low tide while we visited so we could see the complete structure of the little wooden shacks with corrugated tin roofs. As we were walking back to the wharf we realized that something had happened. Everyone started rushing toward the wharf and then one man stopped to tell us that there had been a terrible motorcycle accident. The narrow road winds around the bay to the other side and motorcycles are the only form of transportation. We tried to slip away quietly as it appeared that the accident had been fatal. Our thoughts have been with the people of that village and it is our sincere hope that maybe the man was just unconscious. The visit had been so pleasant but ended so tragically that it was difficult for us to get back into the Christmas spirit when we returned to Windbird. But we put on Christmas music, had smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers with olives as an appetizer, and then watched the White Christmas video in the cockpit while Mark cooked a marinated port roast with potatoes and green and red peppers on the grill. We ate dinner while watching the movie and had a great time. We even pretended that the white mosquito netting surrounding the cockpit was snow. Well, that one stretched our imaginations, but it was a great evening.
CHRISTMAS DAY–Our Christmas Day weather has been overcast and rainy, but nevertheless, most enjoyable. Santa didn’t wake us when he visited and we actually slept until almost 8:00. We have had early mornings since Kevin and Claire arrived, so the late get-up was a bit of a Christmas gift to ourselves. We immediately left the anchorage at Ko Yao Yai and cooked a big Christmas breakfast and opened presents while underway. Kevin and Claire brought gifts to us that our kids had sent to them as well as gifts they brought for us and we had things for them, so it was great fun opening presents as we motored across to Ao Nang.
We wanted to get to Ao Nang by noon so that we could do a little inland exploration. We arrived on time, but once we went ashore we found it was going to be cheaper and easier to wait until tomorrow morning to do an organized jungle trekking tour visiting all the locations we had planned plus we will to ride elephants. That gave us the afternoon to walk the street in Ao Nang and do a little shopping. The big thing here is the fabric. There are beautiful Thai silks, cashmere wools, and all combinations thereof. Kevin splurged and is having a new cashmere wool suit and a cotton shirt hand-tailored for him. It is amazing that they can do this in one day, but there will be a fitting at 7 pm tonight and the suit will be completed by tomorrow afternoon. While Kevin and Claire stayed in town to shop, Mark and I returned to Windbird so I could get photos ready to upload and to write this log. Shortly we will return to shore to upload photos, make some Skype calls to our kids and family, and have dinner. The chicken and stuffing is going to have to wait until tomorrow night, but the restaurants here look too good to pass up.
We are having a different kind of Christmas this year but enjoying it. We certainly miss our children and are looking forward to talking to them this evening. We hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas to all!
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| 081225 Day 64 Thailand–Ko Yao Yai to Ao Nang, Christmas Day |
