Next few days!

Day 3-5

Today we headed out to Bharatpur, and a National park called Keoladeo.  We are now staying at a heritage hotel in the village.  It is very grand.  Used to be the hunting lodge of the local Maharajah.  You’ll see from the picture below what it looks like.

Getting here was a bit of an adventure.  It’s only about 200 km from Delhi, but that’s about 4 hours drive given the driving conditions.  They say driving in India has only three requirements, a good horn, good brakes and good luck.  As in Egypt they sound their horns for two reasons, one to let you know they are there, and two, to tell you to get out of the way.  You have to decide for yourself which message they are trying to get across, and sometimes a toot on the horn means both “here I am” and “vamoose”.  

We traveled most of the way on a highway, or at any rate, a double laned road.  Problem was that there are no sidewalks or clear division between sidewalk and road.  You also have to cope with pedestrians, cyclists, tuk-tuks, trucks, buses and the occasional cow, all of which seem to regard the road as their personal bit of space. Very harrowing!  If I were driving I wouldn’t last 1 km.  

We drove through what in India passes for suburbia, dormitory towns and villages that look very poor.  In many areas the house are hovels, in others simply grubby and often incomplete.  There is trash everywhere.  We came across a dead donkey in the road.  Obviously someone had hit it, and no-one had bothered to remove it from the road.  In one place there was a tree in the road -  actually growing there.  If the tree was so valuable that they could not cut it down when they built the road, surely they could have made a slight detour around the tree.  Instead it is wrapped in reflective tape, that looked rather battered, testament, no doubt, to having engaged many unsuspecting cars.

This place is crowded.  Everywhere you go there are hundreds of people milling about, most in the middle of the road.  If you look down the side streets as you pass they are thronged with people.  Having been in two equally populous countries, India and China, I’d say that India has a long way to go to catch up to China in amenities.  

One we turned off the main road things went from bad to worse. The condition of the road deteriorated.  There were huge potholes, that slowed us down to a bone-crunching crawl. However, eventually we made it in time for  late lunch.  In a short while we will go out birding.  I am looking forward to it.  

I will let Morris tell you about the birding except for the fact that some of the birds were pretty spectacular. We drove through the conservation area mainly by rickshaw which are basically bicycles with a bench (built for two skinny Indians) on the back end covered with a canopy. Besides the birds we also saw some beautiful deer(different from ours), antelope, wild boar, jackals, monkeys and mixed into the collection of wild animals- the ubiquitous cows!

A rickshaw made for two.  However we were three with the guide.  Hence the second rickshaw in the background and two drivers

Once again because of Morris’ passion for bird watching we have managed to see parts of the country which aren’t really on the beaten path in terms of tourists. We get a lot of stares wherever we go and yesterday when we went into a small rural village in the vicinity of our hotel, we were followed by a throng of children. Then a group of teenaged boys came down to check us out as well.

Our driver and guide are both terrific. As a matter of fact our guide invited us to his home to have tea at the end of the day. We happily accepted! What a wonderful opportunity to see the inside of someone’s home when you are in another country, especially one where the culture is so completely different to our own!

First of all the guide obviously does very well financially especially since he only works 6 months of the year. The other 6 are too hot for birdwatching and I guess no tourists would be interested when it is 48 degrees- I can’t even imagine that!

Our guide’s family 

Our guide’s wife, two sons and parents all live in the same house- a 2 story pistachio- green stucco home which he had built 10 years ago. Not only was the guide’s family in the house but they also had a collection of aunts and cousins. I don’t know if that is par for the course or that they heard we might be coming by and decided to check us out.

The main floor is basically one large room with a couch etc. where Morris and I sat, and on the opposite side is a great big raised platform (maybe 8x8 feet) where all the ladies and the children sat. (We noticed this type of platform outside the houses in the Muslim part of Thailand and it is also everywhere in rural parts of India. The entire family stretches out, lounges etc. and watches the world go by. (They also take naps on wooden bed frames with a thin cord woven in a crosshatch pattern.) where the world going by can see them!).

I took a few photos, did lots of smiling and nodding, conversed with the guide’s 10 year old son who speaks English quite well. He goes to a private school run by nuns, and he is getting a very good education. We then went up to the roof- just the guide, the kids and us. The ladies stayed in the house. There we were served tea and cookies by yet another male cousin. From the rooftop patio we could see the 2 cows they keep, the garden, the pile of patties and the satellite dish.

Everywhere you go in the rural parts there are these dark brown disks about 5 cm thick and maybe 25 cm across. They are either laying on the ground or piled up in conical or rectangular shaped shaped structures. We discovered that these are cow patties which are dried and stored to be used as fuel instead firewood. Some of these piles of patties are then covered over with another layer of cow dung in order to keep snakes and moisture out once the rains come. Those who are more creative/artsy make patterns in the outer layer. We even saw one with metal decorations stuck onto the surface. During the course of the day, the women take a large metal basin, fill it up with cow patties and hoist it up onto their head. They are incredible strong and have amazing posture!

Note the cow pats in the bowl on her head

Some sights we have seen in the last few days- entire families on a motorcycle- nobody wearing a helmet (we regularly see old ladies in their lovely saris on the back of the motorcycle- looks incongruous. Can you imagine your mother/grandmother on the back of a motorcycle!), bicycles, camels, donkeys, horses and elephants pulling carts, tuktuks with 12+ people where there are meant to be up to 4, trucks and buses jammed with people hanging out the back and sitting on the roof... We saw people on their knees or squatting on their haunches with a sickle in their hands cutting wheat and tying it into little bundles- you can imagine how slow progress is. Everywhere you go there are men peeing out in the open, but with their backs turned toward the traffic. All the towns have wells with a concrete platform where the men and boys wearing their underwear- all of them dark blue for some reason- go and wash themselves using pails of water to get wet and to rinse. There are other raised concrete platforms where the women in groups scrub their laundry. (We were told that the women carry containers of water to their homes where they can bathe in private).

I could go on and on but I won’t because nobody wants to read all this! Just one more thing. On the way back to Delhi our driver suggested stopping at a very holy shrine- you can’t imagine how huge it is. The entire length of this shrine was packed with people buying and selling things. The garbage on the ground was unbelievable- no garbage containers anywhere. Anyway we parked, stepped out and within about 90 seconds we ran back to the car- the stench of the place was too much for us! It seems that it was a holy day and a million people had come for the day. In their wake they left even more garbage than is usually there, and they needed to use the nonexistent facilities so just use your imagination- actually don’t bother because it is unimaginable!

The trough is filled with garbage.  They say a million people visit this temple over a few days.  There are no additional toilet facilities!!

The previous few paragraphs were written on day 3.  This next is being written a few days later.  The national park was terrific for birding.  There were hundreds, if not thousands of birds on the wetlands.  Apparently, at it’s peak there are about 10 times more birds here than at present, and yet what we saw over the next two days was impressive enough.  

Just one small corner of this park

Irene has written about our experiences on the birding leg of the trip, so I won’t repeat that.  We were due to travel to Chandigarh by train the next evening, so we had another day in Delhi.  Didn’t turn out that way, but more on that later.  We planned to go to the National Museum, but en route we were accosted by a man who claimed to be a journalist and told us that there was a demonstration at the national Museum, and so why don’t we go visit a craft place.  He hailed a passing tuk-tuk and off we went.  Of course, there was no demonstration, and we ended up at a store, run by a cooperative.  We had no intention of buying anything, but Irene met her match.  She was out bargained and we came away with another small carpet and some clothing for Irene.  These guys are superb salesmen.  Fortunately, the store at least was reputable and mentioned in the guidebook as being legit and providing high quality goods.

While we were in the store I received an email that our train to Chandigarh was cancelled.  Apparently a group of people, called “Jats” (a tribe I think) were blockading the railroad in an effort to convince the government to reserve jobs for them.  Instead of the outrage that one would expect the general reaction seemed to be “Oh Well!  That’s how things work in India”.  So, we had to drive to Chandigarh.  Instead of the journey taking 2 hours it took 6!  Another terrifying 6 hours on the road.  Fortunately we are flying back to Delhi tomorrow.  

The overall impression that one gets of India is of decrepitude.  Things are not maintained.  Things that get broken are not fixed.  Things that are dirty do not get cleaned.  So the buildings are stained. The masonry is missing bricks or has chipped concrete.  Roads that were dug up for one reason or other are only partly filled in, leaving gaping holes.  Our hotel in Chandigarh can best be described as shabby.  The plugs in India are different than the rest of Asia or Europe, and my adapter did not work.  I called the front desk, and instead of giving me an adapter they sent their electrician to the room. He proposed putting the plug off and inserting the bare wires into the socket.  Needless to say, I did not allow this.  This typifies some of the attitudes here.  They make do, rather than doing it right.  

Yet despite this, in some areas they are technologically very advanced.  At some of the presentations today they showed work that involved technology that we don’t have.  The contrast is surprising.  

We asked about crime in India, and were told that violent crime is relatively uncommon, (except when rioting or protesting, common events, when deaths do occur).  However, our informant told us that cheating and corruption are rife.  A surprising number of government ministers and high ranking civil servants and even judges are charged with corruption.  There was a scam on pilot’s licenses, and an estimated 25% of pilot licenses being faked, including some who were flying for commercial airlines.  The newspapers yesterday had a story about the daughter of a high official in the civil service, who was kicked out of flying school in the USA for incompetence, had some more training and faked her license.  She was able to get a job despite her poor qualifications and a large surplus of pilots in India.  This story typifies the graft and corruption that occurs here.  The newspapers are full of it.  You may remember that one of the previous prime ministers was a paid informant of the CIA.  The current prime minister has been accused of accepting a bribe, based on information from Wikileaks.  Of course there is corruption in Canada as well, but we are pikers compared to these guys.  

I gave my presentation yesterday, and this was greeted with some hostility.  I was asked about a procedure called “fine-needle aspiration” in the diagnosis of liver cancer and I answered that it should not be used.  Little did I know that the chairman of the session was a big fan of fine needle aspiration.  However, because of his very heavy accent I couldn’t understand much of what he was saying so I could not respond to his specific points.  So instead I responded by diplomatically, that his experience was different that ours.  There is however, a lot of data supporting my position, and very little data supporting his position.   I have had this reaction before, because what I propose, and what is in our published guidelines is contrary to previous practice, and those who have developed their reputations using older methods have difficulty accepting that they might have been wrong.  Doesn’t bother me.  The data supports me, and what we recommend is standard practice in Europe and some parts of the States, as well as in Canada.

The Dining Hall of the place we stayed at in Bharatpur (Ten minutes from the National Park)

The main building of the hotel we stated in at Bharatpur.  Very grand!

An overloaded tuk-tuk.  Five in the back, four facing forwards in the interior, another 4 facing back in the interior, and one on either side of the driver (15 people on a bicycle made for two, actually and the driver)

Village scene.  The kids were fascinated by Irene

Cutting wheat by hand.  Nothing mechanized here

Old vs new.  Note the wide boulevard.  This is not a one way street.  We were heading the opposite way.  

Village street scene.  Note how crowded it is.

Another street scene.  Fruit stalls, cattle, and a scooter.  Fairly typical

Irene took this one.

More next time

Morris and Irene

India Days one and two

March 19

Here we are in India!  Again, a long and not very comfortable flight.  Seven hours to Frankfurt, 5 hours in the airport, and another 6 hours to Delhi.  The flight arrived at about 1.15 am.  We were met at the airport.  Actually we arrived before the greeter, and had to wait about 10 minutes before he arrived.  Then off to the hotel.  Unfortunately our route was blocked.  Apparently heavy trucks are only allowed into the city from about 10.30 at night to about 5 .00 am.  So instead of truck arrivals being spaced out over 24 hours they are all crammed into about 7 hours.  So you can imaging the chaos!  No problem for our driver.  He simply turned the car around on the one way road, travelled about 200 yards against the oncoming traffic, and turned off to another route.  Driving into the oncoming traffic was obviously something he was used to.  Actually he was not alone.  Many drivers had the same idea.  Fortunately traffic was light (it was, after all 2.00 am), or else it might have been quite chaotic.  (Chaotic is a term that you might see me use frequently here).   Trouble was, taking a different route meant that the driver did not know his way around.  After about 20 minutes Irene asked whether I thought we were lost.  I said I was not sure, but when we passed the same landmark for the second time I was sure.  I think it took us about an hour to get to the hotel from the airport.  I don’t know what it should have taken, but at 3.00 am who wants to be lost in a foreign city.  

Eventually we got to the hotel, checked in and quickly fell asleep, till about 9.00 am.  

This morning we toured Old Delhi, essentially a couple of monuments, including the largest mosque in India, the Jama Masjid.  It’s easy to be the largest mosque, when it is an outdoor mosque, essentially, just a paved square surrounded by buildings.  The style of architecture is the main interest. We also went to the famous Red Fort, a Bahi temple and Humayan’s Tomb.

Old Delhi is a jumble of narrow streets, very dirty, lined by grimy old house, where apparently people still live.  some of these buildings are hundreds of years old.  On striking feature of this area is the jumble of cables, probably electrical and phone lines.  There are hundreds of cables going in every direction.  It’s a mess!  If your cable goes out I don’t know how they can ever find yours and separate it from all the others.  It looks like tangled spaghetti.  It’s that bad.  The stores are tiny, no counters.  In some the storekeeper sits cross-legged on a platform and does all his business from this position.  There are no cash registers, but he has a wad of notes in his hand.  In other stores there are mats on the floor, and the storekeeper and patrons sit cross-legged on the floor.  

We were taken to a carpet place.  All the guides take you to places where they get kickbacks.  I said to them we are not buying a carpet.  Big mistake! Bottles water was brought out, then 2 rounds to delicious spiced tea. Many carpet demonstrations later and much haggling and we were the proud owners of a small carpet.  I must admit that it is gorgeous, but I, at any rate, had no idea we needed a carpet, let alone were going to buy one.  But of course, Irene knew just the place for it, and so now the study will have a small carpet to grace its floor. 

Just a bit extra from Irene- Our hotel is in an area called Connaught Place which is in the new part of Delhi. It is much quieter, had lots of green space and wide boulevards. Just the same, the drivers don’t always stay within the lines of their car lanes so there is a great deal of honking of horns. Not only that, but not everyone pays close attention to the traffic lights. So if the first car ignores the red light, so do all the cars behind it of course. If the driver does stop that means everyone does. This reminds me of Egypt.

The other point of interest today was a market. This is not a market with stalls but more of tiny shops with some vendors spilling out into the streets as well. I missed a lot of what was happening around me as I was busy watching the pavement- some holes, some wet places (not sure from what).... and the narrowest streets ever with motorcycles, tuk-tuks and rickshaws. There are no sidewalks so the vehicles toot and everyone moves over.

Not only do you have to watch for potholes, but in the absence of pavements you also have to watch out from traffic.  It’s a bit unnerving, having scooters, rickshaws, and bicycles passing within inches of you.  

Our luck- not sure if it’s good or bad yet. Today and tomorrow are the Holi days- in this case it is not a religious holiday but more of a celebration of a victory in battle. Holi means colour. As a result, people throw colours (coloured dyes) at each other. They used to do it with natural vegetable colours which just washed out. Now it seems they have gotten rowdier and throw unwashable colours as well as dirt and cow dung!!!!. We were told that the younger people also throw balloons filled either with water or with colour, and they have plastic water guns to spray with as well. 

There were ads in today’s newspaper which warned people to be careful, to use natural washable colours etc. Our guide and driver today said that unless we had clothes that we wanted to throw away it would be better not to go out tonight and to begin touring only mid-day tomorrow. The upside of today’s touring was that there was only about 30% of the usual traffic because people tend to stay close to home, not willing to take a chance with the rowdiness. We saw people who had been coloured with different powders- interesting, but we thought we’d give it a pass.

The carpet buying was fun. First we were given an education, then we had to feel the carpets and admire them. The store owner was a wily but charming old guy. He laughed when I countered his price on the carpet but he was probably laughing at me for offering too much. Finally he said that he would call the Kashmiri family he represented to see if they would part with their carpet- took 3 people 12 months to weave this carpet (yes, and we were born just yesterday). Anyway, after an appropriate period of time he came back and said they would take $30 dollars more than my final price. I countered with, “Then they’ll just have to keep it.” So what do you think, of course I got my price. (He’s probably still laughing at us!) He wanted to sell me a pashmina at a ridiculous cost, but I said no- just put it in with the carpet when you send it to us. Anyway, we both had a good time haggling, and Morris enjoyed being a spectator at the sport.

It does not feel at all unsafe here. I am so delighted looking the beautiful saris and punjab outfits (tunic, pants and scarf) that I may have to buy something for myself! And if any of the guys want a dhoti (look it up), just let us know!

All in all, a satisfactory first day.  We have plenty of time in Delhi, so we are in no rush.

Scenes from the Jama Masjid:  People washing their feet and hands

The Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India

The jumble of wires that I mentioned

It's amazing what can be transported by bicycle

The Lotus Temple:  A Bahai temple

Humayan's tomb: A magnificent building

Humayan's tomb:  You can see the magnificence here, despite the two obstacles in front of the building

Holi!  Splashed with colour

Sahib Morris and Memsahib Irene

Day 2

Happy Holi! Before we started out with our guide I went to have a fast look at one of the hotel stores. The shop owner asked me what part of the states I came from and when I said Canada, he broke out into a huge grin. It turns out that 27 years ago one of the the Eaton clan went to Kashmir to buy carpets for his stores. He liked them so much that he bought 50 and arranged to have this man come to Toronto for two weeks to design carpets for the house in Forest Hill. This man also stayed in the Eaton’s home as their guest. Not bad! 

Because of Holi, we got a late start but toured around for several hours. We were told that we really made good timing on the roads because of the holiday and lack of usual traffic.

On the agenda today was a Hindu temple- our first. It was very nice to look at and our guide gave us a very good summary of the three chief gods- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There are also  many other minor gods. Music was playing in the temple and to me it sounded more like dance than religious music. We each were annointed with a dot on our foreheads.

Next came the Sikh temple which was the most interesting for us to see. The Sikhs believe only in one god. We had to remove our shoes and don a head kerchief before being allowed to enter the temple. There were many people sitting outside on the marble floors, both inside and outside the temple while someone recited prayers over a loudspeaker. Sikhs reject the idea of the caste system and everyone is treated equally. There were 3 men playing musical instruments and one moving a giant fan back and forth over their holy book which contains the teachings of 10 disciples. There are several shifts during the course of the day so that there is always music and the fan ensures that no flies can alight upon the holy book. Next we were shown the kitchen where there were many volunteers preparing and serving meals to anyone who wanted to eat. They feed thousands of people on a daily basis. Incredible!

Another interesting sight was the Qutub Minar which was built beginning in 1199 by invading Moslems and took 100 years to complete. Another amazing sight as the minaret is 75 metres tall and has beautiful engraving on it.

There were a few other places including the president’s palace (just the outside) and a large park where families enjoy the gardens and the young men have countless games of cricket going on.

At the end of all this we went to check out saris and punjabi outfits for me. The poor salespeople pulled out at least 20 samples. I did try some on but quite honestly they didn’t work-boohoo!  Morris here.  Once again, as you can imagine I was a spectator in the clothes tryout.  

Hindu temple

The kitchen of the Sikh temple.  How many people do you think this pot of vegetables will feed?

Making Naan, by the thousands

Dining courtesy of the Sikhs

Outside, people praying

Two misplaced wannabee Sikhs

Qutub tower; also magnificent

Details of the carvings on the tower

These columns were taken from several different Hindu temples and used in this mosque.  The two columns in the middle are more portable

Thailand-#4 Bangkok

#4

This is coming to you from Hong Kong airport, on the way home.  Next stop
Vancouver then home.

Bangkok is hot, hot, hot.  It is also humid smelly, over crowded, very noisy
and not at all pedestrian-friendly.  The sidewalks in many areas are
impassable because of street vendors who occupy the space and force
pedestrians into the street.   We did not find any areas where we could
stroll, except in malls.  Not satisfactory.

The first afternoon we visited the home of an American silk merchant.  Very
disappointing.  Next day we visited the Grand Palace.  This was fantastic.
It is temple and palace together.  The temples are very ornate with
intricate decorations.  This was really well worth the heat we had to
endure.

We also visited a temple containing a huge reclining Buddha, about 90 feet
long and easily 20 feet high.  Very impressive

Next I had my meeting. Irene went shopping at a local weekend market.  She
went with Theresa, who is the wife of a colleague.  Both, I am told had fun.
Irene claims she bought stuff at a rate of about 1 item every 20 minutes for
8 hours, and as you can imaging, because this is Irene, for next to nothing.
She came back with a huge grin on her face.

We ate very well in Thailand.  Really only one bad meal.  Ate in Bangkok's
Chinatown last night.  First non Thai meal on the trip.  This was amazing.
We have to show the photo's to understand how chaotic it is.  Life really
spilled over onto the streets, with restaurants setting tables and cooking
areas in the streets.  Incredible

Now we look forward to getting home for a brief respite before our next
trip, to India

Love to all

Scary looking guards holding up part of a building on the palace grounds in Bangkok.

Look at the intricate work on this building.

This is the head of the famous reclining buddha which is about 90 feet long!!!

This is a picture of our guide going down the mangrove passes in Krabi.

These buiildings are packed in one on top of another at the palace.

You saw his head, now you're seeing the soles of his feet!

Fast food stalls in a shopping mall- a little different from ours.

Vendors like this just plunk themselves down on the street and sell their wares. The streets are full of vendors and stalls for street food.

Coming to the end of the shopping spree- Bangkok weekend market- incredibly huge. You have to have stamina for this one! Should have bought more scarves!

Peeling jackfruit in the market.

The End! La Fin! Finito!

Thailand #3- Koh Phi Phi, Krabi

Here we are at Koh Phi Phi. Notice the longboats which are used for most of the transportation of tourists.

Feeling like we could stay here for a long time!

Did we mention that this is where the movie Beach was shot!

A light lunch of shrimp wrapped in green crispy rice noodles.

Birding isn't just standing in one spot- in this case there was lots of climbing as well.

The water was so clean and clear you could see down to the bottom even when swimming.

Tuk-tuk with a flat tire on Krabi on the way to the hotel.

Hotel bungalow on Krabi Island.

This picture gives you some idea of the scale of the rocks jutting out of the water!

Feb.14 Morris black print, Irene blue  #3

Morris here again.  We are now in Krabi, the name of a town, not a
description of how I am feeling!  We have just come from Ko Phi Phi. (Ph is
pronounced as "p").  Can't help the names here (Bangkok!!).

We caught the plane from Chiang Mai to Phuket.  The flight timing is bad.
To get to Ko Phi Phi from Chiang Mai in a day is impossible, although it's
only two hours flying time.  The reason is the timing of the ferries that
leave Phuket for Ko Phi Phi.  So instead of leaving the day after birding,
we left the same evening.  However, our flight from Bangkok to Phuket was
delayed by about 2 hours. So we arrived in our hotel at 2.30 am.  Not fun!
I had chosen the hotel because it was in Phuket, and therefore,
theoretically, we should have been able to get to the ferry easily.  Not so.
There is Phuket province and Phuket town.  The hotel was in Patong, which is
Phuket province, but the ferry was in Phuket town!.  Another 45 minute car
ride.  We just made it to the ferry.   The ferry took another 45 minutes, so
we eventually arrived at the hotel, which is isolated on the island, away
from the main ferry terminal, at about 5.00 pm.  Thus it took us 24 hours to
get to Ko Phi Phi from Chiang Mai.  Was it worth it?  Yes!.  Ko Phi Phi is
beautiful.  It's like a more exotic Caribbean island with mountains.  That
night we had our first, and so far only bad Thai meal.  Instead of eating at
the resort hotel we ate at a restaurant up the beach.  Bad idea.

The following morning we lazed on the beach, admiring the scenery, and that
afternoon we went snorkelling.  Wonderful.  Could have carried on all day,
but of course we had to get back.

Ko Phi Phi was just gorgeous.  It's a small Island with a mountain backbone
(actually more like a hill), and several secluded coves with beaches.  The
colours of the water are beautiful, that light blue green that you see in
shallow water, with the deep blue of deeper water.  There are reefs all
around the island, one of which was our snorkelling destination.  There are
these strange rocks projecting out of the sea.  Most are just rocks, no
beach.  The walls are vertical, more or less.  None of this slope from base
to apex stuff, just straight up.  One of the James Bond movies, with Pierce
Brosnan and Jonathan Pearce as the bad guy was filmed somewhere here and
showed these rocks.  They are limestone rocks, so they erode relatively
easily where they are in contact with the sea, so at the base of these rock
they are undercut.(which means that there are little caves underneath)

Getting to Krabi was also an adventure.  We left the resort by boat,
transferred to another boat two hours later, and 90 minutes later arrived in
Krabi.  To get to our hotel we took a taxi to the river, a boat across the
river and a tuk-tuk to the hotel.  The hotel is on an island, and the only
access is by boat and by tuk-tuk.  There are no cars on this island.  Our
tuk-tuk was essentially an old (very old) Lambretta with a side car
attached.  Somewhere in putting this contraption together the poor Lambretta
lost its oomph.  It chugged along at a few km/hour along this narrow
concrete strip that passed for a road.  We were passed by many motorcycles,
impatient with our lack of progress and that we occupied most of the road.
We had to cross a stream.  The poor Lambretta barely made it up the rise.
So when we came to an even more steep bridge the driver decided we had to
dump the heaviest item - Me!.  I had to get out and get back in again when
the scooter had crested the rise (all of 10 feet).  This seemed such an
unlikely way to get to a resort hotel that we both had our doubts about
where we were going.  Had the various boatmen, taxi drivers and Lambretta
drivers misunderstood where we wanted to go? (Maybe we were being taken to
someone's cousin's ½ star hotel, judging from the buildings we passed on
route.) We passed through villages, fields, swamps, mangroves and it seemed
like we would never get there. On route we saw lots of housing- very
primitive looking with family members sitting outside on what looks like an
elevated platform with a canopy overhead- no chairs or furniture).Not sure
what they do inside the house, sleep and watch TV I guess) There were fires
going on the properties because this is where the people cook. I don't think
they have stoves- cellphones, TV and satellite dishes no problem though!)
Then, Phhhht!  Flat tire.  Now it seemed we were really stuck.  Thank God
for cell phones.  The driver made a call, another tuk-tuk came along and we
were on our way again.  Shortly after we arrived at our destination (-
definitely a 4 star hotel, private bungalow on stilts, teak deck with teak
and wicker furniture, toilet and shower outside but covered by a roof, so
very private.....  So to get from Ko Phi Phi to Krabi a distance of about 40
km, we took, two ferries, a cab, a local long tail boat and two tuk-tuks.
Tomorrow,to meet our birding guide we will have to take the tuk-tuk again,
and cross the river once more.  No bridges, so another boat.

We have had nothing but kindness from Thai hotel staff.  The Thai hotel
staff is so friendly, so polite and so obliging(without being obsequious),
it's incredible.  We found this in Chiang Mai, on Ko Phi Phi and again
tonight in Krabi.  Would that hotel staff elsewhere were as obliging.

Feb 16- We were awoken at 6:15 am so that we could get to meet our guide on
the mainland by 7:15. Another tuk-tuk to a long-tail boat. Halfway across
the river the boat driver got a call on his cell- it is so incongruous to
see these guys walking around barefoot, driving these old wooden boats and
carrying cell phones. It turned out that our birding guide had been in an
accident and couldn't meet us. We had no clue what was going on but the boat
driver suddenly became our birding guide. He had an English book on Birds of
Thailand, an app on his cell phone for bird calls, and was able to identify
the few birds we did see. However, his English was minimal and pronunciation
interesting so it took a bit of doing to interpret. e.g. kingfisher=
kinfitr, with the accent on the wrong syllable- typical in Thailand.

We spent a few hours of going in and out of narrow channels with mangroves
on either side of the river. I was feeling very much  like I was in the
movie African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. We had
expected to spend the day birding, then stay in a local hotel found by our
guide and fed  meals by the guide's wife. None of this worked out so Morris
walked around the resort with his binoculars. I had a swim in a fabulous
pool, then the best massage of my life!  . If you have ever had a
professional massage, you will know that there is a hole at the head of the
massage bed  where you rest your face basically staring at the floor. Not so
in this case, there was a wide bowl which fit just under the opening and in
the bowl were yellow and white mildly scented flowers! When I turned over I
could see the tops of palm trees through the windows - life could be worse

Love to all