Day 87 Feb 22
After breakfast we walk in the general direction of the local village, only this time using the road instead of the beach...
We are on the hunt for a moped to hire for the day, and it's not long before we have located one and we're on the road again with a twist and go Yamaha 135 that can only be a couple of years old at most... All for 200bt per day... That's around £3.65
It's been around a month since we sold the Vietnam bike and its nice to have some wheels and with them we just ride.... We have no real idea where we are going, but the islands pretty small so we are not to worried about getting lost.... We've got no map so just follow the road until we come to a junction and simply pick a new route... The roads, although in very good order are very quiet... There's only the occasional pickup truck that'll pass you as most people use motorbikes here... The island is beautiful with palm trees everywhere... whole forests of them....
We are riding down a larger main road when we come across a elephant riding centre. Although the riding isn't of much interest to us we stop to take a few photos and notice than the elephant riding company occupy both sides of the road... One side has the riding centre on it, and the other is a rest area for elephants that are not being worked that day and its on this side of the road that we spend most time... They are still chained, but have much more free range and food... Although there obviously not wild it's still nice to see them doing there own thing as opposed to caring people around...
We are only back on the bike 5 minutes when Shiree spots a hand painted sign indicating a waterfall so off we go....
Shiree has become a more nervous pillion than when we were in Vietnam and I think quickly wishes she'd not seen the waterfall sign... We turn off the busy road and start to follow the sign onto a single track road that quickly turns into a stoney rutted and bumpy track up a steep hill.... I'm ok with this, but the little one on the back is less so... With much care, and a very slow up hill ride we arrive at a little car park in one piece and leave the bike to continue on foot... We arrive after a short steep walk it the waterfall site to mind it completely dry... Not even a trickle, so back on the bike we get and off we go. Next on the hit list is a "Lookout Point".... Again, it's found via a hand painted roadside sign that we decide to follow and again it ends up being a bump rutted track that we follow for as long as we can.... The track leads you through a forest area where all you can see is palm leaf and bamboo before turning sharply to the left with a small makeshift bike park just beyond... As the track deteriorates from this point we opt to park the bike up with the others and continue on foot...
The signs become very view and far between and the temperature is high.... We are totally alone on a remote trail in the middle of know here and then, out of the blue comes something we've not experienced since being away..... Rain !
It's more like a very light shower in reality and we shelter under some large palm tree leaves until it passes.... It's actually quite nice as it cools us down a little.... The path is pretty steep and we are a little hot under the collar.... When we arrive at the end if the track we find a single motorbike... It's a motocross bike, and I'd guess its what's needed to make the journey... We now climb up a narrow footpath within a large rock formation on the side of a very steep hillside.. We can see the lookout hut almost directly above us and boy were we glad to arrive... There a lone Thai guy is running a little bar from the lookout hut from which we order some much needed liquid...
We take a seat and recoup whilst taking in the fantastic views of the tree canopy we've just walked through and beyond a small fishing village on a huge bay... It's a beautiful spot and you soon forget about the near vertical climb here... Shiree orders a Coke at the bar but they've sold out.. But no worry the guy says... I'll go get some. Leaving us to tend his bar he disappears down through the stone pathways, jumps onto the motocross bike and free wheels off down the hill... Despite telling him that we are happy to order something else he is off... heading for the fishing village in the distance.. He says he needs to get some anyway so we put our feet up for a while ... It's not long before a sign that says " Fishing " with a arrow pointing further up the mountain side catches my eye, and curiosity takes over... How can you go fishing on top of a mountain ??
I go off to investigate, following an electrical power line that's connected to the bar... I climb for around 5 mins and the terrain levels a little.. There are a couple of very remote stilted houses up here but no fishing lake... I do however find something I'd wanted to see since arriving in Asia.... Being in this water rich, sunny part of the world means its easy to grow fruit, and we have seen many items of fruit and veg we eat at home in there natural environment which is nice....
One fruit I had wanted to see was a pineapple, and amongst the palms and bushes I find a lone pineapple bush with one small central pineapple growing... I think a pineapple bush only produces one fruit at a time, and over here you often find pineapples that are the same as we have at home, and you also fine a type of pineapple that's around half the size, and it was one if these that I'd discovered... We have eaten the small ones here and they taste exactly the same... I go back to get Shiree as I know its something she also wanted to see before we return to the lookout hut as a motocross bike caring coke makes its way up the latter stages of the trail...
We find the down hill walk to the bike much easier.... I've mainly got my head in the bushes looking for more pineapple most of the way but have no joy...
We get ourselves back onto a main road and go off in search of some lunch where we hope to find some wifi. We end up eating in another area that's making the most of the surrounding view.. It's a cafe at the top of a steep hill which this time we can climb on the bike... The seating area is a huge decked platform that overlooks the bay of Haad Mae Haad. Haad Mae Haad is a small costal town that I'd researched earlier in our stay and it was somewhere I wanted to find. Just off the coast of Haad Mae Haad is a tiny island call Koh Ma which is used on almost every tourism advertisement for Ko Phangan and its looks perfect.... I knew it was on the northwest coast and although we hadn't followed any directions I figured we couldn't be far away and with a quick check online we can see that the island is just around a headland, just out of sight from our current position....
Koh Ma is accessible directly from the beach at Haad Mae Haad via a large sandbar thats under water when we first arrive, but the photos all show it as being exposed... I guess at low tidy...
We cross to the island which is around 100 meters off shore by walking into of the sand bar in water around a foot deep... The waters warm and the sand is white, but it's largely down to a large amount of coral within it... Having crossed we find a little space on the beach and lay out our towels.... We've put ourselves in a little cove where the water is flat and sit in the water for the first hour as its so hot before Shiree braves the heat to sunbath whilst I remain sat in the shallows....
After a while she rejoins me and we paddle out further.... This at first sounded like a good idea, but I manage to step on something that cuts the bottom of my foot, so after much moaning we swim out instead. The cove is all pretty shallow so when we stop swimming 50 meters the waters still only a meter deep.... We just lounge around taking in our surroundings.... The waters pretty clear and Shiree finds a large sea slug... Then we find another, and another.... After around 40 mins we head back in.... There is something in the water that's close to the beach that's sharp, and it's everywhere... Shiree now cuts her foot too and I end up looking like I've had a fight with a butcher... 2 cuts on one hand, 3 on the other and a cut foot too.... I've suddenly gone off this cove so we hobble away.. Back through the shallow water back to the main beach where the bike is.... The tides now out much further than when we arrived and the linking sand bank is much more exposed and the remaining water far more shallow so we take a seat in a beach fronted bar and watch the sun set over some spring rolls in the hope the tide will continue going out and the bank will be completely exposed.......
We leave after great orange sunset over the sea, but the tide was still high enough to keep some of the bank covered... We could of stayed later, but we don't have a map and we don't know any off the lights work in the bike so off we go.....
By the time we've found our way back to our bungalow and both showered we are pretty hungry so having checked the lights on the bike we jump on it and head off into the local town around 5 kms away for some food... We end up in an Italian restaurant and I have a pizza... Shiree however want something that reminds her of home and orders a lasagna which earns itself the title of being the worst lasagna she'd ever eaten..... Good job my chicken pizza was nice... and large !
We head back and watch I film before heading off to bed...
We are unsure what to do tomorrow as we liked having the bike today... It allows you to see so much more...