Day 79 14th feb - Valentines Day

We are up and out, passing Mr Happy Thai on the way.... Poor bloke actually sleeps on the floor in reception.... No wonder he never smiles... I doubt he's got the energy...
As the door closes behind us a minivan pulls up bang on 06.20 and we pile in... From here we are whisked off to Phukets main bus terminal, we arrive by 07.00 and get pointed to the 07.10 bus... We pack all our bags into the stowage area then find out whilst attempting to board that we are booked onto the 8.10 bus...... So I guess the earlier start wasn't for our benefit.....
It does however give is time to find a cup of tea and some food reserves for the next 6 hrs.....
Our coach turns up not long after the 07.10 coach has left so we repack our bags into the stowage area again before boarding successfully this time....
We follow National Highway 4 north.... This road twists and turns along the coast allowing some great ocean views.... We also pass whole Forrest's of rubber trees which have little black buckets hanging from there truck.. Above the bucket the barks been removed in strips... The bark removal makes the tree produce the sap that's funnelled down into the buckets...
Midway through the trip we call in at a scheduled food stop... Shiree's not looking to impressed by the food choice, which was pretty sparse.... I order a kind of fish fritter with vegetables.... All the foods contained in big metal trays behind a curved glass counter... It's canteen food at its best, and at 60Bt for two platefuls it's cheap.... I opted for a spoon full of a very liquidy chilli sauce with mine... It was a small spoon, but my got did it ever pack a big punch......
The food stops are well timed, as soon as you've finished eating there's a blast from a coach horn and off you go....

We arrive at the port of Ragong into total Thai kayos...
Thankfully its nothing that involves us, but it's all around... This port is the only port that services a group of small Islands, one of which we are going too called Ko Phayam. On another island called Ko Chang there's a party happening and many people have been advised to just arrive at the port and get a boat... The only trouble is that there's limited trips per day and there very busy.... People are arriving that have no ticket for a boat or forwarding hotel reservation but are still trying to cross the water.....
The islands that this port service are small and off the normal backpacker route, but I don't think it'll remain this way for long... There is obviously demand.... The coach we came here on travelled on a newly opened route and I suspect won't be long before more boats are available and the place will take off...
As it stands there's currently one very well fed Thai guy that sits with his "boat timetable" board rubbing his hands together... There are a couple of other boards next to his, but there's know one seated by them... This guys got a manopoly and can charge whatever he likes now.... All scheduled boats are full and thankfully we have a ticket on the last one. More and more people arrive trying island to get to the neighbouring island of Ko Chang
I guess the Thai guy will organise another boat and line his pockets well...
Whilst we are sat back on the sidelines a group of about 10 local builders start to have a rather heated conversation with lots of finger pointing and walking off.. I only wish we could understand what they are saying... There definitely not happy about something and we think it's got something to do with some brand new kayaks they've been carrying around but who knows.... All we know is that as an observer it's pretty funny, and it all adds to the mayhem..
Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive we do start to consider our leaving options... With all these people struggling to get on a limited supply of boats and with us not having a booking made for our return boat trip we consider it wise to make one....
We've got all our worldly belongings in four bags that now gave considerable weight so I stay put with them as Shiree heads off to the offices of one of the boat company's to try make the reservation and forwarding coach trip, however time is getting tight in our boats scheduled arrival and departure time to take us today and within 5 mins of Shiree being in the shop the big Thai guy is rounding people up and packing them into a brand new pick up truck... Shiree's out the shop in time and joins me in the back of the pick up, but I then hear that there's two trips to be made from the port were currently in to a fishing harbour down river..... This is happening because the tides out now and there not enough clearance for the boat to come to the port anymore... Shiree has only managed to complete 50% of the bookings, and although the boat company has said it'll make the complete booking for our whole return trip in her absence, it was doing it on trust that we'd return....and we'd have no actual tickets until we do so....
I figure that if Shiree catches the second trip from the port to the fishing harbour it might allow enough extra time to complete the booking, enabling us to have possession of the necessary tickets... So out she jumps and off I go in the pick up....
It's around a 10 minute drive from the port to the fishing harbour and when we arrive the boats already there... There are lots of boats here and there all working boats, and most of them are fishing boats..... The smell of fish is very strong and there's little shade... I manage to get our four bags off the pickup and over to a dry area of land and find some shade whilst people are being loading onto boats or into pickups....
Everyone from the pickup board the boat to Ko Phayam apparat from me... I stay on the quayside and wait... I'd rather be left behind by the boat than be on it, leaving Shiree behind with no bags....
The harbour quay quickly becomes much quieter as more and more people find and board there boats and I feel like I'm the only one not joining a boat... And in doing so I'm holding an entire boat load of people up... The crew don't really speak any English so when they attempt to carry my bags on for me, assuming that's why I'm waiting by them, there confused why I resist there help... I've not actually got the boat ticket, Shiree has, but in the end I find a crew member who understands a little English and he assures me the boat won't leave until everyone is on it.... I'm still not convinced he's understood me when I've told him that there are more people coming, but I load the bags on, before returning to the quayside.... Thankfully Shiree arrives in the back of the new pickup with another guy who has managed to get himself a ticket to cross... I'm relieved to see her and we quickly climb on board and heave a large sigh of relief.... We are both on the boat.. With all our bags and we have bookings made for getting off the island that should enable us to get right through to Ko Samui on the 17th
The boat we are on is the quicker "Speed Boat" which takes around 40 mins to get us to Ko Payam and compared to the ferry which takes two hours or more we're happy we are on the boat we are.... For once in Asia we have received exactly what's been advertised... We slowly manoeuvre away from the tatty commercial fishing boats then in a surge of power shoot forward lifting the front of the boat clear of the water and we are on our way.... Two 200 horsepower outboards hum away as we skim across the surface if the water..... The sea is relatively calm, but every now and then there would be a huge impact as we hit the odd wave..... From our seating position we could see everyone being shaken or bashed around by the impact in unison...
40 minutes later the front of the boat dips and the engine speed lowers as we approach our destination.... Or nearly.
We have been seated within the boat and have not been able to see anything along the way... When we stand as people start to leave we find ourselves 6 ft off the beach, and the pier is 200 meters up the beach.....
Getting off is good fun... It does involve getting wet as you've got to jump off the back into the shallow water to get to the beach, but what an entry to the island.... As it turns out, it was the perfect place for the boat to stop.... As we walk up the sand towards some bungalows with the intent of getting directions we discover that this is where we're book into, and as luck would have it, we have the best bungalow of them all...
It's called "The Tree House" and is set within trees that line the beach.... It is made from wood and has a bamboo leave roof.... It has two floors and a wet room. The upper level has a mattress on the floor under a large mosquito net that hangs from the rafters and a hinged opening in the end wall that allows you to view the sea from your bed when open....
The ground floor has a proper double bed, again under a mosquito net and another window style opening pointing towards the sea....
The wet room has a very airy feel about it... There's a smooth concrete floor that's slightly lower than the house floor hight..., this concrete floor has the trunk of a 40-50 foot high palm tree within it that the shower head is attached to...
This room also has a palm leave roof which the tree grows up through....
The coconuts have to be removed from the tree by hand to prevent them falling through the roof...
The whole buildings two months old and although it's very rustic, it's also lovely..... It's exactly what we hoped it would be.....
The whole bungalow complete is really really nice... The beach is fantastic and the guy who runs the place is great... Is names James and he's English. There are around 12 - 13 bungalows in total with a bar and separate dining area in the middle, and although I've not yet seen all the other bungalows I find it hard to imagine any being better than the one we have.... It's noticeably different to the others...
The speed boat on which we arrived also brought upon it James's girlfriend... Or Ex girlfriend, we quickly learn.... We migrate to the bar and are met by a very welcoming bunch of people... There's a more elderly American groupie in the 70's and an English couple in the forties... and it's the English couple who have been here around 5 weeks that inform us about " The Girlfriend"
We spend the evening at the bar enjoying the company of the Uk couple as the Americans have gone for something to eat... The uk couple, like many here had only intended to stay for a short while, but have enjoyed there time here so much they keep extending there stay.... Of the 13 bungalows only three now have a regular turnover of people, the other 10 all have long term tenants in them, all who have stayed longer than a month....
The English couple are called Richard & Laura and there going into town tonight for some dinner... As we don't know where we are, and as there's no street, let along street lights we tag along for the walk into town.... Town is just a set of concrete paths that lead from the pier which have a few bars and restaurants on them and as we walk passed an open fronted bar Richard & laura spot someone they recognise, so we briefly part company.... We continue to walk for a short distance up the track until we've run out of shops and bars to look at before returning to join the others in the bar....
Island life is described by the people in the bar as being much like village life, with everyone knowing each other, and we soon blend into a friendly crowd of people from all over the world... We meet a guy from Denmark called Hanz that speaks perfect English with a think Irish accent, and I girl from kent who proudly shows us her latest scar from a motorbike fall, claiming that she doesn't usually ride her bike as drunk as she was when she fell off... Exhausts seem to cause most of the injuries as the speeds are almost always slow on the island, but the exhausts are almost always hot, and that's what cause the large burn to this girls leg....
We enjoy a good night in this bar, and end up being joined by a guy everyone else knows who works on the island called Nick....
Nick went to the same school as the girl that likes to fall off her bike and knew each other there, but had travelled to this island completely separately....
Nick works in a local resultant by night and hires out beach equipment like boats and windsurfs by day.... He suggested catching the tide up a river we'd crossed on our walk into the town area.... It leads up into a mangrove Forrest and said its really nice.... He also goes into some depth about canabis cultivation, claiming to have worked on large farm in the past... Apparently in some countries its growth us perfectly legal and is carried out on a large scale, and it was on one of these farms he'd found work...
The bar is run by a European guy with his Thai wife in the kitchen, so ordering food is easy and the kitchens never closed, so having being left behind by Richard & Laura who'd gone for a bite to eat much earlier we manage to grab some food here which was great....
As I write this now I can't actually remember the walk home, only collapsing into our bamboo hammock in the pitch black....
We both climb into the hammock and sway gently back and forward until Shiree bolts upright and without a word heads inside....
I decide I like the hammock very much and lie there for a while... Wondering if the hammocks still swaying, of if its perfectly still, and it's my head that's swaying instead... Either way I'm there a while, with the sound of the waves crashing onto the sand and the breezy blowing...
I could very easily fallen asleep in that hammock, but make the decision to climb out and head inside too....