Monkey Me!: Regina’s tales of simians with tails

Okay, so I’ve been working on serious answers to you reader questions, but since I’m on vacation in Australia we’ll be resuming our Q & A when I return. This week we feature a blog by my wife Regina, who shares her experiences with our simian cousins. Enjoy!

On our first trip to Thailand, this sign lined the nature hike paths

I have a thing for monkeys. It’s no secret.  When James and I would discuss having children in our younger days, I would plead the case for a pet monkey rather than a human baby.  I did some research and found that in most places that’s not legal, and even where it is legal to have a monkey for a pet, it’s ill-advised.

Camera case thief.

On my first trip to Thailand I got close enough to a monkey for it steal my camera case.  It seems the string that hangs off it is about as exciting to a monkey as it is to a kitten.  I got some pictures, but I could also hear the echo of what the American Travel Doctor who I had seen before I left the states told me about not petting or even getting close to ANY animals abroad; no cats, no puppies, and by all means no monkeys.  He told me that if I got bit I would have to be airlifted to the nearest hospital for a rabies shot.  That doctor made it hard for me to get the camera case back when the monkey swiped it, but luckily the owner of that monkey helped me retrieve it without injury. During my latest trip to Southern Thailand I was excited to read that monkey troops lived on the cliffs that surrounded the beaches where we would be staying in Railay Beach. Of course, whenever I’ve been somewhere that’s had wild monkeys, they seem to lose the majestic aura of mystery when I see them scavenging through garbage cans, which is what the troop on Railay was doing when I happened upon them. I was, however, extremely pleased to meet Harry the Monkey in Railay.  A baby Macaque, he was rescued by the locals when the mother monkey was attacked and killed by another Macaque. So now Harry lives with the humans, adopted by the local Thai on the island.   I found Harry hanging out with his folks (different locals) in all sorts of places during my five days there.   In the morning I might see Harry walking to the beach with one of his Papas down the foot path while I was on my way to get coffee and by day Harry was usually leashed to a tree near the tourist beach, in the evenings he could be found roaming free at a Rasta bar where the climbers hang out. In one of the first direct encounters with Harry, at the Rasta bar, he took off James’ glasses and was very ornery, so while I wanted to play and pet on the one hand, Harry wasn’t likely going to be calm and cuddly.  But, as is my style, I picked up a banana from the free breakfast at the hotel each morning and carried in my bag hoping to run into Harry. One afternoon I found Harry sitting on a blanket eating lunch with the hawkers (sellers of local wares, food, beverages, etc) on the beach.  He had rice on his hands and feet (since he eats with both right? ).  Even then, by the end of the week Harry only took my banana after I gave it to one of the locals to peel and give to him. This day did get my courage up to put out my hand to Harry when he was by himself hanging out in the shade of his tree.  Consciously pushing back the fear that the travel doctor had put in my head originally about petting foreign animals and rabies shots,  I meekly put out my hand, palm down, to Harry and was surprised when he looked into my eyes and carefully climbed on to the back on my hand.  He stayed very still and looked at me, as if to make sure I wasn’t going to move suddenly.  As I hadn’t expected him to climb up, my hand was palm down and I didn’t want to make any sudden movements, though it was challenging to hold his weight fully in the position. I’m not sure how long we stood together like that before I noticed a long appendage about the size of a pencil between my ring and middle finger. Sure enough Harry had an erection and seems to be getting himself off between my digits. Because he was also holding my hand with all four of his, I had no way of easily removing him. It was such a delicate matter, trying to disconnect myself from Harry without destroying either his dignity or mine, and I was still holding my camera in the other hand since, before that moment, I was still trying to document.

Little Harry

As I was struggling to get Harry to let go of my hand, one of the hawkers who sells soda and beer on the beach, a hard nosed lady-boy that we had gotten to know over the course of our stay, came over under the tree where Harry and I stood.  “He really likes you,” she said.  And it was true Harry the monkey and I had a moment together, just not in a way I was ready for. Merry Monkey & Happy Christmas !  May you find your more evolved monkey self in the New Year.  love, Reg.

Posts from Railay Beach, Krabi Province, Thailand: part 2

Thanks for reading our blog. Please leave comments if you like what we’ve done or if you have helpful suggestions. We will be posting more soon.

Notes from the beach: part 2

Sunset on West Railay Beach, by Diny Naus

We stayed at the Krabi Sand Sea Resort on West Railay Beach had dozens of well-kept bungalows. Since it was low season we were able to get our rooms quite cheap.  The beach is on the west side of a small peninsula that is dotted with steep limestone cliffs. The resort itself was little different than many of the others on the beach. As it was owned and operated by Muslims the restaurant didn’t serve alcohol; which kept the resort very quiet. There are plenty of options nearby for those hoping for a cold beer or a stiff drink.

Another thing to consider in Thailand is that alcohol is expensive, prohibitively so for the average Thai. And much of southern Thailand is Muslim. Mosques and madrassas dot the jungle landscape around Krabi Province much in the way that Buddhist temples—called wats—do in the north, the minarets piercing the palm tree forests. It doesn’t mean you can’t drink drink or have fun at the resorts, it’s just good manners to be mindful of your hosts and not act like a drunken farang buffoon.

Coffee shop.

Being the low season, Railay Beach was super mellow. We also got a great deal on our air-conditioned bungalow. We could have stayed in more primitive accommodations for around $10-15 a night, but since we were here to relax and didn’t want to hassle with finding lodging when we got there, we booked our spot in advance for about $25 a night. It was well worth it.

Some of Krabi was damaged during the 2004 tsunami, although the majority of the human losses came from Koh Phi Phi, which was almost completely annihilated. Railay Beach sustained minor damage but was mostly okay. I asked a couple shop owners if the tsunami had been a deterrent to tourism. The overwhelming consensus was that tourism was less damaged by the tsunami than it was by the massive protests the Red Shirts–protesters aligned with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra–than it had been by any natural disasters. Shinawatra was deposed in a 2006 coup by royalists–called yellow shirts. Clashes between the red and yellow shirts were responsible for some of the most violent rioting Thailand had ever seen in April of 2010 after the Thai Supreme Court upheld a corruption conviction.

Mmmm, fresh ingredients.

But enough about politics. Railay is a place where you can forget about just about everything that normally stresses you out. We decided that since we wouldn’t be able to dive on this trip that we should take a cooking class instead. We found a class on the East side of the peninsula near one of the climbing schools. Our favorite coffee shop, run by Thai Rastafarians (or maybe just Bob Marley fans), was right across the trail from the cooking school. Bar none the best coffee in the area.

The three of us showed up for our class at 8 a.m. ready to try our hands at Thai cooking. There were only three of us in the class with one teacher and her assistant. We worked in an open-air kitchen with a fabulous view of East Railay’s craggy limestone walls. The lady teaching our class and her helper had set up our work spaces with everything we needed to prepare for a four-course meal. We were supplied with fresh vegetables and herbs picked from right outside the kitchen.

Regina enjoying the fruits of her labor.

We also had fresh prawns and chicken for our meat dishes. From scratch we prepared fresh spring rolls, Tom Yum Goong (spicy sweet and sour chicken soup), Massaman Curry (with pumpkin, chicken and coconut milk), prawns in tamarind sauce, and for dessert, pumpkin slow-cooked in coconut milk (which is delicious both hot or cold). Individually we made one full restaurant-sized serving of each dish, which left us fantastic leftovers for the rest of the day.

It was a delicious end to our fabulous week. No crazy sight-seeing trips or stressful transfers from one flight to the next, just a mellow week at the beach reading books and playing Scrabble with friends.

Posts from Railay Beach, Krabi Province, Thailand: part 1

Hi all, I know we promised postings on our return from Thailand sooner, but we hit the ground running once we got back. Here is the first installment of our journals. I will post more through the week along with some photos taken by our friend Diny who went with us to Thailand. Enjoy!

Notes from the beach: part 1

Long-tail boats, by Diny Naus

Regina and I traveled to southern Thailand for our October break with our friend Diny, a Dutch New Zealander who also teaches at the school we work at. We arrived in Phuket around 11:30 pm on Sunday night and stayed at the Phuket Airport Hotel, a small place with cement bungalows about 1 kilometer from the airport. While the rooms weren’t much to write home about, the service we received from the young husband and wife that ran the joint was phenomenal.

Wun with her husband before they drove us to Ao Nang in Krabi

We needed to get to Railay Beach by Monday evening and were a little confused on how we would get there. We thought it would be easy to catch a cab or a bus to a ferry, but soon found out that we needed to go a considerable distance in order to catch a ferry that went to Railay this time of year, and even though it is attached to the mainland, the only way to reach there is by boat.

Since it was low season, however, the young couple was free for the afternoon and drove us from Phuket to Ao Nang, which is about two and a half hours north and east of Phuket. The wife, Wun, spoke English and kindly helped us from being taken advantage of as we negotiated our passage from Ao Nang to Railay Beach.

There are only two ways to reach Railay Beach: speed boat and long tail boat. The speedboat is what you might imagine; fiberglass body with twin outboard motors and shaded deck.

Long-tail boats, by James Woodard

Long tail boats look like large ancient plank board canoes with a makeshift canopy—often made out of recycled signs—with car engines attached to a swivel at the aft of the vessel. Protruding out the back of the engine is a long shaft with a propeller; thus the name long tail. These boats are the most common form of conveyance between Ao Nang and Railay and they serve as a lifeline for the island. Every morning crews offload everything from crates of fruit and ice and cases of beer, to building materials and merchandise for the tourist trap shops. They also ferry in the bulk of the workforce for the resorts. The pilots of these vessels cheerfully shepherd their fares between the beaches for 100 Thai Baht (a little over $3 U.S.). After 6 p.m. the cost goes up 100 percent or more, as the boats have no lights and the waters can be quite treacherous.

One of the most charming things about Railay is that there are no cars. The only exceptions are the four tractors that seem to be owned by the larger resorts on East Railay Beach, and are used to ferry passengers across the flats during low tide. The tractors pull large covered trailers behind them out to the boats at the edge of the water. This side of the peninsula had a large shelf that was covered in parts by lush mangroves. During high tide the water came right up to the resorts.

On the southern tip of the peninsula is Phra Nang Beach.

Beer delivery at West Railay Beach, by James Woodard

Phra Nang Beach, much like the other beaches on the peninsula, is penned in by mangroves and limestone caves, which cragsmen from around the world come to climb. Most climbers, however, go to Ton Sai Beach, which is very close to West Railay Beach. I’ll write more on climbing later.

Maiden Cave, whose gaping mouth is at the east end of Phra Nang, is revered by local fisherman

Entrance to Maiden Cave, by James Woodard

and resort employees as the home of the spirit of an ancient maiden who protects the local anglers and boatmen of the peninsula. One of the most striking things about Maiden Cave are the hundreds of wooden lingam effigies–polished wooden penis statues–that adorn the rocks at the entrance of the cave. Someone told us that the cave represented a sacred womb and that the practice of leaving the effigies was neither Hindu nor Buddhist. As much of the region is Muslim the effigies seem a little out of place, but the cave still draws scores of tourists who visit the scenic beach. While we were there a group of resort owners and managers from Bangkok came to pay their respects and leave fresh flowers and incense.

Getting from one beach to the next is an easy stroll, and we found that even though the west and south sides of the peninsula had the best beaches the east side had the best food and drink. We had debated going to Krabi for part of the week, but after a couple days we realized that we were quite happy right where we were.

Check back soon for more on our trip to Krabi, including: Regina’s monkey tales, Thai cooking classes, and why James is not a mountaineer.