Ko Lipe, the movie

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Mike

Friends and family who follow my Facebook page would have read this already, but for those who don’t, I have cobbled together a short video from our visit to the island of Ko Lipe recently. So if you have 4minutes and 47 seconds of your life to spare, and are not expecting a cinematic masterpiece, I present to you (drumroll please) “Life’s a bitch beach, on Ko Lipe :

No, I don’t think Steven Spielberg and James Cameron will be worried about me taking any Oscars home !

When you are underwater you might think that you are holding the camera steady, but when you look at the footage you realise that’s not the case. Luckily Premiere Pro’s warp stabiliser manages to get rid of much of the shakiness. The underwater scenes were filmed with a compact Canon G7X in an underwater housing, apart from the poor battery life I was very impressed with it. As Murphy’s Law would have it, the battery always died when I found something interesting !

Practice makes perfect, or so they say, so I am going on another snorkelling trip in January. This should be good fun as it is an semi-exploratory trip to the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar, where not that many boats have been before. Hopefully we will find some pristine reefs that have not been damaged by careless anchoring as is often the case here in Thailand.

Before that though, we are off to Hong Kong for a week on Friday. I went there last year but the GF has never been before. It remains to be seen whether she will manage to last the duration without her regular intake of somtam and sticky rice ?

Posted in Thailand, Travel, Travel, Underwater | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ko Phi Phi

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Mike

After our time on Ko Lipe it was on to Ko Phi Phi for another week or so. As I mentioned last time the weather was good for the trip, indeed our day in transit was the best weather of the two weeks….such is life. Accommodation on Ko Phi Phi comes in three flavours, expensive beach resorts, cheap and noisy in town, or not so cheap but quieter on the edge of town. I’m not rich enough to afford several thousand baht a night at the resorts, too old to try and sleep through the ‘doof,doof’ all night parties in town, so I always stay around the bottom of the viewpoint hill area.

tgb-1

View from our bungalow hammock !

Previously I’ve always stayed at Coco’s Guesthouse but it has gone downhill over the last 12 months (leaking roof, smelly room) so this time I booked into Tropical Garden Bungalows which is near Coco’s, and where I had eaten a few times. The fan bungalow that we booked was right next to the pool and bar, and came with a very comfortable hammock to laze in !

(more photos and review of Tropical Garden Bungalow here )

It was about 10 minutes walk to the pier/downtown area, or 15 from it, which was a bit far for my GF (Thai women do not like walking !) so she was not happy that there was no luggage cart for her backpack and she had to carry it herself ….I’ll never make a backpacker out of her.

kophiphi_nov2016-8

Ao Lomah Dee …the “secret” snorkelling beach

It was a bit of a hike from the bungalow to the best snorkelling areas at Long Beach and Ao Lomah Dee, and even more coming back after several hours in the water !

Everybody seems to know about Long Beach for snorkelling but I’ve never seen anybody head over the hill to Lomah Dee. Long Beach (aka Shark Point) has the most big fish, including the occasional Blacktip Reef Shark but Lomah Dee     kophiphi_nov2016-9has much better coral to be seen, especially on the edge of the dropoff. If you look carefully you might find whip corals and some soft coral.

The downside is that often there is a strong current to swim against and at low tide you may find yourself bobbing very close to the coral and spiny sea urchins.

 

kophiphi_nov2016-3

A large school of Parrotfish feeding, Shark Point.

Wrasse, Cushionstar,Striped Surgeonfish
Parrotfish
Collared Butterflyfish
View from the, err, viewpoint

kophiphi_nov2016-7

no, I’m not Nemo either
??
Skunk Anenomefish
kophiphi_nov2016-11

Moray Eel

After swimming right around Shark Point I came across this fellow just outside the buoyed-off swimming area at Long Beach, just 30 metres or so offshore and hiding in some coral about 3 m deep. Luckily I had been conservative with the camera that day and still had some power left in the battery for a couple of shots.

Even though the seafood is actually cheaper in BKk, you have to eat some fresh seafood on the islands, so here is some food porn:

There is a steamed fish under there.
Now THESE are prawns !

That was a big plate the prawns were on, they were huge !

kophiphi_nov2016-14

All too soon it was time to go back to the real world 😦

(At least the ferry to Krabi was a real ferry, large and stable, which made the GF happy)

The beauty of living here in Thailand is that the islands are just a short flight away so as Arnie says …”I’ll be back”

Posted in Photography, Thailand, Travel, Underwater | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ko Lipe

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Mike

kolipe_nov2016-1kolipe_nov2016-10 Well we are back from Ko Lipe and Ko Phi Phi, and I am suntanned, healthier and a few kilos slimmer thanks to several hours of snorkelling every day and lots of fresh seafood and fruit smoothies ! The weather at Ko Lipe for the first week or so was not the best as the wet season lingered on, with rain mostly at night and not much sun during the day but we still managed to have a good time. I did not manage to get a snorkelling trip to the outer islands because of the weather but did find a good new spot off Sunrise beach so that was OK. Did n’t see any new-to-me fish, but did find a very big Giant Moray Eel ..just after the battery in my camera died 😦

Moorish Idol
Blackspotted Puffer
Christmas Tree Worms
Striped Surgeonfish
No, I’m not Nemo !

I was sad to see that my favourite beachfront bar had been demolished since my last visit about eight months ago, along with a couple of adjacent bars and low key bungalow resorts, with a concrete monstrosity starting to take their place. Such is progress….. Quite a few resorts have apparently been illegally built on National Park land, especially towards the Sunset Beach area, and had large signs saying so. Although still being allowed to operate for now, that may not be the case in the future. One of the good things about the current military government here is that they are cracking down on illegal land encroachment, many illegal mountain resorts up north have been demolished and in the last few days they have been paying attention to Ko Samet ( which believe it or not is a National Park !) and the illegal activities there, the newspaper reports stated that Ko Lipe/Ko Tarutao are also in their sights. Better late than never, IMHO.

The island was not very crowded as high season was still to come, some of the restaurants were still closed or getting ready to reopen after low season. It also meant the regular ferry was not running yet, despite what their website said ! As we had a combo ticket for the Nokair flight and ferry they ended up putting us on to a speedboat, something I usually try to avoid because they are noisy, cramped, and sometimes dangerous. Even as an average sized farang the leg space was several cms too short, glad I am not tall !

A deserted Sunrise Beach
Sunset, Pattaya Beach

The ferry was still not running a week later so we had to catch another speedboat for the journey to Ko Phi Phi via Ko Lanta. This one had a lot more legroom but was still just as noisy. Luckily the weather was good and the sea calm for this trip. From memory the combo flight, minibus transfer and boat ticket to the island only cost about 1600 baht, but the speedboat to Ko Phi Phi ( 3.5 hour trip) was 2500 baht/person ! That seemed to be a standard fare for the journey from all the travel desks that I asked, the clincher was that this boat left from our beach so we did not have to traipse over the island to sunrise beach.

The check-in and loading was efficient, the boat crew seemed sensible, so I would recommend Bundhaya Speedboat  ….if you have to catch any speedboat. I would still prefer the Tigerline ferry, much slower but more comfortable.

More to come when I have finished editing the Phi Phi photos !

Posted in Photography, Thailand, Travel, Underwater | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A new toy to play with …

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Mike

videolight-3 I am off on the first snorkelling trip of the season tomorrow, so I thought I would splash out on a new toy for the trip. And what is it ?… An underwater video light.

Although you don’t really need extra light most of the time because the water is so clear (most of the time) and most snorkelling spots not so deep, sometimes you find something interesting hiding under a coral or rock ledge and do need a bit of extra light on the subject. The battery life on my underwater compact camera is not that great, and using the flash drains the power even quicker. Looking on Lazada (the Asian version of eBay ) I found several people selling the same no-name light for 1200฿, around $35, as well as another model for 750฿.

videolight-1 It was the first time that I had bought anything on Lazada so I was prepared to get a dud, if it arrived at all ! It actually arrived on a Saturday, 4 days earlier than the website forecast. It seems quite well constructed so I am hopeful that it will not be a dud.

It comes with a variety of fittings for use on top of my underwater housing’s cold shoe, with GoPro fittings or mounted via a normal tripod screw attachment.

videolight-2

The light fits on to a handle with gopro fittings, and the gopro on top of it.

The light has 3 modes – high power, low and flashing SOS (which I hope I don’t have to use !) powered by a built in, USB-charged battery. It did not give any figures for battery life so I will have to wait and see how that goes. I’m sure it will be better than the battery on the camera though, and as I will only turn it on when going down for a look at something hiding under a ledge it should be more than enough for a day’s snorkelling. At least with a micro-USB charging cable I do not have to take yet another charger. Having to take different chargers and cables for your electronic toys can be a real PITA !

So tomorrow we are off to Ko Lipe, a.k.a. paradise, way down in the south of Thailand again and then on to Ko Phi Phi. The GF has already packed most of her stuff….which is not much. How can she get enough for nearly 2 weeks into a small carry-on bag ? 🙂 Even without my fins, mask, camera gear, etc. I would n’t be able to do that ! Guess that I should start packing though ?

Stand by for lots of fish, beach and sunset photos over the next 2 weeks 🙂

Posted in Gear, Photography, Thailand, Underwater | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Not just a King

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Mike

30297635-01_big
As everybody here would know, and perhaps elsewhere in the world, His Majesty King Bhumibol died a couple of days ago after a long illness. Even though most people should have been expecting the worst to come eventually, when he did finally pass away Thais were grief stricken to a point that might seem inconceivable elsewhere in the world. After 70 years on the throne, longer than most people have been on this earth, Thais saw him not just as their king but also as their father, and the father of their nation. Indeed, his birthday is also celebrated as Father’s Day.
On one of my earliest visits here I learnt that we shared the same birthday and that like me he enjoyed photography so I took a bit of an interest in His Majesty’s achievements. Unlike me he was an accomplished musician too !
In his reign he travelled to all points of the Kingdom, forsaking the comforts of the palace to sit down in the dirt with the poorest of his subjects. By convincing the hill tribes to grow crops other than opium he helped to fight the drug trade, by showing farmers how to grow their crops without destroying the environment he introduced sustainable development before it became trendy.
A good person can make another person good; it means that goodness will elicit goodness in the society; other persons will also be good.

From a youth who never expected to become king, to somebody who an entire nation revered, his was a journey that will probably never be repeated.   RIP.

Before his death, the worst case eventuality was never discussed in public and most expats would have feared that when it did happen the country would come to a complete stop. Although many, if not most, Thais have dressed in black and their grief has been palpable but the country is still running. There is a year long mourning period, and the public have been asked to refrain from festivities for 30 days so many events have been cancelled.  Nightclubs are closed, including the more infamous ones of Nana and Soi Cowboy as well as normal discos, but most bars are still open but without any loud music. 7/11 is still selling alcohol although Tesco has stopped until further notice, normally an alcohol ban is the first thing announced. Any backpacker that came expecting to go to a Full Moon party is out of luck for the next month as they have been cancelled.

The Grand Palace is closed for about another week due to the funeral rites being held there, although the actual cremation will not be for some time, perhaps a year away. It will be a lavish and elaborate affair when it does eventually happen.

For anybody coming to Thailand in the next few weeks, you should still be able to enjoy yourself but just act respectfully, which is what many countries are saying in their travel advisories.

Posted in Events, Expat life, Thailand | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Navaratri Festival 2016, Bangkok

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Mike

navaratri-0708

navaratri-0811 Although Thailand is a mainly Buddhist country, where about 95% of the population follow the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and nearly all the rest are Muslim, there are a number of Hindus of Indian descent especially in Bangkok, enough to have a “Little India” district. A few days ago they celebrated the 9 days of the Navaratri festival (also spelled Navatri/Navratri) dedicated to the worship of one of the multitude of Hindu deities.

One website says it is Shakti, another says Durga, but as Hindu gods come in several forms and under many names they could very well be one and the same !

Who ever it is for, on the last night the area around the Sri Maha Mariamman temple on Silom Road becomes ground zero for multitudes of pop-up shrines adorned with candles, deities, garlands, incense and other offerings.

It is not just Hindus who come to worship, as many Thais will have an each-way bet on religion …one of the most popular shrines in town is the Erawan Shrine which is a shrine to Brahma, and the Hindu deity Ganesh is popular too ! So the road for 4kms around the temple are closed to traffic to enable the crowds of people to walk around and worship, or just take photos (like me!). Some of the more fervent believers would dance themselves into a trance until they collapsed, others would get blessed by the shamans along the route.

Also along the route were several stands handing out free vegetarian foods and drinks to refuel and re-energise, as well as the normal local street vendors, so there were shrines and stalls for nearly all the 4km route.

navaratri-0823

The night culminates in the ceremonial journey of the god’s statue around the route, pulled along on it’s chariot. We left the area near the temple at around 11.15pm in order to get the last Skytrain home, and we passed it near the Skytrain station, only about a quarter of it’s journey done ! I’m glad we did not wait around to see it arrive back at the temple as many others were doing.

So if you are in Bangkok around late September or early October and want a taste of India check the exact dates and perhaps wander down to Silom Road.

Posted in Events, Photography, Thailand | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment