ON THE BOAT TO KO-ADANG

A boatride to despair and self-realization...

Ms.Yah informed me that the boat had arrived. I joined a group of people from Bangkok who were visiting this part of Thailand for the first time. We were discussing about the islands like a group of children. There was a Japanese girl whose hobby was diving. There was a couple from France with a child. Their names were Wisdom and Sunshine. I thought the names were very appropriate for the circumstances. The boat we took was a two-storeyed speedboat. The captain’s deck was on the top. There was open space behind the deck where we could sit and have a drink while enjoying the beauty of the sea.

During the journey, a crazy thought occurred to me. I wanted to stand on the front railing of the boat and shout “I am the King of the world” (just like De Caprio in the movie Titanic). I set about putting my thoughts to action. The boat was travelling very fast. I moved slowly to the front of the boat, gathered enough courage to stand on the railing, threw both hands in the air and shouted �" “I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD”. There was a sudden change in the surroundings. The sea became very calm & wind stopped for a while. A big wave rose from nowhere and hit the boat with such force that I was almost thrown out of the boat. I had to hold on to the railing to stop myself from being thrown into the sea. I got inside the boat and was so scared that I couldn’t move even a step. I sat there trembling thinking about what happened just then. Then, I understood that the sea was throwing up a challenge at the newly crowned king �" me. I know that I was not very well equipped to face the challenge, because I didn’t know swimming. I ran inside looking for my armor �" my Life Jacket. I came back looking for another blow from the sea. But, the sea was calm. I knew I had lost the battle. I promised that I’ll go back and learn swimming & will come back to conquer the sea. I raised my hand and told the sea that it might have won the battle but the war was not over yet.

We anchored between Ko Lee Peh and Ko adang islands. It was about 8-o clock in the evening and it was quite dark. As the boat was big, we had to wait for a long tail boat to take us to the islands. The captain radioed to one of the boats. The group I was travelling with was leaving to Ko Lee Peh. But, my friends were in Ko Adang. As there was only one longtail boat, I decided to stay back in the boat for the night and find my way to Ko Adang the next day. I had dinner with the boat crew who left after a while.

I was asked to stay in the captain’s deck for the night. One of the crew stayed back with me in the boat. It was very windy and the boat was pitching and rolling pretty badly. But, the setting was majestic. The clear beautiful sky looked like a big black curtain with gold color paint sprinkled on it covering the earth. There was no sound except the sound of waves hitting some distant shores. The boat swayed in all directions. It was as if I was in a cradle and the Mother Nature was rocking the cradle. The peaceful feeling is something I had never experienced before. The circumstances were very romantic too and I really missed a girlfriend. I later found that I was not the only person who thought the setting was romantic.

The other person who stayed back was fishing. I started a conversation and we were discussing about a lot of things. He brought me some fruits and drinks. I could sense that something was wrong but couldn’t understand what was wrong. I felt he was being friendlier than necessary. It all made sense when he blew a kiss in my direction. I still didn’t understand the gravity of the situation and continued with the conversation. He blew another kiss and I understood what was happening. He was a gay and was trying to pick me up. With all due respect to homosexuals, I was not ready to join their club. That one kiss took the wind out of my sails. Under the circumstances, I thought going back to my room and locking myself inside would be the best decision. I think he realized I was not interested and did not disturb me afterwards.

Next morning, I got up after a nightmare in which about 10 gays were chasing me through the streets of Perth. Anyway, that guy didn’t bother me anymore and I was too busy with other things to even bother about him. The sunrise next day was quite spectacular. That sight was a good incentive for the disturbing night. I was asked to take a long-tail boat to Ko-adang Island to meet my friends. We radioed for a boat and the boat came. The boat crew asked me to jump into the long-tail boat. The sea was very rough and both the boats were pitching and rolling pretty badly. By this time, I was so crazy that I was not afraid of anything. I just jumped into the boat. The boat rolled a bit and move away from me. I was in mid-air and I was heading towards the open sea. My heart skipped a beat or two. Fortunately, the boat pitched again and came back to the place where it was supposed to be and I landed safely. I felt very happy and wanted to make a grand entry into the island where my friends were staying. I stood in front of the boat so that I could jump to the shore (like a victorious hero) once we reach the island. The boatman spoiled my grand plan. He hit the shore a bit fast and I fell face-down on the seashore. My grand entry ended with my head stuck deep in the soft sands.

To my shock, my friends were preparing to leave the island. We were supposed to go to another group of islands. After a couple of boat transfers, we reached Ko Lee Peh. The group of islands looked like mountains rising out the seas. There were quite a number of them. We didn’t have enough time to visit all the islands. Next time, I would like to go there on my own and spend a month on each island.

We moved from there to another island and then to Tarutao National Park. This park has some sandstone caves and mountains. From the peak of the mountain, which was called “Toe-Boe Cliff”; we got a grand view of the sea and the islands around us. There was one particular rock formation, which looked like the head and body of a crocodile. Hence, they had named it as “Crocodile Peak”. This park is closed for six months. The tides are very high during the monsoon and nobody can go there during that time. We had to leave that island as soon as possible because the tide was running low and our boat won’t be able to leave the island for next 14 hours.

Before leaving, Sam, Janice and I took a walk into the sea. We walked atleast 50 meters inside the sea and the water was only knee-deep even at that distance. We even had this great idea of crossing the sea on foot. Another good thing about the park was the topless tourists who were taking sunbath. During the trip, I noticed something very interesting. The color of sea seemed to change. It changed from light blue to light turquoise green to dark blue as the day passed. Just before dark, it became pitch black and looked very evil.

We got back to the boat and left to Pak Nam Resort. On the way, I shared my previous night’s experience with the friends. They were quite amused and the guy who tried to pick me up became an overnight hero. Only then did I realize he was in the boat. I tried my best to stay away from his line of sight. We crossed some more beautifully crafted stone islands on the way. We reached the resort and were informed that we’ll have a barbecue in the island for the night and leave to Malaysia the next day.