Phuket Island

We arrived at Ao Chalong and had a seamless check in. No one seems to worry how long it took to come from Malaysia. The town is a typical scruffy Asian town with few redeeming features other than the “expat style” supermarket where we were able to replace some of our hard to find essentials. We had a few days there and then headed up to Yacht Haven, a marina on the north of the island where apparently we can get boat work done. Upon arrival we were pleasantly surprised that yes indeed if you just showed up someone would give you a quote that day and start work in a day or so. We were quoted C$3000 to have new Formica in the galley, all of our wood trim, doors to the cockpit, window frames, stairs, both tables and our outside chairs all sanded and finished with epoxy or varnish. They also took our galley cupboard doors to redo the edges. We were now without water so camped on the boat best as possible while they commenced painstakingly sanding everything. They had taken what they could to the workshop and did the rest on the boat. By the time they had sanded the wood felt like silk as they had done an amazing job. They then proceeded to do 5 coats on the internal wood and 10 on the external sanding back to a smooth surface each time. Wow!! By the time they had finished everything looked like glass. They were immaculate workers vacuuming constantly so dust was at a minimum. Every morning for 3 weeks between two and four people would arrive and spend the day sanding and varnishing and sanding and varnishing—etc etc etc!! For anyone who is reading this and is looking for quality work done we would highly recommend Nhoon—the marina office has his contact info. We had a sail maker come who suggested we revamped our original sails and we should get at least 2 more years from them. Our roller furler was harder and harder to pull so we had new bearings put into that. We had a new stack pak made for our mainsail. I did have the sunbrella and we paid C$200 which included labour and the zipper. Great work, great prices—many of our friends are having their teak decks redone for between C$7000 and $15000 depending on size and complexity but they are all ecstatic with the results. Rolly Tasker is one of the largest sail lofts in the world and many are having new sails made at reasonable prices. The marinais far from civilisation so we rented a cheap car to run around and source the small things, most of which seem to be available. There are several restaurants with great cheap food and a number of friends are here with their boats so creates a great ambiance. There is a small pool which helps with the intense heat—30C every day and 80% humidity. We took a day and went to Patong which is reputed to be the centre of all debauchery with strip bars and “girly boy” shows. Barry and Anne from Cats Paw were anchored there and we wanted one last visit before they head for Sri Lanka on the way to South Africa. The culture shock was quite amazing—it is a massive place where a car was a liability. We were happy to park the car and walk for a nice dinner. It is like a huge Cabo St Lucas filled with tourists, hawkers and bars. We were quite relieved to get out of there and may return with the boat which would be preferable to driving. While the boat work was being done we took the opportunity to take a few days and visit Kho Sok, a National Park which we had heard was lovely. It is a stunning 3 hour drive winding its way over high passes through the karst topography which thrust up high rock formations covered in tropical rain forest. The road trip was interesting---try to decipher road signs which are in Thai—at least in Malaysia and Indonesia the alphabet is readable and you can make an educated guess as to the way to go. People generally do not have much English either so was a challenge following our rudimentary google map. Along the road were small temples erected with no sign of habitation nearby—sometimes several in a location—we wondered if perhaps they were commemorating a traffic death as we would place crosses and wreaths nearby? We also came across many Buddhist temples which are amazingly beautiful. We found a cabin for C$25 a night in the small village which consists of restaurants and massage places—we participated in both and I had a pedicure which I over tipped as I was embarrassed by the $3 price tag. We had heard that the rafflesia, the largest flower in the world grows high in the hills here and after being told that there was definitely one in flower that day we got a guide for the 3 hour trek. The climb up was a 2 hour tough slog in 30C temperatures and extreme humidity through the rainforest and we were dripping with sweat as we hiked. We hoped that actually one was flowering—they flower for 3-4 days during the dry season—now--and then die—we did not want to see a dead one!! Finally we got there and indeed there was one which had a wooden stand to view from, there are many growing around on the ground in various stages of development and they do not want you stepping on one. It was quite stunning—they actually are a huge parasitic flower which grows on a vine. They are meant to have a bad smell but although we were very close to it we could not smell it. It was about 80cm wide and a lovely red colour. After having photographed it from every direction it was time for the somewhat easier hike down. The park is also famous for a lake where the topography is reputed to be stunning but as we were short of time not wanting to leave the boat for too long while workers were on it we felt we would sail to similar areas later. There are also kayaking and elephant rides in this lovely park. Lonely Planet describes it as Jurassic Park and although we did not see a lot of animals apparently there are many different species in the hills. We enjoyed the respite from the marina life and heat, the area being high in the hills is significantly cooler and the lushness of the forest was stunning. We arrived back at the boat to find sanding and varnishing had continued but still no water. We had had the typical Asian issue when we had tried to pick the Formica—firstly had picked one after great consideration only to have them come back and tell us “finished”!! After having looked at many samples we finally came up with one which apparently is available but is in Bangkok and will take a week to get here—oh well what else did we have to do!!! I took the time to take a week to visit Dave and family in Hong Kong—will do a separate entry for that. I am now back on the boat and finally we have the galley finished. I did a teak oil sealer on our cockpit table which looks stunning and today the salon table is meant to be back. The sails are on and we are ready to leave to go cruising for a few weeks before heading back to Rebak, Langkawi where Kristen and family will come for Easter.