Mai Kaew Cave, Koh Lanta Thailand

Koh Lanta is one of many islands off the the Andaman coast of Krabi Thailand. Not as popular or famous as islands like Koh Phi Phi and the like, it is exactly this point that brings out its charm. Oozing loads of laidback chill-out atmosphere and less busy with tourists, it still has its beaches to draw attention - in fact, no less than nine of them.

Formally known as Koh Lanta Yai, it is a longish island with its nine beaches spread over its western coast. I certainly did not go to all of them, and just based myself somewhere in the middle of the island. Not all the beaches are the sandy type though, with a number of them being the rocky kind. What I did find on the beaches though, are an amazing array of different sea-shells - much more variety than the beaches in Ao Nang and elsewhere.

My most interesting visit on Koh Lanta though, is a visit to Mai Kaew cave. While I had several cave visits around the world before, this was somewhat unique. The visit had to be accompanied by a guide, and you would be supplied with a headlamp. After half an hour of an uphill hike, you would be brought to the cave entrance. What follows would be a totally raw experience - the cave is visited as is. There are no lights installed, no planks/boardwalks, no handrails, and well, no safety. You have to clamor through holes, and on occasion, crawl on all fours. Any "sightseeing" is done based purely on the light of the headlamps in your group (I only had two others in my group). In the limited light, you can see the usual stalactites and stalagmites, big caverns, cave spiders and bats. All in all, it was still an interesting experience!

Start of the adventure!

Interesting formations on the cave walls

Going down down down....

Bats clinging to the cave walls

Of course, like the other islands, Koh Lanta also has the usual activities such as diving, longboat rides etc. As the ferry pier is situated at the town of Ban Saladan at the northern tip of the island, the beaches get quieter the further south you go!

Koh Lanta can be reached by ferries or car/minivans. The ferries ply the Ao Nang, Koh Phi Phi, Phuket, Koh Lanta route and the minivan shuttles between Krabi town and Koh Lanta. And of course, there's the private cars/taxis. I flew in to Krabi airport in the afternoon, and there is only one ferry in the morning from Ao Nang to Koh Lanta, so I took the minivan shuttle to Koh Lanta and took the ferry back to Ao Nang. One advantage of this route is that the minivans bring you direct to your accommodation while the ferry lands you at Ban Saladan port and you would have to negotiate your way to your accommodation.

With budget carriers flying into Krabi, check out Koh Lanta one of these days!

Sunsets are good in Krabi!

Islas Ballestas, Paracas Peru

Situated off the southern Peruvian coast on the Paracas Peninsula, the Ballestas islands, together with the Paracas National Reserve, is really a wonderful excursion for wildlife enthusiasts.

I visited only the Ballestas islands though, and somewhere along the way, someone had nicknamed it 'the poor man's Galapagos'. While I am not in the position to comment on that nickname, I am somewhat impressed by the amount of wildlife seen on the short trip around the islands. And that's the crux of the matter about visiting the Islas Ballestas. The only way to visit the islands are via 2-hour boat trips from the various tour agencies in town. Perhaps it may be due to some policies controlling the amount of exposure tourism has on the ecosystem. The boat trips are purely sea trips; there are absolutely no landings at all. Of course, given enough resources (money), I'm sure there may be alternatives...

Thus one will tour around the rocky islands on a boat together with 20-30 other tourists. You'll be largely confined to your seat area, so needless to say, photography on the moving boat is somewhat challenging as well. And narration is in Spanish. However, you do get to see seals, sea lions, penguins, pelicans and large number of birds. In fact, it is the sheer number of birds seen at a single place that astounded me. And all these in about 30-40 minutes of actual time around the islands.

On the way to the islands, you get to see the El Candelabro, a large-scale geoglyph etched on the hill overlooking the Bay of Paracas. A little like the Nazca lines, this is also somewhat of a mystery as to its origins and purpose.

I regretted not visiting Paracas National Reserve. It would have made the trip more complete I think. Nevertheless, Paracas is a worthwhile stop just 4 hours from Lima. And you could probably stop by Pisco, and have your pisco sour fix!

Rabat, Morocco

I didn't visit all the imperial cities of Morocco (I skipped Meknes), but from my readings, it appears that Rabat is the least popular. However, Rabat's charm I feel, is exactly that - a less touristy city for a more relaxing and less harassed stay.



The highlight in Rabat for me, is the Kasbah des Oudaias. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the kasbah is a delightful place to walk around in. The streets and the residential houses in there are all painted white and blue, and really pictureque. And as you reach the kasbah walls on the coast, the views over the Atlantic Ocean and the city of Sale are amazing! While there are quite a lot of people, most of them are actually locals enjoying the sun, air and the beaches. It was good talking to them, and knowing that they have nothing to sell to you ;). The 2 days that I was in Rabat, I came back each day to enjoy the sunset on the beaches... (as well as some photography)



The medina in Rabat was also enjoyable for me. It was unpretentious and walking in it, I saw daily life as it is, though I didn't really realise it then. Rabat was my first stop, and so I have not experienced what the medina was like in Fez and Marrakech. So, I'm glad I spent 2 days in Rabat, though sadly, most of my photos of Rabat was lost due to a harddisk crash during my trip. Ah well, at least the memories are still there....

Farming

How many of us Singaporean urbanites done any farming? Or know about it for the matter? Well, a visit to a rural coastal countryside in Fujian province of China brought me some insight, as well as an aching back!

Even with the breakneck speed of modernisation of China, many parts of the huge country are still farming based. I had the opportunity to visit a town which does its farming beside its concrete buildings! And what did we plant? Nuts!

Yes, taking these raw groundnut kernels, it's just a matter of planting them into the tilled land. Oh, but what back breaking process! All I did was a morning and I'm done for! But hey, I've tried!

What is amazing is, not only do they do their farming on land, they do it at sea too! Yes! They even do farming on the sea bed!

One of the feature of the coast here is that once the tide recede, the seabed extends out several kilometres! So the locals start carving out plots of "land" on the seabed and farm a sort of mussels/clams unique to this area.
So, into these "plots of land", they "plant" baby mussels. Once the tide comes back in, they will immersed into the sea to grow. Once the tide falls back out to sea again, the seabed is exposed again, and the farmers will go out and "agitate" the land, which will not allow the mussels to get buried too deep into the ground. Neat huh! And they are delicious!!

They have been doing this since ages past. I wonder how long they can still do this.....