Khai Nok Island and being at the mercy of the waves!

This will be one of those frames that will be etched in memories for a long time to come. Not so much for the shot or the scene it portrays in itself, but the story behind it. A few of my friends who I have been able to talk to over the course of the last 2 weeks already know this part of the story, here it is for the rest of you:

So I visited Phuket, Thailand for a slightly extended weekend trip during the Christmas holidays. As it always turned out, we had a really packed itinerary, something where the word “rest” never finds a place. Day 1 was spent on a big ferry of sorts - where we did island hopping and sight seeing, we spent day 2 doing White Water rafting and racing on ATVs – things that were supposed to be the high point of the trip. As a matter of fact, it was an experience that we liked so very much that we made up our mind to upgrade our rafting trip straightaway from a 5 KM Class 1 rapid to a 7 KM Class 3 rapid before we could finish the first part. But little did we realize that there was something even better (or worse) in-store for us the next day!

The first day was gloomy with that occasional drizzle and the second day was mostly cloudy and dull. But the sun came out blazing and it was supposed to be the perfect treat for our eyes – the best weather day in our trip and we had visits to 3 exotic islands lined up plus about 3 hours of snorkeling. That set our expectations pretty high.

As it was on the other days, a mini-van arrived to pick us up to the ferry terminal from where we were supposed to take a “speed boat”  to Phi Phi Islands. On our way, we were supposed to make stops on Khai Island and then move to Phi Phi Ley and Phi Phi Don Islands (Remember that beautiful lagoon surrounded by mountains in the movie The Beach? That was Phi Phi).

As it is with everything in Thailand, this was over crowded as well. I’m fairly certain that the tour company overbooked our boat today and as usual, my friends and I were late in queuing up to board. As the last people in the group, 3 of us were left to sit at a little bench like structure in the nose. We sat there bracing ourselves for the bumpy ride ahead.

5 minutes in to the journey it all started. No amount of prep talk could have told warned you onto what lied ahead. The next 45 minutes was  as if it were hell broke loose. With 3 people falling off their seats and hurting themselves real bad one of our friends getting the worst sea sickness that anyone could possibly get, it was not a pleasurable experience. But, boy o boy, we did enjoy the cheap thrills.

Arriving at the Khai Islands, we were greeted by white sands and the blue sky. The emerald waters were glittering as if there weren’t anything wrong at all. Our not so friendly guide went on a rant at fellow passengers that another boat that set out for Phi Phi that day had capsized and people were now floating in the water. I’m not sure if I truly believe that statement for we couldn’t find any information about it on the papers or on the Internet. But in the end, it was decided that it was best not to head further into the sea for safety reasons. I just had to laze around the beach and get back without seeing the “paradise” – although I have my inhibitions on if it would be even remotely close to one with tourists thronging to that place day in, day out for the last few years.

Looking back at this, a few things come out striking.  “Adventures”, unlike the west where they are carefully orchestrated, are true to their literal meaning in this part of the world. Safety sometimes comes as an afterthought to economic gains. This is especially true at least about Thailand where we were not even forced to wear life jackets for this truly horrendous ride. This could have easily been a mishap. It reminds to to be a little more careful in choosing such day trips.