Thailand Day 6 — Fishing on the Dead Sea
Friday Oct 17th, Day 6 – Fishing on the Dead Sea
The fresh fruit here is fantastic! It’s like nothing I have ever tasted before. Sure, some of it is new and different but overall, it’s just that everything is so fresh and flavorful. Ok so maybe the noodles aren’t so healthy because they are technically a carb but all the fresh fruit would surely make up for it by qualifying our eating on this trip as extremely healthy.
Rose apples for sale with Long Gong sitting right behind them
The rose apple is a bell-shaped, red fruit that looks just like a red bell pepper. It even has the same watery, crisp texture. However unlike the red bell pepper, it is not hollowed out and tastes very similar to an apple but a little sweeter. It’s quite refreshing. Long gong are round, brown fruit that is bunched up on a stem similar to grapes. You bite into the brown exterior skin to pierce it, then peel off the skin to eat the translucent fruit underneath. Be careful that you don’t eat the bitter seed in the middle.
There is also the dragon fruit. Pink on the outside; you cut it in half and its interior is white with black dots. You use a spoon to scoop out the insides and eat it. It looks like vanilla bean ice cream although it most definitely is a fruit. My absolute favorite is Pomelo. This is like a large grapefruit but it tastes sweeter. There is a lot less juice so you peel it and eat it with your hands. It’s about the size of a small cantaloupe.
On top is a Pomelo (like a sweet grapefruit) and underneath is Dragon Fruit
Day 6 started off with me going to the local pharmacy to treat my sinus infection. There’s no taxi driver mind you, but instead, someone to drive me on the motorbike. I probably could have walked if I had known where it was. There is a pharmacy on every other street in Krabi. And you get whatever you ask for. Self-diagnosis and the internet helped me decide what medication to request. I wrote it on a piece of paper and they immediately went and got it. The only concern was the pharmacist told me 500mg twice a day. All the internet sites I read said dosage was only 500mg once a day otherwise, some perhaps dangerous overdose side effects. So, I went with my safer dosage.
An example of a long-tail fishing boat
Today was fishing out on the Andaman Sea today in a long-tail fishing boat — although my blog title indicated the “Dead Sea”. Just a little joke since we caught a whole lot of nuthin. We only intended to go out for 3-4 hours but it turned into an 8-hour adventure. Despite the lack of fish, the scenery was fantastic. We were constantly sailing among all the karsts (rock formations) in the water. They aren’t big enough to be called islands but yet, they are big enough you could land on them.
Luckily our long-tail fishing boat had a motor on it which made getting around much faster
We watched several storms roll into the mainland while we still enjoyed sunny weather. The further out we went, the bluer the water got. Unfortunately, every 200 yards I’d see a plastic bottle or piece of trash floating. I’ve moved beyond shock and appall from seeing this, now to annoyance and irritation. It’s really starting to bother me. But enough of that….
Today’s fishing scenery included plenty of karsts
Becky caught a couple of yellow tail but Joe and I got skunked. We still had a great time. We also got caught in our 2nd downpour. It rained for about an hour and it was a hard rain as they always are here. It’s really quite something to watch these heavy downpours. That’s the tropics! We were lucky because our long-tail boat had a roof with flaps that came down to enclose us. But some other long-tail boats nearby weren’t so lucky to have a roof. The hotel packed us a nice picnic lunch to take which I was glad to have since we were out a lot longer than we intended. As a result of a long day, we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset across the water.
We enjoyed a breathtaking sunset at the end of our fishing day
Up til now, we have not experienced any nightlife. Usually our day adventures are so long, we just have dinner and take it easy at night. However, the man at the Elephant Sanctuary yesterday had showed us a flyer for a reggae band that was playing up the street from our guesthouse. So we made a reservation for a table.
In the smoky haze, Joe poses with the lead singer of the band (middle) at the reggae concert by Job 2 Do
It was a lot of fun and Joe got to wear his new colorful new shirt he bought at the market. Thai apparel is much lighter and cooler than the 100% cotton shirts we tend to wear. The band was quite good and reggae music is always fun even if it’s being sung in the Thai language.
Joe wanted to buy one of the band’s CD’s. What struck him as funny is they weren’t selling any CD’s at the concert. Joe tried to explain to them how many CD’s they would sell if they started doing that at all their gigs. It was like they had never heard of that marketing concept before or perhaps didn’t want to mess with it. The band told us to go to the music store the next day to purchase one (which we did).
We enjoyed the evening with our new Thai friends. We invited one of the owners of the guesthouse and her husband to accompany us. It’s always helpful to have locals that can translate what is happening around you. All the proceeds from tonight’s concert go to the temple. The owner’s husband will take and present it; I assume it’s like a tithe. Our little mahout (elephant handler) from the Elephant Sanctuary was also there partying.
Our mahout from the Elephant Sanctuary was at tonight’s concert as well
When the band is over, usually the audience is clapping for an encore. Not so here! As soon as the last song ended, BAM….it’s picnic time! Out come the blankets and everyone starts pulling out food. Some of the food is already prepared while others are getting small cookers/boiling pots going. People kept coming up to Joe giving him crispy fish and other delicacies. It’s almost like a tailgate party except its done post-event. Even the band comes down to eat and mingle with the concert goers.
More excitement tomorrow – we will spend the entire day on the motor bikes driving around the countryside including an up close and personal King Cobra show!!!
