loquitohermoso

The journey here was deeply inauspicious, with a hugely long wait in Koh Lanta and a bit of general confusion about schedules, lots of stops, chaos and melee, along with a particularly packed speedboat. At least the seas were mellow. This was, however, a very long passage. For future reference, if you’re coming to islands below Koh Lanta, go from Trang…much quicker and cheaper. One for next time.

A travel agent later said to me, naming the company before I had, “oh, Tigerline? Yeah, they are crap, they always do that”

We arrived at Mook’s impressively long pier, and disembarked. The boat had been to a few islands but somehow they seemed to know whose bags went where, until they, apparently, didn’t.

A number of bags were offloaded including one that looked suspiciously like Mark’s. Some would say identical. However, Mark was adamant that this was not his bag and that it was therefore missing, and in his defence the AirTag was weirdly showing back on the island where we had come from. Soon, all of the passengers had their bags, just leaving this one.

Not wishing to argue with him, I surmised that one of the other 20 passengers on the boat must definitely have taken his bag and left their identical Osprey Farpoint 70. Therefore, in a rare feat of chivalry I left my bag and sprinted up the pier to look at all of the passengers and find the missing bag. No dice.

Upon return the boat attendants looked worried, and passed me a phone with their boss on the line. At this point I reviewed my previous trust in my scatty beloved and idly shuffled open the top of the interloper’s bag to reveal an identical travel towel to Mark’s. For fuck’s sake. I apologised profusely to all concerned, and we retreated. Now on foot, since all of the motorcycle taxis were taken. In his defence though, the tint on his sunglasses did make it look a different colour…ish

There are no roads on Mook, per se- just a series of wide paved paths. Transport is either by rented scooter (200baht/day) or you can just hop on one of these bad boys for 50baht per person, anywhere on the island. We found a driver (rider?) near the end of the pier who initially wanted 100/each but prior knowledge thankfully helped me to obtain the proper fare. This was a pretty civilised ride at first until we hit the track towards Tamarind Resort and it all went a bit Paris-Dakar with Mark up front having to hop off and pull it up.

Wandering into Tamarind Resort it all looked a little more rustic than I’d expected, but there were lovely bungalows with little plunge pools in front of the decking and I became momentarily excited. However what I should have realised is that, given our late booking and Thailand’s general busyness at the moment, that was never going to be where we were staying. This was confirmed when the lady showed us to our chipboard bungalow in the corner of the resort. No pool. No pool, in fact, anywhere, contrary to the somewhat deceptive online photos.

But let’s not be too harsh here, it was actually a lovely spot, and with high tide filling the mangrove beach in the morning, even more so. And centrally located between the best beach on the island and ‘town’.

We left the resort to walk the 15 minutes to Chalee Beach for some sunset and beer. Almost immediately upon joining the main track, a gang of kids and a…cow went in the same direction. I still, to this day, have no idea whatsoever the cow was about, but it must be a thing- the lad even has a cow t-shirt on! Shortly up the road the cow did a little charge at the children.

The walk up there was quite pleasant, aside from the constant stream of tuk tuks passing each other with inches to spare. Wacky Races Thai-style. Including even a tourist couple 2 up on a moped with a tot in a papoose. Jeez.

Chalee Beach is stunning. A bit of a tourist trap since it’s the only non-tidal beach on the island, but lovely all the same. Free sunbeds and friendly but not pushy ladies to bring beer or anything else you desire. We had planned to eat a bit of food at Mayow Bungalows just up the road, but soon realised that all of the power on the island was out. Reports suggested it was a problem with the main cable from the mainland. This wouldn’t be a quick one. I felt like the cow was mocking us as we wandered back empty handed.

Popping our heads in to Tamarind, no power at the inn, although helpfully Sun Great resort next door had a generator, so all was not lost.

The next morning, I was determined to DO STUFF. Having checked the tide tables it seemed that the lagoon would be full by mid-morning so enjoyed a pleasant paddle out to the next cove on the resort’s kayaks. Not a bad way to spend a morning…or more accurately an hour until my hip flexors gave out.

We then wandered into town, past countless stalls with local kids selling cute niknaks. Mook is a friendly, small town kind of island and kind smiles are reciprocated…from the locals at least. We wandered along to the Eastern tip of the island, the Mook picture postcard one.

Here, the resort is pricey, a good few times more than ours, but not ridiculous. A brief wander around the outskirts confirmed that it really wasn’t our kinda place anyway. A little…unfriendly. And that’s not what you want in Thailand. We even skipped a beer at the bar.

At this point, disaster struck. One of my flip flop straps broke. A Havaiana too! Tsk. Far from ideal, a good distance from home, but I hobbled on. At the pier, we decided to pop down to the row of small restaurants. And the universe liked this, since as we entered there was a pair of flip flops in their bin. One chewed to smithereens, the right one fully intact… what, reader, are the chances? I was back on the road!

Astonished by this feat, we went to try a restaurant that looked good from reviews, and was one of the places we’d considered staying. Completely blanked by the barman and then a really dirty look from another member of staff…yeah no. In Thailand particularly that’s really rare. Turned around and left.

Thankfully, in the second instance of Thai serendipity that day, this pushed us into the arms of the lady next door, with a wonderful warm welcome and one of my favourite dishes so far here, a mango salad with crispy chicken, cashews, jasmine rice and a zesty dressing. She told us her plans to expand the restaurant next year, and about the local community cooperative running tours. A nice wholesome interaction and a great lunch for 2 of us, with smoothies, for 300THB.

The yin and yang of the day continued as we wandered back towards town to stock up on essentials…beer, water and cash for the next couple of islands. A grumpy tourist interaction, whom I was only trying to save from an errant tuk tuk, then a nice chat with a tour operator…instead of chancing a random time speedboat, we could jump on his long tail over to the next island, for the same price, including pickups both ends.

Mook, you’re a gem. See you soon.