So if there was ever any doubt whether Cuba was on its way, quickly, to becoming just like any other Caribbean island w it’s mega resorts wholly focused on catering to tourists., I witnessed it today. I was very excited to visit Playa Pilar (yes, named by Fidel in honor of Ernie’s boat as it was his favorite back during the time when Cayo Guillermo was still technically an island). It was & is still described in guidebooks (published wi the last 1.5-2 yrs) & online as an isolated beach accessible only by taking a bus & hiking over the sand dunes. No hotels. Served only by the Ranchon Playa Pilar, a small thatch-roofed restaurant that offers wonderful fresh caught lobster. And the softest whitest sand in all of Cuba. The last one is spot on. Definitely the best sand. I saw the remnants of the old charming little Ranchon Pilar, now used to store excess tables & beach chairs for when they now host “international dinners on the beach” at night. Seems the ol’ Ranchon has enjoyed good business, understandably so bc that lobster is ridiculously delicious, as it’s expanded a bit – doubled its size – & also built a lighted wooden plank walkway from the road over the dunes, conveniently right past its restaurant & down to the beach. As you can imagine, the bridge incredibly increases the accessibility of the beach so a flood of tourists come to visit every day. Soon there will be more. You see, the beach is flanked by 2 bluffs on which one, a brand spankin new Iberostar’s grand opening is imminent, & on the other, construction is clearly underway on another resort as the skyline is dotted w cranes. My guess is the little Ranchon Pilar will have trouble holding onto this beach & the entire thing will be fully developed in 3 years.
So my hotel in Cayo Guillermo has CNN. Nuts! It’s been so easy to avoid any kind of news from back home. Got back to my room & was just curious what channels the tv carried bc it was my first tv in Cuba. Funny enough, CNN was the only channel in English & was broadcasting Anthony Bourdain’s food show Cuba episode. Great timing, I thought. It’s the first time I’ve ever watched the show. On Cuba in Cuba. What an elitist phony ass that guy is. He’s hanging out w rich people in a well-off suburb of Havana where everyone speaks English & are artists, doctors, writers & engineers, own their own stand-alone homes w massive yards (& don’t seem to be renting out rooms) & drag race old American cars instead of using them as hired taxis. Yet he pretends as if he’s slumming it. Yeah, you’re really experiencing the real Cuba you jag off. First & last episode watched.
I was planning to end my trip by visiting a couple beaches & doing some diving. Now I was pretty intent on trying to see the funeral in Santiago, a city only 2hrs from Holguin, where my flight leaves for the US on the afternoon of Mon Dec 5. I considered lingering in SC for a bit longer bc I was in the right place (along w Havana & Santiago). Sure enough, 3 large construction vehicles w lifts began doing odds & ends repairs & paint refreshes Sat evening on the grand buildings surrounding Parque Vidal, long after normal govt worker hours, clearly preparing for the caravan that will pass through – but based on my estimates, it wouldn’t reach Santa Clara until Wed eve or Thurs morn, so I decided to head out to Cayo Guillermo as planned.
Some of my fave albums ever got me through a frustrating 3-hr bus ride that included a 45-min late start for no apparent reason & an hour long stop for a late lunch 20 mins from my destination of Ciego de Avila. The punk goddess/poet Patti Smith’s Horses’ put a smile on my face as it does every time w the very first lyrics – quite possibly one of the best starts to an album ever. It’s certainly not for everyone bc she’s so weird in a really great kinda way… I liken her to the female version of Lou Reed, another one of my obsessions. Then I moved to another all time great, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which is definitely for everyone. I finished in the Latin realm w Manu Chao’s Clandestino which made me happily recall one of the first Lollapalooza’s since being permanently based in my Chicago (so prob 10 yrs ago), where he played opposite the home town Kanye West to close the fest on Sunday night. All but about 5k went to see Kanye while my sis, a friend & I spread out & danced like crazy people to Manu Chao, along w everyone else in the crowd who very obviously really appreciated his music. One of the best, craziest, high energy, fun shows I’ve ever seen. Screw Kanye (still).
My trip was not over at Ciego de Avila. I found & negotiated w a taxi driver to take me the 2-hr drive to Cayo Guillermo, supposedly a lovely somewhat-difficult-to-get-to little island w pristine beaches, great diving, exciting kite surfing (which I’ve always wanted to try) & good deep sea fishing. It just so happens to be the island & beach (Playa Pilar) that Hemingway called his favorite back in the day when there wasn’t a man-made causeway connecting it, via Cayo Coco, to the mainland. A total coincidence that I went through the trouble to end up here.
I checked out the kite surfing early on. The bulk of them are further SE from the hotel closer to a point on the island – where SE & E winds collide. As I walked down the beach, I could feel the winds pickup. Then I just sat there for hours watching. I talked to a couple guys about lessons & questioned the learning curve due to the strong winds. “Oh but the winds are good… helps you get up. Makes it easier.” And then I watched for an hour as a relatively physically fit man repeatedly tried & failed to mount his board in the water while keeping control of his kite. Poor guy was trying his best to heed the advice of his instructor, who was following him in the water, as his kite took the newbie 100 yds down the beach, clearly failing. It reminded me of the time Karen, Gina & I checked out Pirlanta beach in Cesme, Turkey off the coast from Izmir known for being one of the top kite surfing beaches in the world & witnessed a woman, clearly in the early stages of her lesson so still on the beach, dragged 50 yards down the beach by her kite while eating mouthfuls of sand. That beach was far windier than this. But this was still a bit intimidating. So I sat & watched for awhile. After an hour, I stopped watching the newbies as I decided that I should first perhaps give surfing a whirl before I throw a kite into the mix (surf camp in Peru sounds pretty fabulous right!?!). I then turned my focus to the experienced guys & was especially floored by a guy who had no footholds on his board (what!) so when he gets air (& he was getting the highest air), he isn’t grabbing his board to show-off, he’s doing it so he has something to land on. He was more kite skateboarding & I’ve never seen anything like it before. Impressed.
IMHO, although I do consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to grading beaches, this is superior to Varadero. However… in order to visit now, there are only 4 hotels to choose from. All of them are all-inclusive resorts. I’m quite certain Ernie would roll over in his grave. I’ve never done an all-inclusive before. It’s a real nice place – a fancy Spanish owned resort. I don’t think I wanted to like it. I was a doubter when it came to the food & drinks assuming the former would be terrible & the latter would be watered down. But it was pretty darn good. I did get to know a bartender Wildmer quite well who was heavy on the pour. Muchas gracias, Wildmer. BTW… there are drinks (clearly)! Apparently the Spanish hotel owner doesn’t dare cross his Canadian & European guests, who as far as I’m concerned barely recognized Fidel died or there was anything happening outside of their all-inclusive little world, by withholding booze. So it flowed. A bit too freely for some. But still no music.
A straightforward & uneventful 3-hour bus ride from Havana is Varadero… a 20km stretch of white sand beach that according to the travel guides, is supposedly Cuba’s most beautiful beach. Clearly the word is out amongst European & Canadian travelers, but given the superlatives used to describe it, I felt I had to see it. It did not disappoint. I enjoyed some much needed R&R after long Havana nights.
I think a lot of people know people who’ve been to Bali for their honeymoon. Before visiting, I perhaps had a fear in the back of my head that it’d be me & a bunch of boring newly betrothed couples, but I’d heard great things & since I will most likely never take a honeymoon (sorry mom), I thought this was a great time to visit. I spent nearly 2 weeks exploring the island & it has a lot to offer beyond the beautiful beaches in the South it’s known for including a lush hilly interior region with lovely rice paddies & charming towns featuring hippy yogis, arts & crafts & temples as well as a Northeast coastal region dotted w picturesque fishing villages, 40+ dive sites, stunning views & few tourists. Oh yeah, & it has a TON of backpackers (so fun, social fellow travelers) who come to visit all of the above plus the great surfing. Thankfully.
First stop was Ubud in central Bali, 2 hours drive from airport. I stayed in a lovely private villa with pool overlooking a rice paddy, at a discount bc it was low season, that was a 15-minute beautiful walk into central Ubud, which I soon decided was a shoppers Mecca as it has a ton of local artisans & galleries/museums selling art, yoga gear, unique textiles, clothes, antiques & other goods. The fact that I’m traveling w a pack that I physically have to carry on my back makes it easier to refrain from overindulging when shopping but Ubud tested me. I did cut myself some slack & bought some hippy gear but still enforced my “one-in / one-out” rule & left a few things behind (who needs tennis shoes anyways?). So while it’s a charming area, it’s certainly overrun during the day w a crazy number of tourists. I think they take taxis here from the Southern beaches just for day trips. So there’s lots of traffic, autos, motorbike & foot, on tiny roads. When you’re at shops or restos, servers often ask if you’re staying in Ubud. They tend to react well if you say yes; you get a superior level of service at restaurants & often times further discounts at shops. That tells me locals have grown weary of the day-trippers as they really showed an appreciation for folks actually staying in Ubud. Once the day-trippers clear out in time to get all dolled up for some fine dining & dancing, the town slows down a bit & is much more relaxing. It’s a quiet place at night as places close down pretty early. So I’d have a nice quiet dinner & then stroll back to my villa & spend the night reading or doing trip research while listening to music & hopping in & out of my pool. Nice chill place but bc of the massive amounts of tourists that invade during the day, I sure was ready to go after day 3.
Second stop was Amed on the NE coast, a 3 hour drive from Ubud past tiered rice paddies & through the hills. Amed is a beautiful area dotted w little fishing villages featuring these cool boats called jukungs that are mini outrigger sailboats. I stayed in another beautiful place w villas on a hill overlooking the sea. Amed is known to have the best diving in Bali but few tourists so that was the plan & it delivered. My dive shop in Thailand recommended an Amed dive shop owned & operated by a former dive boat manager who was amazing & organized some cool dives where I saw a giant octopus (that we followed around for awhile), manta rays, a couple sharks (yes!!!), moray eels, etc & a cool wreck of a US ship sunk by a Japanese torpedo in WW2. I also was lucky enough to see perhaps the most beautiful view of the trip as I hopped on back of my dive pro’s motorbike & headed 30 minutes outside of Amed proper to a viewpoint on the Eastern-most point of Bali overlooking a gorgeous black sand/pebble beach lined w jukungs & the picturesque little island of Gili Selang. Stunning views.
Finally Nusa Dua, the last stop in Bali for some R&R on the beach, was a 3.5 hour drive south from Amed. I decided to skip Kuta & Seminyak… two of the most high profile spots on Bali & where everyone flocks for beaches, nightlife, etc. It’s supposedly crazy & real jammed w tourists so not quite my thing. Nusa Dua is a quieter beach locale featuring fancy resorts so I used my hotel points & it was more of the same relaxation, paddle board, kayak, reading time. While staying at luxury properties is nice, you find a certain kind of traveler – one who is relatively well off, on holiday & often still in work-mode so on email or calls while the wife, girlfriend or family is entertaining themselves on the beach. You also find the honeymooners. All of these folks are looking for total isolation both physically, as these fancy resorts are located on gorgeous remote beaches enticing you to just stay put all week long, & socially, as the guests are not looking to meet other people (& they’re also missing out on the best of Bali… these are the day-trippers if they dare to venture off their sun loungers). There aren’t too many people doing what I’m doing & staying at these joints. This clientele is very different from who you get when you stay at a mid-range place in the middle of the action. There you find fellow travelers on extended trips, often solo travelers, interested in meeting new people & who are generally in a very happy place in their life, thus inviting interesting conversation. So while I’ve used the luxury properties as a welcome break to really relax & enjoy the sea & do some trip-planning on good wifi, I strongly prefer the mid-range social hotels/guest houses as they’re a lot more fun.
The path leading to my Ubud private villaMy door welcoming me
Shopping in Ubud
There is an obvious penis obsession in Ubud. I would argue the entire world is a bit too obsessed & could do with some women in charge but nowhere has it been more obvious as there are penis-shaped & inspired tchotchkes for sale everywhere. At least these can be used to open bottles. I inquired about the obsession (of course I did) & apparently, they are symbols for good luck as in Hindu, the penis represents the supreme god (of course it does). I was told some men even wear these charms around their neck. I would argue perhaps they’re over-compensating for something but I still would’ve loved to see that.
… or “beer koozies” as we like to call them
Tiered rice paddies along the pretty drive from Ubud to Amed
View from my Amed villa
Jukungs asail
View from the lookout of Gili Selang & the jukung lineup on the beach
So while the Andaman Sea Thai islands were a bit overrun w tourists, all one needs to do is head a bit south to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. It’s actually 190 different islands but dominated by one main island as most are uninhabited. It’s real lovely & quiet. Datai Bay, on the main island & locale of my hotel, is listed as top 10 beaches in world by National Geographic & it’s the prettiest, widest, longest, nicest one I’ve seen yet. It also seems to have the most wildlife as monkeys are everywhere as are those damn monitor lizards, which I’m getting very accustomed to & don’t even bat an eye when I encounter them now. This rare, nearly endangered, flying monkey species called the colugo come out at night & I’ve been lucky enough to watch them fly from tree to tree over dinner. I spent the week relaxing, kayaking, paddle boarding, reading & treating myself to decent (but still Malaysian) food & a couple spa treatments. Real tough week.
It’s not everyday you have a sign on your patio door warning you to close it due to monkeys. Yes, they’re around.
This warning sign is on the other side of the path circling the pools. You’d think it was a joke but no, one was chillin 5 feet from me in the trees while I was laying in a sun lounger. It’s like they’re NBD anymore. I met guests who ran into 2 large wild boars the other night. After 7pm, brown bats begin dive bombing towards your head “inside” the open-air resort. And this is a 5-star luxury accommodation… or animal kingdom. It’s freaking wild. Literally.
View from my balcony
The beach
Monkey time
My view from the best mani/pedi of my life. Sitting outside in open air w a great breeze, overlooking the Andaman Sea & monkeys w their babies playing in the trees. Pretty fabulous.
I had a rough plan to spend 3 nights in Bottle Beach. I ended up doubling that. I would’ve stayed longer but for the first time, I had actually made plans & signed up for a diving course on the smaller island of Koh Tao to the north. Plans. Oh well. I made the most of my time there. Bc it’s such a small place, many of the people who visit really become a little family. Well the cool people at least. There’s 3 other “resorts” on the island but people-in-the-know all ended up at my “resort’s” resto for the food, atmosphere & attention/entertainment of Babu & Ming (Babu’s mini me). The gatherings of those in-the-know people revealed that Bottle Beach just so happens to be a little German colony. Not really of course but those Germans sure are on the cutting edge of cheap, gorgeous, little-discovered gems as nearly everyone I met was from Germany. I ended up hanging for dinner, poker, beers & convo every night w a great group of 10 Germans ranging from two 22 year old girls who just finished a bartending school in Phuket to a 60 year old retiree who makes his home for 6 mos of the year in Turkey & travels the other 6 mos (he’d been at Bottle Beach for 4 weeks already). It was a fun bunch. My fave was a couple from Munich, Julia & Nils, ages 26 & 32, respectively. We talked Babu into leading a hike up to the cove’s viewpoint & also into planning a longboat tour for all of us (Babu included) of Koh Pan Ngan bc, believe it or not after 2+ weeks on the island, there were still coves & beaches I hadn’t seen. Hugs all around upon departure as well as an exchange of digits (now I’m on what’s app apparently courtesy of Julia) & a promise of visits (I have my fair share of places in Munich to crash while a hilarious tatted German named Sky & his gf (Julia deuce) may be crashing w me next summer in Chicago). The more the merrier I guess. Perhaps what I may miss most about Bottle Beach is the nightly domino matches Babu & I shared after dinner service wound down & it was just the regulars left. Not typical dominos – these were triangles & the dots
were multi-colored so it was quite a bit more difficult. He kindly offered me the game when I was leaving but I had to decline as I couldn’t afford the space in my pack, but I will definitely be seeking it out on Amazon when I return. Would be a great addition to lazy afternoons at Big Star.
The ascentThe reward
Babu, who we kindly termed “jungle man” overlooking the view. I didn’t have the guts to walk along the peak to the farthest point of the viewpoint. No one did. But Babu kicked off his shoes & scampered across with my camera in hand to capture the view below.
I was trying to stay out of the frame as Babu took a pic of Julia but he is a troublemaker.
The boat tour
Thansadet beach… I’d stay here next time
Yes, that’s a rather large Komodo dragon out for a swim in still water near mangroves
Mae Head Beach & Koh Ma island… best snorkling on the island.
It took me 7 weeks to find it, & it was a bit of a tease, but I definitely found my paradise. I’ve been trying to come to Bottle Beach on the north side of Ko Pha Ngan for a good week but the “storm” that rolled into the island prevented it. The storm wasn’t a storm like we think about it bc it was still sunny & gorgeous, the winds just picked up quite a lot which prevented longboats from accessing a few beaches, one of which is Bottle Beach, only accessible by boat. So I slowly made my way around the island biding my time. Finally the waves subsided & I was given the go-ahead so I booked a bungalow.
It was a gorgeous 20 minute ride to Bottle Beach from Thong Nai Pan Yai beach along a rocky seaside cliff on one side & nothing but blue water on the other. Didn’t see another boat on the way there. Around a turn & this gorgeous white strip of sand emerges from the rocks in a little protected bay. It’s a pretty small beach lined w a whole lot of nothing but beach bungalows. I hopped out of the longboat in nearly waist-high water as the captain gently eased my backpack down to me & I thankfully avoided any dunking of the pack (& for the umpteenth time this trip, I was thankful to have a backpack vs an obnoxious roller suitcase).
Babu, the “hotel” manager, greeted me as I walked up the beach with a big hello & a blunt in his hand, that he put out & placed behind his ear. As if I had any doubts before, I was assured this was going to be an awfully chill place. We chatted, turns out he’s from Burma so I promised to pick his brain later about that, & he walked me to my bungalow with no check of a passport or any other formalities. It’s locked w a padlock & is as cute as can be. For $11 a night. I think I failed to mention that. And by cute, I mean cute in a very rustic way. The room is barely bigger than the bed w storage below for packs. The bathroom has a toilet, flushed by a pail of water from a bucket filled by a nearby spigot which also serves as the sink, & a shower (cold water naturally) that uses the same drain as the spigot. A serious mosquito net is provided which is fantastic given I’m definitely sleeping w the window open & fan blowing for airflow. There’s one white plastic chair for me on my porch & I acquiesced when Babu offered to hang a hammock for me. Haha. Love me some hammock time.
I hadn’t bothered to eat yet that day as I opted for a massage over lunch prior to the longboat, so I headed down to the restaurant for a salad to find the sweetest beach side restaurant w various shaded & sunny seating options. It’s combined w reception & includes a bar, a pool table, decent sound system & tunes, & a few staffers lingering & smoking. Up to this point, I hadn’t seen weed anywhere. I had smelled it a couple times while biking through cities but the guidebooks put the fear of God into you threatening 15+ years in prison for a minor mj offense if you can’t buy off the local authorities/Thai mafia & hinting there are undercover police lurking in tourists zones & working w the sellers to bust you. So that’s apparently not the case here. Haha
Babu sat down to chat w me while I ate a spicy seafood salad & enjoyed a couple Chang beers (beers here are USD $2 so no place is perfect but they have to make money somehow) & that’s when it really got good. We talked about life histories & what do you know? Babu tried to be a monk TWICE in Burma & couldn’t cut it so bailed. Is this for fucking real!?!?!?!!! He made it 7 days when he was 27 & 9 days when he was 29. Apparently there’s a lot of fasting involved. You are awakened at 5:45am w a gong, put on your robes & walk the city barefoot asking for alms (yep, I saw this in Laos), then you return to shower & prepare food, eat at 7am but no talking allowed, clean the kitchen for an hour, walk the city again, eat at 11am, clean & then no eating allowed again after noon. Every day. Buddhism doesn’t frown upon smoking as monks are allowed to smoke (cigarettes not ganja), so those Cambodian monks we saw smoking on holiday in Halong Bay were not in violation of their code, Amy. All Babu could do was smoke cigs until he again got to eat at 7am. Apparently he couldn’t cut it (twice) bc he was so goddam hungry & I told him perhaps he wasn’t meant to be a monk after all bc he now works in paradise, eats whenever he wants to & seems to enjoy the marijuana. He laughed & agreed & then proceeded to make me the sweetest little rose pinky ring made from 2 plastic straws folded & fused together w his lighter.
I’m in love w this place & it’s only been 3 hours.
Since I had some time on my hands & enjoyed the locale of the hippy Sanctuary on Haad Thien in Koh Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand, I decided to spend awhile further exploring the island. While we somewhat enjoyed the destinations in the Andaman Sea (Krabi, Railay, Koh Phi Pho, Phuket), the sheer volume of international tourists there was intimidating & while I considered visiting the supposedly-less-oft-traveled Andaman Islands of Koh Lanta & Koh Lipe, my fear was tourists now flock to those places as well (yes, I know I’m also a tourist but my goal is to find places where there’s few of me). While Ko Pha Ngan may be known as a “party island” w it’s late night/early morning raves for the monthly full moon party, that hoopla really is centered in/around Haad Rin & once you get out, it’s just beautiful, relaxing & quiet. At least that’s what I was counting on.
I did stop for a couple nights just outside Haad Rin, after an adventure leaving Haad Thien, to do some laundry & to ride out a storm that never really materialized excepting large waves preventing any boats from accessing Haad Thien & thus leading to a very ridiculous/exciting/borderline dangerous 4×4 large pickup truck ride up & then down a mountain in order to leave the Sanctuary. I was sitting w 3 others on benches lining both sides of the rear of the truck w everyone’s luggage at our feet (3 others plus driver in cab). The “road” was actually a severely rutted dirt road dotted w intermittent boulders and ski-jump steep hills where I couldn’t see the bottom over the top of the cab. The benches were flush w the sides of the truck & there was nothing to hold onto but for the heaviest piece of luggage I could find within grasp, which was very necessary as several of the bumps came close to bouncing me right off the side of the truck as I was catching a lot of air. It was a bonding experience as we were all laughing hysterically, while holding on for dear life, & warning one another to duck in the event oncoming branches were aimed for your head. We made it, clearly, & I talked the driver into dropping me directly at my new hotel so pretty smooth sailing.
After Haad Rin, I went to the far NE coast to stay on Thong Nai Pan Noi & Thong Nai Pan Yai beaches. They’re in nearby coves & rated by Trip Advisor as the top beaches on the island. They didn’t disappoint but also provided reasonably quick access to where I really wanted to go once the wind died down…
This is the main Haad Rin beach that hosts the massive full moon, half moon & various weekly parties. I walked 10 mins to check it out around 5pm & the beach bars were already bumping competing beats. Beautiful cove & beach but kinda trashy businesses lining the beach, imho, so I didn’t return.
I did love this sign
Thong Nai Pan Noi
Thong Nai Pan Noi beach & fire show entertainment during dinner on the beach one night. https://youtu.be/WHuw8CF8OPY
In general, I’ve found the Thai food in S. Thailand islands to be shit compared to the mainland; however, I wasn’t all that surprised as people come for the sea & beaches first & foremost. One thing they do well is fish BBQs so I’ve been eating a bunch of whole grilled fish. Delicious!
The trip to the island of Phi Phi in the Andaman Sea took 3 different boats & only one minor mishap. We took a longboat from Railay to a ferry boat parked just offshore to Phi Phi & because there are no roads on the island of Phi Phi, we hopped aboard another longboat taxi to our hotel. Boarding the initial longboat at Railay required us wading into knee deep water w our backpacks & purses, slinging them over top the wooden boat & leaping up while small waves come crashing in. Amy made it up on first try but then promptly toppled over backwards into the boat. I exclaimed “oh, Amy!” as I thought there was a chance she was going to knock her head but she managed to recover by pulling off a pretty adept barrel roll & successfully sat up w a big grin on her face. We died laughing along w the longboat captain. Only later did the bruise develop. After I hopped up & in along w the next 2 people… the captain finally decided to put out a ladder, after he perhaps got his entertainment for the day.
We were one of many people leaving puritanical Railay for Phi Phi as it is apparently the Mecca of Southern Thailand (beyond Phuket), made famous by a Leo Dicaprio movie, “The Beach”, filmed there some years ago. We weren’t taking a day trip to “The Beach” with everyone else nor did we feel we needed to see the main port town of Tonsai turn into a crazy club town at night, so upon recommendation from other travelers, we opted for the less-populated far NE side of the island. We splurged a bit on the hotel as we were looking for total relaxation after some busy days in Vietnam & the somewhat disappointing Railay. We got exactly what we hoped for, in addition to amazing food & it was lovely.
amusemusings 