Princess's Cup - Kho Samui

Clive and Adam at completion of the Samui Marathon

Koh Samui

Living in Thailand gives Clive the great opportunity to participate in the marathons that seem to be happening in some country or location not far from us, 12 months of the year. Since our arrival getting settled, the Koh Samui (Samui Island for the anglo’s) was the first local event he could do. We had looked at many ways to get there, but flying was very cost prohibitive, as only one airline serves the island, they apparently own the airport, hence no competition. We had heard of horror stories about taking public transit. And renting a car to do the drive seemed less practical, so we decided to brave the public transit system and be prepared for whatever may come.



With Dul set to look after the dogs, we had planned to go by Thunderbird 3 to the bus station in Phuket town. We noticed a flat tire the night before and had it repaired. When we got up in the morning, the tire was flat again. So off to the Chalong pier to find a taxi car and make the drive. We had pre-bought the bus tickets, so no need to spend time getting that sorted out. Straight onto the bus, which left exactly on time. I would liken the bus to those I used to travel on under the Greyhound brand in the 1970’s, except these buses have curtains. I would find this a necessity as the sunshine can warm the interior considerably. For 2 hours we headed off of Phuket  to the mainland with a stop in a place called Phan Nga where they have a sort of transit hub. You will learn very quickly that Thai people love to eat. It is a national past-time. And the transit rest area is no exception. Stores with all sorts of food items and drinks, a few kiosks with food being cooked and fresh cut fruit bagged and ready to go on the bus with you. I especially love the cubed pineapple. Making my way to the washroom, I have long ago given up the issue of modesty. A number of restrooms are basically sheltered areas. Recently I went to the washroom at the Shell gas station and noticed as I was at the urinal, that the employees picnic tables were set up about 20 meters behind the restrooms. Clive asked me if I was aware that there were people eating lunch there, to which I responded, of course. Having the urinal next to you dusted by the cleaning lady while you are using it is something that at one time was disconcerting, but I have moved past that as well, as the call of nature knows no modesty.
As I stood at the urinal at the bus rest area,  I thought of all of the infrastructure we have for the highway rest stations in Canada and questioned that logic. as I stood at a bank of urinals, with 2 meter high pony walls and gazed over the river and countryside, glancing to the restaurant and the busses waiting for the passengers to refuel before proceeding on our trip.

We made our way from the rest area to the city of Surat Thani and stopped at the Sea Tran Ferry terminal. All the passengers disembark and you walk through the terminal and board the ferry. The bus loads without passengers. I wonder about that logic, as well as when you dock in Samui, the bus emerges from the ferry, stops at the terminal and unloads you baggage. Caused me to wonder about the money and space used by the buses traveling between Vancouver and Victoria and why they actually need to even load the buses onto the ferries, when they could run a bus loop from downtown to the terminal and back. But this activity seems to be consistent, it may be some international bus rule or something.

The ferry crossing is 1 hour and 40 minutes. It has 5 decks, although considerably smaller than the BC Ferries, it seems to do the job. They have air-conditioned lounges with satellite TV, playing Muay Thai boxing on that particular trip. The return trip they had Thai breakfast TV with a lady boy gossip commentator on all the goings on on Thai TV and the lives of the stars. They also have a huge sun deck, which seemed redundant, given the intensity of the sunshine and the heat, but the tourists seemed to enjoy baking themselves there, while the Thai nationals headed for the air conditioned lounges or the shaded outdoor eating area. And yes they had a food concession there too.
We arrived at our hotel and were greeted at the lobby told that they had no rooms. A confirmation of our booking straightened this out and we checked in and began our walking tour of Nathon, stopping for our ice coffee and watching the sunset. The first impression was of how clean the place was, and to our amazement, how many shops closed at 6 PM, unlike our home, where they seem to just start to get busy at 6 PM. Note to ourselves, if we want to open a business, open in Samui, no early morning and late nights.

That night our friends Adam and Win picked us up and we did a trip to the main tourist area of Chaweng. Like most other tourist areas, it was hopping and businesses are packed cheek to jowl. You are unable to see the beach and most access is through hotel lobbies. Apparently this is not an issue for tourists, but Thai nationals tend to get stopped and questioned, making for what I believe is not a very good climate for tourist and nationals relations. We had dinner at a nice hotel where they did a Japanese buffet and then on to a bar called Stars. This is a famous lady boy show bar, and we were entertained with the likes of the standard Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion impersonators. But done very well and the place was packed. Admission is free, if you buy a 200 Baht drink, or pay a 200 Baht entry fee. I decided that if I was paying this rate, then I would have the most alcohol laden drink I could and sip it slowly. The Stars Ice Tea seemed the right drink. Not being much of an alcohol fan, the combination of 5 shots of alcohol soon had it’s effects and my sipping had me 1/2 finished by the time the show finished, so I chugged the last 1/2 and Clive had to put me to bed.

What would a show be without one more Tina impersonator?

Saturday we spend with Adam and some English friends doing the island tour, eating at a great restaurant perched literally on a hillside supported against the trees. Great view and amazing food. I had the Cashew salad, which literally is onions, chilli's and 1/2 a kilo of fresh roasted cashews. We went for a street wander down Nathon walking street, where they set up stalls and tables in front of their houses and sell all manner of goods and foods. The architecture is great utilizing teak wooden structures, where the living accommodation seems to be about 2 meters inside, and the font of the house is where they store the goods, they wheel out for the afternoon shopping. In the evening we sat at the Sunset restaurant and had some cool drinks and watched as groups of runners, obviously from Africa sprinted along the seawall, graceful and obviously built for speed. I announced, without any direct knowledge, that the Kenyan's were here, so any hope of any other runners winning any races was pretty much a pipe dream. Saturday night we spent having a quiet night and were in bed by 830, with Clive having a race start time of 515 AM, we would be up at 4 AM. Oh the party life of the marathon runners!

I found myself out in front of the hotel at 415 and noted the weather was cooler than the day before and then i felt the sprinkle of rain. I also saw my now named Kenyan runners sprinting in the dark and getting warmed up. They would commence the full marathon at 0445 and being about 1 Km from the race start, this was apparently their warm-up. I went back to the room and found Clive dressed for his run. There is what is pretty much a routine to this. Pinning on the bib number, zap strapping the runners electronic chip onto the shoes, rubbing down with anti inflammation creams and loading with water and energy gels. I am still at a loss as to what these long distance runners do to numb the inevitable pain that comes with pounding on pavement for hours at a time, in the name of fun. Because the restaurant at the hotel would not be open for another few hours we had loaded up with ice coffee and fruit and yogurt the night before, so he would not run on a empty stomach. We left the hotel and by then the sprinkle had turned into full-on rainfall. A good thing apparently for a runner in this heat and humidity. Not so nice for the photographer. Arriving at the race start, it was a buzz with activity and people all doing their individual rituals prior to the race. I have found that if i bring enough camera equipment to any of these races, I tend to be able to go just about anywhere, including into the start chute, unchallenged. But despite getting myself well situated, being that it is still dark out, the quality of the photos leaves much to be desired and getting the right settings usually means playing around with buttons and lenses, and as usual this meant that I had run out of flash power by the time Clive crossed the start line. So much for the photo op. As our friend Adam was running in the 10 Km run, I decided to wait around to cheer him off and get some shots. While the start gates were well lighted and the main stage was ablaze in lighting, they had missed the lighting for the runners to get into the start area. The rain had created a large pool of water and I witnessed many an athlete come to get to the gates only to find their running shoes submerged in the pool and trying to cross it in virtual darkness. I decided to become and instant volunteer and tried to block and channel people to a more dry approach, some listened, others did not and I managed to hear the word shit or other such phrases in many different languages and accents, as they sloshed their way to the start line. I never did find Adam until after he had completed his run.

One of the joys of going to these runs as a supporter, is how to fill the time until your runner gets their run finished. In North America, as the races are usually at daylight times, you can wander and see the sights or position yourself along the raceway and cheer people on. In Samui, the sunrise would be much later and so I had to wander the twilight streets, finding a 7-11 and getting a cup of coffee. The little article I wrote about the monk and his dogs, gave me the chance at that photograph and I was happy for it. The twilight, the water and a double rainbow. Had I gone back to my room, I would have never seen it. Of course had I gone back to my room, I would have probably decided to have a little nap and fallen into a dead sleep and missed Clives finish. As I strolled, I heard some excitement at the race finish line and saw the first of three Kenyan runners come dashing across the line, having finished their run of 21 KM in one hour and 10 minutes.

I wandered along the pier and got some good shots of the skyline and the pier at daybreak and then heard “Hi Bruce”, as Adam went past me allowing for only a picture of his backside. So I wandered to the finish line and we visited an chatted while we waited for Clive, who arrived in his time period he had allotted. We always discuss his time expectation and I always find myself watching the race timers and getting anxious when I see his planned time come and go and no sign of him. I had seen a few ambulances go off the race course and a few people collapse prior to or just after they crossed the finish line. The bangkok Hospital had set up treatment tents and have a caravan of ambulances on hand. My worry was for naught, as I saw Clive making his dash to the finish, exactly as he had predicted.

We watched as the stage was set up for the presentation ceremonies and noted that the only people on the stage were from Kenya. Back to our room where we went back to bed for a few hours, and then to a restaurant along the race course. At 10 minutes to noon, a commotion on the street had us out looking to see what was happening. There was a man making the last 1 KM of his marathon run. People came out from all over to cheer and clap for him as he completed his first marathon. Followed by the ambulances and trucks who were loading the traffic cones and barricades behind him so that Nathon could go back to the usual Sunday routine, unaware of the activity that had been on their streets for the past 9 hours.

We went ot eh beach in front of our hotel, being the only people there and were visited by the monks dogs, who found shade under our loungers. Later on I took a sea kyack out for a paddle along the coastline and two of them decided to accompany me by swimming along side or wading into more shallow water to accompany me on my paddle.

The following morning we made the trip back to our home, on a long bus ride, that seemed to take longer, perhaps because you can flag the bus anywhere along the route and get a ride, not necessarily to Phuket, but maybe a few kilometers down the road in the direction they are headed, although I am sure we made some side trips that were off the route. Back home to some very happy dogs. Clive has his medal on the wall, and is already looking at where the next run will be.