There was life beyond the boatyard and for this Daryl was pleased he had made the decision to rent in Satun as opposed to where the boatyard was in Chebilang.
Due to family commitments at home, namely a very sick son, we decided that Daryl would be managing the boatyard scene alone while I spent time at home supporting Jason. So I flew back in October leaving Daryl to sail up to Langkawi and then on to Chebilang once the yard was ready for him.
Daryl set himself up in rented accommodation in Satun town which was basic but had an air conditioned bedroom. The building was one of many in the street which doubled as homes and or shops. Another cruiser stored all their boat gear in the front part and they will live in the house when they return to finish work on their boat. Daryl hired a bike to get him the 15 kms/20 mins out to the boatyard each day. And so the pattern of his days was set......
There were new noises to get used to. The accommodation had families living on both sides and the building was not well sound proofed. Night noises kept him guessing as to what was going on next door?? Like constant chopping sounds at 4am. Traffic stepped up before sunrise and Daryl established that the fresh market was just around the corner. And boy can the Satun cats fight and their dogs bark.
Even the animals found the afternoons hot........Farmer walking the bullock to the fields
Initially Daryl found life very quiet and underestimated how much he would miss things like conversation. With so few speaking English in the yard he could go all day without having ‘conversed’. Luckily phone calls were cheap and he soon got to know other cruisers in the yard. Buying his evening meal became a social event in itself. On the way home in the evenings Daryl would stop at a local night market to pick up dinner and stall owners got to know him and his ‘mai pet’ (non spicy) tastes.
One evening, just on sunset, Daryl heard a lot of banging and noise outside. People crowded the streets and were lighting lanterns that drifted down the river and some up into the sky. He hadn’t realised it was the night of the Thailand light festival.
Lantern lighting into the river
Lantern being lit so it will fly.............Spot the gatecrasher
He was better prepared as Chinese New Year approached and enjoyed the local celebrations. There was also Thailand Government Workers Day where all the government workers donned a pink shirt and marched the streets. Daryl was astounded how many there were for a relatively small town.
Government day....................................................Maureen at the Thursday Chebilang market
Picture anyone??....................................................Dried fish -I've never acquired the taste
Todays catch, tomorrows sales...........Local store
For a non Thai person entering Thailand across a land border and without a visa, the time you can stay in the country is two weeks. That made it necessary for Daryl to make a run to the Malaysian border every two weeks once his initial entry by sea expired. From Satun it was about 30 minutes on the bike through lovely bush and countryside. When you arrived at the border you needed to check out of Thailand, walk across a tar sealed courtyard and check in to Malaysia. Then you walked around that same building to the other window to check out of Malaysia (incidentally with the same staff serving you but him giving no recognition to the fact). Then it’s back across the courtyard to check back into Thailand, yes, you’ve got it, same building, same staff but different window. Then you’re legal with immigration for another two weeks. At the weekends the Thais and Malaysians set up a huge string of stalls and locals do a drive or take a tour bus up to the border for shopping. It still puzzles us how so many stalls could all manage to turn a profit.
A rather public toilet???.....The ice shop, at least one in every town
Delicacies cooking in bamboo................................Crickets, grubs anyone???
Daryl's happy, there's no shortage of eggs........no child restraints used
Daryl flew home for a brief Christmas break but didn’t want to leave the boat without supervision for too long. By mid February I had flown up to join him. When I initially arrived we didn’t have access to the inside of the boat so there was little for me to do at the yard. This gave me plenty of time to get orientated around town. Each day I spent a couple of hours walking the streets watching Satun life. I found a couple of shop owners were keen to ‘practise their English’ on me so in the evenings when Daryl returned I was able to boast of my new found friends.
My arrival to home sweet home.........................even has a garage
Our neighbours...............................View up the street
We heard of a kite flying festival on at the local airport and took a drive to check it out. I hadn’t realised that kite flying was a sport supported by people from all over the world. There were even synchronised kite flying teams!! We met an Englishman that flies a frog shaped kite, he’s semi retired and travels the world, attending kite festivals and competitions with other fellow fliers. You learn something every day.
Informants frog kite.............................................Challenges in light winds
Young elephant came visiting with his handler, exchanging our baht for elephant food
For me boatyard life had its challenges. Firstly I had to endure the bike trip out to and from the yard each day. Daryl loved the Thai road rules – there weren’t any. Traffic lights were merely a guide but the saving grace was that the traffic was seldom travelling fast. I thought it was out of courtesy but someone suggested it was to do with fuel economy. Daryl felt at home with it all. It was pointed out to me to consider how much peripheral vision a woman on a bike in a full burka would have? So long as Daryl could anticipate what everyone else was doing it was a piece of cake. Between Daryl and me we compromised with a lowering of our average speed by about 10 km an hour and the trip was tolerable and sometime even enjoyed.
Next there was the ladder up onto the boat to negotiate. I think Daryl had managed to procure the most stable, non rusted ladder in the yard, for which I was very grateful. The first week I economised of trip up and down but after that I even became useful for running errands to the yard office or store.
We won’t mention the toilets or the days on end without running water at the yard.....
We both enjoyed the tea and lunch breaks where we socialised with the other cruisers. We usually chose to go down the road to a local restaurant where a tasty lunch was never more than a few dollars. If we splashed out and had fresh prawns it still only set us back about NZ $4. We were grateful to other cruisers, especially Charles and Maureen on Minyana, for their listening ear, support and suggestions when things were going amuck.
Woman sorting the prawn catch by local restaurant..............Fisherman mending his nets
Although we were not sorry to see the back end of Satun and the boatyard it will however remain in our memories as ‘another of life’s experiences’ and a great introduction to Thailand.
Attending workers daughter's birthday..........Caged birds used in singing competitions
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