Wandering Down to Shela Beach

My second day in Lamu was as bright, sunny and humid as the day before.  I set out mid-morning to wander down the waterfront towards Shela, the smaller town at the southern point of the island.  Everyone had said that it was an easy walk of two and a half kilometers between the towns, and that was true until about halfway there.  It turns out that a good bit of the way is underwater when the tide's in, and I found myself rather stuck. A local woman came along and tried to point me the right way, but we didn't get much further before she to couldn't walk much further without going for a swim. Fortunately, there are boats used as buses going back and forth, and one stopped for us and a couple of other people at that point.

Shela is much newer than Lamu Town, and not as restricted to maintain history.  So, this is where rich people have vacation homes. Thirty years ago, it was a fishing village, but now it's full of boutique guesthouses and such; it's nicer than Lamu Town, but I'm glad I'm staying in the old town.  Shela was too quiet. It's a pretty place, though, and the beach is very nice.  I wandered around the mostly deserted pathways a bit and poked in some souvenir shops before having lunch and reading for a while at my shady table overlooking the water.  

After lunch, I took a long walk down the beach.  The beach is about 12 kilimeters long, but I just walked until it started to curve around the end of the island.  There were only a few people out; I think I met more donkeys on the sand than people.  

I like this shot, except for that guy with the obnoxious orange pants...

Several dhows, the old-fashioned wood sailing boats, came by.  They all seem to have flags from different countries...

Looking across the channel to Pemba Island.  There is a resort hotel over there and some ruins that are supposed to be interesting. 

This incredible building looks like something out of the Crusades; it turns out it's a privately owned villa. 

Back in Shela, waiting for a boat back to Lamu.

Must be carpet-washing day...

Just Another Day in Paradise

On Monday, my last full day on the island, (and I had to consult my phone to figure out what day it was-I've already hopelessly lost track) I started out with no particular plans. I'd already been snorkeling, already been to the viewpoint, already explored the village; what else to do?

First, I went out to buy a cheap bag. My purse had survived a day in the boat on the snorkeling trip only getting slightly damp, only to fall victim to a water bottle with a loose lid in the hotel room.  Fortunately nothing was damaged, but I needed something else for the day while it dried out.  I found a brown cloth shoulder bag with gold elephants on it, so it'll make a nice souvenir. 

I started out wandering along the beach road along Ton Sai Bay. I wanted to try the fried crab at one of the beach restaurants I'd passed several times, but it turned out that for lunch they were only serving a buffet; I took a look at it, but it was uninspiring so I kept going. I found another place down a ways where I ordered a shrimp and broccoli dish, and some spring rolls. 

The spring rolls were good, and the broccoli not bad, but unfortunately the shrimp was disappointingly bland. I though Thai food was supposed to be spicier than this; but maybe it's because this is such a tourist place.  While I am talking about food, maybe I should mention the spring rolls.  I know we Americans think of them as a distinctly Chinese food, but many Asian countries have a version.  Although here they may just be Chinese to draw in the many Chinese tourists I saw on the island. I've been eating them a lot, because I've missed them.  I know, I live in China.  But they just aren't as common as Americans think they are. While we eat them with every Chinese meal ever, in China they are just one dish, that isn't available everywhere.  Since they're a little more time-consuming to make, most little restaurants don't bother.  In fact, I haven't had a single one since moving to Wuhan.

Anyhow, after lunch I continued down the beach road; I thought it might be possible to walk all the way to Long Beach, but the path seemed to dead-end into a grove of bungalows.  I suppose that is why the usual way to go to Long Beach is by a boat taxi. I could have found one, but I was just out to poke around anyway, and besides it was getting quite hot.

I went back through the village to the bay on the other side of the island, Loh Dalum Bay. This bay is very shallow-knee deep almost all the way out at low tide, with several sand bars.  Since it is shallow and mostly sandy, in the sunlight the water is that shade of green that gave the name to the sea green crayon.

I had been waffling about swimming again; it was a perfect day for it, and besides, that's what you do on an island.  But if I swam, my clothes wouldn't have time to dry before I had to pack up, and who wants damp salty clothes in their bag? The bay looked so inviting, though, that I figured I'd worry about damp clothes later.

I took a while to cool off at the hotel and use the wifi to work on some plans for the next few days, then headed back to the beach about about an hour before sunset.

I waded out into water so warm it could have been bath water.  I thought it might get a bit deeper after the sandbar, but though I went out probably 200 feet, it never got much past my knees.  I sat in the water and floated around, enjoying the view and the perfect weather.  Some people had rented kayaks and paddled past on their way out to the rocks where the bay opens to the sea; I'd meant to kayak at some point.  I could see people sitting up on the rocks at the viewpoint high on the hill; it would be a great place to watch the sunset up there, but I didn't have time to get there by the time the sun set, even if I could talk myself into climbing all those steps again.  Earlier I had been thinking I'd done all there was to do, but now I wished I had another day.

I floated around peacefully until the sun sunk below the nearest hill. I didn't want to get out even then, but I wanted to get back to my camera, which I'd left with my bag and towel on the beach, in time to capture the sunset. I sat on the beach and wrote postcards until the sky turned pink. It was a nice sunset, but I only took my camera and not my phone to the beach with me, so you'll just have to wait to see those photos. 

After a quick shower, I went out to dinner and then back to my room to unscatter my belongings back into my backpack.  

View point on Ko Phi Phi Don

I slept late this morning, making up for the lack of sleep yesterday. Conveniently I lay in bed and listened to the morning rain instead of being out slogging around in it.

I finally left the room and went in search of lunch. (picture below) Being on an island, I feel like I ought to be eating seafood. So, I ordered something called deep-fried shrimp with garlic.  They didn't seem to be what I would think of as fried, but they were very good anyhow.

After lunch, I took the path marked "viewpoint". I knew there must be some stairs involved to get high enough to get a good view, but good grief.  Yet again I was grateful that I live on the fifth floor and therefore am accustomed to stairs. I wished I hadn't eaten those shrimp quite so recently, though. 

The view up here was worth it, of course. I'm sitting on the rocks along with a gaggle of European backpackers, looking down over the town. The town is on a narrow strip of land that joins two mountainous islands. On the east side, the bay is a harbor full of boats. On the west is a shallow bay with sea green water, with some scattered swimmers and kayakers.

It hasn't rained any more; in fact, the sun is visible through a thin layer of clouds, and there's a tiny patch of blue sky in the east. I've been sitting up here quite a while in the hope that the sun will eventually shine through for a minute, but it's not looking likely.  Probably will as soon as I get to the bottom of the stairs.

I may go for a swim this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll probably sign up for a snorkeling trip. There are also beginner scuba diving trips, but that costs more than it's probably wise to spend this early in the trip.

Travel Advice: Vietnam (Ha Long Bay)

If you go to Vietnam, you need to see more than just the cities.  One of the most famous areas to visit is the beautiful Ha Long Bay.  Search for it in google images and you'll see why.  The easiest way to go is to go with a group from Hanoi; they can book it for you at your hostel.  I don’t normally like group trips, but this one was really good and meant I was able to fit in a lot more activities than I would have on my own.  We spent the night on a boat in the bay, went kayaking, explored a cave, swam from the boat and from the beach on the island, got foot massages, spent a night in beach huts on Monkey Island,  saw a floating city, saw monkeys, ate a lot of prawns, rode bikes or hiked to visit a secret army hospital built in a cave, and enjoyed the scenery. The only precautions I would have are, if you are traveling by yourself, be sure and check if you will get a room to yourself or will be expected to share with someone, and when they tell you that the hike on monkey island to see the monkeys is an easy half-hour stroll, they are lying.  I don’t remember how much the tour cost exactly, but it seems like it might have been around $100 for two days (everything, including food).  The only thing to buy was if you wanted drinks other than water.  Anyhow, it was worth it.  

After Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, many travelers go on to the beaches of South Vietnam; I didn’t have time to do so. But, if you do, I hear they’re really beautiful.  

Sand, Shrimp, and Summer

My mother’s goal in life seems to be to have all four of us in the same room at the same time, which has become increasingly challenging as my brother and I are now adults, and I have this little quirk of moving off to other continents.  So, one last time before I move back to China, she organized a little weekend family trip.

The closest place from middle Tennessee to see sand and waves is the gulf shore of Florida, so we started out at the crack of dawn (or, a little before that, really) Saturday morning for Navarre.  Along the bay, there are several little camping area; the one we stayed at (Navarre Beach Campground)  offered little cabins—there were beds for four, a kitchenette, a bathroom, an a screened in porch with rocking chairs, all just a couple hundred yards from the water.  You can’t beat that for $99 a night! 

The campground was just a little ways down the road from the bridge over to Santa Rosa Island; Santa Rosa is a barrier island that runs for miles along the coast, from Pensacola to Destin. The section of the island at Navarre is dedicated to public beaches (including bath houses, lifeguards, a fishing pier, and lots of Florida’s famous white sand).  The western end of the island is preserved from development as the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  Driving through the state park was probably my favorite part of the trip—white dunes and sea grass on both sides of the car, on a brilliantly sunny day with white fluffy clouds, turquoise waves rolling in from the gulf on one side, and the calmer waters of the bay on the other.  Now and then the dunes are interrupted by scrubby trees and driftwood; we saw a huge heron standing by its nest in the top of a dead tree. 

At the very point of the island is Fort Pickens, which was built in the 1800s to defend the bay at Pensacola.  There’s an eight-dollar-per-car fee to get into the park (good for a week), and once inside you can walk the ramparts and pose for photos with the old cannons.  A museum has been built in the old caretakers’ home.  Fort Pickens was sometimes used to house prisoners; its most famous inmate was the Apache warrior Geronimo, who was held there for a time before being moved permanently to Oklahoma. 

When you’re at the ocean, you have to have seafood; we splurged by going to Flounders’ in Pensacola.  We sat out on the covered deck; although it was a hot day, it was fairly pleasant in the shade with a light breeze coming off of the water.  A live musician was singing mellow classics; everyone clapped the hardest, of course, for anything by Jimmy Buffet.  The deck ended on the sand, where a beach volleyball game was halfheartedly going on, and the bay was just a few steps beyond that.  The fried fish I got was honestly the best fish I’ve ever had, and if I ever go back, I’ll probably get a shrimp basket like my mothers—I tried various things off of it, and particularly enjoyed the grilled shrimp and bell peppers. 

Now, I’m not enough of a beach person to enjoy staying at the coast for a whole week like most of my friends like to do (I get tired of sand in everything very, very quickly), but after a long weekend in the sun I feel like I’ve really had summer.