Tarutao

It's not as well-known as even Ko Tao. Such that when friends asked me where I went, I always have to explain that it is in the far south, just a few kilometres north of Langkawi.

Because it's less troden by tourists, it is very tranquil and serene, with amazing secluded beaches that rank very high on my growing list of beautiful beaches.

The whole Tarutao National Park is made up of several islands, the main one being Tarutao itself, and Adang, where the only accommodation is operated by the national park office (which ensures that these two islands are not fallen to over development). The other island is Lipeh, which is directly opposite Ko Adang, and somewhat lies outside the national park boundary, and has the potential to be the next ko phi phi, with lots of chalets, restaurants, boats, foreigners and rubbish...
The rest of the islands in the area are mostly secluded and visited by day-trippers on snorkelling and diving trips.

Tarutao and Adang are very good places for a laid-back holiday. My favourite is Adang, such that I spend most of the week on this little island. Nice and quiet beach, with rather good corals and many fishes just off the shore. Friendly park rangers and serene environment. Well, nice place, but will probably go into more details next time.

The misunderstood French

This is a very common personal experience told by many Chinese tourists visiting France.
The same story, albeit experienced by different people, are always related to me, whenever I told them I: a) have a French bf; b) have travelled to France for holidays.

The story goes:
Mr A went to Paris (somehow, Singaporeans/Chinese perception of a French holiday is to go to Paris, never mind the fact that there are many more lovely places to visit in this country. The most romantic city plus buying the latest LV product at a cheaper price is enough reason to make the trip to France worthwhile).
Mr A got lost in the city, needed to ask some Frenchies for direction, or to ask some Frenchie train station officer for help.
Not knowing how to speak French, he asked for help in English.
The super proud and Anglo-hating French would pretend not to understand a word, or even ignore the question altogether.
The desparate Mr A, after several futile attempts in communication started to speak in Chinese, and voila! The Frenchie was suddenly enlightened, and began to render help to the poor tourist in English.

This same story was repeated to me, this time by a Malaysian Chinese I met at Ko Adang. According to his experience, he has to swear in Hokkien before the French train officer finally answered his questions in English.

Are the Frenchies really so haughty and in disdain of the English language?

I'm no French expert and have been to France only three times. And thankfully, I've not been in such a situation.

It's true that the French are no English speakers and don't like to speak English.

However, from my personal experience in interactingn with French, I would think the French do not like to speak English (even to English speaking tourists) not because they look down on the language, but because they can't speak it well and are too "pai seh" to admit it, and too embarassed to show their lack of command of the language.

And go out of Paris, and you'll find English-speaking French becoming rarer and rarer, especially among older generation.

So next time, if you meet a French who refuse to speak English, don't mark him as "hao lian" immediately.

Home in a shell

Hermit crabs always fascinate me greatly. I particularly enjoy seeing them suddenly "pretending dead" whenever they sense a human coming near them.

At Ko Rawi's white sand beach, hermit crabs are everywhere, in varying sizes and different kinds of beautiful shells. We couldn't resist photographing and filming them, though this must have make one of the most boring video.

Fun aside, these cute creatures belong to where they are, so please, if your paths ever cross with these crabs, do not bring them home.

My latest trip

My latest trip to Ko Tarutao National Park. In case you're wondering where this wonderful place is, it is a marine park in the far south of Thailand, just about 5km north of Langkawi.

The beaches there are simply marvellous - white powdery sand, crystal clear emerald sea, multitude of colourful fishes and marine life and serene and relaxing atmosphere. Hmmm...what a charming place.

Shall update with more details again.