You wouldn’t just decide to go on a two-week holiday with just anyone, even from among your friends. This might make or break the relationship! But when our former hosts in Mestia, Vitia Chartolani and Roza Shukvani, suggested that we pick a tropical destination to explore together during Georgia’s winter, we were all in. These are people we’ve known and been close friends with since they put us up as new English teachers in their home and guest house in 2011, and we already knew that this would work well. Their younger daughter, Anna, mid-20s, also joined us. They wanted Thailand, and I jumped at the chance to return there since a conference some years ago in Bangkok, whereas for my wife it was her first time. Phuket, though, just the island: this would be enough. We began planning from Svaneti.
Tickets (through Istanbul); multiple accommodations. I gave the group a list of places to mull over. We had a budget, distance and privacy constraints, quiet, good ratings. We settled on a condominium with three rooms and three bathrooms, for the five of us, for about $30 per person per night. A couple of km walk from a great beach, good for exercise. Ideal, checked all the boxes.
Now we’re here, on this island of about half a million people, the smallest province of Thailand, with 32 smaller islands as part of it. Rainy season is over, temperatures are up to 30 C, it’s mixed sunny and cloudy. I holidayed last in this part of the world exactly 30 years ago, visiting my parents in Indonesia when my father was building a power station on Java. There is much to remind me.
The Andaman Sea is wonderful, warm; waves few. Lali is eating mangoes with every meal to make up for lost time. We’ve also sampled jackfruit (which can weigh more than I do), dragonfruit, lychees, mangosteen (largest citrus in the family), galangal, papaya, limes, our own breaded squid and sautéed prawns. A cheap noodle bowl called “hot chicken” which should have warned me: too spicy for me to eat except cooled in the fridge. Had some exotic flavors of Lay’s crisps (nori seaweed; a mix of peanuts, lime, chili and basil). Drunk a passionfruit smoothie. Mother and daughter want to learn how to swim, and are making first steps, so the calm water is just right.
Been on an all-day speedboat tour to several islands, snorkeling, monkeys on the beach, isles rising up vertically from the sea, buffet lunch, paddling in a clear plexiglas kayak, looking into a cave where bird’s nests for “that” soup used to be harvested. Beautiful traditional wooden fishing boats everywhere, as well as million-dollar yachts. Magic. I shoot up to 400 or so photos a day and don’t have time to process them before the next day begins. I can highly recommend Andaman Surprise tour company, who hosted us very well on this adventure.
The humid warmth means an occasional whiff of rotting vegetation, but that’s just something to get used to, like the cow-smell of my barn in Svaneti when we had bovines in it. The place is bursting with life. New bird sounds in the night; crickets to remind me of Zimbabwe. Tiny crabs scuttling across the sand, too light to leave a trail, too fast to even try to catch. Motorbikes everywhere, mostly no helmets; lots of women drivers as well as men. Buddhism followed by Islam, Christianity a tiny third. Electrical wires in terrifying tangles, but there’s power, and good internet too.
Still on the list: trying to get a silk suit tailored; maybe visiting the 45 m high Big Buddha and a place where tigers are reared, possibly an overnight canoe trip on a lake. Views from higher places. We’re here to rest, most thankful for the opportunity for which we have worked hard. More details to follow.
BLOG by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti2
