And we're off - Ao Sone, Koh Tarutao, Thailand
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 12 Feb 2011 10:47
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06:37.861N 99:36.688E
We left Telaga Harbour on Langkawi Island in Malaysia on
January 23, and anchored a short 3 1/2 hours later off the coast of Koh Tarutao,
a national park island, just over the Thailand border. Jan and
Dave on their sailboat Baraka (from Seattle) joined us for the
trip.
It was an uneventful motorsail and an uneventful night at
anchor, but the sunset was something to write home about.
 Fun Thailand Fact #1: The word 'koh' means island.
This is fair warning that you'll see this particular word a lot.
Fun Thailand Fact #2: The Thai language is
incomprehensible. Ok, ok, this is more opinion than fact, but there you
go. Thai is a tonal language, which means the meaning of a single syllable
can be altered based on the tone used to say it. There are five tones:
low, mid, falling, high and rising. So, as the Lonely Planet points out,
the syllable 'mai' can mean 'new', 'burn', 'wood', 'not?' or 'not' depending on
how you say it. This is definitely a language that could get you into a
lot of trouble. We've yet to master the Thai word for 'thank-you' (which
is different depending on whether you are male or female) - a very sad
situation as we usually pride ourselves in at least getting the pleasantries
down within a few days of arriving in a new country. It's good we are
going to be here for a while. Maybe by the end of six months we'll be
able to properly order a Thai Chang beer (nope, it's not 'Chang' as we
initially thought - it's more like 'Chung'). It's always good to
have a goal. Start small - like properly ordering a Thai Chang beer, and
work your way up to something bigger - like sailing around the world. Both
are worthy and achievable goals - they just might take longer than
originally planned.
Anne.
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