A certified Discovery begins its descent down a steep and exciting 4WD track, at the bottom of which is a spectacular campsite with a surprising set of consequences for the unsuspecting and unexpected visitor…

Journal and photo by Neil Dana

Helllooooohhhh, we are in Thailand now!!!! My first meal last night was everything I could have imagined and more, Tom Yam seafood soup with rice, mmmnnnn. And then Adam and I got our first massage!! We had two women come to our hotel room and give us a 2-hour massage for 200 Baht, which is about $5! They were walking on our legs, back and arms, and twisting us and cracking our backs; it was unreal.

So this morning, when I awoke, I felt great and excited to start our day with a mie breakfast, which is fried noodles with some veggies, eggs, and chicken. Of course, every moment we have with the local Thai people is hilarious and challenging. They don't speak English, and we don't speak Thai. This is the first time the entire expedition where I have to look at a book and try to figure out how to say, "hello, yes, no, and thank you." It is quite an enjoyable experience. I am so happy right now to eat every meal and relax and enjoy the foreign surroundings.

We are all loving Thailand! It is so much more interesting and wild than Malaysia and Singapore. The transition from those two countries to Thailand is similar to changing from California into Tijuana. Of course, it is extremely different in plenty of ways too, but the fact that there are street vendors everywhere, and people running around in all directions, and an ever-present pungent aroma in the city streets, it does seem very similar. One thing, or I guess thousands of things, are all the mopeds and motorcycles that are on the roads in Thailand. You see families of 3-5 people riding one bike. They are even on the main highways in the shoulder, yiikes, you really have to be careful not to hit them.

So today we awoke in a town about 60 km up the road from the border, called Hat Yai, and are heading to Phuket, another 600 km north on the southwest coast of Thailand. The countryside is gorgeous, with flat green wetland areas, and rolling hills with lush tropical jungle. We also saw tons of rubber-tree and oil-palm plantations. At one point, there was a large pond filled with people throwing out fishing nets, just like what you imagine to see in Thailand. And of course, we stopped at the roadside and their was a young lady with a small moped attached to a moveable vending setup, filled with freshly cut mango, pineapple, water apples, and some other unique Thai fruits that we gobbled up with an insatiable tropical appetite. There are also tons of places to stop along the road to get good Thai food, like red curry or chicken satay. The people working at the restaurants are always very friendly and filled with smiles.

We ended up driving all day until the last hour before sunset. We ended up at a beach on the southwest part of Phuket, called Karon. Our goal for the day was to find a great camping spot and enjoy the Thailand outdoors. However, since we got to Phuket late in the day, we were running out of time. So we stopped at a big beach, which is a very nice spot, but not your ideal camping setup. There were some large hotels nearby and some vendors selling food and drinks. So as the team chilled out for a while, Adam and I decided to get back in the car and go look a bit further for a more secluded spot.

We headed a bit further south towards the very end of the southwest corner of Phuket. As we headed up a windy road for a few kilometers, we passed a dirt road that had a sign pointing towards a beach called Nui. Hmmn, Nui sounded like a beach I had read about in the Lonely Planet book that had surf. It was at the top of a large hill, and a few kilometers downwards towards the beach. So we got onto the dirt road and went for it.

Now let me remind you that we are traveling with a adventure journalist and a Land Rover communications director for a couple weeks. Today happened to be Larry's last day with us, and he wanted to camp, and he seemed content at the last spot we had all stopped at, but when Adam and I started descending down this dirt road, our eyes starting bulging out of our heads!! This road was filled with enormous ruts and was surrounded by tropical jungle overlooking the ocean. And, it was so steep at parts, we had to use four wheel drive and our "hill descent control," which is a button on our vehicle that automatically applies the brakes to your wheels as necessary going down extreme terrain. So when Adam and I starting going down this road, we were having a blast, and also knew that when we returned to the camp site to tell the team that we had found a spot, they would not realize how great a spot they were about to embark upon. We knew that this little adventure would be one of the highlights of Larry's trip.

So at the end of the road, about 200 meters before the actual beach, there was a gate that was closed. It looked like a tiny resort or something at the bottom, but we were not sure, since we hadn't gone down. Luckily though, just before the gate, there was a turn off that led to a perfect spot overlooking the ocean and had enough space to fit our four Land Rovers. It was spectacular. Adam and I used our radio to call the team and let them know we found a spot and would come back to meet them, eat dinner, and head back out.

We drove back out to the main road, which takes about 15 minutes, since it is was such a steep and rocky road, then headed into town and met the team. We all ate dinner at a Thai restaurant that was gorgeous. It was filled with wooden carvings that were very impressive, to say the least. They were huge, 10-foot carvings, intricately crafted for years and still were here in a wonderful restaurant for us to see and enjoy while we ate a fantastic meal. And thank you again Larry, for treating us to dinner, that was very kind of you and we all appreciate it tremendously.

After dinner, we led the team up to our new campsite. As we got onto the dirt road and headed down to the campsite, the radio waves were filled with excitement, praise, and disbelief that we had come across such a magnificent area in such a crowded island. We all worked our way down the technical dirt road toward our camping spot. We arrived in the actual campsite, set up, and started playing some music, talking, and just enjoyed the beautiful location, which was also lit up with an almost full moon. We definitely were all howling tonight!

Well, since we were all chilling at this beautiful spot, a few hundred meters above the ocean, it was too tempting to go and explore the beach and grounds below. It was gated off, but we assumed that it was a public beach during the day that they just shut down at night. So Larry, Adam, and I walked down the trail in our trunks and sandals ready to jump into the ocean. As we got closer, we realized it was a small beach hut, with some kayaks and diving gear and some rooms. It was very small, and it didn't look like it was occupied. So we crept out of the bushes and onto the beach and ran into the ocean. Oh wow, what a perfect temperature the water is here at night. It must have been about 80 degrees, and the moon was shining and we were in Thailand, we had just discovered "The Beach", however, Leonardo de Caprio wasn't here.

We swam for a while, then Larry and Adam got out of the water, as I stayed in for a while longer. I noticed after a few minutes that a bunch of dogs came down and were barking at them; uh oh. Well, after a few minutes of watching, I realized the dogs were just barking and not going to attack or anything, so I was calm. I dove a few times and just floated under the stars. As I came up and looked toward shore, I saw Adam and Larry waving at me to come to shore. So I figured we must be getting kicked out, bummer. As I climbed out of the water and onto the beach, I saw a few guards standing next to them with red bandanas around their heads and carrying shotguns! Yep, that's right, shotguns!! Adam and Larry said we had to go, now! One of the guys was telling Adam that we had to go, but not to worry, it was ok. The other guy didn't speak English and looked meaner. They kept saying "You go now." Well, we went, and as we walked up the trail out of the grounds, another guy came down with a shotgun, and he looked really mean, and had an intense look. I walked fast and said "Sawadi," which means hello in Thai. He responded by looking at me with a fierce look, pulling the trigger of his shotgun, aimed at the ground, and "BOOM!!", "YOU GO NOW!!!""" Before I started to jog up the hill a it faster, I noticed Larry had already bolted around the corner like lightning. The shot was loud, maybe a blank, definitely not a bullet.

It was bizarre; even though the guy just fired his shotgun, I wasn't really very scared. I was thinking, ok, this is a private beach, and these are guards who are having their time with us, but they are not going to hurt us. He ended up firing another shot, and kept yelling, "you go now". We scurried up the hill and got to the camp site. Everyone there was in a frantic state. They had heard the shots, and were worried out of their minds. Nancy, who had gone to bed early, away from the campsite, thought we were dead and went back to sleep. Nick told us to hurry up and put down the tents and let's get outta here now. I am not sure exactly what everyone was doing, as I was just putting down a tent. There were a few more shots and the guards were coming up towards our site and were yelling at us. We packed up and were on the road again in a matter of minutes. That was definitely the fasted pack job we have ever done.

It was horrifying for the people up at our site, who didn't know what was going on in those first few minutes. It was just like a movie. Luckily, nothing bad happened and we ended up going back to our original campsite. So I guess from now on, we won't camp in wild countries on private land. We learned our lesson.

Well, until next Monday,

Selamat Jalan,

Neil

Logbook for May 31st, Day 213
Start: Hat Yai, Thailand
Time: 8:15 a.m.
N: 07* 00.188
E: 100* 28.253
Finish Karon Beach (Phuket), Thailand
Time: 11:30 p.m.
N: 07* 047.229
E: 098* 17.563
Mileage: 295
Notes: Team departed Hat Yai for the island resort city of Phuket. Team had a memorable gas stop where they bought fruit from a street vendor and met an former ESL teacher who owns a Series I Land Rover. After stopping in Krabi for lunch, the team made their way down the SW coast of the island to Karon. Wanting to allow Larry a camping experience before he leaves tomorrow, the team searched for a suitable campsite. After D2 did a recon, they led the rest of the convoy down a cool 4X4 path to a spot overlooking the ocean. An hour or so after making camp, the team was chased away by gun-toting locals who made their point crystal clear by firing rifles into the air and sending their dogs out. Team broke camp in minutes and high-tailed it out of there to a friendlier spot on a public beach. For the record: There were no keep out signs, and the land was public land…
(N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.