Jurassic Fire-dancing Paradise - Tonsai Beach, Thailand


Aug, 2011 – 2 weeks
Tonsai Beach, Thailand

Jurassic Fire-dancing paradise


A while ago, I've noticed – the kinder a place is, the more blissed-out animals there are. Well, here cats lay, hang and prowl in near-nirvana and purr at the slightest touch. Lots of them. And each wears a little ribbon with a bell. Many are plump and their fur glistens. “Bushy-tailed” they are, some would say. I found this lost-in-time beach before traveling to Russia – back in February – and now that I was close by, I figured, it's time for a comeback. There are a few odd things about Tonsai – the fact that it is between two quite touristy beaches [Aonang and Riley], and yet the only folks that seem to hang in the Tonsai hammocks are serious rock climbers, many of whom stay there for a few months, that fire-dancing and rope-walking are the official sports of the place, that Bob Marley's songs are the local mantras.....that is, not to mention the impossible karst cliffs bordering the beach [I'm talking, stalactites dripping out of the holes in the rock – if someone were pouring liquid rock into whimsical Dali-esque shapes, and the process were stopped mid-stride, this kind of cliffs and warter rocks might result – no wonder they filmed one of the Bond films here!].....




If one walks a bit on the main road, a lush jungle – lianas and banyans galore – sprouts up from nowhere. Never have I seen such a pristine Jurassic combo – milky-warm azure waters, unearthly rock-scapes, untamed jungle lush.....I kept looking up for a pterodactyl. 





And on top of that – uber-mellow locals that seem to live under a lovely banner of “life is play!” Time stops making sense there. You are lucky to get an answer to “what month is it?” Need I say how much I love the place? Oh, yes, and there is a woman of iron-strong hands who has massaged my body into oblivion. The tide drifts in and out daily, exposing the shallow rocky bottom by sunset and flooding in at night.....Light bugs light up the paths. What a blessed haven after the opressing heat and pollution of Indonesia/Malaysia!










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