To continue from last post, one thing I realized about Ko Bulon is the price of food. Though we stay only for a few days and didn't have chance to explore all places, I realized that food here is a bit more expensive for our standard.
But then, this is an island without electricity (only generators) and a bit far from mainland. Plus, the clientèle is mostly Europeans so by their standard, it's probably cheap :).
No worries though, the price lowers considerably once you moved away from the beach. I mean it's understandable that you can't pay the same price sipping that tea at Bulone Resort right on the beach compare to say in a wood at Bulon Hill; though by distance they are probably not more than 250 meters apart.
For comparison, if I remember correctly, I had a pot of tea and sandwich at Bulone for 160Baht on the first day and breakfast at Bulon Hill the next day for maybe less than 100Baht.
Right after Viewpoint, there's a stall that sells Thai pancake (macam roti canai ler :) ) and I think the price was good.
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| Sandwich at Marina; nice ambiance |
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| Waiting for dinner at Chao Le |
Don't forget to bring mosquito repellents; lots of it. We were their dinner while waiting for ours.
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| Breakfast at Bulon Hill |
This book, Veneration of Prophet in Islamic Piety by Annemarie Schimmel was a good read. It's nice to read he is loved by different Islamic cultures. Some modern people discouraged showing affection to him lest we treat him a god like status. While on the other hand, the classical Muslims showed their love for Muhammad pbuh in so many ways and embrace people of all faith. This popular words from Master Rumi comes to mind now:
Come, come, whoever you are,
Wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire
Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
Come, and come yet again,
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Muslims & Halal food:
Oh forgot to mention, while generally Thais from Satun area do not know how to speak Malay, those that are natives (Chao Ley or orang laut) to Ko Bulon could speak a dialect of Bahasa and we could understand each other alright. It is said that the original settlers were from Acheh and that's how they can speak Malay.
Here's a mosque near Chao Le guesthouse and since it was near, I went to pray Maghrib there. And being Thursday night, joined them in reading Ya Sin. I made up the fifth member :). The imam is from somewhere in Satun and hence, can't speak Malay. But two older gentlemen were natives and could speak to them.
As in normal in our villages of old, there's food after the Quranic recitation and I was invited too. It is one of the teaching of our Master that I religiously follow. Eh maybe the only teaching of Shaykh Nazim that I follow. That is, when people invite you to eat, you don't say no :). So, balun lah 2 pinggan ... hehehe.
But you know, here's a story. It is said that in our life, there will be a few times that our soul is touched by heavenly callings. I've felt that a few times, despite my egoistic weakness, the yearn for heavenly goodness. And also, I've felt a few times in life the solace & peace of the heart. That sweetness inside. Despite their small means, I did feel that solace among those people in that mosque. I could go to Ko Bulon again just to be inside that mosque.
Regarding food, Chao Le is muslim owned so no problems there. And get this, Viewpoint is managed by a Alor Star chap named Shukri so he was helpful too. We were told that Bulone Resort is also muslim owned; perhaps that's why we didn't see any pork in the menu. We didn't eat at Pansand but were told it's not owned by Muslim while we saw pork is served on the menu at Marina.
Hope this have helped those planning a trip there.
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