On the way to Hinta-Hinyai, the grandfather and grandmother rocks, Megan tells us about her career and how see ended up on the island running a tour company. She is a great conversationalist, knows a lot about the island and Asian culture, and has a great outlook on life. Taking a tour with her is just like hanging out all day with a friend, very fun and relaxing.
As she explains the next stop, she builds up the suspense of the rock formations for those who haven’t heard of them, but also explains there are vendors lining the walk down to the rocks who will offer you samples of their candy and their ice cream. The samples are free and we should take as many as we want. Sounds good to us!
The rocks are exactly as advertised – pretty graphic and quite the legend here on the island. The story goes that an old couple who were parents of a boy who had come of age wanted to arrange for a good wife for him, so they sailed to a neighboring island to make a marriage deal. On their return, they encountered a storm, their boat sank, they drowned and turned into rocks proving their good intentions to the bride’s family. Grandfather rock stands quite proudly on a high cliff, but grandmother rock is underwater at high tide today. I almost fall into the water trying to take a photo of grandmother, and since it didn’t turn out, I settled for a photo of the information board instead.
We have some fun snapping pictures of us with the rocks in the background, and actually find another rock formation on the face of the cliff behind us that looks like grandmother rock. Hey, what imagination can do for you.
On our way back to the van, we load up on the candies. These are perfect little gifts for our dining room staff and room steward. We get two kilo bags – crazy, but well worth the investment. I help one of the other ladies with her purchase when she gets into an issue with “dirty” dollars. Most vendors will take US dollars if they are in perfect condition. Somehow the dollars she has, which she says she got from the ship are stained, and the girls at the candy stall won’t take them. I intervene and pay in Baht, then just take her dollars in exchange. We’ve become the money launderers on this trip! First time yesterday, paying for another couple who didn’t have any Baht, and now today. Works for us – we have plenty and will get more for our stay in Chiang Mai, so we don’t mind helping out.
From here we are going to see the mummified Monk. There are apparently more than one mummified Monk on the island (go figure) and Megan knows of the less touristy one to visit. Sure enough, we drive past the “touristy” mummy and the parking lot is packed with tons of vans and buses, but arriving at “our” mummy, there is no one but us.
This monk died in 1976 at the age of 87 after being ordained as a monk for for 66 years. His biography notes that he led a “solitary life with a [sic] single meal each day and meditation practicing all his life.” The mummy is pretty amazing, The pictures through the glass aren’t the best, but he looks as if he just died recently, not 42 years ago.
But the best thing about this visit is that we had a blessing done by a monk (yes, a real live non-mummified monk). It was so cool. He makes this little blessing bracelet blows on it, ties it around your wrist, then blows on the knots again repeating “happy, happy, happy for you.” Then he sprinkles holy water on you. Totally neat!
Megan already had a blessing, but she felt she had the need for another (I think our shopping lady friends on the van are stressing her out! I know they are sort of stressing me out!), so she gets one too, and then we all head to the beach for lunch.
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