island paradise
i think we've discovered maybe the most untouristy island in all of thailand... ko tarutao... though it was our first so we can't be sure. but it is a national park, and all that is there is some cabins, a restaurant & a co-op shop so it'll be hard to beat!
to get there we took a taxi, a ferry, a saongthaew [truck with benches in the back & a canopy roof], a minivan, a motorcycle taxi then another ferry... quite a mission but well worth it. glorious golden sandy beaches, gorgeous sparkly teal blue water, palm trees, hammocks and hardly any other people at all!
shared a room with two canadians, devon & laura, who entertained us right off the mark with their response to charl's question of 'why do you have canadian flags on your backpacks?'... 'so people don't think we're f**king americans!'.
the island is big but you have to walk everywhere so as we're quite lazy we elected to walk from our hut to the beach, then back again, then to the shop for beer, then back again. then more beer of course. found a little thai karaoke party where there was dancing & whiskey... at least til the lights went out. the electricity gets turned off every night which left us stumbling around in the dark - i fell in a ditch of course - the beach seemed the obvious destination after this.
i've never seen so many stars in my entire life, it was amazing. and even better than that was the phosphorescent algae in the water, it was like being in a michael jackson video, glitter coming from your fingertips. and like the night sky was in the water with you. bonus points go to the shooting star i saw last night, it went right across the sky and ha an almost green trail to it, best one i've ever seen.
for the sunset yesterday we walked up Toe Boo cliff [rather appropriate after my post kicking incident last week] which, aside from being the tsunami shelter, is also an amazing little trek. under some crazy cliff things that looked like big drips of rock, past some giant pieces of coral [we think, looked like it anyway], up around the back of the cliff on steps carved form stone, over rickety plank bridges, past monkeys & a weird squirrelly thing, a plant that aids urination [that's what the sign said!] then out onto the clifftop where you can see several other islands in the distance, scores of squid fishing boats heading out for the night, plus the sunset of course. possibly one of the coolest hikes i've done, the whole way it looked like an indiana jones film set, or maybe something from jurassic park. winner!
monkeys! there are a whole family of them that live in the cliffs, they come down in the mornings to feed off the rubbish, all the bins are tied close but apparently not tied upright as this morning all the ones outside out rooms were knocked over. we let one of the monkeys have our empty peanut butter jar, he loved it, fed peanuts to some smaller monkeys, and the horrible seaweed snacks that we bought in a 'when in rome' moment. most of the monkeys thought they were disgusting too, but the smallest monkey took quite a liking to them. monkey fun time was over when the daddy monkey stole our noodles though, cheeky little so-and-so.
so out of food, and thinking we're meeting dave soon, that brings us to krabi for tomorrow's ferry to ko jum. highlights include the dusk view from our hotel room & the weird donut things from the night market which didn't taste like donuts til you dipped them in this weird grey-green jammy sauce stuff. and the mystery meat, it's everywhere!
to get there we took a taxi, a ferry, a saongthaew [truck with benches in the back & a canopy roof], a minivan, a motorcycle taxi then another ferry... quite a mission but well worth it. glorious golden sandy beaches, gorgeous sparkly teal blue water, palm trees, hammocks and hardly any other people at all!
shared a room with two canadians, devon & laura, who entertained us right off the mark with their response to charl's question of 'why do you have canadian flags on your backpacks?'... 'so people don't think we're f**king americans!'.
the island is big but you have to walk everywhere so as we're quite lazy we elected to walk from our hut to the beach, then back again, then to the shop for beer, then back again. then more beer of course. found a little thai karaoke party where there was dancing & whiskey... at least til the lights went out. the electricity gets turned off every night which left us stumbling around in the dark - i fell in a ditch of course - the beach seemed the obvious destination after this.
i've never seen so many stars in my entire life, it was amazing. and even better than that was the phosphorescent algae in the water, it was like being in a michael jackson video, glitter coming from your fingertips. and like the night sky was in the water with you. bonus points go to the shooting star i saw last night, it went right across the sky and ha an almost green trail to it, best one i've ever seen.
for the sunset yesterday we walked up Toe Boo cliff [rather appropriate after my post kicking incident last week] which, aside from being the tsunami shelter, is also an amazing little trek. under some crazy cliff things that looked like big drips of rock, past some giant pieces of coral [we think, looked like it anyway], up around the back of the cliff on steps carved form stone, over rickety plank bridges, past monkeys & a weird squirrelly thing, a plant that aids urination [that's what the sign said!] then out onto the clifftop where you can see several other islands in the distance, scores of squid fishing boats heading out for the night, plus the sunset of course. possibly one of the coolest hikes i've done, the whole way it looked like an indiana jones film set, or maybe something from jurassic park. winner!
monkeys! there are a whole family of them that live in the cliffs, they come down in the mornings to feed off the rubbish, all the bins are tied close but apparently not tied upright as this morning all the ones outside out rooms were knocked over. we let one of the monkeys have our empty peanut butter jar, he loved it, fed peanuts to some smaller monkeys, and the horrible seaweed snacks that we bought in a 'when in rome' moment. most of the monkeys thought they were disgusting too, but the smallest monkey took quite a liking to them. monkey fun time was over when the daddy monkey stole our noodles though, cheeky little so-and-so.
so out of food, and thinking we're meeting dave soon, that brings us to krabi for tomorrow's ferry to ko jum. highlights include the dusk view from our hotel room & the weird donut things from the night market which didn't taste like donuts til you dipped them in this weird grey-green jammy sauce stuff. and the mystery meat, it's everywhere!