Last post of Thailand... promise! I realize I could blab on and on about this place so I'm just gonna make it short and sweet.
On my birthday, I decided I wanted to do something I'd never done before: rock climbing. It was a lot of fun... hard, but very rewarding. It's one of those things you need a lot of mental strength over physical strength. I will definitely be trying this again soon. It was a great way to spend the morning. We ended up going to a buffet place for lunch and chatted with the owner before heading back to get cleaned up for dinner. We hung around the hotel for a bit and then decided to go to another buffet that was recommended by tripadvisor and some guy we'd met walking by it the night before. It was decent. Got some free ice cream out of it. We walked around town a bit and then went back to the hotel and taught Alison and Kathy how to play spades. All in all, not a bad way to spend one's 29th birthday.
The next day was our first island adventure. First up Bamboo Island... it was a nice place. Little over crowded for my liking; but the water was stunning. I decided not to snorkel and walked the shoreline... found this little dude before noticing the time and had to sprint back before the boat left me stranded on the island! Oh, a first for me: I used my first "squatty potty" here on this island. Good times...
Back on the boat, we headed for the Phi Phi islands. First stop was Viking Cave. I have never seen water so blue. It was gorgeous! We did a lot of stops in places like these (won't bore you with more pictures, they're on facebook anyway)
Next up: Maya Bay... this is the place where The Beach was filmed. Very picturesque. If you walk around, you get the sense that you really are closed in with the cliffs towering above. The jungle is literally right off the beach. Again, way too crowded for my liking. The picture below is about as much space as people have to swim there... the rest of the small beach area is lined with speed boats for the tours.
Next up: Monkey Bay. I was sad to learn that we wouldn't be getting off the boat to play with the monkeys - as was Sonia. We had to see them at a distance. But it was nice to see them walking around and climbing the cliffs. One of the boats even fed the monkeys... a few of them would actually jump on the front of the boat, grab the food, and then jump off.
The Phi Phi islands are definitely the best place for snorkeling in these parts of Thailand. We saw lots of fish... I even got lost in a school of them because people from the boat were throwing bread around where I was and the fish were swarming to it. My goal in Thailand was to find Nemo, and my mission was a failure. Guess I'll have to try Australia now... bummer ;) I got to see one of the boat guys take a dive down to the coral and pull up a sea urchin. Another first for me today: holding the urchin. This lady got scratched up a few times while handing it over to different people. I almost walked into this one as I got back on the boat... cause really, who expects people to be holding a sea urchin right as people are getting on a boat?!?
Next day: new tour. James Bond Island. This tour was different in that we had to drive in a van for over an hour to get to the boat that would take us to the island. It was a different feel... I liked it. The island is very small. And you can't swim in the water... something about stingy things in the water that aren't jellyfish? I dunno... didn't want to try it myself.
After leaving James Bond, we went kayaking... it was the laziest way to kayak as we had someone on the boat paddling for us. I had Alison ask if I could paddle and the dude let me. So, score! I got my kayaking in!
We finished up kayaking, and went to this local fishing/floating village. All the restaurants/shops were on pillars. It was very pretty.
We left the village, boated past the mangroves, and loaded up back in the van for our journey to the Monkey Temple. It's a temple in a cave, but the special part is the monkeys that live outside the cave. If they're out, there can be hundreds of them begging for food. When we arrived... no monkeys. Made Sonia sad. We were only there four about 30 - 45 minutes and right as we were leaving, the monkeys made their appearance. We only got to see a few, but I got to hand this monkey his banana he dropped on the ground! :)
The last day of island tours were the Hong Islands. We first went into a beautiful lagoon... blue water, limestone cliffs, and trees sprouting out of the water.
After the lagoon, we went to my future retirement place (yes, it has taken the place of Big Sur, CA)... Pakibi Island. Although I'm not sure how long I'd be able to stay on this island each day as the beach is very tiny. Pretty sure it's not a beach around 1 - 2 pm anymore. So it'd be my morning retirement place!
We left Pakibi and headed for this island (can't remember the name!) and had lunch. The island is so small that it uses these metal containers to catch the rain.
Last island stop for us: Hong Island. Best beach to swim around in. Minimal people and nice water. The snorkeling is so-so... Kathy and I saw some giant slugs (which she freaked out when seeing them - she was afraid they would swim up and wrap their nasty slug bodies around her... haha!) I swam for a good hour or so before settling in the sand and catching up on some reading. It was a great way to end our island vacation!
We headed back to Ao Nang and ate our last meal at Luk Yim... in the end, I collected 11 bracelets (one for each island we visited while there.)
The next morning, we loaded up and left Krabi :( Awaiting us was our deluxe suit upgrade at the same hotel we stayed at on our first leg of Bangkok. Didn't spend too much time in our room to enjoy it though. But here are some pics:
I had a really great time in Thailand and can't wait to go back and see more of this beautiful country. The people were amazing and the island experience really made me feel as though I were back in Texas.
On my birthday, I decided I wanted to do something I'd never done before: rock climbing. It was a lot of fun... hard, but very rewarding. It's one of those things you need a lot of mental strength over physical strength. I will definitely be trying this again soon. It was a great way to spend the morning. We ended up going to a buffet place for lunch and chatted with the owner before heading back to get cleaned up for dinner. We hung around the hotel for a bit and then decided to go to another buffet that was recommended by tripadvisor and some guy we'd met walking by it the night before. It was decent. Got some free ice cream out of it. We walked around town a bit and then went back to the hotel and taught Alison and Kathy how to play spades. All in all, not a bad way to spend one's 29th birthday.
The next day was our first island adventure. First up Bamboo Island... it was a nice place. Little over crowded for my liking; but the water was stunning. I decided not to snorkel and walked the shoreline... found this little dude before noticing the time and had to sprint back before the boat left me stranded on the island! Oh, a first for me: I used my first "squatty potty" here on this island. Good times...
Back on the boat, we headed for the Phi Phi islands. First stop was Viking Cave. I have never seen water so blue. It was gorgeous! We did a lot of stops in places like these (won't bore you with more pictures, they're on facebook anyway)
Next up: Maya Bay... this is the place where The Beach was filmed. Very picturesque. If you walk around, you get the sense that you really are closed in with the cliffs towering above. The jungle is literally right off the beach. Again, way too crowded for my liking. The picture below is about as much space as people have to swim there... the rest of the small beach area is lined with speed boats for the tours.
Next up: Monkey Bay. I was sad to learn that we wouldn't be getting off the boat to play with the monkeys - as was Sonia. We had to see them at a distance. But it was nice to see them walking around and climbing the cliffs. One of the boats even fed the monkeys... a few of them would actually jump on the front of the boat, grab the food, and then jump off.
The Phi Phi islands are definitely the best place for snorkeling in these parts of Thailand. We saw lots of fish... I even got lost in a school of them because people from the boat were throwing bread around where I was and the fish were swarming to it. My goal in Thailand was to find Nemo, and my mission was a failure. Guess I'll have to try Australia now... bummer ;) I got to see one of the boat guys take a dive down to the coral and pull up a sea urchin. Another first for me today: holding the urchin. This lady got scratched up a few times while handing it over to different people. I almost walked into this one as I got back on the boat... cause really, who expects people to be holding a sea urchin right as people are getting on a boat?!?
Next day: new tour. James Bond Island. This tour was different in that we had to drive in a van for over an hour to get to the boat that would take us to the island. It was a different feel... I liked it. The island is very small. And you can't swim in the water... something about stingy things in the water that aren't jellyfish? I dunno... didn't want to try it myself.
After leaving James Bond, we went kayaking... it was the laziest way to kayak as we had someone on the boat paddling for us. I had Alison ask if I could paddle and the dude let me. So, score! I got my kayaking in!
We finished up kayaking, and went to this local fishing/floating village. All the restaurants/shops were on pillars. It was very pretty.
We left the village, boated past the mangroves, and loaded up back in the van for our journey to the Monkey Temple. It's a temple in a cave, but the special part is the monkeys that live outside the cave. If they're out, there can be hundreds of them begging for food. When we arrived... no monkeys. Made Sonia sad. We were only there four about 30 - 45 minutes and right as we were leaving, the monkeys made their appearance. We only got to see a few, but I got to hand this monkey his banana he dropped on the ground! :)
The last day of island tours were the Hong Islands. We first went into a beautiful lagoon... blue water, limestone cliffs, and trees sprouting out of the water.
After the lagoon, we went to my future retirement place (yes, it has taken the place of Big Sur, CA)... Pakibi Island. Although I'm not sure how long I'd be able to stay on this island each day as the beach is very tiny. Pretty sure it's not a beach around 1 - 2 pm anymore. So it'd be my morning retirement place!
We left Pakibi and headed for this island (can't remember the name!) and had lunch. The island is so small that it uses these metal containers to catch the rain.
Last island stop for us: Hong Island. Best beach to swim around in. Minimal people and nice water. The snorkeling is so-so... Kathy and I saw some giant slugs (which she freaked out when seeing them - she was afraid they would swim up and wrap their nasty slug bodies around her... haha!) I swam for a good hour or so before settling in the sand and catching up on some reading. It was a great way to end our island vacation!
We headed back to Ao Nang and ate our last meal at Luk Yim... in the end, I collected 11 bracelets (one for each island we visited while there.)
The next morning, we loaded up and left Krabi :( Awaiting us was our deluxe suit upgrade at the same hotel we stayed at on our first leg of Bangkok. Didn't spend too much time in our room to enjoy it though. But here are some pics:
I had a really great time in Thailand and can't wait to go back and see more of this beautiful country. The people were amazing and the island experience really made me feel as though I were back in Texas.
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