Island Day 7

It was a snorkeling day yesterday. We took a boat trip to four small islands nearby. The water was so clear blue at the second spot we went to and had a nice white sandy beach. It was gorgeous. I had a lot of fun snorkeling too. There were some corals, sea urchins and small fish.

Island Day 6

We had to change to another cottage yesterday because they don't have a room for us here so we're staying at cliff view bungalows next door. What a difference. There's air conditioning at this new place which is great, but more bugs. I had a hard time sleeping. Was tossing and turning and worrying about bugs. No mosquito net either. On top of all that the geckos get into the ceiling from the outside somehow and they keep making noises. I woke up several times during the night to the sound of geckos. I'd much rather the geckos be in the room to help eat the bugs.

Today we did a jungle trek. It was a 10km hike through the jungle which took about 6 and a half hours. It was quite a bit more difficult than I expected. Many times we were hopping across rocks that were slippery and climbing up and down steep rocky areas. I'm so glad I was wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt. There were so many bugs. Saw a tarantula too!

Hiking here's quite different from what I'm used to. There no real set path so I'm constantly looking for a good footing, stepping over fallen trees, and vines, ducking under trees and even walking across a fallen tree. It was a good workout today. Pretty much what I expected it to be like. Super hot in the jungle too.

Anyways, I'm going to rest early tonight. We're heading out tomorrow on a boat to 4 different nearby islands to do some snorkeling and to relax on different beaches. Really looking forward to it.

Island Day 5

Great day. Relaxed all day. We hung out in the common area at our cottage for a big part of the day. Chatted on the computer and did some reading. Went to Bang Bao Beach after lunch. It was like a 20 minute walk from where we're staying. It was perfect after crossing the ghetto bridge. Went for a swim in the clear waters and lounged in the chairs right by the beach. I had a good time reading.

When the thunder started we decided to head back to the village. I was really hungry so we stopped at our favourite restaurant for dinner. MMMmmmmm.....seafood again. We had a baked crab on vermicelli and a veggie with oyster sauce. Delicious. The crab was so sweet! The veggies were good too. I think they use fresh oysters in the sauce.

It was pretty interesting on the way back from the restaurant. The sun had already set and it was dark out. The route back to cliff cottage is about 10 minutes. Have to walk on dirt paths in the trees, cross bridges and pass some local fishermen's houses. Both Susan and I forgot our headlamps. As we started on our little trek the thunder started again, but this time it starts to pour like crazy! We're soaked in seconds, cold and trying to find our way back to our cottage in the dark. All went well. We were just soaked. Good thing we still had our bikinis on and still smiling. Good times =)

Habitat video with Elephant song

This is a video that Malinie (the habitat coordinator from Chiang Mai) put together for us to remember our build and elephant adventures.

Sunset and Tom YUM soup

So relaxing. Decided to chill out in the common area here for a bit. I ended up falling asleep to the sound of the waves hitting the shore. Best nap ever. Scuba diving really tired me out.

After my nap we went to the viewpoint to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. So peaceful.

Then off to the pier for some seafood for dinner. Ordered the tom yum seafood soup with no spicy. It was still pretty spicy for me, but do-able. It was delicious. There were shrimps, squid and clams. Also ordered bbq squid which was good too. The seafood is so fresh here. It's all so tasty!

Island Day 4

Scuba diving! I did it! I was pretty nervous (mixed with excitement) about it. But it turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. It's was amazing how I completely lost track of time when I was in the water. The moment I stepped off the boat and into the water everything happened so fast and the next thing I know I'm 12 metres under the surface. Breathing was easy, balancing and swimming were easy too. I was really nervous that I wouldn't know how to swim under water, but apparently good swimming skills aren't a needed. So we did 2 dives today. Really nice corals, big fishes, colourful fishes, spiky things, things that pop into the corals and hide when I get close. Amazing. It's like I was living in an episode of the planet earth series. In between the 2 dives we had lunch and did some snorkeling too which was lots of fun. The water is so crystal clear blue I can see fishes swimming down under even when I'm standing on the boat. This day would be ranked number 2 on my epic scale in Asia. The elephants remain number 1. I still miss my elephant, Pang Yom. Ready for a relaxing beach day tomorrow. Going to check out Bang Bao Beach and probably do some snorkeling again.

Island Day 3

Loving the sarong. So useful! Thanks Ang. Can I keep it? Susan likes it too. She keeps asking me if she can have it..haha. Wow, the time's going too fast. Today was supposed to be a day of relaxing, but it seems as though I'm even more tired. Didn't have time to relax. It was great sleeping in again today then just taking our time with breakfast. We went snorkeling in the private cove again too. I'm getting much more comfortable with breathing with my mouth only. I'm ready for scuba diving tomorrow! It was really awesome today. I saw lots of fishes, crabs, sea cucumbers (I stepped on one really hard so I got all this sticky stuff on my shoe and leg) and even some corals.

We were going to try snorkeling off the beach in front of our cottage too. I started to walk into the shallow waters and it was getting higher then my waist when I bumped into something. I look down and it's a jellyfish!! I was panicking, trying to call Susan to come see it while I ran away from it. Anyways, she didn't see it, but I swear the jellyfish bumped into my thigh. It was the top part of it that touched me and it was white with little black polka dots on the top of it. Snorkeling wasn't good in that area anyways because the water was murky.