Last Updated on May 20, 2020 by PowersToTravel
When we travel, each night I download our photos to our tiny laptop. We select the best of the day and create a photo collage, and email it off to family and friends, and post it on Facebook – kind of like a newfangled postcard.
This means that I have an entire folder of our trip in a nutshell with pictures and text. All that is missing is the sounds and smells – and I often keep a log of those in addition! So, our gift to you is our 12-day Southern Thailand adventure and itinerary, in a nutshell, complete with the text we sent home, describing our days.
In this case 12 days is really 12 days – I start the itinerary on the first full day of activities since we arrived at 7pm the previous night, and end the trip the last full day of activities since we departed at 8am the final morning.
Day 1 – Khao Sok Elephant Hills Camp Day One
Hi!
Well, they called it a canoe safari. This camp brings back very happy memories of being on safari in Africa, with the luxury tent, attached bathroom and fan. However we don’t expect any roaring lions, and it is quite safe to walk the path in the dark to the dining pavilion. This is what they describe a “soft adventure” in that yes, we went for a canoe ride, but we had a paddler who paddled, and we sat. It was very rrelaxing.
Then we went to the Elephant Camp itself, where the 14 elephants live, also in the lap of luxury. We got to watch them swim and roll in the water and mud. They were quite enthusiastic about the mud, which led to us giving them a bath. The center had five cement pads and the elephants had obviously been trained to remain on the pad while four to six people were assigned to bath their elephant. We enjoyed it. So did our elephant.
Then we fed the elephants. Our elephant was very picky, and didn’t like the sugar cane or palm leaves. I moved on to a less picky elephant. Her neighbor didn’t seem to like bananas? How strange. OUR elephants in Chiang Mai weren’t so picky! (The experience was very enjoyable today but paled in comparison with our Chiang Mai adventure.) At Elephant Hills Camp here we were not allowed to ride the elephants or jump into the pond with them.
The landscape here is breath-taking – karst limestone mountains, green jungle with palm trees.
We just finished watching a documentary about the jungle, and then a Thai dance show by a school group of 14-year-olds. They were good.
It’s 5 minutes to our late dinner, so we will run now.
Tomorrow we go on a speedboat trip to a canoe trip in mangrove swamps. They say to bring bathing suites so we wonder where we will swim?
From Dad (that is, “David A. Kirkwood, Editor and Writer”):
Hi,
Well, I had better give you the bad news right off. We won’t be able to house your elephant. It’s a little complicated. We had a rhinoceros in the garage (not for long—that’s why you didn’t get to see him) but he learned to operate the garage door switch with his horn. You’d think he’d only operate it when he had to go potty across the street. Not so. Night and day, day and night that blasted door was either going up or down, or like your road in Lao, it was going down or up. We could only sleep by feeding him three gallons of warm milk. When he got out, he’d head immediately for the Page’s front porch, which is nice and sunny from early in the morning. It wasn’t so bad when they had to learn to use only the back door, but Rinny took an instant and instinctive dislike to their big. black SUV. Obviously, testosterone and gasoline don’t mix—he’s made about a dozen holes in the trunk. Pulling him out was a problem, but the bright side is that the SUV is still under warrantee. Oh, yes, the front porch. We’re still arguing with the condo board over the damages from his weight. Well, okay—I’ll admit wreckage is a better word. We say it’s on the outside, and therefore the condo pays. Don’t you think that’s the proper thing? We’re still trying to figure out what to do with fifty seven garbage bags of Rinny’s leavings from across the street. The town says its not garbage or what they call recycling.
When you get back, let me tell you what happened when Rinny took a walk down to Shaw’s.
Now you want me to comment on your emails?
It seems as though a good wallow in a mud hole would be rewarding. I’m sorry you and Greg didn’t get to do so. However, I have a suggestion. it would seem that a backyard spa would pale in comparison to a good mud hole. you could make it yourself. All you need is a spade and a hose. And think of the money you’d make selling the spa!
I envy you those karst mountains. I’ve only seen pictures, but those shapes are wonderful. Since you’re not bringing back an elephant, do you think you can manage one in your luggage.
Sounds as if your trip has recovered nicely from the inconveniences in Lao. we hope all the rest of it does as well.
We’re expecting a nasty Nor’easter here tomorrow afternoon, along with 8-12 inches of snow. It’s called a blizzard. If you don’t hear from us for a couple of days, that’s why.
Love, Mom and Dad
Hi Mom and Dad,
It is too late. We have become irrevocably attached to the elephant in the lower right of tonight’s collage. Her creativity with the mud bath just pulled on our heart-strings.
However, we have decided that she won’t adjust well to our extra parking space. Elephants need shade from the sun and warmth in the winter. Your garage fits the bill!
Expect the delivery within 2 weeks.
She eats about 250 kilos of bananas, pineapple, sugar cane and palm leaves a day.
She’ll help out with fertilizing your garden for the spring.
Did you see the article about the cold snap last week in Myanmar, in which baby elephants in a nature park were at risk due to the cold? An animal conservation group called “Blankets for Rhinos” quickly delivered a set of hand-crocheted blankets for the babies. We saw it on the Internet, and the blankets were so brightly colored and the elephants seemed very happy.
So, you’d better get your crocheting skills up to snuff, to help our elephant.
Enough.
We had a lovely day with the elephants. The guide introduced us to them, and told us their names, but the names were Thai and they just didn’t stick in our brains. All except one whose Thai name sounded like “Shampoo”.
We are happy to be back in Thailand. We loved it here, at the beginning of the trip, and now that we have seen the other countries, coming back here was almost like coming home. If you don’t arrange for some warmer weather, we may need to extend our trip….
Thailand is much more modernized than the other countries. At first I was a little disappointed because it didn’t match my stereotypical expectation of Southeast Asia, with farmers laboring in the field wearing straw hats, and water buffalo wandering around. We found that in Cambodia for sure. But Thailand’s farming is mechanized. The roads are fully paved, and their rest stops are major plazas with ice cream and coffee shops, and 7-11s and nice clean Western rest-rooms. The Thai food is also better. They also speak English much better, so it’s easier to communicate.
My second favorite country was Cambodia because it was so stereotypical. We had really good guides in Cambodia and learned so much about their daily life and how much money they don’t have, and how they have to go to Thailand for medical supplies and procedures. Our Siem Reap guide’s mother-in-law and uncle are both diabetic and she was very interested in my pump and how I handle things, and told me a lot about how they struggle.
My next favorite country was Myanmar, then Lao, then Vietnam. It’s also interesting how we actually spent corresponding number of days in these countries: like 1 month in Thailand (not done yet), 12 days in Cambodia, 8 days in Myanmar, 8 days in Lao and 6 days in Vietnam.
We have no TV here in our little tent, and I guess that’s why you are getting a chatty email.
But it is now time for bed.
Hotel/Resort: Elephant Hills Camp
Day 2 – Khao Sok Elephant Hills Camp Day Two
Hi!
Today was supposed to be the Mangroves and sea swimming day. At breakfast we learned that Tent #14 was going to the Lake instead. We aren’t the “Powers” here, we are “Tent #14”. With twenty-five tents or so, it is a planning masterpiece that the Thai guides get the right people into the right buses to the right destinations, and back “home.”
So, Tent #14 went to the Lake. The Lake is a huge freshwater lake which was created by a hydro-electric project in the late ’80s, and is set in a most beautiful karst limestone mountain national park. We stopped for pics at the dam (none included in the collage), then went down to the lake for our scenic hour-long longtail boat ride. Somehow Greg thought it would be good to get on the boat first. Generally his leadership skills land us in an ideal position in buses and on treks, however today, the back of the boat was not ideal. The boats are speedboats and the spray, which generally does not enter the boat, decided with a bit of wind to land on Greg and I. There’s a great picture of Greg hiding behind a life vest trying not to drink the lake as I cowered behind him (that pic also not included).
However, we did see a lot of lovely mountains and were only sprayed upon at the very end. Some of those pics are in the collage.
The boat eventually took us to the Lake Camp. This operation has two camps – the one we are staying in, and the floating Lake Camp. I had early on decided not to overnight at the lake camp because they often lose electricity and that means no fan! However the camp was picturesque, strung along a cove in the lake.
We arrived at the main restaurant area and Wendy immediately wanted to swim. We jumped in; rather Greg jumped in, and Wendy dipped her toe first. The water was warm and lovely.
We swam and ate lunch and swam some more.
Suddenly the calm of the lake was frightening disturbed as Wendy started screaming and flailing around. “I’ve been bit! I’ve been bit!”
Wendy had been so relaxed in her life-jacket, just floating along, that a puffer fish tried to take a chunk out of her toe.
The guide inspected the now bleeding half-inch diameter, red circular mark. “Yes, you have been bitten by a puffer fish. It is not poisonous.” Wendy pulled out her trusty antibiotic cream and band-aid and tidied it up. “You have to keep moving or they will bite you.” Well, that’s a fine time to tell me that!
Needless to say, Wendy did not return to the water. We relaxed afterward and ate cookies.
When we returned, we googled “puffer-fish” and all we saw were articles telling us that puffer-fish are one of the most venomous and toxic fishes on the planet. Oh, My. You can die of asphyxiation in 45 minutes! Then we found that is if you EAT one. If one eats you then they are not dangerous. How interesting. It is now 4 hours later and my little red circle and two little dots of dried blood look nice and tidy. Somehow, with preparing for Malaria, Dengue Fever and all the other dangers of Asia, getting bit by a fish didn’t cross my mind.
We expect to go to the Mangroves and sea swimming tomorrow, that is if we don’t get re-routed again.
Day 3 – Khao Sok Elephant Hills Camp Day Three
Hi!
As the blizzard rages in the NE, we watched reptiles sunning themselves, and got a little sun ourselves.
Today was Mangrove Tour day. We took a speedboat out to the “Burmese Junk” as they called three boats they had anchored together in a area of strange sea configuration. At first I didn’t understand that we were in total saltwater, but finally learned that it was not a river or estuary we were in, but a channel created by a large island close to the shore. With the rising tide the “river” ran one way, and with the falling tide it ran the other.
The result was a strong current, and we were thrown into our 2-man kayaks and led on a kayaking trip into the island, a mangrove area. I can’t call it successful because of the 11 of us, none were competent. Greg and I whacked paddles so much I just stopped paddling. The “Irish” went around in circles banging their paddles. “San Francisco” split up, one child with one adult, so with the small children paddling the progress was erratic. “Germany”, well, I didn’t see what they accomplished.
Every time Greg and I would make progress, we would almost go up the rear of one of the “San Francisco” boats, as they were inconsistent in speed.
Part way into the mangrove, as the Irish were arguing most vociferously and running into trees, the guide yelled “Stop! Turn around! This won’t work.” So all the boats had to turn around and somehow get back to the mother boat.
It was an adequate lunch. We returned on the speedboat to a narrow canal through which we slowly idled. The guide was sooooo insistent, “Do not touch the branches. NO TOUCHING!” as the children wouldn’t listen. We had previously been lectured on all the snakes which were in the mangrove, and how they would lay on the branches, sunning themselves.
We saw a Rat snake (pic in the collage), poisonous only to small animals and birds, and a baby Python sleeping on branches, a couple of small monitor lizards, and a hornets nest. It wasn’t too productive, however I was just pleased that the snakes didn’t fall into the boat.
Tomorrow we leave the jungle, and head to our small hideaway bungalow on the island of Ko Yao Noi. We’ll be there for four nights. I planned it to get our energy back after all our sightseeing, but I hope we don’t get bored.
Hi Mom,
Well, we have an issue. We came back from our Mangrove Tour to find we are not 14 any more, and are now Tent 24. Everyone had their tent numbers changed this afternoon, with no reason given. Same tent, same internet logon, our stuff did not get moved from our tent, they simply put a new number outside our tent, put new directional numbers at the various path junctions, and gave us a key ring containing our original keys, on a tab which says “24”.
Our heads are spinning.
Day 4 – Travel to Ko Yao Noi
Hi!
Today was a transit day and we did not expect to have a collage to send. It was a 2.5 hour drive from our Elephant Hills Camp to the pier where we boarded a boat for our island.
It was a little more exciting than that. The drive down was uneventful, except that we arrived at a gravel parking lot servicing several small concrete piers exactly 5 minute before the boat was due to depart. The driver did not know which pier was ours, so he dropped us at the first. There wouldn’t be another for an hour, and that one would be a slow boat. So Greg ran over to the ticket office (at least people seemed to know where that was), bought our tickets, tipped the driver and ran back to me and the luggage. He then had to drag our 2 big cases over the gravel/dirt parking lot to the other pier while I carried my medical wheelie in my arms!
Around the corner we found the boat all ready to go. “Koh Yao Noi????” we asked. People seemed to nod (but we are suspicious of people being agreeable just to be nice!) They grabbed our bags and lowered them to the boat, where several people were actually sitting. Finally all the bags were loaded, we jumped DOWN, and the boat took off.
One pic, with a lot of hot people crammed into a small cavity is the interior of the speed boat. It was a half hr trip, and Wendy still wondered if we would end up on the right island. There was breathing room, because at least the top was open to the breeze, under the awning, however there was no shoulder room. Tourist suitcases vied for foot space with bags of lettuce and the day’s errands.
You’ll notice there are people with head scarves. This area has a lot of Muslims, who have migrated here from Malaysia. I don’t know how they stood the heat! It was probably 95 degrees with very high humidity.
We arrived at a pier, and Wendy looked at the man next to her and asked “Koh Yao Noi???” and he smiled and nodded.
We clambered up cement steps and Wendy grabbed a tuk-tuk-truck to make sure we didn’t get left behind without a vehicle. Greg supervised the unloading of our HEAVY suitcases.
Then we were off, on our Tuk-Tuk-Truck, with one suitcase tied to the back bumper, and four other tourists packed into the rear of the truck with theirs and the rest of our suitcases. We bumped down the road for about 15 minutes, discharging passengers along the way.
Finally it was our turn and we have arrived at our Seaview Bungalows. It is just as the website pictured it… we have a decent sized bungalow with a slider door looking out on a patio looking out on the sea. Too bad we were too pooped to enjoy it this afternoon. We turned the A/C on high and enjoyed the cool breeze.
Hotel: Seaview Bungalows, simple bungalows – we reserved the one with A/C. Owner/family friendly and helpful.
Day 5 – Koh Yao Noi Day One – Scooters!
Hi!
What a splendid day just scootering around the island! We had a peak of sun in the morning, rented two scooters from our host and off we went. The island is about 6 miles long and maybe 4 miles wide. There’s a partial ring road around the southern half and we just zipped along. On our first 1/2 hour we encountered no cars or trucks, just a couple fellow scooterists who wanted to go faster than us. The only thing we needed was the little tourist map and to remember to drive on the “wrong” side of the road.
We saw little fishing villages, went up some pretty big hills, saw some more mangroves on the east side, and some little beaches on the west side. We stopped at the 7-11 for cereal for tomorrow’s breakfast. There were only 4 cereals to choose from. We chose “Honey Stars”. Greg was disappointed that there was no Coke Zero at the 7-11. Then we passed the “Outlet” store, so Greg made a U-ee, and popped in. Oh, an “outlet” store means a “Costco” in a tiny, tiny storefront. He bought an entire case of Coke Zero at a discount, and balanced the soda at his feet in true Asian style.
Wendy did see another scooter with 5 people on it. That was unbelievable – a mother with two small children in front of her, and two larger children hanging on behind! Greg spotted a scooter with a monkey on it. (Sad, it was chained.)
We passed a field full of water buffalo. We have a pic of Greg right next to some (they were chained and quite intent on their grazing.)
Everything here is very small scale and quiet. We had a great expensive lunch at a cafe called Café Kantary. Definitely Wendy’s best meal in Asia. Roast beef sandwich with sweet onions and melted smoked Gouda cheese on rye bread. The french fries were tasty too. Greg says it didn’t compare with Duke’s in Chiang Mai, but Wendy certainly appreciated the flavors more at this point in the trip.
It was overcast most of the day and sprinkled on us a little as we returned to our bungalow. Dinner was pizza down the road.
Tomorrow we are supposed to get a little sun, so we may rent the scooters again, take some pics in the sun, and check out the couple more roads that are left to us to explore.
Day 6 – More Koh Yao Noi
Hi!
Well, you have to take what you can get when mountains and sea meet. The sky was perfectly clear and brilliant blue when the day started. We slept in, then grabbed our scooter keys and headed off for some pictures. We headed back to the fishing village on stilts, and walked among the houses and out onto the pier (pics of houses and Greg on pier.) The views west and north towards Phrang Nga were tremendous, although there were clouds tucked in the mountains, and the views did remain a little hazy over the sea. We visited our cows and water buffalo again, cow in pic, with his buddy the white egret who followed him around. Greg says I’ve included enough pictures of water buffalo, so they didn’t make this collage.
Early afternoon we headed back to the 7-11 to stock up on supplies for breakfast tomorrow and the next day. As we scootered into town the skies opened up and we got drenched. I had seen a gray cloud around, but I didn’t know it was about to attack us. We desperately dove into the 7-11 and spent an inordinate amount of time selecting our cereal. As you may recall, there were 4 choices. By the time we had reviewed every item in the store, the rain had stopped. Back on our scooters we headed home. About half way home we bumped into another cloud which decided to dump on us as well.
So much for the blue skies, the day ended up very interesting with purple clouds scudding across the harbors, rain and then no rain, rain and then no rain. Rain and sunshine at the same time. I couldn’t find the rainbow though. I fell asleep in a hammock on the beach, waking up just in time to escape into our bungalow before the next rain storm.
We have one more day on this island with no alarm clocks, no meeting guides, no catching transportation, just relaxing and avoiding raindrops, and it being so warm that if you don’t avoid the rain, you don’t mind at all. (sorry to rub it in.)
Day 7 – Last day on Koh Yao Noi
Hi Mom and Dad,
This is just a quickie email to say we lazed around all day, and took no pictures, so have no collage or message. I just wanted you to know we’re still here!
Tomorrow we take a speed boat from this island to Railay Bay where we will be in a more resort location, with a better swimming beach (but sadly no scooter opportunities.)
Day 8 – Travel to Railay Bay
Hi!
Yesterday we took no pictures. Can you believe it? So you got no email. Did you notice?
Yesterday we spent a very lazy day around our Koh Yao Noi Bungalows and any picture we could have taken had been taken on previous days, so we even gave the cameras a break.
Today we moved on to Railay Bay, a real beach resort near Krabi, Thailand. It was so difficult trying to find a beautiful beach location trying to make sure it wasn’t a noisy partying kind of place. This resort is supposed to be a family and couples-friendly kind of place. We’ll see how the night goes…
To get to Railay Bay we had to
1) Take a Tuk-tuk truck, with Greg and the driver heaving “Big Brown” our big suitcase that now weighs 55 lbs, as well as “Paisley” coming in around 48 lbs, Pocohantas, about 18 lbs, the bed-bag (about 6 lbs), and the “Pantry” containing 12 cans of soda. I mention us and our menagerie because of the subsequent steps to this voyage. Next we had to
2) Move all the luggage into a speed boat (pic in collage). This speedboat was a little different from the earlier one because it had no locals, just us tourists. After arriving at the next pier a half hour later, Greg and the speedboat staff had to
3) Heave all the luggage across another boat deck and to the pier while Wendy found a driver. Then it was
4) dragging the luggage (with its 4 wheels at least) 300 yards to the next tuk-tuk truck. Then
5) drive 20 minutes to the next pier – little confusion as there are 2 piers very close together with the same name just different purpose. After arriving at the right pier, then
6) buy tickets and drag all the suitcases down 4 concrete stairs and down a floating dock to
7) a longtail boat where Greg and the staff had to lower the suitcases into the boat. Then, are you getting tired yet?
8) Arriving at the Railay EAST pier and having to heave the suitcases back onto a floating pier and then
9) trundle them about 200 yards down the pier. Finally arriving on land again,
10) Wendy had to wander around looking for someone who would call our hotel to get them to pick us up on that side of the peninsula (as she had been instructed by the hotel.) Finally the “tourism center” of a different hotel completed the call, at a price, and
11) a golf cart arrived, but at a slightly different location so
12) Greg had to carry Big Brown about 50 feet more over sand. Finally, at long last, the golf cart deposited us at the hotel reception. We found that our room was not yet ready (it was only 11:30 when we arrived!)
So we relaxed, a well deserved break, at the beachside restaurant, from which I took the pic of Greg.
The pic of the tall mountain is of the cove to which we arrived in step 8 above, so very near our hotel.
Hi!
To top it off, the computer got stuck for a moment and then sent the message before I was done!
However, as I read what I had sent so far, I think I wrote enough!
(Well…. upper left is the boat from Koh Yao Noi to Ao Nang, upper right is clearly Greg at Railay Beach, lower left is a stray island we passed on our way, lower right is our Railay Beach, and the middle is the rock that casts a shadow on our resort.)
Tomorrow we go snorkeling.
Hotel: Sand Sea Resort, very nice large room, glad we stayed on the beach side of Railay, food was mediocre
Day 9 – Snorkeling and Koh Phi Phi
Hi!
This was one of our trip’s high points! We took a day trip on a speedboat out to Koh Phi Phi to snorkel with Thalassa Tours. The weather was, as Dad would say, “dicey”, with grey skies and forecasted showers. However, rain falling from the sky doesn’t make a person much wetter than snorkeling underwater.
We snorkeled in two locations, both made us feel as if we were tiny figures in a tropical fish tank. Greg even got a picture of a puffer fish. If I had known the puffer was floating around I would have been kicking a whole lot more ferociously! Since I was wearing a life jacket all I really needed to do was kick and swim just a little. The sea was a little choppy and my mask didn’t quite fit, so I had to keep popping up to drain my mask, and when I did a small wave would be ready to knock me around a little.
Greg swam around with his underwater camera. There are more pictures of legs and other people’s butts than there are fish in focus, but it’s hard to focus underwater at tiny things (fish). We saw a poisonous fish that was pointed out by one of our guides, but she just yelled, “That’s why you don’t step on the coral.” If you think I was about to get anywhere near the coral you don’t know me very well!
One of the guides said that a small shark swam under Greg’s legs, but neither of us saw it.
We snorkeled, went to beautiful coves with white sand beaches, then we snorkeled again, then went to even more beautiful coves. Sometimes there were about 15 other boats around, other times only our boat. The guide said that yesterday (which was bright and sunny of course), some of the beaches were so mobbed the people on the tour didn’t even want to stop. But today, with the weather grey and showery at times, there was much less company. The water was just so warm the grey weather didn’t seem to matter (and caused Wendy to just leave her camera packed away, so she got a real vacation!)
We had a wonderful time.
Day 10 – Huay Tho Waterfall Safari
Hi!
Today was a whirlwind of various sights and treks. We booked the “full day” Huay Tho Waterfall Safari, which to us meant “Elephant Safari” because part of the day was spent on an elephant.
It started with a longtail boat ride to a cave. The cave was quite impressive, full of stalactites, and some nice flowing formations. They had dressed up the cave with statues of cavemen and then Japanese soldiers that used the cave during WWII. Greg dressed up one caveman with a Diet Dr. Pepper. (pic of cave included, but not of Diet Dr. Pepper).
Then it was on to a fishing village, with houses on stilts, and a visit to a fish farm. The boy there took us to each of the 10 ft square netted fish tanks, feeding the snappers (we learned for sure why they are called “snappers”), crabs, and other kinds of native fish. He let Greg hold the lobster, and this strange square fish (pic in collage), which he said was “like a puffer fish”. With that information, I knew that the fish had to go in the collage.
Then we went to the “Tiger Temple” in Krabi. This temple is on the top of a mountain, and is reached by climbing 1287 steps; the first couple of “floors” had very short steps and Wendy thought, “Oh, this is possible!” Then we turned a corner and found the stairs were now each the size of two steps. It was an enormous effort just to go another couple of landings. Along this area there were so many monkeys. They sold “monkey” food (Peanuts and Bananas) and the monkeys were the biggest beggars. We had learned at past temples that you had to zip everything into my purse – no exposed water bottle, no sunglasses, etc. These monkeys were quite cute and did not act aggressively, but we saw them with several waterbottles, and one with a bottle of sun-screen that he seemed a bit uncertain about. The best was a mother with two little babies.
The picture of a flight of stairs is from that temple. Wendy managed to achieve 231 stairs before she decided that she wasn’t getting to the top, and if she couldn’t get to the top, why keep going? The view over the buildings was pretty good, of a temple they are building at street level.
Then it was off to lunch (not nearly as good as yesterday’s), and then to the ELEPHANTS!
About half the group (that is 5 people) refused to ride the elephants for ethical reasons. Why they chose an activity that included an elephant ride is beyond me. We have learned throughout Asia that these domesticated elephants have been bred and trained to do manual labor (logging, etc) and now that logging is outlawed, they struggle for ways to keep the elephants employed. They eat 250 kg of food a day and people can’t afford to have them as pets. So we were happy to give one of these local elephants a little work-out. The local village owns these elephants and they provide employment for many local villagers.
Our elephant was named “Zumpan” and she was well behaved. We rode her along a river then through a coconut palm grove for about an hour. I felt like the King, in “Anna and the King!”
The last event of the day was a trek to a waterfall. The trek was muddier and rockier than I expected, and I was not pleased to be doing it, but the thought of swimming in a pool below the waterfall drove me along. To my dismay, we arrived at a cold pool about 1.5 feet deep. Greg climbed the side of the waterfall to another pool at the bottom of the largest waterfall, and I got a good picture of him there. I can’t figure out how he keeps his footing. So, after a long hike back, we finally arrived at the van.
We were delivered back to our pier, to get our longtail boat to our hotel. No sooner had the boatman yelled “Railay” (our beach) when the skies opened up. It rained buckets all the way there, and on our walk back. After 3 nights of pouring rainstorms and having to go out and find dinner getting drenched, we were so disheartened we even looked at the room service menu. Luckily tonight the rain stopped and we were able to go out for our dinner. We looked very peculiar with our long pants, raincoats and big brollies, ready for the monsoon, and it didn’t rain going to dinner or coming home. I feel like I am in the lap of luxury with warm toasty toes and no wet clothes!
Day 11 – Around Railay Bay and Ao Nang
Hi!
Today was a free day. Do you know what a free day means? It means NO alarm.
We headed over to the town nearby which was a major accomplishment since we had to buy the tickets for the longtail boat, then wait until there were 8 customers, walked in the water to get to the boat, climbed a metal ladder up over the gunwale. Then it was about 15 minutes, and we had to repeat on the other end, except it’s hard to use the ladder so you have to just sort of jump out of the boat, into about 6 inches of water. Wendy made quite a splash thinking it was about 2 feet deep!
So we strolled the streets of Ao Nang, looking for a cheap suitcase to carry some of our booty home, encountering several nice statues (pic of one in the collage). Of course we were successful in finding a suitcase (and more souvenirs). After a lunch at McDonald’s we were ready to head back to our “home”. On Wednesday when we first arrived, Railay Beach was very, very busy. Then on Thursday (when we went snorkeling) it seemed much less populous. Yesterday we didn’t see much of it, because of our day trip out, and the monsoon when we arrived back. Now today (Saturday) it was a MOB scene.
However, we learned first hand something we had noticed earlier – the water is less than 2 feet deep! Even if you wade out very very far, it is still less than 2 feet, and you just encounter rocks. So, the lovely pictures of us cavorting in the sea are a bit of a charade – we are just sitting on our butts in the water, along with everyone else.
We took our pictures and quickly decided that the pool was the place for us. However, the pool was a tad chillier than the very warm water in the bay. So we took our pics in the pool, and then Greg found us two side-by-side loungers, a very major feat.
That about sums up our day.
Day 12 – Transfer to Nai Yang Beach, Phuket
Hi!
Well, we have reached the end of our Southeast Asia trip. Today we took a longtail boat ride from Railay Beach (following the long trip dragging the luggage along the floating dock, see the arrival email for similar details!)
When I get home, I’ll annotate the center picture with labels, “Ours”, “Ours”, “Ours”, “Ours”, “Ours”, “Ours”. Of the 9 pieces of luggage on the boat, 6 were ours! You can clearly see Big Brown, Pocohantas, Charlie (the new suitcase bought yesterday), a peak at the “Pantry” (blue tote), Bed Bag (center) and Paisley on the bottom. We feel they have become an integral part of our family. We almost left Bed Bag on the floating pier on our arrival!
It was a very good thing that this time we reserved an SUV transfer from the longtail boat pier around the Phang Nga bay to Nai Yang Beach, Phuket, a drive of 2 hours. It was also a very good thing that our room at the beach was already cleaned and ready for us. It’s a little half of a duplex right on the beach (though sadly no beach views, just views to the restaurant next door.) This little beach community is very low-key, with a million massage shops, restaurants and tour centers, with trees lining the tiny street leading to a national park.
These water pictures are not a charade – the water is deep and swimable here. We had a lovely time floating around. Greg wanted some more waves because he gets bored just floating (see pic). He entertained himself taking pictures of the planes arriving at the airport. (That’s the reason we are staying here, 9 min from the airport, in preparation for tomorrow morning’s early start).
That’s it then, next email will be from Qatar!
Hotel: TT Naiyang Beach, friendly and adequate
Here’s a link to all my Thailand posts and videos
If you want to follow our itinerary through our entire 65-day Southeast Asia Odyssey click here for the next and final country, Qatar
