Eight Days in Paradise

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If I had to choose one word to characterize our time at Koh Jum it would have to be--lounge. In our entire eight day stay we probably strayed no farther than 300 meters from our little bungalow. Bungalow-->food hut-->lounge hut-->beach-->food hut-->lounge hut-->food hut-->bungalow. Perfect. Koh Jum was exactly what we wanted. Good food. Decent beach. Warm water. Fun animals. No commitments. No worries. Plenty of time. So it rained--more time to read. So the tide was out--more tide pools and beach combing.

Koh Jum is bursting with animal life. Monkeys chattered next to our bungalow. We coaxed hermit crabs out of their shells on the beach. Songbirds serenaded us by day and frogs by night. I could have done without the rat that climbed up on my leg in the middle of the night, but Chris scared it off with some very valiant stomping of feet. My hero! A light application of coral in the rat holes solved our rat-visitation problem.

We had a burst of industriousness on our first day and began an epic building project. We spent 3 good hours building a mini Great Wall of China. This was no petty sand castle built in 20 minutes and forgotten. This was a sand-architectural feat of epic proportions! We declared the water to be vicious Mongolians out to destroy our wall. Proudly, our wall stood up to a fearsome attack by sky-Mongolians (a thundershower) and part of it even withstood the brunt of the Mongolian force (high tide). A second high tide totally destroyed it, though. Proves the adage, I guess...never get in a land war in Asia.

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Photos

Ko Jum
Here is a pic of Ko Jum, the island where we stayed for eight wonderful days.

Ko Jum Again
This picture of Ko Jum shows the area where our bungalow was.

The Great Wall... of Thailand?
Our first day on Ko Jum we built a sand model of the Great Wall on the beach.

Sunset from the Lounge
The sun sets over the Pi Pi islands as we gaze lazily out at the ocean from our lounge.

Sand Crab
These little sand crabs are all over, and very fast. One even challenged Alex to a pinch-off.

Our Bungalow
This is a shot of our bungalow from the beach.

Attack of the Crab!
Hermit Crabs will come out of their shells if properly provoked.

Another Beautiful Sunset
Here is another colorful picture of the sun setting over the ocean.

Friendly Visitor
This tree frog found his way into our bathroom the last day of our stay. He gave Chris quite a start.