http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Thailand , South-West Thailand , Ko Tarutao Marine NP en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:29:49 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:29:49 +0000 Good day since i last wrote I have done some things including at some point eating cockroaches as a healthy snack.Mid December and went up to the north of Ko Phangan to a very remote beach called Hat Khom where there was just one restaurant and one place to stay all owned by a Thai family with a crazy gun toting dad. when we informed dad that we were going to get a taxi bus up the road to t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-384607.html The options were simple a tent or a sparse overpriced room. We chose the tent surpriseeeeeeee. A short walk from Koh Tarutaorsquos ranger station revealed 4 more tents set up under the shade of a few trees in a designated camping area. We chose to ignore the designated area surpriseeee choosing instead to pitch tent amidst a cluster of trees a good way upwind. Like seasoned troopers we l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-317894.html Chris and I spent a night of recovery in Trang a commerical city in the south known for its Hokkien koppi shops one of the few places in Thailand where they specialize in drip coffee rather than Nescafe and filling our bellies with cheap food ahhh yes 15 baht for a plate I'll take it then we set off once again for the islands. This time we took a bus to Pak Bara which is in Satun Thai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-249077.html We got off the ferry on the island of Ko Tarutao a national park area. One of the things Tarutao is known for is a prison that was on the island. They actually had one prison for political prisoners and one for regular prisoners. Apparently the main security on the island was deadly saltwater crocodiles and Sharks. However there were escape attempts some successful and eventually a mutiny http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-247200.html Hello all I know it has been a while since my last post but in my defense it is because there was no internet on the islands we stayed on for over the past week. But now you get to hear all about the islands Horray Your patience paid off. Alrighty so if I have this correct the last time I posted was on the 23rd of January after the stimulating full moon party. After posting my blog I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-243669.html Sawatdee everyone Sawatdee means hello not some Thai vulgarity I promise or do Ihellip We are at present BACK in Bangkok Lilyrsquos house. We arrived yesterday afternoon after some brutally long travel but Irsquoll get to that later. Since the last blog I posted we have since disappeared to one of Thailandrsquos National Marine Parks located west of the ThaiMalaysia border Taru http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-243353.html Hello all we hope you've all had a good festive seasonWe spent new years on the island of Tarutao which is AMAZING Its so peaceful amd quiet with loads of wildlife. We intended to stay for about 4 nights just over new year but ended up stay there for a relaxing 9 instead. We were camping on the beach listening to the lapping of the waves. The sunsets were amazing some were bright pink and orang http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-233620.html Wednesday Today we didn't do anything exciting. Rapidly approching the end of our month visa we decided to do a visa run to Malaysia which meant 13 hours of travelling on a minibus 2 ferries and 3 local buses. This meant travelling from Ko Lanta to Trang to Hat Yai to Malaysia border then back to Hat Yai. Massively tired when we got back Thrusday We made our way to Pak Barra so that we c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-163929.html So what kind of person am I The kind that likes complete isolation and solitude WITHOUT any of the normal amenities found in the good ol USA. well lemme tell ya amy and I found out what kind of people we are on Koh Turatao while camping at the national park. Picture yellowstone with monkeys shared bathrooms and giant spiders in 90 humidity with no fans all the while having to install our ow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-115181.html 24th Feb After a fiesty morning together in Pak Bura Steph and i got on our ferry which was late and headed out to Ko Tarutao Marine National Park. The ferry ride was interesting where some other travellers heading to a more commercialised island of Ko Lipe smoked pot on the boat and were not bothered by the fact that they had their kids on the ferry too We also spot this guy that seemed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-54351.html Next destination wasn't far from the Thale Ban National Park Ko Tarutao just off the West coast of the most southern point of Thailand. The journey to the pier by songthaew was easier and cheaper than expected and we had time for breakfast after buying our tickets. When our departure time was approaching the guy who sold us our tickets led us to a boat where we had to walk across a plank balan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-52515.html We freakin slept in Too many vodka pineapples the night before Amanda set the alarm clock the night before and it didn't go offwe still don't know whyquite the mystery. But considering it was a travel day i wouldn't have expected anything less. We literally ran w our packs to the ferry terminal that was to take us to Langkawi. Our reservation was for the cheaper boat at 830 am had to b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tarutao-Marine-NP/blog-44815.html