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Published: December 11th 2007
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Sunset in Ko Lanta
Enjoying the beach with Isabel (in the front) and Shelley I must say that I have gotten quite used to the Island living - long walks on the beach, beautiful sunsets, banana/nutella pancakes (you really have to have one to truly understand), delicious food, and lounging on the beach! I left Krabi and spent 3 nights on Ko Lanta and 2 on Ko Phi Phi - both of which were beautiful and fun. Shelley has been living in Indonesia for the last year and had no fear of renting a motorcycle and driving me around a bit - I still don’t think I’m brave enough to do it myself ! We had one really longboat trip off Phi Phi to Mai Bay. Our boat driver told us to expect a little more water in the boat on the way back b/c of the waves… we were absolutely drenched - I haven’t laughed that hard in long time… basically 20 minutes of crashing through waves. We sat and had a sunset beer on a different beach before he finally took us home. I pointed out two girls that had also been to Mai and were not wet at all… he laughed and said people normally cheer and get really excited when he
Ko Phi Phi dive
...looking a bit nervous before my first dive sails like that - funny.
My other great Thai experience in Phi Phi was dinner that night. The three of us ended up in a small market restaurant - where the family members are peeling the shrimp while watching tv beside you. I tried a little of my Thai and asked for my papaya salad to be pet ‘hot’. He laughed a little, but while he was mixing up my salad and crushing chilies by hand he called me over and held out a spoonful for me to try - you don’t get that kind of service at home…even from Sam’s mom! The next morning Isabel headed back to Bangkok and Shelley and I went diving for the day. It was great to be diving again although I was a bit nervous as its been a year and half since I was certified - don’t worry I did a little refresher - even read up the book while sitting by the pool…sweet life I tell you. Right, diving - it was really cool - lots of fish, a leopard shark, sea snake and lots of coral - very beautiful! And got me ready for the diving to come!
Looking down on Paradise
Beautiful morning hike during one of our 3 hour breaks around the Similans Unfortunately we decided to stop in Phuket on route to Khao Lak. Although we stayed on Kalama beach rather than Patong, it was still a let down. The only way we were able to avoid the mass of tailor shops, salesmen, and bad food was to head for the BanyanTree Phuket - rated one of the world’s best spas. Shelley had read about it in Vogue and it did not disappoint! Luckily for my wallet, I was only able to get in for a pedicure not a whole treatment - it was still a fantastic 2 hours of bliss.
We arrived in Khao Lak two days before our dive trip and decided to stay in one of the nice resorts on the beach. Khao Lak was one of the most devastated towns after the Tsunami. It’s a bit sad that there are now mostly only these really nice resorts - it sounds like the beach front was misappropriated to the big companies after the Tsunami and most of the small family run businesses lost their land. It now means that the resorts of mostly full of families and couples on holiday - not so many backpackers. Anyway, we did
Sunrise
Although it was a small boat, the view from my bed was fantastic! get to enjoy a nice pool and beautiful brand new hotel.
On Saturday we left on our 3 day dive trip to the Similans. I did 3 dives the first and second days and 2 the last day - it was intense, but fantastic. I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be great when Rebecca our dive master said “everyone ready, there’s a Manta Ray below us, lets go!” It was incredible - I can’t really describe how much I enjoyed the diving - its so peaceful, quiet, and calming down there. I assume yoga instructors must love diving b/c its just you and your breath… and Mantas, Leopard Sharks, turtles, frogfish, sea snakes… ect ect ect. Night diving was also pretty cool - even calmer really. I was a bit nervous, but once you’re down with your flashlight, it all seems very natural. It was a pretty cute little boat - unfortunately when I decided to wait for Shelley and do 3 days instead of 4 (b/c I thought that was a bit much!) I gave up being on a big comfortable boat sleeping 30 with crew to staying on a small boat sleeping 12. The 7 divers and 2 dive masters sleep upstairs under a tent while the cook, captain and boat boy snuggled up in the kitchen or on the floor - I don’t know where else they could have gone??? It was great though - really nice people, wonderful food and lots of sun! The food was great, but it was always sad to see her throw bowls of full curries and soups out into the water - the Thai always make more than is needed b/c they never want to see you go hungry - Definitely better than average fish food. There were 5 girls and 2 men - who were a bit quiet and just on vacation. Funny enough the 5 of us ladies were all on extended holidays - 4 of us hovering around 30 and wondering what to do with the rest of our lives 😊
This brings me back to Khao Lak and the realization that I’m coming home in 10 days! I had a nice long walk on the beach this morning and thought about how lucky I was to have made the decision to do this trip. Although it has flown by, the experiences will stay with me forever. I don’t know if I’ll ever find myself living out of a backpack again, but if it does happen; let’s hope I can pack a bit better next time! I’m pretty excited to come home and see what its like to try relaxing in Calgary for a bit - let the vacation continue… see you on the slopes!
Love Steph
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