Ko Lipe

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As Alex said, we made it! We're on the island of Ko Lipe in the National Marine Park of Taurutao. Our little bungalow is quite literally 20 feet from the emerald water of the Andaman. Long tail boats troll the osland in search of passengers day and night, though it is possible to walk around it in less than an hour. In short, it's gorgeous! We went snorkeling for hours yesterday in a shallow protected cove and got a slight sunburn, so today we simply sat on the porch of our bamboo bungalow and read. This is the life.

Tarutao was very different. We took a packed ferry boat from Pak Bara that makes several stops, and out of maybe 40 people, only 4 got off the ferry. The boat dropped us at the pier at Pante Molacca, which also houses the only restaurant on the island, a very small shop and the ranger station. We started off in a bungalow and after a couple nights of that, we borrowed a tent from the Park Service and claimed a spot on the beach, protected by palm trees. Did I mention the swing ? Yeah, we had a sweet swing! Check the pictures.

Because the island of Tarutao is HUGE and protected, many kinds of wildlife live in the jungle, though Alex was disappointed to learn that huge tigers are not on the list. However, we saw three kinds of monkeys, many kinds of crabs, jumping spiders, and a wild pig! I was particularly impressed with seeing the pig. I had walked the beach at dusk the previous night and discovered that at the far end of the beach, crab eating monkeys come out for dinner. I got few shots but it was getting very very dark and I was so excited at seeing monkeys fish in the ocean that I ran to get Alex. But by then it was too dark to see anything. So the next night, we both sat there on the beach watching the sun go down. Not only did we see the monkeys but a large black pig crashed through the jungle onto the beach, then took one look at us and bounded off!


That's all for now. Check out the pictures!

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