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Published: December 29th 2008
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We've spent the past two weeks island hopping along southern Thailand's Andaman Sea. For the most part, it has been a very lazy and relaxed time.
Our introduction, however, was a little more hectic. We landed in Phuket, a large island that is both the base for further excursions, as well as home to a couple cities and countless resorts, bars, and nightclubs catering to foreigners. We spent a couple nights on Patong Beach, which can best be described as Khao San Road (Bangkok's main budget tourist drag, packed with bars and drunk Westerners) meets the Vegas Strip meets Tijuana. It was loud, filled with bars and nightclubs (many of them advertising "Aussie Owned". Huh? Why leave home?); there were many drunks, lots of Thai "working girls", and an overwhelming amount of neon lights and noise. During the day, we laid on the long beach on Patong, which was actually pretty nice; just a bit too crowded, and too many vendors, though. We also took a day trip to some of the limestone rocks and lush islands that surround Phuket. The most famous, and perhaps most impressive of these, is now known as "James Bond Island", due to its starring
role in a 1970's James Bond film, "The Man With The Golden Gun". At night, walking along the beach, we saw beautiful lanterns going up in the air. We bought one, lit it, released it, and saw it soar far into the sky, until it disappeared.
After the madness of Patong, we were ready for some peace and quiet, and that's exactly what we got. We spent the next four nights at Relax Beach Resort (http://krabidir.com/phiphirelaxbeachresort/index.htm), in a bungalow on a private beach on Ko Phi Phi Don("ko" means island in Thai). The film "The Beach", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, took place on Ko Phi Phi Leh, a smaller island opposite ours. We went on a snorkelling day trip to this island, and saw amazing fish; large orange and black fish, little fish with yellow and white horizontal stripes, funny shaped fish with orange and blue vertical stripes. Fish of all sizes and all colors of the rainbow. Squid. Lobster. Erin even saw a baby shark. Back on our island, we would relax, read, and swim during the day, and take walks along the beach at night. The crabs would scurry when they heard our footsteps. We even got Thai
massages on the beach. It was the ultimate tropical paradise.
They call Thailand the land of smiles, and people are generally very friendly and easygoing. A cheerful young woman working at the resort told me (Asaf) that I don't smile enough. She was friendly and had a warm smile herself. So I've been trying to smile more... :-) On our last day on Phi Phi, we walked up the hill to the viewpoint. From there, you can see the two bays on either side of the island. It is a majestic site, which is sold on many postcards.
From Phi Phi, we went to Railay Beach, on the Krabi Peninsula. This is a famous beach, and is very popular with rock climbers for its many cliffs. We had no desire to climb any cliffs. Our best day on Railay was another day trip, the "sunset snorkel" tour. We went to a few smaller, uninhabited islands, and went snorkelling, again seeing amazing fish. Then, at sunset, they took us to dinner on another lovely little island. During the most amazing sunset we've ever seen, hundreds of bats the size of dogs (seriously!) flew overhead. But perhaps the most memorable
Jame's Bond Island
We saw a few signs that spelled it this way part was on the way back to Railay, when we stopped for a nighttime swim. We experienced something called phosphoresence, which is the tiny planktons in the water making your skin and all your movements sparkle in the water, like you are glowing in the dark. I don't totally understand how it works, but it was great. Although by far most tourists here are European, for some reason everyone on our sunset snorkelling excursion, except the two Swedish guides, was American. It was weird after so many months away from home, to be totally surrounded by people speaking American English.
Our last stop was Ko Lanta, where we spent a few days in a modern bungalow. Although it was nice, the place felt a little too resorty. The entire beach was nothing but resorts, restaurants, and... Swedes. It seemed like everyone around us was Swedish. We went into the store, and every single book and magazine for sale was in Swedish. Menus and advertisements were in Swedish. We walked around, and saw homes with Swedish family names like "Larsson" and "Andersson" on the gate. Then we passed by a Swedish school.
A couple days ago, we realized that
two full weeks of swimming, eating, reading, and resting on the beach, as nice as that lifestyle is, was enough for us right now. We know we will soon long for those days, but it's time to move on.
Tonight, we are in Trang, a southern Thai town, and tomorrow evening, we should already be in Malaysia.
Thailand is a wonderful country. It's like the best of Asia and the best of Hawaii rolled into one. With amazing nature, great food, friendly (genuinely sweet, too) people, and a fascinating culture, it is one of our favorite countries ever. We will miss it.
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lanegra
La Negra
sounds like great fun! Enjoy the warm weather and sun!!