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Our destination
Ko Tarutao NP from a distance24th 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 be on his own and looking kinda nerdy with his careless looking hair! This guy ends up getting off the boat with us (just the three of us) and we catch the longboat to the island. He agrees to bunk with us as we had a 4 bed bungalow and it would work out cheaper for everyone. So the newest member to the group is Carson and he is also an American (i must be collecting them or something!) We are then told when we get to the beach that we have to pay 20Baht (B) each for the longboat. We don't pay it as no-one told us and walk away up to the NP headquarters, where they tell us we have to pay the
Our Beach
From the longboat 20B along with 200B for NP entry fees. Both Carson and i argued till we were blue in the face where Carson even told the man he was a thief! (We laughed about it all later) Yeah it was only 20B but it was the principle of the matter. We were all so fired up and all eventually paid as we really had no other choice (although i got away with not paying the 20B!! hehehe). Our bungalow has 4 thin mattresses on the floor and is only a 100 walk to the beach. We wasted no time putting on our cosies (Americans call it a bathing suit but since when is a swim and a bath the same?) and head straight down to the beach where we have it pretty much to ourselves. We hung out in the water for a while getting acquainted with Carson who grabbed a beer straight away to drink in the water (my kinda mate! He actually just came from working in Oz.) We ended up playing a game of beach Volleyball with Tom, Egh and Dan, some local fisherman which was loads of fun but i played pretty crappy. We had a yummy
Our Bungalow
From the outside. Aint it cute? pad thai for dinner and spent the night drinking (and nodding off) on the beach talking shit. We all agreed that when travelling you get to know people quicker as your living with your new mates and everyone is themselves, not putting on an act or a face. The three of us got along instantly and i even went for a night swim where there were these cool glittery light things in the water (some kind of plankton i think.)
25th Feb i woke up early as i couldn't sleep and i headed straight down to the beach for a morning swim which was awesome. The beach here is so nice and the sand is so soft. The weather is great with a beautiful calming breeze. After breakfast the Americanis went for a walk and i just chilled out on the beach reading and relaxing and enjoying my ME time. When dinner time came around Steph had to literally kick and slap Carson to wake him after his nap. At dinner i tried a thai noodle soup but it was a bit boring so i ordered a pad thai again but somewhere in my explanation of not wanting beef
Our Bungalow
Was nice and cosy and more comfortable then it looks or chicken and their interpretation, they came out with a plate of the noodles with nothing else. No veggies no nothing. Just the noodles. i tried to eat it but it was quite horrible. We once again grabbed a few beers to head down to the beach where i pretty much fell asleep as i felt a little left out from the conversation. i wanted to sleep out under the stars but it was uncomfortable and i just decided to go to bed where i ate pringles and listened to my ipod (pringles are huge here, i think the damand comes from all the Ferangs (foreigner) who eat them.)
26th Feb its way too hot to sleep in here so after our huge 5cm thick pancake for breakfast we headed out for a day of walking and exploring not after making Steph try Vegemite. We were obviously not thinking clearly as we only took 2 bottles of water and a few biscuits and i decided to wear my thongs so i could swim along the way. Also not a great idea. The water was so clear and clean and we even saw a type of trumpet fish (needle fish
Our Bungalow
We settle in staight away putting our stuff everywhere if your Carson) a stingray and some awesome mud skippers. After walking on some of the rocks we got a few scratches and Carson almost lost his thongs in the waves. We came across a coconut and as we didn't have much water left Carson decided to try and show off his survivor skills (Survivor Thailand was actually filmed on the other side of the island!!) by opening it up for us. After about 20min's of Carson sweating like a dog throwing it onto the ground and rocks, stabbing it with rocks we finally got our coconut which was pretty good. Oh Steph and i just watched and occasionally had a dig at him for taking so long. i then powered it up this massive hill leaving the slow unfit behind me and when we all got to the top huffing and puffing we were almost out of water and we had only been walking for about 2 hours. We then went for a swim at Ao Sone beach which was really beautiful and also quiet and is a supposed nesting site for turtles. Whilst swimming Carson found a pipi in the sand (with the muscle still in it) and
brought it out of the water for us to look at. He held it out flat in his hand and as Steph got in for a closer look. Then out of nowhere the pipi opened and the muscle came out looking like a large cow tongue licking its lips. Steph screamed and almost completely jumped out of the water which made Carson jump (and maybe also scream) and he threw the pipi back into the water whilst i was grabbing my tummy with laughter. We couldn't stop laughing and we all had tears in our eyes. We then went and scabbed 10B from some other tourists so we could buy another large water. We were lucky there was a very small shop and another tourist around. We then headed down the rocky climbing path to the Lu Du Waterfall (3km). The walk started off pretty flat with no obstacles but boy did they come. We had rock after rock to jump over, climb and slide down, trees to dodge. We also had the task of finding the next arrow where we noticed they could actually be turned around to face any direction. Lets hope no other ferangs that did the
walk before us decided to try and get the next lot lost by changing all the arrows!!!! The thongs were a bit of a killer too!!! When we eventually got there (after giving each other 10 more minutes before we turned back) we were greeted by a Russian man taking a skinny dip in the waterfall pool. He got out and covered himself while we went in for a quick swim watching Carson jump the tiny waterfall that was probably not worth the walk...Finding our way back was a little tough as the arrows were harder to find and i must toot my own horn here when i say that it was my navigational skills (once again) that got us out of there. Our feet were so sore and all we could think about was food and water. We had another swim to cool us down and then i had my first shower since my night in Pak Bura. What???...i was swimming everyday so i didn't need to shower!!! The guys thought i was becoming a native to the island. i also kept forgetting to brush my teeth so i really got back to nature. We made pigs of oursleves
Our Friend
Mr Beer Chang at dinner and spent the night on the beach again watching the shooting stars and some lightning in the clouds. The crabs on the beach then decided to make a meal out of stephs feet so we called it a night.
27th Feb We said goodbye to Carson as he was going to Ko Lipe but we organised to meet him in Krabi in a few days. Surprise surprise we just chilled out on the beach where i finished my Reg Reagan book (thanks Rowdy, it was hilarious) and we saw a massive starfish that we tried to help but we think it might have been hurt. i got to see its tentacles which was cool. i got a bit burnt and am now constantly wearing a white bıikini! i had a nightmare and dreamt that i kicked someone and i also kicked Stephs water bottle waking us both up. Steph was also having a nightmare (strange hey) and then we couldnt sleep. Steph heard noises outside the door and started to freak. So i quietly got my torch out of my bag as Steph wanted me to close the window thinking that if it was a person they
could put their hand in the window and open the door. So i get up and creep to the door, Steph holding the torch from her bed and i check if we had actually locked the door and i move the lock making sure it's locked. i then turn the handle on the window thinking that i am actually closing the window (now i started to freak out so there was no way i was opening the curtains to check that i was doing it right!) and out of nowhere the door opens, Steph jumps up and we both push the door closed with our bodies leaning on the door locking it again with our hearts going a billion miles an hour. We stood there for ages with our hearts thumping and our whole bodies shaking. We eventually put our packs up against the door and tried to tell ourselves that it was either the cats around or the ferral monkies that went through our bin during the day. We got out our whistles and my panic alarm and Steph left the light on for a while. There were still noises outside which did sound like monkies and it probably
Which i made Steph try
and you guessed it...she hated it. Damn Americani... was. it was the scariest moment in both our lives and i would have absolutely freaked if i was on my own (even though i think steph made me more scared) i guess we will never know what it was. i will blame those ferral monkies though
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Robin
non-member comment
Yeah...Moo is back online. Looks like a fabulous place! So, why is your top now your skirt? Bit concerned about this fear of monkeys that you're developing, but glad 'they' didn't get you! Steph..if you're reading...I agree with you...Vegemite really is horrible. ok Moo...where's the next one?