Southern Thailand

From Northern Malaysia we set off and headed back to Thailand, this time to see the islands in the south on the Andaman Sea. Now for all those who are wondering, not every Thai island was devastated by the tsunami. In fact, we visited plenty of areas that weren't touched or only recorded large waves and water damage. However, those that were hit, were hit hard. On Ko Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee) there are only about 2 concrete structures that remain.

To get from land to island, we needed to stop in certain towns along the way. The first being Hat Yai. Hat Yai is a few hours from the border of Thailand and Malaysia. Our guidebooks warned that there wasn't much in Hat Yai except garbage and sleaze. Apparently it is popular with Malaysians looking to find a prostitute. However, we found neither garbage nor sleaze, perhaps because we weren't looking for it and it wasn't looking for us, but nonetheless Hat Yai was actually quite pleasant. Hat Yai also has a significant Muslim population and I was able to keep up my habit of eating Roti Canai for breakfast that I had started in Malaysia.

From Hat Yai we went to Trang town which is the gateway to the islands in the Trang region. From Trang we spent 2 nights on the island of Ko Ngai. We were a bit disappointed though. We were promised great snorkeling off the beach in front of the resort, but since it was monsoon season the visibility wasn't that great and quite frankly neither was the reef. We were staying at a resort that was hosting the crew of a European gameshow. We think it was something like a Dutch Survivor. The contestants were apparently on the islands near Ko Ngai, but we never saw anything. We figured that European reality shows must not bring in as much money as the American ones as the crew was staying at the same resort we were. It was a nice place, but I figure that Mark Burnett and his crew probably would have put out for the top notch resort at the next beach over...or at least one that had hot water.

From Ko Ngai we went to Ko Muk. We ended up spending 1 night here and on our first day we headed out on a trip that took us to many snorkeling sights and the Emerald Cave. The Emerald Cave is located on Ko Muk. It's an area where a cave has been eroded from the limestone rock. (In the South of Thailand there are tons of limestone outcrops throughout the sea.) However, the top of the rock has also been eroded so that the cave is open. What you get is a secluded beach that can only be reached by swimming into it. When the sun shines down into the cave the water looks emerald green, hence the name. It was quite nice to see, but something I'd never do again. A once in a lifetime thing, if you must. The swim into the cave was treacherous and neither Mark or I would be here today if it weren't for the lifejackets provided. Plus, there's about 10 meters of complete darkness to swim through until you reach the beach. Again, not so great for those who don't like deep water, wavy oceans or the dark. (As an aside...when we were in New Zealand and we did the cave tour, they company had us fill out a form that asked a bunch of questions about our health and swimming ability. Not one question ever asked if we were afraid of the dark. A lot of the tour takes place in the dark and I was not too happy. We had head lamps, but to be able to see the stupid glowworms we had to turn our lights off! I thought that should be the first question they ask...are you afraid of the dark!) From the cave we went to many different snorkeling sights. The visibility was much better, but we ended up seeing the same tiger fish over and over. Tiger fish love to eat anything you give them and will bite you if they think you even have food.

After our brief tour of the Thai islands we headed to Krabi town. Not many tourists venture to Krabi town, most stay in the beach area which is a good 45 minutes from town. We also enjoyed Krabi. Right outside of the hotel was a great night market where all of the town seemed to gather in the evenings. Not only did we eat supper there every night, but it was full of goodies and snacks. For those wondering about the cleanliness of food and food prepartion in markets or food stalls, I can say that in Thailand, people keep their stalls immaculate. You'd never tell that this food was prepared where it was.

We spent our last 2 nights in Thailand in Phuket town (pronounced Pooket). Again, most tourists go straight to the beach, but the two suited our needs more. (In truth, the town had an English movie cinema and both of us wanted to catch the new Star Wars movie before we left for China.) We miss Thailand...a lot. The people are wonderful and the food is excellent and inexpensive. Plus, it's hard not to love a country that has so much fruit readily available. I've never eaten more fruit in my life than what I ate every day in Thailand. Any place where food and snacks are loved that much is definitely the place for me!