Andaman Sea - Beach Time

With plenty of island to choose from in Thailand, It come down to what do you want to do while you're there. For us quiet, paddle-boarding and great swimming......I found a room (2nd of Jan. everything is busy) at a resort I stayed at 17 years ago (Kaw Kwang Beach Resort on Ko Lanta). At that time it was one of the only places to stay on this beach ( one of the few on the island). So after a 15 hrs overnight train ride to Trang (southern Thailand) and a 3 hour mini-van ride ( with 2 car ferries) we arrived to a very upscale island and beach resort. The owner (Poi) remembered me from 17 years ago and gave us a deal on a basic bungalow, which was just what we were looking for.

Evening at Kaw Kwang.

Well, lots has changed in 17 years, for one, this whole side of the island was wiped out by the 2004 tsunami. Luckily this end of this 3 km beach was still quiet, but the rest of the beach was loaded with boutique hotels instead of the grass shack food stalls selling all kinds of fish.

Unfortunately we did have to deal with a very nice resort,
 right down to the infinity pool.

As far as a great place to hang out for the day between dips in the water was "Nong's" The beer was cold, the food was good and she put up with me for 10 days. After the same 20 Bob Marley & Eric Clapton songs playing over and over, I had a bunch of music loaded on a flashdrive, uptown and put it on her music system.....Yay!!

Working up the energy for a massage.....

After landing on my head in the surf in Sri Lanka, my neck and shoulders were still tight and sore. So between Thai Massage alternating with Paddle boarding, I was starting to get some relief. What a great excuse to get a massage every other day.

We rode out among the limestone islands in a wooden longtail boat to do some snorkeling - very scenic. One of the cool stops was swimming through Emerald cave to a beach in the center of an island.  The only disappointment was snorkeling among 50 other people from 5 other boats that were doing the same circuit.

Crab patterns in the sand. These crab are about the size of your little fingernail.

fishing boats waiting for the night....Love those bows

I took a cooking class through Time for Lime - who wouldn't want to create delicious Thai food dishes at home! Here I'm stirring up the classic Pad Thai. We created 3 other dishes as well. One of the class options was to sign up an additional person as a "lazy partner". They pay a small fee, then relax at the bar with drinks such as lemongrass margaritas. Then when the different meals were ready they shared them with us. Stretch signed up for this with pleasure.

Motorcycle Mama!

It was great fun to get around our island on these scooters. We cruised by ponds where you paid to catch your own fish, when the owners BBQ it for you, a snake show, mangroves, an organic garden, villages and down to a National Park.

A long scooter ride brought us to the south end of the island
to the old lighthouse and a great beach for hangin'

Fish Spa..... these little guys are supposed to
clean off the dead skin. A little too much for
Becky and the Thai assistants were falling
over laughing....

Yes, well it felt like little pinches all over my feet and calves! Sensation overload.

The standard time was stay in for 15 min. I think I may have made it 1!

A great little restaurant on the far side of the island.

 This and the surrounding simple buildings were

 all build on pilings out over the water.  

It reminded me of Tenakee, Ak.

Kayaking the limestone karst islands. We wore shirts for
sun protection, not warmth!

never get enough of this ..... Yes, it was beautiful, 
calm paddling. We could just spalsh into the warm water and 
swim around. Such a contrast to kayaking in Alaska.

Just the spot to sit and think about it.

So, we thought about it and after 10 days, we figured we should get on with it and head towards Lao & Vietnam. Thanks Ko Lanta................

Bangkok

(black Stretch, blue Becky)
In Bangkok, home to about 10 million Thais and upon arrival, we felt a sense of order and it made it very calming. Our hotel was minutes from the new Skytrain that moves above the streets almost effortlessly (compared to India).  I had heard so much about Khao San road: throngs of aggressive venders, and zoned out travelers whose only interest is to party, but found it paled in comparison to Kathmandu, and parts of India.

Travel on the Chao Phraya river by long tail boats or river
ferry was also a nice change of pace...

Again despite there being lots of boats and people, everything moved along smoothly.

On the streets it was busy, but for some reason
we stayed in air conditioned malls during the
heat of the day.

With Wifi available all over Bangkok (even the Skytrain), we sought out the Pantip Mall with 5 floors of
electronics and searched for a laptop or tablet. Hoping this would cut down on searching for cybercafes after dinner. Not really much cheaper than stateside, unless you buy a knock-off.. So now we have a cute little laptop to carry around......... Ready to take a vacation from our travels and just lounge on the beach. Night train with assigned seats here we come.........
We were actually able to book train tickets online, then later at the train terminal we wanted to upgrade to 2nd class sleeper. A very pleasant, helpful railroad employee approached us and asked if she could help! We were directed to the correct window and made changes without issue.  Then to our delight, onboard the train around 8:00pm a steward came around and converted the seats to beds, fresh sheets and pillows! All so unheard of where we had just come from. Thailand was so easy!

Galle & Gone

Spent our last day of Sri Lanka & 2012 in the town of Fort Galle. The old town is inside the fort along the coast and the fort was built by the Portuguese, captured by the Dutch and taken by the English...Eventually the Tourist becomes the rightful owner and it's still a cool place to spend the day....

Lighthouse and outer wall.

Becky in between rain storms..

Locals in their Sunday best...

While walking the ocean side of the wall we came upon two young men who were hanging out. They asked if we'd like to see them dive off the wall into a deep pool between all the rocks below. It was their job they said. Only US 10$. We told them it sounded more like fun than a job, and anyway, we couldn't afford to pay their salary. They were disappointed. We never did see them working that day.

Naval Museum  

Buildings as old as the walls.

Nothing better than a great meal after a huge downpour..
Cafe Forteleza

Cute cars: Morris Minors

cute streets

Gotta love the brand of this water!

We felt there was still more to see and do in Sri Lanka, but we were also ready for a change in foods and culture. Also hoping for our clothes to dry out overnight.

So, it was off to Bangkok for us - travel by plane instead of bus or tuk-tuk. Yeah! Grabbed a bottle of this water and we were on our way.