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................