Day 16: Back in the USA

It was a loooooong trip back but thankfully everything went relatively smoothly. Just loooooong. The kids were amazing, watching 20+ hours of movies on the flights (a seven hour flight to Tokyo and then a 13 hour flight to DC). Poor Diane hadn’t realized it would be two flights, and when we landed in Tokyo she asked excitedly, “is Tina picking us up now?” She was sad but took the news very well that not only were we not going to see Tina in DC, but that we had another crazy long flight left.

In the Bangkok airport

Crazy stuff in the duty free shop

ANA All Nippon kids meal

The only truly difficult part of the trip (other than just the general length and terrible food) was arriving in DC to a monster of a line at customs.

That is the customs line below, that extended to the upper landing where we entered the line. Ugh.

Of course D fell asleep as we began our descent into Dulles.

In all the travel we do, the US is by far the WORST country when it comes to entering through customs. The only line longer than this we have ever seen was entering the UK at spring break last year (but at least that line was for foreigners- the line for foreigners in the US is way shorter than the one for citizens!). It is especially tough since the trip home is my least favorite part of any trip. TSA really outdid themselves this time, with only about half of the counters open while arrivals continued to stream through the doors, and by “cleaning up” some vomit on the floor (not ours!) in the line by laying newspaper down over it. It was honestly pretty embarrassing for our country. The third world airports we have seen have been so much better.

But…we are back!

M & D slept through the Lyft ride to Tina’s and until 1:30am (Z & K stayed up to see UVA’s last second win in the Final Four!)

I’ll end this with some observations we compiled during our trip about travel in Thailand:

1. We encountered almost no chopsticks. The Thais we met ate everything with a spoon. A fork is used only to help food onto the spoon.

2. As in some parts of Europe and South America, you don’t flush the toilet paper. Instead it goes in a trashcan by the toilet. But Thais really only use it to dry themselves anyway, as each toilet has a small showerhead next to it for cleaning your bum (we were mostly too nervous to use these and only did in dire no-TP situations). Squatty potties have a large bucket of water and a bowl to use for this purpose and to pour into the toilet to clean it out since it doesn’t flush.

3. There are “no farting” signs, sometimes even in nice hotels. Why does this need to be said? Is it not a given? I can’t find this answer online (but many have asked the question).

4. Thais will pick their noses while staring at you but apparently find blowing one’s nose in public to be offensive. We stumbled upon that trivia about halfway through the trip after the girls had been blowing their noses often since they were both a little stuffed up from colds they had back at home.

5. All the Thai showers we saw are the kind where there’s a shower head in the middle of the bathroom and a drain in the floor (no tub or shower stall). We’ve seen this in older buildings in Europe, but it seems to be the norm here. I got used to it and in fact it was very convenient for cleaning gecko poop off the floor. Takes some practice to avoid ending up with soggy toilet paper, though.

6. Public bathrooms here can be rough. Diane has now mastered the squatty potty, but at first it was a challenge. I am so glad we waited until she was this age to come to Thailand- just a year or two ago it would have been much harder because of her size and propensity to touch EVERYTHING around her. Traveling with kids in diapers would be easier here than traveling with a two- to five-year old given the toilet situation.

7. Bathrooms are called toilets. Showers are called bathrooms. Makes a lot of sense!

8. The markets aren’t full of raw ingredients and crafts like they are at home. They are mainly freshly prepared meals served in bags for locals to take home to eat for dinner.

9. So much plastic. Everything seems to be plastic and disposable. Straws in soda bottles, little plastic baggie harnesses for plastic to-go cups. Curries in plastic bags. Plastic water bottles. They do recycle, but there has got to be a better solution. Whoever comes up with a cost effective and easily biodegradable waterproof material will change the world (and make $ billions).

10. Sweatshirts. OMG. Thais wear sweatshirts in the 100+ degree weather. Why why why???

11. Final count on this trip: 20 lollipops, 19 Dramamine tablets, zero vomit!

12. We LOVED Thailand and can’t wait to go back and/or see more of Southeast Asia!

Day 15: Beginning the Journey Home

We started the day with goodbyes. Melina and Cap said their au revoirs at breakfast and then we sadly bid farewell to the wonderful people at the Koh Tao Seaview Bungalows. What a fantastic island and guesthouse! It was the favorite place on the trip for both girls and me, even despite Diane’s injury (Zach loved it too but his favorite was the Jungle Lodge).

To get back to Bangkok we had to take a taxi to a boat to a taxi to a plane to a taxi to our hotel. Whew. It was exhausting, but thankfully everything went smoothly. Melina wants me to point out that at three separate times we found ourselves at the end of a crazy long line, and each time we figured out a legit way to jump queue. At the mile long check-in line for Thai Airways we hopped on the free WiFi and checked in online instead. When boarding the plane we successfully used the “priority boarding” line because we had kids, and in the serpentine taxi line at the Bangkok airport we discovered a separate “short distances” line that we could use because we were staying in an airport hotel. For the win!

We got this green tea KitKat in the airport and it was quite good!

Cool flat & curvy escalators in the Bangkok airport

Melina got kick out of watching a middle aged Italian woman take selfie after selfie at the airport, primping and posing for each one. Then in Bangkok, our taxi driver had us all laughing because he kept fondling the hair on Zach’s arm and saying “hairy like monkey! Thai man, no!”

Our hotel is hilarious. It is a typical boring airport hotel, clean but no frills, but it is in the middle of a container shipping and warehouse district. The hotel restaurant is a sketchy kiosk on the street, but turned out to be very good and oh so cheap.

Hotel restaurant

Selfie in the security mirror

Nextdoor neighbors, and stray dog

We walked a block to the 7-Eleven (sidestepping packs of stray dogs and mystery meat stands on the way) and picked up a bunch of fun Asian snacks for the trip…

Snacked on these in the hotel. We have no idea what they are, but they were delicious! Basically ginger-lime chips.

These are for breakfast, the airplane ride, and to take home.

…and took pictures of others we weren’t brave enough to try.

Kiwi, asparagus and broccoli, oh my!

Now to try to get to sleep early for our 4:15 am cab to the airport…! Melina and I are sharing one room and Zach and D another. Melina is so excited, but she won’t be when I make her go to sleep at 6:30pm…

Day 14: Biking in Koh Yao Noi

Yesterday morning we were so worried about getting bored without being able to go in the water that I booked us a bike tour for today. In retrospect, we definitely could have had another easy relaxing day like we did yesterday, but I am glad we got to see the island today and it was a great adventure for our last non-travel day in Thailand.

We watched the sunrise again, and then I sat on the beach and watched the tide come in until breakfast.

Diane’s ideal breakfast. With dragon fruit!

We met our guide, Mr. Art, at the dock as he unloaded our bikes from the boat from Phuket. There was a Trek mountain bike for each of us and a tagalong for Diane (the tagalong was the reason we had to pay US prices- rental places on the island didn’t have them).

Mr. Art rode us around the entire island, explaining flora and fauna as we went. We rode through/by rice paddies, rubber tree groves, floating fishing villages, and beaches. We got to see the Phang Nga bay made famous in the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. We saw water buffalo, carefully attended to by the white egrets that keep them bug free in a perfectly symbiotic relationship.

We also saw one bird that I thought we’d missed out on in the jungle…the Hornbill!

I was so excited at the prospect of seeing Hornbills. These large birds have a toucan-like beak with a large casque (horn) on top. Sir David Attenborough taught Zach and me all about them on The Life of Birds (one of my favorite series of all time) and when I heard they live in Khao Sok National Park I got the girls hyped up to see them, too. Well, come to find out, they are hard to find in Khao Sok, and our jungle guides all but laughed at the prospect of seeing them.

Which made it all the more thrilling when we looked up above the bench we were resting on in a fishing village, and saw a Hornbill just a few feet above us! It was taking refuge in the branches from a circling Brahminy Kite (eagle-like sea bird). So cool! As Zach said, that was totally worth the exhorbitant price of the tour.

We stopped to rest in a gorgeous coconut grove where Mr. Art gave us each a Thai “power bar” (sweet sticky rice filled with coconut and brown sugar and wrapped in a banana leaf) and a fresh coconut.

Thai power bar

Then the more difficult biking began. We had to crest two tough hills in the midday heat. Melina had some trouble but powered through, walking her bike up the steepest parts but keeping up most of the time. Diane served as my turbo gear on the back of the big heavy tagalong but it was still a challenge. Zach suffered the most, walking bowlegged from the impact of his bicycle seat for the rest of the day. But it was worth it! We were treated to a big Thai lunch after the climbs, and it was easy sailing for the rest of the way.

At lunch, Melina noticed that there were different carvings on the backs of the chairs. “Mommy has deer, Diane and I have birds, and Daddy has fireballs!” How right she was.

We retired to our wonderful bungalow village for the rest of the day. Melina made new friends in the pool with 13 year old “Cap” (short for a French name I couldn’t understand) and her two younger siblings. They are from Paris and are traveling for a year! Melina and Cap hit it off quickly and played make-believe games for hours. Cap is being homeschooled while they travel and her English was fantastic. Now Melina is even more excited to go to Paris someday!

It was a shame D couldn’t play in the pool with Cap’s six year old sister, so instead she joined me on a walk down the beach to a sandbar that connects to a small island. Because it was low tide, Diane was able to walk to the island in her shoes and socks, and we had some much fun looking at all the different kinds of tiny crabs in the sand. At one point on the way there, Diane said, “look Mom! A Hornbill!” And sure enough, there was another Hornbill flying above us that landed on a nearby tree. We saw him again on our way back and were able to get very close to see him hopping through the trees. So exciting! Diane also spotted what was either a huge lizard or a baby monitor lizard on the island. It was easily 3 feet long. Diane decided she was getting so good at spotting wildlife that she should lead safaris or jungle treks someday.
When we returned Zach was so sad to have missed out on these sightings that Diane took him back on the walk again, and they had a blast together.

D on the sandbar to the island

Crabbie

D with a dead horseshoe crab

At dinnertime Zach noticed the ladies at reception (who have been so helpful and wonderful to us, especially when D was hurt) were setting up a grill and he put in an order for “barbequed prawns.” They asked if he wanted one order or two, and thank goodness he broke habit and just ordered one, because the order was enormous!!

Crazy huge shrimp next to crazy huge beer. Diane = actual size.

Not only were there more than 20 prawns (with heads), but each one was a giant; the tails alone were at least four inches long!

The shrimp and some rice more than filled us up, and afterwards Melina and Zach shared a caramel milkshake. Unfortunately, I was slammed with a migraine and Diane was tormented by some chafing from the bike ride, so we had a rough evening. After hours of agony I finally must have fallen asleep and woke up in the middle of the night, migraine-free. Whew. I really don’t know what I would have done if it had stuck around for our flight back to Bangkok or our flight home. I think that though I did a good job of hydrating on our ride, I didn’t keep it up afterwards and got a bit dehydrated. The beer at dinner probably didn’t help. I’m just glad it ended before morning.

Zach’s note: Hornbill!!! Fireballs!!!

Day 13: Recovering in Paradise

I am officially in love with Koh Yao Noi. It is currently tied with Vieques, PR as my happy place. I am actually considering eliminating all references to this island on this site and never telling anyone about it because I want it to stay quiet forever and ever.

If I ever disappear, you will find me here.

Today we didn’t do much, and it was heaven. We watched the sunrise from our bungalow. The tide was still very low, but was coming in fast.

Zach walked to the water to get this shot.

We ate banana and pineapple pancakes slathered with Nutella. By the end of breakfast it was high tide and the ocean was just steps from our bungalow. We spent hours in hammocks on the beach.

Z, M, & D from the water

Reading Rikki Tikki on my phone

I read to Diane “Toomai of the Elephants” from the Jungle Book and then she re-read “Rikki Tikki Tavi” for the 100th time. Melina continued reading the “historical fiction” novel that she found in our bungalow when I took D to the hospital yesterday. Zach had read the synopsis (it is about the Nazi occupation in Crete) and gave her the ok to read it, but I could tell immediately from the cover that it would have inappropriate content…

I was totally right. She devoured the book and then had LOTS of questions. It wasn’t hard-core or anything, but very… educational.

Zach mostly just sat and relaxed and took pictures. Occasionally he pondered questions like, “why is crab the most expensive thing on the menu here but the beach in front of me is full of literally millions of crabs?”

I mostly floated in the water.

I did rent a kayak for an hour or so to get Diane out on the calm water while keeping her foot dry. At high tide a river forms that goes way inland, farther than I dared kayak. I knew that as fast as the tide came in it could go out just as fast and I was afraid if getting stuck in the mud too far from our beach. But I was able to take Diane and then Melina out to do some exploring. We would paddle way upriver and then let the gentle current carry us silently back, watching the birds and fish in the mangroves. How in the world were the roots full of tiny silvery fish when the river only exists in high tide? Do they come in with the tide every day and make straight for the mangrove forest?

We took a long and leisurely lunch, feasting on shellfish and noodles and admiring a water monitor lizard slinking through the garden. Then Zach and D read some more while Melina and I swam in the pool. A rainstorm swept through and we enjoyed the cool air from our covered porch. We also got to see our motorcycle driver from last night cutting green papayas down from a tree by the pool for the restaurant’s Som Tam Thai (spicy green papaya salad) that has been one of our favorite dishes on this trip.

Cold, fresh coconut.

At 4pm a “taxi” (covered pickup truck) took us back to the hospital to get Diane’s toe checked and the wound cleaned. She was very nervous, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterday and she was very brave and didn’t cry at all. We got the “all clear” from the doctors so that she doesn’t have to come back for another checkup and doesn’t need antibiotics as it is healing nicely. D pointed out to us that the sign at the hospital saying “say no to foam!” as a PR campaign not to use styrofoam packaging was printed on…foam board. That kid is so observant. And back in the taxi she figured out how to say the “r” sound correctly for the first time. She had so much fun saying, “Daddy is frequently incorrrrrrrect!” over and over again.

At our request, our taxi driver took us to a local market on the way back and we picked up all kinds of cool street foods for dinner and dessert. In Thailand, street food is where it’s AT. The markets have some dry goods but mostly it is pre-made food for locals to take home for dinner. We bought everything that looked good and feasted back at our bungalow.

Delicious seafood omelet topped with bean sprouts

Intense red curry wrapped in a banana leaf

Donut hole topped with green coconut custard

Delicious pancake stuffed with peanuts

Zach’s mystery meat on a stick. It had a claw, so we are guessing some kind of poultry…

Diane discovers her “sausage” on a stick (more like a chicken hot dog) is stuffed with…cream cheese?

Mango and black sticky rice. YUMMMMM

Thai dessert tacos. Marshmallow filling! These must be very popular as we’ve seen them at every market and are just now giving them a try.

Melina hopped back in the pool with a young couple and their daughter and they swam and raced and played monkey in the middle for about an hour. Melina was flushed from the exercise and with the happiness of making a new friend.

As the night ended, Diane was so happy about being done with the hospital that she kept singing, “I’m awaaaaake and happyeeeee!!” until we finally made her settle down in bed. She was fast asleep moments later.

D & M reading aloud to each other. So sweet.

We still need to keep Diane’s toe dry tomorrow, so for our last day on Koh Yao Noi we booked a bike tour of the island. It was pricey (US prices! Zach is sick to his stomach over that) but gets great reviews and they have a tagalong for D to ride. We’ll see how that goes…

Day 12: Koh Yao Noi

Today was quite an adventure. It started with luxury in Khao Lak and ended with a trip to the ER. Everyone is ok, but I guess our travel luck was bound to run out eventually.

Our last morning in Khao Lak was great. We began by lingering over the huge buffet breakfast at the hotel. Waffles, omelets, bacon, and other American favorites are avail along side European Staples like muesli, pastries, and cheese. But don’t forget the Asian breakfasts like fried rice, seafood salad, and noodle soups. And lots of fresh fruit. We probably gained 5 lbs each on breakfast alone.

I was also able to book an early morning Thai massage on the beach (only about $13 for a full hour, even at this overpriced resort!) and it was quite relaxing. The cabana was cooled by a fan and the sounds of the waves lapped on the ocean just a few steps away. My masseuse contorted and prodded me until I walked away feeling like a wobbly mess of Jell-O. It was marvelous.

Zach caught a sneaky pic of my “me time.”

Then we hopped in a van to ride to Phuket, where we boarded a longtail boat for the hour long ride to the tiny island of Koh Yao Noi.

We got a kick out of our driver’s crazy stick shift.

Boat to Koh Yao Noi

I was looking for relaxation on this part of our trip; no tours, hikes, or excursions, just beach and pool. Koh Yao seemed perfect. The beaches aren’t pristine so the resorts haven’t developed here and it is a mainly Muslim community on the island, so there is no night life to speak of. Perfect for us. We hopped in a truck with six other people for a ride to our seaside bungalows. There we met a family from the French Alps on month two of a five months trip with their kids who were the same ages as M and D! They were just in South Africa, and after Thailand they will continue to Australia and then New York City. We are totally jealous.

We arrived at our Koh Yao Seaview Bungalows hot and tired, but the friendly service, adorable bungalows, and surprisingly good restaurant perked us up. Plus, we have house geckos again (a bonus amenity not advertised on the website)! We took a dip in the pool and set off to explore the beach.

Cool designs left by crabs excavating their tunnel homes in the sand

The beach on this side of the island is really a long muddy plain at low tide, but we were expecting this and had a lot of fun chasing crabs and squishing our feet in the mud on the way to the warm, gentle waves of the bay. The karst formations in the distance and the jungle life around make for a surreal experience.

We spent some solid time out there before heading back. Unfortunately, this is where our luck took a turn. Diane (it’s always Diane) sliced her toe on a rock in the mud, and Zach carried her back to the reception area. We cleaned it off but decided it needed better attention, so D and I got on the back of a motorcycle (!) for a ride to the emergency room of the hospital on the island. Diane was in pain but holding it together, and I tried not to pay attention to the signs designating the waiting room as “Mass Casualty Zone C.” The doctors and nurses were so kind and patient, even when I had to hold a screaming Diane down while they cleaned and bandaged the wound. Poor girl. It was pretty miserable. But the whole experience was fast and only cost about $15, which included the prescription of what I assume is Tylenol to help the pain. We go back tomorrow for a follow up visit where they will change the bandage and decide if she needs antibiotics.

I can’t say enough about the owners of our hotel. They went out of their way to help, with a daughter of the owner driving us to the hospital, waiting with us and translating and helping wherever she could, and then paying for the visit (we will attempt to pay them back of course). Then she drove us back, at which point we could appreciate the ride much better. She was a very safe driver and the island is small and slow with zero traffic. I didn’t even see a single car the entire 14km round trip, just motor bikes and bicycles. We did see cows, each with their own bird to eat the bugs from their face, lots of happy and healthy kitty cats, a small but impressive mosque in construction, and countless smiling locals.

We ended our day having a nice dinner at the open air hotel. Zach and I slowly drained two large beers while we all watched geckos (our favorite pasttime) and laughed about the crazyness of our day. Our time here was meant to be full of beach and pool, but now we have to figure out what to do that doesn’t involve getting Diane’s foot wet. It will be a challenge and we could all go stir crazy, but the hammocks and cozy porch recliners are calling to me, so it may just be the perfect vacation from our vacation. We’ll see…

Day 11: Dabbing, Flossing, and Snorkeling in Khao Lak

Today we took another snorkeling trip, but this time at a local reef off the mainland nearer to Khao Lak. Our guide was Num, and when we told him we were from Virginia he lit up. “Ah! West Virginia, mountain mama!” Apparently Country Roads by John Denver is a huge hit here and everyone knows the song. Go figure. Num was accompanied by his seven year old son, Soyti, who is on school holiday. The “spring” holiday is six weeks long here, and we have seen a lot of kids working alongside their parents as a result. Soyti was a chatterbox and loved practicing his English with us. He immediately took to Diane and they sat together on the boat discussing the fish they hoped to see. Soyti is a few months older than D is, but about half her size (I would have guessed he was a small four year old), but they were so similar in attitude and energy and became fast friends. Soyti liked showing us how he could “dab,” and Melina showed him how to “floss.” It was a meaningful cultural exchange.

Num took us via longtail boat through the mangrove bay. The bay was gorgeous and we passed by local fishing boats and dive boats. We even saw a monkey digging in the mud by the mangroves. Num told us that twenty or so years ago the mangrove forests in this area had been completely flattened by locals burning wood for charcoal. The king paid a visit and saw the destruction and decreed that it should be replanted and designated a national park. Now, not only are the fish and wildlife coming back, but the mangroves also served as a natural defense against the 2004 tsunami, and this area was spared the devastation that it brought to neighboring communities. Num did point out a rotting ship that stayed where it had been deposited by the tsunami in memorium for the people aboard that had died.

In memory of those that died in the 2004 tsunami

Fishing covered in lights to attract squid at night

Monkey in the mangroves

The snorkeling turned out to be great, and we were surrounded by schools of brightly colored fish that were not a bit shy around us. We all had a great time exploring the reef with only a handful of other snorkelers nearby.

When we had exhausted ourselves (well, except for me- I could snorkel forever!) we rode a bit more to a nearly deserted beach for a home cooked lunch and beach time. Soyti and Diane played and played in the waves. When a thunderstorm rolled in, we all took refuge under a thatched roof and talked about the US and Thailand and traveling and Num’s life and all sorts of other things. He told us that Thais don’t teach their children to swim, and so kids grow up afraid of the water. He thinks it is because Thais are so busy working hard, and they don’t have time to go to the beach. He also lamented that so many of his friends’ marriages have broken up, which only adds to the need to work even harder. He told us about how he lived in Bangkok for fourteen years as a musician in a rock band (“you know Guns and Roses?” he asked) and also has traveled all over the north of the country giving aid to the northern hill tribes. Now he leads tours and teaches guitar and drum lessons to local kids, while also serving as dad to Soyti and two daughters as well, aged 2 and 3 months. He is busy but seems very happy! He hopes to take his family to Cambodia someday to see Ankor Wat and thinks they can manage because it is so cheap there. Sounds good to me!

We had such a wonderful time with Num and Soyti and were very sad to leave them. Melina schemed about how to smuggle Soyti home in our suitcase, and he seemed totally cool with the idea.

This beach was full of sand dollars

Back at the hotel and armed with a bottle of citronella spray, we relaxed at the pool and walked on the beach for the remainder of the day. I had packed some bug spray with deet and we had bought more before going to the jungle, but I had not accounted for the fact that the mosssies are brutal in Khao Lak. Thankfully, the citronella spray has been more effective for us than the deet, and the smell is much better.

We had a fun “splurge” meal at our overpriced hotel restaurant tonight to say goodbye to Khao Lak. Melina has discovered the joy that is pad thai so she ordered that instead of one of the free kids meals that come with our reservation (Zach nearly had a heart attack), we all got fancy drinks and even dessert. And the total was still only $50. Ridiculously expensive for Thailand, but quite a steal by US standards. We had a fun dinner, giggling about our day and how we were the only people in the restaurant. This hotel is full of Europeans who eat much later than Americans, but we have been so exhausted from snorkeling that we haven’t been able to wait past 7pm to eat.

My passion fruit caipirinha. I now only drink cocktails made with passion fruit juice.

Tomorrow, on to the last leg of our trip: the island of Koh Yao Noi!

Day 10: Surin Islands

The reason we are staying in Khao Lak is its proximity to some of the best snorkeling in Thailand. The Similan and Surin Islands are protected national parks, and although they have suffered massive coral bleaching they still are home to a host of marine life. I had planned to go to the Similan islands when I booked this trip ages ago, but since then the rules have changed and there are a lot of regulations in place to cut down on the number of visitors. This is very good for the islands, but it did mean that we had to change our plans and visit the Surin islands instead. As it turns out, these are the better islands for snorkeling anyway (Similan is dive-focused) so it worked out perfectly. That wasn’t our only lucky break. The water was calm and the dramamine did it’s trick (no puking on the 1.5 hour ride in open water!). The weather was perfect; enough cloud cover to keep the weather pleasant and enough sun to see all the colors underwater. Our tour group as small and quiet with only eight other people (all various Europeans) and they were all polite and kind. As Zach put it, there were so many things that could have gone wrong today, and thankfully none of them did.

Ready to board our boat!

Most importantly, the girls were amazing and completely loved their first time snorkeling! We had brought their own facemasks and snorkels (which to date had only been used in the tub and creek) and had brought snorkeling float vests for them as well. Those things were literally livesavers! They made it so the girls could effortlessly glide with their faces in the water and didn’t have to work to stay afloat at all. I snorkeled hand-in-hand with Diane, while Zach and Melina were paired up. Melina had a bit more autonomy but she did a great job of staying close by. We all had such a great experience that we are going to go snorkeling again tomorrow! Today we saw: sea urchin, giant clams, rainbow parrotfish, angelfish, surgeonfish, sealface pufferfish, and clownfish (“Nemos!” as Diane pointed out) among many, many others. No biggies (sharks, turtles, eels, rays, etc) but it was still wonderful and the girls were entranced. Our guide, Gif, was amazing. He said he leads this same tour every day, with only one or two days off a month. But he likes it, because he always sees different things in the water.

Crown of thorns starfish

Our tour of the Surin Islands wasn’t just snorkeling. We also visited the Moken village on Koh Surin. Last month, all but a few houses in the village were destroyed by fire (luckily no one was hurt). The Thai government paid to have their houses rebuilt, and we were the first tourist group to visit the “new” town. Apparently this same town was destroyed in the 2004 tsunami, so these former seat gypsies have seen their share of hardship.

We also had time to relax on a gorgeous beach in a protected cove that was part of the national park. The water was knee deep and perfectly clear and warm (but not hot) for as far out as we dared venture. We even saw another kind of money here!

After our amazing day, we returned to the hotel to relax in the pool. Then we sat in beach chairs with tropical drinks to watch the sunset, while an acoustic guitarist played American fork songs nearby. He asked everyone to sing along to Country Roads and we happily obliged. Talk about something we didn’t expect to do on this trip!

Day 9: Khao Lak

We said a bittersweet goodbye to our wonderful jungle treehouse in Khao Sok this morning. As Diane put it, “we are sad to leave, but happy we are going to the beach!”

One final swing in the jungle

We will miss the lizards, frogs, and even the monkeys. We will miss the cacaphony of night music lulling us to sleep and the surprisingly effective mosquito coils and netting. We will miss the cool shady breezes under the tall leafy trees. Maybe most of all, we will miss our house gecko and the presents he leaves for us in our bathroom.

Not “our” house gecko, but a smaller one of the same species (we think)

Only a little more than an hour later we stepped out of our van into the Manathai Resort in Khao Lak.

We were greeted with icy watermelon juice and cold towels smelling of lemongrass. A porter took our luggage (4 backpacks) in hand and asked, “this is all?” We sat on cushy sofas while the concierge described the multiple restaurants.

We felt completely out of place.

That’s not to say that a bit of luxury isn’t nice, it just isn’t really our style! At first we were wowed and couldn’t believe we’d stumbled on this place for just over $100/night, but soon the reason became apparent and we started to miss our more humble digs. Laundry service costs a fortune so is out of the question (I am likely the first person to wash underwear in this fancy sink in our room), the restaurant is easily 2 or 3 times as expensive as anywhere else we’ve eaten, the filtered water that has been free or cheap everywhere else has to be purchased from the mini fridge at a premium, and the hourly shuttle to town is pricey and seats must be reserved in advance.

But. We are right on the beach.

The pool is gorgeous.

Our room is clean and spacious.

And we have booked snorkeling trips for the next two days. So all in all, it’s a win.

After check-in and lunch we spent three hours at the beach and pool. The ocean water is HOT (it must be close to 100 degrees) so is not refreshing at all, but we swam a bit and being wet cooled us a bit while we walked the nearly deserted beach in search of shells. We found lots of hermit crabs, some cool tide pools with barnacles, fish, and sea anemones, and Zach’s favorite, the spiral shells. Diane even found some pretty rocks she wants to bring home for her rock tumbler.

Mystery shells? seed pods? live animals? that we could not identify.

The pool was only slightly cooler, but again, being in the water was better than not being in the water so we swam and played. The girls noticed some cultural differences, like how Europeans don’t put swim suits on their kids (even at the pool). The girls were dying to use the floating toys in the pool but I was sure they belonged to someone. They disagreed and insisted they we’re there for everyone. I was proved correct when a buck naked boy started motioning to Melina from the side of the pool. She was definitely a little creeped out until his mom came over and told her in English that the inner tube she was using was theirs and they were leaving. Oops! Well, I do give her credit for not staring.

Since the restaurant here is overpriced and has more American menu items than Thai ones, we called a cab to go into town (because the shuttle bus was fully reserved). The town is nothing much from what we could tell, just a strip of restaurants and touristy shops along the highway. We randomly picked a restaurant and were pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be quite good! Our “fish in holy basil” was fresh and the girls loved their squid in sweet and sour sauce and smoothies.

Afterwards we stopped for Thai “fried” ice cream sold from a cart. The ice cream starts out smashed onto a super cold slab of metal, and then is mixed over and over and spread into a thin rectangle. Then it is shaved into large curls. It was so fun, and also delicious! Zach and I shared the passion fruit flavor (my new favorite fruit) and Melina and Diane had Oreo and blackberry, respectively. We hope that the place in Charlottesville that does this is as good- we will have to try them when we get home!

Now we are getting to bed so we can be ready for our early snorkeling trip tomorrow. Some rain in the forecast- hopefully it holds off!

Day 8: Monkeys in the Morning

This morning we were treated to a family of longtailed macaque monkeys on their daily commute through the trees and over our treehouse!

We stayed inside and watched them, mesmerized. When one got a bit too close for comfort we closed up the windows, but otherwise it was so cool to see them climbing on our deck, swinging on the Vines and to hear them running on the roof above our heads. When they had passed by to a safer distance, we went back on the porch to continue admiring them from afar and after a few minutes Zach looked up and realized one was still sitting in the rafters of our porch above our heads! We quietly retreated back into the house until he had gone. Wow.

We also discovered the mystery guest in our bathroom! He had left us another “present” in exactly the same spot this morning, so we looked up to discover a giant gecko! We had been admiring one of these huge guys at the restaurant last night, and were actually pretty glad to find out he was the culprit since we know he will leave us alone. He hid before Zach could take a picture, but maybe we’ll get another chance. He is about six inches long without including his stubby tail, and is fat and sticky-looking. Pretty adorable!

Today we signed up to go with Mr. Le to his home in a nearby village. There, we sat in his lovely garden while he and his wife taught us to make a delightful pineapple jam. Then he gave us each a bamboo cup and sounded out our names in Thai for us to carve into them, along with any other designs we liked. The girls loved this, and Diane drew a jungle scene on her cup and Melina drew some animals and encouraged Mr. Le to draw her a flower and a coconut tree. Yet again we were reminded that the name “Zach” is nearly unpronounceable in other languages. Mr. Le gave the same reaction we saw in Peru: a wide eyed look of surprise when Zach says his name. “Sex?” he asked, incredulous. But he finally got himself close.

Making pineapple jam

“Zach” (or “sex?”) in Thai

View from Mr. Le’s garden

He gave us all a small packaged Thai cake to try. It was a very sweet, dense and dry cake with a mild banana (or maybe even bubblegum?) flavor. He said Thais take this snack out in jungle or fields, and would fill up on only two or three of them, which along with water will keep you full all day. So basically, it’s like Thai lembas bread!

Mr. Le was friendly and was a joy to talk with; he loved discussing Hollywood action moves, especially those with “old superstars” like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis. He told us about studying machine engineering but how after years of working in the commercial refrigerator business he moved back to his home town here in the jungle to raise a family and help his friend who was writing tourism guidebooks. Now his daughter is almost done studying Law at University, and he grows fruit trees (pineapple, rambutan, durian, mangosteen, coconut) and rubber trees. The rubber trees were all tapped and dripping rubber into cups, which then gets sold to make Firestone and Michelin tires.

Rubber tree

We had our afternoon open and spent it walking to town, exploring the nature trails nearby, and swimming in the creek. The creek (which is a river in the rainy season) was so beautifully peaceful and cool and fun. Zach swung on the rope swing, Melina sang and splashes, Diane practiced her snorkeling, and I floated lazily watching the cliffs and trees above. We found a sizeable snakeskin on the cliffs by the creek, and Diane delighted in chasing fish with her snorkeling gear and even saw a few pufferfish. Bodes well for the snorkeling we plan to do over the next few days.

Ice cream in Khao Sok town

Melina leads the way with the map

Nature walk

Cool leaf bug

More monkeys on our walk!

When we went back to our room to change we had more visitors:

These guys were brazen, and one was clearly trying to get into our house. Thankfully the windows were closed as we were on our way out, so we had nothing to worry about. However, Diane was a bit shaken (after being the brave monkey admirer until now) and the girls flipped roles with Melina taking on the part of the protective older sister. It was very sweet.

Later at dinner the skies opened up and it started to pour down rain. Timing was perfect as we have checked off all the “must do” items for the jungle part of our trip, so we could just sit back and enjoy the cooler air. It is close to the end of the dry season here so the plants immediately seemed to react to the much needed rain. Everything looked greener, more lush, and more alive. Some animals even came out of hiding, like a GIANT frog that hopped lazily through the restaurant during dinnertime! There are even some fireflies that responded to the lightning.

The frog is half the size of my purse!

We have been told then when the rains come, so do the leeches… thankfully we haven’t seen any of those yet! We will be sad to leave this beautiful place tomorrow but are so excited for the next part of our journey. Goodbye, Khao Sok!

Our treehouse, “Rambutan”

Day 7: Cheow Lan Lake

There is no way I can do justice to our day today. It was completely magical. I will put in writing what I can, but I think the pictures tell the better story.

We took an all day trip to Cheow Lan Lake today. Here’s what we did:

1. Drove 45 minutes to a local market to pick up some snacks.

2. Continued 15 more minutes to the lake. Boarded a longtail boat and over the next hour experienced the most dramatically gorgeous surroundings we have ever seen. Cooled down with ice cream from a guy selling it from a canoe in the middle of the lake.

4.Docked at a pier on a different part of the lake inaccessible by car. After some delicious local snacks our guide had brought along (fried banana rolled in a ball of sweet sticky rice and coconut and deep fried, and gelatinous coconut with yummy mystery filling), hiked 45 minutes over a ridge to another part of the lake.

5. At a remote floating village, boarded a bamboo raft, rode 10 minutes to yet another part of the lake.

6. Climbed a hill to explore the Coral Cave. Admired limestone formations sparkling with silica that look like elephants, curtains, and people. Admired bats on ceiling.

7. Returned to bamboo raft, crossed lake, hiked back to longtail boat. Rode 15 minutes to floating pier and restaurant for a late lunch of fish and curry. Swam in lake (not pictured as photos are on waterproof camera).

8. Rode longtail boat back to harbor, rode in van back to Jungle Lodge.

Whew. If that sounds like a lot, it isn’t even scratching the surface. Here are some more highlights:

– This morning we had a visitor in our bathroom: a frog. The girls were so excited, and Melina realized he was trying to get down the drain in the floor. We opened it up and sure enough, he hopped right down!

– This evening while we were at dinner, we apparently had another visitor. Our house is in a favorite place of the macaque monkeys, so we have followed the advice of locking up anytime we leave and never leaving food in the room. Which is why we were surprised to find that someone had left us a little present on the floor of our shower: poop. It could have been from a monkey or another small mammal that squeezed in through the eaves or the vent in the shower. The girls were pretty freaked out by that one. In fact, I think Melina will always have a slight fear of monkeys after her encounter in Lop Buri.

– We had the option of a group tour of the lake or a private tour. The private tour was only $100 more so we splurged, and I’m so glad we did! It was amazing to move at our own pace, get to decide on the itinerary, and not have to worry about other people mucking up the experience for us.

– Our guide, Tian, was born in Cheow Lan Lake. Really. It used to be a valley between karst formations with a small lake in the middle, but 30 something years ago it was dammed up by the government for electricity. Families were paid to move, and hers was one that had to resettle on higher ground. At the bottom of the 100 meter deep (!) lake there are houses, temples, and other remnants of this lost city.

– When swimming, the girls were giggling like maniacs trying to climb onto a kayak from the water. A lithe, athletic American girl (probably 11 or 12 years old) swam over and easily pulled right up into the boat. The three of them played happily in the water until we left, plotting to steal a kayak and live on the lake, subsisting on only ice cream from the ice cream boat guy. They were so happy to have made a friend.

– Once the girls were asleep, Zach and I snuck out to the bar for festive beverages and to write this blog. This cat climbed in my lap and made herself comfortable. I love her.

Zach’s note: what an amazing day! I’ve named the cat “Campylobacter” after the bacterial infection Karen got the last time she patted a random cat while traveling. And swore she wouldn’t do it again.