Day 169 Jan 20 2015 Khao Sok Thailand

On the way to the raft houses 

the raft houses on Cheow Lan Lake

swimming through the Nam Ta Lu Cave

a cool formation

Day 169  Jan 20 2015  Khao Sok Thailand

We went on a tour to Cheow Lan Lake in the Khao Sok national park.  We were picked up at our hotel by van at 8:30 and given a 1 hour ride to the lake.  Once at the lake we were loaded onto long tail boats and shuttled up the lake for 1  hour.  The scenery around the lake is gorgeous with large limestone cliffs and hills.   We stopped at the raft houses on the lake where we had 1 hour to swim and use the kayaks.  One of the options for tours included an overnight stay at the raft houses.   When I saw the raft houses I was glad that we did not opt for that tour as the walkways were definitely not safe for little kids like Isabel.  After the swimming we were fed a lunch of fish and chicken.  Once lunch was done we were loaded back into the long tail boats for a 5 minute ride to the start of the walking trail to the Nam Ta Lu Cave.  We walked 2.5 km to the cave mouth then 800 meters through the cave.  The passage through the cave was very cool, requiring us to walk down a small water fall and wade (swim for Isabel and David) through water that was at my eye level.  Once out of the cave we walked 1.5 km back to the boats and were taken back to the pier were we got into the van and were driven back to our hotel.  At the hotel we watched a documentary on the tsunami that hit the area in 2004.  On the walk from the restaurant to the hotel I came within 2 inches of stepping on a large black scorpion.  That could have been a bad ending to a very good day.

Day 168 Jan 19 2015 Khao Sok Thailand

our hotel room

only in Thailand

on the way to town from our hotel in Khao Sok

tsunami memorial Khao Lak 

Day 168  Jan 19 2015 Khao Sok Thailand

Our day started with no water in the hotel, so we got dressed and went for breakfast.  After breakfast Isabel and I went swimming in the pool and David caught some lizards.  We took a mini van from Khao Lak to Khao Sok.  We stopped at pharmacy to buy ear drops for David as we are pretty sure he has an ear infection.  We also stopped at a navy ship that was pushed 2 km inland during the tsunami that hit the Khao Lak area in 2004. It is now a monument to all the people that died in the disaster.  During our drive to Khoa Sok we came up behind a truck hauling an elephant.  I am fairly certain I will never see that again in my life.  The hotel we booked has tree house rooms that are 4 meters off the ground.  We got two room attached as one tree house, the kids will get one room and Evy and I the other.  The bathroom is opened to the outside and we were warned to lock our doors and window when we leave to make sure monkeys do not get in and make a mess.  The shortest way to get to the village is to wade across a river then walk a km to the main and only street.  Once you reach the main street if you turn left and walk 300 meters you are in the Khao Sok national park.  There is no traffic noise at the hotel, only the sound of the insects, birds, monkey and other rainforest animals.

Day 167 Jan 18 2015 Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta Thailand

on our way to the next dive site

looking buff in my skin tight shirt (in my mind anyway)

excited to go snorkeling 

swimming from the boat

almost back in port

Day 167  Jan 18 2015  Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta   Thailand

We were woken up by the engine starting up during the night.  The captain decided to move the boat as it was getting rough in the bay.  When we woke up were moored in Princess Bay of island # 4, the boat was then moved to a different spot on island # 4 where we were dropped off by dingy close to the shore.  The main boat was moved 400 meters down the shore and we snorkeled along the shore to get to it.  David saw a turtle swimming so he turned to look at it and when he was turning he kicked a different turtle that had come up behind him.  We visited several other sites with some nice coral formations.  The boat left the islands at noon and arrived back in port around 4:30 pm.  On the way I saw a whale breach the surface of the ocean about 300 feet of the side, it was an impressive site.  The trip was fantastic and enjoyed by everyone on board.   Isabel made a new friend; a girl from Spain was also on the trip, so she finally had someone to play with instead of her brother.   When we got back to the hotel we ate supper and booked the next 3 nights of our adventure.  We decided to go to a national park called Khoa Sok which is supposedly an hours’ drive from here.

Day 166 Jan 17 2015 Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta Thailand

our boat for the tour

jumping from the top deck

yet another beautiful beach

David in gym class

honeymoon bay

fantastic food 

Day 166  Jan 17 2015  Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta   Thailand

Breakfast was served at 8 am followed by snorkeling.  We dove at 4 different sites around islands # 8 and # 9.  We saw an amazing number of fish a 5 to 6 foot moray eel with the highlight for me being a turtle eating a fairly large jelly fish.  We had 3 fantastic meals that were magically prepared in a kitchen that is no more than 4 feet by 7 feet on the most basic of cooking appliances.  The cook was preparing meals for 17 passengers as well as the crew of 5.  We were also fed a snack of banana fritters that I will have to try to make when I get home.  I am pretty sure that I will be disappointed with the results when I try it as the ambiance does affect the taste.  Toward evening we were taken to island # 4 and were taken to the beach where we saw lots of fruit bats and some type of endangered pigeon.  We walked across the island to the beach on the other side where we were taken back to the main boat.  David and Evy decided to swim.  We went snorkeling on island #4 and saw an octopus that we followed for 10 minutes watching it change colors to match what it was swimming over.  When I would get close to it, it would change to a black color then back to the color of it surroundings.  We tied up to a boy on island # 4 for the night and I finished of the night again with the kids watching the stars from the sundeck. 

Day 165 Jan 16 2015 Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta Thailand

Enjoying a tea on the Choke Duang Ta

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Isabel and her new friend

roughing it on the beach

over looking a beautiful bay

if you slip off the "bridge" it is a 4  meter fall

getting ready to watch the sun set

Day 165  Jan 16 2015  Similan Islands on Choke Duang Ta   Thailand

We got picked up at 6:45 at our hotel and driven to the Poseidon Bungalows where we stored out luggage as space on the boat is at a premium.  We were then driven to the boat where we stowed out luggage and got ready for the 4 hour ride out to the Simlan Islands.  The kids started to get motion sick on the way so we gave them a pill and it made them sleepy.  I felt fine but decided I might as well take the opportunity for a nap as well.  I woke up about 1 hour before we got to Island # 9.  Once we were anchored we put on the snorkeling equipment and jumped into the ocean.  We snorkeled on island # 9 for at least an hour then we moved to a different bay on the island.  We were fed a very good lunch and then went into the water for another 45 minutes of snorkeling.  We then moved to island # 8 where we snorkeled for another hour.  Once everybody was back on board we were taken by a little boat to the beach where we walked up to a big bolder perched on top of a rock hill, the view was nice.  We then went to the beach to play in the water and to watch the sunset.  We were then taken back onto the boat where we were served a fantastic supper.  To finish the night off I lay on the sun deck and watched the stars while talking to some of the other passengers.  I saw one of the best shooting stars of my life; it came across the sky slowly for a meteorite so I could follow it for several seconds.   It then shot off some sparks and disappeared just like a roman candle.  

Day 164 Jan 15 2015 Khoa Lak Thailand

really sour lime juice

walking down a rural road in Khao Lak Thailand

a quiet beach in Thailand

waiting for supper once again

Food tastes better outdoors 

Day 164  Jan 15 2015  Khoa Lak  Thailand

We left Phuket and took a taxi to Poseidon Bungalows in Khoa Lak where we paid for the snorkeling cruise and our hotel for the night we return from the cruise.  We were then given a ride to the Mountain View Bungalows, our hotel just down the road.  It is the first time on the trip that we booked two rooms or in this case two separate bungalows for the night as we could not get a room with two double beds or even a double and a twin.   After we were settled in to the hotel room we went for a walk to the beach approximately 800 meters away.  On the way we passed a couple of elephants that were tied up for the night in the bush along the road.  When we got to the beach it was mostly deserted with only a few people walking on it.   We walked a few hundred meters and discovered a restaurant where we decided to eat supper, the food was very good.  By the time we were done eating it was already dark.  On the way back to our hotel we walked by the Poseidon Bungalows and the kids wanted to jump into the pool so I said ok.  For some reason shone the flashlight into the pool and discovered the water was a disgusting gray color.  I immediately told the kids to get out and have a shower by the pool and that they had to have a proper shower with soap when we got back to our hotel.  I hope they do not get sick from swimming in the pool.  We then walked back to our hotel down a dark jungle road with absolutely no street lighting, where earlier in the day we had seen a large snake slither across the road.   The kids were not as scared as I thought they would be, so it turned out to be a nice walk under a star lit road.  

Day 163 Jan 14 2015 Phuket Thailand

David was thrilled that they had a menu for ice cream

Enjoying our ice cream in Phuket 

Day 163  Jan 14 2015  Phuket Thailand

We had a slow start to the day as we were researching Vietnam visas and cruises.  According to the Vietnam embassy website in Canada we needed to obtain a visa before leaving Canada.  There is even a warning listing many of the agents websites offering “visa on arrival” services. According to the embassy website they are not valid and you should notify the embassy if you have started to use one of the services.  We then read a guide on Trip Advisor that says that the warning on the embassy website is rubbish and there is no problem to obtain a visa on arrival.  We have tickets to Vietnam already as we had to purchased them so we could get on the plane in Kuala Lumpur when we were flying to Thailand.  The joys of being forced by the air lines to have an onward or return ticket to enter a country.  We have decided to take a chance on the VOD sent our application to one of the on-line agents.  If we are denied entry into Vietnam we will lose not only the cost of the plane tickets but the cost of the VOD applicaton.  The old adage “in for a penny, in for a pound” applies in this case.  In the afternoon we took a taxi and went looking for a place where we could get pictures for the visas and sunscreen for the Similan Islands cruise we are going on in two days.