Travel to Koh Tao

It has been some days since we were in Trang -- Trang was a cool bustling town, and we ended up spending our whole time there just wandering around checking out the local sights and markets, and getting a little consumer-oriented for the first time (we found some really cool t-shirts there). We were going to try to check out some of the waterfalls in the surrounding areas, but in the end we did not get a chance to see any due to a transportation issue and to me (Skye) suddenly becoming extra safety conscious despite the fact that most of our travel so far has pushed this little issue -- somehow I just couldn't 'get behind' climbing into the back of a pick-up truck with the kids and then barrelling down the highway to our destination 45 minutes away -- I couldn't rationalize how that was any different from a tuk-tuk (which is also like a very little pick-up truck with benches in the back and a little roof -- and we've gone in tonnes of these), but somehow it just seemed more risky. Oh well, we'll have to see waterfalls elsewhere.

A gigantic Buddha being built on the temple grounds in Trang.

After two days in Trang, we lugged ourselves over to a minibus terminal to travel onwards to Surat Thani -- a town on the Southeastern side of Thailand, and a jumping-off point for all of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao). When we got to the terminal, it didn't look too busy, and we thought there would be plenty of room, especially important for Ronato whose long legs present a bit of a problem in vehicles here in Asia. We climbed into the large van which seated 15 and settled in, feeling pretty comfortable, but then at the last minute people just kept climbing in until almost all 15 seats were filled (all except one beside the driver). The driver took off, honking and weaving through traffic, as is the Thai way, only to pull over about 10 minutes later to pick up another rider . . . hmmm where would he sit? Just squeeze in at the back. We thought that must be it, but no, we had at least 2 - 3 more stops with additional passengers climbing in so that by the time we really got on our way, the van was crammed like a sardine can. Now the driver could really put the pedal to the metal and get going! Thai driving is a crazy affair -- half the time they are either overtaking another vehicle, honking to let them know to move over, or are at least driving on the middle line, in case they have to quickly go around a scooter or other vehicle -- all the while honking. Never mind if a car is coming up from the other direction -- they just have to move over! Our driver obviously knew what he was doing though because we got to Surat Thani safe and sound, if a little squished.

Once in Surat Thani, we quickly found a hotel near the river (thinking the boat left from nearby) and dumped our stuff so we could get out and about to figure out how we were going to get to Koh Tao. We quickly realized that most ferries to Koh Tao actually leave from a point 60+ km to the south of Surat Thani -- drat . . . and we'd already picked our hotel! We did notice, however, that we could book a space on a night cargo boat heading to Koh Tao that left just a few blocks from our hotel -- we went to check it out and after climbing on board the boat to see what it might be like, we saw that the whole top was set up for sleeping, so we decided to go for it -- so what if we'd already booked a room (it was only 350 Thai Baht, about $13 Cdn), the room would give us a place to camp out with our stuff until the 11pm departure. Plus, it would be a whole new "method of transportation" adventure.

We had quite a few hours to kill before our departure, so we did a little chilling out in our room and then we went out to check out the night market. Wow! Yet another different market -- it was packed to the gunnels with Thai people (we only saw one other traveller) and a crazy myriad of food choices. Another yummy food adventure -- see below for some of the choices and some of the other markets, food stalls we've checked out in the last little while:

Food in small town Thailand









Limes, which people here call lemons! Great night markets with cheap excellent food









Fish kept live for fresh eating. Dumplings in all shapes and sizes -great in soups

Sun dried salted fish. Ducks on from a past firing squad

More bird carnage

A constant favourite - Red curry with coconut milk

This dinner was on our last night in Trang, we had been trying to find a noodle soup place, but weren't having much luck, so we just wandered into this place trying to say something about soup. With some minimal English (on their part) and lots of hand signals we managed to order the above meal -- it was really delicious, and everyone in the 'restaurant' (actually an open, but covered, tiled-space with tables and chairs) seemed to get a real kick over the farangs trying to order and eat! A little girl, about 1.5 years old could not stop staring at us.) In the end it was another one of those rich experiences we seem to keep having.

So, back to the night boat -- after the night market we went back to our little room, got our stuff organized, showered (it is really hot here), and worked hard to keep Kai and Pippin from trying to lie down to go to sleep, we still had to get to the boat! By 10:30 we wandered over to the ferry with our stuff and climbed on -- it was already about half full (lots of farangs) and we made ourselves busy by getting ourselves settled in, making sure our bags were within reach (we'd heard that you needed to keep your belongings close, due to theft issues), claiming beds, etc. By the 11pm departure the boat was pretty full -- though I noticed that one side was less full -- I realized that they must have sold tickets for farangs ('white' travellers) separately from Thais as our side was only travellers, and chocka-block full, while the other side was less full -- when a couple of other travellers tried to choose beds on the other side, one of the Thai women said, "Let me see your ticket number. No, you are over there!" Funny. The boat ride was not exactly the most restful, though both of the kids slept through most of the 8 hour journey, so that was great. There was the requisite crying child in the night and the lights would turn off and on randomly, so sleep was broken, but hey, it was yet another part of this adventure.

The night boat

We arrived on Koh Tao by 7 in the morning and were met with cries for "Taxi!" as soon as we stepped off our boat. We knew where we were headed generally, but of course all of the taxi drivers are also linked to resorts, so we got directed to one in the south of the island right on Shark Bay (that was where we wanted to go). When we got there, it was quite nice, so we checked in but quickly realized we were a completely captive audience with only the restaurant of the resort and one next door as possible eating venues -- as I'm sure you've all guessed, the prices were quite elevated. We ended up only staying there for two nights -- it was very beautiful, but maybe a little too isolated (you should have seen the road to get there -- all the taxis here are 4WD trucks), and not enough options for eating. We did do some snorkeling there, and saw some really, really big tropical fish, but swimming was challenging because the coral basically came almost right up to the shore, making it difficult to get into/out of the water without hitting the coral. This provided a bit of a challenge for the kids.

Here are some images from our time at Shark Bay on Koh Tao:

Fresh coconut! We got to watch a man climb the coconut palm like a monkey and then cut all the coconuts down. It didn't taste like any of us expected. Interesting . . .

The view from the resort restaurant. Pretty nice view, but the food was mediocre for Thailand!

Kai on a walk around the bay, sporting some of his cool new clothes.

Amazing shells to be found everywhere

Coral washed up on the beach

Learning backgammon. We've managed to teach both Kai and Pippin -- lots of fun!

So now it is the weekend. Yesterday we decided to come up to Sai Ree Beach on the western side of Koh Tao -- we found a very comfortable resort with a pool right on the beach -- and it has a movie channel with lots of English movies!!! We thought it would be fun to be in a busier part of the island and in a resort with some special comforts for the time leading into Kai's 11th birthday on Feb. 24th. The kids are thrilled and we are continuing to have a great time. There are even some more European style bakeries here, so we can get a birthday cake made!

Well that's it until our next post . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin

We Have Arrived!

Hello again all. Sorry for the longer space between this blog and our last one, but the cost of using the internet on Koh Lipe was more than we wanted to spend. It has also been quite nice to be on the island in true "out of the way" spirit -- away from computers and focused on savouring each moment on the tropical paradise that Koh Lipe turned out to be.

Yes, Koh Lipe landed up being something none of us had ever experienced: a tropical island surrounded by incredible tropical coral reefs which were filled with unimaginable varieties of colourful sea life, and beautiful powdery white sand beaches. We all spent a lot of time "Oooing and Aahing" at the beauty of the place, and the photos in this blog entry will, hopefully do justice to the amazing place that it is. It was easy to take beautiful pictures in this type of setting.

We arrived on Koh Lipe after a very long boat journey from Koh Lanta that took more than five hours on two separate boats. The boat trip was actually quite comfortable -- we had the option to sit below deck or out in the open on top of the boat to take in all the sights. We began the trip by weaving through a long stretch of mangrove forests on the east coast of Koh Lanta and were encouraged to see that there were visible signs that the local government is trying to raise awareness about the importance of the mangrove ecology and that they are replanting any areas that are more bare. It was a good view of a mangrove coastline from the boat because the boat had to sneak through some very narrow passageways and the forests were right there to admire. As the boat continued south, the landscapes became more and more of what we had in mind when we thought of Southern Thailand (based on pictures we had seen). The waters on the coast line got fabulously clear, emerald or turquoise-coloured, and the tropical fish life became more and more visible. With every stop (at other islands on the way South) we would look out at stunning islands covered in tropical jungles with enormous canopied trees sticking out and at gorgeous waters teeming with schools of colourful fish that one normally only sees in fish tanks in Canada.

After a long day of travel, we finally made it to Koh Lipe and we had to move onto the island from the big boat via a smaller long boat which made the arrival that much more romantic, of course. Once on the long boat we were taken to shore across stunning corals and the kids were very excited. What we did not anticipate was that we had arrived on the island on a long weekend (a Buddhist holiday) and so the island was actually very busy with Thai people who had come over from the mainland -- we were not expecting this. So I (Ronato) left Skye and the kids to sit and eat something while I scrambled all over the island looking for a place to stay -- I found that much of the island's accommodation was full! I did finally find something -- an overpriced bamboo two-storey hut with a very musty, mosquito-net covered bed that left us all a little out of sorts at first -- not quite what we had anticipated at all! The next morning, after a relatively good night's rest (despite the musty bed), we chose to find something much better. The two pictures below show the bungalow we landed up staying at for the whole week we spent on Koh Lipe. It was a very simple, one roomed bamboo bungalow with a small cemented bathroom at the back. It had only one large bed, but we decided to go for it because of it fabulous location right on the beach -- it enabled us to sit out on the little veranda, lounging in the hammocks for much of the day, while the kids swam in the water for hours and hours. In fact, the first thing we did when we got there was to buy two hammocks (they didn't come with the hut) and some snorkeling gear for the kids. It turned out to be a fabulous, cheap, and simple place from which to take in Koh Lipe. Right out the door were great walking options, two excellent family-run food options on either side of us, and we met a fabulous variety of people all staying in the same bungalows.
A number of the people we met, and ended up hanging out with, actually walked by the bungalows and saw how sweet it was and decided to relocate to the same spot. Some of these same people we had met on the boat coming over, and others we met around the island. The dynamic with the people we met made our time on Lipe that much more special. Over the days we were there, we had daily meals with many of them, as well as some fabulous outings. The kids would run between the bungalows visiting with all the lovely folks we had met and sometimes would go swimming and snorkeling with them. Kai and Pippin became very quickly attached. This aspect of meeting wonderful people from all over the world and then having to say goodbye has been a little hard for them - but it is part of the traveling experience and it does show them how the world all over is full of amazing human beings. That in itself fosters the "travel bug" and makes one feel very positive about the world we live in. Here are some pictures of the lovely people we met:

Sara and Marcus from Copenhagen, Denmark -- Eva and Jacob from Stockholm, Sweden


Caroline and Martin from Brighton, England are shown in two separate pictures here. They are extensive travellers (they travel for a minimum of 4 months a year and have been doing this for the past 8+ years), and they also have a travel blog which has the following link if anyone wants to be voyeuristic: www.travelpod.com/members/m-and-c

On the beach that we stayed on, there was a daily routine where the kids would walk the shore line exploring the tide edge to see what had washed up during the night's tides. Invariably there were gorgeous shells, old coral, and all kinds of critters to look at. In the water itself, fish of all shapes and sizes are abundant, and with minimal effort one can swim out to some coral reefs that allow one to spend hours looking at all kinds of creatures hiding in nooks and crevices. We kept thinking of David Graham and his fish tank habit. The richness of life is astounding. The only unpleasant experience while snorkeling can be the jellyfish and sea lice both of which can burn one's skin if one comes into contact with them. Some days were worse than others depending on the currents and tides. We managed to be on Lipe during full moon which created some very high and very low tides. It was also gorgeous at night to have the moonlight to take in the landscapes. Once the moon started to rise later, and the nights were darker, we also got to observe some stunning phosphorescence in the water after dark -- this was like seeing little blue light bulbs in the sand, shining with all their might once it got dark. The kids got a real kick out of this and would put it on their hands and on the tips of their fingers to observe and prod.

Here is Kai with an enormous shell find.

On one particular day, we decided to go on a snorkeling trip with Eva and Greg (the Swedish couple). Together, we rented a longtail boat and we were taken for a full day around the various islands to great coral reef areas. We would float around the water looking down at all the shapes, colours and sizes of coral, and we would feed the fish from our hands with some banana. The kids loved this because enormous numbers of fish would surround one excitedly eating the banana -- at times the fish would bravely eat right from one's hand. This is Skye and Pippin doing just that - if you double click on the picture you will see the fish surrounding them and eating the banana. Pippin went to bed that night saying, it was "the most amazing experience I've ever had!" (her words). We all dreamed about fish.

This is a beautiful sand bar on the north end of Lipe that we would go to for swimming and hanging out time.
Of course in this climate and heat, drinking pop has somehow become acceptable. Pippin feels like she has died and gone to heaven drinking her Coke. We will have to break the habit after the Asia portion of our trip!

Kai and his Papa at night at one of the local eating spots. The evenings here were absolutely glorious, and we increasingly had a habit of staying up until 11 every night enjoying the warm air. The kids have been loving the flexible hours we are keeping -- especially since it included hanging out with lots of our lovely new friends.

Skye modelling the water on Lipe. Not bad, eh?


This is the other, more popular beach called Pattaya Beach (this is a common name for beaches in Thailand -- this is not the infamous Pattaya Beach -- that one is up much closer to Bangkok!) Every night was like a party on this beach with lots of music, revelry and entertainment. We didn't really spend much time at all at this beach.

One of the very cool fish that one can see in the waters of Koh Lipe. This one had either been washed ashore or had jumped ashore while leaping after small fish (this is actually a common occurrence -- we rescued a few fish who'd done this.)


And as we all know, all good things must come to an end. After a full week on Lipe, we realized that is was probably time to move on -- it was kind of hard to decide to leave, our life on Lipe felt so luxurious and relaxed, but many of our new friends were heading off, and we realized that it is better to leave on a high note, when you're still having fun than to stay until you are sick of the place. Once again we hopped on a longtail boat which then carried us to a larger boat for our trip to Trang (via another small town) which is a small city still in the South of Thailand -- it is renowned for a number of beautiful water falls in the surrounding areas. So we are here in Trang to catch our breath, get some laundry done (yup we take it to someone else to do it -- when you have a lot, it is easier than doing it all by hand), catch up on emails, etc., AND to see some waterfalls before we start heading north to Koh Tao which is in the Gulf of Thailand.

Until next time . . .

Ronato, Skye, Kai & Pippin

Lazy days on Koh Lanta

It has been about five days since our last post and this will be a short one. We are beginning to perfect the art of hanging out and "allowing" ourselves to kick back. Koh Lanta has been a time of endless swimming, reading, eating, playing backgammon, listening to our music....etc
It is nice to slowly inhabit this space after such a long time getting ready for this journey and finishing up all our business back home. We are also getting into a daily rhythm around schooling with Kai and Pippin doing some regular journal writing and Math. Reading does not need encouragement since there are endless hours to fill with such frivolous past times. Social studies speaks for itself - with endless cultural experiences every minute of the day.
Our trip to Koh Lanta was very enjoyable despite the small rickety boat. It included some spectacular sights -- flying fish that looked like small swordfish, gigantic colourful jellyfish, lovely exotic looking islands and lots of interesting company from all over the world. On arrival we got accosted by many young men trying to get us to come stay at their guesthouses - each with photo albums under hand for viewing. We took our time having fun interacting with the various characters and eventually focused in on two that seemed to fit our needs. After a hot and muggy taxi ride (in the back of a pick up truck) we found the place we liked the most and embarked on a bit of bargaining to come up with a good deal. We can do this given that it is quiet down here now and so they want to fill up their rooms. The "Clean Beach Resort" we have been staying at is a beautifully landscaped and comfortable space with a nice a pool and it is right on the beach. The pool is a bonus when the kids are tired of the midday sun and need another activity.
The beach is a lovely long stretch of calm water with great swimming and fabulous walking.
Here are some "sunset pictures to give you a feel for the beach.




This is a very sweet little beach side bar/restaurant that has provided us with great space to take in the ocean over our meals. The kids hang out in hammocks while we sit on the comfortable floor seating enjoying the great R and R. What a luxury!

This is the pool. I think the kids hair will be green by the end of this trip. They will be getting full marks for PE this year. I think 4 to 5 hours of daily swimming would not be an exaggeration.

Tomorrow we head off for a 5 hour boat trip to an Island called Koh Lipe. It is almost on the Malaysian border and apparently it has many healthy coral reefs with gorgeous tropical fish. We plan to stay for at least 6 to 7 days given that it is far away and takes some effort to get to it. So until our next post - we hope this note finds you all happy and well.

Nosey Parkers

We have just come back from an amazingly enjoyable family adventure. We decided it was time to do what the kids have been wanting to do for a long time: go on an elephant trek in the local jungle! The place was called "Nosey Parker's" (thought you would enjoy that Bay). It turned out to be a "ten out of ten" experience. Both Kai and Pippin had perma-smiles for the entire 3 and a half hours and did not want to leave at the end. In fact, Kai said he would like to work there when he grows up!

It began with a pick up from our guest house by very friendly young Thai co-op students (who are studying in the hospitality area). We had the excitement of driving with them in the back of a pick-up van for about a 25 minute trip out into the country side. The traffic in rural Thailand is just as nerve-wrecking as in the big cities with cars and motorcycles weaving in and out in all directions constantly -- tailgating "required". Of course added to that we were in the back of an open pick up (tuk-tuk) with no seat belts and our very uptight Canadian view points about safety! It is hard to let go of this for us adults, but the kids absolutely love it -- it feels very free to them.

We got there safely and were immediately led to an elephant "docking" area where we climbed onto elephants, one adult and one child per elephant for the trek. Getting on the elephant was quite a nerve wrecking experience in itself - it is very high off the ground and it feels like one is moving all over the place . . .

Kai's personal account:
The elephants are so cool. Pippin and mom rode on a 19 year old and me and dad rode on a 50 year old. Ours was huge. Riding was my favorite part but dad was a nervous wreck. Riding on an elephant was like riding a slow and bumpy roller-coaster. Dad kept on grabbing me because we were either going up or down. After that, we got to feed the elephant me and dad rode on. When we held out the cucumbers, it wrapped it's trunk around it and put it in his mouth. We found out that elephants usually live up to 120-150 years old. Then our instructor took us on a hike up the mountain a little bit. He showed us a rock that looked like an elephants head. The experience was amazing!

We kept thinking about you, John, that you might not like the ride too much (it reminded me (Skye) a little bit of a slowed down version of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland), but that you certainly would have liked to follow behind with a wheelbarrow! Elephant manure abounds at this place -- in fact, one of the things they do at this camp is to collect the manure, mix it with other vegetable matter and smoulder it to make fertilizer which they then sell to farmers in the area.


For part of the ride, the herder/driver gets off and just lets the elephant wander and graze with us still on the back! The drivers have these sticks with hooks on them to help guide the elephants (they seem to be pretty gentle when they use them, it is kind of like a prod), but mostly they use a variety of vocalizations to "tell" the elephants what to do/where to go.

This is a picture of Ronato and Kai's elephant 'driver.'

At one point we were given the opportunity to get right down onto the elephant's head/neck area. Once down there (it really feels like a solid perch), the elephant starts flapping it's ears and their ears gently hit your legs -- it made us laugh a lot. We held on pretty tight with our legs, but when the drivers ride, they kind of cross their legs, or hang one leg down and tuck the other one under themselves like it's no big deal.

And here's Pippin's account:

Today we went to ride elephants. Mom and I went on a 19 year old elephant. The experience was weird. It was like a roller coaster. I got to ride on the head of the elephant. After the ride I got a t-shirt with a picture of me and mom on the elephant. I liked it when we got to feed the elephant cucumbers and when the elephant was done the cucumbers, he was looking for more. Then we went to a hut and saw a big spider. It was the size of my hand!

The fellow on the left was Pippin and Skye's elephant driver and the fellow in the green shirt was our instructor/guide for our hike into the jungle. They were both really great guys -- funny and full of information about elephants and the area.

All in all as Kai said, an "eleven out of ten!"

Until our next adventure . . .

The EuroThai Adventurers

Away to Railay

To get to Railay, we simply needed to stroll along the seaside walk in Krabi Town, where numerous longtail "captains" regularly call out, "Railay?? Phi Phi??" -- each trying to beckon tourists to their particular longtail boat. We happened to befriend a captain, Anan, several days earlier -- he kept meeting us on our walks -- and on our departure day we chose to go with him. On board were wooden bench seats and a tarp covered roof, flowers, & ribbons hanging off the tip of the bow. The ill-fitting & rarely used life jackets aboard were hot pink and lime green sateen and maybe they would barely keep one afloat were we to capsize, but we felt we had to go through the motions for the kids.

You leave Krabi Town via a muddy brown inter coastal river edged by mangroves -- as you go along, slowly the brown of the river gives way to the green-blue (not quite turquoise) water of the Andaman Sea. Beautiful! The longtail boat experience is very enjoyable because the boats are quite small so one is close to the water. Coming from Krabi offers many great sights including lots of rusty fishing vessels and beautiful coastal viewpoints. The geology of the Andaman coast is very dramatic with huge Karst limestone cliff faces jutting up all over the place alongside lush tropical vegetation and a mostly mangrove coastline. After a water-sprayed 30 minutes or so , you see the steep, majestic, almost Gaudiesque Karst limestone cliffs of Railay rising out of the sea. An amazing tropical sight.



Railay is a climbers paradise and many of the people who flock here come for just that -- climbing. It was also Chinese New Year week and so the place was absolutely hopping with tourists from all over Asia and the world. We had already booked a room for our entire stay here while we were in Krabi -- perhaps 'duped' by the statement from the friendly agent that it would ". . . be very difficult to find a place at all if you don't book now . . . Chinese New Year!" We had been drawn in by the resort's brochure pictures. Well . . . the "resort" itself was a lushly landscaped, well established place on the East side of Railay -- the grounds were very well-maintained with beautiful tropical plantings and a very relaxing pool. Our room, on the otherhand, was a little like a dingy, road-side motel room with a loud fan and screens on the windows (no mosquito nets in sight, but the screens seem to work very well, plus there weren't that many mosquitoes!) Despite the beautiful Island setting we felt a little disappointed with our room given its price (it overlooked an open sewer, a garbage heap, and a beautiful limestone cliff) and Ronato worked his magic to get a new room -- less bed space, but a better view overlooking the gardens. As it turned out, our room was quieter than the bigger, closer-to-the-pool rooms. The hotel seemed to have at least 50 employees who cleaned not just the rooms but also the walkways on a continual all-day basis -- no petal, leaf, or twig sat for long. In front of the resort was a small mangrove outcropping. Depending on if the tide was in, the mangroves were quite an amazing sight -- when the tide was low the long roots of the trees were exposed and this is apparently where many of the indigenous fish species lay their eggs in the protected nooks and crannies. Sadly much of the mangrove coastline has become threatened by fish and shrimp farms with unfortunate future outcomes for many of the ocean wild-fish stock. It took a little to adjust to (I -- Skye -- had visions of looking out on white sand and swaying palm trees, but it turns out you pay a premium for that at Railay) but once we had settled and had come to appreciate the cool look of the mangroves and the important role they play, it was all good.


We came to Railay knowing it was very much a tourist mecca, thinking we would start with some good R&R before going to more remote southern island locations. We were still working on "just relaxing" -- when one gets to a new place there is often so much to check out that it is sometimes hard just to kick back and do nothing. That said, we definitely, got into the groove -- taking afternoon siestas, lying on the beach or by the pool, really only having to think about where we should eat our next meal -- in between, we checked out the various aspects of life on Railay. One of our favourite hangouts was a beach that has a large cave worn into the limestone cliff right beside the beach. As the legend goes, somewhere around 300 BC an Indian princess' barge sunk just off the coast here and her spirit came to inhabit the cave. Local fishermen would make offerings, in the form of phalluses (to signify bounty), to her spirit, asking for bountiful fish harvests -- apparently she was generous and their wishes were often fulfilled. Now, there is a large shrine in the cave surrounded by large wooden & stone phalluses, flowers, incense, food offerings, and photographs. It is amazing to think that this one cave has been a place of offering and worship for over 2000 years!

While we were on Railay, both Kai and Pippin quickly made attachments. They have both been quick to form friendships with other children in the various places we have stayed. There was one family from the UK staying at the resort, mum and dad are both climbers and they have 2 little girls Nellie & Railay (yup, you guessed it, she was conceived here) who became quite attached to Kai and Pippin -- both very cute little monkeys. Pippin also befriended a girl from Paris (but living in New Caledonia with her parents) named Jad who only speaks French! It took them a few days of circling around and eyeing each other before they tried communicating and interacting, but towards the end they were practically inseparable. These little friendships and connections have become important for Kai and Pippin, especially since they both really miss their friends at home -- through this, though, they are coming to see that you can make friends anywhere.









Pippin & Jad Kai & Nellie

Besides playing with new friends, another one of Kai and Pippin's favourite things to do at Railay was to look for monkeys! This provided endless hours of entertainment and was a great motivator to go on regular walks. They really are fascinating little creatures and function in huge bands swinging from tree to tree looking for their next source of food. Sadly this brings one to the topic of trash and the lack of infrustructure to deal with solid waste here in Southern Thailand. It is everywhere and I would be lying if I did not say it hurts a little to see the quantity of plastic junk constantly filtering into our environment. Collectively we are all part of the problem because it is very hard to function here without buying water and other drinks (since the water is not safe for consumption). At times one feels like we are choking on all the trash- and tourists have not helped this scenario. Going to highly touristed areas like Railay really make one see that side of tourism. From that point of view we were ready to move on to places where Thai people live not just because their presence supports tourist experiences. Interestingly, the kids are quite perceptive in this regard and were happy to return to Krabi town- with its more Thai flavour.

We came back to Krabi today with a healthy case of "skietgat"... needing the bathroom on a little too regular basis. Maybe too much of the exotic food?! Next we head to go see some elephants (speaking of being tourists) . . . it will be a very enjoyable thing to do with the kids. We look forward to sharing it with you in our next blog.

Until then ...

Skye, Nato, Kai & Pippin