We started the day by going to a gorgeous white sand beach in Krabi. It was breathtaking! White sand beaches, clear water, surrounded by lush large mountains popping out of the water, and the water was as calm as can be! We spent almost an hour there swimming and sun bathing, while some others on our tour went snorkelling. We ran into a few jelly fish, but not too many that it was disturbing to our swim.
Next stop was the Big Buddha Tree which is a 1,000 year old bodhi tree (a sacred tree in Thailand). To get there, we pulled up to a beach where we took a 10 minute walk through the jungle. We literally had to walk along a tiny path made of tiny bamboo boards until we got to the tree. We learnt about the history of Buddhism which began when a man (big Buddha) wanted to find enlightenment so he left his prized life and went to sit under a bodhi tree. He spent quite a bit of time there and learnt many life lessons. He then began teaching those to anyone who also wanted to find enlightenment. This, the beginning of Buddhism.
We took a quick pit stop at "James Bond Island" (famed for the movie set of "Man with the Golden Gun"). This is just a big rock, among many in Phagnan Bay, so it didn't seem anymore exciting compared to the rest of the scenery. PST is a great tour provider because they know this so we only drive by in the boat to take a few quick pictures. The beach is also extremely touristy so PST avoided these locations and took us to more quite and less disturbed areas - something we really appreciated!
We took another quick pit stop at Kao
Kee-un (drawing mountain) which are some caves where there are ancient paintings made by the gypsy tribes in Thailand. These gypsy tribes still live in areas like this in Thailand.
After that we visited Panyi Village in Phangan Nga Bay. This is the Muslim village on stilts built along the side of one of the beautiful mountains. It has a population of roughly 1,700. Sometimes this is referred to as the "Venice of the East," similar to the canal homes in Bangkok. It was here that we had lunch (Massunan Curry, Tom Kha Gai (chicken and coconut soup), stir fried veggies in oyster sauce, curried crab, fresh battered coconut prawns, battered chicken, chicken and cashew nuts, and of course steamed rice! Check out YouTube for some really cool videos on this island, especially the story of kids who built a famous floating soccer field!
Next we were taken on a 45 minute canoe trip around Hong Island where we were guided through caves and into other lagoons. Our canoe guide have me a homemade flower :-)
We ended our day at a smaller beach when the tide was partially out and we walked through some caves. One of the caves took us to a lagoon where we saw many little creatures including walking fish, more formerly known as mud skippers! Evolution is an amazing thing! These fish swim and breath like normal fish when the tide comes into the lagoon but when the tide is out they breath fresh air and walk on land with their little legs!
After a great day, at around 5:00 PM we were dropped back off at our hotel. More pictures to come from this day, but they are all on our good camera and GoPro right now.
After being dropped off, we got cleaned up and walked around Patong Beach and some of the main streets. We had a delicious dinner at The Tiger! Jake had sweet and sour chicken with rice while I had grilled duck breast with coconut curry and rice. We also had some breaded prawns, beers and vino!
I am also addicted to fresh mango smoothies so I enjoyed one for dessert!
Next we took a walk down to Bangala Road. Holy crap this is the Vegas of the east! I think it seemed a little crazier than Bangkok but it was good since it was secluded to one street.
We quickly left there and went to get one hour Thai foot massages! Again, these are dirt cheap here ($8 each).
We even found some cider which was surprisingly delicious!
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