Morakot Cave inside of Koh Muk

During our 4 island snorkeling trip off of Koh Lanta in Thailand, we swam 80 yards into the heart of the island where a mesmerizing beach lives.  Tania gives a great description of it below.


Morakot cave inside of Koh Muk from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Old Town Koh Lanta

Here's a glimpse of Old Town Koh Lanta.  The roads may not have been paved, but the town was so fun to explore.


Old Town on Koh Lanta from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Days 56-59 Sunday – Thursday January 3-7, 2010 Koh Lanta, Thailand

Highlights

-       - Massaman Curry!!!!!!  Man the king has good taste!

-       - Snorkeling was fun, but discovering Morakot cave inside the heart of an island was icing on the cake!

-       - If you’re looking for crazy backpacker fun, head somewhere else (i.e. Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Pha Ngan).  This place has luckily evaded that doom.

The Nothing Else To Do While Tania Gets Another Massage Version

Let’s start by saying that Koh Lanta was our favorite of the Thai islands, but as you can tell from the video of our overnight ferry from Koh Tao, getting there was the antithesis of our love for Lanta.  Along with the ferry, we had to battle our way through a taxi ride from the ferry terminal in Surat Thani, a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi, then a packed mini-bus drive to Lanta.  Yet all of that chaos was forgotten when we arrived onto Lanta.

Eight years ago when I was traveling through Europe, I randomly met a Brit named Emma in a sandwich shop, and we spent a day touring Valencia, Spain, before she left town.  Somehow through the magic of email, blogging, and Facebook, we’ve stayed in touch through the years.  When we learned that she was now living on Lanta teaching scuba diving, Tania and I decided to skip over the touristy Phuket and Koh Phi Phi and spend our time on the west coast on Lanta.  And boy are we glad we did. 

Emma was kind enough to find a hotel for us to stay at, the NT Lanta Resort, which had just opened a few months prior, meaning our bungalow was brand new with all of the amenities a weary traveler could desire; AC, hot water, satellite TV, fridge, and most importantly, new and clean furnishings.

Emma also introduced us to the best restaurants in Long Beach, the nicest stretch of beaches that hadn’t already been trampled by tourists.  We fell in love with the king’s favorite dish, Massaman curry.  It’s a peanuty curry served with potatoes and onions, and basically the greatest thing your pallet can swim in.  We also ate delicious seafood and rice dishes over meals with her friends Claire (don’t call her a life coach), Magnus (www.tapper.com), and the rest of her scuba friends.  We even got to partake in trivia night with all of the expats at Bar Racuda (get the play on words?).  We got third place, out of about 10 teams, basically because Tania doesn’t know as much about Lord of the Rings as she thought she did.  She let all of her D&D friends down on that one.

Aside from eating the delicious food, Tania obviously got a beach-side oil massage (I think she is in the midst of setting the world record for most massages in a month’s time), we scootered around the island, down to Old town, walked along the picturesque beach, and boated around to 4 islands for an incredible day of snorkeling.  Our new gear came in handy to see stunning coral swarming with schools of brightly colored fish.  Getting to wade in the water as the fish swim around you as if you’re part of their clan has quickly become one of our favorite things to do, which we’ll greatly miss once we head up north to Chiang Mai.

The highlight of the snorkeling trip was when we visited Morakot cave inside of Koh Muk, which requires a 10 minute swim through a pitch black tunnel that eventually leads to a hidden beach in the heart of the island.  Once inside the cave on and standing on the beach, you can spend an hour notching your head back and gazing the perimeter of the walls that stand around you, reaching hundreds of feet above with a lining of lush shrubbery and plant life.  Stunning, absolutely stunning.

We were sad to leave Koh Lanta because after the resort feel of Kohs Samui, Pha Ngan, and Tao, we really started to get into the groove of quieter island life that Lanta provided over the others.  Yet, we had a flight to catch out of Phuket, so we hopped a high class ferry through Koh Phi Phi so we could stay the night in Phuket before our early morning flight on Friday.  

 

Overnight ferry from Koh Tao to Surat Thani

The video should speak for itself.  Keep in mind that we were on the 2nd floor, and the same deal was happening downstairs.  Don't worry, at no point did we not feel safe.  It just made for a very interesting ride over to the mainland.

Craig finished books #4 & 5 + an update on Tania's readings

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
- Even though the technology references are dated and you can tell Brown was much more chauvinistic at the time, it still had his trademark action that made it an entertaining read.
- Oh, and the fact that much of the action takes place in Sevilla where I studied for a semester allowed for plenty of reminiscing about all of the city's sites and neighborhoods.

The Invisible Man by HG Wells
- Silly little early 20th century sci-fi story that ended up being less an exploration into what it would be like to become invisible, and more about a mad scientist.
- Favorite quote:  "Great and strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men and women than smaller, more tangible considerations.

I'll let Tania report on her books, but I can confirm that she stormed through all 4 Twilight books and an entire collection of David Sedaris short stories.  From the brief glimpses she's given me at each, I can happily report that I'll be reading his stories much sooner than I will of the vampires and werewolves.

Days 50-55 Monday – Saturday December 28, 2009 – January 2, 2010 Kho Tao, Thailand

Highlights

-       - Quiet getaways are nice, but not being remotely close to any civil/socialization may not be optimal during the new year period.

-       - Things in Thailand don’t happen on time, they happen on Thaim (meaning you better get comfortable when sitting down to dinner).

-       - WE SWAM WITH SHARKS!!!!!

The Thai Restaurant Version

After being at the Mango Bay bungalows on Kho Tao for 24 hours, I (Craig) have realized two things…

1.     1) When perched on the cliffs of a desolate Thai lsland resort, it’s tough to tell the difference between the blue ocean and the equally blue sky above the horizon.

2.     2) Things don’t happen here on time, but they do happen on Thaim.  Meaning, our dinners may not come out as hoped at the same time as each other, but they’ll each eventually get to your table.  One possibly 20 minutes after the other.  Also meaning that you pay $5 more for the quicker 1pm ferry, but after watching the cheaper 2pm and 2:30pm ferries load and leave in front of you, you finally board yours at 3pm and arrive at your destination over 2 hours late.  That’s Thaim, and that’s just how it happens around here.  Thank God it’s the most relaxing place on the planet, because the difference between time and Thaim isn’t that big of a deal when all is said and done.

The Mango Bay bungalows are at the north tip of Koh Tao, and it’s as remote as a resort can get.  The rest of the island is easily connected by roads and quite active, but the only activities happening at our resort are snorkeling between the bungalows and distant beach, and watching the power turn off between 10:30am and 5pm, which basically forces you out of your hillside bungalow during the day because the fan is non-functional and the room becomes a sauna.  Therefore, no lazy days in bed, which are nice to have once in a while.

Don’t let that make you think this place isn’t enjoyable, because it very much is, just in its own way.  Just like Koh Pha Ngan was a progressive step more relaxing than Koh Samui, Koh Tao is the ultimate pit for leaving the world and its stresses behind.

During our first day at Mango Bay, there was no Internet.  No TV.  No stroll through town or hike to a waterfall.  It’s you, the cliffs, some snorkel gear, and a restaurant who's speed matches that of things happening in the lazy and disconnected world outside.  We still have 4 more days here, and we're already unwound like a broken watch, and we can’t wait to find out the depths of how far this unwinding can go…

(fast forward 2 days) Okay, it’s day 3, and this place is starting to get to us.  Yes, we love our little bungalow hideaway, but we can’t stand the fact that electricity is off from 5:30-6:30am (shutting off the fan that keeps us cool at night) and 10:30am-5pm (shutting off the fan that keeps us cool during the day).  Yes, we love the beautiful sunset and incomparable snorkeling out front, but we can’t stand the fact that the only restaurant choice we have within reachable distance without a 40 minute long and $20 boat ride is our resort’s restaurant, and the food is getting worse every day and the owner is the world’s grumpiest and least accommodating person we’ve ever met.  He makes us feel bad that his (advertised free) wifi is down and that his staff screwed up your order after it took an hour to get to your table.  He’s like the soup nazi who bought a pair of flip flops, sold all of his upper body clothing, and decided to open a joint in the middle of BFE Thailand.

Enough of the bitching, but this guy is bad, and we needed to get it out in the open after the way he just treated Tania.  If I hadn’t stepped into their conversation, the guy would have ripped her off and treated her like and a-hole without realizing how he was acting. 

Okay, 10…9…1.

We had a great day taking a tour boat with about 30 other people today around the island, stopping at all of the key snorkeling spots.  We got to test our new snorkeling gear that Tania convinced us to buy yesterday.  Thank God she did because having good gear makes the whole experience so much better.  Breathing is easy, even when water gets in the tube.  Seeing is clearer because the mask fits your face and doesn’t leak water.  Spending 30 minutes face down without coming up for a breathe is the right way to view shallow waters, without going all out and take courses to go scuba diving.

(Parents, time for eye muffs.  Cover ‘em up for the next paragraph)

The first stop during the tour was at Sharks Bay.  Yes, you can guess why it’s named that.  As we jumped out of the boat and paddled a few feet away, we saw two sharks swim 4-5 feet directly below us.  They skimmed the floor of the ocean, while we skirted the surface.  After picking our jaws up off the ocean floor and changing our shorts, we both looked at each other the way two people face down in the water do and pointed at the sharks in the same direction in pure astonishment.  We were actually swimming with sharks!!!! Bucket list, check!

Two more stops of some more amazing snorkeling led our tour boat up to Mango Bay, where our hotel is located.  After some shifty maneuvering to get our gear from the boat across the bay and up to our hotel, we left the group at this stop so we didn’t have to find our way from the docks to our hotel, which is a 40 minute, $23 long boat ride.

We relaxed on the deck and read our books to finish the day.  Time to rest up tonight before tomorrow, new year’s eve.   Our plan is to meet Jackie (from Tucson) and Leon (Aussie) for a quiet dinner on Sairee Beach before the festivities begin.

Fast forward to January 1, 2010.  We had a great time with Jackie and Leon on Sairee Beach last night.  We partied on the beach amongst the fire dancers and floating torches until we caught a long boat back to Mango Bay at 2am underneath the full moon.  Somewhere on a nearby island (Koh Pha Ngan), there were 50,000 party animals adding to the legend known as the Full Moon party.  We were not part of that crowd, and we were instead happy to have had a fun island night capped off with a good night’s rest.  All we can say for our last day on Koh Tao is that it wasn’t too active.  We’re sure it had nothing to do with the night before or anything.

We’re taking off for the western Thai coast tomorrow.  Catching an overnight boat to Surat Thani, then a bus to Krabi.  Then we’ll be on Koh Lanta to meet up with a friend of mine from traveling through Europe 9 years ago, Emma Jones.  Should be fun to see an old friend, and the difference between the western and eastern islands.

Half way there...

As crazy as it is to believe, today is the halfway point of our trip.  Tomorrow we leave Thailand and head to Laos.  That means in the first half of our trip, we've spent 2 weeks in Japan, 4 weeks in China, and 4 weeks in Thailand.

We're not sure what's crazier, though.

Is it crazier that we've done and seen so much and we're still only half done with our trip?  Or is it crazier that we still have the same amount of time ahead of us, in completely new countries for us?  Either way, this whole thing is crazy, and we're loving it.

We still have to visit Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.  All places that we're completely clueless about right now, and will hopefully have a much better understanding of in the next 2.5 months.  Crazy.

We still get to spend time Ho Chi Minh City with Lisa, Steve, and Luke.  We still get to tour Vietnam and Cambodia with my (now our) parents.  We still get to meet the child that Carmen sponsors in the Philippines and volunteer with his community.  Crazy.

Any way, hopefully you've enjoyed reading about our adventure so far, and we hope we have just as much to report on during the 2nd half of our trip.  And we hope you all are having a great 2010 so far.

And in case you missed them, click the following for the videos we've created so far...

Click for the Japan video.

Click for the China video.

All our love!
The Palumbos