My friend Susan from the US is in Thailand right now. She was in India for five weeks and then spent time in north Thailand volunteering at an elephant sanctuary (I'll have to ask for the link so I can put in a plug... it sounded really good)! She came down to visit this weekend and unfortunately I can't take much time off to travel right now and I had to do my visa run on Saturday. UGH. BUT I did get to spend a couple days with her which was really nice. I also met her friend Chad from the elephant sanctuary.
Saturday night we had some drinks and dinner and then crashed. Sunday we were up *slightly* early... to meet up with our tour group to go to the Similan Islands (Chad & Susan had booked this by the time I got back from Ranong and it was a GREAT idea). This is something I had previously opted out of doing because I'm trying not to spend very much money. Chad got us a great deal and even the starting price wasn't bad! it's a lot of fun and SO beautiful so if you're going to Khao Lak, I highly recommend a trip to Similan Islands.
Waiting in the morning. Starting on the left: me (nah really?), Chad, Leer(?) & Britt (a couple from Finland that Chad met the night before) and Susan
I opted for a seat at the front of the boat in the wind. I'm not good with being inside a boat (this one or the one to Ranong!) and I love the wind and sun. These are two of our tour guides.
Susan and Chad inside.
The day was spent going to various islands and snorkeling in about 5-7 meters of gorgeous blue water. You can see coral and Chad pointed out a school of cuddle fish (I wouldn't otherwise have noticed or known what they were!). The boat stops in 5-7 meters of water and you jump off the boat to snorkel.
Susan and I
Lunch was spent on one of the main islands. We had about an hour to eat, swim, walk the beach...
In the afternoon we snorkeled more and then stopped for an hour on Duck Island, named such because a giant rock at the entrance to the bay looks like a duck head. We also did a hike - barefoot - up huge boulders. The view was stunning.
The ride back was great. I enjoyed my favorite seat in the house. Up high in the front in the wind. It's a pretty wild ride when the waves are bigger. LOVE it! Probably my favorite part of the whole day!
We got back about 4-5pm and met up with Ina and a guy from the guest house - Chris is a hoot! Dinner was at Everyday Restaurant (ask for Ning - she's awesome and very sweet) by Sri Guest house.
Susan was staying at Yaowawit Hotel Sunday night so the three of us caught a taxi back from Khao Lak (a 1-1.5 hour drive one way). I wouldn't pay 1000 baht so we walked on until Chad found one that would do 800 baht for the 3 of us. Yay! I know, I know... it's $6 but here... it's 200 baht! :-)
I'll post more pictures later... gotta run eat dinner
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