Laurie's World

Perhaps the best tour we have been on? Hard to say….but definitely top 3! Today was our day trip boat tour to the AngThong National Marine Park. The shuttle came to get us early this morning, so no breakfast.

But then we were off by 7:20 am to the pier to catch our “slow boat”. This is only in comparison to the option of taking a speed boat! We have always taken speed boats on these things…but now I definitely know I prefer the slow boat. Less packed in, less noise, less wind, more able to move around, lunch on the boat, YES….much better!

We got to the boat and there was a light breakfast served. A banana, a croissant and coffee or tea.

Here is our first view of the ocean as we headed out…

This was a very scenic day….so lots of photos…very difficult to make choices about which to include!!

But important to include the photo of Erica wasting no time making new friends….barely cleared the breakfast dishes away and she was off : )

Our very informative and always funny guides giving us the low down on everything…

I have a friend who always posts these fabulous pictures of her feet with pretty little painted toes and a glass of wine every scenic place she goes….so here is my tribute to Jen…minus the wine : )

So upon reaching our destination after about a 1.5 hour ride we first go kayaking….always fun! With three in the kayak, I was the lucky centre person who didn’t have to paddle. So that me the official photographer. I think I did ok!

This is what they call Grandfather rock….you figure it out….

Small hike (100metres) up some stairs to a viewpoint for a beautiful lagoon!

Then we had lunch! Wow….for buffet it was very very good! Massaman curry, rice, vegetables, fried chicken and fruit! I was starving and ate up! Then we went to our second portion of the day which was where we had a choice of activities. So as is always the case with Troy and I, we never shy away from a challenge when there is the lure of a scenic viewpoint involved. So we chose the hike to the viewpoint. The sign categorized this hike as “difficult”, and the guides all said it was a “difficult hike”, but we thought we could handle it. We have really done some hardcore hikes in the last 5 years, so felt were we up to at least trying.

Well, let me just say, this is far and away the most challenging hike we have attempted. It was a 500metre hike (sounds doable) with a 260m+ rise above sea level (UH???) A 1-2 hour hike in 90 degree plus weather. YA! It took the full 2 hours that we had available. The rub in all these hikes is whatever goes UP must come DOWN! I know I have said that before in other posts in years past, and it sounds trite, but it is ever so true! So we face this challenge again today…

Hard to capture the steepness in photos, but I tried. Yes, that is the TRAIL!

In a couple different places, I just stood in one spot and took a photo up the trail and then turned and took one down the trail.

Believe it or not there were folks attempting this in bare feet, in jelly shoes, in pretty little ballet slipper like shoes, flip flops….the list goes on and on. We wears Tevas to hike….and Erica had Keens on….that was the only way I would EVER attempt this. The last 50 meters or so was crazy, but I made it! And got so e great pictures, Erica also went all the way up!

Fortunately you can’t see in the picture but I am literally soaked in sweat…yes, I might as well tell you. Maybe never sweated so much in my life…but breathtaking views from up there. You can see what the rock was like at the end and how steep it was. I just dropped down into a crevice in the rocks so the islands could be in the background.

So all in all another great day!!!! Some pink shoulders and necks for some unnamed people (not me). Tomorrow we are moving to Koh Tao…catching ferry at 1:00pm I think….so will hopefully be spending at least 2 days doing nothing once we get there! Erica has big plans…but they won’t involve us….she is moving more towards the young person lifestyle in Thailand and we are staying with a slower pace for sure ; ))

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 6th, 2013 at 7:11 am and is filed under Thailand 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.