December 2019
It often seems in life, that you either have time or you have money. Having a little bit of both right now for us is a blessing for which I am beyond grateful.
We’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunities to travel that we have recently had. We’ve seen some beautiful countries, met amazing people, tasted great food, and experienced some rich and colorful cultures. We’ve been clocking two really incredible trips a year lately and I don’t take any of that for granted. Until now, I have been a diehard fan of anywhere in Europe and whenever the travel bug bites, it’s the first place I suggest as a destination.
So imagine my disappointment when the flights to Thailand were bought and paid for before I could craft an indefensible argument as to why we should stick closer to this side of the world. Travel clinics, weird antibiotics, tetanus shots, Dengue, menus consisting of crocodiles and scorpions, compression stockings, and a Brahmic abugida (right???) apparently weren’t good enough reasons to divert.
I was woo’ed with tantalizing promises of comfy flights, fresh mangoes and coconuts, sunny beaches and warm sunshine on my face in an effort to get me to embrace the idea of it all but as usual, day to day life was distracting me from being able to buildup any joy or anticipation. After a lot of soul searching, I had recently decided it was time to quit my “day job” and pursue other opportunities. Those kind of life decisions always come with some uncertainty and the expense of taking such an indulgent trip at that time added a bit to the apprehension. But I’ve heard that-
so I drank up and went along with it.
The interesting thing about traveling halfway around the world is that during the insanely long process of getting there, you can sleep to your hearts content without an ounce of guilt, and when you land at the AM version of your PM, you’re ready to take on the day. Our itinerary (which I can take no credit for planning whatsoever) consisted of Bangkok. And other places.
Bangkok
A quick pitstop in Doha and before you know it, we landed in Bangkok early in the morning two calendar days after our departure from Boston.
While many aspects of our travels have evolved over the years, the underlying objective of seeking breathtaking photo opportunities remains a constant. For me, the gear I travel with has evolved a bit, too. I now deliberately travel lighter, somewhat due to my long history of losing things but also because I just can’t lug that weight around anymore. I was one of the first to get my hands on the new iPhone 11 Pro when it came out a few months ago and have found that some of my favorite shots were taken with it. You may not even be able to tell the difference. It’s often said that the best camera is the one you have on you.
We booked two and a half days in Bangkok, and like every other place we’ve ever been (besides Malaga) it’s never long enough. Typically, I don’t like big cities, especially the ones we land in, but there was just something about Bangkok.
Disappointingly, our hotel reservation was cancelled mere days before arrival due to ongoing, incomplete renovations, but the hotel staff had set us up across the Chao Phraya river at another hotel, then showered us with gifts, credits and freebies for the inconvenience.
Our days in Bangkok were fully booked anyway, so we probably never even knew what we might have been missing. This hotel had a lovely pool by the river, which we enjoyed just long enough to take a photo of it.
I think it’s always easy to say what you should have done, or would do differently next time in any given place, but maybe that’s just another way of saying we need to go back and try again.
On previous trips, we’ve had luck asking the hotel concierge to set us up with a local tour guide (though not in Arequipa, where the tour guide was stopped by the police and I was convinced we were going to be kidnapped and held for ransom). The guides are usually a wealth of both historic and current events information, we come away understanding a bit more of the culture and etiquette and we even learn some of the language. Because we’ve had a good experience or two in the past, we coordinated a similar excursion for this trip ahead of time. In Bangkok, we spent a day and a half with “Jeff”, and his driver who navigated the crazy traffic to take us to some of the touristy hot spots. I have a funny feeling his name wasn’t really Jeff. Just like my name at Starbucks isn’t really Katie.
We met up with “Jeff” shortly after settling into the hotel, and took about an hour ride out to Ayutthaya to see the ruins of this historic city-located in the Chao Phraya River valley-all of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. “Jeff’s” English was not flawless, and actually a little difficult to understand at times. Considering I don’t speak a lick of Thai I can’t really complain, but struggling to constantly mentally interpret while fighting a smidge of jet lag became exhausting, and I eventually just wished he’d stop talking.
Let me just say that Thailand has a slew of temples. It reminded me a bit of Rome, where your preconceived mental image of these magnificent structures (derived from endless Instagram posts) conjures up remote edifices in rural, hard to reach settings surrounded by the beauty of nature growing around them. But reality is that man in his infinite wisdom stepped in, and plopped a few 7-Eleven’s down beside them and then built a little city around it. And for a minute you forget which came first, and briefly wonder why they chose to put those ancient ruins right smack in the middle of a downtown.
There are a few handfuls of historic, architecturally significant Wats in Ayutthaya (amidst the 7-Eleven’s) and we fit in as many as we could that afternoon. Truthfully, they all seemed to blend after a while though fatigue may have also played a role in that. We had to deal with harsh mid-day lighting as we trekked Wat to Wat- another difference between a tour guide, and a photo tour guide- so I can’t say we shot anything that day that will ever end up matted and framed.
The ruins were impressive, not only from a standpoint of vastness and beauty, but also from the level of destruction and overgrowth.
Attempts to rebuild temples and statues damaged by war, weather and vegetation seem ongoing, and many parts will remain missing though rumor has it they can be found in antique shops in the United States. At least the ones from Cambodia. Damn Americans.
But back to my goal of traveling lightly…
I decided that rather than lug my whole backpack full of poorly accessible camera gear around that day, I would make do with two lenses. For this excursion, I only brought my 17-40mm and my new fave, my 100mm macro lens. My new macro has moved into the #1 spot over my 70-200 solely because it’s so much lighter. It’s a beautiful lens for so much of the kind of shooting I like to do that zooming with my feet is a worthwhile tradeoff. So I was mostly using my “wider” angle lens at this first temple and last minute decided to switch to my macro when in my haste and with my jet lagged dexterity, my 17-40 slipped from my grasp and smashed on the ground. Many pieces went in as many directions while the collective gasps of the surrounding crowd could be mistaken for the start of an incantation. I think “Jeff” may have also learned some new English words to add to his vocabulary at that particular moment, thanks to me.
You know how when you accidentally cut yourself with a sharp instrument you can’t bring yourself to look at the blood, or evaluate the need for stitches?? Well, I just quickly collected the lens detritus, tucked it in my backpack, wiped away a few tears, and consoled myself with the notion that there HAD to be a Canon dealer somewhere in Southeast Asia. And for this reason, the rest of my temple photos that day were taken with my iPhone.
The crowds weren’t particularly horrendous in any temple we visited that day which was refreshing. It was a weekend, so a lot of the people there were locals worshiping,
or leaving offerings for Buddha.
I don’t know much about Buddhism, but I think that if I could ever embrace any form of organized religion, that might be the one for me.
The Thais really love Buddha (and their old King- the new one, not so much, but the old one…) and their respect for their religion in every aspect of their life is so admirable. Buddha has a different position and a different color for every day of the week, and the day of the week you’re born on ties back to Buddha. People even dress in the color of the day. The old King was born on the yellow day, so yellow is his color. It seems like a lot of work to me to have to know all of that, but I like that they take it so seriously.
One of the temple ruins we visited was the filming location for a local soap opera, so almost all of the visitors were dressed up in clothing matching the style of the soap opera and conducting their own photo shoots. A genius entrepreneur even set up a costume shop just outside of the temple, in case you forgot to bring your own. Its even a great place to throw a kid’s birthday party
As the sun set on the temples, I was feeling the effects of jet lag, and I think we both slept the whole ride back to the city. Finally “Jeff” stopped talking.
The following day, I had mustered up the courage to assess the damage to my lens and was so relieved to see that I could fit the pieces back together like a puzzle. Though probably no longer worth much on the resale market, it was worth everything in the world to me as it turned out to be my most used lens the rest of the trip. I developed a whole new passion for it and learned so much about its storytelling capabilities from the photographers we hung out with this trip.
We’ve found that hiring a local photographer when we travel not only allows us to see a new place through an insider’s eyes, but we gain better insight into the people and the culture as well. A photographer also understands the need to maximize the best light and is not opposed to venturing out early in the morning or later in the afternoon. They typically know the locations less traveled, or know how to gain access to a spot before the crowds show up. And though we’re relatively comfortable with our camera skills, we also manage to learn at least something from the pro we hire.
On our second day in Bangkok, we hung out with Noah Shahar, who showed us a Bangkok less-traveled by tourists. This is exactly what we love about traveling. Far from the selfie-stickers, and Instagrammers, we’re able to get a true flavor and feel of a place. Noah is an amazing photographer with an impressive professional resume of commercial, fashion and portrait photography. Though transplanted in Thailand from Israel, he engages easily with the locals, speaks enough Thai to be an effective translator, and understands and respects the culture and way of life so as to foster that same understanding and respect within us. He really taught us how to swiftly tell the story of a moment with our lens, while honoring and respecting the subject.
We started the day at the Khlong Toei market. This market is described online as the “biggest, freshest, must-see market”. Crowded, chaotic, and pulsing with energy, it was thankfully not overrun with tourists. It’s the largest source of all the food you might eat in Bangkok.
The locals have the action all under control- they know how to maneuver, buy, sell,
connect
and manage their own version of networking between market stalls.
The rest of us would do well to just stay out of the way. And if you’re not careful, you might get run over by one of the workers or even a motorcycle weaving in and out of the narrow aisles, giving a whole new meaning to a drive-thru.
This market is not for the faint of heart or the squeamish, and would most likely not be well received by vegans. It might even cause you to turn vegan. There were some body parts I couldn’t even possibly identify.
Especially when your future meal can carry on a conversation with you beforehand.
if at any point you do develop an appetite, there’s no end to the food options.
Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the experience we had in Peru (and that wasn’t even street food) so my sense of adventure was blunted. But when Noah suggested we try the fresh pressed sugar cane juice, well who could say no??
I never did find such a thing the rest of the trip, and never stopped thinking about it. My teeth are probably silently thanking me.
From the market, we headed over to the Khlong Toei slums. A city within a city, there are about 100,000 people living as squatters in this two square mile area along railroad tracks and under highway overpasses. Narrow alleys and corridors make up the streets that connect all the homes and shops.
Slightly wider streets accommodate other kinds of traffic.
My favorite thing about Thailand is hands-down the people. They are happy. They are friendly. They are fun. They have so little and give so much. And they are beautiful.
I was secretly uncomfortable with the idea of shooting in the slums. For so many obvious reasons, we didn’t belong there. Would we be welcomed? Could we put aside our way of life and our ideals to temporarily embrace theirs? The residents put these fears of mine to rest immediately. They enjoyed seeing us as much as we enjoyed seeing them.
They played with us.
They gladly shared their moments with us.
their friendships with us
and their smiles with us.
The way of life in the slums is all they know. Though generations of families live there, they are under constant threat of eviction from the city that wants to tear down the slums and put up high rises for the low income earners. These people are stuck in the same cycle of poverty seen elsewhere. Just being a resident of Khlong Toei puts them at a disadvantage- businesses are less likely to hire them, they don’t have equal access to education because they may not have legal papers or they may have to go to work to support their families instead, they grow up exposed to drugs, gangs and violence. While living conditions appeared harsh, we didn’t see the ugly side of slum life. We saw warm, humble, friendly humans, happy to share their homes, eager to practice the little English they knew, and just as intrigued by us as we were by them.
What might be seen as unethical or unpleasant in our culture is a way of life for them, and maybe even a way out.
Amidst the tin shacks you can find Muy Thai rings awaiting the next champion.
Behind the tin and cement walls, you can hear the crows of roosters and cheers and jeers of the men betting on their winner. An ancient pastime in Thailand, these “pop-up” rings are technically illegal, but not heavily enforced. Gambling on these roosters is big business. I couldn’t really bring myself to watch, but at the same time, found the entire thing fascinating.
We popped in for a home cooked meal in one of the slum “restaurants”, topped off with a coke.
From there we headed to the Hua Lamphong Train Station for it’s great light and amazing photo opportunities.
The main train station in Bangkok, and a flurry of activity, we weren’t the only photographers there looking for the perfect shot.
Noah was such an inspiration here with his easy way with people. He was instrumental in helping us find the light, and summon the courage to practice photography on strangers. Maybe he just made it look easy, but I also found that Thai people are so willing to pose, and don’t mind having their photo taken. Of course you always have to ask first.
From there, we headed to our last stop with Noah before hitting the hay- the Rot Fai Market Ratchada. We got there just as it was opening, and began to weave our way through the long and narrow corridors of market stalls. You would want for nothing here- a feast for the senses, and the wallet as everything is so inexpensive.
The shopkeepers will gladly market their wares AND pose for a photo.
I’ve heard that the spicy crocodile was worth the 30 baht. But I’ll just take his word for it. But I can vouch for the Mango and Sticky Rice. You can never go wrong with Mango and Sticky Rice!
It didn’t take long for the crowds to show up, and maneuvering through them became exhausting. From a higher elevation, you can get a better sense of the sea of endless dining and shopping options.
We said goodnight and goodbye to our new friend, Noah, and found our way back to our hotel. We navigated the subway like a couple of pros, but at one point, hopped off and took a tuk-tuk the rest of the way to our hotel.
Early the next morning we met up with “Jeff” again. This time to check out the Marble Temple, the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (home of the reclining Buddha). We got an early enough start to fight rush hour traffic and try to beat the crowds. We luckily got to the Marble Temple before the tour buses and selfie-stickers showed up. It’s like winning the lottery to NOT have to photoshop them out of an image.
The temples in Thailand are pretty ornate. And you know me…I spent my time capturing the details.
Until I saw the monks headed in to the temple to pray.
At this point in the trip, monks were still quite a novelty for us. Even though there are about 30,000 monks living in Thailand, I’m not sure I ever really got used to seeing them, and would grab for my camera at the slightest glimpse of orange. I really admire the religious devotion of the Thais, and how religion is incorporated into their daily life.
From there, we headed to the Grand Palace. We were sufficiently warned that this place was going to be a complete and utter zoo. Holy Moly how many tourists can you fit in one place? And we supposedly got there before the big rush.
The palace has not been occupied by royalty for about 80 years, but they still hold ceremonies and important events there. Other than that, it’s teeming with tourists.
This palace was beautiful. But it was HOT, and I was getting grumpy. I lost my people, so while I was staying in one spot, trying to find them in the masses and old woman who was part of a tour group was staring at me, nonstop, as her group moved closer and closer. I stared back in an effort to stare her down. She got closer, reached out, pinched my cheek and said, “muy preciosa”. Well that was cute. I let some of my grumpy go and smiled. And then bragged to my Spanish speaking husband that someone thought I was precious.
Once the tourists got out of the way, this place was a goldmine of photo ops. Well, in really nice light it would have been, but we did the best we could.
We took a peek in at the Emerald Buddha but the masses of humans made getting any closer completely unappealing, so we made our way towards the exit and checked the box on the Grand Palace.
“Jeff” was pretty good about sharing basic knowledge about the temples and the palace with us. He’d frequently point out the gilding, the marriage between human and animals in the palace statues, the various Buddha positions, the ever-apparent love for the old king, and random Buddha facts.
At Wat Pho, we stood in line to get a look at the reclining Buddha, which represents Buddha in his last illness. “Jeff” took this opportunity again to remind me, Long Ears, Long Life” and that the feet were made of Mother of Pearl.
The rest of the Temple complex is not crowded at all, and less visited by tours and school groups than some of the others. Apparently people go to see the reclining Buddha, and one other iconic Buddha and then head out, which makes it much nicer than some of the other temples. And equally as beautiful.
And that was a wrap with our time spent with “Jeff”. We spent the rest of the day taking advantage of our “freebies” from our cancelled hotel with a nice lunch in their restaurant and a massage at their spa.
The main reason we booked our trip to Thailand at this time was to experience the Loi Krathong Lantern Festival, occurring on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. The river area surrounding our hotel was abuzz with celebration for the events taking place that evening, where Thais float wishes down the river in small baskets or containers filled with flowers, food or other offerings. This celebration also involves parties, music, fireworks, traditional dance and costumes, and a beauty pageant.
I wouldn’t want to be a judge in that beauty contest-each girl is prettier than the next.
While we would have loved to join in the festivities, we already had plans to attend a celebration the following night in Chiang Mai, and we also had long awaited dinner reservations at Gaggan Anand’s new restaurant. We thought we might still be able to catch the fireworks if we made it home in time, but I guess we didn’t realize what a production dinner itself was.
Or how much wine there would be.
The following morning, we had an early flight to our next stop.
WHERE WE STAYED: The Peninsula
WHERE WE ATE: Mostly at the hotel; lunch in the slums; amazing lunch at Sala Rim Naam; and dinner at Gaggan Anand
Chiang Mai
We had a few reasons for heading north to Chiang Mai- the Loi Krathong and Yi Peng Lantern festival, ELEPHANTS!!!, and Doi Inthanon National Park, on the highest mountain in Thailand.
A quick flight up there landed us a bit early for check-in but we grabbed some food and planned our day. We had tickets to the Chiang Mai CAD Khomloi Lantern festival for that evening which was a full-on affair. Van transport, unlimited local food and drink, exhibits, dancers, fireworks, and launching of lanterns. I loved this. So completely up my alley.
Let me just reiterate that I was not enthusiastic about this trip. And boy was I wrong. Hector kept asking- “what’s your favorite part so far?”. What wasn’t??? I loved Bangkok. I loved shooting with Noah.
I loved mangoes and sticky rice.
And before we even got there, I loved the lantern festival. It did not disappoint. Though it was extremely crowded, they did an expert job of managing the flow of people and the transportation. Tickets were sold at different levels which afforded you different travel arrangements, different seating, maybe different amounts of lanterns to set off but otherwise all of the same festivities.
We may have arrived earlier than necessary and had a lot of time to kill before it was dark enough for the show and launch but there was plenty of delicious local food and drink, and local exhibits of music, dance, and culture to keep us entertained.
I know many people have such a lantern festival on their bucket lists and I would highly recommend moving it closer to the #1 spot. We don’t do this here in the US and we should. Aside from the excessive garbage found all over town for days to follow, or the fire hazard, I can’t imagine why this practice hasn’t “taken off”.
Prior to the launch, there was a period of mediation led by monks as well as a performance by the native dancers. And then the fireworks-
I will admit I was kind of worried about all that flame in a remote field of dry grass and no body of water/fire department nearby but hey, bucket list. #YOLO. I did also almost light myself on fire from standing too close to a torch but thankfully my nerve endings hastily alerted my brain to take action over the growing sense of heat I was feeling in my left arm. Thank goodness I was wearing something flame retardant.
The launch was truly magical and I’ll never forget it. We managed to get one of our three off successfully. The others were frantically stomped out just in time. Maybe now is a good time to plug the fire resistant qualities of my “recycled from plastic bottles” Rothys, though I doubt they’ll start using it as a marketing strategy.
The following morning we were up early yet again to spend the day with elephants. More than half of the elephants in Thailand live in captivity. There are a lot of different elephant reserves in Thailand and you really have to do your homework to make sure the one you choose jives with your values.
We were picked up at our hotel early and then made a few stops at other hotels to pick up a few others before the almost hour drive to the reserve. Patara Elephant Farm promotes rescue, rehabilitation, reproduction and release.
Over the course of our day spent there we learned about their mission and care of the elephants; we were assigned to our own elephant, Kampun, to care for, feed, brush, love and walk with through the jungle to a waterfall for a bath. Or I should say she walked us.
Let’s be honest. I’m kind of terrified of animals. I’d love to call myself an animal lover, and I do love them- but mostly just from afar. These elephants were such gentle giants and I loved being so close but my deep down feeling of sheer terror never totally went away. Even the babies could plow you over and flatten you in a second. But they would do it with a heart full of love
This experience included riding the elephant to the waterfall which honestly was really just a way to spend 45 minutes wondering how many minutes were left of your life. Walking alongside your elephant was a (frowned upon) option but not sure which was the lesser of two evils. Though we were led by our Mahout, Sodee, we (I), sitting basically on Kampun’s forehead, still feared plunging to my death, or losing a limb to being squished between pachyderms or trees. The mahouts made riding those elephants look like they’ve been doing it their whole life. Well, I guess they have. They will typically be paired up with their elephant as a small child, and bond through their lives together.
Despite a little elephant whisker burn on my calves, I lived to tell about it, but I think I can check it off my bucket list for good now.
Our final adventure in Chiang Mai was a trek up to Doi Inthanon National Park, about 40 miles from Chiang Mai. The highest elevation in Thailand, it’s part of the Himalayas, so now I feel like I can say I hiked in the Himalayas. Okay, I mostly rode in a van, and walked through Ang Ka Luang Nature Trail, a boardwalk path in a jungle for 20 minutes, but hiking the Himalayas sounds way cooler.
Once again, we had a tour guide pick us up early in the morning to get a head start. The ride out was beautiful, and the tour guide was far more fluent and informative than “Jeff”, so we were off to a good start. One of the last kings of Chiang Mai, King Inthawichayanon loved that part of the country so much that he had a second home there and spent all of his King vacation days in that area, so when he died, they made it a national park and placed his ashes there.
From there, we went to check out the Two Chedis. These two pagodas were built to honor the 60th bday of one of the kings and his lovely bride. Tourists and local alike visit to pay respects to them.
We actually wanted to be here at sunset, but there was a miscommunication between us and the hotel or the tour guide and ended up there midday- with pretty crummy midday light. Given the elevation, the weather is changeable by the minute, so there’d be no guarantee of good light, but it was a bit disappointing. There was also a conflict with the timing of the pagoda closing and sunset, so it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. We did have a little bonus while we were there, though as a big group of monks were touring the pagodas at the same time.
We had a delicious local lunch at the equivalent of an outdoor tour bus stop/rest area (although the fish they served still had its eyeballs), checked out a roadside market,
and a waterfall that I wasn’t equipped to shoot properly. I didn’t do it justice, but the rainbow was cool. There are a lot of waterfalls in that area, so if you’re really into hiking and outdoorsy stuff you might want to spend a bit more time in this area.
I’m going to tell you this incorrectly, but you’ll get the gist. The people who live in this area mostly earned their meager income as opium farmers. In the ‘70’s the later-renamed Royal Project Foundation was started by a king to help the local tribes move away from poverty into growing a more profitable crop (for themselves…opium is certainly profitable for others) and combat deforestation. This has been a hugely successful campaign for all involved. The roadside market we stopped at was a tribute to everything they are growing on the mountain, and we stocked up on some local tea and nuts.
We had a tiny bit of time to poke around old town Chiang Mai during our time there and checked out a few temples.
Another great place to celebrate Loi Krathong is at Wat Phan Tao temple. The pond surrounded by bamboo is a perfect backdrop to the ceremonies held there by monks. On our next trip to Chiang Mai we will be sure to attend an evening ceremony.
All throughout Thailand, I was fascinated by the way people get around. Traffic is wild, so having the ability to weave in and out is pretty important. What we would stuff in a minivan here, they pile up on their scooter.
Many businesses are conducted on the side of their motorcycles. We have food trucks…they have food scooters.
And for those who don’t have access to their own scooter, there are always other options-
I think we only touched the surface of Chiang Mai, but it’s the same wherever you go-there’s just never enough time. We’ll definitely go back to Chiang Mai, but maybe two trips to Thailand from now.
WHERE WE STAYED: Anantara Chiang Mai
WHERE WE ATE: Mostly the hotel due to our schedule, but we had a great lunch in Old Town at Green Mei
Krabi
We wrapped up our time in Thailand down south at the beach in Krabi. It took us pretty much all day to get there from Chiang Mai due to connections and delays, causing us to miss our first sunset at the beach. Disappointing, but maybe a blessing in disguise as we settled into our hotel with a relaxing dinner and an early night. Because we arrived in the dark, we didn’t get to see much of the hotel premises.
The next morning we were up before sunrise to meet up with our speed boat tour guide for a spin around the islands. This place was crazy ridiculous beautiful. Ive never been to Hawaii, but this what I would imagine, with craggy limestone mountains/islands just poking out of the crystal clear blue-green water.
As the sun rose, we found ourselves surrounded by the fisherman who had already begun their day .
The hotel packed us a breakfast, which we shared with out boat drivers until we got to the bacon part. While most Thais are Buddhists, there’s a large Muslim population in the southern part of Thailand. We visited Ko Panyi, where over 300 families make up this village built around a mosque.
This colorful fisherman’s village is built on stilts. I cannot imagine how they weather storms, but the location of the village within the bay acts as a shelter.
While fishing is their main industry, they do rely quite a bit on tourism as well, and offer many souvenir shops and fish “restaurants” to lure tourists.
The villagers every need is met here. Especially soccer.
When your national pastime is football, and you live on a floating village, it only makes sense to have a floating soccer field. Extra motivation to avoid out of bound kicks.
This is a cool village to poke around in, it’s narrow corridors are buzzing with inhabitants selling their wares, and children running and playing all throughout. Children who live here can obtain an informal education in the mornings. Some boys leave the island to have access to better schooling.
With over a hundred islands off the coast of Krabi, we certainly had plenty to explore. Thanks to the very skilled captain, we didn’t end up getting lost.
After exploring a few caves (while ignoring the bats),
we made sure to get to James Bond Island early to beat the crowds.
And took a little coconut water break on a private island.
We did a drive by of Monkey Island-
and were told that they only look cute. Apparently they’re kind of nasty. Thankfully I had my long lens.
We wrapped up the morning with some snorkeling. Well, we would have snorkeled but for some reason the water was not clear, so there was really nothing to see. Made the purchase of the new waterproof go-pro a bit of a dud, too. I was good with not snorkeling since I find treading water while simultaneously self-managing a panic attack related to suffocation rather unpleasant. It was super hot in the south of Thailand in November, so we jumped in to cool off anyway. I think that may have been the first time I’ve been in the ocean in a decade.
Though our hotel was right on the water there really wasnt a beach to swim in. They had a gorgeous “beach” side bar,
and a beautiful pool with a swim up bar.
We never did use that pool because once we could explore our villa in the daylight, we happily learned that we actually had our own pool.
That evening we took a long tail boat from Ao Nang to Railay Beach to see the sunset that we missed the night we arrived. The beach was jam packed with others who had the same idea- families, couples, Instagrammers and selfie stickers. And some monkeys!
The sunset was beautiful.
brought my camera but really only got anything worthwhile with my iPhone.
It was really impressed upon us that we had to leave that beach shortly before sunset, which seemed kind of odd until it got dark and was clear that none of the long tail boats were equipped with any lighting. I think the Coast Guard would have something to say about that.
On our last night there, we dined privately on the beach- I felt like I had won a Survivor challenge! The food was amazing,
the sunset was gorgeous, and the company was pretty darn good too.
We had an early morning flight to Siem Reap, wrapping up our time in Thailand. As we settled into our seats on the flight, the flight attendant handed us a business card.
Maybe we should rethink Cambodia??
WHERE WE STAYED: Phulay Bay
WHERE WE ATE: We had all meals at the hotel.