Our little big boy
Playdate for Sam with another batman (one of his best friends here)
Helping his dad wash the motorbikes
Our trip was four nights in the south starting from Phuket and then making a loop through Suret Thani and Phang Nga provinces.
The first day we went out on a long boat in Phang Nga bay- a salt water bay with mangroves and amazing limestone formations (limestone formations and water are the two main themes of this trip)
Sam and Jeff pointing to a passing boat
Going out on the long boat
Phang Nga bay
We took a little side trip off our big boat into kayaks to go through a maze of tunnels and caves in one of the karsts (limestone island formation)
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Sam is helping me blog now and he wants to say about this picture that it was really amazing and cool and it's very cool to be in a cave hole.
Sam says: this soccer field was special because it was in water. "How did them make it float on water?" Okay- so back to me- this is Ko Panyi an island with a community built over the water. A few months ago, someone had shown me this video about this communities soccer team and it was fun to play around on the "famous" field.
The beautiful formations in this bay and in the lake we went to next reminded me of Lake Powell in the US only covered in green growth (and limestone instead of sandstone). But it's the sort of thing where every turn holds a new amazing view.
This is a picture of James Bond Island (Khao Phing Kan) where The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed- it really is a beautiful island. That movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed near here too.
On our way out of town we went on a little hike to some waterfalls and it was so lovely- the kind of jungle walk I've grown to love over my years in SE Asia. I saw the most amazing vibrant blue butterfly and a lizard that jumped from one tree to another to catch a bug and there was so much life everywhere.
Next up was a trip to Chieow Laan lake- a place we'd heard to be the most beautiful spot in Thailand. I quite agree. It is a man-made lake with a thousand limestone islands and floating rafthouses for accommodation. The freshwater is so clear and a gorgeous color because of the limestone.On our way out to the rafthouse
Making himself at home in one of the floating bungalows
A view of the rafthouses... it was so fun to just jump in the water whenever we wanted to. There were little plastic kayaks to tool around on to. In the morning, we went around one of the islands and spotted monkeys in the trees.
This is another rafthouse spot (there are 9 of these 'hotels') we might do this one next time
On our way out, we went into this little cove and took a swim- perhaps the prettiest place I've ever gone swimming- definitely top 5. (the next few pics are all from this spot), hmm, but I guess you can't see how on three sides the cliffs go up really high (300-400 feet?) and then on this side there are the little islands
Both boys were so exhausted on the way back to the docks
Then we were on to Khao Sok National Park. We stayed in a treehouse and went tubing down the river the next morning. I loved hearing the jungle sounds which were really different in the morning and in the night.Tubing was amazing- we did a 10 minute stretch of the river over and over again (taking turns and driving from the end to the beginning). I saw a ton of monkeys and Pi Pound also saw some kind of amazing black and white snake in a tree.
This is the swimming hole where we ended our tubing and got out to go again- such pretty formations
In our treehouse
And then we were off to Phuket for an afternoon at the beach before coming home. It was so perfect- warm, clear water, safe surf, long sand beach... both boys were in heaven. It was Pi Pound's first time at the beach too and she loved it as well.
I'm so glad we get to go to the beach again soon (two days in September)- it really is such a great place with little kids.
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