Tahoe Johnson’s Journey to Southeast Asia

I should have done this earlier – map of Vietnam.  To trace our path -start with Hanoi in the north – trips to Sapa mtns n/e of Hanoi,  then Ha Long Bay – west; then we started to head south to the following cities –  Ninh Binh (rural life); Hue (capital of Vietnam at one point) and DMZ area of war; Hoi An (great for tailoring and shoes – very French; Na Trang (premier holiday/beach/convention center location of Vietnam); Mui Ne (the best beach in Vietnam); Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

 Ninh Binh – known for its rural setting, a national park, and this tourist attraction where you travel up this river (Tam Coc) in sampans, going through caves and rice fields. It’s incredible landscape (not as many western tourists stop here).  You rent a sampan and they oar you up this river – 2 hours.

you go through 3 caves-tunnels

River life – the river was packed with tourists – mainly Vietnamese.  Where there is a buck to be made, believe me, the nationals are there waiting – they will paddle up the river and wait for you at the end to sell drinks, food, etc.

Some have developed the skill of rowing with their feet!

We went to the outskirts of the city to see the rural life and rice growing. Talk about backbreaking work.

We rented motorbikes – yes – Josh got to drive one all by himself at age 14 – Natalie was on the back and “terrified” – actually he did real well.  Since it was rural driving it was okay – city driving is another story in Vietnam. 

Dinh Tien Hoang – temple – dedicated to Dinh Dynasty (968) – restored in 17th century

Bich Dong Pagoda – had to walk up into a cave where there were Buddhas and is a very spiritual place for Vietamese – kind of like a pilgrimmage

Shrine/temple area at top of mountain -500 steps to get up – great view of the surrounding countryside

looking down what we had to climb

The Tam Coc River we traveled up on the sampans

surrounding countryside and rice farming

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam  (Unesco World Heritage Site)We signed up for a tour this time to go to this famous site in Vietnam. Northern Vietnam doesn’t really seem set up for independent travelers; sometimes it’s just easier to do a package tour. So we took a minivan up to the jumping off point for Ha Long Bay, which is a bay full of limestone pillars and islands – similar to what you’d see in China at the Three Gorges, where they’re building that big dam.  We took a pseudo Chinese “junk,” which you can see the pictures. Spent one night on this junk, being wined and dined. (Actually, just “dined;” wine was extravagantly extra!) It was a relaxing time, just looking at beautiful scenery and being with other foreigners (almost all Australians), but maybe a little slow for our tastes. The kids enjoyed jumping off the boat and kayaking, although, believe it or not, it was actually COLD!Snake Wine – they believe it has all kinds of medicinal and strong powers – sorry – but I couldn’t get myself to try it – the whole idea is a little revolting

in the bay – capitalism at its best again – these ladies would row their boats out to the different “junks” to see goodies – they must have strong arms

Josh enjoyed the climbing up and down of the ropes

Girls – trying their hand at squid fishing at night – you set up a light off the bow of the boat and then with your fishing rod its like  bobbing for apples – the squids attack the bate as you pull it up – just watch out for them blowing their ink at you.

as you can see below – their are a lot of tours taking place

BELOW:   Sapa, Vietnam February 23, 2009

I’m sitting here at the Cat Cat View Hotel on the top floor of our hotel on our balcony looking out over the “Tonkinese Alps,” aptly named because these mountains are high and jagged, like the Alps. (The sea near here is the Gulf of Tonkin.) Could almost feel like we’re in the Alps, except there’s no snow and it’s warm! We took a night train from Hanoi, to this area in northern Vietnam, leaving on a gloomy, rainy night around 9:00 pm. This was another new experience for the kids – sleeper cars, 4 berths to a room. Very small, but cozy in the rain. We arrived in Lao Cai, which is right on the border with China. I don’t know why, but it really freaks me out that we’re this close to China. China must still exude that sense of the exotic and inaccessible, for some reason, even though we could easily catch a train or bus from here into China if we wanted to! We arrived in Lao Cai at 5:30 am and then caught a mini bus up to Sapa, which is about 6000 feet higher. Took about an hour. It really is stunning and surprising to look out and see these craggy peaks, with terraced rice fields below. Today, we took an extensive “trek” through some of the local villages. There are several tribal groups living up here. They are indigenous people who live across several borders: Laos, China, Thailand and Vietnam. The predominant group here whose name people at home would recognize,  are the Hmong, but there are several others. They still farm in the terraced rice paddies and wear their traditional colorful clothing, but it’s not like we’re out in the middle of nowhere on our own – there are a lot of foreigners who come up here, including a LOT of Vietnamese people! (Tourists in their own country!) It’s a lot like our Native American reservations, except these people live here of their own accord! We walked most of the day through different villages and terraces. The kids were real troopers – no complaining even though we walked miles! It felt a bit overrun with tourists to me, but for the kids, it was a completely different lifestyle than they’ve seen so far: subsistence farming, bamboo homes, no roads, open sewers and animals living freely with people. However, there are still cell phones and satellite dishes! This trip seems completely worth it when I think what Josh said to me last night as we got on the train: “This trip makes me have a lot more respect for different people.” And I think it’s just because we keep seeing so many different kinds of people, living their lives and obviously having full and complete lives so different from our own! We stay here one more day, when I hope to do some bargaining in the market for the beautiful weaving that’s done here. We then head down on the night train again to Hanoi, arriving at 4:00 am this time! Not sure where we’re going from here. Figuring it out as we go…!New Experience:  Sleeper Train – Tim had to go bunk in other cabin 🙁arrived on train to Lao Cai (5:00am) – 4 miles from China Border.  Took bus up a winding road to Sapa – memories of traveling up the road to Murree, Pakistan where I grew up – quite surreal, listening to Enya as we wind up the fog clouded road and hills to the town – to arrive and get this sunrise picture as it just peaks over the mountains – the town of Sapa – the first time in roughly 2 months were we felt cold and had to put on jackets – yea!  (Tahoe family)Trekking into a village – hiked 3 hours – our guide below in traditional outfit of Black Hang Tribe – 16 years old – already been proposed to twice – great English – on the cell phone like any teenager.Annika – brought a stuffed animal – dog “tank” in memory of her real dog.  She decided to take her day bag and place “Tanks” head out of the top so he would not miss the scenery.Hiking in:  We had  convoy with as as we hiked. This is true persistance capitalism – yes after they hiked with us for 2 hours we did buy some of their crafts – they then gave the girls little handmaid wrist bands – we thought that was so nice – we now believe it to be a sign – “they are taken” – because when we arrived at the village we were not hassled from all the ladies trying to sell us their goods.Rice terraces – not in season – too bad otherwise the whole hillside would be awash in greenWe decided to go off the beaten track and approach the village from a different path – we climbed up the side of this hill and then down – yes – that is the tip and the next picture is looking straight down off the ride side – vertigo?This is the valley our guides village isSteep getting down – Josh enjoyed it sliding down the dirt like he was skiing Village shots – Josh eating sugar cane – I have given them stories of the times we ate sugar cane in Pakistan and it is the greatest desert – well – they got to experience it. Memories:  like off-roading in Kaghan, Pakistan – 25 years ago.  My kind of road

how would you like that kind of job? – hiking up a down mountain to get firewood

corn grinding mill – by hand

the old artesian water well to get water up from river and dropped into bamboo to run down to the crops

Kids are the same everywhere – went to a classroom – the desks are all marked up like you may see in the US

Pigs – notice the hill behind.  That was the last part of the trek where we came from. 

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum – huge open space in front of the mausoleum – very tight regulations – line up in 2 lines, no talking, hats off, no shorts, need sleeve shirt, move slowly, guards every corner – only open for a couple of hours a day, huge lines (we got there right at closing), you shuffle through a darkly lit halway into the viewing chamber (no cameras allowd) and lo and behold – there lies the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh – quite surreal experience.  They usually take him out once a year to Russia to get re-embalmed. 

Hanoi, Vietnam   The Paradox:  liberal capitalism with socialistic politics

We arrived here a little breathless and unplanned after our all night bus ride and visa issues in Thailand. So when we took a taxi from the airport into downtown Hanoi, we had no idea where we were going or where we were staying, other than that we wanted to be in the Old Quarter. Upon arriving in the Old Quarter, we could see that walking around looking for a hotel, with five of us trundling our backpacks along was going to be impossible. The streets are incredibly narrow, and FULL, (and I mean FULL, from one side of the street to other!) with motorcycles – all of them beeping their horns! I hope our pictures can show this, although pictures can never capture the cacophony!  We decided to have the taxi drop us off at a hotel we’d read about in our guidebook. When we pulled up to the hotel, someone ran out, asked if we had a booking, and hearing we didn’t, told us they were full. But, what do you know, they had another hotel that had space! We realized later we were being had by the oldest trick in the book, but this other hotel worked out great – soft beds, warm comforters, clean …and $15US per room! We’ve seen sights in Hanoi, but my favorite sightseeing is just watching the city go by. It’s amazing it all works! The streets are literally full of cars and motorbikes all day long. Shops spill out onto the “sidewalk” and shopkeepers and their friends or family (?) sit out on the sidewalk on these little plastic stools that would fit about ONE of my buns (no comments please!) At night, there are wide swatches of sidewalk set aside as “bia hoi” stalls, where men mostly sit and drink warm beer in ice-filled glasses, all perched on these little plastic stools.

It feels strange to think that technically we’re in a “Communist” or at least socialist country. Capitalism is alive and well here, as evidenced by all the stuff that’s offered for sale! But there are still a fair number of billboards with a hammer and sickle, and the Vietnamese star. Ho Chi Minh is still revered and referred to as “Uncle Ho.” We went to see his mausoleum, which could almost be called a “pilgrimage” to Vietnamese, at least here in the north. It was quite an experience in Social Studies!…

We also went to see Hoa Lo Prison, which is where John McCain was held and was known as the “Hanoi Hilton” during the war. The Vietnam War war here is called the “American War,” which makes sense if you think about it. Not much of the prison is left standing. It’s been razed to build a skyscraper called the Hanoi Towers. However, they did preserve the main gate and a section of cell blocks which has been made into a museum. There really wasn’t a lot about the American prisoners here. Most of the museum was about the Vietnamese who were incarcerated here during the French colonization of Vietnam. The prison was originally built by the French to incarcerate hundreds of Vietnamese revolutionaries who were fighting for freedom from the French. There was only one room dedicated to the American soldiers who were held here during the war, and it definitely had a certain slant to it, as it was depicted as a really quite pleasant place to be!

Governors residence of IndoChina

Ho Chi Minh REsidence – he like the simplicity of life – not in the big mansion above – Frank Loyd Wright would have liked the wood work

French leftover – church – not kept up very well, but there is a thriving Catholic Community here

Temple of Literature:  This was basically a university for the study of philosphy, law, and literature dating back to 1070. They studied Confucious  teachings for feudal society in the orderly flow and ethical behavior of gentlemen – with respect to education self, organizing family, governing state, and ruling all nations.   And he wrote this back in 50 BC. A fabulous place to think of all the “learning going on”.

These are called stelea – basically like a PH Diploma – it has there name, what they studied, etc on it once they passed their exams and the final exam given by the king. There were 13 thousand students that passed.  The turtle is an important symbol with the Vietnamese people.

The Phoenix is also an important symbol and is represented in the temples.

Museum of Enthology – explains all the different people groups, language, culture, dress, occupations – outside they had these huge models set up that showed how they lived.  This was the meeting hall.

HaLo Prison – aka – “Hanoi Hilton” as named by the US prisoners of war – the prison camp that the US airmen were housed in – including Senator John McCain.  This prison was built by the French and where they kept Vietnamese prisoners that were fighting against the French.  Most of the prison exhibits described the fight for Vietnamese independence from the French and the atrocities that they committed.  My camera gave out so we did not get many pictures including the guillitine.  What you see is only a portion of the prison that was saved for historical purposes, but the other half there now sits a hotel – ironically named Hanoi HIlton Towers.  Vietnam has a long history trying to get their independance – from the Chinese and the French – Ho Chi Minh was first trying to unify Vietnam by getting rid of the French – he actually wrote to 2 US presidents for help but got no reply – had communistic leanings – when independance was  declared he was the ruling party in the north, but there was a catholic president in the south who did not want to become communist – there lies the fighting and US involvement.  Vietnam has always in their history had a north – south type of split.

Didn’t mean for this to come right after the prison pictures – Just Sayings –

This sign is showing those individuals that have not used a “western” toilet how to do it.  The kids are liking Vietnam because they have western toilets (not squat pots or sometimes referred to as starting blocks), and they all have toilet paper rather than the perverbial hose with water.

Sights of Hanoi in the old quarter – each street is named for the wares that are being sold on that street – totaly a crazy place with no traffic rules – we finally got the hang of how to cross a street -don’t stop, they will go around you – bicylces, cars, motorbikes – 2.5 million motorbikes in Hanoi with only a population of 4 million – following pictures are just street life – the most fascinating aspect of Hanoi (capital of Vietnam)

The favorite pasttime – sitting around on little stools eating, but mostly drinking cheap beer in plactic glasses with ice. –

Above Picture:  waiting for ferry to leave Phi Phi Island – travel shots below, sitting in the very front of big ferry (not speed boat)

Travel sleeper (double decker bus) –  overnight bus to Bankok –

Family Pictures below

Notice the bottom of refrigerator – a CAT – just cooling off I guess

Not much schoolwork going on there

Sayings or wordings below

Phuket Island – to see a Fantasy (FantaSea) show – quite the production – a Thai story about a boy and his magical elephant with 16 elephants dancers, elaborate sets, pyrotechinics, etc – see the blog.  You enter like in a Dysneland, then go into a huge concert hall (the “temple of the elephants”)

Stage 2:  Island Shots

Above: Sunrise on Phi Phi 

Below:  the part of the island that was destroyed in the Tsunami,

Moskito Diving:   the dive operation we went with – only to find out that the husband and 2 of

Snorkeling Trip Picts

Entering the bay where the movie the “Beach” was filmed

Entering the Bay where the movie the ”

The beach where the movie was filmed

Where old Bond movie was filmed.  Noted for the tall, jutting, hills out of the water, also now known for rock climbing.  25 years ago Natalie visited here when there were only a  handful of huts to stay at at the beach you see to the left.  Now the whole place is covered with places to stay and eat on the land in the middle there.  The right side is the East beach and left side the west facing-sunset beach.  Natalie couldn’t believe the change.

In guide books, this beach is meant to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world due to its cliffs from the land and also out in the water.

Hiking Adventures:  1) to caves – science day with the stalagtite and stalagmites and the calcification of water over time.  If you hit on the sides of the wall, different pitches were noticed due to the hollowness or density.

Hiking 2):  This was a wild adventure.  We were going to find a lagoon and it said it was only 500 meters in, but you had to climb and hike.  The hiking up and down cliffs would never be allowed in the US – too dangerous – the kids had a blast – some of the pitches were straight up – some ropes were provided – one still had to be very careful – on the climb up the hill, we thought that was tough – when we had to climb down to the lagoon – that was even more rugged and vertical – the walk in through the jungle  at the top was very impressive with fern, trees, etc.

The vertical climbs are hard to capture on film – kids enjoyed the challenge and “danger”

The Lagoon – is at sea level, must come from some underwater way, rises and falls with tides, there are fish in here )and we are talking about a lagoon in the middle of an island, great caves etc to explore in

Climbing Lessons:  Josh – looking across the bay (tide is out) is where many climbers take lessons or come to try different pitches.  This is were Josh climbed 4 different pitches

Sunset Snorkeling Day:  went on a 3 island snorkeling trip with hanging out at a sandbar between two small islands and watched the sunset and had a fish dinner out there. We then did one more swim at night to see the flouresants – Quite creepy swiming at an island at night, but if you swished your arms – low and behold the whole water in front of your face would light up with the flouresants – real cool.  By the end the girls were liking snorkeling – tough at first in big ocean, with nothing to put your feet on – at one spot you could feed the fish banannas – that was wild – Josh put the bananna in his mouth and hundreds of fish mobbed him to nibble at it. 

This island is called chicken island – I wonder why?

Railay, Phi Phi, and Phuket

After leaving Koh Ngai, we unfortunately had to go somewhere to try to extend our Thai visas . (The visa rules had changed since we had checked them online before our trip. We’d heard rumors about it from other travelers in Penang, but no one seemed to know what the real story was. I (Nat) spent an afternoon trying to get to the Thai embassy in Penang, only to arrive 6 minutes late! Part of the reason for the tardiness was that I was too cheap to take a taxi and besides, I was having fun on my own getting there by bus! Unfortunately, it meant that we arrived in Thailand with only 15 days, rather than the 30 we expected. )  Sooooo, we left Koh Ngai, for the provincial capital of Krabi, where there was an immigration office. We ended up having to pay for Tim and I to have 7 more days, but  they told us the kids could just “overstay” – that there was no fine for kids – but to be prepared for a possible hassle when we left Thailand. We’re finding that the “business” of travelling takes more time than we thought it would!

After taking care of the visa business, we took a longtail boat over to Railay Bay, which is a peninsula blocked from the mainland by massive limestone cliffs. I was here 25 years ago (where has the time gone?!) when it was just a finger of land covered by palm trees and beautiful, empty beaches. I knew it had changed, but was still shocked when we arrived to see hotels, paved paths, restaurants and LOTS of tourists. When I “got off the boat” 25 years ago, I walked down a sandy, single track through the palms to the other side of the peninsula, and stayed in a “resort” with about 20 huts and a single restaurant. It was so strange to walk through manicured “real” resorts, ATM machines, luxurious spas, pools, etc. to the other side of the peninsula and to stand on the spot where I stayed which is now a 5-star resort.

Despite all that, Railay is still a beautiful and quiet place to be. There are no roads to Railay, so no cars and no motorbikes. All the supplies are delivered by longtail every morning. I’d get up early and go have a cup of coffee, and every morning about 5 guys wheeled big wagons full of beer and ice (and I’m sure other things!) up the beach to the restaurants. Railay has also become a rock climber’s mecca, due to all the limestone cliffs, so Josh spent an afternoon climbing (and was very sore the next day!) Tim and I and the girls rented a kayak and paddled around the cliffs during Josh’s climb. The highlight of the stay was a Sunset snorkel tour we took. We left at 4:00 with about 10 other tourists, and snorkeled in 4 different places in the clearest water we’d seen so far. The girls finally enjoyed snorkeling (sort of!)because they could really see what was going on beneath them! We even fed bananas to the fish!  After all the snorkeling, we pulled onto a deserted beach and had a picnic dinner with the sunset. Just before it got dark, a huge flock (swarm? hive? school?) of fruit bats flew out of the jungle of a nearby island, bound for the mainland mango plantations. The whole thing was pretty magical. The last adventure in Railay was a climb through the jungle to a lagoon that was “inside” one of the cliffs. We couldn’t figure out how it was formed. The water in it was salty, and its level changed with the tide, so there must have been an underground channel that fed it. All around the lagoon were extensive caves. Getting there was a challenge – we had to climb up rocks and vines, with the help of ropes that were screwed into the rocks.

Leaving Railay, we took a large ferry to Koh Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee!). Again,  I was here 25 years ago, but it had changed so much I really couldn’t recognize it. Phi Phi was hit badly by the tsunami and there is a large section of the town that hasn’t been rebuilt yet. We went for an all-day dive trip and learned that the owner of this particular dive company had been killed in the tsunami, along with his daughter. His wife was still carrying on the business. One of their good friends, and former employees, (an English guy) has written a book about the whole experience, which we bought and read. It was, of course, a horrific experience, and made more realistic to us by being in this place and meeting people affected by it. We also hiked up to a viewpoint on the island, and by comparing a pre-tsunami postcard with what we saw, we could see how much had been re-built and how much was still just open land. As you walked around, you could often see places where there was still a lot of debris piled up – like old toilets, building materials, chunks of cement, etc. We never asked anyone about their experiences – it felt too recent and too invasive.

The diving was fantastic – again very clear. We also privately rented a longtail boat for a few hours one day and went to the beach where “The Beach” was filmed. Gorgeous, of course, and completed filled with tourists, including the Johnsons!

Our last stop in the southern islands was to go to Phuket, which was also hit very hard by the tsunami. I got into conversation one afternoon with a Thai woman about my age – about raising kids, life, etc. Since I felt we’d talked awhile on a personal level, I decided to ask her about how her business was affected by the tsunami. I’ve never seen someone’s face just sort of close up the way hers did. It was like all the animation and life in her features instantly evaporated. I felt terrible for intruding that way!

We went specifically to Phuket to see a cultural show that was supposed to be fantastic. It lived up to its reputation with 20 elephants, trapeze artists, Thai dancers, a herd of goats, a flock of chickens and doves flying through the audience! After a quick 1 night in Phuket, we had to get on the night bus to Bangkok, so that we could leave Thailand before our visas again expired. I was disappointed to have to leave now (heading for Vietnam) because I felt like my Thai was finally coming back to me and I could finally communicate at least a little bit again. We’ll be back after Vietnam, but given my memory these days, I’ll have to start all over again!

Well, this blog has been long enough. Thus ends the southern islands of Thailand. On to Bangkok and Viet Nam…

 Our SpeedBoat first experience:  see the blog on what this experience was.  Sea conditions were very rough and dangerous.  The day before a speedboat had sunk of the coast.

You can not notice it but me and about 15 others that sat in the back were drenched from head to foot from when the boat would crash down back onto the seas after a wave – the whole back of the boat was sprayed – boy were we glad when we saw land.

The following are just travel shots at different times and locations

Early morning travel does not go well with a 14 year old – Josh crashed out in the front of a speed boat

My favorite time – watching the seas and land go by with the wind in my hair listening to oldies: Cat Stevens, America, Eagles, Petra, Enya, etc.  – an add to the time was Annika lying down reading in my lap

Natasha not a happy camper lugging the bags on the sand in the middle of the day trying to find the “right” lodging

Longtail boat rides from the speedboat to land.  Below we stayed in a thatched hut just to the right of this picture

Island Shots:

Living Accomodations – huts

Eating Shots:  choose your seafood, different locations, etc

Rough day at the beach – Actually, Natasha had a fever of 102

Annika – our animal magnate – I think she has a name for every cat or dog located at the different islands

Josh – does he really have to fit in with the topless Europeans and go “a-natural”?

Science Homework – gum tree plantation – they really are doing school – sometimes?!

fishing village with crab pots

Singapore – 9:00pm at night at a skate park – Josh found a “legal” wall – it took us an hour to find spray paint, but we were able to get it and despite the lighting,  I think it turned out okay.  His writing name is Frost.

Camaron Heights – Malysia: At this guest house, called DAniels Lodge, Josh noticed he graphiti on the wall with the name of the backpacker hotel.  We inquired if he could add to the wall.  The owners said sure and they wanted the lettering “Home Away From Home” with the a drawing of a Rafflasia (largest flower in the world –  feet across).  The wall had a lot of black algae – we had to scrape the hole wall – then whitewash it – let it draw overnight – then Josh got after it.  It turned out well. 

Stage 1:  Koh Lipe, Koh _________?!, Koh Ngai

On to Thailand…

To go between the islands, you typically go by speed boat, or ferry, or long-tail boat.  This next leg of the journey was to be by speedboat.  Once again the dangers of travel arose.  The day before we were to travel to Koh Lipe, a speed boat had sunk just off the coast of Koh Lipe. That obviously was a concern – we decided to go with a different company.  You will see from the pictures what kind of boat we took.  However, it was a very windy and wavy day – white caps out on the ocean.  The driver was pushing the boat pretty fast compared to what we thought he should in these conditions, but then again, he does do this every day.  Natalie and kids were riding in the deep bow area, though the front was bouncing pretty heavily, but were keeping dry.  I, however, was in the back getting drenched.  I think I got more wet traveling in the boat than if I were snorkeling! When the boat bounced back down from the wave, it sprayed the whole end of the boat.  Everyone sitting in the back looked like drowned rats.  It didn’t feel real safe.  The biggest fear would be to get broadside of a wave – and all in the boat had heard of what happened the day before.  At one time, the driver put on a helmet that had a large visor. When he did that, we all were wondering what we were getting into. It basically helped him see better with all the spray coming in.  Anyways, when we finally saw land, the mood changed for the better.  Most were very thankful when their feet hit terra firma again.

Natalie’s writing now…

We’re just about finished visiting the southern Thai islands, and they are just as beautiful as I remember them, although much busier. What was once a backpacker “secret” (think the movie, “The Beach”) has now, for the most part, become Europe’s Hawaii. People come every year for their 2 week holiday and full-on resorts can be found in most places. Nevertheless, we were on the hunt for our secret piece of paradise. Our first try was Koh Lipe, which we reached by speedboat from Langkawi.  We thought we’d hit pay dirt (or pay sand) when we pulled ashore onto the whitest, softest sand we’d ever seen. After another short long tail boat ride to the other side of the island, we settled into two rustic bungalows just set back from turquoise water. We sat on our little front porch and heaved contented sighs; it was that feeling you get after a long day of skiing, when you first sink into a hot tub – Aaaaaaaaah…We soon discovered that paradise was no longer a secret. The long tail boats passed in front of our huts night and day. At particular times, (e.g. when the speedboats delivered a new batch of people to the island), it sounded like a long tail regatta, with the prize being given to the one with the loudest motor! After a few days, we’d had enough. We waited an extra day for everyone to get over their first bout of the Thailand trots, and happily left for an island we’d heard about from a Danish family.

Another 2 hour speed boat ride allowed some time for Tim to finally have some “alone” time as he sat in the bow listening to oldies on the iPod – Cat Stevens, America, Petra, Enya, etc. with the wind flying through his hair, watching the sea and islands fly by, and Annika lying in his lap reading. We finally found our “secret piece of paradise.” (So we’re NOT posting the name on the blog, unless you ask!) This is a very small island that you can walk across in half an hour. There are 2 resorts on the beach and a couple inland in the hills. By “resort,” I mean a collection of simple, spotless bungalows set back from the beach on a grass, pine and palm-covered field and a open air restaurant right on the beach. The bungalow had a double bed and a bunk bed, so we slept pretty cozy. There was no electricity between 9 am and   6 pm, but you could run your fan at night. Even though the bathroom was the simple joint toilet-shower combo, it was clean and smelled good! The beach is again white sand and fringed by a so-so reef. There’s not much to “do” here, but its quiet – no long tail boats and loud music – and beautiful. The perfect spot to catch up after pretty continual travelling. It also worked out as a place to rest as both girls got some bug and had 102 degree temps for a couple of days. Kids did quite a bit of homework and got into some good books; I tackled Anna Karenina, and Tim got caught up on putting pictures on the computer. We also had a bit of a science lesson when we stumbled across a small rubber plantation on one of our walks around the island. Saw how the sap is collected and heated, and then run through a press prior to shipment for further processing. All this in the middle of a small sea-gypsy village!

It was hard to pull up stakes and leave this island, but the kids were starting to get a bit antsy after so many days of lolling around and homework. We hadn’t gotten any more diving in, so we headed to Koh Ngai for diving. I didn’t enjoy it at all – probably because it wasn’t as pretty, and it was busier and with a weird vibe. Tim and Josh dove, but visibility was bad and it was a forgettable dive. Everybody (except Tim!) had a pretty serious bout of homesickness about now. Left after 2 days and went to back to the mainland and Krabi to deal with our visa problems.