We spent the last twp days at Ang Thong Marine National Park,an archipelago that runs parallel to Koh Samui.
We paid for a full tour of the islands as that's really the only way to get there, and then we just spent the night on the island and caught the next tour group back.
The boat first stopped at an island with an interior salt lake, so we climbed some precarious stairs to reveal the hidden lake. At the top, i set down our dry bag of valuables (you know, like Anna and Sam's passports, credit cards, etc) turn to say something to Anna, and watched the dry bag tumble down through the security barrier. Oops.
After attempting to communicate with a worker ("You have no idea what I'm saying to you, do you?") I clambered over the barrier onto the rather sharp rocks below and retrieved the bag from a bush it was thankfully caught in. Upon my return Sam took the bag from me and hit me several times.
After that adventure we returned to the boat, drove to another small island, and kayaked. We took a three-man kayak, but they only gave us two paddles with the middle person supposed to just chill and take pictures. Since I had the waterproof camera and the bum wrist I was put in the middle, which was rather emasculating. The Thai guys loading the boat were like,"really, you are putting the guy in the middle," or whatever that would be in Thai.
We then had lunch on the boat and drove to the main island. We rented a bungalow, which was a delightful thirty percent off on Mondays. We took the six-man bungalow, which was still the cheapest night we have had in Thailand by a few hundred Baht, and we got six complementary water bottles instead of three.
We went snorkeling in a heavily trafficked reef on the main beach. The visibility was atrocious, but Anna and I entertained ourselves. Sam, disgusted by the ocean, was bored on the shoreline. Then, off to the Bat Cave! One of the two main hikes was to a large cave whose roof had partially collapsed. No bats, but we enjoyed ourselves clambering about.
Dinner at the onsite restaurants, followed by a healthy airing of grievances. We established that Sam has regular mood swings, getting unnecessarily perky about an hour after dinner right as Anna and I are wrapping up the day; I am apparently "needy" and talk to much; and Anna has no discernible flaws. Sam and I also explained to Anna (ever the attentive listener) that you can, in fact, not listen to most of the random things that I say.
The following morning I slept in much longer than the girls. After breakfast (pancakes!) we hiked up to the overlook. The hike was very difficult, at times clinging to a singe think rope as you go up and down some very sharp rocks. The was a breathtaking view of the whole park at the top.
We were unfortunately not able to kayak when the tour boat returned, so we tootled about the island until we headed back with the full group. Back in the hostel we game planned for our last day in the island (next post), and headed to Bo Phut, a fishing village the next beach over.
Bo Phut was a happening place, but as much a fishing village as a lovely collection of stores, resteraunts, and bars. We had a deeeeelicious Indian dinner, nice to break up all the Thai food (though Anna still got rice, whereas Sam and I went to town on some Nan). After dinner we walked around Bo Phut and found beach access through a Bob Marley themed bar. We snagged beach recliners from the hotel next door and relaxed on seats we didn't pay for, listening to music from a bar we didn't buy drinks at, and watching sky lanterns* paid by other beach goers drift by. Epic win on our travel style. We all nearly fell asleep on the beach before we headed back.
*flaming bags of plastic. Google image Thailand Sky Lanterns.
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