Ko Hong Island

Yesterday, the 8 of us hired a private long tail boat to take us to Ko Hong Island. Our "captain" was awesome and he took us into this secret cove where the water was so clear, you could see to the bottom!

Me and Jess on the long tail boat...

Our first glimpse at the cove! Incredible!

Jess was the first to jump in!


Then we all did it! Kristen, Carlos, Jess, and Me.

The beach at Ko Hong Island (Jess and Carlos)

Carlos and Jess

Kristen and I love doing jumping pictures!

The tree where we layed out by in Ko Hong.

Some things never change... I'm always on the lookout for beautiful shells!

We definitely did some snorkeling here! The water was crystal clear and the fish were everywhere! I saw one blue one that was at least 3 feet long! And there were lots of parrot fish. You can look them up on google... they're beautiful. Jess was snorkeling and was watching one of them and she said it turned around and showed her all it's teeth and that was enough to get her out of the water for a while! haha

The fish literally swim right up to you... hundreds of them! I was lucky, I only got bit once!

Low tide at Ko Hong Island...

When you take boats here, they don't pull them up to a dock. They stop them in the water and you have to jump out and tread through. Yesterday, they pulled the boat in the mud in Ko Yao and we walked about 300 meters back to the beach. The mud was soooo soft that we all sank1/2 way up our calves with each step! It was really funny and kind of gross, but a really great experience!

After we got back from the Island, Jess, Carlos and I all rented scooters to ride into town. Jess and Carlos shared one, and I got my own. Mind you, this was my 1st time (If you don't count the time I rode Kevin's in Korea for about 100 feet). I was a natural! We rode about a mile and spotted Kristen, so she jumped on the back of mine. I was really proud of myself for learning how to drive one, with someone on the back, on the left side of the road. If I were in a contest for trying new things, I would have made a lot of points with this little adventure!

Jess and Carlos at the gas station. 1 liter of gas was only 40 baht!

We rode the scooters to this fishing village to buy some lobster. It's only 100 baht for 1 kilo, which is EXTREMELY CHEAP! We had no idea how we were going to cook it, but we figured we'd get creative!

But when we got there, there was no one working. :(

This was a cooler of gigantic fish! Ehhh

so, we rode the scooters through this market in Ko Yao and stopped for dinner at a local joint. It was really good and the lady who was working there cut us some fresh pinneapple on the house!

All in all, it was an AWESOME day!

Ko Yao

We did it, we made the big leap yesterday, and said goodbye to Railay Beach, well for 3 days at least! :)

Introducting Ko Yao:

The drive from the port to our bungalows was done on a tuk tuk, basically a truck with a tent over the bed of it with benches on either side... It felt a little like we were on safari, since Thailand is very jungly! (Is that a word?!)

This island is NOT TOURISTY at all, which is awesome! We are really getting a glimpse into the life of the Thai Island dwelers!

Riding around in the tuk tuk, trying to find somewhere to stay.

As it turns out, the homestays were not available, since it's low season, so Kristen and I ended up here! What a cute little bungalow huh?! Ready for the drumroll... it's 250 baht a night, which is the equivalent of about $4.00 for each of us!

The view from our porch... a grassy area with palm trees and then the water! :)

This little cat greeted us at our porch when we arrived... She's very sweet!

Maybe this is why it was only $8.00 a night total! haha... but this is our style! Hut roofs, ghetoo bathrooms, a comfy bed, and front porches that overlook the beach! What more do you need?!

*** The toilet doesn't have a flusher. There is a bowl in the black bucket that you scoop water into and then throw it into the toilet bowl and it flushes! :)

This little girl was sleeping in this hammock in the hut restaurant next to our bungalow. What a life, huh?!

After we got all settled in, we walked down the road and found this AMAZING restaurant! It overlooks the ocean and looks like a giant hut! It's beautifully charming.

Kristen...

Jess was explaining how much she LOVES massages! Heck, when they're only $6.00, who doesn't?!

Kristen and I

Lunch was delicious! We ended up meeting 4 other girls who we've been hanging out with here. We're convinced we may be the only foreigners on the island! We met on the tuk tuk actually. (Jenny and Gail are from Ireland, and Dana and Chloe are from London) They've been a lot of fun to hang with and get to know!

Jess and Carlos are staying in this hut, which is basically at the base of the water! Stunning!

Jess's bungalow. Nice hammock, huh?!

We almost all stayed here, but we had already settled at our other place. It was a 3 room bungalow where the owners used to live. What a life huh?!

It started to get really stormy while we were there, so we all lounged around and watching the lightinging storm over the water...

This was the view of the storm... beautiful, huh?!

During the storm, it got really windy and was pouring rain, so we moved inside for some coffee and hot chocolate with the other girls.

On our walk back to our bungalow, I spotted this buffalo roaming in a palm tree field. As you can see, we are in the middle of nowhere on this island!

Kinda scary if you think about it!

We had dinner here. The restaurant is actually closed during this time of year, but they opened it for the 8 of us! I'm telling you, we are literally the only foreigners here! The guy who owns the restaurant knew we would all come for dinner, so he quickly decorated the place and called his friends to come over and bartend and cook for us! It was amazing!

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich (Not my typical curry, but I was craving one, and they made it!) Here's the funny part though. I asked them for a grilled cheese sandwich and some fruit. He asked me what kind of fruit and I said, "Ummm, banana and pineapple please." When my sandwich came, the fruit was inside! We all died laughing!

Jess and Carlos!

Kristen and Jenny (from Scottland)


Me and Gail (from Scottland)


Carlos actually found this rock earlier in the day and gave it to Jess! It's a perfect heart!

Today, we're renting a boat and heading over to Ko Hong.

Life on the Edge, LITERALLY!

Today was a day filled with new experiences and times where if fear got in the way, I would have not lived life to the full! I started my day with breakfast alone, since, as always, I'm the first to wake up! I never mind it though, and actually enjoy the alone time! Then, I headed to Pranang Beach, where I was met by all my monkey friends!

This morning, they were more friendly than usual, and this one actually climbed onto my shoulder to hang out. I honestly wonder if they are starting to recognize me... I have been here for a week after all! I quickly handed my camera to a guy standing nearby and asked him to snap a picture for me.

Turns out, his name is Beau and he is from North Carolina but has been teaching in Ulsan (40 minutes north of Pusan) in Korea. He invited me to rock climb up to the local lagoon with some friends from the UK who he had met on the boat coming over to Railay, so I decided to tag along! It's amazing how quickly you can meet cool people when you're traveling!

Here's the beginning of the hike.

This was the viewpoint (along the trail to the lagoon, which we had to climb to the top of the cliffs and back down to get to. (Remember the picture of the cliffs where the monkeys climb, those are the cliffs we had to climb over!) Crazy huh?!

It was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY slippery because of the mud, so it ended up being a 4 hour adrenaline rush for all of us! On, and it's worth mentioning that I was wearing my bathing suit, a sarong, and did it barefoot! I obviously had no idea this hike would be part of my day!

Beau is an avid rock climber, so he was scaling 50 ft cliffs, with no rope! I was literally shaking, so terrified that he was going to fall!

It was such a gorgeous hike/climb! We were basically in the middle of the jungle! And yes, we saw a snake!

Ami and another girl from the UK. (Not sure her name, she was climbing with her boyfriend behind us) See the rope in the background?? We had to scale down the side of a 20 ft cliff, caked with slippery mud. (Mom, close your eyes, and don't read this!!!) It was extremely dangerous, but the guys spotted and talked Ami and I through every step of the entire way! All in all, we had to scale (3) 30ft+ drop off slippery cliffs by either rock climbing, or pulling ourselves up with a muddy rope...

Believe it or not, I have no pictures of the lagoon! I'm sorry!!! Everyone else took pictures, and will be putting them on Facebook, so you can see them soon!

Introducing our new friend Beau:

After we finished climbing, we headed back to Pranang for some swimming and massages! I had a $6.00 Thai oil back and neck massage on the beach by my favorite lady boy (who, turns out, isn't a lady boy at all! Oops!) Her name is Pan.

Sunset at Pranang (Kristen, Me, and Jess)

After the sunset, we headed over to Mom's kitchen for dinner... but I stopped off to see Nat (another Thai Rasta guy), who is the DJ at Bamboo bar, and also one of San (Bob Marley's) good friends who printed a picture of San and I to give to him before I left. He thought San would love the gesture. He even grabbed some ribbon and tied it for me! Adorable, huh?!

We had dinner at Mom's kitchen tonight. D-licious as usual!

These are 2 of Beau's friends who climbed to the lagoon with us. He is from the UK and she is from Ireland! Awesome, awesome, awesome couple! They sat with us at dinner. All together, we had people from: Cali (Me), Chicago (Jess), Kristen (Miami) Carlos (Columbia), Ben (UK), Ami (Ireland), Alon (Israel), and a guy from London. When do you ever get to have dinner with people from all over the world?!

Hanging out on the deck of Joy Bar tonight!

Crystal and I opted for some good ole diet coke tonight. Cheers! :)

Tomorrow, Carlos, Jess, Me, Kristen, and Beau are heading over to Ko Yao and Ko Hong for a couple day trip. Should be beautiful! I'm not sure if I'll have internet, so you may have to wait a couple days to hear from me! Meanhamnida (sorry)!