Day 80: Secret Agent Men

Wow, can't believe it's day 80. We've been here over 11 weeks. Okay, maybe I can believe it. There's certain signs that one has been in Thailand for that long:

- it doesn't seem to matter what strength of sunscreen you use, you don't burn, peel, or even change colour...but we're trying.
- you don't sweat 24 hours a day
- you don't eat McDonald's because you miss home, you do it to get your bowel movements back on track
- you're on your 4th, 5th, or even 6th Tom Clancy novel

Yeah, we're almost experienced veterans...too bad we can't speak the language at all.

Anyway, the last couple days have brought us some amazing experiences. Friday morning we caught a tuk tuk to a port beside Phang Nga. It doesn't open up onto the sea but dumps you out onto the complicated maze of rivers, side streams, and caves through the limestone islands. The vegetation is mostly mangrove trees which seem perfectly suited for this environment. As the tide comes in and out the soil gets flooded with salt water. Navigating the canals is crazy though. If our driver had jumped ship I think we would have been in trouble driving the longtail boat. With Seadoos though...this place would rock.

The first place he took us a place called Kong Island where he drove the boat into a completely enclosed bay (think a miniature Maya bay with no beach). Nice break from the waves. Next we motored over to an island with a long cave. Who every thought of the word "spelunking" anyway? We were armed with flipflops and flashlights (2 out of 3 worked) but still managed to do some good exploring.

Next was lunch at a small beach on yet another island. We ate rice with shrimp and pineapple and took some time to throw the frisbee. Nevin and Luke had a tough time; injuring their feet on the rocky bottom. Who would have thought that I'd be the twinkle-toes one of the group? My mom sure wouldn't.

After that we hit the highlight island of the area, James Bond Island. I've seen the movie (The Man With The Golden Gun) but I never really paid attention to the setting. This was definitely familiar. We took lots of pictures and explored the caves. The vendors were selling all kinds of necklaces and bracelets but, oddly, no bootlegged copies of the Bond movie.

Our last stop of the day was the floating village. It is not actually floating but is built up on stilts over the water. They've done a good job because when the tide comes in the water level is right up to the walkways. Our guesthouse was built right against the cliff of the island the village is attached too. It's still mostly a fishing community but they do have the regular tourist stalls set up everywhere. These old ladies must be lonely because they really hassle you to buy their pearls and shells.

We ate dinner with the other guests, older couples from Belgium and France. My french skills got a real workout. I understood about a third of their conversations. Luke caught the odd phrase but Nevin had to just sit and nod his head politely. They had just come from Cambodia and had lots of advice to pass on. I think we'll be well prepared for our visit.

The next morning we took another longtail boat back to the port, tuk tuk to Phang Nga, quick call to my youngest brother, Peter, in Montana to wish him a happy 16th birthday, bus to Phuket, McDonald's, taxi to Kata Beach (see map), and a final walk down to the water. It'd only been a couple days but we were really ready for another beach day. The water here is much clearer than Patong and the beach is nicer. Better town too, I'd recommend this over Patong for sure.

Lucky we got our sun in yesterday, today the weather has just switched between raining hard and raining really hard. Guess it's a good day for internet stuff but makes me wonder why we bought all that sunscreen last night.