Catching up...

Mom and Dad swimming on Koh Poda

We had a great time with friends and family after the wedding.  We went to Koh Poda, a small island about 30 min away by long tail. Koh Poda gets some daytrippers during the day but not many people actually stay overnight so it feels very much like we had the island to ourselves much of the time.

Our bungalows on Koh Poda

The lodging on the island is very basic which is probably why they don't get too many tourists.  They have about 12 small fan bungalows (no airconditioning) with simple bathrooms, and it's only $20 to stay the night. The island has generator power so to conserve the electricity only stays on from 6pm until midnight. The rooms really start heating up once those fans turn off and by sunrise, you are ready to get out for a swim.

I'm glad this island hasn't developed like many of the other islands off the Krabi coast. The more people, the less enjoyable a place is for us, so I will gladly take the simple accommodation. The beaches are beautiful, crystal clear blue waters and tropical fish which will swim all around you. It is a hidden gem in Krabi.

Fish swimming all around

Empty beach on Koh Poda

We went to the only restaurant on the island to eat some thai food and ended up staying at a table to play cards. We quickly learned that we were the only guests staying on the island that night. It was a nice feeling to know that we had this amazingly beautiful place all to ourselves! We ended up staying up late with Mom, Dad, Melanie, Daniel, and Jackie playing "Ming".  We modified the game a bit to include the bottle of rum that we had brought.  It was a fun night!

The fun ended when Matt started to feel ill. Unfortunately, food poisoning does happen at times during our travels and it is the worst.  He was violently ill the entire night :(.  Thankfully though, he was the only one that got sick out of the group. There isn't much that you can do when this happens, aside from drinking a lot of water and riding it out. It usually lasts about 24 hours and then you are wiped out for the next few days. Poor guy!


We did get out for some kayaking with Melanie and Daniel. Kayaking is one of our favorite things to do in Krabi as there are so many amazing and accessible places to get to.  We kayaked around the karsts off of Railay Beach, stopping for a bit of time on some secluded beaches and adventuring into some of the caves.  We kayaked around the corner to get some beach time and some lunch over on Phranang Beach, one of our favorite stretches of sand.  It was a great day!

Kayaking in Krabi

After all of our guests returned home or went on to other adventures, we decided to go on a mini-adventure ourselves.  In all the time that we have been coming to Thailand, we have avoided their most popular island, Phuket. We had always heard that it was a busy place and really built up which is why we've never ventured up there but it was time. Phuket is close to Krabi, being just a 4 hour drive north.

It was a beautiful drive through the Phang Nga province, minus the random heart attack we would have when a car would pull into our lane and drive at us head-on to pass a vehicle in front of them.  It's something that I don't think either of us will ever get used to.  Driving in Thailand is not for the faint of heart.

Lane markings are only for suggestion in Thailand

We arrived in Phuket and found a hotel close to Kata Beach, one of the less busy sections of Phuket. Unfortunately, less busy is still too busy for us.  Phuket felt a bit overwhelming.  We walked to Kata beach and while it was a beautiful stretch of sand, we were surprised to see thousands of beach chairs and umbrellas.  It spoiled the scenery a bit for me. Even if the beach was empty of people, it would still feel crowded with the endless amount of chairs in the sand. That said, the chairs did offer some comfort on the beach that we typically don't get :).

Kata Beach in Phuket

Since we had a car, we explored all sections of Phuket and hit up nearly every beach. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any without the beach chairs!  This wasn't our type of place but the benefit to Phuket is that it has all of the modern conveniences; good shopping, malls, and really great restaurants. We had some great meals while we were there, indulging in foods that we can't typically get in Krabi (like a nice steak!).  There were also lots of bars with live entertainment and good atmosphere.

Me standing under the big Buddha

Big Buddha

Our favorite site in Phuket was the Big Buddha, which is over 150' high and looks over Chalong Bay and Kata Beach. It sits at the highest point in Phuket and towers over the area.  In fact, you can see this statue from nearly every area of Phuket.  The body is covered in beautiful white burmese marble and you feel very small with it towering from above.  It was built about 10 years ago and funded entirely by donations alone.

The view from the top

The area has a magical feeling; monks chanting from the temple, prayer bells hanging from trees and ringing in the breeze, walking past sacred banyan trees wrapped with scarves. The views from the site are equally breathtaking.  We left a donation on our way out and headed down to Laem Phromthep, which is a nice spot to watch the sunset.

A sacred banyan tree

We stayed in Phuket for 3 days and then headed back to Krabi, stopping at a few interesting sites along the way. It was nice to be home again!

We stayed in Krabi for another week before heading to our favorite island, Koh Lipe. Koh Lipe is very close to the border of Malaysia so it was an optimal stop before we left to get more time on our Thai visa.

Koh Lipe has changed a lot since we were there 5 years ago. We knew that it would as quiet places don't stay quiet for very long. Eventually more and more people find out about them and the islands build up with more restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. We were surprised to see the jungle paths now covered in concrete and the walking paths were now filled with cars and motorbikes.

A rainbow over Sunrise beach in Koh Lipe

There were many additions to Koh Lipe, some great restaurants and new hotels but it was sad to see much of the jungle gone and more and more trees getting cleared for future development. We were happy to see some familiar places and faces though. We ran into Greta and Mary who used to work at the Karma bar, and Jack from Jack's Jungle bar is still the same. Jack now has a new restaurant, bar, and a big golf cart to get around the island. Much of the development has benefited the local community there which was nice to see.

This used to be a jungle path

We stayed in a different area on Sunset beach this time and were pleasantly surprised by the lack of people on our stretch of sand.  We had the area nearly to ourselves most days!  We spent most of our nights at Jack's Jungle bar and celebrated the New Year with them on Pattaya Beach.

Fireworks and fire lanterns on NYE

The fireworks were booming from each side of the beach, their proximity was so close that we could feel the booms reverberate through our bodies.  Fire lanterns were being lit and sent into the sky, good wishes for the year ahead.  We left shortly after midnight, like an old married couple!  I'm glad we left when we did though as the fireworks got a bit out of control and a few people in our area were burned by them.

We stayed in Koh Lipe until our visa time ran out and left on January 7th for Langkawi, Malaysia. Langkawi is just a 40 min boat ride from Koh Lipe, and is one of the larger islands off of the Malaysia coast. We ended up meeting a guy from California along the way who also worked in software, and happened to be a customer of my old company. It's a small world!  We aren't sure how much time we will spend in Langkawi but our goal is to get out and do some sailing. The island has a large sailing community and many people land here after their ocean passages.  They have a small sailing school that we have been in touch with as we are looking to take some sailing courses.  We will post again from Malaysia soon.

Our quiet stretch of sand on Koh Lipe