It Only Gets Better

When I went to Phra Nang beach in Krabi Province, I was convinced that it was the most beautiful beach in Thailand.
Now, having been to Ko Tarutao, I find that I am mistaken. Ko Tarutao is paradise.
We went down there for New Year's. Alisa did the research and, with little information, we headed to Hat Yai and to the pier at Satun. We originally planned on staying on Ko Rawi, but that plan was foiled by the absence of accomodation on that island.


I'm glad we ended up where we did- Ko Tarutao is amazing. Kilometers of abandoned, untouched beach. Actual seashells all over the beach.







Monkeys, lizards, birds, frogs. Tarutao is part of a National Park, and the whole island is run by park staff. No one trying to sell you anything. No commercial vendors at all. Just park-run services.








We spent much of our time enjoying the beaches. We also visited Crocodile Cave, a formerly crocodile-infested cave that you take a longtail boat to access. It cost us 100 baht and at first, we figured it was just a quick trip to the cave, maybe a little walk inside. The mouth of the cave is fairly large, and we were immediately impressed by the massive stalactites. Our guide led us down a rickety ladder into the darkness, where we boarded (to our surprise), a raft. He pulled us and another group about a kilometer into the blackness- thank goodness we had flashlights- where we were amazed by incredible rock formations and thousands of bats. We got off the raft eventually and walked through about another kilometer of cave. Best 100 baht I had spent in a while...
New Year's Eve was more low-key than it has been in the past, especially when we got the news of the Bangkok bombings. It was nice to relax with friends on a beautiful beach instead of party, though.



We went to Ko Adang for our last day of holidays, seeking more utopia and snorkelling (not available on Ko Tarutao). It was something of a process to get to Ko Adang, and we stayed in probably the grossest lodging I have been in yet, but we had a great time anyway. The sand on the beach was odd, like little quartz crystals, but if you waded out about ten feet into the water and stuck your face in you could see hundreds of tropical fish. We rented masks for 50 baht and went snorkelling for about an hour. It was amazing- we didn't have to swim far at all and we saw more fish than I saw on all three of my previous tours combined. Angelfish, puffer fish, an eel (which I didn't see, a good thing because they terrify me), starfish, anenomes, urchins, parrot fish, clown fish...it was great. Another super investment of a couple bucks.

The whole trip was a remarkable success, despite many hitches in transportation and not really being sure where we were going, staying or doing at any given time.
Happy New Year's to everyone!

Until next time,
Heather