Bliss…

After a 10 hour disaster house to get to the damn island, we were truly pleased.  We stayed at the Rim Talay resort and, at 550 -1000 Baht a night (about 16 – 32 bucks) it was really worth it.  The rooms (or really, these little tiny boat things that have been hauled up to shore) were clean and comfortable and, most importantly, in an excellent location.

The real gem, though, was the little restaurant in front of the resort called Pan and David’s.  I could go on out about the delicious food and the great service, but it was the people that made our stay really incredible.  Pan and David are the owners and they are the two most helpful people we have come in contact with so far.  They answered all of our questions, gave recommendations on where to rent a motorbike, the best place to exchange money, what street food to eat and what to avoid, where else to visit in Thailand, and they even helped us plan a camping trip to a nearby, smaller Island, called Bat.  Pan (David’s Wife) literally acted like our surrogate mother.  David (my David, not hers) got a bit of a stomach ache on the second day there and Pan spent 10 minutes grilling me to ensure I was properly taking care of him.  So incredibly sweet.  We can’t say enough about these people, their food, their kindness.  We felt a bit like family for a couple days, and what more could we ask for.  Still, they gave it anyway.  If you are every planning on visiting Thailand and need a little island to escape the tourists and learn where the locals really vacation, go to Ko Sichang, look up Pan and David, and let them care for you for a couple days.  You can learn more at their website:  www.ko-sichang.com.  They are also featured in a couple of the Thailand Lonely Planet guides, and rightfully so.

We’ll miss you and your family, Pan and David, and hopefully we’ll cross paths again soon!

After a couple days of motorbiking around the island (don’t worry, unlike the locals we were careful to wear helmets and actually obey the traffic laws) we rented a kayak and paddled a few miles over to a little teeny island called Bat.  Nothing like kayaking across the Gulf of Thailand to camp on what really felt like our own private beach.  Again, don’t worry, we wore life jackets and a number of people were aware of where we were going.  When we arrived we were greeted by the one family (5 people) that lived there.  They operate little bungalows on the beach, and they also allow camping which we did for only 120 baht a night.  They cook just about anything you can imagine and nothing was less than superbly delicious.  Not to mention, once again as seems to be typical of the Thai people, their kindness and care was wonderful. They always had questions of do you have water, are you hungry, do you need directions around the island, etc.  All in incredibly broken English so it took a lot of charades, but you get the point.  As was the case in Ko Sichang, we felt like family on Bat Island.

We mostly spent the time relaxing on the beach, watching the sun set, building a camp fire to help keep the bugs away.  Also, watching lighting off in the distance across the gulf at night was quite breathtaking.  We were so relaxed we felt half asleep the whole time, but always with a slight grin on our faces.

Oh, and there was a goat we named Harrold.  Not 2 goats, or 3 or 4, but just one.  No one knows how he got there but the dogs (have I mentioned there are dogs roaming the streets everywhere?) seemed to have adopted him.  He slept outside our tent the first night and didn’t really much bother us.  I think he just liked the company.

Speaking of our tent – OUR GEAR RULES!  Thank God we put the time in to buying all the right little stuff.  Our water filter, our Mountain Hardwear Tent, our Gregory packs, everything has been perfect.  We have been kept dry and safe, and can access clean and safe water everywhere we go.  Plus with all our nifty little gadgets we can actually carry everything around without killing ourselves.  When we have some more time I’ll write some reviews for all of you gear heads out there (Hi Jimmy!).

The ride on the “ferry” back to the mainland was a bit nerve wracking.  The boat was constructed of rotting slats of wood held together by what must have been Chinese chewing gum.  We thought the creaking and tilting was pretty bad until a HUGE storm blew up right after we left port.  There was lightning all around, the wind was strong, the rain intense.  The boat operatpr couldn’t see where he was going so he sent one of his worker dudes (who had the most incredible mullet) up to the front with an umbrella to spot land.  Wonderful.  I was incredibly nervous, and it didn’t help that David drank 12 gallons of water before we left so he had to pee really, really, badly. All the locals on the boat didn’t seem to mind that we were clearly about to die, so I just kept telling myself, “When in Rome, don’t panic.” I’ve never felt so good to put my feet back on solid ground when we pulled in to that port.

We got back to the mainland last night, here in Si Racha.  Because it’s not a major tourist area Si Racha is super cheap so we are going to stick around for a day or two and rest (kayaking and camping for 3 days in 90 degree weather is quite exausting).  Next, it’s up North to visit some killer ruins and beautiful country side.  We are finally updating the itinerary so that info is actually real now.  Yay!

Much Love,

Kevin and David

Lessons Learned:

1 – No matter where you go you can always find a 711 – ALWAYS.  They literally have them on every block here.

2 – When you are 6 ft 1 and white, learn to do 2 things: a) ignore the stares, and b) DUCK!

3 – you can never, EVER, have enough deet OR sun screen

4 – When struggling to communicate without using English, never underestimate the power of a smile