Ko Tarutao

We got up early in the morning to catch a bus to our next destination, only to discover there was no established bus schedule. We ended up hopping in a truck-taxi (there's a special name for these, but I can't quite remember what it is) and paying the driver to take us to Pak Bara, where we could catch a ferry to Ko Tarutao.

We subsequently discovered there was no accommodation on the island, as it was a Thai holiday. Since we had already purchased our ferry tickets, we decided to go anyway and hope for the best. (The ferry ride was somewhat chaotic. This dumb-dumb directed us to the wrong boat. We had to hop off before it pulled away. Finally we were directed to the appropriate boat. It all worked out, and we got some really comfortable seats. I proceeded to sleep the entire ride.)

Once we got to Ko Tarutao, we discovered the only option for accommodation were two tents. Two very small tents. The tents were so small, the clerk burst into laughter when Jon asked to rent them. (Jon is quite tall, over 6'4", the tents were about 5'10" long.) With the tents in hand, we trekked down the beach to find a place to set up. After walking for an unreasonably long time, we finally found the perfect spot. Then we went about setting up the tents. That was a tiny bit of a fiasco, as the tents were constructed by a pathetic excuse of an engineer who obviously did no graduate from A&M. (I would describe the finished product by saying the tents resembled coffins made of semi-waterproof material.)

On our first day in Ko Tarutao, we mostly chilled out and went swimming a few times. Our last swim was during the evening, during which Jon had the misfortune to be stung by a jelly-fish. I tried to help him out as best as I could by telling him urea could help neutralize the stinging sensation. (Okay, so maybe I didn't say it in such a posh manner. I mostly just yelled, "You gotta pee on it! Pee on it! Pee on it!" I don't think he appreciated my attempts to help. I can't say I blame him.)

Neither of us slept so well. (The tents were sandy, small, and the ground beneath me was a bit on the hard side.) However, the view of the beach from my tent was incomparable. We decided to spend one more night on the beach and head out the next day.

Our day was pretty crammed with fun stuff. We climbed around on some rocks that jutted out into the sea, wandered around on an isolated beach, foraged for shells and sand-dollars, and climbed down a really steep path after accidentally taking a bit of a detour.

We went for a swim before taking a walking trail though some beautiful karst formations to a lookout point to watch the sun set. We lingered in the gazebo at the top until everyone had wandered off. As soon as everyone walked off, a horde of monkeys descended upon us. They crawled around on the roof over us and stared at us from nearby trees. An absolutely unbelievably surreal experience.

After we chilled out with the langurs (the monkeys) for awhile, we scurried out of the woods just before dark.

It was a great day.