Khao Lak to Ko Samui

We've hit a bunch of places since last post, so will try and keep it brief for each one.

Khao Lak - was a lazy beachside town 100km north of Phuket island...pretty cool place, was the place hit hardest by tsunami 5 years ago, so has not built itself up as a tourist destination like elsewhere. We basically lazed around, and rented a scooter hunted for deserted beaches : ), and waterfalls. Once at the waterfall, I tried scaling the wall to cool off under the water...got there okay, on the way back, slipped and my foot plunged into the water under some leaves....all i could think was water snake! so I scrambled out quick as i could as Jenn laughed.
Khao Lak was also a jumping point for Similian Island National Park, 9 island Marine park, where you can only take day trips...so untouched other than the daily boats...pretty unreal place, just did some snorkelling and laying on the beach there. Probably the nicest place either of us have ever been.

Khao Sok - next we headed inland towards Khao Sok National park, apparently the oldest Jungle in the world. Stayed in a treehouse with not much around us...it was pretty creepy at night with all the noises. Took a full day tour where we took a boat through the whole lake with cool limestone cliffs/mountains around...then got to the end where we trekked through jungle and into a massive cave. Went through cave for about 1.5hrs saw tonnes of creepy stuff (bats, spiders, frogs). The cave was pitch black the entire time, and there is a small river that runs through it that you are constantly walking in...fear the snake again! ha ha. Eventually we hit a point where you have to swim about 10 metres in the dark.

Ko Tao - from Khao Sok we travelled to the little island of Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Tried out scuba diving for first time, which was a blast, would have done more if it wasn't so pricey. We'll plan to do scuba again towards end of trip. Ko Tao is probably busiest dive place in Asia, so has a different vibe than other islands - dive shops everywhere, and lots of backpackers. The rest of the 4 days we laid around and took in many chang beers : ). The island was one of the coolest we had been, but is starting to feel tourism, as its getting crowded, more developed, and lots of garbage.

Ko Phangan - Pretty nice island with high moutains rising up, and home of the full moon party. Dates didn't work out to go to this, but possibly in April we will make it back for it. Not much to say here as we did virtually nothing on quiet beaches. Rented a beachfront bungalow for about $15 on a pretty secluded spot. This island is not over run other than Hat Rin (place of full moon party). We stayed on Bottle Beach, really nice spot.

Ko Samui - This island is definately the most westernized of the three in the Gulf - McDonald's, Starbucks, fancy hotels and restaraunts, and lots more tourists! (Mostly European, as there is an international airport on the island) We figured we needed some adventure after laying around for 4 days on Ko Phangan, so we rented a scooter, and hit some buddhist sites, and saw most of the major temples. Had a minor scooter mishap infront of a restaurant full of people, wearing my nice green helmet, looked like an idiot, ha ha. We hit the driving range...realized the golf skills are a bit rusty, wanted to a round of golf, but couldn't fit it in.
Next day took a tour to Ang Thong National Park, which is a bunch of small islands. Did some snorkelling, kayaking, hiked up to a few viewpoints to get pics of the park, and another one to see a big emerald lagoon that formed in the middle of one of the islands. Had a rough ride on the ride back, the sea has been rough in Samui, and Jenn and I thought it would be cool to sit in the front of the speedboat, bad idea, we have some sore backs to report! ha ha.

Now, we are heading to mainland Surat Thani to fly to Bangkok for 1 day, do some quick shopping, and then jet out to Hanoi in North Vietnam for less beach and more adventure!