Scuba Suzy and Erika!

Today we embarked upon a discovery scuba dive with our resorts dive center. Although Koh Tao is a diving paradise with some of the cheapest certification classes in the world, I didn't really want to expend that much mental capacity to study and take tests (yet)! So the discovery dive was perfect. We took a short class, practiced in the pool and then hit the water.

Within minutes, our guide was leading us lower and lower and in to previously invisible spots of our beautiful bay. A whole world of corals of all shapes and sizes served as the scenic backdrop for the zillions of fish munching, swimming and pooping (yes, they just let their fish droppings out whenever they please!) around us.

It was pretty easy to breathe calmly underwater however, my left ear was difficult to equalize, especially 30+ feet down! Maybe a sign I'm not meant to be Scuba Suzy. To top off the day, we repeated an amazing dinner of fresh salad and fruity coconut milk soup (delicious!) with our toes in the sand and the sound of waves lapping the shores. Just one of the many romantic dinners Thailand has treated us to haha!

Koh Tao: Turtle Island

We arrived on the slow ferry to Koh Tao, the smallest of the eastern peninsula islands, and were met by our resort's pickup service which was nice to avoid the taxi hawkers. A short but steep and bumpy ride delivered us to the opposite side of the island. Here, the small, quiet and picturesque (just the way I like it) cove of Hanote Bay sits on the Gulf of Thailand and the site of our beautiful and reasonably priced beachside resort... complete with a pool, amazing restaurant in the sand and a quant bungalow under the palm trees.

And the resident dog we've nicknamed Stumpy:

A perfect place to spend the last few days in the islands. Our first day was spent lounging on the beach and snorkeling.

And my goodness it was amazing down there! Just right off the beach, hundreds of colorful and camouflaged, big and small, long and fat fish swam through some of the most colorful and diverse coral I've ever seen. With my handydandy waterproof camera I captured a few good pics though doesn't seem to really capture it as well as it looks in person!

Thongsala, Koh Phangan

As I was incorrectly under the impression that the Thai New Year water festival extended through the weekend, we had planned to spend two nights in the islands capital to catch the action. Which had already happened. So Plan B was beachside pool lounging, easing back in to more normal (but still healthy) foods and a snorkel trip to the famously beautiful Bottle Beach. We explored three different snorkel sights, each with tons of beautiful fish and corals, and swam with hundreds of fishies! One even tried to nibble my hand!

Next up was a thoroughly enjoyable nap on the beach before heading back.

Dinner at a trendy beach lounge was über relaxing. These are the days I'll think about when I'm stressed out between school, work and (hopefully) a life next fall!

The Sanctuary

This detox/yoga/life retreat exists on its own beach of Koh Phangan, not far from the full moon party beaches, but is cosmically a world away. This week-long detox experience was quite personal and challenging at times but it was amazingly reinvigorating! I love food so fasting for four days, especially in Pad Thai and curry heaven, sounded difficult at first but the wellness centre created such an amazing schedule of filling clay and psyllium shakes, tea, lymph juices and even a vegetable broth dinner with fellow cleansers that I never had time to be hungry (as long as I avoided their amazing vegetarian restaurant). Throw in daily yoga, spa treatments and colonic (don't ask if you don't know) and I was starting to feel refreshened by day three and like a new person by the end of the week! We also participated in some amazing classes like Transformational Breathe (mind-blowing), astrology readings, Ayurveda, Qi Gong as well as movie night on the beach and a very entertaining open mic night. There are so many healers of all backgrounds and I sampled an acupuncture and shiatsu session with a very skilled practitioner as well as an in depth discussion with a naturopath. Lots of beachside relaxation and book reading time too (three books). All for just over $100 a day. Even with the mozzies and cockroaches (yes, they've reappeared), I see why many fellow detoxers I've met here make this an annual tradition and I may have to as well!

Our 'home': the wellness centre

Buddha Hall yoga and meditation room

The shakes

First real meal in over 4 days

Sunset the last night

Lil boy celebrating Songkran, the Thai New Year (it's now 2055 here), which is also a big water fight!

Hard to be crabby in Krabi!

We arrived with the scenic ferry from Phi Phi in time to grab a guesthouse and boat over to Railey Beach for a veggie pad Thai lunch.

This beach is amazing! Surrounded by karsts and palm trees, we lounged, swam, talked with a few other travelers and then watched the most amazing sunset yet!

On our long tail boat back to Ao Nang, the sky was just on fire with reds and purples and a blazing orange sun dipping in to the ocean. I was pretty happy with that one!

I wish we had more time in Krabi but alas, we wanted to ensure an early arrival on Sunday to The Sanctuary so we had to hop across the mainland to Ko Samui on Saturday (after throwing my back out at a private yoga session with a jerk instructor... its like I'm getting old or something!). I will be back to Krabi!

Phi Phi- more than just 'The Beach'

Arriving via ferry to the staggering karsts surrounding Phi Phi Don's pier was an impressive sight! After finding lodging, we cooled off in one of the two beaches created by the opposing bays and signed up for a boat trip. Of course, the Indian restaurant was playing The Beach so we watched some of it. I had just finished the book and the book is so much better than the butchered, lusty and violent movie. But the beach scenes are amazing and I got excited when I realized, that's this place!

The next morning, we trekked up to the viewpoint (and met an awesome British couple who paid our way since we didn't bring up money) and were treated to amazing views of the two bays and lush green cliffs beyond. Amazing!

Then it was boat time! Our Thai Captain was dead set on partying and blasting rap music (with many expletives) which was fine except I felt bad for the Chinese family and hope their lil boy didn't understand the words! We kayaked to monkey beach, snorkeled with thousands of fish and lounged atop the boat.

Then we were en route to Maya Beach (aka 'The Beach').

Here we had to walk in some due to low tides but were delighted to find an amazing enclave in which you can't help but imagine how amazing it would have been to have the island all to yourself, ala The Beach.

Alas, we shared it with many other boat trips but it was beautiful. After a BBQ dinner (I have been avoiding meat so was very wary!), we watched the sun set and awaited the darkness to swim with the shimmering plankton! It's just the coolest sensation to wiggle and kick in the water and have it light up around you! Foot massages and new pedicures were a perfect ending to a great day.

International health

Our last day in Phnom Penh was rather uneventful. We ate at the historic Foreign Correspondents Club which housed many reporters over the last many turbulent decades and attempted to get in to the royal palace by covering our tank tops with scarves (it's worked at temples in the past and we were on to a yoga class after) but the lady emphatically turned us away. Would've been nice but I'm also a little templed out. But finally got a picture of 5 on a moped!

Then the flight to Bangkok then Phuket. I started feeling a little jittery and then tingly while boarding the plane which quickly deteriorated to chattering teeth, hot forehead and delirious thoughts that I must have malaria since I missed a few pills while in Cambodia. And stupid budget Air Asia didn't even have a blanket. At Bangkok, I put on more layers, took some Tylenol and tried to hydrate and rest. I was pretty much limping due to the leg pains and couldn't think cuz of the headache. We finally arrived at midnight, six hours later to our resort where I was up all night and so decided the next morning 'when in doubt, check it out' and called the local clinic who said I would need to go to the hospital so E flagged me a taxi to Bangkok Hospital Phuket. This clean hospital was really easy to get checked in to and I saw a doctor at the Outpatient Department about five minutes later. They let me rest in a dark room while waiting on labs and were pretty keen on me staying overnight even before we had drawn the labs but after seeing my low K and high white count (and negative malaria and dengue thankfully), I was ok to get fluids and IV antibiotics and go from there. So upstairs we went to a room where I had an excellent view of the sunny day I was missing, tons of English channels and room service even! I hadn't eaten much so attempted some tomato soup and felt surprisingly better a few hours later (IV fluids do wonders!). So after National Treasure finished, I checked out, paid my bill (yup American prices it seemed!), got my meds and taxid home before E could get too worried about me. Not the preferred way to kill 9 hours my first day in the islands but some poolside recovery and a beach sunset the next day sure helped!