When in Thailand...

When in Rome you need to do what the Romains do. When in Thailand... what the Thai do. Friday night entertainment is Baja Thai Boxing. Sorry Brad while your Mom couldn't watch you fight, I had to see what all the excitment was about.

A truck drives up and down the streets of Ao Nang, advertising the evenings events. If you want to go you simply jump on the truck behind and you are escorted to the Arena.

So what is Baja Thai Boxing?? A combination of Kick boxing and regular gloved boxing. East Indian music plays in the background as the fighters go through a dance/ prayer ritual preparing to deliver the first punch. There appears to be more kicking than boxing.

Last night's card had 10 bouts scheduled, with fighters from the age of 12 to grown heavy weight men. We saw two knock outs and the remainder of the fights went a full 5 rounds.

What really blew my mind, was after a fight the boxers congregated in the back of the arena smoking. Knowing how diligent my son works at ensuring he is in top physical shape before any fight, the sight of these very fit boxers smoking made us all laugh at the situation!

After 8 fights we had seen enough and headed back into town to do what the rest of the tourist in Thailand do... Drink! LOL

Finding Nemo

Heading back from Ko Hong Island to Ao Nang, in search of a great place to snorkel.
The challenge was that the currents were so strong the first place we stopped at was not safe. So we moved onto a second location. Finally a great place to snorkel for ~35 minutes, before the rains came. Everyone asking "Did you see Nemo?" Some yes some no but everyone got to see a variety of fish.

Then back to Ao Nang for our last meal as a group. With lots of promises to keep in touch, and a few tears the group divided as some of us are staying put for another week and some heading back to Bangkok on their route home.

Today another adventure starts.

Kayaking in the Andaman Sea

A short 3 hour kayak through the currents of the Andaman Sea took us from Ko Hong Island to Ladin Island and back. Ladin Island reminded me of the set of the movie "Beaches". Bamboo platforms and huts made up the living quarters for the park rangers and looked just like the huts in the movie. Rumor has it segments of the movie "Paradise" and "Pirates of the Carribean" were filmed here.

While I had been resting on my laurels of how easy kayaking had been the previous day, today was a different story. We think there was a rock planted in front of our boat, but it was probably just the strength of the current and the fact my partner had a sore arm. ( yes I am blamng him, it works better for my ego). We proudly brought in the tail of the team at each destination!!

Back at Ko Hong Island I caught up on my sleep, resting on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand is soft as silk, pure white and cool to the touch. A perfect place to enjoy a peaceful afternoon.

Dinner a barbeque of squid, fish, chicken and even a little beef on the beach.

Staring at the stars we watch the moon rise into the sky. What a wonderful way to spend the last night of the tour together.

Tomorrow we go Snorkelling!!

Monkey Business

On day eleven, I indicated that Kayaking was a little tougher than I expected.
Now an interesting fact is if the weight in the boat isn't even, the heavier individual can struggle to keep his end of the boat from sinking too deep in the water.
WHo knew that Not being 110lbs would make me a more attractive kayaking partner? That several (LOL) extra pounds made it much easier for both myself and my new Canadian Kayaking partner.

ON Day 12, my new partner and I sailed through the mongrove and manuveoured around the brush like no buddies business. It was a breeze and way more fun. We were teased with the opportunity to see a few monkey's along the way and the guides strategically threw Pineapple on the kayaks. A few MOnkeys was an understatement as dozen of monkeys jumped out of the trees onto our boats. Climbing all over us they moved from one boat to another. When the fruit was gone they tried to open our drypacks to see if there was any food hiding. I found myself talking to them as if they were little children. "No, No, Get out of there". A mother moved between boats while her baby continued to nurse, solidly hanging on. Just when we thought we had past all the monkeys, another group jumped out of the trees, through the water and onto our boats looking for left overs. Several licked the pineapple juice of the surface of the boats.

This was better than any day at the zoo. Touching, patting and feeding the monkeys.
I am sure they were thinking " Here comes another parade of tourists. Let's see how much fun we can have with them."

After playing in the mangrooves, we headed out into the Andaman Sea in a Longtail Baot, destination Ko Hong Island. It poured rain the entire trip, but once we arrived at the white sandy beach the clouds parted and the sun shone. Just in time for us to put up the tents that would be our accomodation for the next two nights.

Now my husband will appreciate that we slept in camoflough tents on bamboo matts. The ground was a little hard for these bare bones, but sleep is highly over rated anyways.

So what do you do when you are camping in the middle of a Thailand Island? Play Texas Hold 'em of course. If only it had been real money. I won the pot, not just once but the entire game. Worried no one would play with me I started throwing a few hands. To my family, I am not usually so nice, so don"t expect the same treatment at home. LOL

Things you should know!

A man wanting to become a Monk has 296 rules he must learn and live by, while a Buddist follower has 5.

Thou shall not Kill
Thou shall not Commit adultery
Thou shall not Gamble
Thou shall not Drink
Thou shall not Lie

Shouldn't be too hard except the person telling us had obviously committed at least 3 of the 5 . Too funny

Kayaking through the Mongroves

I had been pretty confident that after all we had already accomplished that a simple day Kayaking would be a walk in the park. So why were my arms so sore an hour into today's adventure? How hard can it be?

Well not so hard for me in the front but the poor guide behind me saw the underneath of way to many bushes,I am sure. My direction was off and the speed slow. So I am going to insist there was just way too much for me to see to concentrate on paddling. Tomorrow he may ask for another partner,,,LOL

Oh yeah, I am sure the rain had something to do with it also. That being said we had a great day paddling through the caves, and taking in the view. Trees with their roots reaching meters out of the ground into the water below. Caves with ancient drawing and even 6 monkeys. Now I am not sure who was the attraction, the monkeys or the kayakers, as the monkeys played swinging from root to root and climbing up the mountain walls. I am convinced they were laughing at us!!

A short drive to a fresh water river provided the opportunity for us to play monkey. Swinging from a rope into the water. Funny thing though most of us just veg'd and watched. Guess I wasn't the only one a bit tired.

Full Moon Festival

The Thai celebrate the Full Moon of the last month of the year, with a great street festival, that takes over the streets after dark.
We arrived in AoNang last night just in time to participate in the celebration. The street was alive with excitment. Dancers entertained and the skys filled with fireworks. Thai Lucky Lanterns were lite and sent into the sky.

Let me try and describe these for you. They are long sleeves of paper closed off at one end. At the open end they attack a fuel filled circle that is lite on fire. As the heat builds up in the cylinder they float up into the heavens. It is quite a sight to see but extremely hard to capture in a photo.

All along the board walk there are live statues dress in customs, decorations and a parade of dancers moving along the street. The funny thing was a firetruck following the dancers so you knew when the parade was over.

We had an amazing seafood dinner overlooking the sea and were each given a bowl of flowers , candles and incence to drop into the sea. The myth is that you are giving thanks for the abundance of water and washing away all your stresses and concerns by placig the decoration into the water. I not sure if this also means washing away all your sins, but we can always hope. People made wishes as the plants floated out to sea.

Walking backfrom dinner we found a lady selling "Takeaway Drinks". What an entreprenuer! I think she was a little overwhelmed when 12 tourist walked up and ordered. It was a long walk from dinner to the closest Pub. maybe 10 minutes or less.

Yes we ended up at the Irish Rover pub. A very fun evening!

Off for a day of Kayaking.