It's been quite some time since I've seen the ocean, so it was convenient to combine the visit of my friends with a nice trip. I rented a Mansion by the ocean for 3 days on the island Koh Chang which isn't to far to travel by car but also not to crowded like the closer islands near Pattaya.
But still strictly followed the rules ;)
One of the highlights on Koh Chang was the Sailing Tour on a Wharram Catamaran. Our Skipper Scotty was a humorous British fellow and his crew made sure that everyone felt really comfortable.
Scotty provided private skin diving lessons while the crew prepared a yummie barbeque. I can highly recommend Scotty´s day trip on his yacht. You´ll reach him on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea-Adventures/201842163178493
Koh Chang is still not crowded by tourists like the many other islands in the south. We had enjoy beaches to be just on our own.
Originally we planned to continue with a tour to the north of Thailand, away from the 'mainstream', to see the real Thai life. But we where so fascinated by the ocean and so it didn't take much to convince me to travel south instead.
One of the most beautiful places on the ocean side in Thailand is Krabi. That was our new destination. Back to Bangkok and down south, we had a to drive almost 1200 km.
We made stop over in Prachuap Kiri Khan at a hotel on the beach with a fantastic view over the bay. I woke up early and made some marvelous shots upon sunrise.
The ORANGE CITY HOTEL in Krabi was a stroke of luck. Almost new with incredibly nice stuff and reasonable prices. The owner himself mediated us with various daily trips and so we had an excellent time in Krabi.
I really recommend this place: http://theorangevillage.com/
Nothing is more beautiful than going on a boat to explore the islands.
Of course he wanted a piece of our lunch box as well.
The Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tam Suea) is not far from the city Krabi. It is high up on a mountain and is only reachable through a seemingly endless stairway. The 1200 steps give you enough time to find your own rhythm in climbing stairs. However the view is impressive and it is definitely worth the climb.
We wanted to take our time on the way back and stopped at a cave. To reach the cave we had to walk a ca 1km boardwalk through the jungle, an adventure of its own.
The cave was home to countless bats and looking up , it looked like you where staring into a giants maw. It took us around an hour to completely explore the gigantic cave and at the end we once a again stood in the jungle.
Even a waterfall was on the way, and we definitely did not want to miss that. When suddenly a tree crashed onto the road before us.
For the forest workers it was no problem at all. 15 Minutes and they where done. Just enough time to play around a little with the camera.
Now and then there was a piece of road missing , which was washed away in the rainy season.
In the end we managed to reach the waterfall before dark. It's like they say "The journey is its own reward".
We made a small detour to the Burmese border, before we returned to Bangkok behind a colorful bus.
For me it was another day driving back to Sukhothai. Everything is better than flying!
