 |
| Two rainbows! |
PhraNang was nice and sunny--sunniest day we'd had yet. It was a great day--with our floaties (or lie-lows, as the Welsh girl called them), we had a great time. They have floating boats that sell food and drink. They're much cheaper than eating at RaiLeh, so we got grilled corn and I got a delicious banana milkshake. I'm a big fan of the floating restaurant.
We snorkeled out by the cliffs on the West side of PhraNang and then went over to the cave area. I saw little mini lobsters and some cool fish. The visibility there isn't as good as other places we've snorkeled, but it's still fun. I decided I wanted to explore the cave, so I went cave exploring alone and barefoot. It was sooo cool! I wish I had my camera, but it would need to be waterproof to get it over there. The cave has beautiful stalactites and columns, some of them are pink! You can walk through the cave and come out on the other side where there's a beautiful view. Janella decided to come out and explore as well. We checked it out, heard some bats, admired the area. It's just so amazing to do the things we do and see the things we see here since most of them would be off-limits in the U.S. or anywhere else. Here there are no rules, so it's a free exploring experience.
After that, we did more floating in the water until heading back to AoNong at 3:30. The boat dropped us near our street, which was nice, but when I jumped out of the boat, I didn't realize how deep the water was lol. I jumped in like it'd be waist-high, but it was definitely neck-high.
After getting ready, we got pancakes from the street vendor--they're kind of like crepes. Here they're 20-30 baht. Then we went to Swensen's. The prices at this Swensen's were almost double on most things. Frickin' southern Thailand.
Anyway, then I decided to get my hair outta the way and braided while Nella got an oil massage. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes for them to braid my thin hair. But it's nice to have it out of the way for when I'm in the water and all that.
Thursday morning we did the Four Islands tour. It goes to Chicken Island, Tub Island, Poda Island, and PhraNang. We were a bit worried since we lost our receipt, but we still got to go. It was super nice in the morning--very promising day. We sure waited a long time to get on the boat--there were some tourists from somewhere in Asia heading on a speedboat ride that were getting pretty rashy with the tour guides about having to wait, packing into the big songthaews, etc. Gotta love tourists!
We ended up being on the same tour as Jesse, the Welshie. It's so fun to hear her talk--she definitely has the Welsh drawl. We headed to Chicken Island first to snorkel. That water was sooo clear and amazing in the sun. The snorkeling was fantastic. Nella and I thought we'd jump off the boat together. I, like an idiot, threw both my life jacket and my snorkeling gear out. I had to rush and jump right in so that my snorkeling mask wouldn't sink lol. I looked pretty cool. But the snorkeling was...wow. There were such beautiful fish everywhere. I had a big school of fish follow me a couple of times--it's cool but kinda scary lol. They're right in front of your face--not even inches away from your mask and body.
We saw the coolest fish! There was one with big black and white circles all over--it was hiding. Saw a bunch of leopard-print fish, then some with beige, brown, and white hexagonal shapes all over. There were tons of sea urchins all over. They're so strange-looking. Big, black spikes and then in the center, neon white and blue areas. The clams especially were cool! They're really big and they come in every sort of color and pattern you can think of. Beautiful purples, blues, dark browns with light brown designs, etc. And if you put your hand near them, they close up. We also saw really large fish--about a foot long--that were multicolored. Absolutely unreal. If I weren't actually seeing them, I'd think they were fake for all the beautiful colors they have on them. If there's one thing I'm learning being here in Thailand, it's how amazing God's creations are. It's definitely a blessing to see all the beautiful things there are in the world--here in Thailand beautiful, white sand; huge limestone cliffs with trees and vegetation growing right out of rock; crystal clear, blue, green water; colorful caterpillars; blue skies; even the disgusting insects that I hated in the North lol. Anyway, it was crazy how fast the ocean floor dropped off where we anchored.
Janella and I stayed in the water the whole time. It kills me how many people just sit on the boat and miss out on what there is to see and do. The sunny skies especially made the water beautiful. With a snorkel mask on, it looks unreal in the water--it's clear regardless of sunny or cloudy skies, but with the sun, there are beautiful reflections all over the sand and coral. Some people sustained injuries even with the water clarity--one guy stepped on a sea urchin--the spikes broke off in his foot. Ugh. Another guy got cut up on the coral. Yikes.
 |
| Poda, Chicken, and Tub Islands--our destinations |
 |
| Chicken Island--named for obvious reasons |
 |
| Ew lol |
Next we headed to Tub Island. It's real tiny, and it's connected to Chicken Island by a tiny isthmus. It was crazy to see from the boat--looked like the people walking from Chicken to Tub were walking on water.
The snorkeling at Tub was great, too. There were sea cucumbers all over--Nella picked one up with some seashells, and I touched it. Weird things. Long and black, they look like gigantic slugs.
The fish we see the most of are those yellow and blue/black striped ones. I decided to feed them some crackers I had left. Holy moly. They swarmed me. And then they started nibbling at my legs. Guess my legs are the color of bread lol. It was such a strange sensation. Kinda creepy lol. While snorkeling, I saw some awesome, large leopard fish fighting over a crab. It was way cool to watch. I also saw a big school of fish feeding--a school of those brilliant, multi-colored beauties from earlier. They were huge! I followed them around for awhile. Yeah, I stalk fish. So sue me. It was so worth it. I just got to float there and watch those beauties.
We had lunch at 12:30--perfect timing since it started to storm right then. Lunch was small. A ball of rice, a tiny chicken wing, and some pork curry to put on the rice. I could've eaten a lot more lol.
 |
| Snorkeling at Tub |
 |
| On Tub with the walkway to Chicken behind me |
 |
| The fish feeding |
 |
| The storm brewing |
 |
| Nella with the sea cucumber |
 |
| I'd rather die lol |
 |
| During the storm |
 |
| Look at that water! |
 |
| Poda Island |
 |
| The filming at Phra Nang |
Sadly, I woke up at 4 this morning feeling awfully sick--like I need to throw up. That was no fun. I hate being sick away from home. My stomach has felt queazy this whole day :( Also, two days of snorkeling on my stomach in the water got me some nice, fried back of the legs. I've never applied sunscreen as religiously as I have here, but I've still gotten fairly burned--shoulders and back of the legs mostly. Sorry, Uncle Marc and Uncle Brian! lol
No comments:
Post a Comment