March 17th, 2009

This morning we woke up bright and early once again to go on a more relaxing but still exciting day then yesterday.  After breakfast we drove for about 45 minutes to get to the place where we got on a small boat that would take us around for the day.  The day was perfect the sun was shining, the water and islands were beautiful and it wasn’t too hot. 

 

Once we were on the boat we took a small drive to our first stop for some kayaking.  It took us 30 or so minutes to get there so on our way there everyone did a little sun bathing on the deck of the boat because it was so nice outside. 

 

When we made it to our first stop to go kayaking we found out we each had our own personal paddler like the day before.  So Carolyn, Erika, and I all got in the same canoe with our guide.  He then paddled us towards the cave as we enjoyed the sun, beautiful scenery and took pictures.  The first cave we went into was a bat cave.  I wasn’t too excited because I am not a huge fan of bats bought knew it would be okay.  As we entered the cave it was soon pitch black just like my room on the ship.  Our guide handed me a flashlight I was to use to help guide us through the cave.  You couldn’t see a thing besides the other lights from other kayaks. While we moved through the cave I showed the light on the ceiling of the cave so we could see all the bats hanging.  It was really creepy and all the guides kept making noises to try and scare us, it may have worked a couple of times on me.

 

 We finally made our way through to the other side of the cave but not without some difficulty.  When we got to the other side of the cave that was going to let us out into a tidal lagoon that is only accessible through the cave, the ceiling became extremely close to the water.  There was only enough room for the kayak to go underneath so Erica, Carolyn, myself and our guide all sat back in each others laps  in the kayak as our guide pushed us through the cave with his hands.  .This part was really neat and I couldn’t wait to be on the other side of the cave to see this beautiful lagoon.  Like I said the lagoon is on accessible by kayak and also only at certain times of the day depending on the tide.  I heard that a group of kids who went the previous day missed the tide and had to swim under the cave to see the lagoon.  I was glad I didn’t have to do that because the experience was still really exciting.  When we made into the lagoon it was so breathtaking.  The walls of the lagoon went up what looked to me to be a couple hundred feet.  Our guide then took us around the lagoon where we even found a couple monkeys sitting upon some rocks eating bananas the guides had brought to feed them.  We then spent the next 30 minutes or so paddling around the canoe enjoying the sun, scenery and peacefulness of the nature around us. 

 

We then made our way back through the cave and the boat that had dropped us had moved a little so we took another short paddle around the outside of the lagoon back to the boat.  As we paddled I looked at the area surrounding me and it kept reminding of “The Princess Bride” and the cliffs of insanity.  We finally made it back to the boat and headed off to see another cave. 

 

This second cave was not as spectacular as the first as we didn’t end up an amazing lagoon, but this cave was much more exciting.  It was more exciting because the entire cave was shallow we were sitting back in the kayak the entire time helping our guide push our way through.  We even had to move our knees and heads about as we headed underneath parts that jutted out.  Once we were through the second cave we made our way once again back to the boat for lunch.  Lunch like every meal I have had was amazing with fresh seafood, pineapple, noodles, and much more.  We enjoyed our nice lunch on the boat in the sun as we headed for “Lawa Island”.  When we got to Lawa Island we were given free time to jump off the second deck of the boat, swim our way to the island, take canoes to the island, lay on the beach, or canoe.  Erika and I decided to do a few jumps off the top of the boat before swimming our way to shore to enjoy the beach and sun. 

 

After about an hour of swimming in the water and having fun on the beach we got back on the boat to head to the dock, then our buses and finally back to our hotel earlier than yesterday which was nice.  Today was very relaxing and peaceful a really nice way to enjoy Thailand and see all its beautiful islands and sites it has to offer.  Once back at the hotel Carolyn, Erika and I decided to head back to the markets to buy a few summer dresses and shirts we saw the previous nights.  It took us a while to bargain with the right vendors and find the dresses we liked for the price we liked.  But we did finally end up buying a few items we were really pleased with at what we thought were a great deal.  While we were shopping for dresses we had a man in a dress shop ask us if we wanted dvd’s.  We looked at each other kind of confused but said ya sure.  So we entered the dress shop when the guy pulled back a rack of dresses that opened up into this room full of dvd’s.  They were each about 2 dollars if I remember correctly and we each bought a few.  After doing a little more bargaining and shopping we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  That was one nice thing about where we stayed in Phuket is that everything was in walking distance so it was not necessary to spend money on taxis. 

 

We all got ready for dinner pretty quickly and I wore a new dress I had bought that day.  So Carolyn, Erika, and I met in the lobby and decided to head down the street to find a place to eat.  We were at this point getting slightly tired of the thai food, sea food, rice combination and decided we could splurge on pizza or Mexican for the night.  As we headed toward Patong Street we came across a Mexican restaurant called the Coyote.  We looked at the menu and decided this is what would hit the spot.  I was slightly nervous that they might not know how to make Mexican food like I would like it but we decided it was worth the risk.  We sat down and each ordered a drink and some chips and salsa to start.  It was St. Patrick’s day and we were right next to an Irish pub that seemed pretty crazy, so it was fun to people watch all the people going into the pub.  We spent a long time enjoying our AMAZING dinner and the beautiful night out on a balcony over looking the water.  I was very impressed with the dinner and when we were done we weren’t sure what to do for the night so we again made our way towards Patong Street looking for something to do.  On our way I found an art vendor and found the perfect piece of art for my little collection I am doing.  We then all decided we weren’t in the mood to go dancing or drinking and perhaps we would get a massage or pedicure.  We never did find a place that had the price range we wanted or that didn’t look too sketchy so we called it a night and headed to bed.