Afer a big night at Lisa’s 21st Birthday Party, it was a surprise we actually made it to the airport on time. A lot of sleep and 2 movies later, we landed in Phuket at around 8.30pm local time. Our accommodation was about an hour and a half away up north of the airport. It was raining when we arrived, but still unbearably hot and humid. Finally arriving at our bungalow around 10pm, a quick freshen up and off we went to explore.
Wasn’t much happening in Khao Lak town, many of the shops were starting to close up for the night. We were feeling quite peckish since we hadn’t yet had dinner (no food on Jetstar!!!) so we popped into the local 7-11 and bought some heat up meals and drinks. Sat out at the bus-stop out front and tuckered in… having ate our fill and bought some water and snacks, we headed on home for a good snooze.
Up early next day for breakfast… elephant trekking!!! Yipee! A quickie breakfast at our bungalows - the pad thai is different but very yummy! Vinh had pineapple fried rice… very thai indeed! The driver was waiting for us out front when we got to reception. He took us to the Phang Nga Coastal Fisheries R&D Center where we had a glimpse of the work they were doing on the save the sea turtles project.
Next stop, Asia Safari Park Khao Lak for an hour of elephant trekking. Our elephant was nice, very placid - Kun Tong was his name. It was very hot and humid, but it was a nice relaxing trek. Took some photos on the elephant and after getting off. I think he likes me!!
After that, since the tour group didn’t feel all that hungry, we decided to go for our Bamboo Rafting journey down to the riverside restaurant. Floating along the river, with only a couple of light rapids in between was very relaxing. We even had a froggie friend hitch a ride on our raft. Spotted a hornets nest and a sleeping snake in a tree overhanging the river.
Lunch was really good too. Had some traditional thai homecooked food. Sat around for a bit and then we got driven back to the hotel. We both took a shower and proceeded to go out for a bit of a wander and explore town.
Khao Lak is really a small town with a small town feel - everyone seems to be moving in slow motion, which is fantastic. We went for 2 hours of massages, had some dinner and that was Day 1.
The next day, we decided that we'd spend another relaxing day doing much of nothing, and on a whim, decided to get my hair braided for the scuba diving trip. 3 hours (yes THREE HOURS) later, my head was in braids for a bargain basement price of A$25 - OMG, these thai hairdressers are soooooooo patient!! But the braids gave me a headache (which took me a few days to get used to actually!!). Another massage later, and we were just about to head to the dive shop to meet up with our dive co-ordinator and a downpour!!! Rained and rained and rained - I wish it would rain like that in our Aussie reservoirs.... sigh.... it was only a short distance to the dive shop, but a 3 min run through the downpour and we were drenched!!! As expected, a few people were late and about 30mins later the rain stopped.... DOH! ah well....
