The Emerald Hawng and Exploring Ko Muk

Our friend Ron was going to arrive today to meet up with us. Ron is living in Bangkok now. He said he expected to arrive between 1130 and 1230. We agreed to meet at Charlie’s restaurant. We headed over at 1100 and ordered lunch. Now that there was only two of us, hitting the minimum was much harder. Christi ordered the safe Pad Thai, which is noodles in a peanut sauce with zero spiciness that she knows she likes. Eric ordered a steak and vegetables dish, which wasn’t spicy, but had an overwhelming garlic taste. Christi also got a “Thai pineapple pancake”, which was a buttermilk pancake with slices of pineapple in it. The ones in Indonesia are made with a lighter batter, closer to a crepe, and she prefers the Indonesian ones. We also ordered a couple of “to go” pizzas to get to the minimum order.

Ron arrived shortly after we finished eating. As soon as he arrived, Fafner joined us and we took our dinghies up to the entrance of the famous Emerald Hawng. Hawngs are Continue reading

Welcome to Ko Muk, Trang Province, Thailand

This morning we pulled up to the fuel dock promptly at 0800, when they opened. We got the last 100 gallons fuel we needed. We also picked up Claire and Alex from Fafner. We were traveling to Ko Muk, an island in the south of Thailand, with Fafner, and since it is only a short day hop, their parents let them join us for the day. We pulled away from the fuel dock at about 0830.

When we first left, the seas were uncomfortable. The waves Continue reading

Chores, Errands and The Kilim Karst Geoforest Park

Yesterday was chore and errand day. The first task of the day was to get fuel. We pulled out of the slip and moved the very short distance to the fuel dock. Eric had asked them twice if they had enough fuel, 3,400 liters, and both times they reassured us they did. They didn’t. As we were getting close to the 3,000 mark, the fuel pump ran dry. Eric asked if they had any more. “No more”. Eric asked when they were getting more. “Don’t know”. Allrighty then. We were disappointed to find out Continue reading

Telaga Tujuh

This morning we managed to squeeze six people into our little rental car for the short drive to the Telaga Tujuh waterfall. It is just 2 kilometers north of Oriental Village. Lonely Planet had said it was a 10 minute walk up to a waterfall where you could slide down the rocks. We were envisioning a waterfall like the one in Vanuatu, with a big waterfall where you jump into a pool of water that leads into a series of several tiny waterfalls where you slide from waterfall to waterfall.

We pulled into the parking lot. The “walk” is up a steep staircase carved into the mountain. The steps are made of concrete and there are benches placed every few feet. The trees are tall and provide good shade, but it doesn’t feel very “naturey”. About 10 minutes later we reached a sign saying there were 638 steps total and we had 367 more to go. We couldn’t believe we were less than half way up. Sigh. Huffing and puffing, we reached the top of the staircase in about 10 more minutes. We were disappointed to see there was no waterfall at all, just five or six small pools of water from a stream. A couple people were sitting in one of the pools. This couldn’t be the spot. There isn’t a waterfall.

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We looked at a map posted near the pools. There were two paths Continue reading

Cable Car Ride at Oriental Village

This morning we headed over to a little tourist area just went of the marina called Oriental Village. On the way, we passed an inviting beach with white sand where ox were languidly meandering along. The parking lot for Oriental Village was packed. We found a spot and went inside. It is basically a shopping center, but the shops are in cute little Asian style buildings with tall roofs an Asian version of Seaport Village in San Diego. The shops are all situated around a small pond with lotus flowers in it. There are three bridges to cross the pond. It is an attractive site. We browsed the shops briefly. They mostly sell clothes, food, handicrafts, and assorted souvenirs.

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Our real destination was the Continue reading