Dolphin Bay and Monkey Island

Saturday we drove down to Dolphin Bay, which was about a three hour trip. It's a picturesque little vacation spot on the coast that overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. There's not much here except for a few local resorts and small shops on a road that traces the shoreline. Right now I'm sitting in a small internet cafe on the beach. It is still really hot here, but it is bearable next to the water. The green seawater is surprsingly warm like a bathtub and it's really shallow. Our hotel has a pool which is colder and nice to lay around. My farang skin is definitely getting darker. We've been able to do some cool things here like kayaking, boating, exploring, and eating amazing seafood.

Our kayaking experience was interesting. Lauren and I rented some with Brandon and Danika and we all decided to paddle out to a nearby island. The boats were 50 baht an hour, which is less than two bucks. Once we made it to the beach, a huge male monkey found us and the rest of his family joined him. Brandon and Danika had their boats taken over and we all retreated to the water, trying to figure out how to get them back. Meanwhile, the monkeys were playing in the captured boats, grooming each other, and trying to eat the plastic seats. We managed to get Danika's boat back, which had been pooped in, but Brandon's was a challenge. I ran up the beach to distract the monkeys but I was chased off. We didn't know if they were friendly or not, but they were acting somewhat aggressive. So we watched them explore the kayak, hoping they would leave. Gradually, they left one by one and we escaped the island with our boats intact.

The next day we went back to Monkey Island, which turned out to be it's actual name. Our whole group went in local jet boats, and the drivers brought bags of mangoes to keep the monkeys busy while we explored their beach. They were a lot nicer than we thought, but once they ran out of fruit, they went for our water bottles and cameras. The boats also took us through the islands, which were lush and beautiful in contast to the green sea. They had a really primative feel, like Jurassic Park. We also went to a giant cave off the beach, which is a national park. We hiked up the steep mountain and then went down into the giant, collapsed cavern. One of the kings had a shrine built in the middle of the cave, which was quite the site to explore. This has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.

Another thing that has been memorable here is the amazing food. We found a couple small restaurants on the beach that served some of the best meals I've ever had. One night I ate curry on the beach in a bamboo chair, and another I ate crab, squid, and coconut soup in a tiki-style lounge. The seafood was so fresh and caught by the fishing boats that frequent the bay. Finding good food has become a hobby, and I definitely plan on learning to cook Thai food back home.

Another night rode in the back of a truck to Hua Hin, the nearest town about thirty minutes away. There was a night market there, which had some pretty cool things to buy. I'm realizing that all of the markets have the same stuff though. It's just like in Ecuador where the street vendors are the middlemen. Our last few hours in Bangkok were similarly spent at the enormous Saturday market. We witnessed a monsoon storm there, with crazy rainfall in between spurts of 90 degree weather. I bought three really cool watercolor paintings, but afterward realized I'd been ripped off. I bartered them to a low price, but when I got out in the light they looked pixelated. What a cheap printing job!

This afternoon we're heading back to Bangkok and taking a night train to Chang Mai, a city at the far north of Thailand. I'm hoping there will be enough legroom, and room in general for me to sleep. That and air conditioning.

แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!