Friday, 31 August 2012

10/06/12 - I'll do Ang Thong

Emerald Lake. In case you're wondering, yes, this is as much as Tony tans....




























Hanging with the cool kids
at the front of the boat!
The typical Ang Thong view

After an amazing amount of hassle to get booked onto it (3 phone calls, 2 emails, 1 frustrated lady (yes, that was Annaliza!)), we were amazed that a coach showed up to pick us up for a day in the  Ang Thong National Marine Park. After breakfasting in a shack, we wondered what we’d got ourselves into, but before long we were on the speed boat – fortunately we managed to snag the last two spots at the front of the boat which was a bit bumpy, but at least we could take advantage of the good weather. We shared this with an interesting bunch – a couple of excitable Swiss girls, some uber-cool New Yorkers (where the water’s black, apparently), and an Eastern European couple who didn’t have 5 English words between them. Conversations don’t get more free flowing - you can imagine!




Tony's modelling career wasn't
starting anytime soon...
The views just kept on coming
Stopped for a quick snorkel, but found viewing the fashion shoot on the adjacent boat we were moored to was a far more entertaining affair. Tony’s efforts at replicating the poses fell way short of the mark! A quick stop off to see the Emerald Lake (along with every other tourist in the region!) was followed by tucking into a buffet lunch (Tony hadn’t learnt from the previous time, and attacked it like there was a world food shortage!).




Got to love the windswept look
A post buffet wander
















On the lookout for Bond...
James Bond...
A unique island experience
To burn off the food we had a canoe over to James Bond Island #2 – not quite as impressive as the original but great to see. After a bit of tanning time on the beach it was back on the boat to head back to Koh Samui and say goodbye to the superb views. The journey back was quite bumpy, but there was no need to cry about it (like a lady in the back of the boat)!







Good oar action

Exercise done for the dat

Given our hotel’s proximity to an alternative pier, we were personally dropped off and felt like celebrities as we walked past all other passengers. It was going so well, until Annaliza pretty much fell off the boat onto the pier – all street cred lost immediately.

Key Learnings
1. Tour operators in Thailand double up as would-be photographers – we’d never had so many offers to have our photo taken in a single day!

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