After Phuket, we still had 10 days to kill before our friends wedding we were to attend near Bangkok. We decided to explore the southern islands. Off to Trang – the gateway to the south - we traveled via luxury bus. Trang = not so pretty.
The thrill of the long tail boat adventure over to Pawapi Resort on the Island of Ko Mook was only replaced by the majestic first glimpse of the resort itself, and landing on the pristine beach was just the start of our magical stay. When the ad stated beach front bungalows, they weren’t kidding. We were 10 feet from the water on our cute stilted accomadations.
Our lunch out on the veranda of our beach bungalow was followed by a candlelight dinner on the beach, with food made to order. She might not have been able to speak English, but she could cook! The accommodations exceeded our expectations, and we were so relaxed that when one of the owners (who was English guy named Neil) offer to let us stay another day, we did! Located on the “quiet” side of the island, one is just a few short steps to a traditional, local fishing town, either direction. It was amazing to see real life and a bit shocking. It really makes your appreciate the States. However, these people are helpful, friendly and happy. For a change of pace, we took a short motortaxi ride over to the other side of the island. The taxi is a scooter with a side car that goes up a singletrack trail the 3,5 km to the other side. The ride itself was so fun but we decided to save the 50 bat (30 bat = 1 USD) and get some exercise in at the same time by walking back. We stopped at the hillside restaurant for a cold one but hurried back to have dinner at our place. We knew our girl would be waiting for us. What we didn’t know was that she had waited all day, just for us, and didn’t/couldn’t go home until we were back. 
We were one of the 9 “pholongs” (Gringo being the Spanish equivalent of this word) or “round eye” on the island.
Our last day here and the reason we came to visit this island was to see the Emerald cave. Move of a really exclusive private beach that you have to swim/ paddle through a cave to get too. Just another really amazing experience that almost didn’t happen. Because of all the jellyfish in the water, we decided to rent a kayak and paddle in verses swim in. This option meant that we had to time the tides correctly to have enough clearance to get through the cave to the other side. When we arrived, there was a big tour group in the water heading through. I wasn’t sure if we made it in time but we decided to go for it. However, we forgot one critical thing – our headlamp! What were we thinking, of course it was going to be dark in there!
The first attempted we entered the cave and immediately saw a huge jelly in the water. Thank goodness we decided to paddle. That was shortly replaced by me freaking out when it got so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The second attempt, Brian made me lay down and put the paddle over my body/face in case the clearance was too low. I still freaked out. So then we tried to borrow a headlamp from the tour boat anchored outside. No one spoke English.
Then kitty logic kicked in. I made Brian jump in the water and swim it with the camera. At least he could take some pictures. Great, he wasn’t so thrilled though, knowing that there were jellyfish, but he did it anyhow while I hung out on the kayak just inside the cave. In my defense I dropped him off past the jelly, just before the darkness. He was back in mere minutes. He said it was no problem, the cave made a turn but we could get through easily, and that he would just tow me through. I closed my eyes and away we went.
Fear of the unknown is the scary part and we easily made it through as promise. It was fun actually, once we got around the corner and I could now see the light. As we came out of the cave and emerged into the cove, it was gorgeous. A secluded, white sand beach and minty clear water.After 5 minutes, the tour group headed back, and 5 minutes later another couple on a private tour headed out. We were alone. It was COOL. – See pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157625277524690/
Meow!
