Kho Pleasant Pleasant

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t281/beejay44/trangtrip175.jpgarrived on Kho Phi Phi. after 2 hr boat journey where I managed to get sunburnt on my side through lack of diligence when applying sun cream. staying in neat one bed bungalow with shower 50 yds from the beach.
on saturday we hired a longtail boat and went to Kho Lay (for those who know it's where the film "the beach" was shot - Leonardo DiCaprio and all that).
i have not seen anything as breathtaking as the Blue Lagoon that is in the centre of Kho Lay island. you enter through a narrow channel which opens out into a pool surrounded by those vertical cliffs i keep talking about. the water is crystal clear and teeming with an array of tropical fish of many different species each more vibrantly colourful and iridescent as the next. time to go snorkelling, well, the fish are your friends after all..... if you hold your hands out in front of you they mass around and take small nips at your hands.. no pain though...
as well as the fish the are stunning Coral reef outcrops all over the place. the water was about 12 feet deep, i tried diving down to the bottom but my ears started to hurt although not before a giant clam (2 feet across) closed tightly shut as i approached. this is a different world both over and under the ocean.
on the way back to Kho Phi Phi we stopped at a very small island inhabited by a colony of Rhesus Monkeys who get fed by Farang tourists. mean little buggers and totally ungrateful for the food they are given. alpha male jumped on to our boat freaking everyone out then promptly pissed on the deck before jumping back to the shore. the sad thing i spose is that if farang tourists stopped coming they would probably die out as the instinct to get their own food has probably died out..
watched the sun go down overlooking the Andaman Sea last evening - ive never been to a more beautiful place. the cicada symphony is deafening and the call of the Muezzin in the distance just adds to the ambience...
back to mainland today (sunday). work day tomorrow - im really looking forward to the stultifying classroom heat in my proper strides, proper shoes and proper shirt (not). hey ho...
i must say i do prefer my Fishermans pants - got 2 colours and am becoming quite attached to them.

ps
well done to Nicky and Sally for completing the first day of the Hill Fort and Waterways Challenge back in Dear Old Blightie

pps Pop kan mai khrap (see you later)