Of Songkran & Island Hopping

In the midst of being AWOL in Manila this past week, I was not able to finish my second (and last) post regarding my wonderfully short trip to Phuket. Here it is,  part II- the islands! Note: Ignore the constant change in exposure... I'm working on it, okay? So cut me some slack. *wink, wink*

And so the Songkran festivities began!

The morning began with monks receiving blessings and a lovely chant from them to us.

Then, the island adventure began! You bet we went to the island The Beach was filmed in...

Monkey island means monkeys everywhere! Even in the water (hehe).

This was the first time I ever went snorkeling, guys. Oh my gawd! I am so glad I got over my mini fear* of it- it was amazing! The fishes were beautiful and the 8 year old in me revelled as they swam around me- it's as close to being Ariel as I've got (the hair flip out of water has never worked for me...). 

I wish I had an underwater camera; this one fish was all kinds of rad- it had blue, yellow, pink, lime green and changed in the sunlight! 

Funny story: First time snorkeling = first time being bit by something. I panicked a little, but since it only stung a little at the moment it happened I convinced myself (me, the hypochondriac needed to calm down!) it wasn't anything serious. It bled a tiny bit and this is the 'scar'

I like to think it was a crab, monogramming me - it looks like an M!

That's viking cave- swifts live there and are, unfortunately, "hunted" for their nests. There's a segment on them on BBC's Planet Earth (not these specifically from Thailand, but others).

These guys look really comfortable and cool.

I'm convinced Thailand has the most beautiful sky scenes in the world. Seriously.

This island was one of the most beautiful and remote places I'd ever been in. I don't know if it was because of the tsunami warning, but it was like ghost town. There were about a thousand chairs to sit in, a couple of bars but no people. Only a cat, us from the boat trip and a couple of bar tenders. Yeah, it was a little eerie. And being on it I couldn't help but think, "What would I do if a tsunami were to hit it?" This was a small island (Khai Nui), I mean, there is no higher ground.

What I love about the beaches here is how vegetated they are. In Mexico we just have palm trees- maybe the odd bush here are there- but here in Thailand there are trees in abundance!

I still need to upload some pictures to Flickr, including most recent ones from Manila.

I promise to leave scheduled posts in the future.

What's your favourite thing about the beach?