Travel the Road

Thirty days in Thailand - Day 3, 4, & 5 Sa wat di Kap ! Chai, Chai, Chai. Dii kaap kaap Thailand! Hello! Yes Yes Yes. Thailand very, very good! Recap >>>>Today is Monday, two days ago on Saturday, We took a two hour drive in the rental car (a Toyota Vios) from Kleang to make it to the pier at Loem Ngop in Trat province where we had prepaid for a speed boat to take us to Koh Mahk, a 6 square mile island in a group of maybe 50 small Islands which are mostly uninhabited. We had to be to this pier in Loem Ngop by 2pm and park the rental car, which we made it just in the nick of time. We put our stuff on the boat and loaded up with 30 Thai people on this speed boat with three 250 hp engines and set out across the Gulf of Thailand for Koh Mak. We made it and little did I know that our friend had made a friend while on the speed boat with the chef of a resort and asked us to stay at a very reduced rate (700 baht vs 1800 baht per night). and she would take us in her truck from the dock to the resort. So we accepted. This resort was percect. From my room I could throw a stone into the water and it included A/C. An amazing restaurant and It was very close to all the stores ( all three of them). We unpacked and rented motorcycles. Rode around the island, then had a phenomenal dinner. So many things to say, bit I will let the pictures do the talking. Today we moved to a resort (which is fully booked) we had booked with a credit card and right now I am in the "Happy Boat" at the coco cape resort (see photos. Its an old Chinese junk remodeled into a hillside bungalow still has the rudder attached. We have a pier that goes 600 feet out into the water. At the end of the pier they have music, a bar, free snorkeling, wifi, and at night they give you a pole to squid fish (actually caught some), and all day long they take you to nearby islands on a speed boat for a small fee. The Thai people are super friendly and out going. Sa wat dii kap is the common greeting and means hows it going but the way Thais used to greet people was to say "have you eaten today". And boy do they love to feed you. Its a good thing the meals are low carb. 100 baht 3$ will get you pretty much any seafood dish on the menu. 200 if its in a resort...avoid them if possible. Food is a lot better at restaurants outside of the resorts in my experience and much cheaper. Our new friend Nuut is in her late twenties early thirties, thin as a rail and has a warm perpetual smile, and humble as a person can be, and she cooks for us at her restaurant which she recently opened. We exchanged numbers and she will call and ask if we would like crab or snapper or prawn or what ever specialty the locals offer to sell her that day. If we like it we say yes...and She buys it and has it ready and presents it before she cooks it. Today it was a large snapper, Tomorrow ...jumbo crab...looking forward to that one. Gotta love Nuut.l! This is the low season (due to all the raining) so we pretty much have the whole island to ourselves. It hasn't rained much at all, so far. The downside is most of the boating excursions are shut down and the boats are trailered. But...That will not stop me from Snapper and Baracuda fishing on Koh pah the day after tomorrow but the storms might. I searched the whole island today for a fisheman to take me out, but no one wanted to. One lady even made me follow her to a fishermans house only for us to find that his boat too was trailered in his front yard...bummer but she gave me her number and said to call tomorrow. So besides stuffing ourselves to the hilt three times a day, we have rented motorcycles, walked to islands, taken boat trips, snorkeled fished...and explored he whole island. Tomorrow I take a boat to Koh Chiang to ride elephants and scooters around the island. So looking forward to that. Then Wednesday its off shore fishing ... Weather permitting! This time of year they have really low tides, so today I saw that a land bridge had been exposed at low tide to a nearby island. So I walked over to it and found an octopus had been stranded by a fast moving outgoing tide. He was all covered in sand from his struggles and being baked in the sun he had I believe pretty much resigned to an inevitable death. So I picked him up and he puffed up a little and carried him over to the water, and gently rinsed the sand off of him, but I could see he was coming alive and starting to move so he appeared to be okay. (see video). So thats it for now. Hopefully the rain is at night and we can continue to enjoy paradise on earth and these beautiful people. Say prayers for them they are not treated well by many. I have heard some bad stories by a guy on the speed boat on the way over. Blessings! Pictures and videos should be in a chronological order. Cut and paste link to your browser. its the only way to access photos and videos https://goo.gl/photos/brC4tiLEXFDHqS6C8