Klong Muong Beach Day 3

We hired a long-tail boat and rode out to Chicken and Poda islands. Chicken Island seems to be a triangle of three islands that are connected by clean white sand bars at low tide.

Chicken Island, obviously


The boat and crew



Can you believe how clear the water is? As soon as we got in, schools of striped yellow & black Sargent Majors began swimming up to us. Also silvery white spotted fish that I think may have been snappers came up. And separate from them; but swimming between the islands close to shore, were schools of small, thin, beautiful blue fish with snouts. I thought they were trumpet or flute fish, but Allen said the scuba instructor later said they were young barracuda. My favorite fish is the brightly colored fuchsia, blue, and green parrot fish with it's rounded "beak" that it uses to peck away at the coral. You can hear the sound of groups of them eating under water.


Pete on the front of the boat with one of the sandbars behind him.


Poda Island
Our next stop was Poda Island which me nicknamed "Monkey Island" after discovering a handful of the creatures residing in the trees and vines there. We snorkeled here also and then headed back to Klong Muong. The water was extremely calm, more like a lake than a sea. The visibility underneath was okay. The best part of that reef was watching the swirls of tiny blue-green fish around us, the snappers swimming in circles in a coral opening, a shy puffer fish, and a couple of lovely yellow angelfish. There are definitely better snorkeling sites further away. But we were satisfied, famished, and toasted red on the back side (from floating on our bellies watching fish). It was a good day.


Snorkeling off Poda Island

Klong Muong Beach Day 1

Swimming by the sea


Peter goes out to see Rah Rah

Josh & Pete swimming with Rah Rah & his trainer


Tim's castle


Stuck in the sand



When Allen and I walked that afternoon, it was low tide and the beach held exposed coral beds surrounded by pools of sea water. We stopped to gaze in to one as a crab scooted quickly into the shadows and the tiniest, black, "little finger" sized eel poked its head out from under the rock, just like a big moray in miniature.

Ten Days on the Beach in Thailand

We landed in Suvarnabhumi International Airport outside of Bangkok, immigrated, picked up our luggage, and then waited in what felt like a mile long taxi line, all the while being misted by high mounted wall fans. The taxi driver took our address and began making his way to the city where he eventually turned down the alley street that runs behind Bumrungrad Hospital and in front of our hotel. The whole family would be having dental check ups at the hospital within the next 24 hours, starting with me. I got out of the car as it waited in traffic and raced to the third floor to keep my appointment. Allen followed later after getting the boys settled across the street in our hotel. Bumrungrad Hospital is an extremely nice facility with helpful Thai staff and excellent service. They must see in the hundreds of thousands of medical tourists every year.

The next day after the boys' dental appointments, we headed for the domestic airport, Don Mueang, and our ultimate stopping off point, Krabi. The flight landed us on a small flat tarmac in the midst of a wooded, mountainous landscape . Krabi is absolutely gorgeous with sculpted limestone upcroppings, rubber trees, and jungle like mangroves. It was to one of these mangroves that we made our way. Unlike Bangkok, where taxi drivers express their faith with small gold Buddha's and "phuang malai" (or floral garlands made of flowers, often jasmine) on or near the dashboard, our drivers there seemed to be Muslim. Their cars had little or no ornamentation. Both of the drivers who taxied us around during our stay were helpful and friendly. The first got us safely to our more remote and unfamiliar destination of Klong Muong Beach and the Sheraton Hotel. Having reserved this hotel for free through our American Express Starwood points, we knew very little about it, and were a bit out of our league. As we waited to check in, hotel attendants brought us fragrant ice cold wash cloths and sweetened lemon grass water, both invigorating and cooling to the body. Then they drove us in a huge golf cart to our rooms only two buildings away. After we settled in, we followed an elevated concrete path through what seemed like a jungle and out to a lovely pool deck area with white umbrellas and fringed by palm trees. The pool looked out on a sandy white beach and the Andaman Sea. We splashed into the warm spa salty waters of the pool and then relaxed in deck chairs reading and watching the boys swim and play. I turned to Allen in my ever observant and cultured way and said, "I think this hotel was built on a swamp."

Later we came to find our that it was purposely set in a mangrove, which added to the natural beauty and isolation of the whole environment. Peter, however, experienced more nature than he wanted to when he was heading back to the room one afternoon and came across a good sized monitor lizard laying across the path. The lizard seemed to have no intention of moving until Allen walked up from behind. After that Peter always sped quickly though that section of the walkway and asked daily, "When can we move to a different hotel that doesn't have lizards?"

Staying in the Mangroves

For our first days of beach vacation we were able to stay in a lovely hotel situated in a mangrove in Krabi. The setting was jungle-like opening to a beautiful quiet beach. We enjoyed snorkeling, swimming, scuba-ing in the pool, walking & playing on the beach, and swimming with "Rah Rah" an adolescent elephant.

Beauty & the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

4th of July

This year on the 4th our family traveled with friends to one of China's deepest lakes. It was a beautiful drive once we left the city behind; roads weaving between hillsides and finally a descent to green planted fields of corn, tobacco, and, of course, rice. The lake itself was almost completely surrounded by mountains and the waters were dark, steely gray. The kids played on the dirt and rock shoreline, jumping in the rolling waves which the wind blew in. Then they moved on to trying to hold their positions on a slick floating slab and jumping from a 10 foot concrete ledge. The kids also enjoyed going exploring and a little kite flying. The weather was windy which was great for us because we also planned to go sailing. We had two national sailors who took turns guiding us through choppy waters that sprayed and dowsed our legs, arms, faces - anything the water could reach. We brought a picnic lunch that we spread out upon arrival. And after all the sailing was done, we shared in an all American hamburger and hot dog cookout. We finished off the day with a Chinese firecracker left over from earlier in the year. It was fun to watch the dads trying to light the right end in all that wind. The edges of our circle keep scooting in until the cracker was lit, and then everyone dispersed to safer ground in an instant. Wish you could have seen those dad's take off. It was like someone had thrown a grenade. The sound was tremendous - all pops and blasts and explosions. After that there was some more tower jumping, and then we packed up and headed for home. Though the day had been overcast, the sun was plenty concentrated. The van ride back found us quiet (some sleeping) and radiating heat from our warm sunburned bodies. It was altogether a very special time. I know our family felt we had experienced a good mixture of America and China and we're extremely grateful for dear friends with which to make memories.

Ocean Park

Almost as soon as the boys got out of school, we had the opportunity to take a trip to Hong Kong. It is the rainy season (or typhoon season) there as well. But we enjoyed visiting friends, going shopping (especially at book and music stores), and eating at some great restaurants… California Pizza Kitchen, Amaronis Italian family-style restaurant, Outback Steakhouse… And we indulged in genuine Krispy Krème donuts!! Our last day there we took a day trip to Ocean Park on the island. This meant we took the MTR (subway) to Admiralty station which entails going under the harbor. And then took Citybus 629 from there. Ocean Park is spread out over a valley and a mountaintop. It took a series of tall escalators to reach the top where we watched the seals play, road a tower lookout ride, visited with sharks and jellyfish, and toured a coral reef.

The aquariums were built for optimum viewing with surface and below surface vantage points. We walked through the shark tunnel with the toothy creatures swimming all around us. The jellyfish aquarium was more like a darkened modern art gallery. But the coral reef proved to be the most diverse. We entered at the surface and walked the passages that circled lower and lower enabling us to view sea life from all different levels. Sea rays surfaced to make friends, colorful blue Surgeonfish pecked at the reef, sea turtles circled mid-range, and a huge Giant Grouper lumbered through the deeper regions. We got soaked from the rain and the Raging River ride. Enjoyed the flying swings. Took the cablecar along the mountain ridge with trees, flowering shrubs, and grass on one side; and a drop to the ocean and a quiet harbor hosting an asian junk looking much like a pirate ship on the other. We were thankful for the time to get away, but also very ready to get home. It seemed that the boys’ excitement increased with each leg of the trip back to our city.

By the way, Peter took a lot of these pictures.