Here are the last of the Koh Tao photos plus some pics of us with our dear friend, Matt Pollock. Matt met up with us in Krabi and we made our way together to Ko Phi Phi and then on to Phuket.
Here are some more sunset and scuba photos from Koh Tao.
Sunsets in Koh Tao, amazing!!!
We took the ferry to Koh Tao from Bottle Beach and had an amazing time scuba diving, eating, relaxing and enjoying the amazing sunsets.
We both are now certified open water divers and we saw some amazing life under the sea - including angel fish, lion fish, eagle rays, triggerfish and much more. Scuba diving has been an amazing treat for both of us.
Here are 3 more pics from Koh Samui and then off to Bottle Beach.
Bottle Beach is a wonderfully quiet beach on the northern tip of Koh Phanang, far away from the craziness of the full moon party.
We shared all of Bottle Beach with about 50 other people for 4-5 days, it was perfect for R&R.
THAILAND!!! We finally made it - we planned on thailand being the highlight of our trip, and it definitely is so far! We’ve only been here a few days, and it is fully living up to all the amazing things we’ve heard and photos we’ve seen. We came straight to Ko Samui (one of the islands on the eastern side), and it is just beautiful - crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, and unbelievable food. We’ve been spending a lot of time with another great family we met from London…seems to be a recurring theme that we can only interpret as a sign that we need to plan our next trip to England:)
More photos to come soon - we are planning on taking a ferry to Koh Phangan island tomorrow.
From Vang Vieng, we quickly moved on to Ponsavanh to see the Plain of Jars - this is an old archaeological site of these amazing stone jars scattered through several sites surrounding the town. They are believed to have been carved and used as first as food storage, and later as tombs. This part of the trip was made especially enjoyable by our friends Gram and Linda from London, who we traveled with for the full 3 days in Ponsavanh. To give you a taste of Gram’s (~60yrs old) wonderful humor, he requested one morning after breakfast that we watch his things as he and Linda were going to talk to a woman digging what appeared to be a frog breeding hole, stating “We’re going to take a stroll to go investigate that woman’s hole, pardon the phrase.” Definitely two of our favorites so far!
Next stop, Laos - we started off in Vientiane, the capital. As you can see in the first few photos, we practically had a private plane all to ourselves and 3 other travellers - we weren’t quite sure why they didn’t cancel this flight, but were also not going to argue with it! Vientiane was interesting - we got there during the Laos New Year, which basically just means there are water fights on every main street. Obviously, as foreigners, we were targets, so we spent most of the day walking quickly (apparently I wear the pants as Tooch took it upon himself to use me as a water shield) and hiding out in restaurants along the street to watch and take photos. We spent one night in Vientiane and moved on to Vang Vieng. This is an interesting town in that it is packed with western backpackers that are either still in college, or are just attempting to prolong their college experience - the level of partying is none like we’ve ever seen. We again watched from the sidelines as the rickety ziplines hung from skinny trees over the river, bordering some seriously sharp rock did not exactly call to us.
Fish Pedicures…only in Cambodia!!
We have seen throughout our trip that many families get around using the motor-scooter, here is an example from Siem Reap. It is not uncommon to see 4-5 people on a scooter at once.
Angkor Wat - The final post.
Angkor Wat - the 2nd of 3 posts…
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia - this is the first of three posts containing pictures of what many consider to be one of the unofficial wonders of the world. This was an amazing archaeological site that was crafted with incredible detail. Besides the amazing temples, what is even more impressive is that under these Khmer temples flows one of the most impressive canal and irrigation systems in the ancient world. In the pictures of third temple we visited, you will see that the trees have grown into and are uprooting thousands of pounds of stone in the temple walls.
Siem Reap has definitely been one of our favorite stops so far - we absolutely love the vibe, the food, the history, and again, for Jessalyn, the opportunity to bargain in the markets…also, we very luckily landed here during the Khmer New Year.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia - We arrived in the capital city to check out the Royal Palace, the National Musuem, S-21 (the Genocide Museum, formerly a school that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge used as a detention and torture center - another thorougly depressing stop), and the Russian Market (the unofficial commencement of Jessalyn’s uncontrolable love for bargaining).
