Day 90 - Ang Thong National Marine Park

We were picked up at around 7:30 am and driven to the pier. The boat we boarded as I expected had about 40-50 people on it. It was then that I knew it wouldn't be a relaxed tour at all and there wouldn't be much time to see things because it takes so much time to organize that many people. But this was the only way to see Ang Thong. The Ang Thong National Marine park is a conserved area by the Thai government which consists of 42 uninhabited islands which was the inspiration for the novel entitled "The Beach", later made into a bad film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The ride out to the islands was rather choppy and I was quite proud of myself that I didn't take any antinauseants AND I didn't puke. Everyone on the deck below looked green with nausea. I chose to sit up on the top deck and allow my body to move with the waves. It really helps quite a lot. As I was sitting down with my eyes closed, pretending I was riding a large elephant helps me visualize something and keeps me from getting sick.

The first stop was to the green lagoon called Talay Nai on Koh Mea Koh. It's a preserved lagoon that is not to be touched by human hands. Getting off the boat was quite a task. They piled about 30 people into a motorboat, 3 per row in 10 rows. It was so cramped, I thought were were going to sink. I felt like a stowaway. It took about 5 minutes to get to shore where I had to jump out of the boat into thigh high water to get onto the island. The funniest thing were the other tourists who didn't want to get wet. But really, there was no way to avoid it. So there were just a bunch of screaming Asian tourists afraid of the water. The best view point was a climb up 240 meters to the top. The climb was quite easy as many visitors come to see this lagoon, there were stairs installed in the rock to make the climb easier. The lagoon was absolutely beautiful to see.

The next stop was a viewpoint that overlooked all the islands of Ang Thong. This viewpoint was definitely more challenging than the first. There were no stairs and it was 262 meters in altitude and a 500 m vertical walk up with rope tied to the trees. This was like walking up a 45 degree angle and the path was covered in sharp volcanic rocks. The hike up was insane, until the rope ended. I then saw a sign that said "Emergency Climbing" and a phone number on it. I didn't get it at first and then I looked up. In front of me was a vertical stretch of volcanic rock and I had to stay pretty much horizontal hugging the rocks to make sure I didn't fall off the cliff. After about 100 meters of this I reached the top of the viewpoint. The climb and risk of death was totally worth it. It was very overcast and the mist on the mountains on the islands was beautiful.

Then came the hike down. Again it took just as long to get down because I had to ensure I had proper footing so I didn't faceplant into sharp volcanic rock. There was no time to see the cave (of course because it was a huge group of people) and we just boarded the boat again.

The ride back on the boat was worse than the ride out. The choppiness of the water made a bunch of people sick. I just closed my eyes and rode my elephant.