Ko Surin

9th - 11th Feb

Sabai Sabai (La Vie est Belle)

We took the Fast boat to Mo Ko Surin from Khura Buri. Leaving at 8am we arrived just after 9am. The fast boat is basically a small powerboat powered by 4 70HP outboard engines and the drivers are pretty skilled. We have taken fast boats 4 times now and each time it feels like you're on the set of a James Bond film (well if you are mentally able to block out the German tourists hehe) Marc, there are lot of Swedes here too, t'was a good idea to teach me some Swedish, mind you I haven't used it yet, I wonder why!

We thought we would spend just the one night on Ko Surin, that is, until we approached the islands. Once there, we were mesmerized. Ko Surin, a National Park in the form of two islands (Ko Surin Noa and Ko Surin Tai) about 65k west of Khura Buri in the Andaman Sea are stunning. Snorkeling on these islands is just amazing. Coral and Fish everywhere. You can either rent a Long Boat for the day (1200 baht) or pay 70 Baht (STG 1) to join a group of snorkelers (with c.5 others) and have a long boat take you to all the best sites. The latter is what we opted for... 'Best ever' pound spent so far.

We camped on a beach on the Ko Surin Noa and woke up to this view every morning.

Ao Mai Nga beach at low tide

We shared the island with pig tailed macaques, ants (lots of them), bats and blue egrets and the seas with reef sharks, clown fish (Nemo lives 'ere), coral, turtles and just lots of fish.

We met a couple of nice people on the island including, Kelly an English girl frm Hemel Hempstead who was holidaying with her parents. She used to be an Editor of Hello Magazine in Bangkok that is until the Tsunami. She then headed down south to volunteer and has basically stayed. I will talk about the Tsunami stories we've heard one day soon, there is still a lot of volunteering going on, mostly centering around home stays in villages and setting up sustainable eco tourism.

Back on Ko Surin Noa we explored the island through the nature trails taking pit stop swims at the pretty little beaches we found along the way and hitched back to camp in long boats. It was so beautiful and so tranquil. Em, I am so totally horizontal now, its just wonderful.

Hitching on Long Boats

If you ever get the chance to meet the Chao Ley in South East Asia, do it. They are Sea Gipsies. Leaving off the nature, deep sea free diving for pearls and sea shells which are then sold. They are animalists and therefore recognised the warning signs of the Tsunami and immediately headed up into the hills, none of the Moken (the particular Chao Ley tribe in Surin) were killed by the Tsunami.

The name Chao Ley means 'People of the Sea' unfortunately they are now forced more and more to stick to one permanent village. This is due to the lack of under developed and uninhabited islands to travel to. Post Tsunami the Moken on Ko Surin were taken to mainland shelters for assistance and whilst there not only were the different villages grouped together which alone caused many rifts and untold problems but a couple of missionaries actually bribed some of them to switch to Christianity in exchange for help.... they say that time is running out for the Moken and if you visit their village sadly you feel it. There is a village on Ko Surin Tai which we visited.

The approach to the Moken Village

The Moken (Smoken:) post Tsunami were introduced to a lot of western products and they are not used to western trash. There was a growing mound of rubbish on the forest line behind their huts on stilts. Mind you neither are the Thai used to modern trash and they do chuck stuff everywhere too.

Typical Moken House

Shower time

Kid's got the right idea

Keep smiling

Laundry Day

Little Charmer

Moken Mum

That piece of polystyrene was his body board

Jenny thanks so much for your sweet message, wish you could be here. Miss you all and don't forget the offer still stands for those who are willing and able feel free to meet up somewhere along the way. Joanna and I are having so much fun, we've got another week of traveling together before we go our separate ways and so far every day has been better than the one before. When you don't hear from me it is because we have ventured out to National Park Islands that are so remote they don't have internet access or mobile reception.

We have done so much, it makes its very hard to update this blog on time but Im hoping to catch up soon. ;)

Keep your emails coming - I hope you don't mind but I'll have to use the blog to answer back as time constraints don't allow for both email and blog communication.

Gos where on the Andaman coast were you based?

Ciao for now x