Visa Run in Land of Smiles

Hello Everyone!

So Miranda and I have been very busy lately, but finally have some pictures/stories to show from Thailand. Basically, Miranda's 90 day tourist visa in Mongolia was about to expire, so we had to leave the country to hopefully get it renewed. We figured why not go to Thailand? Our experience there was nothing short of everything we had ever imagined it would be. The people were so friendly, the food was excellent, the tropical climate was a welcomed change, there was fresh clean ocean air, and transportation was so easy (although long). We will undoubtedly be coming back in the future, hopefully for a longer time. That said, this trip was perfect.

Here's an overview of our route: We left UB early Friday evening and arrived in Bangkok after several connections the following day at 1pm. We flew from Bangkok to Chumphon on a small 19 seat plane. Once landing in Chumphon, we boarded a high speed catamirand to finally arrive on the island of Ko Tao Sunday afternoon. After almost two full days of travel with little sleep, we were spent. We stayed in Ko Tao for 6 nights, before beginning the long trek home the following weekend, arriving in past midnight early Monday morning. Going to work that next morning definitely wasn't on the list of things I felt like doing. 

Manilla, Philippines airport immediately after a red eye flight. It never ceases to amaze me so far here in Asia, how determined the flight crews are to serve you meals on the plane, no matter the time, or the duration of the flight. I think Miranda liked this, but it definitely made sleeping on the planes harder.

Bangkok airport (Suvarnabhumi) after clearing customs. Woo hoo! We're almost where we want to be.

Flowing traffic with real infrastructure in Bangkok. Man it feels good to be on real roads! Notice the double decker highways here. Also notice that every vehicle here is staying in their allotted lane and not driving down the sidewalk like we've seen here in UB.

After we arrived in Bangkok, we had to find a way across the city to the domestic airport. We had booked a hotel very near the domestic airport, and since it used to be the international airport, this five star hotel doesn't see the business it used to, and we got a free upgrade to an executive suite and paid $38 for the night.

BANANAS!!!!

The hotel pool from outside our balcony.

Very very excited while flying over Thailand on a small plane, soon to be landing and catching a boat.

Bangkok from the air. We wished that we'd had more time to explore this city.

The Chao Phraya River runs through the center of the city and serves as a fun way of transportation and includes such things as floating markets. Probably the river seen here (?)

Beautiful low altitude plane ride.

The Chumphon airport

I love small airports, things seem to be so much quicker and simpler.

As soon as we arrived in Chumphon, we immediately hopped onto a minibus and started hauling serious ass towards the marina upon which our boat was departing. We arrived right as the boat was boarding, and this was our view. I nearly fell off the dock trying to snap a few shots, as many of the boards on the dock were missing or were not nailed down very well.

You can probably imagine the warm, humid, salty ocean breeze we were welcomed with.

Not sure what to expect, as this is a "high speed catamirand". This boat is much larger than I thought and holds 2-300 people.

We quickly discovered the upper deck and decided this was where the prime view was.


Gulf of Thailand on Catamirand from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

Definitely rain around us, and we've heard that its the rainy season here. I guess we will see.

The island is coming into view.

A vertically exaggerated view from GE, the island is pretty small, roughly 4.5 mi long and 1.5 mi wide with 1,200' of relief. Although it looks really small, it had more to offer and for us to explore than we had time for, although we did our best to see it all.

Before arriving at the main dock on the island, we picked up additional passengers from a very small island a few hundred yards away.

A fishing vessel

We were immediately picked up by our hosts Luke and Michelle and taken to our little villa. This shot is of the narrow gravel private path leading to the villa.

We were only several minutes from beaches, restaraunts, etc., yet were in a secluded quiet area. It was perfect. We rented an offroad scooter which made getting around the island so much fun!

A view off our front porch.

One of the things our hosts mentioned was that sometimes geckos would find their way into the house if windows and doors were left open at night, and not to freak out if we saw any. Miranda was very excited to meet a gecko, and finds them very cute. Sure enough, the first night we saw a friend or two, scrambling around with lightning speed and hiding behind the trim. In the middle of the night, we would hear odd chirp/scream sounds similar to this: angry gecko. One night, Miranda had an empty coke can next to her bad and I jokingly made a comment about how she should watch out in case the geckos want coke. Sure enough, at 3am, we hear a ting, ting, ting, ting ting ting noise coming from the bedside next to her right ear. Turn on the light just in time to watch a gecko scramble off the coke can into hiding. We moved the coke can into the living room, and several hours later heard the coke can crash to the floor. She peaked inside and saw two little beady eyes looking back at her. Those geckos really like their coke!

We had such a great time staying here, it was a perfect home away from home. Very affordably priced, we were even given cellphones to use during our stay in case we had any questions/needed help.

The driveway leading up towards the villas.

Miranda found herself a new friend, "twiggy".

Luckily we had some umbrellas with us on the way to dinner this time, but other times we found ourselves driving along, miles from our lodge, enduring a tropical downpour which is actually quite enjoyable I must say.

Apparently when she said "stop giving me a serious face" I intuitively went with this look instead.

On our way to check out Thian Og Bay for the day.

Getting ready to snorkel at Thian Og Bay. We never found an underwater camera to take pictures until the last day, unfortunately. Here, we saw a turtle, along with coral and tropical fish.

I'm surprised no one did a face plant here. Walking around on wet rocks with plastic flippers on isn't advised. This is the first time we've ever snorkeled together, and the second time either of us have snorkeled.

One of the best parts of the trip was riding the scooter around in the evening, and just seeing where we ended up. This particular resort was in the NE part of the island, right on the ocean, and had some spectacular waves and views.

Miranda said numerous times that she might just have to stay on this island and let me go back to UB by myself. I think she was kidding...oh wait probably not.

Part of what makes this island special is the huge granite boulders that comprise the island, and sometimes the way they abruptly come rising out of the water is mesmerizing, even more so underwater.

Drinking a mai tai, oh yeah. Sorry Annie, I was thinking of you the whole time, does that count?

Night scene looking out towards Ko Naangyuan island

We decided to spend a day at Hin Wong Bay. Part of the fun of getting around on this island are the narrow concrete/dirt roads leading to different bays and beaches. Because the island is fairly mountainous, a lot of these roads can be very steep and eroded. So we had a lot of fun navigating around and sometimes found ourselves running out of power going up the steep hills on the scooter (see video).

Excited to spend a day at Hin Wong snorkeling around.

A different view of the beach.

The perfect place to see abundant tropical fish, coral, and some Christmas Tree Worms

Too bad we didn't bring our climbing shoes here. Wet flip flops added an extra challenge anyway.

Eating a lazy lunch after some snorkeling.

An enhanced view of a barnacle rock peaking out from the water.

As I was bouldering around, I found an old path towards a hidden bungalow. Awesome!

On an early morning walk on a cloudy day.

This little poodle has a good spot.

I enjoyed watching the tide fluctuate. During one day of the trip, we went on a small longtail boat on a snorkeling tour. The boat we took looked like one of these pictured above, and we had to wait until late morning before we could leave because the tide was abnormally low and the boat was stuck in the sand.

I love the ripples.

We spent most of this day at Aou Leuk Bay and again had a pristine, perfect, beautiful, vivid, snorkel/lunch/lounge. Even though there were more people at this beach than expected, the vibe was still peaceful, quiet and relaxing.

Okay, now we need to figure out how we can live here.

This looks like a sweet place to eat some lunch.

Couldn't ask for a better view.

Nothing like some fresh coconut water, still in the coconut, for a healthful refreshing drink.

It was relieving to see everyone here so relaxed, whether they were lying on the beach, doing yoga, writing in a journal, or just contemplating the world from a soft warm sandy seat.

So Miranda found a swimsuit she really liked in a local store, and was really excited to wear it. Before she was tanning on the beach/snorkeling, she had shorts on and we both put loads of sunscreen on. Somehow though, she forgot her gluteus maximus and spent most of the day floating around, back and butt to the sun. The next 24 hours were very difficult for her to stay seated in a normal position!

At dusk, on Chalok Baan Kao, relaxing in the sand after a seaside dinner.

We had so much fun going out to different restaurants all over the island!

Although we never went to any of the clubs, the eastern part of the island has a very active nightlife.

Cute little snail.

Ko Tao Steep Hill from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

Don't worry, he's not dead. There were lots of sleepy skinny dogs lying in the streets. 

Scooter Driving on Ko Tao from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

Hmmm...I think we should get off the scooter and walk from here.

This past winter, Ko Tao had some very strong storms roll through and create a lot of flooding. Apparently it was so bad that visitors were stranded on the island until a navy fleet ship braved the waters to pickup the stranded travelers.

A good reason to pay close attention when driving the scooter down a steep concrete hill. Hope your brakes work.


Jungle Powerlines from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

The above dilapidated path eventually turned into a foot trail, and with a minor amount of scrambling, we reached Mango Bay, which most people access by boat only. What a stunning view!

Time to hop in and cool off!

It was funny to hear this ex-serious swimmer critique her form when she saw these pictures of her dive.

Trying to take full advantage of the daylight, from Mango Bay, we zipped over to Tanote Bay and again were overtaken with the beauty of such large granite boulders rising abruptly from the sea. Even though granite boulders predominate the island, each bay and beach has its own unique special vibe.

A combination of happiness and low blood sugar.

The only thing we regretted about our lodge is that it was not on the ocean like so many other bungalows. Oh well, next time!

What a magical place, the colors here are beyond words.

Awesome stormy sunset.

Doing a little post card shopping on Sairee Beach. Annie, can't you see yourself riding this pink scooter?


Ko Tao Scooter from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

Wow, what a wonderful idea, a microwave as a fishtank! Brilliant! Miranda wants one.

So after three consecutive days of snorkeling, we finally were fitted in to go on a longtail boat snorkel tour around the eastern side of the island. We had a German guide (Roland) who has lived on Ko Tao for 20+ years. When we told him about living in Ulaanbaatar, he described his experience seeing Mongolia and UB on a train in mid December many years ago. Also, when I told him I was originally from Woodland Park Colorado, he mentioned his travels through Cripple Creek and Woodland Park in 1980. This guy has been all over the world, and was quite a friendly eccentric character. Our boat tour for the day was with 5 Spaniards. Before we started, Roland asked me if I understood any Spanish, because he spoke fluently. I told him some, and the rest of the day the whole group was given instructions/background entirely in Spanish. I understood the jist of it, and felt so lame for only speaking one language fluently when over the past few months I've met many people that speak three or more.


Ko Tao Longtail Boat Ride from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

Miranda loving the opportunity to drive our scooter we rented. She's still learning how to control two wheeled vehicles/bikes, and we heard many horror stories about people renting scooters here and coming back with minor scratches/damage to the scooters and being charged outrageous fines. However, she did great and maybe next time we will each rent our own.

The mermaid pose.

Our last full day on the island, we were snorkelled out, so instead spent the day shopping around, going to more beaches, and just generally relaxing.

Remote Beach on Ko Tao, Thailand from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

We only saw a handful of other people on this particular beach.

Soothing crashing waves.

Oh yeah, I think we know where to eat lunch today!

I don't think this place would pass the most basic building codes in the US, but that just makes it so much more fun. Made of mostly driftwood, it had the feeling of a treehouse.

This particular place had the best atmosphere of all.

Do we really have to leave tomorrow?

A view from our lunch deck. Obviously, some of these images are a bit enhanced, but I like the effect. I've been experimenting some with high dynamic range (HDR) photography. Anyway, we certainly miss everyone, and look forward to our return to the US. Looks like Miranda will be heading back at the end of October, and I'm undetermined at the moment. I still have more blog entries to post from our latest field trip in the Gobi, and some interesting stories that come along with it, so be looking forward to that. See you all later!