Koh Samui and Anthong National Park, Thailand

Us after a few days of rest and relaxation! :)

Enjoying chocolate milkshakes on the beach! I know weird, but we were pretty excited to even have that option!

After laying on the beach suntanning and reading books for 4 days straight, we decided to go tour Angthong National Park for the day. We caught a speed boat from the top of Koh Samui Island and then rode about an hour northwest to the national park. Its made up of lots of small islands. Our first stop was to snorkel off one of the protected reefs.

We snorkeled right up to and under the overhang. Lots of bright and pretty fish! Wish my camera was waterproof!

This was the first time I had ever snorkeled so was extremely excited......us looking dorky! :)

From there we went to Mae Kong Island and hiked up to the top where the "Blue Lagoon" was. It looked more like the Green Lagoon, but it was definitely beautiful! :)

Looking down from half-way up the island's small mountain.

Us at the Blue Lagoon!

After that nice little bout of physical activity, we got back on the boat and toured through the islands on the way to our next stop......an option to hang out on a beach for 2 hours or go kayaking to another tiny beach. We definitely opted for kayaking! :) It was hard to take pics and paddle at the same time, so here are a few. LOL

The colour of the water was incredible!

Here's the tiny little beach we kayaked to. The water was so warm it felt like a bathtub! :)

This water was so shallow!

Monkey Island........supposed to look like a monkey face.

A small cave we went into.....

The colour of the water in the cave didn't look real!

So we saw pics of this odd shaped island in our tour book, but didn't realize that it is famous because it apparently looks like Sean Connery's profile if you look at the right side of it. Ridiculous, I know, but I can totally see it! LOL

The only other adventure we attempted during the week on Koh Samui was a trip to the southern tip of the island to see the Butterfly Garden.

How many butterflies can you count?

I love this little guy's face! LOL

This guy crept out onto the path as I was taking a picture of a flower.

And that's our Thailand trip! Next planned adventure? India! :)

The Golden Triangle of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar

We decided that since we were spending some time in the Northern part of Thailand, we may as well do the "Golden Triangle" tour which takes you right to the borders of Thailand/Laos/Myanmar (Burma). The first stop was near Chiang Rai to see the hotsprings and natural geyser. They have cemented in these little pools around the geyser and sell quail eggs that they then boil in the steaming pools! LOL, we DID NOT try the eggs, but they seemed to be a popular snack to get there.

Natural geyser.....this thing was hot!

The ladies with their baskets of eggs waiting to be cooked in the boiling pools....

From there we drove on for another hour until we arrived just outside the city of Chiang Rai at the more modern Wat Rong Khun or the White Temple. It is very white and bright as many parts are done in mirrored glass mosaics set in white plaster. It was extremely creepy and Kim and I both felt there was a weird/creepy vibe to the whole place.

Not a very welcoming looking fellow....

These would be heads hanging in the trees with plants to look like guts coming out....

These apparently symbolize the hands of Hell reaching out to get you and pull you in should you be a bad person deserving of this.....

Like I said, it was a very odd and bizarre place. After looking around for awhile, we drove further North to the border and hopped on a boat on the Mekong River to do a quick little tour of the Golden Triangle where we got to see Thailand, Laos and Burma all from one spot! They drove us by Opium Island in the middle of the river and we ended up being allowed to dock in Laos and look around the little tourist village of Done Xao.

Looking north down the Mekong River towards Burma near the centre and Laos on the right, while the boat and jut of land with the giant golden Buddha on the left is still Thailand. :)

That green island in the middle of the river is known as Opium Island where they used to make Opium drops and smuggle it over the borders.

Some fishermen out repairing nets....

After our brief 45 minute river tour, we stopped on the Laos side and went into the little village there.

National flag of Laos

So these containers were full of special whiskey.......sick, I know, as there were reptiles in them. Not sure what the appeal is, as there is no way I would even want to try that! :P

From there we took the boat back over to the Thailand side and drove to the Myanmar border. We obviously weren't allowed to cross, but we got a few pictures of the lineup to get across. LOL

The border crossing....

The long line up to cross over......

This lady was selling bags of roasted peanuts!

From the border we drove into the mountains to visit the Karen Long Neck Hilltribe people in one of their villages. The village was pretty basic. It felt very foreign and third world, that's for sure! The girls and the women were all done up in order to show their tradition of wearing rings around their neck. They were very beautiful and quite happy to show us their handicrafts and have us take a picture.

The sketchy bridge that we had to cross to get to the village on the other side!

The village!

Grass drying so they can be used to make brooms......

This girl was so cute! We ended up buying some scarves that she made. :)

After a week of exploring Thailand and going on many adventures in the jungle, on the backs of elephants and crossing borders, we decided to fly down to the laid back island of Koh Samui and spend the rest of our Winter Break laying on the beach soaking up some sunshine. :)