Still in the South

a cool spot on the island with just one family and their fishing boats.

Tsunami memorial.

a swallow house. It's big business to harvest swallow nest and sell them to China...where they are eaten.

These huge beetles were very numerous on the island. We had the chance to eat them fried in coconut milk at one of the locals houses; but we didn't.

The Takua Pa fishing port. These boats head to Africa and beyond.

A field on the island that was once jungle. The Tsunami wiped out many of the trees and the salt water that remained killed many more in this area.

The beach is very much wide open on the island. That retaining wall was broken by the big wave. At some places on the island it was as high as thirty feet.

Taking a long-tail boat to the island.

Hi again,

It's been a few days since we've given you an update of what's been up.

We left the island on Saturday morning and visited our new friends Preecha and Nit on the other side of Southern Thailand. After the Tsunami that devasted the west coast of Thailand in 2004, Preecha spearheaded a relief effort and home building project on the Island of Ko Koh Khao. He helped build dozens of homes on the island. After doing so he and Nit really fell in love with the people on the island, and have committed themselves to serving the people there. They've built a community centre with the help of over 1000 western volunteers. They really got a great thing going. There's a lot more to who they are and the work that they do and we'd love to share it with you when we get home.

We really enjoyed spending a few days with them on the island. We spent our time chatting with them, looking around the small island, visiting their neighbours, eating, and eating. I think we must have had 5 meals on Sunday. Really they love to eat, and they love getting us to sample Thai dishes that we haven't had yet. We had Mango Sticky Rice, Fish Soup, and some other amazing curry dishes. Last night though was the best; we basically had an all you can eat crab meal. Preecha's friend is a crab fisherman and he gave us over 2kg of crab. The little restaurant down the road prepared it and we "went to town" eating it. It was a real treat!

The island is still very much authentic Thailand. It's distance from a major airport has spared it from the massive development that the other Thai islands have seen. There are only around 800 people (there were more than 3000 prior to the Tsunami) on the island and just a handful of hotels. The island is just as beautiful as the others, and it won't stay undeveloped forever. There's already plans for an airport and a bridge for tiny Ko Koh Kaoh. So if you want a prime piece of sand and not too many speedos you should come now.

This morning we left the little island and headed south to Phuket. I'm sure you've heard of it, since it's the undisputed beach capital of southern Thailand. It's no secret that you have to share the sand here with everybody else...but we wanted to see what it was like. It's exactly what we expected. Tons of snow white flesh, single men for the sex trade, western food, english signs, and resorts; but the beach is one of the best we've seen. It's wide and long and the water's georgeous. So did we get another $11 a night bungalow here? Dream on! We won't tell you what we're spending, but we've got a sweet pad! Our first hot shower in over a week!

Tonight we're just going to go for a dip in the pool and try to stay up late. We've been sleeping most night by 9pm. We never did quite get over the jet lag. Perhaps we'll watch a movie.

We've got free internet, so expect another update tomorrow.