After Bangkok the relaxing part of our trip began.....well almost. Before we could relax Buck and Mae had us climb over 1,200 steps to the top of this temple on the mainland, Krabi. I was a little nervous at first because I am very out of shape right now, but about 500 steps up the athlete in me kicked in and I was moving. Scott would have been so proud, it only took Mae and I twenty five minutes to hike all those stairs. The guys did it in 17 minutes. Some steps were very high almost like lunging up not just stepping and don't forget it was HOT. Making it to the top and seeing some monkeys close up made it all worth it!
The dreaded stairs.
The victory of making it to the top!
The hike was definitely worth the views
The monkey was sliding down the railing. They got a little too close for comfort sometimes.
Just like in National Geographic.
This gives you an idea of how steep it was.
After the big climb we got all cleaned up and enjoyed a nice sunset in Ao Nang. Buck and Mae's friend, Amy, joined us for a night in Ao Nang.
Ao Nang Beach
Walking along the beach these lanterns were hung everywhere and I just loved them
In honor of Easter we lit sky lanterns and had our own kind of Easter service on the beach!
This is a big tradition in Thailand and in Chiang Mai we saw 20 of these going up in the air. People do them for special occasions like a birthday or anniversary. The video below shows you the whole thing from first light to trailing away in the sky.
The next day we headed out on a boat to the island of Koh Lanta
And we arrived to this beautiful room...
...and I walked right out my patio door to this scene.
So you can imagine we did a lot of this
Each night it was a question of whose "cove" we were going to hang out in
One of the many beautiful sunsets we enjoyed on the island. (No picture can do any justice to a sunset, they are always better in real life)
After a sweaty bike ride we found this beach called Long Beach in English. It was pretty cool to be one of the very few people on the beach.
This was the small private beach at our resort
Trying to take some pictures all dressed up at sunset.
Now they look cute!
It was nice to end the trip relaxing on the beach. I even managed to get 3 hours worth of spa treatments while I was there for only $45 (massage, body wrap, facial and pedicure)! This was the part of the trip that we splurged a little on the hotel and I am so glad we did. From the food to the service they made our time in Koh Lanta amazing!!!
The whole trip to Thailand like Justin said was epic! We got to see so many different areas of Thailand from the mountains, to a big city and lastly a beautiful beach. If you ever have to opportunity to go to Thailand you definitely should.
--Marisa
Coming soon two special posts on Thai culture!
