An Adventurers Tale: It's a monkey

Up early again but never mind as there will be more than enough time to chill on the next island.

When we arrived yesterday I sorted an "activity" for today to keep Old Crispy moving. We have a busy year ahead and I don't want her becoming too sedentary. It's a full day long oat tour around a few of the small island nature resorts off the east coast of Kho Lanta. We were picked up at 08:10 by a young guy in a pickup. It's not a private tour today but it sounds like it could be fun with a little company. We called and picked up several other people including a family with small children. Crispy gave me the look that I know means she wasn't impressed at the prospect of our quiet day being spoiled by screaming kids. The other people were a couple of similar years to us and a young couple on holiday from Sarawak near Borneo. It seems it's the rainy season now in Sarawak so they were taking a break here. Once we were all ensconced in the rear of the pick up the driver took us to our starting point in the mangrove swamps.

As luck would have it the young family were ushered away to a different activity to go Kayaking around the mangroves. The remainder of us were loaded onto a longtail and set off for the islands. The longboat picked it's way through the mangroves to the open sea and made it's way to the first island. Kho Per. It's tiny. A solitary column of rock rising from the sea and beautiful in its form. We circumnavigated it before heading to our next destination and the major part of the day. Sea kayaking.

Kho Talabeng is the largest of the off lying islands and like most is a nature reserve. It is here that the skipper beached the longtail and we swapped into our kayaks. The island is riddled with sea caves and we spent a nice couple of hours padding around the island in and out of the rock formations and swimming in the sea. All too soon our time in the kayaks was up and we returned to the beach to climb back onto the longtail. I have no photos of these interesting structures as I couldn't take the phone onto the kayak for fear of it getting wet (I intend to invest in a go pro before our next adventure. I think it would be worth it). From Talabeng we sailed to the next island to take lunch. Kho Bubu. There is a little holiday complex here on this remote tiny island. No more than 5 very basic chalets but on a very quiet secluded beach. The entire island is at most the size of half a football pitch. It would be an amazing place to stay for a couple of days. The owners cook lunch for the longtail tours and we dined on the beach in the shade of the trees. The food was basic but very nice and we even. Got a couple of cheeky beers. We talked with our fellow passengers and had a great time. The young guy from Sarawak works for the Malay ecological authority and his main job is the management of the mangroves in Sarawak. A kind of park ranger. The biggest part of his job is managing the salt water crocodiles that are in abundance there and trying to stop them eating the locals. His partner's job is looking after the locals and trying to stop them eating the crocodiles. Some people have fantastic jobs. There are no crocodile in this part of Thailand. We have seen them up close on previous adventures and are not to bothered that we don't have to keep an eye out for them whilst swimming.

After lunch we had some free time to swim in the crystal waters.

(The Beach where we swapped onto the kayak)

(Lunch on the beach)

After lunch we headed back to the mangroves. It was at this point that the boat boy said that we are going to see the monkeys. Brilliant thinks I. We have had minimal interaction with the monkeys since arriving and that suits me. Now it seems we were actively seeking them out.

(Saltwater crocs when we were in the Gambia)

The skipper manoeuvred the boat close into the mangrove trees and sure enough the place was crawling with them. "Monkey on the boat OK" he said with a smile before throwing a bucket of fruit in the water. The monkeys jumped from the trees into the water and headed for the boat. Crispy was thrilled. I was not. As soon as one climbed aboard to join us the skipper pulled the boat away. It seems that if more than one get on the boat they fight and run smoke. "Don't touch monkey OK " said the boat boy. The monkey made a direct line for me and Crispy. First climbing on Crispy's head and shoulders before spying me and fixing me with a stare. Monkeys and cats seem to like me. Perhaps it's because they can sense I don't like them. It leapt from Crispy onto me, sat on my hat and refused to budge. It was on me for ages before eventually leaping off and jumping off the boat back into the mangroves. Crispy was ecstatic and I think our time with the monkey was the highlight of her day. It was a very friendly young mum monkey but I was glad when it left. I still wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw it.