Crispy has had a fantastic birthday. She loves the high life at this resort and is treated like the queen. This is no more than she deserves. However we have been quite sedentary the past few days with not a lot of adventuring going on. Today was our chance to explore the island. The hotel has courtesy bicycles and kayaks for use by the guests and I thought it would be rude not to make use of them. Kho Libong is larger than most of the places we have visited but the northern part is mostly jungle. This really leaves only the southern part to explore without more jungle trekking and I think she has done her share of that so far. Bicycles seemed a great way to facilitate this. Plus today was forecast to be a little overcast again so it shouldn't have been to hot for some gentle exercise. The temperature was only forecast to be around 29 degrees. On average it has been in the mid thirties. I had read that there is a fisherman's village and Dugong look out point on the opposite side of the island so made this our goal for the day. After breakfast ( which is included in the room rate) we took bicycles and set off to explore.
I know there are giant monitor lizards here and we dearly wanted to come across one. They are not as big as the Komodo Dragon in the Galapagos so won't take a small child for lunch but will happily take chicken or small dog. They are not aggressive but will attack if threatened or startled so there was no real problem if we encountered one.
We cycled to the village. It was very quaint and apart from a few isolated home stays there was no evidence of tourism. It was great to see an authentic fishing community.
We cycled down the pier to the lookout tower and spent a while looking for turtle and Dugong but to no avail. I still have not given up hope that we will get to swim with one when we kayak tomorrow.
I had also read that there is a natural look out point that is reached via a series of caves inside a large rock pinnacle that overlooks the bay. It was clearly visible from the pier so we decided to try and scale it. Crispy gave me one of her looks that I know by experience means " your having a feckin laugh" but agreed to give it a go.
We cycled down a small road and eventually came to a sign directing us to the look out point. There were monkey here but they were very shy as they have not yet learned that tourists mean food. At sight of us sweating on our bikes they took off into the deeper jungle. Again this suited me.
At the lookout point there was a little Thai guy sat in a government office with a sign informing us that it would cost 400 Baht each to climb through the caves. That is really expensive and about the same cost as a very expensive meal for two including drinks. I protested that I thought that really was expensive and eventually he agreed to allow us both in for 300 Baht. A much more realistic figure. There was no sign of any other people there so as he didn't give us a ticket I think the Baht went straight into his back pocket. It suited me and I didn't complain.
The caves wind there way up inside the rock and are traversed by staircases and ropeways. It was hard going as the skies had cleared and even in the dark recess of the caves it was incredibly hot. Crispy was a trooper and with only the minimal of grumbling and cussing made her way to the top. She was wearing a little dress that looked wonderful but wasn't the attire of choice for extreme potholing.
At the top we were both hot and tired. We had exhausted our water supplies and were desperate for more.
We got comfy at the summit and gazed over the sea but apart from a few turtle didn't spot anything else. We made our way back down the caves, which was even harder than going up, bid out fair wells to the ticket guy and set off on our trusty bicycles. The plan was to continue onto a secluded beach but we were desperate for fluids. We came across a little shop but the ticket guy had taken all my small change and the lady in the shop didn't have enough cash to give change on the larger notes we had. We had no choice but to return to the resort before we dehydrated.
A quick drink and straight into the sea for a swim. Refreshed we read our books before showering and out for dinner..
Next door to our resort is one of only two beach bars on the island. We went there for a drink before dining at the resort. The bar man was great and helped to arrange a motorcycle taxi to the pier for our onward travels in a couple of days time. We will definitely call here again after our kayaking tomorrow.
Crispy has been a trooper today and is now settled in her pit with a bottle of pop. I'm afraid there are no crisps on the island other than seaweed flavour and she's not a fan.
Bare and Crispy signing off, Kho Libong, Thailand
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