Thailand 2019

Happy Birthday Dad!
We were booked in for day tour today. Got up for breakfast before heading to the lobby to wait for our ride. A big land rover showed up and off we went. We cruised around the island and had our first stop near Lamai at grandmother and grandfather rocks. There were a bunch of local shops around, tried some of the food and got some coconut ice cream, so tasty. There were 5 utes that were crusing around together.
We jumped back in with our driver, Palm, and headed to a temple where there is a mummified monk, but when the kids asked, it was just a statue ;) very interesting. If ladies were wearing singlets we were given a wrap to cover our shoulders, this one woman who was wearing a strapless top, just wrapped it around her waist like a towel or sarong. They were trying to explain to her why, she understood, she was just being a dick, didn't want to ruin her outfit for pictures apparently, ugh! They sorted her out though.
Next was a waterfall, we had a quick stop before heading up the mountain to see if anyone wanted to ride on top of the Ute, Ben and I were straight up there, it was so much fun! The waterfall was beautiful and there was a giant waterslide into one of the pools, we were thinking about it until one girl flew down and absolutely smashed herself into the water, at the end of the slide it was about a meter and half drop and the slide itself was very sleep. She was red raw and after Palm told us ladies to 'be careful of your bottom' and the men to 'be careful of your baby elephant', we decided not to do the slide.
More cruising around before stopping off at a zipline, we were umming and ahhing, well, I was, Ben definitely wasn't haha. I figured bugger it, let's do it! Because we were on a tour, it was just a quick one with 4 legs and a wobble bridge at the end. As I was getting ready, little Christopher really wanted to do it too, so Vicky tried to call his bluff and told him to go ask the man (he is 5 and petrified of heights, but Luke is 3 and has no fear). Well, the fella started strapping him up ready to go, then Luke saw and couldn't miss out. They were so brave! So impressed with them! They got to do 2 legs and they looooved it. I did too of course, but going with them for a bit and seeing how excited they were, was the absolute highlight.
Lunch was next on top of the mountain, we weren't really sure what they were saying, but the food was amazing and the view was unreal! Got a bunch of photos and went through some more 4wding tracks through the mountains before our stop at the Magic Buddha Garden. It was created over one man's life and represents the Buddhist way and beliefs, it was really beautiful and interesting.
Finally we were off to a rubber plantation and the Big Buddha on the mountain with a few more temples. Palm gave us a demonstration of how the rubber plantations works and how they get it off the trees, it was so bizarre. He threw in a few jokes about condoms of course, such a funny bloke. More looking around, there was Durian to try, as they put it, smells like hell but tastes like heaven. It's the stinkiest food item there is apparently, sooo bad. There are so many signs around the island saying that people will be fined if they bring it into populated areas. One of the other drivers was hassling ladies with 'something', he came up to me expecting a scream I think and he had a big spider in his hands, I took it and had a hold, he said something about 'must be Aussie', haha!
We wrapped up the day there with some group photos and cruised back down to town. Got back later than expected but that was okay, went for a swim and had a few cocktails before grabbing a feed. Vicky and I are heading to the Elephant Sanctuary in the morning tomorrow, while Andrew and Ben have the kids. Thinking we'll go to the Jungle Club tomorrow night before heading home on Tuesday, it's meant to be amazing at sunset. Will let you know xLes mer