A scene from the best of dreams.

We got into Suratthani at 6am realizing we hadn't heard from any of our prospective southern Thailand farms in about two weeks. This is how the whole trip will likely go, I think. We went to a cyber cafe to look up the phone numbers of three farms. Somehow we successfully contacted all three prospects, but of course, all three were busy until 3-4 days from then. To some this would be disappointing, but I saw it as an opportunity. We got out our travel books and checked out cool things in the area. Thanks to the student travel book Michelle got me, I discovered that you could camp within the nearby Mu Ko Angthong Marine National park. We immediately hopped on a bus, then a ferry, and ported at Ko Samui; a perfect example of an island paradise destroyed by the pressure of tourism. There was a bar and resort on almost every beach front lot available. This was our necessary route to the marine park.

As expected, the first downside to the marine park was that it was only accessible via one of several tour companies. We had to arrange a somewhat expensive day trip with a company to serve as our transportation to and from. Early the next day we took the morning tour company's ferry to Angthong. The approach to the park is breathtaking. After twenty minutes or so, the outline of islands begin to show through the thin shroud of mist. It takes a full hour to fully reach the first tour stop, and for the last half hour of the trip you are surrounded by towering limestone rock formations that were forced upward as the continents shifted, and then surrounded by water at the end of the last ice age. Green vegetation grew out of every impossible nook, seeming to continue the vista of the green ocean.


Our first stop was Talay Nai, or Green Lagoon. The name was a good one. Limestone bluffs surrounded emerald water. An underground tunnel brought salt water in from the ocean which was then made greener by the eroding limestone. Just another one of Thailand's gems.

After the lagoon, we stopped at the main island, Wua-Talap. Here you could snorkel and do a series of hikes. There was a park office with a fully equipped staff and grassy lawn for camping where we spent the night. There was also wildlife. We saw Common mynas and Dusky langurs. Common mynas are common throughout Thailand but no less magnificent for their abundance. As I sat with coffee one sat watching me. I heard at least eight unique sounds; trills, chirps, honks, cackles, rattles. As he vocalized his feathers puffed out, looking as if demanding my sugar packet. The snorkling wasn't ideal. There was also no coral reef and visibility was low due to the mineralization. Add in the heavy traffic of tourists each day and you get a habitat not fit for high volumes of beautiful sea life. The hikes were the best part. There were only two. One took you to a huge cave with dangling stalactites that you could walk through, more like climb through. The trails there were not trails in the normal sense of the word. There were no switchbacks or smooth dirt paths. Trails went straight up the mountain and asked you to trek over angular limestone boulders and tree roots coming from every angle. There were thick ropes attached to trees along the entire trail to help, especially on the way down. You couldn't walk up this trail. You had to pause and plan each step; a slow, rhythmic climb and metaphor for the islands themselves. Small, purple violets grew from the tiniest pores in the rocks. How many things had to go right for that seed to germinate? The same thing will never happen twice. But if it happens a third time expect it to happen again.

The second trail was also a grueling upward clime. It reached a 500m high viewpoint where you could see the whole network of islands. Since we were camping we hiked this trail after all of the other tourists left. We sat peacefully and watched the sun set into too many clouds. The islands, painted a delicate pink, became a scene from the best of dreams.