Thailand Trip: Day 5 – Cooking Class, Sunset Island Hopping

Thailand Trip Index:

• Introduction
• Day 1 – Tigers, Elephants, Erawan
• Day 2 – Chinatown, Krabi
• Day 3 – Phi Phi Island Hopping
• Day 4 – Massage, Hike, Beach
• Day 5 – Cooking Class, Sunset Island Hopping
• Day 6 – Back to Bangkok, Siam Niramit
• Day 7 – Ziplining, Night Bike Tour

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This was Ben’s birthday and it did NOT disappoint. I think, in fact, I’ve never seen the man so happy in my entire life than he was this day!

We had hoped to do an island sunset cruise but the company we had wanted to book us informed us they wouldn’t be going. So, first on the agenda was to find another company that was going that night. Also, one thing I had wanted to do but failed to schedule was a cooking class. So, that morning we went looking for both activities and in a matter of a few minutes we had both set up. Ben didn’t want to do the cooking class but he escorted me to the meetup spot in Ao Nang, a nearby city. After a little searching we found the spot and were greeted by two Thai men and I discovered I was the only one in the class! I considered my safety and decided I would be fine so I hopped in the taxi, waved goodbye to Ben, and off we went up into the hills of the village. We stopped at this little outdoor, open kitchen and my class began.

My mom had actually encouraged me to make this happen and I’m so grateful for her suggestion! I enjoyed this so, so much more than I expected to. The instructor was excellent and the food turned out so tasty. We cooked chicken panang, coconut soup, cashew chicken, spring rolls, papaya salad, and mango and sticky rice. I learned new techniques for some of our old favorites and fell in love with a few new dishes. It was time well spent!

They drove me back to Ao Nang where I found a commuter boat back to our resort. It was a bit of a wait but I enjoyed chatting with new friends while we waited to fill the boat (they need 8 to go).

I spotted Ben in the resort’s pool during my walk back to our hut. So happy.

 

The staff greeted me by name, laid out a towel, and brought me cold water.  It’s nice to be taken care of every once in a while.

We ate my creations for lunch and then left to find our boat for the sunset cruise.

This was a bigger boat with lots of funny Asians who didn’t know how to swim. We stared at them in surprised concern as they tried to learn how to swim; they stared at us in surprised concern as we bloodied ourselves rock climbing, cave exploring, and back flipping off the second story roof of the boat. Good times were had by all 😉

We started with some snorkeling at Tup Island. Ben swam into a cave and took this great shot. I was concerned a wave would smash us into the rocks so I stayed in the open ocean area.

After that we went by Chicken Island. See where it gets it’s name?

Then we stopped for some deep water soloing aka rock climbing. Two crew members showed us how it was done:

But it wasn’t nearly as easy as they made it look! A few fit people couldn’t even get up the rope ladder. Ben held it steady for me and I was able to get up. That alone, I felt, was an accomplishment since several had already tried and failed. The pressure was also on as all boat passengers stared from the deck and witnessed each person’s failures and triumphs 🙂 Ben was quite impressive and made it the farthest of any non-crew members. He got quite a few cuts and battle wounds.

From there we went to Si Island. I was cold so opted to stay on the boat and take a few pictures. Ben put on a show with his backflips and jumps. He was so childlike – carefree, playful, spontaneous, joyful. This was one of the happiest moments of his life, I think! It was so fun to watch him be so free and happy.

After that we were shuttled from our larger boat to Tup Island aboard a long tail boat. We were told it was a photo-op so we took pictures. The sun was getting low and the light was soft and warm. Lovely! We handed the camera off to some of our Asian friends and they all had ideas/suggestions of how to pose….kiss, boat in the background, piggy back ride, peace signs. We kept trying to get a normal picture but everyone had outlandish ideas and we weren’t bold enough to suggest otherwise.

We were sad to leave but getting hungry so our captain took us to Poda Island for a buffet dinner and sunset. This was another pretty spectacular moment. Sitting on the beach, eating Thai food, watching the sunset. Perfection!

Once it was dark they put on a fire show. Crazy!

We were supposed to swim with bioluminescent algae but there were jellyfish so we just saw them from aboard the ship (no pictures). It was interesting but not life changing.

We arrived back to our resort around 9PM. We showered, dressed, and went to the Grotto for dinner and birthday dessert. The Grotto is one of three restaurants at the resort. It’s built into a cave and overlooks the beach and ocean. It’s pretty much spectacular! Here are a few professional pictures….

This replaced Saturday night’s restaurant as our new winner for “Best Ambiance” restaurant. There was live music playing, we could hear the waves rolling in, we were happy and exhausted and hungry and had overwhelming gratitude and happiness and love. It was another very happy moment in our lives. Very happy. Like so happy I just wanted to weep. We love our kids and being with them, but wow, this was nice, too. So nice. Oh, so nice. Like, I want to go back right now, so nice!

It was such a magical day that will never be forgotten!