Koh Kood Island, Thailand: Decompression after a year in Malaysia

The plane to Trat, Thailand. We had to take a flight from KL to Bangkok. Then this flight from Bangkok to Trat. Then we had to spend the nite at a hotel in Trat before we could take a ferry the next morning to get to our ultimate destination: Koh Kood Island, Thailand! We were feeling ragged, after just leaving with a stressful departure in KL filled my my last-minute research demands and packing/giving away a year's worth of stuff. We came to this small island with way too many suitcases, our life for a summer of travel. After this trip, we paid, yes, $500 (!) to have a suitcase of crap, err, stuff, sent back to the US. Anyway, we were relieved to be done with packing and starting a summer filled with Asian travel!!!

Trat is the gateway to the islands off the southeast coast of Thailand. Most people go to the west coast of Thailand to Phuket. We not only went to the less popular east coast, just south of Cambodia, but we also went during the rainy monsoon season which was highly unrecommended. We got lucky. In fact, it wasn't luck, repeatedly we got cheaper, less crowded hotel rooms and beaches across Burma and Thailand during monsoon season. Yes, we lost a couple days to rains in Burma, but it actually didn't ruin our touristing. And, we had NO rainy days in Koh Kood Island which was a relief since we almost didn't come since all the travel blogs said to avoid the island during this monsoon season.

Ken and my favorite food in all of Southeast Asia -- drum roll please -- Papaya salad! Eat it every day you go to Thailand.

Alice with her Asian favorite - fried rice.

The cook's son giving Abraham a tour without any words used, this resourceful communicator has grown up learning an excellent non-verbal language, being around tourists all his life.

Ah, gorgeous, beautiful, clear, warm water of Thailand. With precious few people on the beaches. The first 5 days I would look at this view, all the while obsessively thinking about my clinical work and research back in Malaysia. We specifically decided for this beach to be the first leg of our trip so I, especially, could decompress from my Fulbright research.

One of many beach soccer games. Click HERE to see us playing.

Oh yes, the Koh Kood waterfall!!!

Hiking to the waterfall

You may not know that I am a completely chicken-shit middle-aged mom. At least, I'm chicken shit when it comes to any heights whatsoever. It's hard to tell from this photo but this is a very scary tree to climb up to jump off of. Ken and other guys with no fear of heights tried and were too scared to do it, because it was so wet and slippery. However, the local men shamed us all. One climbed up, easily grabbed the rope himself, and swung off, doing flips in the air before landing below the waterfall. However, we learned a great lesson in travel. Do as the locals do. But, watch them carefully first. The locals know how to do it safely. I refused to jump with Ken and the kids off the cliff, as the locals did. But, after watching a local do it, I figured I was only here once, and I needed to shake off the residual stress of my year abroad.

I almost turned around here, after almost slipping off the tree. The tree is much higher than it looks. I had a mini-panic attack, but Ken talked me into pressing forward.

What you can't see here is that our local guide, who spoke nearly no English, had climbed to the end of the tree and swung the tree rope to us. Let's just say, I felt no shame about this part - playing the colonist requiring local servant rope swingers as the locals did it themselves. No way I was climbing out any further on that tree. It took a lot of attempts for me to grab  the rope then maneuver around obstructing branches without falling. I was almost relieved to jump, to get off that slippery treacherous tree!

My triumphant moment! Of course I let go way too early. And, it felt like I hit a wall when I hit the water at that force. But, how glorious and gorgeous the descent was - absolutely freeing!

Alice made the ascent up the slippery tree too downright easy, her balance is so exceptional.

She finally caught the swing and is about to jump!

Alice's amazing, graceful leap, framed beautifully by the glorious waterfall. Click HERE to see her jump live in action.

Griffin's steadying himself before jumping.

Jungle boy!!

Jungle boy lands! Click HERE to see him in action.

Ken prepares the kids for their jumps off the cliff. My palms were sweating.

Ken jumps first. Then the kids. Click HERE for a video of the kids and Ken jumping off the cliff.

Debriefing after the jump

Victory lap after the jump

The local Thai person who took this photo seemed like she had never held a camera before

Ken testing the power of the waterfall. He'd seen a local go behind it and was tempted but logic got the better of him and he called off his plan.

Ah, the waterfall. I could sit there all day watching it.

Ken watching someone else jump off the cliff, who he'd coached beforehand. Soooo good to see Kenny this happy, after some less than happy moments living abroad, with less than a sense of purpose without his job, live in front of him.

Resting at the neighboring hotel, which had a better shady spot and chairs to chill in front of the ocean.

Alice and Boom played a game for almost an hour of doing a little performance of silliness then pretending to fall into the water off the pier. Bliss for them. Click HERE to see the silly, uninhibited jumps. I think the kids, Ken and I were all ready to let loose in nature for a while.

The view from my hammock. Yup, that's worth a day and a half travel to and from.

And, that's one relaxed working momma. Peace on a hammock on a Thai island, with the beach all to ourselves.

Walking the plank, or the pier

Balancing on the pier, making their momma a bit crazy fearing they'd fall. But, a perfect challenge for the under age 7 set.

Boom learning to relax with a comic book. He's not your typical relaxer, by himself.

Letting loose on the swing, our babysitter each day

Grif and I played as much chess as possible, after my having been too busy to sit for hours playing chess and cards while on my Fulbright. Such special time for me.

Thai massage. Deepening our relaxation.

Thai massage is mostly ticklish for a 4 year old. But, Boom will do anything to be near Daddy.

Ken's favorite place in the world -- next to the beach getting a Thai massage. Ken would like to cash in on our life in Brooklyn and escape to Thailand, calculating how many years we'd last.

Unlimited Thai food was part of our package, and we got the better of the owners on that deal. I ate roasted cashews for lunch and dinner til I ran them out of cashews. What a view while dining! Only flaw with paradise was the bees buzzing our plates every so often.

Our newfound Aussie friends completely charmed us and the kids! This is S'ra (pronounced Syrah)

S'ra, Cat, and Zara, rebellious, fun, creative, bad-ass women who love their friends and playing with anyone, kids, adults, and all. They made nights fun for us at that isolated spot.

Fun for kids and all!