After years, my return to the South of Thailand!

After nearly 2 years away, I have FINALLY returned to the South of Thailand!

Work obligations have kept me away for so long; on top of that the mess that I've made down here in my personal life had some say in the matter too.

All of that aside, it was great to be back! We traveled to all our old haunts: flying from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, traveling by overnight train to Surat Thani, busing it to Khao Sok National Park rainforest, catching a big boat to Phang Nga bay and kayaking to Yao Noi island. (And we did all this in 4 days!)

Pictured above are shots from the boat, kayaks and the view at sunset from our beach huts on the island Koh Yao Noi. Yao Noi is our stopping point for our 2 day overnight sea kayaking trip, and it remains to be one my top favorite location getaways in the world!

One day on the little island you can: watch the local fisherman reel in the their catch of the day ; try your hand at making your own rubber from a locally owned plantation; cycle to the Northern point and get to the quiet rock climbing sites (not yet known to the crowds!); walk to the West side for stunning sunset views where the ocean meets mangrove forests and sand meets rice field plantations calmly guarded by the local water buffalo...it's got it all right here.

Pictured above: Milk tries a local sweet made of coconut ice cream on a bed of sticky rice tucked in a bun sweetened with Pandanus leaf. To the right: Queenie prefers to eat her rubber straight from the tree.

The return to Koh Yao Noi was a special one for me. We work with an internationally awarded sea kayaking company called Sea Canoe, and the owner Mut has made it his life's mission to create a sustainable tourism source of income for this little, growing island economy. The island itself is only an hour's boat ride from Phuket, but it seems worlds away with everything it lacks: flashy resorts, crowds, traffic jams, and drunken tourists. It's a Muslim fishing community here, so it's pretty quiet in the evenings and don't be surprised if people stare unapprovingly if too much skin is showing any given time. The charm of Koh Yao is exactly that, it hasn't been tainted yet from over-exposure to Western tourism (like most of her sister islands) and the community's culture remains intact.

We stopped at a Royal Project founded by Her Royal Highness Princess of Thailand, and the efforts here are to support the livelihoods of small-scale local fishing farms. This floating 'farm' is home to a breeding effort for rare and exotic species used for government zoos and aquariums, research facilities, and for some species a chance to be re-populated and released into the wild (such as the Leopard Sharks currently held here.) The income here is small for the man who runs it but it is enough for him and other fish farmers like him. It allows him a source of income close to home without the pressure of uprooting his family and moving into the big cities for work opportunities.

I've uploaded some videos on YouTube you might like to watch!

• Click here for a video of Queen almost losing her fingers while feeding giant groupers!
• Here is a video of a Frankenstein species of local fish: part shrimp, part lobster, part dragon! The Mantis Shrimp!
• And last but not least, watch us eat a Thai delicacy 'the dressed up oyster' served fresh from the sea and devoured Thai style!