phuket tours: Adventure Travel

By Kit C. Cauw
The sun bursts as a brilliant duck's egg orange yolk from the mountains across the water, its rays painting the dawn sky pink, casting lines of light and shadow down the faces of Koh Ma Island's limestone walls, just offshore. Gentle waves lap the white sands just a few metres from our bungalow's patio. The morning birds are singing as mist rises from land and sea; the scents of ocean and earth ride the first exhalations of breeze. I slip into the cool water, a chill shivering through my body as I adjust to the temperature and lie back in the shallows, floating, watching the sun's slow ascension; watching as the clouds gain colour and turn orange and pink. I'm reminded of the first sunrise I ever saw, when I was a young boy travelling with my father to our summer home on Cape Cod. We were driving south-east through the mountains, and the clouds were practically on fire. I've never seen pinks like that since, yet every time I see the sunrise I recall the scene. Every time I wake early enough to enjoy dawn's beauty I wonder why I don't do this more often.
I'm wondering the same thing about this province of Trang, my favourite in Thailand. Why do I visit so infrequently? In my five years of living in the kingdom, I've made it down here only four times, less than once a year. Of course, I do live in Phuket, and one can get lazy about going on beach vacations when one is already shacked up in paradise. Down here, things are different, however. The islands are practically untouched. Phuket, for all its beauty, lacks the breathtaking views of limestone karsts and headlands. For years I've been extolling the magnificence of Trang's islands to friends and travellers I meet; with few exceptions they nod their heads and feign interest, but remain set in their notion that since the province is slightly off the beaten trail, it must have little to offer. Actually, Trang is quite easily accessed by regular flights from Bangkok. A thirty-to-forty minute van ride delivers you to the pier at Pak Meng, where you take an hour-long boat ride to the islands.

read more
http://www.travel-phuket.com/phuket-tours/index.htm