Our day starts with a trip in a minivan out to the ferry station. This involves a trip across the river on a cable ferry and then another drive to get to the boat.The girls impress us with their thoughts as they draw parallels between here and Fiji. The two places are very similar and the makeshift jetty and ramshackle assortment of buildings housing a shop and streetside food stalls seem very familiar. We wait on the jetty before boarding the long tail boat which will take us across to Ko Mook.
We are accompanied by boxes of fresh produce and supplies which are piled and stacked in every spare inch of space on board. The water is incredibly dirty, rubbish strewn on the banks and a thin layerof oil floats on the surface - however this does not seem to deter a group of local children from a morning dip!
We head out to sea through the mangrove lined channels of the river and suddenly the water changes from muddy brown to clear blue green and we can see Ko Muk in the distance - it's karst peaks rising from the water. Muk is the Thai word for pearl, so Ko Muk means Pearl Island.
Once back on dry land we now have to negotiate our way the 4km across to the other side of the island and our hotel. The only way is by pedicab. This is a glorified motorbike and an open sidecar affair - which probably wouldnt pass any MOT! But we have no choice and a ride is commandeered and a price negotiated. with a driver who rides side saddle and carries a pair of crutches in the cab.
The girls and bags are loaded into the sidecar and David mounts the bike and off we go. The drive probably rates as one of the shortest we will take on our trip but is one of the most uncomfortable as we feel every bump and pothole in the unsealed dirt tracks across. At one point the grown ups have to get out and walk so the bike can make it up hill and over some particularly muddy patches - we are obviously very trusting as we watch our precious cargo of children, bags and valuables disappear in a pedicab into the distance and out of sight!
We do all make it to our hotel though and are left to explore our surroundings. We are staying at Charlies Resort which is located on one of the 10 best beaches in the world ( alledgedly!) It is a truly stunning place and the girls waste no time and head straight out onto the beach spending the afternoon playing in the water, hunting in rockpools and pottering on thesand.
They search for hermit crabs and we hold our own crab racing tournament.
The girls confidence has grown so much that they are happy to be left on the beach while David and Nicole walk in the surf where they see hundreds of stunning patterns made by sand crabs. So beautiful and so perfect, almost hard to believe that they are a naturally phenomenon.
We play in the water to cool down when we need to, enjoying the soft white sand and the clear water.
We wander out for supper to a little open air local cafe/restaurant just outside the hotel grounds which looked popular when we passed by on arrival. Here we meet our driver again, we never did find out his name. He arrives on his pedicab mid meal and we watch as he very slowly makes his way in on his crutches with an obvious disability. He becomes a regular cafe companion throughout our stay here sharing his sometimes sad story with us over the coming days. He was a professional diver and from the tales he relates of his adventures is obviously widely travelled and hugely knowledgeable. A really charismatic and gentle man in the true sense of the word, sadly suffering a stroke 10 years ago which left him unable to dive, which is why he now drives the cab. The cafe turns out to be connected to him through family and and we dine here exclusively (apart from breakfast). The food is fresh, local, delicious and above all cheap!
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