We have just had the most amazing two days. We spent a rest day in Trang. We decided to do a day tour of the islands rather than go and stay on one of them. We would have liked to have stayed on Koh Muk but because is was Chinese new year there was no available accommodation. We booked the day trip through our hotel and did not realise at the time that is was not aimed at foreign tourists but local tourists. When we arrived at the jetty to get on our tour boat we realised that nobody spoke much English. Luckily for us there was a lovely woman from Bangkok who spoke perfect English. She was our interpreter for the entire trip.

The trip involved snorkeling, a  cave, a beach and then more snorkeling. The Cave was the highlight. I will try to explain it to you. We arrived at the vertical cliff of an Island where there was a small cave at the water line. We were fitted with life vests and put in the water one by one. We were instructed to hold onto the life vest of the person in front of you. There was about 50 people on the tour so we made a 50 person long, human snake in the water. Our guides had flippers on and they towed us into the cave. We slowly made our way through the tunnel that had a low ceiling and twisted and turned in a few different directions. If it wasn’t for the head torches on the guides heads, it would have been pitch black inside. Eventually we reached the center which was a beach with a small jungle surrounded by vertical cliffs. If you imagine the Island to be a doughnut and the beach and jungle are in the hole in the middle and the only way to the beach is a small tunnel through the doughnut. It was really surprising and the boys really enjoyed it.

Today we cycled to another cave called Le Khoa Kop Cave. It is a cave in a limestone outcrop just north of Trang. There is a muddy river running through it.  It is a pretty ordinary cave as cave go but the fun begins when you are leaving the cave. You are taken into the cave in a small wooden boat with two guides. When you have finished the cave tour and go to leave the cave, the guides instruct you to lie down in the boat facing up. As they slowly paddle you out of the cave the ceiling gets lower and lower until it is only about 2cm from your face. Allister had to suck in his gut to avoid some of the stalactites from scrapping his belly. It lasts about 8 minutes but felt like an hours. You would not cope if you were claustrophobic. Again, the boys loved it.