The end of our 2 month Thai journey was sealed by a new accomplishment for Troy - who is now officially PADI Open Water certified! In regular speak, this means he is now allowed to scuba dive to 18 metres by himself! It was also marked by some sad news, as we found out that Clare's great aunt had passed away back in Canada. While on Koh Mak, we had learned that she was in palliative care, and we briefly considered flying back home to see her before she passed aw...

We are into the final stretch of our time in Thailand. We have seen some of the north, the centre, the Andaman Sea, and now we have travelled to the east side of the Gulf of Thailand for our last Thai islands before moving on to Cambodia! Koh Mak just might rank up there as the smallest, quietest, most serene island we have ever stayed on. It is tiny and secluded, and it sometimes felt like we had it all to ourselves. The highlight was visiting Koh Kham, an even...

Our post Carrie-and-family loneliness didn't last too long, as we returned to Bangkok from Khao Lak to meet up with Clare's cousin Nicole, who had just finished her own 10 day tour of southern Thailand! It was wonderful to see her smiling face at the train station! After our excited hellos, we boarded a 2 hour bus to Pak Chong, where we would stay as a base for visiting Khao Yai National Park. Two things became quickly evident as we arrived in Pak Chong: We were...

We are back to being a twosome after our family flew back home to Canada, and we fled Phuket to the quieter shores of Khao Lak - about an hour north of northern Phuket. This area was heavily devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and locals and volunteers have worked hard over the years here to restore the community. The Khao Lak area is very laidback and a bit sleepy, and we loved the vibe! Our place was right in the heart of Bang Niang Beach, but very quie...

Our one week stay in Phuket marked both the start of 2018, and the end of our time with Troy's sister and family. Although we are sad and a bit lonely now that they are gone, we are so grateful that they came sooooo far to join us on our adventure over their holidays! Let it be known that Phuket is...a lot bigger and busier than we thought it would be! Because of these two factors, we did not see a ton of the island, but we were quite content in our villa in the...