I'm writing to the sound of crickets twittering beneath my teak veranda. It's writing time, now that I've swept a poisonous yellow frog out from under the couch, tucked the girls into their mosquito net, and sorted once more through the 51 pebbles and shells we collected on the beach today (not counting the 15 that Jai threw into the bushes, to great dismay.)
We're on Koh Jum, a remote island in southern Thailand. It's a great balance of mellow and rough. We eat crepes with Nutella for breakfast, but rats gnaw our soap. We splash in the ocean waves, but they're hiding driftwood and trash which bash us in the shins. We are turning brown in the surprisingly fine weather, but Zadie is mostly turning red with angry welts from mosquitoes and midges.
Traveling in the rainy season when it doesn't rain is pretty sweet. The island is super quiet, with only a handful of other visitors. The kids have spent hour upon hour playing in the sand, chasing hermit crabs, screaming in the waves. The beach is wide and lined with some sort of rooty tree, mangrove maybe? In our walk to the neighbouring pool, we came across some rope swings, tidal pools, a green snake, strange art hanging from a branch, and lots and lots and lots of garbage. It's really sad that the ocean has to spew up a steady wash of plastic bags, bottle caps, rubber tubing, styrofoam chunks, and a sort of general salad of nasty 21st-century flotsam.
Tomorrow we head with our lovely friends into Krabi Town, which will not be nearly as quiet and idyllic - but there's a night market, beach bouldering, and plenty more to look forward to.
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| Low tide on Koh Jum |
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| A selection of the beach's treasures |
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