I took this picture of an Asiatic Leopard at the Safari Park in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. While tigers are probably my favorite animal of the big cat family, with a very close second going to the snow leopard, I’ve always admired the strength of leopards and the overall menace in their eyes (many people have commented on how piercing the eyes of a leopard are). Leopards are generally regarded as the strongest member of the big cat family on a pound-for-pound basis, which would make them the Manny Pacquiao of the big cat family, and I have no doubt that this animal would have no problems dispatching me to the netherworld even if I weigh considerably more than they do (leopards generally way about 100-150 pounds or so).

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Koh Tao, Thailand

Koh Yang Nuan

Koh Tao and Koh Yang Nuan are islands were you can do some diving and snorkeling in the Gulf of Thailand. If you’re trying to get to these islands, your best option is to take a trip from the island of Koh Samui to get there. Koh Tao is one of the areas in Thailand where you can possibly see whale sharks (and regular ones!), and you will see lots of brightly colored tropical fish in the shallower snorkeling areas.

Given the recent announcement that the Thai government is considering restricting access to Koh Surin and The Similan Islands, it will be interesting to see if similar steps are taken to protect the coral for human development and other environmental pressures in other aquatic marine parks.

My first trip to Thailand included trips to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Koh Samui. When I was staying at the Amari on Chaweng Beach, I looked out and saw the trainer taking this young elephant out for an afternoon dip at the beach (if you end up going to nearly any of the high-end resorts in Thailand, it is quite likely that the hotel will have a resident elephant to entertain the guests during certain times of the day).

One of the reasons elephants are so involved in the tourist trade in Thailand, for better or worse, is that logging activities in Thailand have been greatly diminished to help preserve the little rainforest that is left. As the elephants and trainers still need to eat and work, you will find numerous places where you can take the elephant out for a jungle trek (the best jungle trek I’ve done has been in Chiang Mai).

This picture of a Binturong, aka a bearcat, was taken at the San Diego Zoo some time ago. This is probably one of the stranger looking mammals I’ve seen, almost as strange as an echidna or platypus, because it kind of looks like a cat, a raccoon and a sloth at the same time. The animal hits a weight of around 25-30 pounds, which would put in right in the neighborhood of a small dog (probably why some people in SouthEast Asia keep them as pets!).

Kind of bored today, with not too much to say about this particular picture. I will just say it is another stunning example of one of the many species of orchid that can be found in Southeast Asia;-)

No, I am not using the word “Queen” in a derogatory sense. The Simon Cabaret in Phuket is generally considered one of the Top Ten activities in Phuket, at least for older visitors (not recommended for children), and the costumes worn by the kathoeys are quite spectacular.

The Simon Cabaret itself, while located in Patong, is a little ways out from the main drag around Soi Bang La. If you’re going to catch the show, your hotel can arrange for pickup and transfer to/from the show; you can also catch a taxi or tuk-tuk to get to the show that you will have to negotiate a price with the driver. Depending on location, a tuk-tuk will probably cost at least 150 baht up, whereas a taxi driver will probably be at least 300 baht (taxis are not cheap in Phuket, and you can pretty much forget about any of them using the meter).

I would consider catching the first showing at Simon Cabaret, which will give you time to get back to Soi Bang La for a night of partying. You will also see most of the performers from the show later in the night dancing around Soi Kathoey.

My wife and I stayed at the Koh Libong Nature Beach Resort when we stayed here over Songkran, 2010. While the amenities at the resort were not five-star, which was a nice change of pace from many of the places we stay at, the view and ambience was definitely five stars. The staff working there was largely family, with the wife running the restaurant and the husband running the long-tail boat, and there were tons of little kids running around. The family was also kind enough to run little errands for us to the local convenience store, which was a harrying adventure on motorbike.

The power at the resort went out at around 8pm or so, which meant that you had nothing but quiet after sunset around 7pm. No lights after 7p made for an interesting experience for a Westerner:)

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Yeah, I know I’ve posted a few pictures of the Padaung Karen Hill Tribe people before. Even though I’ve only visited them a few times during my travels in Thailand, I admit to being fascinated by the reasons why they wear the rings around their neck and arms. In addition to the perceived added beauty of the rings, they told my wife that they also wear the rings to protect themselves from tiger bites (don’t know if this is really true or not).

One of the moral dilemmas I’ve run into is that some people claimed that some of the participants are forced to wear the rings for the benefit of tourists, something that would make me very upset.

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Koh Yao Yai (and neighboring Koh Yao Noi) are islands that are reachable within about 45 minutes from the island of Phuket. The island lifestyle is probably very much like other parts of Thailand were 20 years ago, with just a bunch of relaxed villagers getting by on just a little bit of money and living off of the sea. Things have changed a little bit these days, largely due to the recent addition of some luxury resorts, but you definitely won’t find the craziness of Phuket on the island.

As you can see from this picture, it is almost possible to walk between the islands during low tide. Given that I am not the greatest swimmer, however, I decided not to chance it.

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Some of the hidden beach gems of Thailand can be found in Trang province, an area that isn’t frequented by as many tourists as Phuket or Koh Samui (in the region you will find the islands of Koh Mook, Koh Libong and Koh Kradan). My wife and I took a five-hour ride from Phuket to get to the islands, and we were amazed at how much different is was than Phuket; it was almost like stepping back twenty years to what Phuket must have been like in the 1980′s.

One of the real treats of the trip was seeing some dolphins and dugongs in the water, which our boat captain said was a pretty rare experience these days. Overfishing in Thailand means that many of the larger sea animals are not seen as frequently.

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Nai Yang Beach is the beach closest to the Phuket Airport, which you will fly over when you land in Phuket. A couple of really cool things about Nai Yang Beach:

1. Not nearly as crowded as the beaches in Patong.

2. There are a number of decent restaurants along the beach (my wife recently told me that this may not be the case now, however, because some of the locals may have had some conflicts with the local government).

3 You can go snorkeling at Koh Wei, located only about twenty minutes off-shore by long-tail boat, and check some tropical fish out.

4. The Beach Club is a really chill place to party or just hang out. The Beach Club is pretty slow during slow season, so you can expect to have the place almost all to yourself in the early evening hours.

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My wife and I went to Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2007 to go see the “real Thailand”. During the course of our trip to Chiang Mai, we had a chance to see a Thai cultural show over a traditional Khantoke dinner, complete with women dancers, men playing with swords, and men playing with fire.

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While probably not my best composition ever, I’m mainly posting this to show the beauty of the Klong Mueang beach in the Krabi province of Thailand.  If you’re looking to get away from the crowds of Phuket, Krabi  is the place to go to get away from it all. The other benefit of Krabi is the adventurous types will find tons of activities to do in the area, including rock climbing & tons of places to snorkel.

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The orangutan is slowly becoming my favorite primate because of their facial expressions.  When I see a picture like this, it is hard not to wonder what the orangutan was thinking about at that particular time (“Am I going to get out of Singapore Zoo?”, “What’s for lunch?”).

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