Turtle Rock Tumble

There is a good story behind this picture. There almost wasn't a picture in fact!

Clare and I rented a scooter and spent alot of time zooming about amongst all the Thai traffic while enjoying the breeze. The scooters are really cheap and we found it a good way to look around. It was really liberating to be able to drive again. Even if it was on a 100cc scooter.

One of our trips took us inland on Koh Samui to a coconut plantation/jungle area. There you could go for Elephant treks nice walks or ATV rides. The area boasted spectacular waterfalls so we took a "10 minute" walk into a river valley. It was a rather steep walk and typical of Thai timing the 10 minutes was was probably about 30 minutes!

The windy walk took us over big exposed tree roots and large river boulders. It wasn't marked very clearly but there were guide ropes to help us over some of the terrain. It felt like a real adventure like I was Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. I don't think Clare found it as fun as I did. I have always been a keen rock hopper and adventure playground participant.

It certianly was a world away from the crammed up city life that we are used to in Korea. I didn't see a waterfall that outdid anything in New Zealand but there was a wonderful carved Turtle rock that was about 6 feet long.

It was at this point in our walk that we lost control of the camera and it spilled down the rocks and into the water below. Both Clare and I were yelling while I tried to scramble after it into the water. I don't know what good the yelling did but it made the scene more dramatic. I did manage to rescue the camera however it didn't work for the next 24 hours. We are lucky I guess that the Thai weather evaporated the water out of the circuits.

Our walk took a gloomy turn from then on. We wanted to just get home and mope. The temperature seemed to rise as did the incline of the path. We tried to take a short cut off the beaten path that almost killed us. Clambering up a steep path while hanging on for dear life to roots and grass. We eventually got back to our scooter - a bit dirtier and thirstier.

Good thing is that we have the pictures to show for our efforts.

Turtle Rock