Morakot cave, Trang

One of the most impressive trips to Thailand was my second time there back in 2001, which was the first time in Southern Thailand. We went by train from Bangkok till Trang, and the only thing which really impressed me about this provincial town at that time was the delicious cake, a special kind of local soft biscuit. While that cake is still a "must" every time I come to the south, even more impressive was the coast of Trang province.

We did a day trip from the town Trang to the coast, and there entered a small boat for a snorkeling tour. Maybe as it fitting with the tides, the first stop was at Ko Muk (เกาะมุก), where we swam into a cave hardly visible from the outside. The cave, named Morakot cave (ถ้ำมรกต), is partially so narrow we nearly had to dive to avoid hitting our heads on the stone. Clearly nothing for someone scared in dark narrow places. When the cave opens again, one is at a lagoon inside the island surrounded by high cliffs, with a nice sandy beach.Too bad that cheap underwater camera we bought made only very low-quality photos, so all I can show here are the views from the boat.

After that cave the tour continued to two other places which had some nice corals and fish, it had a simple lunch on boat, and I was kind of an attraction since I was the only foreigner among the maybe 20 Thai taking the tour with us. Thus after returning in evening I had to pose with a large Thai family in front of the boat, and I never knew why they needed me on their memory photo. Anyway, the underwater sights together with the impressive steep karst islands made it quite a memorable trip, even though the underwater sight were soon thereafter outshined by those around Ko Tarutao. But that will be another posting.