Jenny loves her elephants.

During our time here we have been doing a lot of sightseeing.  Every day we try to get out and about, whether it’s walking, taking the local bus, getting rides with our hosts, or even lashing out with our own personal driver!  We haven’t been tempted to use the motor-bike taxis or hire a scooter like most other foreigners.

We have visited a couple of isolated beaches on the surrounding islands.  We have seen the sea gypsy villages and explored the coast.  The Big Buddha that sits perched on the island’s highest point, was impressive.  Jenny of course enjoys visiting the elephants and the monkeys whenever she can.  All of the local beaches have their own individual characteristics, although our favourite so far is probably Kata.  The swimming beaches are always crowded with swimmers of all shapes and sizes.  There is lots of activity with restaurants, bars, shops, massage places, tailors and so on.  But you don’t get hassled as much as you do elsewhere.

We had a great day of extended sightseeing with a driver just the other day.  The weird thing is that you can hire your own car for $40 – $50 per day, or you can hire a car, WITH a chauffeur, for $30.  We took the chauffeur.  He was happy to take us wherever we wanted, stay as long as we liked and the car was always waiting, air-conditioner running, when we were ready!  A seafood lunch right on the waterfront added to a great day.