Forests to Reefs

Another very full day, although much of it was transportation.  The two teams from yesterday switched so that Team Khao Neo went birdwatching before sunrise and Team Mamuang went to see the gibbons.  We returned to the guest houses by 10:30 because we had to be on the road by 11:00 to get to the airport in time for our 5:25 pm flight to Phuket.  Once in Phuket, we took vans to a hotel near the pier.

Malayan porcupines are the size of a small refrigerator and wander the grounds every evening.  This one was behind our guesthouse looking for scraps.

Team Khao Neo had a good day birdwatching.

Searching for the elusive zitting cisticola.  Nobody saw one this year.

Team Mamuang gathering for our gibbon experience.  Notice the sporty leech socks.  There weren't very many leeches this year, but small ticks were abundant.

We walked only about 20 minutes into the forest to see the gibbons.  They were in a tree very close to the sompong tree that was in the photograph with yesterday's Team Khao Neo group.

Here is Team Mamuang at the sompong tree.

White handed gibbons can be either a black or buff color.  These are apes, not monkeys.  Around 9:30 in the morning they sing to announce their presence and for other reasons. It's a surreal experience to be standing on the forest floor underneath them when they're singing.

A buff colored white handed gibbon.

The gibbons were quite high in the trees.

On the flight to Phuket, Hli's seat just happened to be between Ajarn Wayne and me.  She's smiling, but she wasn't too pleased with her unexpected circumstance.  The rest of us enjoyed the humor of the situation.  She moved to an open seat as soon as the aircraft door closed.

We were on a Thai Airways Boeing 777 to Phuket.

Kaylee was pleased that she could sit behind me so she could kick my seat.

Our flight got us to Phuket around 7:00 pm. One hour in the vans to the hotel and another full day is behind us.  We are all excited about tomorrow's diving; there is some nervous anticipation, but that always subsides very quickly once were in the crystal clear 84 degree water.

Hli, Taylor, and Rachael found roti after dinner in Phuket.