The name is Pandu.. James Pandu..

The previous post in this series is here..

The first morning in Phuket, we decided to take a trip to James Bond Island. We were told that this is the only touristy place to visit outside of the resorts in that area. We had booked a long tail boat tour for 10 and 7 of us went on the trip. An energetic kid was our guide. He picked us up in a van from the hotel in the morning at 7:30 AM and we drove almost an hour to the dock. There we took a boat ride for almost another 45 minutes to go to the Island.

The island is small and you have four spots to see in total. Given only 4 to 5 boats can stop at the island, as soon as the boat docks, they give the guide a laminated card with the time for leaving. The time allotted for us was 45 minutes. So we had to do a rush rush job at every place, take group pictures, solo pictures, couple pictures and by the time our guide got us out of one spot to the next, he was so relieved.

He even had some plastic guns and fans as props for us to take pictures. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the boat and then on the van to the hotel.

There is a muslim floating village on the way with nice views. There is also a mangrove forest for most of the route but there were no birds or critters we could see. Only exception was some hawks and kites which I barely managed to capture on camera from a moving boat! The boats themselves are interesting.. they have the engine high up and open with only the propeller going into the water from a long shaft.. They move it up and down for speed and right to left for navigation.

We also saw rock carvings which are thousands of years old in caves. Never realized we were so close to Andaman islands till we saw that the ferries were all Andaman!

Here are the photos..

more photos.. the roads in Phuket in this area were all lined with street lights that had elephants on them. Just beautiful!

A video highlights reel of the morning trip to Bond island..

We came back to the hotel and by the time we went from our rooms to the beach, we were an hour late.. and we missed some of the ceremony.. but were happy to jump in the pool with all our friends to have fun.

All the bond girls on our trip were happy and all smiles after this trip. That was good enough for all the Bonds..

Another hike for the long weekend

Saturday was 2 back to back yoga classes and a 9 mile hike. Sunday was just one yoga class followed by a 6 mile hike. We are slowing things down.. by Tuesday physical activity will be restricted to a yoga class if we are lucky and some walking up and down office buildings..

This time we went to Quicksilver with a different group, thanks to the little one.

We have hiked this park before but this time there was a lot of water in the creek. The colors were vibrant after the rains but the trail was a little bit tricky with slush covering most of it.

We got to see a lot of turkey vultures and red tail hawks as well as a solitary deer.

Enjoyed the hike..

A few pictures..

A short video highlight reel..

We are fortunate to have these lovely places to hike in within a 30 minute driving distance!

Byxbee Park- Baylands Nature Preserve

The knee is healing, but slowly. Every now and then it swells up and I have to give it all the treatments recommended. Still doing Yoga every alternate day or so, and trying my best to do poses that don't end up in sharp pain. Walking has also become an on and off thing. For an active guy, this knee issue has been a curse. My happiness was directly proportional to my step count and yoga attendance. ... and as a saving grace in recent years, music. 

Have been sitting in the same place mostly listening to music or singing. That said, our hiking group leader who is recovering from surgery wanted to cheer up both of us by going on a small "walk" on flat terrain at the local Byxbee park. We have not walked this as it was not a challenge. "It is a walk, not a hike!" was our previous rhetoric. Given walking is now a blessing and hiking is ruled out, we went last weekend. 

What was supposed to be a 3 mile walk ended up being 6.5 miles as we got some fresh enthusiasm watching the birds and the beautiful flowers all along the path. We also had a tea break in the middle of this!

It is good to be back with friends and on any walking path. We start slow.. hopefully the knee improves over time and normalcy returns.

Given the current situation, this was a morning well spent! Next time, will take the SLR and the telephoto lens with me to capture the birds better.. these are all iPhone photos.. 

We did get a lot of "bench photos" for our collection!

A short video clip.. you get an idea of the birds and sounds.. this place was 30 minutes from home. We have never been to this place.. we mostly hit shoreline and back. It was just beautiful.

There was only 20 or so parking spots and we did have to wait for someone to leave so we could park. So go early and carpool where possible! 

Strongly recommend this place for a long "strol".