Once we settled in to our hotel (different night differnet bed) we got some lunch and hired a taxi for a day to take us to both sites.  It cost us 1,100 baht ($35) for about a 3 hour tour.

Our first stop was to see the Big Buddha.  I am not sure that I have words for our experience there.  The highlight was being blessed by a monk who gave us bracelets to wear.  Being in the presence of this being nearly brought tears and profound joy to both Sebastien and I.

The second stop was to see the mummified monk.  I had read that this monk actually died in meditation and so his body was preserved in the sitting position.  This is not the case.  At the age of 50 the man became a monk and created his own meditative practice.  He did not die in a sitting position but because he dedicated himself fully to a meditative lifestyle (after the age of 50) his fellow monks decided to honor him after death and put him into this position.  Though the tourist pamphlets will tell you that he died in this position.

The monk who blessed us.

Big Buddha

Mummified Monk

Our blessed bracellets.

That evening we scheduled to go out on a dive for the following day so that I may have a chance to see one for myself.  It was also our first certified dive together!  Long story short we did not see  a whale shark but we had two really good dives.

Again we went out with the Sairee Cottage Dive “team”.  Our first dive was at Mango Bay in which we saw some trigger fish, yellow tail barracuda, and french angel fish.  On the second dive we were dropped off at Green rocks and dove to Twin peaks.  Very cool dive and unique (that’s what our dive masters told us).  We saw a HUGE puffer fish, schools of barracuda, banner fish, blue rig, angel fish, and needle fish.

A beautiful view near our hotel.

Loving Ko Tao!!!