Another early morning.  Breakfast was at 7:00am.  Then they took us to a pearl farm.  This was fascinating.  They take one oyster, cut 30 strips of muscle from it (yes, that oyster dies).  They have small balls made out of crushed up pearls (slightly larger than a grain of sand).  They use the muscle strips to attach the small pearl balls in 30 other oysters.  Then they put the oysters in nets and hang them from buoys in the water.  Years (9 or more?) later they open them up and see what pearls they created.  Some real small percentage still create “perfect” pearls.  I’m not much of a pearl person, but they had so many beautiful colors in the shop.  Black pearls are a deep blue.  There were green, pink, white and the yellow or gold were my favorites.

Then we went back to the boat and checked out and got on another boat.  The boat ride took quite a while and we picked up other people and went through an area tighter with little rock outcroppings.  It’s so beautiful, but it was still foggy so the pictures don’t do it justice.  Then you look down at the green water an it’s so full of trash.  It’s such a shame.  One of the world’s prettiest places with trash everywhere.  We passed tons of floating shacks on the water.  They all looked so run down and dirty.  I just kept reminding myself that my house in Sam Ngao is worlds better than that.

The boat finally pulls up to a tiny rock/island with 20 or so bungalows on it.  It’s right out of a travel magazine.  This will be our home for the afternoon and night.  The room was very basic, but the views stunning.  It was quiet with no tv or wifi.  Can I just stay here forever?  After lunch I wanted to go swimming, but it was rainy and just a little too cold.  I just feel like I want so badly to be immersed in water.  Plus, I kept remembering how the water looked not too far away.  So I walked a little on the tiny beach and then took a nap.  After dinner we played cards which was real nice.  In a world with parties and bars and constant internet, I forgot how much I love sitting around playing games and just enjoying the company of others.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore