similan.

My brother asked me if the beaches were like the post cards and I had to say yes after I saw the Similans. What a cool place to worship God on Christmas! We got on a speed boat with about 20 other people and drove for an hour and a half and got dumped off here! We spent 3 nights in this tent on the similan islands, an archipelago of 9 islands. We stayed on island 4, but we went snorkling on 3 of the other islands. You could walk from one side of the island to the other in about 5 minutes, so you could see the sunrise on one side of the island and walk to the other side in the evening for the sunset! This is where we spent Christmas...it was neat, Damaris and I sang Christmas Hymns by ourselves on the beach and we were joined by our tour guide (who isn't a Christian) and we read the Christmas story in Luke. It was pretty special and I really enjoyed being away from the hustle and bustle and commercialism that seems to have become Christmas in America. The idea of the purity and joy of celebrating Christmas on the beach I'll never forget. I love the way that they have preserved the island, there are only about 30 tents and a few bungalows.

The last day, a current brought in trash and it was so gross and sad. Plastic bags, food wrappers, just gross household waste was in the water and washed upon the shore.