Be careful of your sunglasses," says our guide, a lovely and laid-back Thai Buddhist called Oak. Monkeys like shiny objects, he explains, and sunglasses are high on their list of must-haves.
At Wat Thumsua, or the Tiger Temple, in Krabi, apparently named after a tiger which used to live nearby, the locals train the monkeys to go and fetch coconuts from the plentiful palms.
"It's hard work for a man, we send a monkey," says Oak. It's a good idea. It's way too hot to go climbing trees.
The monkeys are cool. They have cheeky little wizened faces and tightrope walk along the power lines, hanging on with their tails. You have to watch where you walk or they'll pee on you. We pass a big reclining Buddha with a tranquil smile on his face. He's really cool, too.
At the Golden Temple, or Wat Tum Suwan Kuha, also in Krabi, we get off our colourful bus and are immediately mobbed by more monkeys, and man, they are hungry. They look expectant, better not let them down.
Stalls at the temple sell bananas and peanuts for tourists to feed the monkeys. But there are hardly any tourists and banana sales have plummeted.
The monkeys snatch the fruit from our hands, devour it and race back for more, as if they haven't eaten for weeks. The tsunami affected these little guys, too.
"Monkey hungry," says Oak. "Monkey get the problem too. Look, they skinny."
Did I mention the tsunami? Oops. Didn't mean to use the "t" word. Not yet anyway. Because this is a tourist story.
The purpose of the first half of our trip was to go to Thailand as a guest of the Government, stay in beautiful hotels, soak up the rich culture, splash around in exquisite emerald seas and write a story to show wary foreigners that Thailand is open, recovered and, in fact, was hardly affected by that big old Boxing Day wave.
In the second half of the trip we were to revisit the areas devastated by the tsunami, the parts seen on our first visit to Thailand, back when the country was still in shock and the sights were truly horrific.
The aim was to keep the halves separate. Enjoy the first half as a tourist and save the heartache for the second.
Despite the best intentions, it turns out this was a pretty big ask. Tsunami images just don't separate out that easily.
Don't get me wrong. It is easy to enjoy Thailand as a tourist, and I absolutely did.
It is a land of wonder, of islands breath-taking in their beauty and elephants you can pat, of serene temples with contemplative Buddhist monks in orange robes and a sharply contrasting relaxed sexuality where just about anything goes, of lush jungle and soft sandy beaches, and of ever-present markets where you can buy almost anything you want at a bargain price.
And there's the fantastic food. Green curry for dinner, red curry for breakfast, with or without scrambled eggs, it's really up to you (red curry is surprisingly good with scrambled eggs and toast, by the way).
But the tsunami keeps on breaking in. At the lovely Krabi Thai Village resort, set around swimming pools with soft water and a bar where you can swim up for a lazy cocktail, the manager says business is bad.
"This is high season," she says, but with anguish in her voice. The resort is 60 per cent empty. She hopes the tourists will come back because she cannot bring herself to lay off staff. "I couldn't do that. Some have been here long time."
That reluctance is easy to understand. Thailand has so much to offer, but the people are its biggest asset. They have got to be among the friendliest and kindest in the world.
But I already knew that from the first trip, the one just after the tsunami, when I saw dead bodies, destruction and sadness.
The Thai people then were so kind, so generous, to us as reporters but especially to the foreign tsunami survivors.
They are just as kind the second time around. They seem to genuinely enjoy tourists, and not only because tourism generates a third of the country's total revenue, more than US$4 billion ($5.59 billion) a year, or because without the tourists there are livelihoods at stake.
Post-tsunami all manner of businesses are struggling. Although most of the tourist industry was unaffected by the wave and much of what was damaged has already been restored, customers have been slow to return.
Hence the VIP part of our trip. We were part of a 900-odd strong contingent of a few media and a lot of travel agents aimed at getting the tourists back. It was designed to give everyone a fantastic time so the message could get through that only the tiniest fraction of Thailand was affected by the tsunami and that the damaged bits were well on the way to recovery.
In this it delivered - the bits we were allowed to see, that is.
We went to provinces on the Andaman Coast - Krabi and Phuket Island - and were treated to a whole lot of fun.
We saw a cabaret performed by "lady boys". We went to Phuket FantaSea, an incredible complex along the lines of a souped-up Easter Show where you can throw balls through hoops and win soft toys.
We took in an amazing show at the Palace of Elephants there, featuring about 30 of the animals in a fantasy extravaganza of theatre and dancing. Acrobats suddenly appeared from the ceiling, contorting themselves and bringing forth gasps.
It was spectacular but the elephants did look kind of bored, standing patiently on stage before performing a few tricks at the end.
And a little uncomfortable was the sight of chickens and goats suddenly let loose to make a mad dash across the stage, slipping and sliding on the polished floor.
We toured temples on our bus with its bright orange seats and painted starfish. We stayed in lovely hotels and took a boat ride to stunning islands around Krabi and went to girlie bars in Phuket. Tsunami? What tsunami? Not much sign of it so far.
Interesting, though, that a trip to badly hit Phi Phi Island was pulled and that no visit was scheduled to the former tourist paradise of Khau Lak in Phangnga Province.
As we found in the second half of our visit, Khau Lak is still heavily scarred by the giant waves which swept inland with such deadly force. Many of the foreign tourists died here.
On the official trip, though, you could be forgiven for overlooking the fact that a probable 10,000 people died and more than 1000 children were orphaned.
Some of the tourism officials escorting us got a bit cross, actually, when we brought this up.
Their line seemed to be that the reason tourists have declined is because of the media coverage of the tsunami. The tsunami, they indicated, was a media beat-up and any desire to return to Phi Phi Island to see how it was recovering was plain ghoulishness.
But some of the others on the trip, were disappointed they did not get to see much of the devastated areas.
Keeping travel industry observers away was a mistake, I think. Ghoulishness? No, I don't think so. A visit to these areas gives a sense of perspective.
Seeing the damage makes you appreciate what the land and the people have been through. By going and seeing it you get a better sense of the desperate need for tourists to return. You get a sense of who the people are. These are the very same people who lost loved ones of their own but turned with open arms to help foreigners.
If the travel agents had gone to Phi Phi Island they, like us, might have discovered heart-warming scenes of young Antipodeans holidaying and helping with the clean-up and rebuild.
In the end, you realise there is no need to keep the two halves of this trip separate. As wise Oak said, the tsunami is part of Thailand's history and psyche now. It does not need to be blotted out, it needs to be acknowledged.
And it is okay to go and have a jolly good holiday. The Thai people will go out of their way to make sure you do. They don't just want you there, they need you. So do the monkeys.
* Catherine Masters and Brett Phibbs were hosted for the tourist part of their trip by Thai International Airways and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Getting there
Thai International Airways flies from Bangkok to Auckland 10 times a week, three times via Brisbane and daily via Sydney. In July that will change to three direct flights to Bangkok, four via Sydney and three via Brisbane. Return airfares Auckland/Bangkok/Phuket are $999 a person.
Accommodation
Royal Orchid Holidays has a special package including return flights and eight nights' accommodation in Phuket on a twin-share basis for $999.
Further information
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is on the web at www.tourismthailand.org or contactable in New Zealand at www.francistravelmarketing.co.nz or (09) 489 1363.
Thai International Airways is on the web at www.thaiair.com or can be phoned at (09) 377 3886.
Royal Orchid Holidays can also be found on the Thai Air website or by phoning (09) 448 1979.
Please come back to Thailand
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