Thailand...(Week 2+)

Hello Again Fellow Bloggers (I really should just say Hi Eric as I am pretty sure you are the only one who reads this...),

Back in Koh Phangan after a lovely second week touring the western coast of Thailand. I am happy to be back here as life is a lot more relaxed and slow paced...kind of reminds me of Angola :) Here we go...

Week 2...Flew to Phuket from Koh Samui on March 8 (happy birthday to me...). Rented a car in Phuket for 1000 TB/day (about 30$CAD) and decided to drive to Krabi province. Drove once again on the left hand side of the road...a lot more overwhelming in a car as the speeds are double that of a scooter!! Followed a shitty little gas station map and got totally lost looking for Ao Nang beach as all road signs in Thailand are written in Thai...go figure. At about 7:30 pm (its dark and I am hungry and cranky and have now been driving for 4 hours...) Bang...out of nowhere there is a hotel and as luck would have it, they have rooms, the rooms are clean and very inexpensive and Ao Nang beach is 2 minutes drive away! Booked for one night and ended up staying for a week as the hotel was less than 1/2 the cost of a hotel in Ao Nang or Railey and quite convenient. Spent the first day in Krabi checking out the shops etc. in Ao Nang and spent my entire weeks budget in less than 1/2 day (well..not quite that bad, but close!) After shopping my little heart out, decided to do something a little more adventureous the following days. Day 2 was spent kayaking through the mangrove bushes in and out of sea caves...very very interesting and also very very tiring! I have awesome pictures which I will post when I can. Day 3 was spent rock climbing in Railey beach which was spectacular followed that up with a Thai massage and a few beers :) If my muscles weren't already sore I sure killed them on Day 4 with a walk to the Tiger Cave temple...1237 stairs to the top of the mountain. I actually thought Peter was going to die on the way to the top!! The climb was well worth it as the view was so spectacular if I wasn't already out of breath from the fucking stairs it would have taken it away :) To sooth the sore muscles from the ultimate stairmaster session, we drove 25 Km east of Krabi to the 'Unseen Thailand' area in Khlong Thom where there was a hot spring waterfall and pool. Most beautiful thing I have ever seen...I am talking Banff x10 and still 100% natural! Drove back to Phuket in the early am and returned to Koh Samui. Spent the afternoon shopping in Samui (much more costly that Krabi for sure!) and then met Ian for a night of debauchery afterward. Watched a really awesome Thai cover band at the Irish pub in Samui...have a few pics/videos of that as well...pretty awesome. Then back on the boat to Koh Phangan in the am to nurse a hangover and chill out. Caught a little wind and a few storms which puts my blog up to date as of now :) Just checked the weather for Koh Phangan and it looks like wind for the rest of the week...hopefully I will get that kite out on the water and actually do some surfing!

Huggy, Kissy, Sucky, Licky,

Julie