Just a quick check in from the beautiful island of Koh Samui. So much has happened and so many memories made but it's all quickly coming to an end. After getting back from Cambodia and spending one more crazy night in Bangkok (of which I may post a funny video) the 3 of us headed south to Krabi Town. We opted to fly down which only cost us about $90 Canadian and saved us almost 15 hours travel time. We thought it was well worth it and although I do miss that night train down it made it so much easier. Once we got to Krabi we headed straight for the Chan Cha Lay which is a great little guest house run by some fantastic women. Very clean and a room to myself was only 200 baht ($6.75) with a shared bathroom which I don't mind. Dave got his own room with air conditioning for 250 baht ( I think) and Tom got one of the rooms out the back with an open air shower and a lumpy bed for 400 baht ($13.50). We checked in and immediately headed out to rent some mopeds. The funnest and one of the least expensive enjoyments I have in Thailand are the mopeds. Enough so that I tell myself every time I get home that I'm going to buy one. Soooo much fun. Anyway, since we flew down a little later in the day it was about 7pm by the time we got mopeds. Still enough time to give Dave and Tom a little tour of our little area. We went down to the night market by the pier for some really cheap food. Dave, Tom and I ate our meals and had a beer each and the bill only came to 240 baht ($8.10). One of the many reasons I keep coming back. From there it was just cruising around for a bit, exploring a great little night market in town, before we ended the night at a small Reggae bar for some more beers and then across the street for foot massages for each of us. 250 baht ($8.45) each for an hour massage that threatened to put us each to sleep. Great way to end the first night.
On our second day in Krabi we went for lunch at an Italian Pizzeria which was great after days of Thai and Cambodian food. Dave had a huge Calzone while I had pizza... delicious. We headed from there out on our mopeds to visit a beach with some gastropod fossils and Ao Nang beach to do some swimming. About a 20 minute ride on the mopeds through some rubber tree plantations and rocky spires jutting randomly out of the ground... just beautiful. The fossils were a bust because they were charging the enormous price of 200 baht and we just weren't having it (sarcasm). It's funny how cheap we become around here; 200 baht is really nothing but in relation to my living expenses it's still a nights accommodations. Dave and I turned down a painting in Cambodia that would have cost us only $8 US but seemed too pricey at the time. Live and learn I guess. Regardless, the fossils are not much to see anyway so we moved on. Ao Nang beach is beautiful as always and the swimming was fantastic. We floated around while drinking our beers we bought at 7-11 and just enjoyed the sights and sounds. Just what we were looking for when we headed south and were needing to get out some of the tension of the busy last week. There are lots of new places that have popped up in the last year but a lot is still the same same it's always been around Ao Nang. We wandered the causeway along the beach and did a little shopping before deciding to book a boat tour of 5 islands for the next day. The infamous boat tour... more on that later. We headed back to the guest house where we met a pretty Venezuelan girl named Maria, who goes to school in Australia. She had just checked into the Chan Cha Lay while on a little vacation and was meeting with her American friend Briana in a couple of days. We parked the mopeds for the night and the 4 of us headed out for some dinner and drinks. From this point on in Krabi everything just kinda blends one day into the next. We met a cool kid from the States named Ryan who had been in Thailand for a year teaching, and was heading home shortly. He was just making the most of his last days in Thailand and was just bopping around for a bit like us. The five of us hung out until Briana showed up and then for a short time it was the 6 of us. Just massages, beers, mopeds, more beers and a little pot we had found... just a fantastic time with great people.
The one standout event from Krabi was our fantastic/scary boat tour. Only 900 baht ($30) each and we got to see 5 islands including Maya Bay from the movie The Beach. Since meeting Maria the night before, and because Briana hadn't arrived yet, she decided to go along with us on the tour. We were picked up at 8 am from our Guest House and after picking up some more people were taken out to Ao Nang. By 9 am about 23 of us were loaded onto a big touring speed boat with a couple huge outboard motors. The weather had taken a turn and our guide warned us that the seas would be a little rough and we may not get to see all of the planned stops we had been booked for. Not really a problem for the 4 of us since we were excited to see anything and do some serious snorkeling wherever they wanted to drop us in the water. The exciting/scary part didn't take very long to start. The 4 of us decided the best vantage point would be at the front of the boat. Big Mistake!! With the huge waves we were hitting we were tossed around and banged up pretty good. Not dangerous enough for us to want to make our way to the back of the boat, not that there was room any more, but scary enough to make us hold on for dear life. At one point along the journey a girl from Malaysia (didn't get her name) and a girl from Austria, Yulia, joined us at the front. Yulia was great because she screamed at every wave and we laughed while the Malaysian girl just closed her eyes and held on tight. At one point I cracked heads with the Malaysian girl and although we never acknowledged it I ended up with a minor black eye. One of the many wounds received at the front of the boat. We took a serious beating that day but everything became worth it once we started hitting those pristine white sand beaches and floating amongst the multicoloured fishes. The tour guides brought along some bread for the fish and while we were swimming they would toss it around us so we were practically swarmed, getting nipped at and bumped against by the fish. Simply amazing. The rain came in a points but when you're floating in the ocean it just adds to the sensation. I cannot of course do justice to the sights and sounds of the day but suffice it to say I have never experienced anything like it. At some points feeling just exactly right and where I'm supposed to be in the universe and at other points it was so awe inspiring that we didn't say anything and just tried to soak in every moment. Picture a small opening to emerald green waters nestled in a small 400 meter wide bay surrounded by walls of rock shooting up hundreds of feet into the blue sky and then the rain starting to roll in over the tops of the rock down on us before we could even see the clouds float in. We jumped gleefully off the side of the boat into paradise. Life really does seem perfect at moments like this. We never did get to see Maya Bay, the waters too rough on that side of Phi Phi Lay island. 5 times in Thailand and many times on Phi Phi island and still I have yet to see Maya Bay... All the more reason to come back again I'd say. For some reason a lot of the people on the boat weren't spending much time in the water. Maybe it was the waves making some people sick and a couple of people had been stung by Sea Urchin but for a few of us die hards we were out of the boat and into the water every time it stopped. For as long as they'd let us float and dive. We would have made the day last forever at that point we were having so much fun but eventually it did have to end. From 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon we enjoyed this great adventure. We were hurt and exhausted but exhilarated by the experience. I said it before and I'll say it again. The closest we get to being kids again is the adventure and exploring we do while we travel. I'll take that feeling any day. We headed back to Krabi and spent the next couple days fitting in as much as we possibly could. Early days, late nights and many memories.
Dave, Tom and I went from Krabi to Tonsai Beach and onto the next part of our adventure at about the 12 day mark of the trip. I'll get into Tonsai on my next post but believe me when I say it was one of the high points of the trip for me and I know for Dave too. Ryan from Krabi was heading there the same day as us so I'll tell you about the great times the 4 of us had. Hope you're enjoying reading about everything we've done and I hope to post some pictures in the near future. For now it's back to life on Samui... moped my friend, lets ride.
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