Day 20

Well we never actually ended up leaving Ao Nang... Levi did end up finding me finally and we checked into a nice guesthouse right off the beach. Did so wandering around when I decided that I wanted to spend my afternoon at a King Cobra show... Levi wasn't thrilled so he wandered off to check out a mosque and go for a run. Meanwhile I was enjoying the thrill of sitting 3 feet away from deadly snakes while some crazy guy (whos been bit FIVE times by the King Cobras and is somehow still alive!!! Though missing a finger and has some terrible scars...) teased the snakes in the pit (and by pit I mean a foot tall wall...) making them strike at him. He started out with one about 3/4 feet long... then three... then put them away only to replace them with a 7ish foot long one... then a FIFTEEN FOOT LONG one! When that thing lunged it lunged up and over the barrier toward the audience, YIKES. It's funny, this would never happen back home... I love that about traveling... Most of the things we end up doing/seeing would be illegal or just never even thought of in the states. Afterwards I met up with Levi who had flooded our room (the shower smartly points right at the bathroom door) and got some delicious dinner. Then the power went out, go figure! Seems to be a common occurrence around here!

Today was lovely though (I can't believe I just used the word lovely... you pick up a strange assortment of words/languages while traveling...) We went to a geothermal hot springs which was pretty cool. It was like a series of tiered pools all about 42 degrees Celsius (aka hotter than hell) that drained into a river which was sooo refreshing to jump into from the springs! Then we went to a place called the Emerald Pool. After a walk through the jungle it was like a little oasis lagoon of turquoise water with a sandy bottom and a board walk around the edge to hang out on. A small stream lead to it and a small stream lead out keeping the water fresh and clean. There were a lot of Thai families there, the kids are so cute! A nice family that Levi met the day before invited us to go with them which was soo much cheaper than a tour! We came back up to Ao Nang and were debating about whether or not to catch a long tail boat tonight to Railay when we decided to just stay here for the night and THANK GOODNESS we did because MONSOOOOON!!!! It's crazy! In the last hour we've probably gotten about 4 inches of rain and it's so loud you can barely hear the person next to you talking! The nice lady at our guesthouse lent us an umbrella :) And the thunder and lightening is intense... I love storms :) We'll see how the weather is in the morning before really decided on our next move!

Caught an early taxi/bus/truck (think pick-up truck with an open back and canopy with bleacher seats) to the nearby town of Ao Nang. Levi wandered off to a church and I'm hangin' out drinking coffee and hoping he finds me again :) Next, off to Railay so Levi can climb rocks - he can't wait, it's kinda funny :) I don't blame him though, we're in the rock climbing capital of the world nearly and he's been lugging around a bag full of gear!

Krabi

Stuck around Krabi for the day... Think we'll head out of here tomorrow... Maybe Ao Nang or Railay... not sure yet! Did a lot of walking around the city in search of a rock climbing book for Levi... being in the rock climbing capital of the world practically you would think that something like that would be easier to find but nope! I'm going to try and convince Levi to go check out James Bond Island with me... Man with a Golden Gun was filmed there :) It's only 5pm here so I'm not sure what we're up to tonight... I had to escape the heat for a while so I figured I'd write on here... not sure if anyone (desides you Dad! Thanks!) is actually reading this though... tata for now...

Hm...

Speedy update... took a ferry from Ko Phangan to Donsok on the mainland. Then caught a bus to Surat Thani and another bus to Krabi where we currently sit! Long day traveling! Checked out a night market where a fun concert was playing and ate some good food... I ate a silk worm... crunchy...

I'm melting...

Still on the island... It was so blessed hot today I was forced to spend the better half of the day in the sea, bummer ;) The water here is so wonderful though, you can walk out forever on white sandy beaches and see the bottom forever. Before retiring to the beach we walked around town for a while before realizing that the power EVERYWHERE was out, hence no fans (which are very much needed!) Same thing happened last night actually... we were walking around town late at night and all of a sudden everything went black. So we did what everyone else did, went to the nearest store (which is on every corner) to get a beer before they got warm and then wandered the streets some more! Gotta love Thailand. Not much to report, just a lovely relaxing day... heading back to the mainland tomorrow morning... I can't take to much of the islands, I don't like feeling cooped up!

Party for the moon!

Made it to the land of partying for any reason that has to do with the moon... The birthplace of the full moon party, Ko Phangan - Thailand's 5th largest island. These people like to party when there's a full moon, a half moon, a black moon, a silver moon or really just a moon in general, it's crazy! Everywhere there's neon colors intermixed with tourist shops. Sadly there's not to much of the Thai culture showing through, Westernization and drunk tourists have taken over. We actually won't be here the night of the full moon party (probably a good thing!) but it's a great place for relaxing on white sandy beaches and taking a dip in the serene turquoise waters. The 'people watching' is also at an all time high as far as interesting goes :) Oh, and our ferry didn't break down at sea this time, thankfully! I think we'll stay here tomorrow night too, we're in the main section of the island, a thin peninsula on the southeastern corner called Haad Rin. Maybe some exploring tomorrow... Not much to write for now, just a quick update!

BEAUTIFUL Ko Tao