Songkhla, Ko Lipe and Krabi, Thailand

After the islands, it was so refreshing to go to a place where there were very few other tourists. In fact, I didn't meet any other tourists, only old, fat, Enlgish guys who were living in Songkhla because they couldn't get girlfriends back home. Ok, I know, I am judging, but seriously, it was disgusting a trend all over Thailand, you see these old fat foggies with young beautiful Thai women all over them and every one of them says they LOVE Thailand... gimme a break.

Anyway, Songkhla was nice. I stayed in a really cute guest house where the dad cut me fresh mangos and watermelon everyday. The city is surrounded by water, but it wasn't good for swimming, which was a bit annoying since it was SO hot. But I dealt with it and drank a lot of water (and beer).

View of Songkla from peak

While I was there, it was the Thai new year known as Songkran. Hah, it was hilarious. Basically you poor water on everyone and say happy new year and then rub powder on their cheeks. It lasts all day and people are just soaked and dancing and drinking and eating. I wandered around and having been in town for two days already, I knew a few people so it turned out to be a really fun day!

My company

My weapon

I left the next day to head to the west coast. There is a national park off the shore known as Tarutao National Park. It doesn't allow building on these islands so they are very isolated and beautiful. I stayed the first night on the main island in a tent right on the beach and remembered how boring camping by yourself is. But I read, sewed my pants, read some more... I really wish I hadn't lost my iPod, its killing me. The next day I rented a bike and rode to the next beach over which was really nice and I was the only person on the beach, which again, sounds cool but got pretty boring pretty quick.

My tent

I headed out to the touristy island known as Ko Lipe. Its what Ko Samui used to be probably 20 years ago. There is no road and you can walk from one end of the island to the next in about 15 minutes. I stayed on the quiet beach but walked to the popular (more expensive end) both nights. I met an English girl and an Austrian girl, so we hung out and explored. The snorkeling was really nice and the beaches were perfect. I loved Ko Lipe and I would recomend it to couples in particular because it was quite romantic and there were lots of stuff to do... obviously, it made me miss my man!

Beautiful Beach

Beach Bungalows for pennies (but not for long)

The beach I stayed on (Sunset Beach)

After the past few days on the islands, it was time to head to the main land. I went to Krabi thinking I would go straight to the beaches there, but Krabi was actually a pretty cool town and I stayed there for three nights. I shared a room with Julia (the Austrian girl), which was really cheap and we did so much during the day that going to the beaches just seemed boring! The first evening we just walked around and explored, went to a bar where we met some people and decided to all hang out the next day. So the next day, we all rented a longtail boat (thanks to Nui who owns Up2U hostel, best place in Krabi) and headed out to these really isolated islands where we just cruised around all afternoon. Probably one of my favorite days so far.

At the night market, I thought this picture was hilarious cause I look disgusting and sweaty and I am shoving food in my face while the guy just laughs. Priceless picture.

View from our boat

Eating watermelon in an isolated lagoon.

Hong Island

So after such an amazing, day I thought it would be hard to beat, but the next day Julia and I rented motorbikes (both of us being pretty nervous about riding) and rode out to a waterfall outside Krabi. We hung out there for a while which was so refreshing compared to the luke warm water of the ocean. After that we took the bikes exploring and found a cave that you could walk through. This little girl guided us through the cave which was sooo cool! There were a ton of bats and bugs so it smelled pretty bad, but we went really deep in and it was so eeried and cool, glad we went even though my stupid camera broke in the cave.

Waterfall

Bat Cave

Julia and Me after the cave and we wiped the bat poop off

I was scheduled to leave the next morning, Monday, to head to Phuket to catch a flight to Indonesia. We had so much fun on the bikes that we decided to wake up early the next day and take another trip to a local temple. We got there a little after 7am and hiked up 1,200 something steps to get to the top. It was amazing. The view overlooked the ocean and the big buddha was really spectacular.

Buddha

We said our good-byes and I said goodbye to Thailand. My last day in Thailand was one of the roughest I have had. I don't know whether I was exhausted, affected by the heat or just had too many things go wrong in the past 3 weeks, but I broke down. Poor Gary had to read my MISERABLE emails and deal with all my whining. But no matter how bad it gets, I have to remember that I am very lucky to be here. There are so many people in this world who won't ever get to leave their small village and here I am travelling all over the world. So motorbike crash, broken doors, broken cameras, etc, its all ok. I am very lucky and thankful to be where I am.

Off to Indonesia!