Krabi and surrounds

So I made it back from yet another incredible weekend. Hard to believe, but they really do keep getting better each time.

We took off work early on Thurs to make our way to the Southern bus terminal via bus, skytrain, water taxi, and regular taxi - only 2 hrs total from CRI which is pretty good! This city is insane for lack of organization and consistant public transport. ah well. This weekend's adventure included me, Elliott, Doug, Kirk, and Travis. Hannah's mom was visiting so they were together for the weekend and as usual the Texan couple were on their own somewhere. So we get to the bus station and somehow manage to haggle tickets for the 7:30 bus which gave us enough time to eat and hit up the omnipresent 7-11 for supplies. Doug bought what he thought was a beer until he pulled off the tab and passed it around. REALLY bad Thai whisky... the other people waiting for the bus got a hoot out of our reactions I'm sure. Our 12 hr bus ride was actually on a pretty swanky bus. big seats that leaned back pretty far, plus we had the whole back row to ourselves. They gave us water and a snack as soon as we got on and coffee in the morning. Slept as well as possible and we pulled into the Krabi bus station about 8am on Fri.

Our options were pretty open so we ended up heading to a beach area about 30km away via sawngtaow (pickup with seats in the bed) and then longtail boat. Gorgeous weather! We've gotten lucky with it being rainy season yet our trips always have sunny clear skies. The boat dropped us at East Hat Rai Lay where most of the budget accomadation for the area is. There are 3 or 4 beaches connected by trails on this small peninsula surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Climbing came first of course. Elliott's been climbing for a couple yrs and Kirk for a couple months so Doug went with them and rented gear for the day. Since Travis and I were weaker links, we began by exploring the area and its paths. Hiked all over the 3 beaches we could access. Beautiful white sand and azure water. Out in the bays were other isolated limestone clifts overgrown by jungle vegetation. Wins the picturesque award for sure! We found a lookout 'trail' which was like a mudslide up one of the cliffs and hiked up it with a nice English couple we ran into. Pulling ourselves up by conveniently placed ropes it turned into quite the hike! Also got to hike down from there to a hidden lagoon - kept thinking of James Bond stories to go with it.

Then we succumbed to the urge to climb some of the cliffs and did a half day top rope course. Meaning a guy who knew more then we did lead the route and then belayed us from below. Definitely good since climbing isn't my forte. But it was incredible! Julie you'd be proud I hope! A couple of 5's and a 6a. The 6a absolutely killed me at the end. A good 60 feet up and hold that I couldn't reach! Got some good scratches and scrapes from that.

We met back up with the other guys for dinner watching the sunset on the West Hat Rai Lay beach. Then down to an isolated corner to watch stars - the most I've seen since coming to Thailand and a night swim in phosphoresent waters before camping on the beach.

Saturday morning Kirk, Travis, and I took a long tail followed by a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The island is beautiful but the devestation suffered from the tsunami is still evident. It's basically 2 hilly islands connected by a low sandy area where the main town is - of course almost washed away now. We were looking around for a snorkeling trip and went into a place that was obviously very active in recovery work. The man in charge looked a little shooken up and said they were busy as they had someone picking up things that belonged to his parents who had died. I was the only one who saw the box marked 'bones - human remains, do not touch.' Draw your own conclusions as I already have... Brings a far off tragedy home.

We did end up going snorkeling around the southern island of Phi Phi Lay on which they filmed 'The Beach.' Clear water and swarms of colorful tropical fish made our afternoon! Plus I didn't even get sunburnt.. then...

Kirk headed back to Krabi and Travis and I set out to find the more isolated beaches on the other side of the island. You would think that would be simple enough on such a small island, but we never made it to the other side! Instead ended up walking in a couple of different circles. At least we found some good look out spots and enjoyed an isolated sort of jungle trek. Butterflies were everywhere which made it fairy tale like (plenty of mosquitos too unfortunately!)

Basically spent the evening hanging out on the beaches, and on Sunday morning to the ferry back to Krabi. Since our bus left at 5pm we didnt have time to go back to the isolated Hat Rai Lay area so we took a shared taxi to Ao Nang which is a beach near Hat Rai Lay but accessable by road. I'm sure it's packed during the high season but on Sunday there were only a handfull of tourists and more locals trying to sell them massages or necklaces. So we killed the day relaxing on the beach. Hard to complain about that sort of weekend! We did see a kid get stung by a jellyfish but figured our odds were good and indeed made it out without such an injury. Still I've got plenty of scratches and bruises to show as war wounds. If you ever visit Thailand this is one area you do not want to miss!

So an actual full week of work awaits before a planned trip... Back to the chemistry!