I was right, Krabi is a province.. of which Thailand has approximately 700 it seems. Anywho, after our rafting adventures, that following day we went canoeing (though we didn't canoe, a little Thai man did all the rowing and we just enjoyed the sights) then a quick long tail boat ride to James Bond Island (so named because it was used as a location for the 1974 film "The Man With The Golden Gun") and it poured poured poured rain the entire day, but it was still a pretty cool little island.
They then took us to the monkey temple, which is exactly what it sounds like... a temple filled with monkeys. Hundreds and hundreds of little monkeys! I loved it because I can watch those things all day. They behave pretty well too because they're overfed by excited tourists, so not dangerous at all. Brock was not a huge fan as he thinks they look like hairy little fetuses and gets creeped out by being near them. I thought they were friggin cute though, got heaps of photos of ickle baby ones too.
The next day we did a tour of the "Four Islands" (whose names I can't recall) and that was probably my favourite tour because the islands were all gorgeous and swimming on the beaches was amazing. Again, it rained all day, but it was still a fun day. One of the islands even had, no word of a lie, a penis shrine.
Just let that sink in a little. It was in a small cave, had what looked like the typical Buddhist mini temple thing and was surrounded... surrounded by penis's. Probably almost a thousand of them. Portraits. Wood carvings. Plastic ones. Marble ones. Here a penis. There a penis. Everywhere a penis penis. Apparently, some people believe that if you pray and make offerings to the shrine you will have good fertility or you can request to have a male or female baby.
There was even one as tall as me.
Then we finally had a day of nothing planned so it was spent laying out by the pool and achieving the noble task of working on our tans.
After that it was on to Phi Phi (or Pepe, or Pipi, or P.P.) which turned out to be our favourite place so far. Stunning island with a fantastic beach and lush jungle. We also spent the day kayaking which lead me to realize that I'm more of an outdoors person than I originally had surmised. I mean, I know I've had a minor genetic predisposition to athleticism and I like camping... but I don't really like having dirty fingernails so I never really thought I was drawn to the wilderness.
However, rock climbing and rafting and kayaking have somewhat changed my mind. It'd be nice to live in a place where one could do that stuff all the time.
I even like hiking! Well, I like Canadian hiking where it's only about 20 degrees. Brock insisted on hiking to the top of Phi Phi so we could get a good view... sure yes the view was unbelievable... but the actual hiking part that is ALL uphill where it's 35 degrees and the humidity is so thick and envelopes you so intently that you're pretty certain it should have bought you dinner first... yeah that's not exactly fun. I'd say it more closely resembles an activity called: being in hell.
I didn't complain though, honest. I just scowled a lot. Certainly earned my beer that day!
So spent 4 days in Phi Phi, and we just got to Patang in the province/island of Phuket. I quite like it here as well. Nice thriving city where one can do all sorts of shopping. Seriously, the background noise on busy Thai streets is this: "massaaaaaage madame manicure massage massage hello boss suit for you how about a suit sir you want a suit nice shirt then huh dress madame taxi where you going tuk tuk taxi sir lady you want a taxi welcome see menu just looking shopping lady..." constantly.
Oh well, only a few more days here then Bangkok then Cambodia!
