We made it into Krabi at 8pm on Friday evening...an hour and a half past our scheduled arrival. The guesthouse we had reservations with was not there to pick us up as previously arranged and by the time we found transportation to a destination we had no address for (only a name) we arrived and they had no room. Mai Pen Rai! (a thai phrase meaning "It's nothing" or "Whatever" with a smile) go with it! So we went with it. Found another place, which has been fantastic. Very friendly and helpful. After checking in we sat down in the guesthouse restaurant and ordered a fruit shake (smoothie) and a beer and arranged a trip for the next day with the inhouse travel/tour agent. (Every guesthouse has one)
Next morning: We rose early and headed off on the 4-island tour. Beautiful turquoise waters, huge karsts (mountainous island structures sticking straight out of the sea), snorkeling, longtail boats and monkeys! One of the islands even had a film shoot going on for a Bollywood movie (India's version of Hollywood)! Kerry got ill on our adventure (something she ate?) and got initiated into the full squat toilet experience. May there always be a toilet available! We returned home in the evening exhausted and satisfied and fell asleep at 8pm.
After 10+ hours of sleep we woke up today and rented a motorbike/scooter for about $5 (200 Baht) for the day. We gathered our things and took off to the surrounding jungle. We found a wat outside of town and climbed up 1300 stairs (steep, irregularly shaped--more like a ladder) to the top of the mountain where there is a HUGE Buddha statue and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains and jungle. We were in awe!
There were even more monkeys than we've seen yet at the wat. They are rowdy little punks. They rove in gangs and try to steal your stuff. So far, no monkeys have taken our stuff, but we saw them knock a lady down and take her stuff. (Ok. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.) Also, this one monkey was sitting on a handrail happily licking an ice cream pop (while the others only had bananas and crackers). That was one happy monkey!
We're having a blast and are heading off tomorrow for KoPhangan...an island on the other side of the southern strip of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. We have no reservations and are trusting that we will find our way. So far everything has been so easy. All signs point to yes!
