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Day 307
I was up early again and it hurt a bit despite my early night. It was all for naught thought. I thought I was getting picked up at 8 am, but it turns out that it wasn't until 9. So after breakfast I spent some time writing in my journal before the bus finally did come.
As it turned out I was not on the tour I thought I was on. I thought that I would be walking up 1,200 steps to a temple and then trekking a bit to see some waterfalls before going swimming. The first stop was the Tiger Temple, but we didn't take the staircase, instead we checked out some of the caves at the base. There were also some monkeys around. They were quite tame though, only trying to steal someone's water bottle. Apparently there used to be some tigers in the area but for some reason they went away. The guide didn't speak English very well and I was usually at a loss for what she was saying. There were several stray dogs around. One of the accompanied my group for the duration of the tour, he even posed for a picture with me, I didn't even have to ask.
The next stop was not trekking to see waterfalls as expected, but rather a dip in an easily accessible hot spring waterfall. The morning was a bit cool and the hot water felt nice. For a bit it was only my group, but then a big tour group showed up. The group was mostly old men who thought speedos were a good idea. It got crowded and I got out to take pictures. None of the other people in the group were alone and they were all non-native English speakers. I was the odd person out for the whole day and it was rather lonely.
Our next stop was lunch. It wasn't terribly good. It was weird to be sitting in a group, between the German and French speakers, and not to have anyone to chat with. It wasn't just weird, it was boring. The people in the group were rather rude. I tried to introduce myself and they all spoke English, they just didn't want to.
After lunch we took a short walk to a mineral spring called the Emerald Pond due to it's coloring. It was extremely slick around the edge of the pool and I really don't know how I managed to not break a limb. The water wasn't hot, but it was still warm and easy to get used to. The pool, although natural, was surprisingly flat on the bottom. Still, with no one to talk to hanging out in a pool isn't all that interesting, so after a bit I got out and tried to check out some of the other pools in the area. They turned out to be too far away though and I headed back, I didn't want to be left behind.
The rest of the trip consisted of walking by various mineral pools and an easy stroll through the jungle. I was the first person dropped off and I was glad. I couldn't deal with the silence any more. The tour was ok, but the people were awful. For dinner I headed back to the same place and watched a few movies while I ate.
Day 306
I overslept by a couple of minutes but still managed to get myself showered dressed and fed before the car came to pick me up.
The first place we went to was the Phrang Nga Bay. We went on a very bumpy and wet inducing longtail boat. I'm already finding it to be very cold here, and between the wind and the water I was freezing. On the boat we checked out a stunning mangrove forest and went through some caves. The people who had opted for canoes instead of big boats had to lie down to go through some of the small caves and had better access to the mangroves. I was getting a bit jealous until I saw how rough the water was on one side I was glad I had picked the big boat.
The canoing people took a bit more time and everyone else had to wait on a floating boat/snack restaurant. Climbing on and off of the boat were a bit perilous and I didn't really like it.
Next up was a visit to James Bond Island. Part of it was used in The Man with the Golden Gun. I don't know if I have seen the movie or not, but it doesn't matter. I don't know the story line or anything. Still the island was pretty cool and I had a good time taking pictures of it. This wasn't a long stop and soon we were off again.
It was definitely lunch time when we arrived at a stilt fishing village called Panyee Island. The food was ok, but the people I met, an English girl and a Norwegian family were a lot of fun to chat with. After lunch I had a few minutes to explore the small town. I found a mosque and a school plus a woman carrying a monkey around in a diaper trying to take pictures with tourist.
After lunch we had a short and thankfully dry trip back to the pier. Our last stop was the Suwankuha Temple. I have no idea what significance this temple had as the guides didn't really do much guiding. They really sucked on the explanation bit.
There was a big reclining Buddha that was interesting and a lot of monkeys outside. They were quite boring compared to some of the monkeys I have seen before and I wonder if I am getting a bit monkeyed out, is this even possible?
I fell asleep on the way back. It seemed to take forever, I was the first person picked up and the last who was dropped off. After a shower I headed to the same place for dinner that I had gone to the night before. I only stayed for one movie and soon headed to the internet cafe to work on the blog. Eventually I just called it an early night. In a way I miss hostels, it was so much easier to meet people.
Day 305
Despite my late night I was up pretty early. I tried to have breakfast at my hotel, but after I got a menu the waitress went back to sleep on a couch. I just went elsewhere.
Krabi doesn't have much to it, it's more of a good jumping off place for doing things. I did spend some time wandering around checking out the pretty limestone cliffs.
After a couple of hours I had run out of things to see and headed back to my hotel. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and eventually took a nap.
That night I went for dinner at the hotel I had wanted to stay at. They play movies in the evening and I saw Forgetting Sara Marshall and The Happening.
When the movies were over I headed back for some sleep. I had booked a day trip for the next day and wanted to be well rested for it.
Day 304
As soon as I woke up I quickly got the last of my things together and left. The bus station was only a few minutes walk away and I picked up breakfast and some snacks on the way. I didn't want to eat junk food for the entire trip like I usually do and picked up some fruit instead.
I had a few hours to kill before the next bus and went for dinner. I really wanted to have some Thai food but I didn't want to chance getting sick on another long bus ride so I went to Pizza Hut. Oddly, they were out of pizza and I had a salad instead.
I had been assured by the guy who sold me the bus ticket that the bus station was right in the middle of town and that I wouldn't have any problems find a place to stay. This wasn't true at all. The bus dropped me off about 4 kilometers from the center of town and all of the hotels. I had the choice of walking there at 1 am on a street that I didn't know, or I could go with the only guy around offering me a ride on a motorbike. There weren't any cabs around at all. I went with the latter option.
The hotel I had wanted to stay at was shut for the day so I had to keep looking. The first place that was open offered me a room on the 6th floor with no elevator for 250 bhat. There was no way I was walking up and down all those stairs. I went up the street a bit more and found a room for only 100 bhat and I wouldn't need any stairs at all. That seemed perfect.
As soon as I was in the room I went to sleep. It had been a long day.
