Ao Nang/ Rai Leh (12/12 - 18/12)

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Blog number three...

So, another long old journey - we've discovered now that when the locals tell you a journey takes, say, 5 hours - it's really 10 - "Thai Time" is not like Western time! So a longtail, speedboat (where we met the Bournmouth lot again!), 3 buses and a few stops in random towns on random streets waiting for the next bus later, we finally managed to make it Ao Nang. We got chatting to a guy travelling on his own on one of the buses, Damien from Manchester, who then joined up with us. Our guesthouse in Ao Nang felt like absolute luxury compared to Ko Bulon - we now had electricity, a hot shower and no weird insects and animals! We met up with the Bournemouth lot again that night.

Having overspent on our budget quite a lot so far, Lara and I decided we would live off the street food for the next few days - pancakes, pad thai, chicken/prawn/beef skewers, spring rolls, corn on the cob, fried potato etc - which is fresh, delicious and about 70p for each dish! We spent a bit of time in Ao Nang drinking and playing pool and jenga with the locals - they all seem to be experts at Jenga, though Lara and I kept beating them at pool!

On Monday 14th Lara and I went sea kayaking - it was so much fun and only about 8 quid each for half a day. We decided to go in the afternoon (only because we couldn't be bothered to get up too early!) but realised this was the best time to go as the tide was lower and there was much more to see. Lara and I were surprisingly good at kayaking and got the hang of it in no time (the tour guide told us we were naturals!). We got out of the kayaks on a small stretch of sand that was literally crawling with thousands of crabs - it looked like the whole island was alive. There were also loads of starfish there and the guide showed us how, when you place starfish the wrong way round they actually turn themselves over, using their tentacles. It was amazing to see so mny of them doing this. We kayaked further round the island and monkeys actually swam out and sat on our kayaks while we fed them pineapple - we were nervous at first after the fright from Mokey Island, but soon realised that were much more friendly. We kayaked through massive karst-like caves, which were absoletley stunning with the sun streaming through them and we stopped on another small island and saw walking fish and fed more monkeys.

On our last day in Ao Nang David flew to Bangkok to meet Clare - a friend that's coming out to stay with us for 3 1/2 weeks, while Lara and I got a longtail boat to Rai Leh - a very small island famous for its excellent rock climbing and the chilled out, backpackers atmosphere on Ton Sai beach. After not looking at the map very well and trekking with our backpacks in the wrong direction (which now way a ton after several clothes shopping trips out here), we finally managed to find some pretty decent accommodation in Ton Sai, which had a bar - called Peace and Love - right next door, with a live band every night. We ran into some guys from Derby we'd met in Langkawi, and as it rained a lot while we were here, we spent a lot of the days drinking and playing cards with them. We did go to an amazing party on the beach one night and danced for about 4 hours until the electricity cut out at 4am (another island with limited electricity), so finding our way back with headtorches that night was fun! Also had a Thai massage whilst here, one word: ouch!

Next stop, Ko Samui...

(apologies for photos being slightly out of sequence!)

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