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I ended up on a two day liveaboard trip in the Similan Islands. But the two days were so good I added a third day. So in total, I did 12 dives, including two night dives. We saw a leapard shark, sting rays, a bunch of cool fish that change colors, a bunch of scorpion fish (don't know if it's true but I heard if they sting you, you die within minutes), and quite a few huge sea turtles. The turtles are surprisingly friendly and swim relatively close to you. We heard reports of another boat seeing killer whales but we weren't that lucky. The night dives were great. There was a storm on the second night. It's already scary doing a night dive in the first place but it's even scarier when it's storming out, even though it makes no difference beneath the surface. I'm now up to 21 dives and over 951 minutes. Polphut, our divemaster, was one of the most interesting people I've ever met. He's been to 120 countries or something ridiculous like that, climbed Mt. Everest (all of the sudden, Kili wasn't such a big deal), and cross country skied in Antartica. I could have listened to his stories for days.

After the liveaboard trip, I originally planned on taking the bus from Khao Lak down to Krabi for access to Ao Nang and Ko Phi Phi, home to some of the best beaches in the world. But I met a German couple on my liveaboard trip who had a car so I hitched a ride with them down to Phuket. Phuket seems like it's solely for expats and honeymooners so I wanted to just pass right through and immediately catch a ferry over to Ko Phi Phi. But we arrived just after the last ferry left so I showed up at a fully booked hostel and slept on a cot in the hallway. This sounds like it was totally roughing it but it was one of the nicest and cleanest hostels I've ever seen. Also, I was awake early the next morning anyway to get out of there, so the hallway thing didn't infringe on my sleep.

I ferried over to Ko Phi Phi bright and early the next morning and checked out the town. I was considering staying a night there but I'm down to my last few days in Thailand -- and Asia in general -- so I have to be picky. It seemed kind of dead and it was rainy so I decided to take my chances on the eastern side of the peninsula in Koh Phangan. So I spent all of half a day in Ko Phi Phi and caught an overnight bus/ferry journey up to Koh Phangan, the party capital of southeast Asia. By the way, I think I've inadvertently fallen into an Angolina Jolie and Leonardo Dicaprio world tour, because it seems every place I pass through, one of them has either filmed a movie or adopted a kid from there.

I arrived here early this morning and it's been pouring ever since. Not exactly the best luck with the beaches around here but all I really cared about was the diving anyway. Got in at 8 am and the town was completely shut down. It looked like it was 4 am. You know, except for the whole sunlight thing. This island wakes up at dinner time and doesn't go to sleep until after sunrise. There's a pool party tonight and there's a sunset and a sunrise party every night/morning. So hopefully I won't get too carried away and I'll make it to Bangkok in time for my flight out of here on Tuesday.

I probably could have better planned the peninsula part of the trip. I also just missed out on the full moon and half moon parties, which seem to rival Carnival in Rio and Mardi Gras. So now it looks like I have to come back here again to fully travel the south. What a shame.

On another note, Steve has been posting a bunch of his African pics. Since our whole group was pretty much within a 30 ft. radius of each other for 40 days straight, his pics are pretty representative of what I saw. Check them out at www.runstevierun.com if you're interested. I'll be in Kiwiland next time you'll hear from me.

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