The next morning Niki got up fairly early and headed off for her dive. We already knew that Matt's Joint would have a room available for us today so it was left to me to check us out, move all of our stuff and check us in at Matt's. It didn't take me all that long to sort it all out and in no time flat I was enjoying a couple of Singha's and watching some re-runs of Friends in the restaurant at Matt's Joint while they got our room ready for us. Our room at Matt's was pretty nice (and again coincidentally was also the room Niki had stayed in before), for 1000 baht a night we got a tv, bar fridge, balcony overlooking the street, air con and a nice bathroom with a decent ... read more

After our trip to Ko Phangan I figured I had a pretty good handle on what the tropical topography of the region was like, but as the fast boat to Phi Phi approached the island I realized I was totally wrong. Ko Phi Phi is an archipelago of 6 islands. Phi Phi Don is the main island and the only one thats truly inhabited. Phi Phi Ley, the island that most of the movie "The Beach" was filmed on is fairly close to Phi Phi Don and both of them are strikingly beautiful. The vast majority of the exterior of both of these islands are sheer rock faces that plunge directly into the water and continue downward for who knows how far. It ends up looking like these beautiful paradises are protected by these fortress walls ... read more

We slept rather later the day after the full moon party. But since we still had another full day on Ko Phangan, we paid yet another visit to our new local joint for breakfast. As we were finishing up we bumped into our british friend from the other night, Ricky. We asked him if he wanted to join us for some snorkelling, which he accepted, and we spent the afternoon flippering around out in the bay. As it turns out, Ricky had recieved his new bank cards in the mail that day and was now planning the next leg of his trip. He told us he was also going to Ko Phi Phi in a few days as well. Before we parted ways we said we'd be sure to look for him while we were there. ... read more

We slept rather late the day after the full moon party. But since we still had another full day on Ko Phangan, we paid yet another visit to our new local joint for breakfast. As we were finishing up we bumped into our british friend from the other night, Ricky. We asked him if he wanted to join us for some snorkelling, which he accepted, and we spent the afternoon flippering around out in the bay. As it turns out, Ricky had recieved his new bank cards in the mail that day and was now planning the next leg of his trip. He told us he was also going to Ko Phi Phi in a few days as well. Before we parted ways we said we'd be sure to look for him while we were there. ... read more

Haad Rin is a bit of a maze of foot path streets with no vehicle traffic permitted (at least for the most part during the full moon party). Niki and a few others told me that your first stop at Haad Rin pretty much has to be Chicken Corner. What's Chicken Corner you say? Now, I know what you may be thinking; at first you're probably picturing all manner of chickens bolting left and right as half drunk back packers chase them down the streets, hands out-stretched as if pursuing a hat blown off their head in a sudden breeze. Instead it is two restaurants across from one another that specialize in, you guessed it - chicken sandwiches. We decided the fist one we'd hit was the shop that made chicken schnitzels. They were cranking these ... read more

We awoke the next day to my first taste of a tropical storm. It started with the rain literally pounding down on the roof of our bungalow. Back home on the west coast of british colombia, we get a lot of rain and occasionally we get some driving rain that pours down and forces cars to pull over as their wind shield wipers just cant keep up with the deluge. The rain that morning made those look like spring showers. It hammered down and within seconds there were wide spreading pools on the ground and palm trees bending under the pressure. Then the flashes of lightning over our heads followed immediately by window rattling thunder. It was incredible, and I stood out on the deck of our bungalow marvelling at the sheer power of it all. ... read more

As I mentioned before, there is a massive exodus to Ko PHangan around full moon time, so they really jam you onto these boats. People cover every square inch of deck space and on the back of the boat is a mountain of backpacks, bags and suitcases. Despite being in various stages of travel weariness, everyone is in a pretty jovial mood as they head towards the island paradise and one of the best parties in this hemisphere. It was a beautiful sunny day and below decks a nice thai woman was selling snacks, water and best of all, beer! Niki and I did it up right and grabbed ourselves several beers each to start the Ko Phangan leg of our trip off in proper Canadian fashion. We arrived at the island and waded through the ... read more

After finding a cab to take us to Kao San road, we found a little cafe that was open on the neigboring Rambhutri street and had a coffee while we waited for the travel agent we had used to book our train tickets to Laos to open shop. We booked ourselves bus and boat tickets to Ko Phangan and went in search of a place to leave our bags for the day. Bags stowed, we spent the day doing a little shopping on Kao San and drinking a few beers. Once evening rolled around, we grabbed our stuff and returned to the travel agent to meet up with the woman who would lead us through the streets (literally) to a massive crowd of people being plowed into busses to head south to Ko Phangan and the ... read more

After one short boat ride, a slightly longer van ride and an even longer bus ride we were at the Laos/Thailand border. We'd budgeted ourselves right down to the last bit of our kip so we could just afford a Beer Laos to split before leaving the country. Which is why we were slightly dismayed to find that you are charged to leave the country! We werent sure what the charge was for exactly, but as we were out of kip we had to dig into some of our Thai Baht we had saved from our previous visit to Bangkok. I say this like it was a big deal but really it was about a $1.50. Not such a big thing but when you get dinged little charges here and there ultimately for just being a ... read more

After renting bikes for 10000 kip (just over a dollar). Niki and I set out to ride around the island and maybe over the old railway bridge to the next island over. The ride around the island was beautiful. We biked down bamboo fenced lanes, past little riverside bungalows and the quiet homes of the locals. The weather really cooperated with us today and we got some of the first real blue sky we had seen since entering Laos. Its the burning season for the country, which means the locals do controlled burns over small stretches of mountainside to prepare for the next crop season. It also means the sky is generally pretty hazy. Today though it was all blue skies and a nice breeze, perfect for a ride. We did a lap of the island ... read more