The first 10 days

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ok, so this is my first attempt at a blog. We'll see how it goes. It might not look pretty, we'll see.

I arrived in Bangkok late at night on Jan. 9th. I spent my first 4 days in Bangkok, mainly in the Kao San Road area. This area is backpacker central. Lots of shops, bars and streetside restaurants. I went out a lot in these areas in the evenings, eating, drinking, and met a number of travellers. I also went to the MBK mall, which is the largest mall in Bangkok. Bangkok is quite dirty and smelly, but mixed in with that are some areas with exquisite temples, much different from the standard slummy areas.





Me on Kao San Road





MBK Mall area


The weather here is amazing. Very hot and humid. But not so hot it's intolerable. It's awsome.

On my first day in Bangkok I met a fellow traveller, a guy named Glen from Australia. He's a good guy, well traveled. He'd just come from a trip through India. We made plans to get out of Bangkok and head to the islands via overnight train. The train takes 11 hours and goes through the night. Just before we left, though, my foot started swelling up. Through most of the train ride, my foot was extremely swollen and I was in a lot of pain. That train ride really sucked. We eventually arrived in Krabi, a town near the western coast in southern Thailand. Although my foot was no longer in too much pain, it was still very swollen, and I immediately went to the hospital, where they gave me a cocktail of antibiotic medication.

Glen and I found some accomodations in Krabi, where we met another fellow traveller, Briany from England. Briany is also a pretty cool girl, and also well traveled. She just finished 4 months in areas like Borneo, and is soon to be heading off to India herself. Glen ended up going to Ko Phi Phi (very popular island where The Beach was filmed) to meet a guy he knows, and I went with Briany to a small island called Ko Jum for 3 days. Not many tourists come here, but it's a very nice place. Unbelievabley chill. For those 3 days, I didn't do much of anything except suntan, swim in the beach, and explore the island. It was very relaxing and I really enjoyed that. It was also probably the best thing I could do while waiting for my foot to heal. By the end of it I was starting to get bored, though. However, my foot was almost completely healed by that point.





Getting to Ko Jum by longtail boat





Islands near Ko Jum





The beach at Ko Jum





More beach





The village on Ko Jum island, with a Tsunami warning sign out front





View from my bungalow at Ko Jum


After leaving Ko Jum, we returned to Krabi, where we met up with Glen again. Checked out some of the mainlain beaches near Krabi (Raillay beach is AMAZING). Also did a kayaking tour, which was cool. Saw mangrove trees and some really wicked caves. Glen has now departed for Malaysia on his way back home. Briany will also be leaving in a few days on her way to India. I'm currenly in Krabi, and trying to decide what to do next. I may stay here and to more of the touristy stuff, or possibly go to the other coast and visit Koh Paghnan for the full moon party. We'll see. So far, though, I've been having a great time.





Railley Beach





Railley Beach





Caves on the kayaking tour





More caves





3000 year old cave paintings





Glen from Australia





Briany from England

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Comments

[cassie]

Heya Fritz!
Wow, looks like a blast! Wish I could be hangin on an island beach for 3 days getting bored too!! lol.. hope to see more pics soon!! cass

[david]

great pics

[Uncle Terry]

Awe to to be young agian
I see Ko San Road has not changed The kayak trip looks like it was awesome. Keep the pics coming.