Birthday/Goodbye Party in Ao Nang

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After our lovely few days on Phi Phi island we decided to head further east and check out the island of Koh Lanta. We left somewhat injury riddled and angry to be now outside of our air conditioned sick ward, but we pushed on and decided we would add sunburns to our list of ailments as I and many others fell asleep on the deck of the ferry without any protection from those rambunctious UV rays. Arriving on the island we quickly realized we had forgotten something, that something turning out to be a hotel booking or any semblance of a plan to stay somewhere. We fought through a couple pesky touts, one in particular who looked hopped up on amphetamines who just wouldn't shutup and we had to yell at him to beat it.

We ended up at a peaceful quiet village of bungalows set on the ocean and quickly made ourselves at home. The grassy field separating our new homes was littered with fallen coconuts and a cool breeze. We actually lasted quite awhile here (one night) without any sporadic bungalow parties breaking out before we left again and had to have another going away celebration. The clock read quarter to Chang just in time for us to find a lucky corner store that couldn't keep their fridge full of enough beer. We ended up at some bar down the beach with a crowd of people before we came to our senses and realized that our ferry was leaving to Ao Nang in about 3 hours and we were still out. Our raiding party quickly fell back into the bungalows in an attempt to sleep before our van ride north. Remarkably, Trevor's 7:28 alarm for our 7:30 departure didn't quite work out as well as we hoped (though Jord and I slept through our alarm completely) and we essentially slept the whole way onward through several ferry's I can hardly remember.

Once we arrived in Ao Nang at about 10:30 we realized we had less than 14 hours before Jords birthday began and had to find a place. Thankfully I found a sympathetic Thai woman who agreed (though she'll likely regret it) to house all 7 of us in one hotel room. Quickly the beds were separated and extra pillows were ordered before Ryan ran to the 7-11 in search of Rum and Coke. One bad breakfast and a few empty bottles later we headed out for the night. Later we found ourselves a couple km's outside of town at a beach bar where way too many Jason's were consumed, a pool cue broken and the birthday boy falling down from the top of the world to the floor of our hotel bathroom covered in an embarrassing amount of shampoo.

In any case, this is just a quick blog to follow up on the birthday party and the sad and depressing departure of Randy and Abes who had to go home to Vancouver because they actually have jobs and responsibilities that are far beyond my reckoning and ability to relate with. It's been a pleasure traveling with them both, even if they both went back to Canada looking like Lytton gas station attendants.

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Photos

Birthday Boy
A lot can be read from this picture, but let one thing be clear: this is the height of the evening! Happy birthday buddy! Mainly though it was an attempt to recreate last years photo.
Other riddles? Why are some of us shirtless? Why is Randy trying to kill the birthday boy with a chang bottle? I doubt we'll ever know the answers we seek.

Railay Beach
The calm after the storm.

Ko Lanta
Somewhere near Atlanta we think, this shot shows me in my Middle Earth dreamworld that Randy loves to hear all about.

Fryan
We can't seem to get enough of him!