Back in Ao Nang!

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Finally home!! Something about Thailand just feels like coming back home. It's so familiar and natural. The trip here was even super smooth, albeit long and sleep deprived.

Leaving Sri Lanka was bittersweet, as leaving anyplace (except India) is. My German Buddhist bodyguard (aka Flo) was a great temporary travel partner. He saw me off the the train station and I made a new friend on the train right away (go me!). My new buddy and I maneuvered our way to the airport in Colombo and slacklined with the machine-gun laden security guard as we waited for our flights. The flights were short and easy. The shuttle bus dropped me right in front of my hostel. Easy peasy!

Within 15 minutes of arriving to Ao Nang I had already made plans to share a motorbike to the Tiger Temple and Naga Peak, meaning I went from 24 hours of sitting to about 7 hours of hiking. Well worth it! Staying in a dorm has been a great experience so far. There's folks to do things with, but I can walk away and do my own thing anytime I want.

I've spent so much time in the sun that I could wear my tan lines as a bikini and my reflection startles me. Brown! Today I rented a kayak in Tonsai and took it out for 4 hours past Railay all the way to a secluded lagoon beach with no one around. I stopped there for a while to read and eat my packed lunch before heading to the good ol Penis Cave of Phra Nang (recall my photos from 2 years ago).

For the record, I still have zero interest in Tonsai. It's good for a specific type of people (read: climbers who like to smoke weed), and I just don't fit in. Even waiting for the long tail boat back to Ao Nang was rough- a dude with zero conversational skills wouldn't stop talking at me and couldn't understand why I don't smoke weed.

Speaking of revisited places, Ao nang in general seems much different than it had 2 years ago. I remembered this place being a lot more chill, but maybe that was just compared to the craziness of Patong Phuket. Now it's super touristy here. Everything is for tourists!

There are a ton of Americans and Candiens here. Like, too many. Also, I'm telling everyone I'm Argentinian and it's persuasive.

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