Last Days

---

One last update. I’ve recently arrived back in Canada to beautiful weather and clean, empty streets.

After my last update I met up with Van and some Brits. We went on this crazy hike up to a beautiful view point. It was straight up this bank that you had to use ropes to pull you up. After that we climbed down these three rock faces to get to a lagoon. It was very steep and I almost turned back part way down. I kept thinking if I fell it would be at least 6 hours to get out and to any sort of hospital. One of the girls in the group had fallen a couple days earlier. Luckily she landed on a flat rock so was only nursing bruised ribs. On the way back we got caught in this huge rain storm. It was pouring down. It was so hot though the rain felt good. After I got back to the beach I started to feel ill and by that night I had a fever and a very sore throat.

The majority of my last days on Ton Sai was with a very sore throat and a crazy fever. I caught what I’ve now come to call the Ton Sai plague. One of the girls who I was hanging out with also had it and now I’ve given it to Blair. If you looked at any of our throats it was very swollen and looked like it was dabbed with whiteout. So no rock climbing or snorkeling for me. My days consisted of going to eat breakfast between 10 and 11. Somebody I knew would always walk by. (Dave and Barry had arrived by this time) Hang out at the restaurant until around noon. Sit on the beach until around 6 PM alternating between sun, shady tree and water. I’d try to have a nap… the power came back on at 6 so my fan would work and I could bear the heat in the bungalow but it also meant the music would start. I could never fully get to sleep. We would all meet at the cheap drink bar between 7 and 8. Go for dinner around 9. Have a few drinks and repeat the next day. I also learned someone is building a big resort on the beach in March so it will be very different if I ever go back.

I started my journey home on the 25th. I had to catch a flight from Krabi to Bangkok at 10:30 AM. The only problem was I had no idea how I was going to get to Krabi or how far it was. I woke up at 7, quickly packed and headed down to the beach. It was low tide and most of the boats were sitting on dry land. The only way on or off Ton Sai is by boat. I didn’t see any boat drivers around to ask, so I sat at a reggae bar and had a coffee while this British girl told me how screwed I was. After sitting for about 30 minutes I saw these 2 guys wading out into the water with big packs on. I quickly ran after them and they were wading out to a boat that they had hired to take them to the next beach that had road access. I climbed in with them and found out they were also going to the Krabi airport. We easily found a Taxi at the next beach. So after all my worrying I was easily able to make my flight.

I got back to Bangkok and decided to splurge on a nice place. I stayed at a nice, brand new hotel for about $25. That night I went out and bought a suit case and went shopping.

My flight home was pretty uneventful. It was a long flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver. Luckily I got some sleeping pills (no prescriptions needed in Thailand) so the flight only felt like an hour.

---

Photos

View Point
Railay East, Railay West and Ton Sai off in the distance.

Climb down
Gavin climbing down to the lagoon.

Long Boat
You didn't want to get near the propellers. It was really bad when they were talking on their cell phones while swinging it around.

The group at the end
Monica, Barry, Dave and Van