Off to Ton Sai

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Wel, this is the first blog I've written in about three weeks. So sorry to keep you guys in the dark regarding my adventures! I will update the blog with the days following up to meeting with mom in Bangkok....at some point. For now I'll just start with today - and try to keep it up.

Well, I am currently sitting in an internet cafe with possibly the best view in the world. The whole room is a glass octagon, right on the beach, with the sea literally lapping at the fundation of the building during high tide - which it is right now. Surrounding me on three sides are giant limestone cliffs - if another Tsunami his this coast I am royally FUCKED.

This morning mom left the resort in Phuket at 6 am - while I got to sleep in. I slept till 9:00, then hit up the FREE breakfast buffet (I banked food in my stomach because starting today it's back to paying for my own food), and then hung out on the beach until noon. I took a cab from the resort to the bus statin in Phuket town. The taxi cost $23 (RIDICULOUSLY expensive for SE Asia), and the bus cost $5 for a 4 hour bus ride to Krabi (not a bad price). The bus was RIDICULOUSLY nice, at least fo Asia. It was double decker (whatt?), with a bathroom (that's a first!), speakers (so locals didn't have to play their tunes on their cellphones), and big televisions playing the music videos with karaoke lyrics at the bottom of the screen. THANK GOD they didn't ACTUALLY have karaoke on the bus. Whew. I can't even begin to describe Thai music videos, but they're hilarious, and the other passengers on the bus couldn't figuire out why I was laughing out loud watching the music videos.

I arrived in Krabi no problem, and then realized that the bus station wasn't anywhere near the boat dock to take a boat to Railay. There were no tuk-tuks, so I finally settled on a taxi for $10 (TOTAL RIP). Several taxi drivers told me the drive was 25 km, but it was more like 15. I was dropped off at the boat dock, and then waited for a 'long tail' to take me to Railay beach fo 60 baht ($2). There are no roads to these beaches, even though they're a part of the mainland - too many cliffs. We piled onto the boat, and my bag got a little soaked from the sea spray. Oh well.

I hiked from Railay Beach East, past the resorts to Railay West...and then came to a cliff. Luckily I found a guy traveling in the same direction Neils from Sweden, and he showed me the trail to hike up with my bag. It was quite a trail. Luckily it hadn't rained for a few days, or else it would have been a slippery death trap. After grueling 20 minute hike with my big pack, I arrived at Ton Sai beach. It's not much, but everything I had hoped for. There are a few little restaurants on the beach, and bungalows tucked away in the 'jungle' behind the restaurants.

Walking with Neils, I learned that he was in Myanmar for a few weeks, and decided to extend his stay in the North of Myanmar by a week. Because he extended his stay, he missed the hurricane. Woweee. What a story. He had no contact with the outside world, or even the rest of Myanmar - so even though he was in a major town in N. Myanmar, he had NO idea that a hurricane had hit the south. His parents thought he was dead. He then took a bus through the hurricane hit region when traveling south to the airport. Crazy.

I found a guesthouse for $10 a night. I decided to splurge. I could have gotten one for $5, but I really didn't want to be sleeping in a bamboo hut where the mosquitoes attack you all night (there were holes in the walls), and settled on a cement hut. Only later did I notice the termite nest the size of two fists put together on one of the 2x4's holding up the roof. Oh, and it took me a while to notice the mosquito larvae swimming in the toilet bowl...and the fact that flushing the toilet only temorarily removes whatever you tried to flush away. Those observations aside, it's a really nice shack.

I ate a good dinner of Phad Thai alone (there's almost nobody here because it's the low season) and then joined Neils for a second dinner of chicken in green curry sauce. I better hop off of the internet for now, as it's $6 an hour - that's a LOT! It's usually 50 or 60 cents an hour. But...I figured it might be worth $6 a night to get another blog published. I'll let you know how the climbing at Ton Sai goes tomorrow!

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