Bangkok + 15 hours on a bus = Beach Time!

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Yo!

So, I'm back on the beaches, and it's great. The original plan was to jump the overnight sleeper train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, and then bus to Krabi, but since the train was booked solid for a good week in advance, we took the next best alternative - doing the entire trip by bus. I saved a bit of coin doing so, but it also meant that I was stuck on "VIP air-con" busses for the last 16 hours. Slightly less fun.

The bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani was.. entertaining to say the least. I'm fairly sure the driver was hopped up on speed, seeing as he spent the marjority for the 11 hour trip on the wrong side of the road dodging incoming traffic. I forgot just how of a eye-opener the driving experience was in Thailand, haha.

We hit Krabi at 5ish in the morn, and had to sit around a dumpy little travel agency until the bus was cleared to take people heading to Krabi, Koh Phi phi, Railay (me!), Ao Nang, etc. After another couple hours, we hit the coast and jumped a long-tail boat which took us over to West beach on Railay. It was great to finally get off a bus!

After wandering around both west and east Railay checking out the various accomodations, we settled for a bungalow in the Railay Highlands "Resort". It's the same bamboo-thatch bungalows that I stayed in last year.. somewhat rustic, but a great deal for the price nonetheless. The rest of the day was spent lying on the beach soaking up what little sun was showing (pretty cloudy today). Even so, I'm starting to get back to my "summer colour", as I call it. :P

The plan is to veg out on Railay for another couple days, and then head to either Koh Phi-phi Leh (where "The Beach" was filmed) or pass through on to Koh Lanta.

The pictures include a couple from the last night in Bangkok, and a few of West beach in Railay, as well as the bungalow. Hope it works.. these computers are notorious for bombing out without any warning whatsoever.

That's it for me today.. more pictures in a day or two, hopefully.


Hope everyone's doing well.


Easy,

-Mark

(ps: Nick, I'll head down to "Mom's" and get a picture of your sacred egg-burger in the next couple days. Didn't think I'd forgotten, did you? hahahahaha)

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Photos

Hard life..
Yeah, I'm an asshole, I know.

MBK!
MBK mall in Bangkok.. on a weekend.. big mistake.

The Backpacker's Ghetto
The kosher Khao San Road shot

Humble Abode
One of the Railay Highland Bungalows tucked away in the jungle. It's a great spot to chill in the hammock and listen to the Gibbons up in the mountains.

West Beach
I'm an idiot and had my camera on the "snow scene" setting rather than beach. Ooops. Nonetheless..

Ao Nang
Half-assed shot of Ao Nang from the long-tail boat.