Islands, food poisoning, and new friends

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Hey everybody. It has been over a week since I last posted and my family thinks I am kidnapped or in prison at this point. I am alive and well and in Krabi. Last Sunday I took a bus from Phuket to Krabi where I caught a longtail boat to Railay to a beach called Ton Sai. Ton Sai is a rock climbing mecca with bars and restaurants lining the beach and bunglows set up on the hill behind. There are no roads on Ton Sai and access is on foot. I met some British girls while looking for accomodation since they seemed to know where they were going and I was a bit lost. Together we all found a place to stay about halfway up the big hill where all the bunglows were. It consisted of a bed, four thatch walls, a fan and a shower/toilet combo with only cold water and only electricity at night. It was a pretty cool place to stay though and was there for 2 nights. The 2 nights I was there I hung out with my new British friends. A few of them were teachers in Bangkok with a few friends visiting them from England and an american from Boston. They were a good group to hang out with and we had a lot of fun. Our first day on Tonsai we rented a 3 person kayak and me and the girls went around the island to the different beaches to explore. It was nice, we hung out on the beaches, snuck into a nice pool, and had massages on the beach. We saw the sunset on the way back to our beach from the kayak, then headed off to the bar. We had a good few nights there and when they headed off to Ko Lanta I decided to go with them.

The island of Ko Lanta was a 2 hour boat ride from Railay. On Ko Lanta we stayed our first two nights at a place called "Where Else" and it was really cool. I wish I would have gotten a pic of my bungalow, but it was really cool with a hammock on the porch, and a beautifully tiled shower with no roof. There was also a fantastic restaurant there. Unfortunately, the beach there sucked and was really rocky. So, I rented a motorbike the next day and went exploring with 2 of the americans in our group. Yes, I rode a motorbike, and I am awesome. I want one when I get home. The beach we went to had a bar perched on a cliff above the beach and was a great place for cocktails. We had a few rum and pineapple shakes and headed home. After we got back to our bungalows we drank a lot more. It was a really fun night and I drank way too much. We'll call this night "Jeanette's Last Stand". I woke up the next morning throwing up. I thought is was a really bad hangover. But after 5 days of nausea, vomiting, and weakness I am now realizing it was food poisoning, not bad Thai whiskey. So, the next 5 days on Ko Lanta were pretty miserable, I spent the days sleeping on the beach and the nights laying around at the bar while my friends drank. We moved to cheaper bungalows on a better beach on day 1 of food poisoning, which were pretty miserable and hot, and I could not waste away in my room as I would have liked. I got really burned one day on the beach when I fell asleep in the shade without sunblock. Oops. Friday night we saw really horrible band at a cool bar and restaurant we pretty much lived at for the 5 days we were there called "The Sanctuary". The singer was this really small Thai woman with really big long frizzy hair with a voice only a mother could love wailing away on covers from Janis Joplin to the Beatles. Even though I felt like shit, it was a good night. On Saturday, I still felt horrible, but we rented motorbikes again to explore the island. I even took a passenger this time. We drove to the southern end of the island to a beautiful beach. Went swimming, ate, snuck into a few nice pools along the way, and watched sunset from the bar on the cliff I had gone to a few days earlier. We made it home alive after dark and went to the Sanctuary again for dinner and drinks. I barely made it through dinner, my whole 2 bites of rice, and did not make it very long through the night. I was bummed since it was our last night there and my last night with the group. I had to go home early and hang out in the bathroom.

The next day we headed off the island. I felt a bit better, not 100%, but was able to eat breakfast and had more energy. We took a boat back to Railay and spent the day at the pool and beach then took a ferry to Ao Nang on the mainland where I parted ways with my new friends. It was a sad day, and I headed off to Krabi where I have been since last night. I got a room with air-con and a tv so I could try and recover from my food poisoning. I was going to wake up early today and head off to a national park and stay in a tree house, but I did not feel great this morning and decided it was best to wait until I felt better, so that is where I am today. I have done nothing today except use the internet, so have yet to explore the town. Unfortunetly, in my last few days of sickness and moving around I have managed to lost my cable lock, 2 padlocks, and my sunglasses. Sucks! I just realized it this morning. Hopefully I can replace some of those things today. So, that is all I have today. I will try and write my next blog a little sooner next time, in the next few days. I also did not take a lot of pics this last week because my memory card is full. My friends took a lot of pics though which I will eventually get. I am going to try and free up some space on my memory card today though and will get back in the picture taking mood. Tomorrow I will head to Ko Pha-Ngan and maybe to the national park on the way if I think I have time. Until then...

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Photos

The last day with friends
Check out my awesome burn

Comments

[WanderlustTarrants]

Great blog and adventure
From a fellow travelblogger, fantastic read! Really enjoying following your blog and looking forward to the next one! Hope you are feeling better!

[Judy LaPorta]

Hi Jeanette -- my little darling, so sick. Sounds like your getting better. Love your blog. Love, Judy