Islanda Village Resort Krabi

... it.

The area was more civilised too, lots of shops and stalls, nice bars and a good beach. We all felt relaxed there. We went for drinks that evening and got chatting to our neighbours who had been to Oz so trying to get some tips. The whole travelling malarky is about talking to others to find out whats hot and whats not! Ended up a fairly drunken night but good fun, the next day woke up to Emma asleep in the chair on the ...

... which the woman replied "Two years"...
- It feels so good to clap a mosquito out of existence. Sometimes I do it nonchalantly when there isn't even one there, just to look like a veteran...
- Thais have no word for 'or'. So even an English-speaking Thai will typically respond to "Do you have single rooms or double rooms?" with "Yes"
- My ***** have become more liquid since I've been in Thailand. Why?

"The biggest mistake in life is to not make any."

Back soon!

Phi Phi Island-
No more students, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks. All replaced by soft beaches, friendly smiles and restful days in paradise. After completing our first semester of teaching, we made our way south to Thailand’s famous beaches. Flying first to Krabi, where Mike visited the lovely Railay beach. Surrounded by limestone cliffs it is only accessible by a traditional long-tail boat. Next we took a ...

I can think of more enjoyable things to do than move. It always seems to be a race against the clock; get everything moved out by tonight!! We managed to store our stuff with a couple friends and get everything packed up just in time to catch our flight to Krabi. We had lived in our apartment for 10 months but since we will spending the next month in the south it's more economical to move out.

We caught a ...

... stuff, the water at Bamboo island (Ko Paddy) was crystal clear and the fish swam all around your legs, how lovely! Most exciting though was the trip to Maya Bay, the location where the film The Beach was shot. I guess they must have used a lot of CGI because it was pretty hard to visualise Leo taking drugs and killing sharks there, but it was beautiful. We've now booked tickets to Bali, instead of going to Laos.

Our next destination was Krabi because we'd all heard about the amazing limestone formations and beaches. Another minivan, another half a day and we were on Rai Leh beach. We stayed on the budget side of the beach which turned out to be a big mistake - that side looks like tsunami hit it last month... Massive construction sites, lots of rubbish and horrible stench. A bad experience at the hotel restaurant was the last straw and after a quick vote we decided to ...

This last part of the trip was composed of a lot of traveling and a lot of beach bumming. We really enjoyed ourselves. The first task we had to complete after leaving Ko Samui, was to make a border run. While we were in Laos, Thailand decided to change its visa laws. We entered into Thailand with 30 days remaining until departure. This was perfect considering that the visa given at the border is a free 30-day visa ...

... helped us pick out a tree that might be easier to climb. One of the English guys went first, he got a boost up from his friend and then managed to get quite far up the tree. It was a struggle for him to get back down without seriously hurting himself but he managed it without damaging anything important. His shorts were ruined from the brown trunk of the tree. Then one of the Canadian girls tried it. She got a boost up and got no further. I think ...

... Phi, suffice to say it took Ali well over 36hours to get over it (it will take Jon the rest of his life) and we have reached new understandings in our relationship! A day longer than we planned (tough decision) and we were very sorry to leave Phi Phi and Thailand. In Phi Phi we were made to feel welcome where ever we ventured, the food was great (especially the breakfasts at Garden House), the sense of community was unrivaled, the sunsets were awinspiring ...

... couldn't see down to the bottom!

This steep slope also had a couple of ropes to help your balance so we abseiled/slipped down the slope, and made it to the bottom without any damage.



We then walked a few more minutes and we could just see the lagoon, which looked lovely but which we could only see a tiny glimpse of.

Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand al_fey