Ian and I met in my hotel lobby this morning at about 10:30am. He had his bags with him because he decided his hotel was a dive and he was moving over to my hotel. I checked out of my room and they gave it to him, so I just left my bag there for the day. It worked out quite well.
While I was waiting for Ian in the lobby, I looked at some brochures for afternoon trips. The only thing that looked appealing was a tour to James Bond Island. The hotel pick ups started at 11:00am so once Ian was on board we quickly booked one. We were scheduled to be picked up at 11:15am so we quickly ran down to the sandwich shop to get breakfast and lunch. Then we went over to the Family Mart, which is not quite as popular as 7/11 but its also everywhere, to get some drinks for the day. We were back at the hotel at 11:05 but the minibus was already there waiting for us.
We got on the bus and drove around in circles picking up other tourists. Finally we were on our way to the monkey cave (Suwankuha Temple), which was about an hour drive across Phuket. Once we got there we bought some corn for the monkeys. They came running for us when they saw it. A big fat monkey grabbed my skirt and tried to get at the bag of corn. I tried to lose him but he jumped right up on me and I squealed. Shortly after that, the fat monkey attacked Ian for corn as well. He jumped on to Ian's leg and pulled himself up towards the bag of corn. There were a lot of baby monkeys around too, who weren't nearly as good at getting the corn and would fight each other for it. Everyone watching was having a good laugh at all the commotion.
Finally we decided we should actually check out Suwankuha Temple, which is in a cave. It was very cool but stinky. I tried to get out of there as quickly as I could but still managed to see most of it.
We all got back in the minibus and went to the jetty where we got in a longtail boat that took us through Phang Nga Bay National Park to James Bond Island. It took about 40 minutes to get there, cruising past beautiful limestone mountains along the way.
There were a lot of market stalls at James Bond Island but they were all selling the same junk, and none of it was very interesting. One aggressive girl tried to get me to buy jewelry. She kept telling me she was cheap and would give me a very good price. But a very good price on junk is still no deal so I finally escaped her clutches and went to check out the limestone formations.
Back on the boat, we headed to a dock where we were taken around Tum Talu to see some of the limestone caves and formations in inflatable canoes. We went in and out of caves, sometimes having to lie flat in the boat to get under the overhanging rocks. We made friends with two Serbian guys in a nearby canoe. We switched cameras so we could take photos of one another in our canoes.
Our canoe guide pulled over onto a little island at one point and told us to get out. The problem is that it is all limestone and we weren't wearing shoes in the canoe so I didn't really want to. He insisted though and I got out and of course instantly slit my toe open on a sharp rock. There was blood everywhere so the canoe guide gave me his flip-flops to get back to the boat.
While we were being returned to the dock, our guide told us we should tip him 200 baht. Ian didn't like this at all and we ended up giving him 100B which is what we had been thinking before he told us we should tip him.
Once back on the dock, our tour guide got me a bandage. He cleaned it with some water but there was still sand in it so he told me to wait until we were at our next stop. We then got back in the longtail and headed to a nearby Muslim fishing village, Koh Panyi. Here, our guide got a needle and a lighter. He sterilized the needle with his lighter but also managed to burn his fingers, and danced around in pain for a few seconds. Then he stuck the needle in my gash and dug out the sand.
Now that I was all cleaned up, we walked around the stalls on the village and looked at their wares. I was trying to find some cool souvenirs but I didn't see anything that really appealed to me. However we did find a pancake stand, which we had been talking about earlier, so of course we ordered a couple for the ride back to the jetty. We also found the residential area of the village which was interesting and somewhat depressing to walk around.
Then the tour was over. We were returned to the jetty where we got back on the minibus and returned to the hotel. I decided to have a quick shower there since it would be about thirty hours before I could have another. Then I went back up to Family Mart and loaded up on snack food for my long night and longer flights.
I ordered a cab through my hotel and got a young, fun guy as my driver. He was listening to a mixed CD as we drove the hour long trip to the airport. Every time a new song came on he would ask me either "Do you know this song?" or "do you like this song?" I recognized every single one from spending too much time in Thai bars. He was singing along with them so when one came on that I had heard far too often (Beautiful Girls), I started singing too. He giggled and joined in. After awhile of his club music, a Brad Paisley song came on. This was quite a change from what we had been listening to so far.
I asked him "You like country?" And he said he did.
I asked if he knew Dierks Bentley and he did, so then we *really* bonded. He was a really chatty guy too, and made the hour go by quite quickly. I told him he had to check out Keith Urban, whom he had never heard before.
Once at the airport I said good-bye to my new friend. I checked in for my flight and waited forever to board. This airline is so budget that you don't even get assigned a seat. So as soon as the boarding call is made you have to rush to the gate and line up, because you basically pick your seat by what's left. I didn't notice the lineup starting right away but still did pretty good, managing to get a window seat near the front of the plane.
The flight was on time and I arrived in Bangkok just after midnight, where I had to wait six hours for my 19 hour (plus layovers) flights home. Ugh. I'm not ready to go!
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