Day 35

So we're in Laos?

Day 32-33

We got up early to catch a day tour from Ao Nang. The tour took us to Crystal falls, which is a natural hot springs. The water had fresh water which was so nice to get away from the salt water for the day, and the water was about 35° C at the top. We sat on the rock formation and relaxed our muscles from the chaotic last two days. Then we hiked up to the Emerald pool. It looked man made because the water was so clear and had a gorgeous emerald glaze. The rocks were slippery surrounding the pool so we tried to use them like a crazy carpet. I just about did a face plant a couple of times (okay like 5 times)...... it was a nice trip. The next stop was Tiger Cave. There were monkey's everywhere. People were feeding them chips and pop. Nobody likes an over weight monkey. We hiked up stairs that lead to stairs that descended into a valley. Crazy i know, we went up stairs only to go straight back down stairs. There were a bunch of bungalows set up for the monks. We saw some trees in the valley (who knew). One of the trees was 900 years old and had been struck by lightening. Last stop was the elephant trek. Kathryn and I hoped up board the riveting ride. By riveting I mean a thumb twiddling, and slowly rocking side to side extravaganza. It was out of control but hey it was an experience. We met up with the guys from the US and Holland for supper (I mean dinner as they made a point of correcting us). We headed to a fantastic joint that had crazy delicious pizza. My wisdom teeth have been moving the last couple of days so the pizza was less of a delight for myself but word from the other girls was nothing but good. The one American grabbed the bill and the rest of us pitched our share for the meal. The waiter returned and showed Kathryn the bill saying that they undercharged us by 500 baht. We all looked at each other saying that we all had pitched our share, but lone and behold the American whom had the bill earlier pulled all the cash out of his wallet which totaled exactly 500 baht. I piped up with "so just going to pocket all that Cash, eh?" He returned all flushed with "oh now i can't buy you all beer". So he was about to pocket about $14 American........... typical American. We decided to avoid the American thieving dual.

Kathryn and I received the best news all trip. ................Becca, Adam, and Andre missed us and decided to come down to Railay. We met up with the crew in the evening after they came back from a fishing trip. They caught a barracuda and some tuna. We got one of the restaurants to BBQ the fish for supper, it was fantastical. We kicked around Railay and played connect 4's with the locals, and hung out with Peter Kathryn's buddy. Kathryn and I missed the last taxi boat to Ton Sai so we crashed with Becca, Adam and Andre. We slept on their pool side lounge chair cushion. Kathryn and I are incredibly good at making our sleeping situation almost impossible, but it always seems to buff.

Kathryn and Becca have decided to extend their stay, and we have all decided to go to Laos. We fly to Bangkok on the 20th to sort out flights then its off to Laos to go rafting and swing into the river.

Day 30-31

So its Feb 14 - Single Awareness day ...... yeeeeesssss
Officially maybe the worst day on the whole trip thus far. Kathryn, Erin (Becca's cousin) and I parted from Becca, Adam And Andre. Single tear when we hugged them goodbye. We took a ferry to Railay, and we arrived at about 5pm. We had to jump into a taxi boat, which took us to Railay. Erin watched our bags while Kathryn and I scoured the area for a place to stay. Everywhere was full or cost 40 000 plus baht (little bit our of our price range). For one of the resorts we hiked 60 plus stairs to find out that they were full. We hopped onto a taxi boat to go to Ton Sai (people said that it was cheaper and that they should have accommodation?????).
We wondered around Ton Sai for 2 hours ~ 7pm. Kathryn and I decided to settle with sleeping on the beach, and decided to focus on finding a tent. We saw a couple packing up a tent and asked where they got it from. They had brought it from home.......BUT said that we could barrow the tent for the night because they were going to rent a larger tent in a quieter area ~9pm. We set the 1, possibly 2, person tent at the resort where the Switzerland couple was staying. A girl from Vancouver lent us a mattress to sleep on. We showered to reduce the stress of being homeless. We checked out the live music on the beach, and Erin got her first glimpse of the fire jugglers. Ended the day with the three of us cramming in the, not at all spacious, tent. Kathryn and Erin crammed themselves against the tent walls while I dominated the middle 180° from the other two. Unbelievably cozy......high season rocks our world!

We met all of our neighbors whom were also rocking the campers lifestyle. There were 2 girls from Vancouver, one guy from England, the Switzerland couple, two Americans, and a guy from Holland. We quickly snatched a larger tent so that we don;t have to touch each other while we sleep (Kathryn was disappointed). We tented on a huge concrete platform at Mountain View resort..... pretty much the backpacker/hostile trailer trash. Limited coverage from the sun and no fans we started the day off right at the crack of dawn. We toured around Phrangan cave and checked out the resort that was about 100 000 baht a night. Apparently its the resort where Fat Boy Slim stays where he kicks it at Railay. In the Afternoon we hit up rick climbing on the east Railay edge by the ocean. The view was amazing. We utilized our spider man like skills. We met a family from Victoria that know Dr. Mick (Corrina's dad). At the end of the day we sat on the beach and watched the sun set which always seems to amaze us as though we have never seen it set before....... We miss you Becca, Adam and Andre!

Day 28-29

We chilled for a day on the island since the trek over was a tad exhausting. Kathryn, Becca, Andre, Adam, Erin and myself all went on a day tour to the islands around Koh Pi Pi. We went to Mai Beach (where "the Beach" was filmed). The beach was puked on with people. We saw mosquito island, monkey island, we went snorkeling, kayaking, and jumping off the top level of the boat into the water. I attempted a back dive/flip which resulted in a belly flop, and I ended up bruising my shins. We shot gun Chang (Thai beer) while watching the sun set. Our next move was to take a group photo, and Adam was sitting on a chain that closed the opening for the diving board. Kathryn hopped on with him and they broke the link. It it wasn't for the diving board Adam would have plummeted into the water backwards. Later that night we went to a bar called Reggae. The bar has a boxing ring, and anyone can get suited up to box. The lovely Becca stepped up and fought a girl from New Zealand. Becca dominated while Kathryn was making connections with the opposition to have a roommate in New Zealand. We met a bunch of Canadians on the walk home and everyone busted out the Canadian Anthem. When we got home a Swedish pregnant lady was not impressed with us. Adam smoothed over the situation by asking her out for lunch, but Mood swing momma was having none of it. The yelling slowly faded long enough for us to fall asleep.

Day 26-27

We decided to take an over night ferry from Koh Toa to Surratthani. The ferry left at 9pm Feb 10 and was scheduled to arrive at 5am Feb 11. The 8 hour ferry ride did not quite add up, since it took 4 hours from Surratthani to get to Koh Phangna and then 2 hours to get to Koh Toa. Becca put it perfectly when we arrived and saw our boat "No wonder it takes 8 hours we are going to be riding on a tug boat." Looking for luxurious accommodation, first class service and 5 star dinning? Look elsewhere! Accommodation includes 1/2 of a dirty mattress, 80 plus people in 50' by 10' room. Nice and cozy (got a touch awkward at times). We didn't realize that we signed up to ride a floating homeless shelter. At first glance you would think there was enough life preservers, but giving a quick head count and we realized that we will need to leave the wounded behind....Becca! The beds are a touch close and mighty cozy. Kathryn is exactly 1/4" from me and we are debating on spooning; however realizing Comatose Angie would force Kathryn to remain in spoon position. Shy, naive and young, the heroic Kathryn and the mighty comatose Angie considered their options.They established the mighty mighty comatose spoon. The gravel slowly taking its role on the queasy boat ride the two doze off to the sweet music of the Pussy Cat Dolls "Dontchya wish your girlfriend was hot like me...." From Surratthani we were loaded up on a truck the size of a ford ranger. The driver fit 16 people on the back and in the the front of the truck and 16 bags, so approximately 32 people. We jumped in the front cab, so hopefully to minimize scrapes and bruises if the truck tips over going around corners. We waited in a sketch diner to load into a bus (similar to the size of a grey hound). Mission impossible 3 was the movie of choice for the ride (sweet something to make us all fall fast a asleep). We were just about to fall asleep when the driver booted us off the bus and loaded us up into a 9 person van, which we sat in for 4 hours to Krabi. Surprise we were taken to another diner and sat for another hour and a half. We finally reached the Pier at 11am to head to Koh Pi Pi, but we managed to miss the morning boat and had to wait till 3:30 pm to catch the next ferry.

While waiting at the Pier we herd news that koh Pi Pi was on fire. The plan was to meet Andre and Adam on the island, and we hadn't heard anything about the degree of the fire. Andre and Adam met us at the Pier in Koh Pi Pi. The fire was contained and didn't stop the party on the island at all. We didn't get checked into our bungalow until 10pm and we had to trek over rocks with our giant bags and head laps, just your usual refugee expedition.

Day 24-25

The boat taxi was a lot smoother heading back in the morning, we were all a little disappointed. We had a 2 hour wait for our ferry to arrive so Becca and I went on the hunt for food. We lost count the amount of times were asked if we needed a taxi to drive us somewhere. Everyone here is so willing to help you to get to where you are going..........aka super annoying. We found and nice little dinner in the shadows of one of the side streets. The food was amazing. It always seems to be the shady places that have the best food.

We arrived in Koh Toa and found out that Becca's cousin (Erin) was stuck in Ko Phagna and wouldn't been able to meet us until the following day. She started traveling on Tuesday and didn't meet up with us until Friday. We arrived at Koh Toa on the 9th (aka Kathryn's birthday). The sun sets were amazing on the island.


We decided to make Sea Shell bungalows our home for the night. We took Kathryn out on the town for her birthday. We picked up a micky and two liters of cola. Felt like the old days in high school mixing in the shadows, but this time on the beach. We had a blast dancing the night away. Kathryn definitely enjoyed her b-day.


After all the partying we headed up 7 eleven and Kathryn was convinced by some local girls to get a pork paddy burger, which looked vial. The paddy was grey, and Becca's was florescent orange. I decided to stick with the banana chocolate pancakes which proved to be the best option in the morning. The next morning we were working up by a roster and three of his hussy's. As soon as we were up they moved on to the next bungalow.


Erin took an early ferry and we quickly met up with her. We hung around the beach again all day (tough life) and big surprise we tossed the Frisbee, and recapped the eventful night with people that we met the night before.




Tonight we are taking a night ferry to Surratani, which leaves at 9pm and gets in at 5am. Then we will be taking a bus to Ko Pi Pi to meet up with Andre and Adam. We are hoping for the best for our trip. It should make for an interesting story, or at least an interesting experience.

Day 21-23

Bottle Beach was definitely an experience to get to. We took a cab to the main ferry Pier, and then we had to take another cab to the north side of the island to catch a taxi boat to the beach. The lady setting us up with the cab kept telling us that the water was too rough and that the water will calm down in exactly 5 days and therefore should spend 5 days at a resort that was just north of the Pier. We were having none of that noise. So we made her get us a cab and decided to check it out for ourselves.

We arrived at the taxi boat area and quickly saw that the water was really clam. (what a dirty lyer) We took the taxi boat which had a Nazi flag on it to the beach, it was a little rocky but apparently Becca loves to ride the big waves. People on the beach were quick to react to the politically incorrect flag and decided that we were the Nazi's. We knew instantly that we would make a lot of friends on. Bottle beach is very secluded. and we were super pumped to step away from the crazy scene and re cope from the full moon. We soon realized that the beach was mostly couples and people that generally crashed around 9pm. The Thai people loved us because we were about the only ones to stay up past 9pm.


Again we basked in the sun, tossed the Frisbee and swam in the ocean. Pretty much loving life right now.





We took a quick tour around the beach. Basically the beach consits of three competing bungalows and forest. We hiked up a set of stairs that led to a house built on the side of the mountain.


We are heading to Koh Tao in the morning to meet up with Becca's cousin, and to party for Kathryn's 23rd birthday. Hopefully the waves are the way Becca likes it for the way back to the ferry.

Day 14-20

Kathryn finally arrived it was so nice to finally see a familiar face. We also met up with Becca, Andre, and Adam. Kathryn need some time to game up for Thailand so we decided to lay on the beach, toss the Frisbee and swing from a rope into the water. You know your typically day down here. We checked out Andre and Becca's palace in town, definitely a tad short of being luxurious but they survived. We hit up the Full Moon party in true fashion. Andre had paint all over his face, and the rest of us tried to classy up with our own intricate paint designs but it got a little messy, but we survived. The morning following full moon Becca, Kathryn and myself strolled into town still rocking our outfits from the night before and saw other fellow full mooners braving the day light with paint all over their bodies as well. Nothing short of good times.


Andre and Adam decided to head over to Koh Samui so Becca made the smart decision to move into our bungalow and travel with Kathryn and myself. We stayed at Sea side till Jan 6th. Becca, Kathryn and myself had to share a double bed. We established that I am a comatose sleeper, Kathryn is very squirmy, and Becca is constantly looking for more room for her uber long limbs. We decided to head up to the north east side of Koh Phanga to Bottle Beach. We said goodbye to Lisa. Lisa and I are hoping to meet up in Bangkok since we have the same flight home.
So off to Bottle Beach for some more Frisbee tossing in the ocean and basking in the sun.