Last few days

Top left - Me and Rob from our tour group at our dinner in Krabi
Top right - Carmen and I, last night in Krabi
Middle left - my bruised arm from the boat
Middle right - swallow caves on our way to the fishing village
Bottom - Our Bond pose!












































The last few days have been full of adventure. Our group has been on the go since Kho Samui. We stayed at Khao Sok National Park for one night. We canoed down the river, which was relaxing and perfect as I was beat. We saw a few cool things during the canoe - monkeys and a couple snakes nestled in the trees. Our canoe guides were awesome - good humour, knowledgable and they did all the work : ) The place we stayed at was pretty decent. There was no hot water, but by this point we were getting fairly used to cold showers. We had another gecko in our room that shit on Carmen's bed. There were also hundreds on ants climbing through the bathroom window. Carmen and I slept in the same bed that night, wrapped up as tight as possible, so tight I could barely breathe.

The next day we were off to Krabi. Krabi is COOL! It's also under a ton of construction as the Tsunami destroyed this place. We stayed in a very similar style room as the National Park, a 3 level tree house. Carmen and I, of course, were on the top! This is becoming the norm for us. The room didn't have the ants or the geckos, but we did have a cockroach that Carmen chased out of the room. I just froze. Railey beach was amazing, warmer water then the showers we've had for the last week. We took our time here and soaked up the scenery. The restaurant we went to for dinner was awesome. They played great music, there were tons of tourists and the Thai boys had a fire throwing competition. A few of us stayed late and drank and danced. The next day we took a boat to Phi Phi Island, which I was really excited about. Ever since I watched the movie "The Beach" I knew it was somewhere I had to go. The boat ride was rough. I thought it would be a great idea to sit at the front, as the scenery was amazing. It was also the roughest spot to sit on the boat. I bruised my arm from my elbow to my armpit because I was holding on for dear life. I'll attach a photo. That and a little bit of whiplash made for a hell of a ride. I haven't been able to sit today, awesome!!! Maya beach on Phi Phi Island, where they filmed the movie, was beautiful. BUT there were so many tourists who seemto have no respect for the place as there was litter everywhere!!! It's sad that tourists don't take better care of this beautiful place. Regardless, visiting Phi Phi was on my bucket list and I am proud to have been able to check it off. We snorkelled later that afternoon. The fish were beautiful, but I'm not to crazy about them swimming around me so I didn't stay in to long.

The next day we were off to do some beach camping and visit Tapoo Island also called James Bond island (filmed a movie there). The weather wasn't as great as we anticipated so we ended up staying at a Muslim fishing village in Koh Panyee. We were able to visit James Bond Island, very touristy and overrated. The fishing village is a floating village of about 1500 people. We stayed with one family, they had guest houses in the back. We took in a soccer tournament and had a wonderful authentic dinner. Sek serenaded us with some guitar after dinner, and put us all to sleep. About a hour into sleep, I heard one of the girls next door screaming, and all I could hear was the word rat. I sat straight up and started to panic. The screaming chick yelled that the rat had entered our room. I woke Carmen up and we ran out of the room. The rat had climbed the rafter and down our wall and was in the corner of the room. The guy who lived at the house and Sek came to our rooms, scared that something had happened. We had woke the whole house up. I stood outside of the room on a chair for 1/2 hour. Rob, one of our tour mates, stayed with Carmen and I in our room until we fell asleep, which was very sweet of him. In the morning, as I was getting my stuff together, Carmen gave me a look of terror and calmly said we should leave the room. I knew exactly what she meant and ran out screaming. The rat was eating something in the corner of our room again. When I got my stuff out of there, I was happy to never go back. I don't have all these issues at home, I need to be tougher.

Today we are in Phuket. Our tour ends tomorrow and finally Carmen and I will be on our own. We don't yet know exactly what we are doing or where we are going...but I know we'll figure it out. It's been a crazy 40+ days. We've been to so many places, met so many people from all over the world. We have travelled to 4 different countries and I must admit I learned a lot about these places I never knew before. We have survived the rodents and insects, the heat, the heartache of parting with amazing people. I am so thankful that we had these tours as a guide and introduction to this part of the world. The next stage will be quite different, I'm sure. We need a bit of independence and are comfortable enough now to get around on our own for a while.

Write soon!!!