Bangkok and Krabi - 7/12 & 7/13

On the 12th we left Chiang Mai to head back to Bangkok. Our plan was to catch a movie VIP style, but we did something much more practical...we went to the "mall" and bought a small suitcase...there's NO WAY our souvenirs will fit in these backpacks. :) Then we went to the train station, packed all our cold weather clothes and souvenirs in the suitcase and stored it at the luggage storage section in the train station. We won't need any of it in Southern Thailand!

We took an overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani and it was pretty great. We chose 2nd class AC and had to share the train car a bit before the train staff pulled down the beds, but once the beds were down, we had our own private little bunks complete with reading lights and shelves for books, valuables, ipods, etc. We both slept well and enjoyed the experience. Once we got OFF the train around 8 am in Surat Thani, however, the experience was a little less fun. We ignored the touts who were shuttling people to the coastal areas and went to the information desk to find out how to catch a bus to Krabi. UNFORTUNATELY, he just sent us back to the touts. We thought "oh, I guess we were judging too soon...maybe they really ARE just trying to help"...turns out we should trust our first instinct. We paid our 280 Baht and hopped on a huge bus with AC...but that was only to drive us to the travel agent. Then we were told to wait 20 min for our minivan to Krabi. Got on that minivan and they took us to yet ANOTHER travel agency where we waited over an hour before finally getting in a minivan that took us to Krabi. Of course...it dropped us 10 min outside of town, so then we had to take a taxi into town. :( It was quite the hassle and we weren't in the best mood as we tramped around town with our backpacks trying to find a place to stay.

We looked at 5 or 6 different places and decided to stay for cheap...200 Baht (~$6)... it was a shared bath and no AC, but we figured we could do it! We honestly didn't do much in Krabi besides walk around and eat cheap Thai food, so there's not much to tell. We looked at TONS of brochures advertising tourist things to do, but it really seemed like you had to talk to a travel agent to get any real information, so we stopped at one that was recommended by a guide book and booked a speed boat tour of Ko Phi Phi national park (a group of islands, pronounced "pee pee")

We had a quiet night in Krabi and got up early to pack our bags, eat breakfast and head out on our island adventure. It started with a drive around Krabi to pick up everyone else, then a drive to Ao Nang (another town close by) From Ao Nang, we split into groups and hopped onto our boats. The trip was AMAZING. I will post pics when I can, but imagine huge limestone rock formations just sticking out of the ocean all over. It was so pretty and then when you got close to them, you noticed the emerald water and the gorgeous white sand beaches. We visited...hmm...maybe 4 islands...maybe 5. The first was bamboo island and the swimming there was great. I didn't want to leave. Then we drove in and out of lagoons, did some snorkeling (Mari and I jumped off the front of the boat to snorkel in the lagoon) , visited Maya Beach (the setting for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach...I haven't seen it...)

We stopped for lunch on Phi Phi Don, which is the biggest island in the park, and basically a HUGE tourist destination, full of resorts and shops selling swim suits and sarongs and jewelry... We're glad we're not staying there, but it was nice to wander through the streets a bit.
We ended the trip with an option to snorkel in the middle of the sea, but neither of us got off the boat because there were so many HUGE jellyfish!!!

I asked if they would drop us at Railay (or Rai Leh) where we planned to spend the night, and they said ok, so we saved some $$ that we would have spent on the boat taxi. As we pulled up to Railay, we were so impressed. Dramatic cliffs and beautiful beaches :)

Mari's going to take it from here. Miss you all!!
-Michelle