catching up on Thailand

This is going to be a bit condensed but I do have the notebook so I'll fill you in on the rest of our time in Thailand as best I can.  We got up the morning of the 16th and walked over to the beach for a couple hours just to read and relax (still in the shade b/c of our burn).  Then back to the hotel to pack up and head out.  Stopped for a great lunch at a little stand and had the best pad thai and papaya salad for lunch.  We both thought it was the best pad thai we'd ever had so we got another order to take with us.

Next was the crazy longtail boatride to Ao Nang!  It was kind of rainy and cloudy and the sea was pretty choppy when there were finally enough people to fill our boat.  Our boatman knew what he was doing but even so it was a little nerve-wracking and we got more than a little wet.  Once in Ao Nang we walked around and found a guesthouse-PK mansion for 400B with A/C.  We wandered around Ao Nang in the evening, did a little shopping and ate at a collection of street vendors.  After dinner we were craving mango and sticky rice which was hard to find and cost more than our dinner by double!!  But it was delicious and worth it!

July 17th--

This was basically one long travel day.  Got up and took a nice walk on the beach and then at 10 we got in a songthaew (pick up with bench seats again) to take us to the Krabi bus station.  From there we boarded a big bus (yay) to Surat Thani.  It was a nasty rainy day and at one point it was pouring and the bus windows were leaky so suddenly Michelle was getting soaking wet.  We switched for a bit since I had board shorts on but after a few minutes it was just too much and we moved to new seats farther back that were dry.  We got dropped at a minor bus station in Surat Thani and of course got pounced on by tuk tuk drivers.  We asked a travel agent aout getting to the train station later and she said there was a public bus that left after 30min so we should just go walk around the markets nearby.  Unfortunately it was still pouring so that idea was not appealing!  But in our quest to find food we stumbled onto a mall that had a KFC which worked out great.  We'd been wanting to try their green curry chicken dish anyway so we got that and a spicy chicken with a dry curry rub.  Both were actually quite delicious and better than anything we've had at KFC in the states. Since the rain continued KFC ended up being our refuge for the next 3 hours while we did a bunch of New Zealand planning.

At around 7pm we decided to head towards the train station.  Unfortunately when we got to the bus station we were informed by 3 tuk tuk drivers that the bus didn't run after 7.  We doubted them at first thinking they just wanted to trick us but after waiting 20 minutes and being told by yet another person that the bus was finished we decided to suck it up and take the songthaew.  The first price they offered was 400B and we were like "no way" and started walking figuring we could get it cheaper if we weren't by the bus stop.  About two blocks later the same drive tracked us down and said 100B for both. =)  Sadly when we got to the train station we found out our train was delayed by an hour.

When we finally got on thr train we were a little sad to see that it wasn't as nice as our first train.  The curtains were pink so they let in a lot of light and the train ride overall was quite rough...lots more jerking around.  Neither of us slept much that night and were a little worse for wear when we finally made it back to Bangkok at 10am on the 18th.

July 18th-

Our travel woes weren't quite finished because we had trouble getting a taxi driver who would use his meter at the train station and decided to start walking to our hotel.  It was probably a couple miles away and after maybe 3/4 of a mile we decided to try to flag down a taxi again.  He did use his meter BUT didn't know where our hotel was and ended up dropping us off on the other end of the Old City! =(  Argh!  We'd both had it by then and stopped to ask where we were at a hotel.  Luckily our next taxi driver did know the hotel and took us right there.  The hotel was...well...worn is a nice way to put it.  Despite being super exhausted we knew we had limited time in Bangkok so we dropped our bags and headed out to see the Old City highlights.

We went to the National Museum...not really worth it except for seeing these elaborate and HUGE funeral chariots.  Next was the Royal Palace which was pretty cool to see and is just incredibly decked out in gold and super shiny.  We'll post pictures at some point.  Our last stop was at Wat Po to see the GIANT reclining buddha...SO HUGE!!

internet time is up! ah!