The trip of a lifetime

Here we go again...

01/02/08
Rick was woken to matthew fumbling about the room (trying not to wake him but obviously did!!) as he prepared to depart early for his scuba diving trip so here he his to recall the story for you....

At 7.45am I leapt out of bed feeling rather excited and headed down to the Baracuda diving down by the pier of Koh Phi Phi. By this time the sun is already blazing. As I arrived into the shop I was introduced to my diving instructor for the day. Her name was Daria (a very attractive blonde girl orginally born in Georgia). She ran through the itineary for the day before we departed out to the boat. At this point I had an intoxicating feeling of both nerves and excitement but was more than ready to go ahead. After around 15-20 mins we arrived at our first dive site just of a small island off Phi Phi called Koh Boda. Upon arrival we talked me through a couple of the exercises that would initally get us into the water (and under it breathing normally). In order to dive we spent around 10 mins going through the equipment before climbing into a wet suit and loading myself with oxygen cylinders and a weight belt, and of course a mask. Once complete I was ready to jump. At this point I literally felt like I was walking the plank as I approached the edge of the boat wearing flippers. Once my vest was inflated I took the plunge. Obviously at this point I floated back to the surface where Daria joined me and prepared to lower ourselves a metre or so under the water to perform the procedure of clearing my mask from leaking water (without coming to the surface). Once I had successfully performed the procedure we began the dive. Metre by metre we went down stopping every few 10-15 seconds to make sure I was equalising my head. Without doing this I would have had serious issues with my ears. For some reason the conventional way didn't seem to work for me (holding nose blowing out) , however I found swallowing seemed to work. Before I knew it I we were swimming around 11-12 metres below the surface faced with a variety of corals, lionfish (nasty if touched), clown fish (nemo), baracudas, pufferfish, and variety of weird and wonderful coloured tropical fish all of which were suprisingly curious to our presence. After around 50 minutes (which seemed like 10) we slowly headed up the side of an underwater cliff to the surface where we waited around 5 minutes for the boat to find us and pick us up. We then had lunch jumped into the water a few times (generally just messing about) then we headed over to Phi Phi Ley for the second dive. At this point feeling much more confident, I found I relaxed more and took in a lot more of my surroundings. At one point we spent around 10-15 minutes around a piece of rock to look at a very rare fish known as the frogfish. Apparently on any future dives I perform I will be very lucky to see them again. This was the first time my instructor had ever seen them (and she has performed well over 1000 dives in her career).
After about an hour we headed back to the surface and again waited for the boat to pick us up from floating in the ocean.

Overall this was a fantastic experience which I will definately be doing again. I'm just very pleased that i've done it and I can now approach any future diving sessions with confidence and a basic knowledge of what to expect.

Hi it's Rick again, after that thrilling tale of Matt's experience's, I'll tell you about my day! I got up, had some onion soup, spent 4 hours on the internet trying to upload photos (which I failed miserable at!!) and then went to the beach to wait for Matt to get back!! I can honestly say it was my most favourite day so far!! :-(

That evening we met up with Kurt again (the guy who introduced us to the 9 Aussie chicks) and he said that he was going to see thet Thai boxing at the local stadium with Yen (yet another barman we befriended). The Thai boxing was great but matt felt a little tired after his scuba experience and departed at about 11pm. Rick, Kurt and Yen stayed until the end and then Rick and Kurt went to a bar to carry on drinking. Now it was rick's turn to do the early morning waking (payback)!! At around 3am Rick came home with no intention of waking Matt (yeah right!!) but we both slept very soundly. We're both now used to the time zones and most morning have been up around half 8 - 9am.

02/02/08
Rick falt a little worse for wear but we went for brunch and then just chilled on the beach for the rest of the day. We met up with Kurt again and he offered to meet up with us when we get to Adelaide (as this is where he lives), which was very nice of him! That evening was a quiet one but we met a Danish bloke called Tom who was really nice as well.

03/02/08
Another chilled day on the beach (we kept threatening to go kayaking but never actually did!!). I personally blame the unpredicatble tidal movements as it was often quite a walk to the water's edge!! We had been given a flyer for a restaurant called Talay and decided to check it out. It was a bit of a walk but well worth it!! It was run by a Paddy called Paddy! Who'd have guessed!!?? As it was our second to last night we decided that we would go out on the town. We went to a few bars, an outdoor club (it's like a bar on the beach where you can sit or go inside where the music is really loud!!) and then to a bar called Hippies bar which is open really late and is really chilled out.

04/02/08
Again feeling a bit precarious in the morning (Matt blames the RedBull which is non-carbonated and tastes like syrup!!), we headed for the beach to drink lots of water. Low and behold Kurt was already there waiting for us. We recalled the previous evening antics and drank more water! We spent our last night on Phi Phi with kurt in the Ciao Bella Restaurant (literally 3 steps from the Beach Bar!!!) where we chatted. Kurt learned a lot about the UK that evening and was stunned to find out that Manchester is actually a distance from London (not in East London as he pointed on a map that Rick drew!!) We also learned much about Australia and again Kurt suggested we meet up. We naturally said "definately"! We left early as we had an early start the next morning to catch a boat to Phuket.

05/02/08
As in previous posts, the reason we stayed longer on Phi Phi was due to the bad things we have heard about Phuket, oh and the fact that Phi Phi is beautiful!! The boat journey took about an hour and a half. Upon arrival we couldn't check in until half 12 so we decided to locate food. On the way a guy on the street asked if we wanted a taxi. Rick said no as we were going to look for food. He suggested a place and said that is was cheaper than most places in Phuket and a lot of people go there! Lies, all lies!!! The place was dead and the prices were more than double what we've paid elsewhere (we paid 8 pounds each for lunch!!). Naturally a little annoyed we headed back to check in. Upon reflection we think that it might get busy in the evening and with a huge selection of seafood (lobsters bigger than your arms, tiger prawns the size of your feet and spikey lobsters that looked pretty nasty) we can now see where the attraction comes from. Parts of the restaurant were more like and aquarium!! We got back to hotel which as worked out at 4 pounds each (more like a travel lodge than a hostel/traveller's hotel). We decided to lap it up for a couple of hours int he air con and watch some TV. After a film (Predator 2) we went for a wander to quite an impressive shopping mall. Rick bought some new "Boardies" (long swimming shorts for the English people back home) in preparation for his Surfing in Perth. We then had a beer and scoped out somewhere to eat. The general consensus is that we would like pizza!!! So off we go!

Thanks for tuning in! Speak to you all soon!

Rick and Mattxx

P.S. as an additional note we would like to say that there is a lot of development going on in Koh Phi Phi in the wake of the Tsunami in 2004. There are mixed feelings about this from the locals, some feeling that they prefered it before as a tropical paradise, others who prefer the fact that tourism has brought lots of money to the island and others (who knew Phi Phi before and after the Tsunami) who think that both have been good for the island. Our view is that it is a fantastic place that everybody should experience! If you want the tropical paradise then you can find it here in Phi Phi! If you like going out for a drink and meeting holiday makers and travellers alike, and don't mind people trying to sell you things on the streets, then it caters for that too! All in all we loved it and can see why people decide to stay! We hope that the development doesn't take over and spoil the traffic free tranquility of the island but we're glad to seeso many people from different walks of life enjoying this paradise.

Hi all!!!

Hope you are all well and not too bored of these posts yet!!?

28/01/08
We last left you after our terrifying trip into the Emerald Cave! We decided to treat ourselves to a relaxing day on the beach seeing as it was our last night in Koh Lanta. So that's what we did! Sat in our little hut on the beach just chilling and chatting and having reaccuring thoughts about our cave adventure. As the day drew on we decided to look on the interent for suitable accommodation for Koh Phi Phi and how to get there. We booked ourselves on the ferry which left at 8am the following day and booked a place to stay. The accommodation cost us a fortune as most places were fully booked. We ended up paying 1700 Baht per night which is about 30 pounds!!! As you can probably imagine, we're not used to paying so much so decided that we'd stay there for one night and then look elsewhere! In the evening we ate at the hostel restaurant. had a couple of beers and had an early night as we we're up at the crack of dawn the following day.

29/01/08
Up at half 6!! Our earliest start yet but we did ok. We got to the ferry port on time and departed for Koh Phi Phi. We had a picture in our mind of what we thought it would be like, coupled with descriptions from other travellers and bits we'd read on the internet. All in all its really not as bad as they made out! It's a beautiful island what is larger than I first expected. As we got to the island we were greeted by the guy who was going to take us to our hostel. Beacuse it was so early we couldn't check in until 1 o'clock so we decided to walk around for a bit and Rick had been reading about the view point on Phi Phi which you can see the whole island so we set out to conquer it!! First of all we went the wrong way so we had to back trach for 10 minutes until we finally found the steps to get up there. As we began to ascend the steps were very steep and very plentiful! There are around 310 steps and even then you're still not at the top! After the steps there is a steep path which winds through the trees and after a further 15 minutes we reached the top. By this point we had both literally sweat half of our body weight and were very pleased to find a little shop at the top which sold very cold water! After soaking in the view for a bit we made our way back down which, as you can probably imagine, was much easier than the way up! We then made our way back to the hostel to check in! We were pleasantly surprised with the room even though the twin beds had been pushed together!! We got showered and changed in air con luxury and then went down to the beach to catch the last few rays! We ended up on Loh Dallum beach which is gorgeous with the warmest water ever. The only downside (albeit very minor) was that it was a little busier on the beach than we were used to from Koh Lanta. Had a beer at 4:30 (the end of the working day!!) and had a pizza each and decided to walk back at around 11 o'clock to get an early night after our long day. This however did not go to plan!! Phi Phi is actually quite a lively place in the evening and we ended up in Reggie Bar which has it's very own Thai Boxing ring right in the centre of the place, accompanied with the sing "Fight your friend and win a free Bucket" (for those of you who don't know...a Bucket is drink with A LOT of alcohol in it!!). Naturally we decided that it wasn't worth it and just watched as two "friends" repeatedly kicked and punched eachother! Sat next to us was a lovely Swedish bloke called Amir who had come down with his mates to watch the fights. He told us that he liked to gamble so to make the evening more interesting Rick suggested that we put a little money on each fight (only 20 Baht, in case people back home think we're going to come home with a gambling problem, is about 40 pence!). Rick, however, got very licky and won all three fights that we bet on! We had a couple more beers and then made our way back to the air con room to get some sleep.

30/01/08
As mentioned above we needed to locate some new accommodation and managed to find a nice little place called Gipsy Village for less than half what we were paying for the night before!! Pretty bog standard fan room with a double bed! It was the only room left so we had to make do. We also booked oursleves onto yet another snorkelling trip (not wanting to have a fear of them after the previous experience) for the following day to go around a few islands around Phi Phi including Phi Phi Leh, which is the isleand where the film "The Beach" was filmed!! Went down to the beach and then at 5 o'clock (beer o'clock) we went up to the bar and got chatting with an Aussie guy called Kurt and 3 of his female friends. We chatted about Australia and the best bits etc and arranged that if we saw them later that we would join them for a drink. As it tuurns out we went for some food in the 007 restaurant as recommended by them and the Lonely Planet travel guide. Half way through Rick's Sausage, Chips and Beans (he was missing home) and Matt's 'THAI' red curry they walk past, spotted us and decided to join us (all 9 of them!!!). So there we were, eating food, watching Anchorman and conversing with 9 Aussie chicks! Finished our food and then went to a couple of bars and then to a bar on the beach before heading home at about 1 ish.

31/01/08
Yet another early start in order to go on our second snorkelling trip, which was stunning! The whole thing lasted about 7 and a half hours and included places such as: Shark View Point, Bamboo Island, Monkey Beach, Phi Phi Ley, and Maya Beach (The Beach!). Snorkelling was even better today than the previous trip in Koh Lanta, with different fish and clearer waters!! Each point at which we stopped to swim just seemed to get better and better before finally ending up on Maya beach to chill out beore sunset. On the way back the driver cut the engine and we just floated around watching the sunset. As we were doing this the driver and his friend froma nearby boat started to pull up a rope from the ocean floor, attached to which was a lobster trap in which they had caught............ a squid!!! Dissappointed not to have seen a lobster but it was still pretty cool! We got back to the pier and then home to shower and change before coming out for food and update the blog!! Matt's has just come back from booking his scuba diving trip for tomorrow morning (which leaves at 8:15! hahaha Rick will stay in bed!).

So here we are, all up to date and ready for more adventure. We'll update you soon with Matt's scuba diving antics!

Take care all!

Rick and Mattxx

First and foremost, we must apologise for the lack of postage on this blog so far! We have not had proper internet access for quite sometime and the internet has been down in Koh Lanta for the last 2 days!!

20/01/08
So we left Ao Nang tof Krabi Town by Long Tail Boat having already arranged out accommodation with the first hostel we stayed in. Arrived there, dropped off our bags in the room and went for some food (more Thai food!). With it being a Sunday, Krabi Town was actually quite quiet so we decided to have a wander round a couple of markets, share a pizza (how romantic!) and then head back. We watched a film (matt read some of his how to survive... book - thanks Carol) and then slept.

21/01/08
Awoken to the sound of marching drums at 8:20am!!! As it turns out we were staying across from a Thai primary school and they were all marching into their first lessons to the sound of these almighty drums!! We then got our day sacks together and made our way down to the port in order to get a long tail boat to Railay for the day.

We arrived there at lunchtime to spend a couple of hours on West Railay Beach (which is beautiful by the way!) and then had a walk round to Pranang Beach (which was equally as beautiful but lacked the awesome sunset that the West Side offered!) for the last hour or so.

Got the boat back to Krabi Town at about 5 o'clock, got showered and then headed out for some food! Then we decided to go and have a few beers in a couple of bars and then head back. What actually happen was that we went for a few drinks as planned, then headed back to the hostel where we said we would have one more outside the hostel and then go to bed, this is where things deviated from the plan when we heard the delightful musical talents of one Jonny Cash in the next bar (to put things in perspective here, this was at about 11pm). We went in and got friendly with the owner (A lovely bloke called Charlie) and then just chilled out on his cushions. Then we got chatting to a friendly Dutch couple, Rob and Silvia, and their German friend (who actually lives in New Zealand) called Stefan. Time flew by as we chatted and before we knew it, it was 4am when decided to head up to bed. Poor old Charlie had to wait for us to leave before he could close the place up!

22/01/08
Woke up again to the rhythmic sound of the drums we had a chilled out day in Krabi Town just wandered further up the estuary to see what was around. Saw a Esso garage and decided to turn back. On the way we stopped to admire a fountain ina small green areabefore heading down a short pier onto a floating restaurant for a drink. Continued our walk back down the port and then back to the hostel to get showered and changed. Went out for some great Thai food at a close by restaurant and then (predictably) back to the Old West bar to meet up with Stefan, Rob and Silvia for a couple of drinks and another chat. Went to bed early so that we could have an early start to get the long tail boat over to Railay Beach. Over the last couple of days since we first visited Railay, we decided to find somewhere cheap to stay so we could spend the next 2 days there.

23/01/08
As discussed above, we made our way to Railay Beach early in order to find accommodation. Stefan had told us the night before about some bungalows that he had stayed in that were good and quite cheap. So when we arrived we walked 15 minutes inland (into the jungle!) to try and find the bungalows. When we got there we had a look round one of them and we decided for the same price, we could stay closer to the beach area... so we did! We stayed in a resort called the Ya Ya Resort which was very basic but ultimately functional in design. After dropping of our stuff we had a bite to eat and then went down to Railay West again to catch a few rays and watch the amazing sunset (see photo links below). Had an early night (with no air con, just a fan).

24/01/08
Got up at a reasonable time in order to make our way to Pranang Beach for the day .Had some Thai food perpared from the back of a boat and just chilled some more! The water in Railay is very clear and warm, but it's not as warm as being out in the sun so it's a blessing really. We soon came to realise that because Pranang Beach faced South, we wouldn't really get a great view of the sunset and so made our way to Railay West to watch it set. And boy are we glad! Some little Thai lad kept selling us beer and in order to enjoy them more comfortably, Matt suggested that we dig oursleves a couple of holes and then mould them into seats in the shape of our body. Maximum comfort for the ultimate sunset! (Again see the fantastic sunset pictures). We ate in one of the restaurants on Railay West and stupily ordered extra fresh chillies with our meals, which was uncomfortable for a time, but well worth it! After the meal we went round to a chilled out Reggie Bar on the East sideto which we encountered a couple of English girls (Air Hostess from Dublin and an investment banker from Stockport) teaching an Isreali guy and a Thai local drinking games. Through no fault of our own we were soon invited to join them. This lasted about half an hour before we then settled into conversation about what we did and where we're going etc. They gave us some really useful info about the rest of our trip and when we told them we were going to Koh Lanta, they advised us against it. We didn't listen (we seem to think they wanted us to stay in Railay because we're so cool) and decided to go anyway. As the night progressed we invited more of the people around us to join in conversations and having fun with us. This seemed to be very popular as by the end of the night there was about 15 of us!! All playing Jenga and having a great laugh. We wanted to havwe an early night due to the fact that we had to catch a boat at 10:30 but it was by no means early!

25/01/08
We made it up for our boat journey to Koh Lanta which was very refreshing (having spent most of our travelling so far on a plane!!). There were people on the boat suggesting places to stay and seeing as we hadn't booked anywhere, we decided we'd have a look. Found a nice looking place with bungalows for 600 Baht per night (about 4 pounds each). We decided to take a chance on it and the free transfer from the port helped seal the deal. Arrived in Koh Lanta and a group of about 8 were told to jump in this pick-up truck with all our backpacks!! Rick called shotgun for the air con in the cabin and Matt had natures very own air con running through his hair at 40mph!! In the truck Rick got chatting with these two Southern faries (Kirsty and Hannah) and got chatting. As it turns out, they are doing (overall) a very similar trip to us without America. As the truck came to a halt we took in our surroundings to be confronted with this amazing little green area surrounded in bungalows and about 20 yards from the beach!! What a result!! We spent the rest of the day in a little hut on the beach just chilling in the shade and every now and then we took a dip to cool off. Met up with Kirsty and Hannah, and a new girl called Marie, later on to have some BBQ on the beach (no drinking even though there was one free beer on offer with each meal, which we replaced with water). Then we all retired to one of the huts on the beach for some very indepth conversations about relationships! Which really helped get to know them. Matt managed to say approximately 3 words all night, Rick stretched to 7 words, boy can these Southern types talk!!!

26/01/08
Had another quiet day on the beach chatting with people and getting to know our surroundings, and obviously the bar man! We then booked a trip with the 3 girls to go on a 4 island tour with snorkelling and a trip to the Emerald Cave. Just had a meal at the hostel restaurant and then into the bar for 2 beers. Had an early night as we had to be up at 8:00 to catch the boat trip.

27/01/08
Up at 8:00, showered and dressed appropriately for the trip and then down to the beach to catch the boat. The journey to the first island took about 2 hours due to the fact that the sea was VERY choppy!! On a narrow, long tail boat, this causes problems (like having to bail out every 15 minutes) and to take it slow. All in good spirits, except the Americans at the front of the boat who were drenched!!! Rick on the other hand was as dry as a bone with the best seat in the house...right next to the driver!! Got to the first island for some snorkelling. The driver threw out some leftover fruit from our trip which caused a frenzy of activity in the water. After swimming around for 20 minutes it was time to move to the second island for another 20 minutes to see some different varieties of fish and coral life. Rick spent most of the second stop jumping off the front of the boat with a little Swedish lad that decided to befriend us on the boat, meanwhile we couldn't get matt out of the water as he was entranced by the spectacle before him! The third island stop was a little different!! Everyone got out of the boat and was asked to follow the boat driver into a cave. The water was pretty deep and consideringwe haven't done much exercise recently we were both excited and aprehensive at the same time!! As darkness fell about 20 meters into the cave there was much screaming and yelling (please bear in mind that the water was still way to deep to stand up, you couldn't see your hand infront of your face...literally!!!) It was truly an experience like no other but nothing in comparison with the journey back!! Half way through thankfully someone switched on a head torch and we could continue on our swim. As we began to finally see some light at the end of the tunnel (again literally!!) our heart rates decreased slightly to behold this wonderful little hideaway with a shallow pool of crystal clear water and cliffs all around for about 300 feet. There was no way in or out (unless you are very skilled with a helicopter of dare brave the journey back through the cave) so we stayed for 20 minutes to soak it all in. It looked like a volcano from the inside with many rare species of plants and other wildlife. This place actually used to be a place where pirates would bury their treasure to return at a later date to pick it up and move it elsewhere due to its secret entrance. And so our 20 minutes were up and as previously stated, the only way back was through the cave - the nightmare begins (Julie if you're feeling squeemish then skip to the next chapter)!!! Our group began to follow the guide into the cave but unfortunately for us he didnt have a head torch! There were a people lagging behind and before we all knew it we were treading water in the pitch black darkness of the cave (and as you all know...that's pretty dark!), banging into the rocks and then realised that the guide had gone on without us!! (Mild) panic soon set in as people began to clutch onto each other in the darkness for support (both physical and mental). After what seemed like a lifetime we made a group decision to swim back the way we came in order to follow one of the other groups who had a head torch! Our wish was granted and before we knew it we were out of the otherside in the open water with a short swim to the boat. After such an ordeal (which whilst very scary at the time, was really amazing!!) the 4th island was a welcome relaxing hour on a fantstic beach with the clearest, bluest sea you've ever seen (Koh Ngai)! After our hour was up we jumped back in the boat and proceeded for about an hour and a half (through much calmer waters!) back. On route, however, our driver decided that he needed to pop to the local fishing trawler out in the ocean to buy his tea! Quite an experience and not usually on this partuicular tour! The fishermen were just pulling up their nets as we arrived and the driver made his purchase of sardines and small swordfish. The sardines were particularly nice so fresh out of the water!!! And then we came back to the bungalow to write this post and keep all you lovely people back home. As we look to our right we can see the sun setting and the silhouette of an extremely cheeky monkey that Rick has become very attached to and would love to bring it home.

On that note we would love to be able to leave you with some links that you could click on in order to see some photos. However, everybody except Facebook seems to be agains us uploading loads of photos at any one time so we apologise for this. What we will do is research alternative methods asap and get back to you with an answer.

The sun is setting and we are going to grab a quick beer.

Take care all and speak to you soon!

Rick and Mattxx

We have already maxed our picture allowance on this blog but you can access them on Facebook without signing up to it. If you follow the links below you can see the two albums we've put together so far. Once you've clicked the link, click on the picture that will appear to enter the album.

First couple of days

Chicken Island and Last night in Ao nang

Enjoy!!

Hi all,

Here is the first of many installments on this blog (which we know you've all been waiting for with bated breath).

17/01/08
Arrived at Krabi Airport at around 19:30 and then jumped into a taxi to take us to our extremely fancy hostel. As you can probably imagine we were very tired after a total of 33 hours travelling and accumulated about 8 hours sleep between us (you do the math!). However, not to be shy on our first night and lock ourselves away, we decided to go out and see what the nightlife was like on a wednesday night. Well... I can tell you that it's pretty lively! First 7 beers went down very nicely and very quickly things took a turn for the worst when the very fiendly bar owner bought us a Jagermeister with a dash of Red Bull! Yummy! We managed to get to bed about 01:30 (after succesfully navigating ourselves back to our hostel).

In typical Matt/Ric style, we managed to befriend the owner of the bar (she's called 'O') and a lovely French bloke called Sebastion.

18/01/08
After last nights drinking we didn't rise out of our pit until 15:00 (Matt blames it on Jet lag...I blame the Jager). Not a good start to our travels and certainly wasn't planned but hey ho. Spent a couple of hours trying to figure out exactly what happened last night and had a wander around Ao Nang to soak up the local culture. We came to the conclusion that there is a very mixed population of all ages, lifestyles and nationalities, but everyone is having fun. Had some tea at a nice little restaurant, I had a burger, Matt had a ham and cheese toastie (like I said, taking in the culture ha ha). In all seriousness, we weren't that hungry as the airline food had served us well. Went for a few QUIET drinks next to the beach befor heading back to the previous night's watering hole. Sebastion was there again and told us about an island off the coast called Chicken Island (see below) that we thought we'd check out tomorrow.

19/01/08
Woke up at 9:00 (that's more like it!), got showered and dressed and then met up with 'O' at the beach to get a long tail boat out to Chicken Island. The boat trip took about half an hour but my goodness was it worth it!! It's a preserved national park which no-one lives on, you just go to spend part of the day there. Photo's will be uploaded soon and you will be amazed! You could walk between two of the islands (Chicken Island and Koh Poda) as the water was really shallow and crystal clear (and warm!!). Had our first taste of Thai food on the island which was very nice. Our boat arrived at 14:00 to take us back to the mainland and we decided to stay on the beach a little longer to catch some more sun. Just got back and showered to clear that really fine sand that gets everywhere!!Now we're writing on our blog before we go out for more food and a couple of local beers to mark an end to our stay in Ao Nang.

Tomorrow we will be leaving Ao Nang in seach of pastures greener/sandier in Krabi Town for another couple of nights. Will keep you posted soon as to further exploits. Hope everyone is well back home, miss you all.

Rick and Mattxx