WIANG SA and NAN

We met Megan in the McDonalds on the Kao San Road around 7am after our 14hour bus ride to Bangkok. I was lucky enough to be the only person on the bus with two seats to themselves! I got a decent sleep but bus sleeps don't exactly leave you refreshed and ready for the day. We decided to get a $5 ghetto room close by so that we could shower, nap, and have a place to leave our bags. We had a million things to do in Bangkok before our bus left for Wiang Sa at 4pm. We decided to take a public bus to the largest outdoor market in the world, about 20mins from Bangkok. It was sooo overwhelming and so hot and none of us really had room in our backpacks for any of it so we left practically empty handed. We picked up some school supplies for the kids at Lauras school as well as lots of candy to bribe them with at a Thai supermarket. I mangaged to get about 20mins of nap time after all of our errands were done. We attempted to take a public bus to the main bus station since our experience to the market worked out but this time around was a different story! We watied for about 30mins for a bus and when we got on nobody spoke english so we had no idea if we were on the right bus but it bared the number of the bus we'd been told to get on. After we'd been standing with our backpacks laughing and falling all over the place in the middle of the bus for about 15mins (basically putting on a show for all the conservative Thai people on the bus) our bus stopped and the ticket lady on the bus (all buses have ticket ladies) threw our bags out of the door and practically pushed Christine down the stairs. We knew we weren't anywhere near the bus station so we took a taxi the rest of the way. Bangkok is nuts. Thailand is nuts.

Our bus ended up pulling into Wiang Sa about 2hrs late--around 4am. We had no way to contact Laura so she and Uncle Jai (her homestay owner guy) had been waiting there for that long. We took a bus to Nan and rented bikes. Checked out a few Wats and museums and a very sad zoo. We had dinner at Uncle Jai's--chickens from their backyard and rice. We biked down to Wiang Sa night market for something to do then we watched "Walk The Line" at Lauras place and planned our lessons for the next day. We were to teach grades 5, 1, and 2. After a short sleep on Laura's rock hard bed, she lent me a long skirt that was way too big and a huge purple polo shirt--teacher attire in Wiang Sa. I should mention that Laura and her housemate are the only two white people in Wiang Sa and the province of Nan, where Wiang Sa is located, only has 15 white people living there. We were celebrities. The kids were so intrigued by us, when they saw us walking the halls they would laugh or stare or want to touch us, it was like being a celebrity. The kids at Sriwiang Sa didn't speak much english so it was difficult trying to teach them the language when none of us speak Thai. They loved the clay, crayons, etc, and the candy that we brought them. I would like to think that they learned something from us--we taught them about Canada for the most part. It was an amazing day but I don't envy Laura--its an exhausting job.

Next stop, Chiang Mai! (More of Northern Thailand)

KOH LANTA and KRABI

Christine and I left Phi Phi and headed to for the mainland where we were picked up by a minibus that took us all the way from the ferry terminal to Koh Lanta (good deal as it drove us onto the 2 ferries we had to take to get there). I was still not feeling great so I popped a gravol and slept the whole way--I hope the scenery wasn't too nice! We arrived on Lanta and discovered that in the off season almost the entire island shuts down! Our beachfront resort only had one other guest staying there. It was nice though--we got a cute bungalow overlooking the water (prime real estate) and it was quiet.

We decided to walk down the main road for dinner that night and ended up having to walk 40mins to find a restaurant that was actually open. This restaurant was inside a gorgeous resort and were so hungry that we decided to ignore the higher prices and just eat dinner there. We had the entire classy beachfront restaurant to ourselves, it was fabulous and totally worth the extra cash.

After dinner we tuk tuked back to our resort and watched a movie on my ipod (thanks James)! There weren't any restaurants open past about 9 or 10 and there definitely weren't any bars open. We did find a 7-11 down the road from our resort though for some movie snacks. No matter where you are in Thailand, you can always find a 7-11.

We spent our daytime hours on the beach (which was also deserted--very cool) or in the enormous, dangerous waves, or reading on our front porch. It was a really great island for relaxing and finding things to do to entertain yourself. I won't go into details but lets just say Christine and I may have performed a duet of a song from the little mermaid one day.

We left Lanta to head to Krabi for a couple of days before we had to meet back up with Megan in Bangkok. We stayed in an amazing guesthouse in Krabitown (cute little backpacker village) that had clean sheets and an outdoor shower. It was a much needed change from the dingy sheets and grimy showers we're used to.

We took a longtail boat to Rai Lai beach because we'd heard amazing things about it. It was stunning, much like Phi Phi. The main beach is in a bay between two huge limestone cliffs. Rai Lai is a rock climbing mecca so the climbers served as a nice distraction from the unbearable heat when we were lying on the sand. We only had a few hours there before we had to head back to Krabitown to catch our 14hr bus to Bangkok, so we soaked up every second of it. I would love to come back to Rai Lai and spend more time here.

Next stop Bangkok (a VERY quick one--I've seen enough of Bangkok and we have to get up north to see Laura)!

KOH PHI PHI

Koh Phi Phi, where to begin. This is definitely my favourite island, scenery wise...It is so beautiful. Looking out from the white sandy beaches there are a few smaller islands not too far from shore that have jagged peaks and limestone cliffs...And they're surrounded by turquoise water of course! So stunning. We decided to fork out a couple of extra dollars to share a place on the beach that had two double beds so we could all live under one roof for a change.

My flu reached epic proportions our first night there--My temperature was dangerously high and I was really out of it. The next day I couldn't get out of bed so Megan decided to nurse me back to health while Xtine and Laura checked out downtown Phi Phi. Our resort was about a 20-30min walk/hike (depending on daytime/night time and alcohol consumption) through a scary, muddy, dark forest. We had fun with it though. There are lots of resorts in the main area but the beach there isn't as nice and its a lot more crowded...We were done with crowds after the full moon party. There is a beach inbetween our resort and the main area (There are 3 main beaches on Phi Phi) but it hasn't re-opened since the Tsunami. We could definitely see the effect of the Tsunami on Phi Phi. There was construction everywhere, you could still see how much damage it caused on this tiny island. They sold tsunami merchandise (postcards, t-shirts)in a lot of stores, it was pretty disgusting and I didn't see one person purchase any of it.

We went on a boat cruise that took us to the islands across from Phi Phi on our second day. Our first stop was a beach inhabited by monkeys. We snorkeled from the boat over some nice coral to get to monkey beach. We were given bananas and attacked when we got to shore. The monkeys were not afraid of us at all, as I'm sure they're used to all of the boat groups giving them food every day. They all really liked Laura and kept touching her...I'm pretty sure she's carrying some kind of monkey disease now. Our second stop on the tour was a lagoon surrounded by towering limestone cliffs in crystal clear water. The girls and I hopped in our kayas and explored the little caves and beaches within the lagoon. It was soooo stunning. The last stop was an island with Maya Bay (THE beach in the movie "The Beach") located on one side of it. The water was too rough to get into the bay so we had to anchor the yacht (hah) on one side of the island and swim to shore, go through a cave that had a natural waterslide that you had to climb up, and follow a trail for a few minutes. Swimming to shore was difficult because there was coral everywhere (I've already been scratched by coral enough on this trip and have the scars to prove it) and once you got close to "shore" it turned out to be less of a shore and more of a cave wall with sharp rocks on the sea floor. The waves were crashing pretty hard against the cave wall so we all got swept away, everybody either got dragged along the rocky sea floor or splashed up onto the cave wall. It was not fun at all but I just kept telling myself it would all be worth it. Only in Thailand would a tour operator do something sooo dangerous. I was right though, the beach definitely was worth it. I can't put it into words, it was so breathtaking so you'll just have to see for yourself when I get my webshots album sorted. Or watch "The Beach." The swim back to the boat was better and we were rewarded with dinner and drinks and first aid for those who took a beating from the waves/rocks.

We checked out a sweet bar that night. They had a drinking competition that only Laura, Megan and a bunch of guys were daring enough to participate in. You had to chug a beer, run down the beach, chug a whiskey/coke bucket, run down the beach again and down 3 shots of vodka. The funniest part was the prize for winning...A free bucket of alcohol! The last thing any of those people would want. Megan and Laura held their own against the boys but didn't win. There was an unbelievable fireshow for about half an hour later that night, and we had front row seats.

The rest of Phi Phi was spent lying on the beach or in a hammock, just taking it all in and relaxing. Laura had to return to her teaching job back in Northern Thailand and Megan wanted to go on a solo adventure to some more islands so Christine and I spent an extra day on idyllic Phi Phi before heading to Koh Lanta. Which is, surprise surprise, another island.