Magnificent Mangroves and Gargantuan Germans

Well, this is my second evening at Ao Nang, a beach resort in Krabi. Its quite unlike everywhere else I've been in Thailand in that it feels rather alot like the Costa Brava. There are more sunburnt english people and badly dressed tubby Germans than there are Thai people and the food/accommodation/activities on offer match this. We did pretty well to find a nice twin room with cable and a hot shower and balcony for around 7 pounds each a night. Not much you might think, but we were paying 2 pounds a night in the town of Krabi and this is the same as I paid for a rather swish twin room to myself a beach-side resort on Koh Tao. So yeh, tomorrow we're moving! There's another beach place nearby famous for its rock-climbing and more backpacker friendly called Railay so I'm hoping this will be my beach-hut haven.

We had planned to go to the Ko Phi Phi islands nearby but we've heard numerous reports of it being seriously overcrowded so despite nice beaches and good snorkelling we've decided to give it a miss. Even if the beaches and snorkelling aren't quite as amazing a Railay, I'd rather experience them without 1000 other europeans doing the same thing within inches of me. You can snorkel and see good beaches at Railay anyway. We had a fantastic day today though; this morning we went on a kayaking trip around some jaw-dropping limestone cliffs and difficult-to-navigate mangroves. I saw a mudskipper, a kingfisher, a sea eagle, some crabs and a troupe of monkeys. In fact, I didn't just see the monkeys, I had one sitting on my foot after it jumped into our kayak and proceeded to relieve us of all bottled water in sight! There were mummy monkeys with little babies clinging to them, big male monkeys, the whole family! So that was fantastic.

This afternoon we got measured for some tailored dresses (yes mum, more clothes :P) and had a massage and pedicure. So yes, all in all a rather lovely day. I've just had dinner with Jesse and Amy from my course on Koh Tao and now we're off to see some live music. The flyer says sixties band but you never know what to expect. It shall probably be some Thai chaps mumbling their way through something-vaguely-resembling some cheesy Bee Gees songs.

So tomorrow to Railay for a couple of nights and then we've booked a bus to Kuala Lumpur for the 4th, my tour starts from there on the 6th for two weeks. After that....and a very much hope this goes ahead, we should be meeting up again and taking a trip to Borneo! I had decided to leave Borneo as the tours were expensive and I wasn't sure about going alone but we've been assured its simple to navigate so seeing as Jesse is willing, I'm extremely excited! We can visit the orangutan sanctuary where the one mum adopted for me last christmas lives, dive at one of the most amazing dive spots in the world (Sipadan) and do a couple of days trek into the jungle to see proboscis monkeys, wild orangutans and all sorts of other wildlife.

So yes, very excited! Here are some photos from the last couple of days, might be a while before you get anymore!