The Andaman Coast

Ok so again no pictures, sorry. I was going to post some now but this computer keeps saying it has a virus and the last thing I need is to lose all my pictures or possibly have to buy a new camera. So Southern Thailand. Wow! It is absolutely spectacular here. The rain stopped the day Jeff arrived and the baking sun continued to shine for the entire time he was here. When Jeff left last night the rain started again and its been pouring since. Go figure.

Krabi province is spectacular. Five days on Railey beach, a secluded peninsula accessible only by boat, was definitely too short. There are three unbelievable beaches there all within easy walking distance and enclosed by massive limestone cliffs. The scene is very low key with some chilled out bars lining the beach where you can lay back and enjoy a beer at while listening to some live music or watching some Thai kick boxing. We even caught a snake show one night. Railey is also the climbing capital of SE Asia (Jess probably would have cried or something ;) but I decided to save my excursion money for diving on Ko Phi Phi.

Phi Phi Island is a two hour ferry from Railey famous for its dive sites and rowdy night life. The island itself if beautiful; the water is crystal clear and the sand is so white you need sunglasses to go out. It's a shame you have to share it with thousands of speedo clad holidayers drinking their faces off. But the night life is cool, especially when you start drinking buckets of Samsung (Thai whisky) and Red Bull, Thai style. They say the Red Bull they sell here would be illegal at home, I don't know why and I'm not really sure i want to but it definitely does things to you... But after 4 nights of watching westerners drink until they cant walk I really started to wonder how much more of it I could take.

We didn't drink every night we were there, however. Sitting on the 'second best dive location in Thailand' there was no way I was going to miss an opportunity like that. And the diving certainly didn't disappoint! The first morning we went diving I learned the hard way what drinking Samsung and Chang (dirt cheap Thai beer) can do to you the next morning, even when you're taking it easy. But besides yakking off the boat after my first dive, it was fantastic, so much so that we did two more dives the following morning and a night dive the day after. I saw everything from large octopus to moray eels to reef sharks and one enormous leopard shark!

Once we were tired of the Phi Phi drink till you drop scene we moved on to Phuket and found a tranquil little beach town called Kata. Another one of Asia's spectacular beaches with a good chilled out night vibe. Jeff caught a plane out of Phuket last night to head back to work in Aus, it was great seeing him for two weeks, I guess he took the sunshine with him...

My Thai visa permit expired today, you only get 15 days in Thailand when you enter by land. I've stopped asking 'why?' when it comes to some of the ridiculous things they do in Asia but this one is a real mind boggler. So in order for me to stay longer I had to get to the nearest border today which happened to be a crossing with Burma. What an ordeal... Six hours to the border town by bus, find Thai immigration to get an exit stamp, hire a long boat to take you across the inlet to Burma (which means stopping at numerous checkpoints), one hour later get off and go to Burma immigration, get entry and exit stamp, get back on the boat, more checkpoints, get Thailand entry stamp. Fifteen more days. What a joke. The whole process cost me about $25, and all the while i was thinking how useful and benificial to them it would be if the Thai government just let us pay instead. But, it's Asia.

I wanted to walk around and take pictures of the town on the Burmese side but the men in army fatigues and M-16's on their shoulders reminded me of why I shouldn't buy any of the duty free items they were pushing. Not that there's anything to be worried about, but in case you've been living under a rock for the past 10 years, Burma's government isn't exactly a government you want to support. And the idea of just taking pictures and leaving doesn't sit with me very well me either. They dont need that kind of tourism. One day I'll really go to Burma, sit down and talk to those who want to talk, buy things from the locals and get off the beat and track. Maybe next trip.

I'm off to Ko Tao tonight for a 5-6 day stay on this tiny little island in the Gulf Coast known to be the cheapest dive location in world. Diving and Pad Thai. Mmmm.