Day 45 - Tuesday, March 29 - Travel to Krabi

Just as I suspected, 6:10A came pretty quickly and I packed my final things and went to catch my truck ride to the ferry. The front desk area was empty. There wasn't anyone to be found but I knew they would wake up soon, especially because they knew they had someone checking out this morning and had to settle their bill.

Then it all made sense. Two trucks pulled up and all the Miami help (they are all family in one relation or another) filed out of the car. They had all left Miami way before we had and went to higher ground themselves and were just getting back.

I settled my bill, said goodbye to Q and Penn (yes, we are all on a first name basis now) and said my final goodbyes to the kitchen staff and all the help who were scurrying about prepping the kitchen and common areas for another beautiful day in this tiny little place, that as you know, I call paradise.

I got in the truck, drove the famous Lanta roads one last time, arrived at the Ferry, and quickly boarded and found prime real estate so I could lay down on the deck and sleep some of the way. Just two hours later I arrived at the Krabi Pier and after talking to a couple last night at Sunshine, decided to get a hotel room in Krabi Town for the night and go to Rei Ley Beach in the morning. I found a nice clean room at Ban Chaofa with Air Con and a hot shower, threw my bags down, and looked around to see what Krabi Town had to offer.

I was quickly back in city mode, fighting off the tuk-tuks and the numerous people calling from their shops, "come in, look is free". At one street corner along the river, I was approached by a man asking me if I wanted to take a boat ride. Sure, why not.

We crossed the street and I got in his long tail boat and rode through miles of mangroves seeing huge iguanas, some monkeys, and some beautiful scenery. We stopped at a small cave, I climbed up a boat load of stairs, looked around and got back in the boat. I got back to the starting point, and paid him his 300 baht, and ventured on.

I found a great spot for lunch. I pointed at the dish in the glass case as there wasn't a person in sight who could tell me what the dish was, and I inhaled the spiciest curry pork that I've had to date. It was a real local meal, and with a bottle of water, cost 25 baht. Gotta love the city life and the city food. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to Bangkok at the end of my trip so I can have some more of that great street food.

Walked around some more, bought some souvenirs because as you know, I've just shipped home a box of things I didn't want to carry anymore and I have room for new crap in my pack.

Krabi Town is actually a pretty interesting city. I had a good time just walking around and taking in all the sites. Of course, as much as the city entetrtained me, I also entertained them. They love stopping and talking to the new farang in town. It's almost as if I'm a circus freak they let out for the day.

I got back to my hotel, showered, and turned on the TV. I've only had TV in one other place I think and it was weird to turn it on and see "Ally McBeal." Then "The Simpsons" came on and I took a little snooze.

I woke up at 6:30P, threw on some new clothes as the ones I walked around in were drenched in sweat (oh, how I remember the days of walking around Bangkok and Chaing Mai dripping wet all day), and headed out to the "night market" for dinner. The couple I met last night as we were awaiting the Tsunami told me I must have dinner at the night market. This market was all local food, no souvenirs and people wanting to sell me bamboo placemats, watches, etc, and it all looked pretty awesome.

Once again, I pointed as there was no english spoken here and I ate more spicy curry. I think the reason Thai people are so skinny is that the chillies they eat literally burn away any fat cells that accumulate in their body. I have no idea what this stuff is doing to my insides, but it has to be cleaning it out in some way or another. I stopped at a few different stalls, sampled a few dishes, and headed back to the hotel but not before stopping at a cool bar, "The Rasta Hideout" that I scounted on my walk in the afternoon. It was close to my hotel and although not as cool as "The Reggae House" on Lanta, it was a great place to have a Chang before bed.

I wanted to get a good night sleep being that I only got about 3 hours last night awaiting for the Tsunami to arrive in Lanta.

Of to Reilay in the morning.