Sun and Sand...

Krabi!!

After rolling into the bus station we got a recommendation of a “cheap” place we should stay at close to the beach. Of course we had absolutely nothing planned (because thats how we always roll), great, we will stay there then. Another 30 min ride took us to our accommodation...it was probably the most ghetto place i have stayed at so far in Asia. Ghetto as in: it was owned by a dark man with dreads that said his nickname was “Bob, you know, like Bob Marley”, and the question he asked after we told him we live in Chiang Mai was 

“oh so you smoke weed then yea?”....

us: "uhhh, no"

*awkward silence*

'Bob': “oh, well we can still have fun then I guess...”

*blank stares*

us: “So which way did you say the beach was?”

Then we promptly walked in the way he pointed....

The beach made up for any weirdness that we had before hand. Hot sun and warm water. We crossed through this walkway to get to another hidden beach, on the way back 

And then there were monkeys...real, wild monkeys.  They decided the tops of our packs on our backs was a nice place to perch. Tyese was more than thrilled to have one on her...I however was not. Hers was all cute and cuddly, mine had crazy eyes, so I didn't dare try to remove it from my back. After having a not so great experience in the past (nepal, monkey, my ankel, and ice cream) I could not control my nervousness as it picked through all my hair, fortunately they got board with us and moved on. 

Raleigh Beach!

Its beach near Krabi that can only be accessed by boat. As we arrived by long tail boat I thought, this was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen.  This area is truly a little gem, it has such diversity and throughly entertained us for the two days we spent wondering around here. 

On the way to the viewpoint of the island we veered off and found what we like to call a "secret" Lagoon.  After climbing a steep muddy trail through the jungle we lowered ourselves on three long  sections of rock that were so slick we decided that going barefoot was better...it gave that warm fuzzy feeling of repelling through the canyons of Zion Utah, just without the harness...we then slid ourselves through a cave and ended up at an amazing, seemingly untouched lagoon. We obviously jumped in for a swim with towering rock walls covered in monkey vines encircling us.  We couldn't decide if it was amazingly beautiful or really creepy...like what underwater creatures could we possibly be swimming with right now? And why is no one else here?

Unfortunately we had the hardest time taking pictures that truly captured the moment...

The Lagoon all to myself...other than the unknown creatures that were bellow me 

Bouldering on the beach...

Phi Phi Islands

Next on our list was Phi Phi island. I think this was my favorite. There are no accommodations on the little Phi Phi Island so we boated there to snorkel and see the sights until sunset.  We made a quick stop at 'monkey beach' Tyese was in monkey heaven, until she petted ones tail and a possey of monkeys then latched themselves to her calves and bit her. Yep. The monkeys literally bit her legs, with their creepy little fangs and all, I saw the whole thing happen. 

Phi Phi viewpoint

On phi phi island we strolled about 45 minutes from the Island viewpoint around these odd jungle pathways down to an extremely private beach. We plopped ourselves there for the whole day...and the water! oh it was the clearest ocean I have ever been in. For a  second I thought to myself 'am i actually in one of those infinity swimming pools right now? because the water is SO clean!' It was gorgeous! 

 Graffiti gets me every time...

Phuket! 

Another Ferry ride put us in Phuket, my least favorite place we visited. It was dirty and people go there to party...it had a 'Miami Florida' feel to it.  However, the water again was wonderful  and had lovely little surf-able waves. I wouldn't say I surfed that day...more like, I tumbled in the waves and choked on salt water while I had a board attached to my side. I need to adjust to water below the my board under my feet instead of fluffy snow. 

We got a 2 hour flight home rather than a 24 hour bus ride (shocker I know...we felt a bit excessive). It went surprisingly well, unlike our past flight experiences. Well, minus the fact that we flew AirAisa, I swear it means they build the planes to be filled with Asian customers...and they are what? like 1/3 my size. I felt like my knees were getting rug burn because they were literally rubbing the mesh pocket of the seat infront of me.  The people infront of me tried to recline their seats back into my lap, but Tyese and I found it more amusing than annoying. 

Needless to say we had a great time, but Im very happy we ended up living in Chiang mai...

It was a strange feeling of getting in and coming to our "home" instead of just another guest house...pictures of our favorite people on the wall, our dishes that we abruptly left out before we left, our motorbike outside...like wow, I actually live here...and I'm glad I do.