Krabi and Phuket

A couple of days after the marathon, I caught my flight to Krabi. I had a tentative plan to head to Tonsai Beach, and that is what I ended up doing. I got up super early and shared a taxi with a French couple to the airport. We arrived in no time and had no problems getting through security. Except right before I entered the airport I realized I lost my fitbit. I was charging it as I packed up my belongings and put it on as I was leaving. However, I didn't secure it completely. So somewhere between my room and the airport, it came undone and fell off. I was going to add this to the list of causalities from my trip, but I contacted where I stayed and they found it! It wasn't in the guest house, but she called the taxi and they found it. So not only did no one take it, but the woman sent it to me to Phuket. I tried to pay for shipping, but she wouldn't allow it. It was very kind of her and grateful that it was found and she was able to send it. I plan to send her some sort of thank you.

So after the plane ride, I caught a minibus to take me to Ao Nang Beach, and then a longboat to Tonsai Beach. The boat ride was pretty nice, after ensuring my belongings were on the boat safely. Me and this one guy got off the boat and went in search for accommodation. After getting a bit turned around in one of the resorts they are in the midst of building, we finally found our way on the right path in the jungle to various resorts. I had a budget in mind, and before I knew it I was up high on this hill, a bit further than I had anticipated. I was so sweaty and a bit tired at that point that I took a bungalow that was available at around the 4th place we stopped at. I figured that was as good as I could get for the moment. The place had a bed and a mosquito net, which was good news. The not so great news was that the electricity ran on a generator from 6pm-3am. There was no wifi and no sink. Everything else was doable, like the toilet that flushes with a bucket and a shower that splashed all over the bathroom. Not a big deal and nothing I haven't dealt with before.

My ride.

However, the next morning I decided to go check out another place that a friend had recommended and I'm glad I did. Not that it was much better (and this was ok), but it did have a sink (no pipe of course) and a mirror, and the electricity was on from 5pm-7am. Much better. I didn't enjoy waking up in the middle of the night sweating the night before. The price was the same and since it was a bit closer to the beach, and the common area/restaurant had wifi, I switched it up.

Home for a few days.

I spent the first few days hanging out at the beach, meeting new people, and watching the rock climbers. That first day I checked out Tonsai Beach and wasn't super impressed with the swimming. The area is gorgeous, but I needed to be able to swim around a bit in water deeper than my shin. It was low tide though. And fortunately the neighboring beach was way better. So I headed over there in the afternoon, via the water route. This was shorter than the trail through the jungle. The water only came up to about my waist so that was good as I needed to be sure my bag stayed dry. I was able to swim around and enjoy myself a bit more in the water. I, of course, got a beer to enjoy on the beach, and met some new people.

The following day wasn't an ideal beach day, but I still had a good time relaxing and the sunset that night was spectacular. The night before was really nice, but this one was amazing. Probably the best one during my stay. They were all pretty nice in their own way, but the sky was full of pinks and oranges, which was beautiful.

Tonsai Beach sunset.

On a whim, I signed up for a Deep Water Soloing trip. So I spent Christmas Eve climbing rocks and jumping off of them into the water. That morning we headed out on a longboat to Ko Poda, a neighboring island. We spent the morning doing a bit of an easier course. I didn't manage to go very far across the course, but since I haven't done rock climbing, I was ok with it. I just liked jumping into the water. But even though it didn't seem like we were very high, I still got a little nervous jumping. Once I did it, it was fun. Some people were either more experience rock climbers or braver (or crazier?), and went very high and jumped in. But that was nothing compared to what we did in the afternoon.

Rock climbing.

After lunch at a nearby beach that was very secluded, except there were a lot of other people, we headed over to the other spot for more climbing and jumping. At the first place you had to wait a while to climb the ladder since so many people were doing it. However, this one was a bit more terrifying so there wasn't much of a line. A couple of guys went and before I could lose my courage, I swam over and climbed the ladder. Since it was pretty high at the top of the ladder, I decided that was where I was going to jump. I think I could have gone higher, but it would have taken me a while to get the courage to jump. Even at that level, it still took a minute to actually do it. I'm not sure how many meters it was, but there were guys jumping like 25 meters I think. Crazy. It was fun watching them. I only did this one twice, but since a lot of people didn't try it, I felt like I definitely accomplished something.

Jumping.

Christmas morning, I called home and we did a video chat with my siblings to exchange our Secret Santa gifts. I was really annoyed since I paid a ton of money to have my package arrive before Christmas Eve and it came a day late and they didn't even leave it at the house. So no one got their Christmas presents. It finally arrived, but after some family left. It's a little unfair to expect to pay that much money and it to not be delivered. DHL will be hearing from me again. Even without the presents, it was still fun to be there, albeit virtually. Since it was Christmas Eve for them, they eventually went to bed and I went to the beach. And it was such a good beach day. So hot, but good.

Spending the morning at Tonsai Beach.

I spent the day hanging out at Tonsai Beach in the morning and Railay Beach in the afternoon. I just swam around and enjoyed some beer. I headed back to Tonsai to watch the sunset. After the sun went down I headed back to my place to clean up and relax for a little bit. I made another quick call home to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and ended my day with a beer at a local bar. A very different Christmas from years past, but I still had a good day. I missed everyone back home, but glad I was able to be somewhere like Thailand to celebrate the holiday.

The following day was my last full day in Krabi, so I decided to do a hike I've been thinking about for a couple of days. I'm very glad I did it, but it was not quite what I expected. I started off on a mini trek through the jungle from Tonsai to Railay, instead of taking the beach route. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but man there are some huge leaves scattered about. I can only wonder what it's like deep in the jungle.

Jungle trek.

I made my way along Railay East and saw tons of boats carrying people to and from the town. I also saw some really cool trees in the water that must be in the sand when the tide is out. Very pretty.

Railay East.

I almost walked past the trail to the viewpoint and lagoon, but when I looked again, I realized that the hill that I thought was meant for rock climbing was the actual trail. I saw a few people head up, in flip flops, and went for it. There were ropes all along to help you get up the mountain. It wasn't actually that bad. I had to be patient for the people in front of me. Eventually I made it to the top and decided to go check out the viewpoint first. I was rewarded with a beautiful view of Railay, and Tonsai in the distance. You had to be careful at the edge though, as you could totally do some damage if you fall.

Tonsai and Railay.

I then headed towards the lagoon. I got to where I needed to go, but wasn't sure as it was going downhill, very similar to where I came up. I thought I had made a complete circle, but it did look a bit different. So I headed down. I heard voices down below echoing, so figured I was on the right track. After a bit of a climb down, I made it to the lagoon and went right into the water. After all that sweating, I needed to cool off.

Swimming in the lagoon.

I eventually made it back down the mountain and accidentally checked out a another beach nearby, Phra Nang Beach. It was very pretty, but very crowded. It seemed like a lot of boats bring in people there and there was a very large resort nearby. I went for a quick swim and went in search for food. I then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Railay and watched the sunset again at Tonsai. Not as crowded and low-key.

Low tide at sunset.

I spent my last day at Tonsai Beach. When the tide is up, the water was actually great and I'm glad since I wanted as much beach time before the longboat was leaving to meet the ferry to Phuket. Of course we were on island time and I waited for about 40 minutes before we loaded up on the longboat. Not the longboat's fault, but the ferry just took time getting there. And I understood why when I boarded. They were picking up a lot of people. There was no room to sit, so found some floor space and read the 1.5 hours it took to get to Phuket. From there I took a minibus to my hostel, close to the airport. My flight was leaving the following evening, but wanted to be close to the airport and to pick up my package which had my fitbit in it. Which I got successfully. 

Loading up the ferry.

Since I had the entire next day, I hung out at Nai Yang beach, and made sure to eat some good food and drink some beer and watermelon juice to hold me over until I return to Thailand.

Watermelon juice and fried rice with curry.

I was sad leaving Thailand and Southeast Asia. It flew by and can't believe all that I got to see and do. I got to see friends and made some new ones. I rode an elephant and saw temples galore. I ate such good food everywhere. I will be thinking of how soon I can return and where I can go next. Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia? All of the above? I have arrived in Australia though and excited to explore the country and New Zealand, see some friends from NYC and to spend NYE in Sydney. It already reminds me of home a bit, which is great.