Beach Bumming

Well, for once, this should honestly be a short blog, as we've hardly done anything since we last posted! So sit back and relax!

FRIDAY 1st June

Well, after a lazy afternoon yesterday, spent reading on the beach and then going to bed very early as we were so tired, today was spent much in a similar manner of relaxation! We rented some fins and snorkels so that we could explore the reef a little bit - when we first went out though, the tide was pretty shallow and we were getting moved around so much by the waves, that it wasn't really safe for us, so we headed back to shore. We generally bummed around, reading, having lunch on the beach, having a swim in the hotel pool (before having to get out as there were people getting in doing their PADI Open Water practise - ha ha, we didn't use a pool at all, we got to do it all in the ocean) and not a lot else! When the tide had come in a bit more, we gave snorkeling another go. It was pretty nice, although the visibility wasn't brilliant, unless you actually dived down further - so Steve's hopefully got some nice pictures. It was so relaxing just floating around watching the fish swimming around etc.
After freshening up again, we had a bit of a wander to return the fins and snorkels and then headed back to the beach. We ate dinner whilst watching the most beautiful sunset - it was just amazing, and Steve got so excited by it that he took about a million photos!

SATURDAY 2nd June

Today was a real beach bumming day for us! We had to check out of the hotel (as we'd booked an overnight boat and bus journey to take us to Krabi), and so didn't want to go snorkeling again, as we would need a shower when we'd finished. So, instead we found nice shady places to sit on the beach and we ended up playing hang-man in the sand for most of the day - it ended up being a Lord of the Rings themed game too! We have a slight obsession about Lord of the Rings at the moment - we've got Silmarillion and the Hobbit and are desperately trying to find an English copy of Lord of the Rings!
So after playing a lot of hang-man, we decided we needed to discuss our plan of attack for the next few days, so got engrossed in our travel guide for a while. We went paddling in the sea and then decided to stop for dinner and watch the sunset from the beach again. Unfortunately there were lots of storms in the direction of the sunset, so it wasn't as brilliant as yesterday, but it was still nice getting to be outside eating dinner and hearing the ocean.
It was soon time to be getting on the boat - which was a rather interesting experience shall we say?! It started off OK, there was a lack of headroom, but there were only a few people on the boat, so we thought we would be fairly spaced out. But by the time we left, the boat was full and it was literally like being a sardine in a tin can! We had to lay stock-still on our backs, otherwise we would end up rolling onto the people next to us (the girl next to Steve didn't seem to realise how little space there was and kept rolling into him - so he kept trying to get me to move over, but I had about 2mm spare between me and the girl next to me)!! Trying to get to the loo was interesting as well - there was no space between the ends of the mattresses and so to get to the loo, you had to walk on people's mattresses and fall over their feet and bags before having to lower yourself through a 'trap-door' and then be able to access the loo! It was all a lot of hard work - I ended up waking someone up because I tripped over their foot!
So after an 8 hour boat ride, during which we barely had any sleep what-so-ever we had landed in Surat Thani!

SUNDAY 3rd June

Once in Surat Thani and being unloaded from the boat we had to wait for a taxi to take us to the bus. It was a bit nerve-racking, as all the taxis left and there was only Steve and I and another couple waiting, so we weren't sure as to whether we'd missed it or not! Thankfully a pick-up turned up after about 10 minutes and we were whisked off to a cafe to wait for the bus to arrive. Finally we were herded into another taxi and taken to the bus. We were a tad annoyed, as we'd paid to go on a 'VIP' bus, which should have taken us straight to Krabi with no stops, but instead we were bunged on a normal public bus that happened to pass near Krabi! So after 5 hours on a bus (it should have only been 2 hours if we'd been able to get on the bus we'd paid for), we were taken off the bus and got into a minivan which took us into Krabi Town at last! By this point we were smelly, tired, hungry and just in desperate need of a wash! We managed to get quickly booked into a little hotel and managed to have a wonderfully cold shower and at least feel vaguely human again!

Well, we think that's all we've done over the past few days - told you it would be short! Hopefully we'll have some more interesting things to tell you about next time as we're thinking of doing things like rock-climbing and snorkeling etc. Next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Malaysia! Hope you're still enjoying the blog and have recovered from the traumatic shocks in the last post! Missing you all!

Greg - The diving was excellent - Steve enjoyed it so much, that he kept getting over-excited and using his oxygen up too quickly! Except, when we saw sharks, then I used up about half a tank in the space of 2 minutes. I did need some persuasion, but mainly knew I would be really jealous of Steve if he did it and I didn't - so, really I had to do it!

Mum and Dad - Glad the decking is going well, I bet you're excited about it all coming along mum and I bet you're excited that it's almost finished so you don't have to build it anymore dad! Glad to see your brain hasn't got the better of you yet dad! It certainly gave Steve and I a giggle reading about your thoughts on PADI diving!

Andie - You should be jealous! It's amazing out here - maybe we'll manage to convince you to do some travelling eventually (especially once you see the photos)! Hope the PhD stuff is going well, don't forget to let us know what happens.