Krabi - Southern Thailand

The final 3 weeks of the trip focus on beaches, islands, wildlife and Bangkok.

We decide to fly to Krabi from Chiang Mai to save time, and to avoid doubling up on Bangkok . Although Phuket is vacation central in the south we picked Krabi as it is less Blackpool-like and our priority is to figure out what islands and beaches to go to and how best to get there. Krabi itself is near the cave where huge ancient skulls were found, changing the view that human life arrived here later in time, a fact Krabians are proud of - witness their traffic lights!
Our travels south went well helped by us traveling on Royal Thai Airlines who recognize my Aeroplan Elite status and send us into the business lounge so we can feast at the buffet which we do until stuffed. Backpackers love their free food! All the internet weather reports focus on the thunderstorms and rain in the south so we expect to land in Krabi in bad weather. Cloudless blue skies greet us and we've now been here 3 days without any rain so are happy that the weather information was so wrong.

A priority for me is to visit the island where "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed. On day one we got on a tour to James Bond island (originally named Koh Phing Kan) which involves a 2 hour minibus ride from Krabi and then an hour longboat ride in the Andaman Sea. The Andaman sea is filled with bizarre shaped karst limestone islands, some small, some huge, similar to those in Halong Bay in Vietnam except that these are accompanied (along the coast at least) with miles of mangrove swamps. James Bond Island is fun and crowded with tourist tack and doesn't disappoint. The rest of the day included caves, cocktails, and reclining buddhas and monkeys - jsut a like a regular Thursday.

The next day we head off on a speed boat to the beach where "The Beach" was filmed. Yes, our tour of film locations continues. Crowded but fun. We also snorkel amongst schools of neon blue and yellow sergeant major fish and hit 3 more islands for more snorkeling, beach lounging, lunch and monkey viewing. Life's tough.

Today we're having a useful things days, researching the next stage and updating the blog. We have decided to head to Koh Lanta tomorrow to complete our beach hammock time. From there we will head further south to the island of Koh Lipe in the Turatao National Marine Park which is on the border with Malaysia. After that we'll wend our way north for our final chunk of time in Bangkok.

We heard a marathon described as a 30 km race with a 10km race added on the end, and we've decided that this trip will be a 2 1/2 month backpacking trip with a 2 week holiday on the end. Tomorrow is the full moon (thailand is known for its full moon island parties) so thus begins our holiday!