Andaman adventures

Hi, Chris here. My turn to report on happenings over the past few days. Had a great time in the air conned and mozzie free room at Jem's school, and are now getting ready to head back to Bangkok for some serious shopping at Chatuchak market this weekend.

Before we left Trang, Kan took us to a firing range where we reluctantly had a go with a small hand gun. This was actually quite good fun, so I asked as a joke, 'whats the biggest gun you've got?" Kens friend smiled, walked out, then returned with a huge 12 gauge shotgun, and offered me a go. How could I say no? I almost broke my nose with the recoil, but the photos look pretty cool. Never again I don't think, guns are way to scary, but worth a try.

Stayed one last night in Pak meng where we were invited to the funeral in Si Cao, chai's home town. It was sad as it was a young girl killed on a bike, but being Buddhist, it wasn't the solemn affair we are used to. Instead, it was a big celebration on the street, with food, lots of whiskey, and of course, Chai and friends supplying to music. We got to meet everyone for one last time, and was sad to say goodbye.

The next day, Chai came with us to Krabi where we stayed a few nights to try and get out to Maya bay, the beach that 'the beach' was shot at. We said our farewells to Chai after a last few beers on the beach. Really sad to say goodbye after all he'd done for us on this trip, but we both feel we have made friends for life here, so a trip back some time in the future is a definite.

So, yesterday we were out on our speedboat tour to Koh Phi Phi and Maya bay. After having our own boat and Chai to guide us, it was a bit weird to join the tourist masses on a tour, but it was good fun, and we only had about 15 in our boat, where as the others seemed to be pretty over crowded.

The last few days have been pretty windy and Chai was warning us of the high seas, but the speed boat seemed to cope with them well. A few hairy moments with waves crashing into the boat, but otherwise OK.

After lunch when it came to going to Maya bay, our guide told us due to the weather we weren't able to get in. We couldn't quite believe it as Sheree had been saying it was the ONE thing she wanted to see in Thailand, and was the whole reason for us coming back this way a second time. We talked with the guide and he explained that none of the tours would go, and they had known from the morning it wouldn't happen. We persisted politely as we could, asking for some kind of refund (our budget couldn't accommodate this kind of disappointment) and in the end, he told us it would be possible to swim to the coast, and walk over the headland to the bay, but we'd have to be quick. We quickly dived in, swam and walked through the jungle a Short way and came out onto the bay. It was magnificent, and well worth all the hassle to get there. Plus, due to the other tours turning back, it was pretty quiet. there were no boats in view anywhere which added to the beauty.

We got our photos, had a swim, then headed back fully content, and a but chuffed we had managed to talk our way into getting there.

The trip back was pretty eventful due to the huge swell and strong winds we had to contend with. We were sitting at the front as we thought this would be fun, but ended up getting the full brunt of the boat smashing into the waves, and sending us a few feed into the air at times. It wasn't helped by my bursting bladder, and fear of squashed balls on landing, so I was quietly relieved when, a few miles from land, we ran out of fuel leaving us adrift on the choppy seas.

My relief wasn't shared however, as the bobbing about made a few members of the crew, including sheree, slightly sea sick. Our rescue was pretty quick (about an hour) and soon enough we were back on dry land, exhausted but happy.

So now we are waiting to get back to Bangkok for one last weekend, I'm going to go Suit shopping, sheree is going to go market crazy, then off to Sydney.

Good things!