Krabi

Following an overnight train journey and a bus trip, arrived in Krabi. By this stage I was acutely aware of the budget, so got a room for £10 a place on the beach which was 'near Krabi'. The pamphlet I relied upon for this information stated quite clearly that the 'resort' was on the beach in Krabi. 30 minutes in the back of a ute later, I learned that Krabi was not just the name of the town, but the name of the entire province.

No matter. The bungalow was on the beach and the seclusion was just about right. First day was spent sleeping.

Second day I hopped on the resort's bicycle and rode, in searing heat, to another beach about an hour away. If anyone ever wonders where old scooters and mopeds go to die, it appears that the answer is Krabi. Hundreds of these little things went speeding by as I struggled on in searing heat. The people on the scooters (there were sometimes 3 of them) generally looked at me with an expression which varied from amusement to amazement. I couldn't really understand why. Anyways, got to the beach, sat, read a book, cycled back to the resort and retired to the hammock for the rest of the day/night for more book and beer action.

You're probably asking yourself, Sam, where are all the people you met? Well, truth be told, no one was much interested in talking. It was an odd resort, chock-a-block full of Germans. And they weren't friendly. I guess that they probably saw me, a young guy (no comments please) travelling in Thailand alone and assumed what I assumed when I saw guys by themselves in Bangkok. My cause probably wasn't helped by the fat middle aged German who was travelling with his 'friend', a young Thai boy who couldn't have been older than 25. Oh well. If it's that you're looking for, I guess you can find it in Thailand.

The following day I decided to rent one of the scooters. £6 a day. No wonder the locals were looking at me strangely.

Initially I was content to travel at the listed speed limit of 21 kph. (Sadly, my camera had packed it in by this stage, I don't have a photo but I swear this is true) This wasn't working at all. I was being overtaken by old ladies carrying 2 children and a bag of bananas. This wouldn't do. Turned the handle a bit more and showed those old ladies who was the boss.

There wasn't a strict destination in mind, just a desire to see different things for a day. Ended up riding through Khao Sok National Park. And wasn't it amazing. The landscape is essentially volcanic, like the Glasshouse Mountains on the Sunshine Coast on steroids. Stopped in little towns, nodded and smiled at locals who did the same back, bought local food. I was hungry, I didn't ask what the meat was, they didn't tell me, both parties were happy with this arrangement.

So that was really about it, Krabi was complete, Sarah and Stacey arrived towards the end of night 3, time to move to Koh Phi Phi, which you'll just have to wait to hear about.