We made it home Safely!

I'm currently uploading pictures onto the blog and reminiscing on what a great trip we had!

Together us three experienced a new culture- a country so diverse from our own- a way of life that we didn't know existed. We had smooth travel days, felt mostly well (it's to be expected to have upset stomach in Asia ;), met some travellers from all over the world, and opened our eyes to many beautiful scenes! The beaches were beautiful, the food was always good, the mango shakes were ah-mazing.

Looking back, our highlights were... the elephants!, the scooter day! the pool day at Koh Phangan! rock climbing! sunsets! hikes to view points! enjoying a cold chang! breakfast on the beach! The village! the cooking class! beach morning on Koh phi phi!
oh gosh, looks like we have a lot of highlights and had a fun trip!

Most of all, I enjoyed mornings on our personal patio. Us three would enjoy a 3-in-1 coffee and chit chat. We would share news from home, plan our upcoming day, or get wrapped up listening to mom tell us stories of her childhood, or our childhood. I loved our togetherness and feeling of ease to be with my mom and sister.

We are very fortunate to have shared this special experience together! Ladies, it was a pleasure!

Thank you to each of you for reading our blog!

sincerely, The Streifel Gals in Thailand

back to bangkok

Leisurely coffee on the deck while Kristen went for a walk. Packed up and went for breakfast. Took a long walk on the beach before checking out. By 10 am we were ready to start our track.

This travel day entailed a golf cart ride from our room to the pier. Then a transfer from the pier on a flatbed trailer attached to the back of a tractor. This was needed to transport us out to the long tailed boat since the tide is low at this time of the morning. The tractor driver drives in the water til it is probably half deep in the water.  Then we loaded onto the boat. Then a 15 minute long tail ride to a krabi pier. From this pier we got on a cart  which was side mounted to a motorbike. The driver drove us down the long pier where we were quickly moved into an awaiting van. (Sounds like a scene from a movie) and then we drove 20 minutes to the krabi Arpt. Another smooth combo transport. I had yet to lift my backpack!  It was certainly worth it for 19 cad per person to arrange this combo trip. As unorganized as we find the Thai people to be at many things, this is something they do very effectively.

Our flight was delayed by 1/2 hr. It was a turbulent flight and at times we spotted lightening in the distance. Once we arrived to Bangkok it was overcast, cloudy and rainy. Bangkok had not changed. It was still the crazy busy city we were at 3 weeks ago. Arrived back to the hotel we started this adventure on after a cab ride where we had to go thru 2 toll booths on the freeway. Each time the cabi said how much we owed. It was not a lot but it seemed constant. Checked in and headed out for supper.

 We had saved our gift buying for this evening so that we didn't have to haul purchases all over Thailand.  Koh San road was alive with activity, sounds and smells. We realized that we were contributing to the smells as well!! Much of our clothes were still damp from the rain in Railay and the high humidity. We managed to find everything were were looking for. Kristen has become the "bargainer" of our group. She wheels and deals for us. The calculator is passed back and forth between the seller and Kristen. No matter what she offered, they would go higher. Sometimes by only 5 baht. We walk away and then "okay" they will take what we offered but they look sad or mad!

Back to our hotel to shower and do last minute packing. Tomorrow is a big day of travel starting very early.

monkey ambush

Coffee on deck. Late breakfast and then booked our combo trip from our hotel to krabi airport in the morning.  Packed up for a day on Pranang beach. Made our way to the beach with plans to stay til mid afternoon. Stopped to pick up some snacks and drinks.

Our hands were full as we carried bags, towels, books. We started through the narrow pathway to the beach. A large group of tourists up ahead were stopped, taking pics. As we approached we saw the attraction. Monkeys everywhere. Not on the fence as before but on the pathway. I got out the camera and before we knew what was happening, we were surrounded. I backed away, running into Kristen who too was jumping back which caused her to drop the shopping bag. They grabbed our ritz crackers and bottle of juice and were up on the fence in the blink of an eye. Chelsey quickly reached down and salvaged the remaining bottles in the shopping bag or they would have made away with it all. A man told me to put the camera in my zippered bag or risk having it taken. I kept it out but had it looped around my wrist.
He told us that a tourist had his phone taken by the monkeys. "'Musta had a phone call to make" mom joked. "Yep, some monkey business" the guy replied ;)

Devious little monkeys!

 That monkey was now up on the fence with his buddies. We watched him as he opened the ritz bag and took them out one by one to eat.

We hurried down the path really quite grateful that they hadn't taken something of more value or gotten the camera. They were everywhere and of all sizes and ages. I snapped more pics while we were on the move. Some babies clinging to their moms looked like newborns.   Now the ritz thief was on the roof of an overhang on the pathway enjoying his stolen snack. Well at least this time we hadn't bought the cheese biscuit ones!
!

Once to the beach we found the sand very hard, having been beaten down by the heavy rain yesterday. Ants were out in full force as well. We just couldn't get that comfortable today so we decided to spend the afternoon at the pool. Kristen not feeling the best, needed a nap. We had the pool to ourselves.

A few restful hours logged swimming and reading. Headed out for supper and to watch the sunset. Tonight for whatever reason, there were no glorious colours.

Decided to treat ourselves to another Thai massage. A disappointing decision as the place we stopped ended up not being very "professional"at all. We were slathered in a runny oil and received a rubdown at best. We did attempt to complain but you really are fighting a losing battle. Easiest to pay and move on.

Back to our room to shower off the oil and packed up a bit to prepare for our trip to Bangkok tomorrow.

Meal off a long tail Railay

Coffee on the deck, buffet breakfast at the beach and then a hike over to our favorite beach , Pranang beach. This time we were pleased to see that there was a lot more beach as opposed to last visit here when the water was high. We thought it was dependent on the time of day however a little Thai man explained in broken English that the water relates to the moon.

We walked way down the beach and found a quiet oasis under some low trees and settled in for the day. After finding our spot a local elderly Thai man became very friendly with us offering broken chairs to sit on, coconut oil for chelseys incisions on her leg and bricks to hold our sarongs down We swam, read and eventually when our stomachs got hungry we bought food off a long tailed boat pulled up on shore. The boat was moving with the water and selling to all on the beach. Turned out to be pretty tasty food. Chicken kabobs, corn on the cob, fresh mango and bananas made up our meal.
The nature sounds in the trees can go from a low shaking sound to high pitched screech. We don't know for sure what it is and maybe best that we don't.
Local Thai boys came up to mom and asked if they could take a picture with her. Looking confused, mom agreed and within seconds a swarm of Thai boys were around her giggling and snapping off pictures, each guy rotated turns to be in the picture. Then Kristen got her celebrity moment as they swarmed her for a roll of pictures. :)
We noticed the sky darkening and just a general change in the humidity. The Thai man confirmed that we had about 1/2 hour to make our way back til the storm would come. We packed up and started power walking the 20 minute trek back to our hotel. We had to walk down the narrow winding pathway where in the past we encountered the bats and odd monkey. We were walking fast, heads down when Chelsey said, "look up but keep walking". There were monkeys lining the fence and in the trees and generally everywhere watching us. We hoped they were not interested in us. They just watched us and we tried not to make eye contact but picked up our pace.
The sky opened up and began to pour. We were out of the walkway now and on a path right by the sea. We ran and made it to a restaurant where we waited it out for 5 mins or so. Lightening and thunder was all around us. We felt it might stay for awhile so we booked it back to our resort....soaking wet.
We showered and watched the movie Benjamin Button and then went down to the beach where we were entertained with the most beautiful sunset yet. Took pictures, had a cocktail, and then had a late supper on east side Railay.
Full and tired after a strenuous day we retired to our room.

Long beach oasis to Railay

ong beach discovery
After a long sit on our balcony with our morning coffee (Chelsey rounded up a kettle and some cups) we headed out for an adventure to find Long Beach. Many recommended going there. 30 -40 min walk from the pier or take a long tailed boat. We settled on the latter although Kristen would have preferred the walk. We jumped on the boat (got a friendly driver this time who actually extended a helping hand to each of us as we climbed the wobbling ladder into the boat) and within 7 mins we rounded a bend and voila.....white sand, very few long tailed boats, and better yet no Asian invasion. Pure beauty.

There were chaise chairs on the beach for anyone's use (really - can this be?). We swam, suntanned, walked the relatively quiet beach. People here were reading, laying quietly or swimming lazily. They were not snapping a million pictures and moving in herds.  Ah, this is how we will better remember this overpopulated ,commercialized island.  Chelsey tells us that she read where the island is actually sinking from all the commercialization. That is amazing but after seeing the activity here, we could believe it?

We pulled Chelsey away ( she did not want to leave this beauty spot)caught a long tailed boat back to the main pier, hustled to our hotel and packed up. A worker from our hotel used a cart to haul all our backpacks to the pier as we were about 20 mins inland moving zig zaggedly thru the maze of stores. At 230 pm in the middle of this scorching heat I was beyond grateful for this.

The  ferry ride was smooth to Railay. There was a travel group on the ferry with travellers from Regina and Saskatoon.

Once arriving to Railay we breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good decision to cut back on nights at phi phi and come back to the sand sea resort. Here we are in between 2beautiful beaches, and can actually breathe fresh air, compared to the maze of shops on Phi phi. The bungalow we previously stayed in was sold out so we spent a little more and ended up with a gorgeous room. The room is more concrete, but lit up beautifully and with a lovely bathroom and a jacuzzi tub! And Kristen actually gets a bed;)

We rounded up the comfy beach side recliners and settled in to watch the sunset. The sky turned gorgeous shades of orange, red and pink.
This was one of the most memorial sunsets as we watched in Awe for over half hour. The sky was dynamic, as it was alive with colour and shape.
A couple times we thought the sun was down and prepared to leave for supper, but one more glance and we discovered the sky was changed yet again, and well worth it to continue watching it set.

Finally we headed down "walking street" where a jolly Thai guy in a wicker hat was auctioneering off the menu! And ended by singing "cocktails 100 Baht." We laughed and he drew us in with his fun attitude. The whole family running the restaurant were pleasant as one server was playing with a travellers baby, another was groovin to the music. Out of nowhere a thai guy started performing a fire show infront of the restaurant. He was putting gas into his mouth and spitting it out to make fire! It was pretty cool . Mom was pumped to have her first coconut. She kept saying "the cocunut water never ends, so yummy"

The fun loving Thai guy cut up the coconut for us to take back to our room.  Another  awesome day and smooth travels.