Scooter Madness Part Deux

We have been inhabiting the sleepy coastal town of Khoa Lak for the past few days. Matt spoke of our amazing snorkelling adventures in the Similian National Marine Reserve, but since then we have been keeping busy by rippin' around on scooters, boogie/body boarding, and cooling our sticky hot bodes in the local waterfall. Today we head north to Chang Mai where we are all hoping to escape the swealtering heat, if only a little.

Since Julianne left, the Navy Seal has taken up residence with Matt and I which I am thrilled about...really. Now I get to share a room with not one, but two La Ronge-bred individuals who revert back to some animalistic form of grown men. Fantastique.

The Samantha Show!

After numerous requests for more pictures of Sam and I, we have uploaded choice photos of our last days in Railay, the famous climbing location, and Lao Liang island, a quiet and picturesque climbing location.

The photo of the dreadlocked lumberjack like man is for Nevin, as we have dubbed this man French Nevin. He and his family have had an identical travel itinerary as ours and we have become good travel companions. He and his family are from France, so it has been a French language education session for the past while. As you can see he bears a striking resemblance to Nevin in stature and appearance, not to metion personality... He is a stand up guy with many entertaining stories.

Anyway the cafe is closing so we will say good night for now. All 5 of us are here tonight, as Julianne left, sadly, and we are down to 5 companions. So bye for now and we will write more soon.

See you in Chiang Mai.

More photos

Here are more photos from our ongoig trip. We are about to move on to Lao Liang, an island in the far south of Thailand, for about 4 days, then we'll make our way northward from there. There have been a few milestones achieved already. So far, Holly has managed to climb some major routes, John has taught some of the local boys how to slackline, Samantha has fallen in love with the BBQ chicken from beach-side food vendor, Julianne has managed to keep the local guys at bay, and Jeff and I have both fought off... no, not the local guys like Julianne. Jeff and I have each fought off a nasty bug of some sort. Actually I am still trying to get rid of the tail end of mine, hence this blog post. Everyone is out climbing now at a new area, and I am nerding it on the computer! AAAHHHHHHH!

Thailand

Bangkok greeted us after midnight with warm, wet breezes. The excitement was tangible as headed out into the city, with our newly arrived member (and 24-hour comic relief), Mr. Jeffery 'Treadwell' Gabrush. The taxi took us to Koh San Road, where all backpackers go when they are 'fresh off the birds'. In the words of our French friend Jade, Koh San was "DI-SGUS-TING" (why does it sound so true and more descriptive when French people say that?). It was this filthy side street filled with garbage, beer bottles, and various intoxicated people laying in the gutters. What? This is Thailand? I felt like I was in the slums of Calcutta. Anyways, we found a little place to stay quickly, and stayed in for the night! Remarkably, the the next morning we found that the street was completely cleaned up into a nice little market. Perhaps the ghetto party slum was only a bad dream? Mothers, please erase the above imagery. We spent our afternoon in Thailand touring the Great Palace, a beautiful temple/courtyard of the old King of Thailand. The pictures speak for themselves. In the evening we caught our over night train down south to Surat Thani. The second class sleepers were great, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our train ride. We played cards, watched the countryside, and took in the smells out the open train windows. Think of old King, hanging his head out the window of the car. That was Matt. The next morning we took a bus, and a boat to reach our semi-permanent location of Railay/Tonsai Beach. We also met up with the lovely Miss Julianne Rooke. A fellow Saskatonian and climber extraordinaire, Julianne has been travelling in the area for a few weeks now. We're glad to have her join our group, although the poor thing is stuck sharing a room with Jeff. We'll see if his antics drive her completely mad. Railay is AMAZING! People travel here from around the world to climb the magnificent limestone cliffs that protrude from the clear, blue water. We are in a climbers paradise, and loving every pad Thai eating, coconut-shake drinking minute of it! But please, words do no justice. Just enjoy the pictures!