Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the lack of email yesterday, might have had something to do with the $1 champagne bottle sized beers they sell here…

I am now in Krabi with Mike and three of his friends (1 from Hong Kong, 1 from Singapore and 1 from Bangkok). We arrived yesterday afternoon, and walking down the stairs of the plane onto the tarmac felt a lot like arriving in the Sunshine Coast after 24 hours of travelling. On the bus ride to the hotel, the girl from Thailand asked me what my background was - I explained to her that my mum was from England and my dad from Canada. She then asked if I was muslim!! Apparently Mike told her that I didn't eat pork - so she made the assumption… I guess there is a first for everything!

In the afternoon we walked down to the Ao Nang beach, and took a wooden long tail boat to Railay Beach about 10 minutes away. The water is so blue, and instead of it being just open ocean off the beach, there are dozens of jagged rock formations sticking out of the ocean - pretty incredible. Railay is a beach that isn't accessible by road and had a couple restaurants and shops. Not that many people were there so it was pretty quiet and relaxing.

In Thailand thus far, Mike and I have considered ourselves to have done pretty well at bargaining on the streets. Instead of taking my knapsack to the beach and getting it sandy, I decided I would buy a knock off smaller North Face one in one of the shops. In the first shop we went into, I asked how much it was and the store owner said 1200 baht ($40). As we went into the next store, the Thai girl suggested that we wait outside while she asked to see the knapsacks - I would then walk by and touch my hat discreetly if I liked it and she would then buy it. She got it for 400 baht!!! Apparently we haven't been doing as well as we thought.

This morning we got up early as we booked a speed boat tour that would take us to 4 different islands. For pick up, drop off, a 9am to 2pm tour, snorkeling and lunch it was only 700 baht (23 dollars Canadian) - unbelievable. It was a great way to see the bay in which Krabi is located. The scenery is stunning. Tomorrow we are off to Koh Phi Phi, which apparently is far nicer! Hard to imagine, but looking forward to it.