Hey there!!
Just had the tastiest Hawaiian ciabatta sandwich in the Blue Juice Bar!!YUM!They also make the most refreshing strawberry shakes ever!

Earlier as I just arrived in Krabi, there was some parade taking over the town. Turns out to be a Chinese Vegetable Festival which goes on for 9 days. Theres is alot of noise, banging drums and cymbals...and some firework displays! Very thrilling but I have to say very disturbing to see young boys covered in blood. They were walking through the streets with others in a plain white clothing, some wore more elaborate clothing. As soon as I saw a guy slicing his tongue with a huge knife..i had to turn away. I thought it was fake blood but it was REAL. They were movig strangely with their heads popping up and down. Others had skewers like tools going through their cheeks which were huge.Its a Chinese celebration where its a practise of some sort of medium. Thats something I would never have imagined to see yet I just happenedto walk into it after getting off the bus. I admire such cultural practises even though it looked gruesome. Its of some sort of medium, thats what Mam said who is the owner of the "Greentea Guesthouse". She is unbelievably helpful and friendly to me. She is the one who booked me the best trip so far to Phi Phi islands.

I'm back in Krabi once again to get my VIP bus to Bangkok tommorrow at 4.00pm so I had to leave the paradise Ko Lanta. It really was tranquil with beautiful surroundings especially the longest beaches I've ever seen!!Reason why its so quiet is due to the fact its in the low season, thus not many people around til Nov when their high season begins. Strange!!I wouldn't want it that way, its so nice to have the beach literally to yourself. I think you experience the real essence of the place when its secluded. I didnt get the chance to tell you about my PHI PHI islands trip by speedboat. Loved the fact that we went by speedboat!To me the most memorabel exerience from that day is the snorkeling in one of the stops Lohsamah Bay. I saw the most colourful fish, all of different kinds. Some were quite plain, others had a neon blue, a flourescant yellow, purple with a turquosie zig zag pattern going through it...so many! Just amazing to see!!I even saw a Nemo fish altough not by my own accord. The little boy on the speedboat pointed it out to me. It looks exactly what it looks like in the movie, so cute and they actulaly move like that. I had to go back a few times to see this particular one. Saw the nemo fish at our last stop- Hin Klang. Bamboo island was a wonderful white beach where we stopped for 30 minutes to snorkel.Snorkelling in the PHI PHI islands is truly amazing. You would pay loads to see just that on a diving expedition. I just paid 750 baht for the whole day. So cheap!The scariest thing happened there though...this poor Thai girl happened to get so exhausted in the water that she could barely move so she was going under. Minutes earlier she was squealing with laughter so when I heard them say "HELP"...i thought they were joking. Then seconds later, she was continuing to go under so I went over to help her out. I'm not the best of swimmers so when she clung onto me,she brought me under so I panicked too. Luckily this New Zealand guy (who happened to be on the speedboat with us but didnt realsie til afterwards) came to her rescue and she climbed onto his back. We were well over depths with no life jackets so thank God, that guy helped her out. She was definitely drowning, that shook me. I was fine with no life jacket but I could feel myself getting tired so I started to come back. As I'm typing this, the Chinese celebrations is still going ahead!!On the brochure it says, one of the visits is the Viking Cave which we didn't get to see or the Pileh Bay whcih is a beautful lagoon. We went to the Monkey Beach where we saw a few monkeys on the beach. They were so close to us, it was so funny looking at a young monkey trying to drink out of a empt plastic bottle!

Another special moment for me was the visit to Maya Beach where the "Beach" was filmed. I can see why it was filmed there, its utter bliss. I stood there in awe of its natural beauty. I had to swim there!!As I have been in Ko Lanta for 3 nights at Tha Beach Resort for 200 baht. Ko Lanta was another highlight for me , it exudes this realxed vibe about the place. Still untouched by the whole tourism industry but unfortunately it will be another Phi Phi as they are building resorts everywhere. I booked another day trip as I know I would've kicked myself if I didnt...plus the day before I did NOTHING!!That day was truly magical for one reason, the "Emerald Cave" a beautiful lagoon with the clearest of water.Looked so pure! It was like a volcano that you got out of into this lush beautiful tree clad rocky cliffs. I'ver never been so scared...or maybe I have but this was scary as we had to enter the cave near the sea,. there were crashing waves belting up against the rocks. We had to enter the smallest hole. I was hestistant thinking this is mad to even try to enter this cave now. Are we mad?!!!Nobody else thought this thou..there were 9 nine of us including the tour guide. He was crazy in a fun way. I nearly kicked him in the face when he tickled my feet in the water. Not the thing to do when I'm terrified. Cool, amazing experience but so worthwhile ever scream once you reach the lagoon. Oh by the way to get there if you haven't yet sussed out, you have to go through the darkest caves to get to the other end. Plus it was pitch black at times and guess what? the tour leader had the one light!We were screaming at times, "WAIT!" During the tsunammi in Dec 2005, 48 survivors were found there in that cave. They survived 2 days until the locals found them there. Other places I visited was Koh Ma, Koh Chak where we I did some snorkelling and Koh Ngai. That was absolutely jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I had my camera with me, thank god to take photos of these splendid places. We went by longtail boat, gosh I love those. The whole time,I saw these rocky islands jutting out of the sea everywhere. I think I've made the most of my experiences out of Thailand on my own which I'm pretty proud of myself for achieving that.

Tomorrow with alot of sadness, I leave Krabi to go back up to Bangkok. My third trip starts on Oct. 24th. I sincerely hope it will be better than my last trip. Even better, I will meet my friend Rach who will be going on the third trip. Happy days!! I can't wait to have constant company.I was beginning to get worried when I started talking to myself in my accomadatiion rooms!!

Happy evex