STORMY WEATHER

A short bus ride from Phuket and we've found ourselves in Krabi. We've decided to stay in the town as the beach hotels are so expensive. We are staying in a nice hotel run by a very camp guy who is Thailand's answer to Margarita Pracatan. Slightly perturbing is a large switch in our room labelled with a big pink sticker saying KRABI. We dare not touch it for fear that it actually turns the power on and off for the whole of Krabi. The beaches along Krabi's coast are stunning but only accessible via a 40 minute ride on a long-tail boat. This in itself is not that much of a problem but the boats terminate at East Rai Leh "beach" which has not got a jetty. As a result you have to wade the last 300 meters to the shore though the muddy waters of a mangrove forest. The beaches of West Rai Leh and Tham Phra Nang are well worth the effort though. They are incredibly beautiful and surrounded by soaring rock faces which also make the place popular with rock climbers. Our return trip to Krabi town was a bit of an adventure as just before we set sail a storm moved in. The calm waters were replaced with large rolling waves that threw our boat about like a cork in a jacuzzi. One of the girls on our boat likened the experience to level 3 white water rafting. I can only assume that level 3 is pretty advanced as we arrived back in Krabi town with our hair stuck to our faces and our clothes completely soaked through.

Next stop Kuala Lumpur…