We had a lovely driver in the minibus to krabi. Immy and I were sitting in the front on the way and we found him amusing as he talked to his friends through his earphones. He was considerate enough to drop each person off at the doorstep of their hostel. We were intrigued by the several stops he made along the way to hand over packages or drop in on friends. He was also very concerned about his minibus as it made its way onto ferry crossings and changes in the road surfaces.

Krabi town reminds me of Bangkok with lots of vehicles driving through and many small shops along the road. It seemed to serve its main purpose as a stopover town. Our hostel was situated right opposite the pier and this allowed us easy access to lots of places by boat. On our first day, despite being quite tired we decided to go on a boat trip to see the mangroves and caves. Krabi is distinctive for the large rocks that can be seen to line the horizon. On the boat trip we were able to get off and explore the inside caves of one of these large rocks. To get there we had to travel through mangrove trees which form little canals to pass through. We also saw fish farms, it looked like people lived on the water next to these farms to look after their fish.

In the afternoon we went exploring Krabi. We were aiming to find its main temple but ended up getting quite lost. We asked several people for directions but for the first time in our travels a lot of people didn't understand any English and I resorted to hand signals. We got talking to a friendly group of Thai men, one of which was a policeman. They were going to the exercise area (a park with a track that people run round) and they helped us find our way back. Admittedly we had ended up quite far away from the hostel!

Our hostel was very social with large rooms and a nice communal area. We went to its bar on the first evening and immediately started conversation with a few English girls. They were in the same year of uni as us and taking similar routes through Thailand. It was nice to drink with them and join in as they challenged people in the beer pong competition. The atmosphere was very chilled and we got talking to lots of different people. I ended the night playing giant jenga with some French boys and some Dutch boys.

The next day we were very hungover and tired. However we were determined to see the famous Railey beach. We went to the pier to pay for a return ticket. Unfortunately we ended up waiting ages for the organisers of the trip to get their act together. It was even more frustrating because while they kept us waiting they shouted loudly at eachother in Thai. We eventually made it to the beach but no sooner had we settled down on the sand, the winds picked up. Everyone on the beach knew the inevitable and all at once the beach cleared and people sought shelter. We sat in a restaurant for a while as the rain hammered down. Our main worry was not being able to get back to Krabi due to the rough seas. It was funny seeing all the tourists huddled into restaurants, it became obvious how these places could charge such high prices for food. A couple of hours later we got the boat back and by this point we were very tired. We went to the hostel for a much needed nap and let ourselves have a chilled evening to get our energy back. I am now excited to start exploring the islands in the south east tomorrow because the weather is meant to be better over there. Also, Lexi is on her way to join us!