We had a driver pick us up and drive us to Khao Lak where we will stay for the next 5 days. We made a few stops along the way so the driver could show us some interesting Thai countryside. We had been talking about cashew nuts. When we were in Cambodia, we bought a kg. of roast cashews for $6 US. We were told that standing under a cashew tree when it rains can burn or irritate your skin. Our driver pulled to the side of the road and showed us a cashew tree. Each ...

Up early today and managed a quick chat with Jody while she was in the Manila airport in transit to Bangkok and then Phuket. We had a quick breakfast and then caught the long tail boat to the pier for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Phuket. In order to save ourselves the ordeal of getting mixed into the melee at the dock, we purchased our taxi transfer from the dock on Phi Phi Island to go from the dock in Phuket to the airport hotel. Everyone gets a sticker for their shi...

The hotel here is very accommodating when it comes to arranging tours. You can wait until the morning of the tour and then check the weather and how you're feeling, and then tell them you want to go. They have their own long boats and also drivers on staff ready to go. Although the reason we came to Phi Phi Island was for the snorkelling, we have both been sick and didn't want to get sicker by spending the day in the water. I did a test run yesterday in front of ...

The sun was shining this morning when we got up! It didn't last the whole day, but was encouraging to start with. We were standing on the path that is right next to the sand, admiring the colour of the water. I kept feeling something tickling my leg, thinking it's just a piece of grass. Finally I look down at the back of my calf and the first thing I thought was holy ****, there's a tarantula on my leg, because it was that big! Then I got a grip on myself and sai...

We are in transit again today. We are taking the ferry for 1 hour to Phi Phi Island. The ferry was late leaving because of the chaos on the dock. That might explain the strange passenger transfer that occurred. We were maybe 10 minutes from the ferry dock on Phi Phi Island. The ferry stops, another one pulls along side and some passengers from our boat hopped over to the other one. I guess just because you're late doesn't mean you can hold up other boats. It is ...