24 April

We sleep in late just to recover from the previous days mayhem before heading over to a tourist agency to find out some information about what she would advise we do with our time, to make sure there weren't sights we were not aware of. From here we head across the street to a small but attractive looking Chinese restaurant, where we enjoyed a western breakfast and fried rice which we shared between us.

From here we head back to our lodging, collect our bags and find a Sangwa to take us to the bus station, it was supposed to be 2km but seeing as we were short on time we decided to make sure we don't miss the bus, in my opinion it was closer to 7km! At the bus station we find two other tourists waiting outside (Canadian and German) who were also going to Krabi, don't know why I did but I first asked them how much they paid for the bus ticket before going into the agency. The price they quoted was 150 Baht more than the other two paid, after a word or two it was dropped to the original price. The bus is packed full, there's only 5 spaces at the back with very limited leg room where we and our bags fit into the seats, after the first 2 stops the other 3 spaces are taken leaving us with the bags on our lap. it's a five hour bus trip and not one I want again but at least the scenery was beautiful especially once we entered into Krabi province.

The bus conductor calls us and drops us in what he calls Krabi Town, its not even on our map and appears to be just outside Krabi. I head to one side to try and get a Tuk Tuk or Sangwa to take us to Krabi town where all the guesthouses are. They want unbelievable prices, finally we find one who will take us, its not much cheaper but its times like these that the word price fixing jumps to mind. As long as everyone charges the same and they don't reduce their prices to much you don't really have a choice but to fork out the dough.

At least he dropped us off at the right place, Good Dreams, we head in to find out how much, prices are up considerably from the Lonely Planet's (LP's). The Canadian and German head off to find other lodging which is cheaper. We leave our bags and go the opposite direction with the idea of meeting and discussing options. The first 2 are okay the last was even nicer but none had internet and we desperately needed it at least for one night. On our way back we find the other two enjoying a beer having decided on another place. We head back to Good Dreams - it was the best option for us, unpack and head to the night market to find food and also visit the tourist shops along the way. We window shop in many places but decide not to buy, in the end we arrive at a night market which is only operational during weekends - what luck!

What a place, we start with deep fried ice cream, moving to chicken and rice, banana pancake, langan juice out of a bamboo shoot and a "budget street cocktail" to end it with, strong as hell! On our way back I look for a international call card to phone my parents while Leanne gets information regarding the Phi Phi and James Bond Islands. I make the call after which we haggle with the agent on the price after forking out what was actually not so much for the two days of activities. We head back to GD and make some skype calls to the home country before heading for the sheets.