Hello Everyone!

Luckily the internet here in Ko Phi Phi is much much better. Let me recap for you how our last few days have been...

We arrived in Railay from Krabi Town via long-tail boat with a few other people, including a girl from Toronto, Kate. We talked to Kate for the 20 minute ride to Railay... she has been traveling SE Asia for several months and gave us lots of tips and cooled some of our worries about eating the food and drinking the correct bottled water. We arrived at Railay Beach East and took a short walk over to Railay Beach West with Kate and a couple from Ireland. We grabbed another long-tail to a beach that was around the bend from Railay West called TonSai.

At TonSai we walked around for a good 30minutes looking at rooms and getting prices. We settled on a quaint and nice bungalow for about 12$ canadian a night. Railay was absolutely beautiful! We had a set of islands visible from the beach and were surrounded by Palm trees and huge limestone cliffs. After seeing the view and noticing that there was actually edible food, and bottled water available we decided to stay for three nights.

The first night we took it easy and enjoyed some nice Thai food on a beach restaurant. We settled in early and then woke up the next day and had breakfast at another restaurant where we met a honeymooning couple from Calgary. While at breakfast we looked up at the rock to the east of us and there was a whole colony of monkeys playing and chattering away! Sarah and I then rented a kayak for a half day and paddled over to a nice beach that had very cool water and soft soft sand (Sarah loved the soft sand and even said it was softer than her cats!). After lounging around on the beach we headed over to some rocky islands and went through a sea cave out to the other side. Then we paddled to a more remote beach across the bay and read our books for a while. A very, very relaxing day and just what we wanted! In the evening we headed over to Railay West and watched the sunset before scrambling over some rocks back to TonSai and our bungalow.

The next morning (yesterday) we embarked on a four island tour on a long-tail boat. We did lots of snorkeling (my first time!) and saw an island that resembled a chicken. There was some coral reefs around a couple of the islands and we were able to see some really cool fish. The tour provided bottled water and lunch (rice with chicken and a nasty scrambled egg)! Overall it was really really nice to do some more beach lounging and swimming. We are almost out of my big bottle of sunscreen!

Later last night we headed back to the restaurant we ate at the first night because we really enjoyed the food there. We were getting more adventurous with our food choices and I ordered Thai Style noodle soup with chicken and Sarah ordered Green Curry with Chicken. We went back to our bungalow read our books and fell asleep before 9pm! We really enjoyed Railay and found it to be just what we expected: relaxing, good food, and not too isolated like our earlier adventure.

We have also started to learn some basic Thai... although we have found we do not necessarily need it, I think it has helped us a bit and I think it is much more respectful. We also have been drinking a lot of water. We go through about 4 liters of water each at the very least.

Anyways, we woke up this morning to get a boat over to Koh Phi Phi and unfortunately our eating adventures have caught up to Sarah. She got a bit sick on the way over to the boat and then again on the boat to Koh Phi Phi.... right now she is sleeping in our place and drinking lots of water. Don't worry I am taking good care of her! We will try and see if she can take some more mild food tonight. It is kind of strange that I havent gotten sick as well, I ate a good portion of what she had last night and we have shared all other food and water. If necessary there is a hospital here on the island.

Right now I am sitting in the tourist village of Koh Phi Phi where the tsunami wrecked havoc several years ago. It is very touristy here but rightfully so. The water and the scenery are absolutely amazing. We hope to stay here a few days and then head south to another island called Koh Lanta. When Sarah feels better, she suggested that she may want to do some scuba diving. When she does that I will probably try some rock climbing.

Sorry for not posting pictures again, maybe we can get some up later today or tomorrow.

Anyways we miss everyone very much and actually are envious of the cooler weather everyone else is probably experiencing.

Ryan and Sarah (in spirit)