We packed up and got a lift to the main road in Khao Sok where the buses drop off and pick up, we'd decided to head down towards Krabi but when we got to the bus stop Vlad (the Czech guy from the jungle trip) was there and he mentioned that him and his girlfriend were going diving off Khao Lak and that it was the same bus we were gonna catch only we wouldn't have to change buses at Takua Pa. Simon had been to Khao Lak with Ade but it was still recovering from the tsunami (it was the worst hit area) so he said he'd be interested to go back and have a look. I wasn't bothered where we went next as long as we were moving south so on a whim we decided to scrap Krabi for the time being and head to Khao Lak instead. That's what I'm loving about this trip, we have the freedom to change everything just like that, never been able to do it before and it's so liberating! The bus arrived and off we went. It took about 2hrs to get to Khao Lak. Once we got there we went to get some lunch, we noticed A LOT of holidaymakers, nearly everyone looked European! We realised that Khao Lak had totally recovered from the tsunami and the new massive resorts they had built next to the beach attracted a lot of people for their 1-2 week holidays. This wasn't too bad, it was a tourist town but it was still beautiful and there was lots of little shops and loads of restaurants to look at. After lunch we left our bags with the family run restaurant and headed off to find some accomodation. We wandered up and down the main street and found a place that suited our needs i.e it was cheap! The room was actually really nice and it was the first bed that was really comfy so I was happy! That night we both had our first massage since arriving in Thailand, a full body oil massage and it was great!
26/11/09
Spent the day on the beach, it's got a really beautiful coastline, it seems to have fully recovered and there are massive 5 star hotels lining the beach. At first I was a little bit nervous, don't know why really but it is weird when you're standing in the sea at the point where the tsunami hit the hardest, looking out and jumping big waves that you aren't really sure about until they've come and gone safely, paranoid or what?! Anyway, after I'd got over it a bit the beach was really nice.