Krabi

had a nice time in Hat Karon, yes it was quieter. stayed in a lovely guesthouse with a/c and cable tv! very luxurious. decided to try a few more curries while i was there so had green curry one night and red curry the next. unfortunately both blew my head off so i can't really tell you what they tasted like. the green curry was more of a soup with lumps consistency than what you would imagine a curry to be. on the way back to the hotel on the last night there i patted a baby elephant that was doing tricks outside a resort. very very cute and less than head high. you could buy bananas to feed it and it would bow and say 'thank you' in elephant language (?!)
Got the bus to Krabi the next day and i stayed here 2 nights. Took an island hopping tour yesterday which turned out to be a bit of a fiasco, what with being picked up an hour late, then safety being less than adequate. we paid extra to be on the big boat but it turned out the tide meant we had to use the smaller 'longtail' boats for some transfers to these islands. imagine all 24 people squashed on this teeny teeny boat. on the return leg i insisted that they do two trips as i could just imagine the headlines. plus i could swim but my new camera can't. the beaches were scenic but not so good for swimming, lots of sharp coral or mud. however we did do some snorkelling which was good, although the coral not as beautiful as Fiji. The worst part was the 2 hour drama tryiing to get back to land at the end, the low tide again meant we couldn't get straight off onto the beach and another longtail was called (ie shouted at boat to beach) to pick us up. after one lot had got off, the boat ran out of petrol... anyway finally 1.5 hours late we got off and not a word of apology from the 'guide' who thought he was god's gift to tourists/ women and a bit of a (insert word here). final straw for me was there was no transfer waiting to take me back to krabi. i can't work out surely they have low tides every day? why don't they have things organised for this eventuality? effin useless. at least the water was warm.
anyway decided to go to Koh Tao today and have just gone to the bus station to book a bus to chumphorn - the ferry departure port. next bus in 5 hours (great) and its 2nd class (great, hot, sticky and slow). so i have come back into town to update this and get some cheaper non bus station food.
16 days to go.
oh yes forgot to say the hotel i stayed in in krabi - cold water only and a HUGE cockroach crawled out of my towel as i was about to dry myself last night. spent the whole night in fear of it crawling across the bed.