THAILAND

Hat Yai

............we got a taxi to the border of Malaysia and Thailand and walked between the two countries. It was quite a cool feeling, just as it was when we crossed the bridge from Singapore to Malaysia (because us Kiwis have to fly to go to any other country it makes it a bit of a novelty!)

After getting another stamp on our passports (yay) we got a bus to Hat Yai which is a big city where all the trains and buses meet. We got there quite late and basically just stayed the night and caught up on email there. Of course we also had our 1st thai dinner here which was delicious, definately more spicy overall than Malay food. We also caught our first tuk tuk there!

Krabi

Then we headed to Krabi which is on the East coast of the mainland and is the place from where you can get to many beautiful islands and beaches. We spent 2 days and 3 nights there and had a fabulous time. We stayed in a nice place called The Green Tea House. On the first morning we woke there we were pretty tired from all the travel so continued on our blog site and backed up some more of our photos on CD/Ipod. We had planned to go to a beach called Rai Lay that day but the lady who served our breakfast recommended we go on a 4 island trip the next day and go to a place called 'Tiger Cave' that afternoon. The place where we had the breakfast was called May and Mark's and they had started the business when a Kiwi guy was living with them. He had taught them how to make bread (sourdough etc) and they were so lovely and the breakfast so incredible that we had breakfast there all 3 mornings we were in Krabi. We have almost always been eating only Asian food while we've been here but sometimes it can be a bit hard to stomach for breakfast (unless it's fruit). So we indulged in eggs on toast and proper espresso coffee with real fresh milk not powdered creamer!

The Tiger Cave that afternoon was amazing. There was a temple that was only partially built and was supposedly 30 years away from eing finished. This didn't surprise us having seen how much detail and extravigance goes in the the temples over here. There were 2 main uphill paths to take. The first one we took had some huge cliffs and incredible caves to see. Monks were living in the sides of the cliffs and there was a big Buddha too. Was really interesting although the monks must get sick of tourists walking past their homes. The was also a massive old tree that had been hit by lightening and fallen. It was all burnt from the lightening which was sad to see. We were told the second pathway had amazing views at the top but was 1237 steps to get up there. Some of the steps were very steep and shallow so at times it was like climbing a ladder. It was pretty hard work especially in the heat and we were sweating heaps when we got to the top about an hour after setting off. It was so worth it though as the views were as amazing as promised. A dog had stayed with us the whole way up, stopping when we stopped and keeping at our pace which was a laugh! Throughout the whole afternoon there were monkeys everywhere. We even saw some baby ones. This English girl was pertrified of them, poor thing! I love them, they are so cute! Probably wouldn't like them so much if we hadn't had our rabies shots though.

The next day we went on a 4 island boat trip. The 1st island we stopped at had big cliffs and cave formations surrounding the beach which was very cool. It also had some kind of shrine with all these huges woodern penises next to it which was very bizarre! We had a swim there and fresh water was dripping on to us from the cliffs a few hundred metres above. It was really beautiful. The 2nd island was called Chicken Island as the formation of the island looks like a chicken. Here we went snorkelling and it was gorgeous, saw so many varieties of fish, coral and anenome. The 3rd island was stunning. The water was really clear and there was a ridge of sand that joined to the next island which you could walk across at low tide. We had lunch and a nice swim here. The last island was lovely too and we got to do more snorkelling. It was unbelivable here, so many cool fish. There was even some puffer fish and one of them was a really big one.They are one of my favourites as they look like little puppy dogs with big brown eyes! Tama had had a bit much sun and felt like sitting under the shelter but I kept snorkelling until we had to go. We also fed some fish there with some stale bread they had kindly given us that morning at May and Mark's. The fish swarmed all around us!

Two of the nights we were in Krabi we had dinner at a place with all these local stalls on the river. The first night Tama had a crab fried rice that was undoubtedly the best fried rice either of us had ever tasted! The next night we went there with an English couple and an Australian couple who we had met on the trip to the islands. They were really nice people and we had a great night with them enjoying beers, food and cocktails.

Much love from Livi and Tama x