So Kristen spent her first week in Thailand in Phuket (on the West Coast of the Southern Peninsula) and Koh Tao (an island on the East Coast). She took a diving course on Koh Tao with Cam and Chelsea, and learned that she was meant to be underwater. Apparently she rocked the course, and was proficient at all the little skills and techniques she needed to master in order to get her certification. They saw lots of different tropical fish and coral, and thoroughly enjoyed learning how to breathe underwater. Chelsea and Cam even saw a shark (black tip) although Kristen wasn't around to see it at the time. Unfortunately our camera got chipped somehow, so was no longer water proof- this was not noticed until after a snorkeling session which means no pictures for now!!!!
The three amigos met Paul on Koh Phan Ngan (pronounced k-oh Pen Yang) after he survived 30 plus hours of travelling with no sleep. They tooled around the island for a day, and then decided to rent scooters to explore a little further.
The scooters were a blast, and we travelled the whole island, looking at waterfalls, seeing a monkey, elephants, back alleys and palm trees everywhere. Unfortunately, the day ended in disaster. A dog ran in front of the scooter while Paul was driving and Kristen was on the back. We weren't travelling incredibly fast, but the road had a skim of sand over it at that point, and when the brakes were applied, the bike slipped in the sand. We ended up on the ground and in serious pain.
Cam and Chels got us to a hospital, and they took good care of us. Unfortunately Kristen received some fairly serious road rash on her calf and backside, and minor abrasions on hands, knees and elbows to go along with some major bruising of her thigh and butt. Paul escaped with relatively minor cuts and scrapes but was fairly concussed by the fall (helmets were being worn) and still can't remember the period surrounding the crash. Both of us received great care at the hospital and from the nurse at the clinic near where we were staying and the wounds are well on their way to being healed. Paul's head is doing much much better and only the wound on Kristen's calf is still serious enough to keep her out of the water. Hopefully she will be able to join us for a swim in the next day or so. We are keeping everything clean and so far not even the slightest sign of infection in any cut or scrape (antibiotics might be helping!).
After a few days of taking it very very slow and licking our wounds (figuratively) we moved on to Krabi on the Andaman Coast (West side of the Malay peninsula). We have been lounging on the shell strewn beaches, eating at wonderful Thai restaurants and exploring some coves and beaches near the beach town of Ao Nang. We went on a Longtail boat ride to Hat Rae Lae yesterday to see some incredible limestone spires, swim on a wonderful beach and poke around in some caves. One of the caves had large carved phalli which the local fisherman leave there for the spirit of a princess who inhabits the cave. The hope is if they can keep her happy, she will help keep their catches full. Seems like a good idea!
Today we are supposed to be on the way to Malaysia, but things have been a little messed up with our travel plans. Hopefully our van will actually pick us up soon and will take us to Hat Yai where we will get on a bus to Penang. We are going to take a day or two there to look around and see what is what, and then we will head to the Perhentian islands in North Eastern Malaysia.
We will try to update you soon!
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