Is it good for the blog?

We met at 5:30 pm for our 7:30 train because the traffic in Bangkok can sometimes be very bad... we got to the train station at 5:45...

After waiting for an hour in the hot and sweaty train station--the air conditioning wasn't working and we couldn't get a seat next to the fan -- we met with our group and carried our five heavy bags through the station to board the furthest train.

We then walked through the hectic train car... and ran into our first travel hiccup--

apparently Intrepid, our tour company, had booked the tickets on an earlier train, but hadn't bother to tell our trip leader.

So there we were, 13 of us, in the Bangkok train station without tickets to get to Krabi in the south of Thailand...

Su, our amazing leader, quickly rectified the situation -- putting us in cabs and sending us to the bes station. Btw -- the bus station is way nicer than the train station, way cleaner and actually had working air conditioner. We ended up booking a VIP bus to drive us to Krabi -- which actually got us there quicker than if we were to have taken the train... weird, but good luck.

The bus itself really wasn't so bad -- even though Lindsey had a minor panic attack once getting on board, Josh assured her that it would all be okay... at least it wasn't an airplane. Luckily we were able to sleep the whole time -- thank you ambien.

Also... throughout the whole hectic ordeal, Josh pointed out that even if missing our train wasn't so good for smooth sailing at least it was "good for the blog". (Note: If you haven't seen the documentary film Darius Goes West -- go watch it now. If you have -- it's kind of like when the bus breaks down but then the chihuahua starts praying... something like that. haha.)

The next morning, we arrived in Krabi and checked into our guesthouse, which is nice and clean and a ten minute walk from an amazing beach. It's pretty much been a parade of amazing beaches so far... white sand, clear/warm water... and even more incredible scenery.

We spent our first afternoon in Krabi on the beach -- Lindsey got a slight sunburn on her arms after falling asleep in the sun which she really did think was actually the shade.

Later, we were driven to a beach near-by where we're staying to go horsebacking riding on our own... we ended up each having our own horse, Josh rode Diamond and Lindsey rode Magnum, and our own Thai tour guide who was practically pulling our horses along the beach. The beach was absolutely empty and the sun was setting... we walked along the shoreline and enjoyed the view. :)

Last night we had dinner at a kind of touristy Thai restaurant, but ended up with the best sweet and sour chicken ever. Nice. After dinner we headed to the pharmacy to buy some aloe vera for the said sunburn when it literally started to pour. There was crazy lightening and pouring rain for about half an hour. We killed some time in the pharmacy -- there was a little thai boy inside who wasn't wearing any pants -- hmmm. Then we went to get some ice cream, well Lindsey got ice cream, while Josh ate a banana.

Today we spent the whole day on a speed boat driving around to different little islands, swimming and snorkeling. Some of the snorkel spots were better than others -- but we saw some incredible fish. Our boat driver had a loaf of bread to attract them to the boat... We also got to go to one of the beaches on an island called Phi Phi where the movie "The Beach" was actually filmed. It was pretty spectacular -- crawling with tourists, but for good reason.

We think we managed to avoid getting another sunburn today -- we wore shirts the whole time.

We're heading off to a small island off the coast tomorrow called Ko Yo Noi (we think) for two nights... more stories about beaches and snorkeling to come...

xoxo,

Lindsey and Josh