Blub blub going under water

Rain, rain and rain. It seemed not to stop. And we did not came here during the rain season. Because there was not much we could do in Koh Lanta we left the place and went to Krabi. For sure there it was also raining, but we did not spent the time at the sea side without any other options.
After settling up we went in Krabi to the bay and saw there a big monument of the animal having a similar name to the city name. A huge crab.

Bernd got a bit to close to one of the smaller crabs, so I had to rescue him before he would get eaten by the bigger one, at least it looked like the smaller one wanted to hand him over.

After this shock he cautiously went away and ended up in front of a giant eagle. Luckily for Bernd he did not see him and he got away without getting another big shock.

On the way along the bay we met Mexican/Spanish couple, they were talking with a guy offering a boat trip to a cave. The idea of going into a cave during this rain was a great idea. So we also joined them and got by a longtail boat to a small island with one of this rock hills or mountains.

First thing we found on the island was the bat cave. So he is not living in Gotham City, he lives here in Krabi. Or is it an additional hideout for Batman ?

Before we could enter the cave we found a skeleton of a human on the ground. Bernd was close to throw up, when he saw the bones.

The interior of the cave was really amazing, especially with the lighting. I've seen several caves in Europe, but they did not give us the same feeling we could get here.

And not only the big cave was interesting on this island, the jungle around us and also the view we got on the river was worth getting here.

After coming back to the bay we headed more into the centre of the city and went to Wat Kaew Porawaram. The first temple we visited in Thailand on our trip.

From the temple we got to the night market. The night market is not like a market in Europe. The people get to the market to buy some food and not so min for buying stuff. A different culture and thought about markets. We spent there a lot of time eating several different Thai dishes, all tasting so good and you can only stop eating when your stomach is full.
But the market was not the end of the day. Later we got on a bus to Ao Nang, went there to some bars and also to a Muay Thai boxing competition. We have never seen a competition like that before and it was just amazing.

The next day we decided to get to Ao Nang to spent some days at the beach and maybe make a diving course. The forecast was saying that it would stop raining and the weather would be great again. We found a great place in Ao Nang to stay it, met there many nice people and good hospitality. The only negative was that the beach is rather far away, but thatfore no loud bars around.
On the way down to the beach we could not resist to take a look at the rocks. It feels like you can never get enough of looking at them. They are also famous for climbing, we should try that one day.

Down at the beach we did not immediately jump into the water. The view we got offered was so nice that we almost forgot to go swimming.

At the end of the beach we found the monkey trail, a path leading to another beach belonging to one hotel. At the trail were felt like hundreds of monkeys, so we got to take care of our stuff. This time we did not have any food so it was much easier.

From the monkey beach we could see a rock in the water, we thought it might be the so called James Bond Rock, at least it looked like the one they announced on the tour pictures around here.

As expected, the next day became a sunny day. Because it is not so interesting to stay at the beach on front of you we decided together with to travelers from our hostel to take a longtail boat to Railway beach. The way to get there lead us along some nice islands and other beaches inviting us to stay there.

The next days I spent most of the time in the water, first only diving in a pool and then in the Andaman sea close to Koh Phi Phi.

The good weather lasted for all the days I spent diving and on the last day back to Ao Nang we got to see one more amazing sunset. Yes again a sunset, I never get enough of them.

And at the end I got passed my exam and the allowance for open water diving.
Well and they also gave me a t-shirt as a good memory and for them commercial.

Islands of Thailand

Many years ago I've been in Thailand. But this time I did not arrive at an airport. Still on Langkawi we went to the ferry terminal and immigration office. Getting the access right to Thailand was no problem at all and we chartered a speed boat to get to Koh Lipe, an island in the south or Thailand.
It did not take long to get from Langkawi to Koh Lipe, we enjoyed the ride in the front of the boat in the sun looking at the islands passing by.
Koh Lipe is one of the most touristic islands in Thailand, from some people I heard that about six years ago there were only fisherman's cottages and no tourists. Today there is no cottage left and one bar and hotel next to each other. Must have been an amazing place for the first foreigners coming here. Too bad that not only one cottage is still there.
For us it was rather good that the island changed, also when it too much changed, but we came to Thailand with only a few Malaysian Ringit in our pocket and in the past there for sure was no place where you can pay with credit card or get money from an atm.

After check in in our hotel, which was away from the beach and not to close to the walking street we went to the beach to jump into the water. Well a few words more about the hotel, it has nice small cottages and is located in the jungle and has a copper dragon for security.

When we arrived there it started raining, what did not stop us. The plan was to get wet and not to sit around and take a sunbath. After having enough we went to a bar to get dry and also found some other travelers to talk with. Also we got to enjoy the view of the rainy beach we got.

We stayed at the bar rather long and it was good that we did that. The rain stopped several minutes before sunset, so the view improved a lot and we got to see another beautiful sunset.

Our second day also started raining, at least the rain was not so strong that you become soaking wet within a minute, it was more drizzling the whole day.
Because we did not want to waste our time only in our cottage we walked along the walking street first and decided to get a Thai massage. Bernd felt asleep during the massage, so also for him it was very relaxing.
After that we explored the island and went to the other nice beaches. We did not go there the time you supposed to go there, but it was ok so. Otherwise we would have to wait till the early morning or evening.

Hours later, we spent most of the time of the day with walking along the beach, swimming and climbing on the rocks along the coast, we ended up at the beach we arrived and saw a big skull made out of sand. Bernd thought that pirates must be around and was frightened looking around, ready to run away when he would see one.

Because the weather seemed not to get better and you could not really do much on such a small island we left the next day and took a speed boat to get to Koh Lanta. We did not plan to go to too many islands so we passed by at all the islands. On the way up we could see the beauty of the islands, also with all the clouds and rain it was still beautiful.

Koh Lanta changed a lot since my last visit there, all around bars, restaurants, hotels, scooter rentals and so on.
The first thing I wanted to do there was showing Bernd the place I stayed with some friends years ago. With all the changes on the island I hoped that this one would still be the same. And it was. The cottages at the beach looked like in the past and also the restaurant on the rocks at the beach.

It was again a rainy day and we decided to walk around and see what else changed. In a small shop we met a couple from Germany, they just arrived here's and did not know what to do in Koh Lanta. Because we all got hungry we went to a bar/restaurant at the beach, where we shared travel experiences and Bernd found a new friend.

Last stop in Malaysia

After spending again some time in a town we wanted to get to the beach, for sure there would also some nice ones on Pulau Penang, but we wanted to get to a different place. So in the early morning we to the ferry to get on Penang and leave Butterworth, it was still dark when we started our way. So this time we got to see a sunrise. Not as beautiful as all the sunsets but also very nice to see.

On the boat we met a couple also going to Cenang Beach on Langkawi. After arriving we decided to share a taxi to our hotels, there was no bus going so there was no other chance.
When we arrived at our hostel we realized that we have chosen a real great place. We had a small apartment in a cottage upstairs. First warning we got there was to leave the windows and doors closed when we are not in the room, because the monkeys there also want to check in.

For sure the first thing we did after checking in and getting rid of our stuff was going to the beach, we picked the right place, a sandy beach, blue sea and sun. The only bad thing was, that there were many jelly fishes around. Be very careful when getting into the water. Bernd decided not to get into the water, he was to afraid of the jellies, I did not think that they may also be poisoning for breads, but you know, Bernd is very cautious.

We spent a lot of time at the beach, we only left because we were almost starving, because we did not walk along the street to find a restaurant, we decided to walk along the beach and from the north end leave and find a good place. Along the beach we took a look at all those expensive hotels, they were so ugly, how is it possible that such a beautiful place like our hotel is so cheap ? And we found a good place, serving tasty noodles. Bernd was crying because his were to spicy, he looked so funny when his face all turned red.

Later we went back to the beach, it felt like we could not get enough of being there, especially it was already evening and time for the sunset, and of cause a great one.

The next day in the morning we rented a scooter, to explore the island. Still lack of the bus here it was the best decision, taking a taxi all the time would be to expensive. Our first destination was the cable car near Telaga. Before getting up on the mountain we walked around in the oriental village, what was actually not really a village, it was build in an oriental way but only having shops and attractions for tourists.

Did not spent to much time in the oriental village, I was talking with a guy having a constrictor, when Bernd decided it is time for getting up the mountain. At least I touched the snake, felt very strange and not as expected. At the ticket counter for the cable car they offered us to buy a express ticket, we did not pick it and it was a good decision. Express ticket, the waiting time got a lot shorter because three older women wanted to take pictures of me and with me. Felt like a star, this time not only Bernd.
Bernd liked the ride in the cable car and surprisingly he was not afraid of the height at all, maybe he at least got rid of one fear.

On the way to the top was a stopover, were we left the cable car and took our first look around. The view from up here was already good and we could not wait to reach the end. We got back to the cable car and before entering the line of people waiting here we saw a sign for the express line and it also was valid for single travelers, so we split up and acted like single travelers to skip the line.

From the top the view was much better, especially we could see the north side of the island, the only bad thing was, that the skywalk was closed due to some repairs and safety reasons. So we could not walk around as much as we wanted to.

We stayed a long time up there and also managed to skip the line when we got back down. With the scooter we went to the next interesting place. The seven wells, a big water fall not far away. Before we climbed up the mountain Bernd bought himself an ice cream and we started walking up the stairs. On the way up a monkey almost stole his ice, we could get it out of his reach just in time, the monkeys did follow us for a rather long time but then gave up, maybe they were waiting for the next tourist and get some food.

It was a long way up, Bernd was totally exhausted when we arrived at the viewing point and got to the river above the waterfall, the water was very refreshing and it was a great place to relax and doing nothing. What we did for a long long time.

Because we could not all the time up at there we went the stairs down, what was a lot easier for Bernd and we got to the waterfall, first thing I did was climbing up the rocks to get to the waterfall and stay below. And after that jumping from some rocks into the deeper water down the river a few meters, but it was not so nice for a long time, we only stayed for some minutes when it started to rain.

When the rain got a bit weaker we got back to our scooter and left the place, planned to go to the north coast to get to the black sand beach. Before we reached the beach we stopped at another beach, to get out of the rain which was getting stronger again. At least we stopped at a nice place, which was nicer than the black sand beach with all the rain.

Our day with the scooter passed by much to quick, so we got back on our way to the hotel. On our way we met with a girl from Shanghai, who got lost and we helped her finding the way back to Cenang Beach. And not only the day with the scooter passed by to quick, also our time on Langkawi, the next day we got to leave Malaysia and get to Thailand.