Where to begin...

I do not even know where to begin since my last post on the 17th. So much has happened!!

After leaving Koh Phi Phi and spending my last day in Phuket with Nott's friends and family. Nott and his friends had to go to Bangkok and I headed to a place called Ton Sai, located 3hrs north in Krabi. Where my friends Tommy P. and Miranda were staying. After a pretty mellow bus ride and getting ripped off by my taxi driver I arrived at the beach town of Ao Nang, where I was to take a long-boat to Tonsai. Upon arriving in Ao Nang, I was absolutely blown away by the scenery. As I have been saying a lot recently, the place looked like it came straight out of the movie Avatar.

I thought my days of pushing boats in Sri Lanka were over... But after lugging my tired body and bags into the long-boat. It turns out the huge-ass bags these Euros had in the boat actually got the boat stuck in the sand. The boat driver asked the guys in the boat to get out and help push the boat into deeper water. After his 2nd request, seeing no one either understood him or wanted to. I did what I think most Americans would do. I took matters into my own hands, got out of the boat and along with 2 other locals pushed this heavy-ass long boat from knee deep water into about waste deep water. Leave it to the Euros to sit there and do nothing. But enough of my ranting and euro-bashing. I have actually met a ton of cool Europeans, so my distaste will only stay with those on the boat.

The boat ride was only about 10min. From the little Ao Nang bay to the next bay over, which is Ton Sai. Once we turned the corner and went to the bay at Ton Sai, the scenery was phenomenal. The bay is flanked by sheer cliffs standing at least 100ft tall. With huge stalagmites hanging from them. The water is crystal blue and the beach is your typical tropical beach covered in palm trees and beach huts. The place left me absolutely speechless. The beauty of it was awesome. What made it even more amazing was that the beaches next to Ton Sai on Railay were even more beautiful. The rock formations here are so prehistoric. The beaches are full of shells and the sand was shiny and white.

Apparently Ton Sai is a mecca for rock climbing. All the people staying there are hardcore rock climbers. Most of them are yogurt and granola eating hippies, which is fine with me. I like yogurt and granola.

Tommy and Miranda are avid rock climbers, they lent me a harness and shoes and got me out on my first outdoor climb. Rock climbing is HARD! Harder then in the climbing gym that's for damn sure. But the climbing was absolutely amazing. The views from the top were beautiful. I didn't climb anything gnarly, but it was still super fun.

We stayed in this little guest in the middle of the jungle. Only had power at night too, but that did not matter since we maybe only spent 4hrs a day in our room on top of sleeping.

On top of climbing we did a lot of hiking, swimming, and little cave exploring which was cool too. I am eternally grateful to Tommy and Miranda for letting me stay with them and taking me climbing. I am truly grateful. Once I find some wifi I will upload all the awesome pictures I took.

I have met so many awesome people on my journey so far and that continued in Thailand. From Nott's funny friends. To the two guys from Wyoming and the two californians we met at Ton Sai. For the record the two guys from Wyoming are the funniest two people I have ever met and first people I have met from Wyoming. I thought it was only myth that people live in Wyoming, but they proved it is actually a fact!

I was sad to leave Tommy, Miranda and my new friends in Ton Sai. But the adventure must continue!

Yesterday evening I boarded a bus from Krabi to Bangkok. It was long 10hr bus ride. But I almost had a heart attack midway through.... About 3hrs in at 10pm local time, the bus stopped to get food and use the bathroom. I had to pee like no other so I ran off to use the bathroom. Upon finishing my business and returning the parking lot, my heart literally stopped. The bus was gone.... I couldn't believe it, i thought, "no f***ing way! the bus left without me!?!?!?!?" I started to freak out and panic. My wallet, cell, and passport were all on the bus. There were no other tourists here, I had no money and no way to contact anybody. Not only was I having a heart attack, I was having a panic attack and was about ready to cry. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bus leaving, I immediately ran after it thinking it was my bus. After catching up to it, I realized it was not my bus. I started to calm down a little and realized there is no way all the people could have loaded back up into the bus, since I was only gone for 5 minutes. So after pulling myself together, I began searching the parking lot to see if the bus moved. By the grace of God, after about 5 minutes of looking I found the bus. It was the happiest moment of my life.

Traveling by myself is fun, but times like that really make me wish I had a travel buddy. But I also realize that traveling alone has helped me in so many ways. I will chalk this one up as a story for my children and grandchildren. Wow was that a scary 15 minutes.

That is all for now, Nott is hungry sitting next to me waiting for me to finish.
Since internet is cheaper here in Bangkok another update is coming soon!