My Life As A Beach Bum (Thailand)

So, I've been busy. Tanning, swimming, kayaking, reading, sleeping, snorkelling, drinking banana shakes. It's a hard life I tell you. From Phi Phi I ended up on Railey, an upscale climber's paradise where I hiked up rock faces using Tarzanesque ropes and boulder footholds to an amazing silent salty lagoon that was completely incredible. I emerged exceptionally scratched, bruised, bleeding, and very eager to learn how to actually climb. From there I bussed and ferry-ed myself to Ko Phang-Nang. Ferry is really a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like a dingy night barge lined with sleeping mats on the floor, various ant colonies, some living birds and other interesting cargo. I arrived in time to fetch Cat when her ferry arrived a few hours later. Our reunion was quite exciting - a familiar face in a sea of Thais and hungover white kids trying to escape the damage of the infamous Full Moon Party is a very great thing. Together we made for Bottle Beach, an isolated boat-accessed beach with only 3 sets of bungalows, perfect white sand, turquoise water, hammocks, eccentric retired 40-something English guys that spend 9 months a year there, the whole bit. It was fantastic. AFter a couple days of doing nothing we moved to Ko Tao where we picked the isolated rocky beach with good snorkelling right off shore to hang out and do more of nothing. I'm telling you, nothing is underrated.
But when we'd had enough of it, we took another dingy night ferry to the mainland and visited a small port town with an actual population of Thais instead of just those serving tourists. It was a lovely place to spend an afternoon. I hiked to the top of a hill to see a Wat, and the view, only to be met by an infestation of dirty monkeys. Luckily the drink vendor at the bottom had leant me her stick to hit the pavement and scare them away. I needed it. They hissed at me. Contrary to popular belief, not all monkeys are cute.
Yesterday we came back to Bangkok where we proceeded to shop and drink to excess which is pretty much Bangkok in a nutshell. Now it's time for one last Thai massage before I hop a plane to India. Actually, tonight I go to Bangladesh. Tomorrow India. It was the cheapest ticket - don't ask. Wish me luck. Goodybe SE Asia. Love to all.