Hello from paradise. I am writing now from an Internet shop on a secluded tropical island in southern Thailand called Railay. It is everything you would imagine a tropical island would be, and it is home to what our travel book calls the best beach in all of Thailand.
But before we came here, we spent a night and most of a day in Bangkok. At night, we took Tuk Tuks around, which are these very fast three-wheeled go-kart-like taxis that are found all over Thailand. I'm not going to describe much of the nighttime activities (hi Mom!), but during the day we went to some absolutely beautiful temples and palaces in Bangkok, led by a tour guide who is probably the nicest lady I have ever met. Thai temples are much more impressive to me than what we saw in Japan or Hong Kong. They are huge and colorful, with amazing hand painted murals and other intricate decorations.
In the afternoon, we flew to Krabi airport and took a shuttle to the small village of Ao Nang, where we found a nice hostel and settled down for the night. Dimitar got to hold a spider monkey, and we all had dinner and drinks next to to the beautiful and incredibly warm beach.
It wasn't until today that we really got to appreciate the incredible beauty of this place. We took a longtail boat from Ao Nang to Railay, which took abut 15 minutes. There are huge limestone formations everywhere covered in tropical jungle, and there are incredible, sandy beaches. The water is clear and sooooo warm. On Railay, we spent the morning on a beach, where we ate some delicious Thai food cooked on the spot for us, and in the afternoon, we took a beginning rock climbing class where we climbed some stunning rock formations over the water. The view from the top of the 30 meter climb was unbelievably gorgeous.
In addition to the five of us, we met a French backpacker named Jean-Philippe who joined us for the day and is staying with us tonight. Dimitar speaks, French, so the two of them have been speaking in French all day. He is a member of the French national hand ball team, and he is very nice.
The Internet place where I am is about to close, so I will not be able to post any photos now, but I will do best to unload my backlog as soon as I can.
Hong Kong skyline pictures are beautiful, as are temples
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