No more night boats for me.

Low season indeed!
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OK.  I hereby swear to never again book a night boat.  I know, you're thinking "but you can save a day by travelling at night!"  Horsefeathers.  Ever try to sleep on a barge?  When its still 30C at night?  With 30 other people?  Not to mention that the ship is powered by a prewar deisel engine.  Ugh.  At one point the captain,and I use this term loosely was moving alongside the waves instead of across them which meant that instead of rocking back and fotrth which is completey bearable and a litlle bit soothing we were rocking SIDE TO SIDE.  Which can be a little unnerving.  It got so bad that we were actually sliding off the rock hard mattresses into the aisle.  Some people were very nervous and started to grab lifejackets but it wasn't that bad and soon the capt. had turned us into the waves again.  So I recieved very little sleep between the 9pm launch and the 5am docking.  But I had made it to Surattani safely, and it was time to take a minibus to Krabi.  We were packed in like sardines,the air-con was cranked and we were off.

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During our ride I was able to finish the book I was reading at the time: "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut.  I recommend this book as it very funny in a black humour kind of way.  Since this trip started I have learnt the value of always having a book on my person as I never know when I will have a spare half hour to kill.  I chewed my way through five or six books already and am forcing myself not to read all the time but to try and meet people too.

they would jump right on your kayak and take the fruit from your hand

Crocodile cave! Minus the crocodile.
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Once in Krabi I decided to keep moving and head to Ao Nang beach, about a half hour away.  The beach is stunning with views of several islands and almost completely deserted this time of year.  The town itself is quite small but very commercialized with several tailor shops and multiple outlets selling "designer" clothing and accessories.  And of course the requisite massage parlours are here in force (the good kind).  I booked a kayaking trip around Ao Thalan for 1000 bht, and it was totally worth it!  After a ride to the compound we shoved off and paddled over to a very large island, where we worked our way around it and through some very cool canyons and grottos.  All around it were mangrove forests which we worked our way through, but they wre so thick that there was rarely ever more than one way to go.  Absolutly beautiful.  There were even monkeys in the forest that we could feed pineapple to, they would jump right on your kayak and take the fruit from your hand.  Until today I didn't know that monkeys could swim but I saw a large one push a smaller one into the water and it came up 5 feet from where he went under and climbed a tree to dry off, looking pretty miserable.

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After the kayaking was finished those of us with the full day pass were taken to a kind of fish zoo, where we could go swimming in a freshwater stream (but not with the giant catfish thankfully).  What an ugly fish.Whoever thought " I bet I could eat that" must have been VERY hungry indeed.  I only wish that it hadn't been raining so I could have taken some pictures of those hideous things.  We were given some food for the fish and they went into a frenzy with their huge gaping mouths and creepy whiskers.  I was literally throwing the pellets directly into thier mouths.

Secret beach at a very posh, almost hidden resort. Rooms were about 9000bht/night ($300can)
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After the fish zoo it was time to head back in the rain, with the monsoon season rearing its ugly head.  After a quick shower and a change of clothes I felt much better,  and now its time to get some food.  I think tomorrow I'll take a boat taxi to Railay, which is the rock climbing capital of Thailand.  Or if its nice enough just relax on the beach and read:)