Phi Phi Islands...swimming with the fishies in crystal clear water

Border run!

AoNong Beach

Today was--in a word--incredible. Increible. Incroyable. We left at about 8:30 to the take-off point. Our group guide was pretty much hilarious--such a funny guy. More on that later. The ride out to Bamboo Island was CRAZY. The water was really choppy, and we were at the very front of the speedboat. Pretty much that equates to us getting a couple feet of air every time the boat hit a wave, which was constant. It might sound fun, and sometimes it was, but it was actually pretty scary lol. There was one Japanese girl who was real skinny, and she was flying all over the place haha. That ride lasted a long time...BUT we finally made it to Bamboo Island where we had 45 minutes. Pretty island--I didn't see any bamboo, but I did see a lot of pine trees and step on a lot of pine needles. The water was crystal clear--so blue/green. I'd never been in water like that, so it was pretty exciting lol. The water temperature was cooler than AoNong, but it felt sooo perfect. The sand was beautiful, and there was coral and seashells washed up all along the beach. Such an incredible place to be.

Bamboo Island

After that, we headed to Viking Cave on Phi Phi Leh. The ride over there was crazy, as well. Nella and I were the only ones who braved the rainstorm outside. There's a reason noone else did lol. Going at that speed in a rainstorm...ouch. We ended up lying down so our faces weren't getting pelted. But it was kinda fun to go over those bumpy waves lying down, looking up at the sky. The group guide was too funny--he was singing and rapping in English most of the trip, perched on the front seat like a little kid. He was a crack up. Anyway, Viking Cave was cool--we didn't get out of the boat--not allowed to--but the water was just incredible--all day long. Apparently people actually live in the Viking Cave to this day, protecting it since it's such an old historic site.

Viking Cave

Next up: Amazingly beautiful lagoon. I can't get over how gorgeous the water was everywhere.









 Then we headed to Maya Bay--that's where they filmed the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio. Of course, that island was incredible. It's just so amazing to see the beautiful green jungle, the limestone cliffs, the white sand, and the clear bluegreen water all next to eachother. So striking--even in cloud cover the water looked incredible. I'm sure in sunlight it would just sparkle. At Maya Bay we walked around a bit to check out the area. The water was extremely choppy, but the beach looked great! It was pretty funny--we saw multiple girls doing the most dramatic poses on the beach. I really would've thought I was watching a model shoot if it weren't for their friend standing two feet away with a little point-and-shoot camera. Also, there were so many gross men in speedos all over. For heavens' sake, men, please put on some clothes! I would've been happy to lend someone the basketball shorts I was wearing lol.





















After that we headed to Monkey Bay where we SNORKELED! Heck yes! That was so fun for me--I think I snorkeled when I was 12 in Hawaii, but my memories of that are vague. This was epic for me. You could see right down to the coral in that lovely water. There were so many cool fish everywhere. I was swimming in a school of pretty yellow, purple, iridescent fishies constantly. They were all around me, within inches. Then there were the awesome, large, colorful fish a couple feet below. It was like swimming in a doctor's office aquarium. But a thousand times more cool. I definitely saw a Dori-type fish (Finding Nemo Dori) except they were yellow with black stripes. There were neon-colored fish that glowed. Angel fish, black fish, purple fish, rainbow fish, etc etc etc. I couldn't possibly describe all the cool fish I saw. Then there were anemones, coral (obviously), sea urchins. So amazing.
After snorkeling, we went to Koh Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi Leh is a national park, and there is no accomodation there. Phi Phi Don is the bigger island, and there are tons of people there. Lots of young adults. We had lunch at a restaurant there. The food was okay. Then we went walking around. Tons of stores. We got a delicious nutella pancake for 50 baht. We wanted more, so we tried nutella/mango. Not as good as we had hoped, but course not bad. We kept walking and walking, and basically we ended up on the other side of the island when we were already supposed to be back. So we had to book it and hope we ended up in the right spot lol.



Last stop was more snorkeling at Phi Phi Don. This area was more open. Nella and I jumped right off the boat--the water didn't look deep enough, but it was, since we didn't land on anything lol. We were the only ones to get out of the boat for quite awhile. People are crazy. They just sat there on the boat. What the heck? Anyway, we snorkeled our little hearts out. We dove down to the sea floor, I touched some coral, and I also dove to get a little seashell I saw sitting on one of the reefs. Good times :) More incredible fish. An enormous school of those smallish purple and yellow ones. I touched a couple of them. There was one fish that was soooo cool. It was pretty large--probably almost a foot long. It was sea green on the tail end, and the rest was just a smattering of beautiful colors. Geez, I wish I could've taken pictures of all the incredible fish I saw. It really was just my idea of paradise--beautiful scenery, beautiful creatures. It was sunny, as well, so that always helps. 

After that, we headed back to AoNong--a nice, smoother ride on the way back. What a day! It really was incredible--this place is so beautiful, it's surreal. Thailand, everybody. Get over here! It's sooo the place to be. Highly recommend anyone to come here. You can't go wrong with the beaches here. 

End of Mirror and Beginnings at the Beach

On Friday, in the morning Janella and I taught at Thuang Luang Childcare. The kids were preschool age, and they were pretty much the cutest things ever. We had an hour and a half for teaching and pretty much nothing prepared. We sang many a song, including "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "5 Little Monkeys," and our revised version which we called "Teacher Wants Me For A Sunbeam." We felt it inappropriate to teach Buddhist children a Christian song, but it would've been cool. We had them color--those kids can color indefinitely. Each one would come up with their coloring, wai, and say "khop khun ka." So adorable. Then we played games: Red Light, Green Light; What Time is it, Mr. Wolf; Duck Duck Goose, etc. Good times with those kids. They really were so cute.
After that, we headed back to Mirror for a quick lunch (and a quick pack-up) and then headed back to Namlad School to teach 4th graders about numbers. That went fine. There were quite a few of us there, so I really didn't do much. The kids got crazy when we had them do a competing game. They were sooo loud. Joe (from Reading, England) taught them "1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock Rock," and it was too funny watchings the kids trying to rock.
Then, the songthaew man kindly took us straight to Boon Bun Dan. We got our room ($3/night), went to eat at Ti Amo (predictable, yes), took a nap, and then headed to the little fair we had heard about. We walked around and saw the shops (most of them were hilltribe crafts) and watched some performances. Those were interesting/funny. I recorded a bit which I'll have to post sometime when I have more time.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head to the border. We took a 7:30 bus to the border of Burma/Myanmar. We needed to leave Thailand so that we don't become illegal tourists. Our tourist visa only lasts 30 days. So, we got there, paid them 500baht, and shopped around in Burma at Tachilek Market. That market is chalk full of namebrand stuff for extremely cheap. I mean namebrand like LaCoste, Prada, Luis Vuitton, etc. I also got some DVDs for $1 each. Sweet. There were people accosting us left and right, trying to sell us huge cartons of Marlboro cigarettes for 40baht. That price is RIDICULOUS. But it was pretty annoying to have everyone trying to sell us those. We kept saying, "We don't smoke." One man heard me say it and then said, "Smoking pretty." Uhhh hahaha definitely not. Anyway, we headed back into Thailand, checked out some shops on the Mae Sai side of the border and then got a bus back to Chiang Rai. It poured on our way back--about an hour and 15 minute drive.
We ate very quickly at Ti Amo and then got a songthaew to take us to the airport. Our flight was at 4:25, and we got to Bangkok around 5:45. At Don Mueang Airport, we tried to get a taxi to the Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal--the man in charge of getting people taxis told us 1000 baht. Uh yeah right. Luckily the actual taxi driver said 350. We made it to the bus terminal and bought our VIP tickets for the 7:30 night bus to Krabi. It was $30. VIP was sweet. Tons of leg room, seats that reclined far back, and a bunch of snacks. We stopped at midnight somewhere--squat toilets and a little snack--before heading on. We slept most of the ride. It was a really pleasant ride. Highly recommend the VIP route.
We got into Krabi around 6:45 and took a taxi to our hostel--AoNong Grand Inn Hotel. $6 a night, up the street from the beach, A/C, two beds, private bath. Perfect. Seriously, what a steal! Plus, he let us check into our room at 8 o'clock in the morning rather than 1 in the afternoon.
So...today. We went down to the beach to check it out. Beautiful--there are amazing, limestone cliffs all around, even one right out in the water. The water is sea green and beautiful. When we were arriving, it was raining pretty hard, and the forecast didn't look too promising. However, the sun came out, and it was amazing. We were both just so excited to be here at the beach. We got up to our waists in the water--the water is nice and warm. The beach is covered in little tiny seashells. It's gorgeous.
Anyway, after showering, we got into our beach gear and headed out again. It was so nice to be in the water, beautiful palm trees around. Also, lots of people trying to sell things--bracelets and massages mostly. They really don't let up. We had the same lady come up to us atleast 4 times, asking us to get a massage at her place. She even gave us some free pineapple as an incentive.
We went and got lunch at a nice place that was pretty cheap. Everything's more expensive down here. Food is way pricier. We went into McDonald's (right across from our place, as is Sev, Pizza Co, and Swensen's lol) and we went right back out after seeing the prices. They were almost double the prices in Chiang Rai and Bangkok.
After lunch, we headed back to the beach. I promise I put on sunscreen, Mom lol. Then I wanted to check out an area down the beach from where we were. We walked the beach and came to an area with a small pool of water with a small stream leading to the ocean. There was a bridge and some treacherous-looking steps up into the hill. It was called the Monkey Trail, and we took it. It lead to another beach--a hotel resort area--very nice beach. We decided to swim there :) We stayed there for quite awhile, until I got stung. Yep, stung. You heard me. It was a big surprise...and yeah, it hurt. But mostly, I just didn't want whatever it was touching me again--I hate knowing there are weird creatures in the water that I can't see. So we got out. And then the area on my foot where I got stung started getting puffy and red. It hurt for a bit, but it got better after awhile. We went on the dock--super strange dock, by the way. It was like they stuck a bunch of big legos together. It hurt to walk on, and it was like an obstacle course. We probably looked drunk since you just can't walk straight on those things.
After chilling there for a bit, we headed back to our place, showered and got ready, then caught a songthaew to Tesco/Lotus in Krabi. It actually took forever to get there lol. And the driver was insane. That was a crazy ride. But we got there. We got some stuff at Tesco--food for this week and some floaty beds for the water :)--and then caught a songthaew to Krabi town and another one from there to AoNong. Another crazy ride. Those drivers seriously drive like maniacs.
So...that was our first day here in Krabi. Tomorrow, we're headed on a day-trip to the Phi Phi Islands. 8:30-4:30. Pretty much it'll be amazing. I'm already burned--suck lol. But I'll be equipped with my sunscreen (SPF 50 lol) tomorrow. Woohoo! Can't wait. This next 10 days will be beautiful. It's paradise here. I love Thailand.

11 year olds are the same no matter where you are...

Yesterday in the morning after breakfast, we went to teach at the Jalae Childcare Center....So, same place we spent our homestay. That means I got to see little miss Sawanee again, plus a bunch of other darling kids. We were super unprepared since we only found out the night before that we were teaching. But kids don't care. We sang songs with them and had them color, mostly. They were pretty much darling. I got some great videos of them.

This thing--apologies to those who are of weak stomach lol--is the head and tail aka remains of a mole the cat decided to eat during dinner. So appetizing to have that going on as I was eating.

This thing--this disgusting-looking thing--is one of the dogs. They just got shaved this week, and they all look ridiculous. This one just happened to lay on the ground like this for awhile, so I thought I'd snap a shot.

I just thought this was another funny shot of the weird dogs. Animals are all so strange here. The dogs were chasing after the pony they have grazing around here. The pony got all riled up and starting chasing the volunteers. Kinda scary lol. 

After volunteering yesterday, we just stayed around Mirror. Most of the volunteers went into town for Alinta's birthday. Nella and I stayed and watched a couple episodes of Lie to Me. I took a needed nap as well. Woke up sweating bullets. Lovely. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes last night. Also, I can't even begin to explain how many spider webs I walk through a day. It's awful. At night especially, when my spidey sense isn't quite as good, I'm constantly getting the willies as I feel spider webs all over me. Yuck. This morning we had to leave at 9 to teach at Huay Fai School. Pear and I were in charge of teaching the 4th graders. My gosh. 4th graders are the same all around the world. Full of energy, little punks. It was so hard to keep them under control. We failed miserably. We were teaching them numbers. Trying to get them to understand and identify the difference between 15 and 50, 14 and 40, etc was absolutely impossible lol. We played a game where there were two teams. I'd shout out a number, and the first person to write it on the board got a point for their team. I'd say, "The number is...52!" And then all hell would break loose as the kids panicked and then someone would shout out the number in Thai. Then one would write "20" on the board, and the other would write "15" lol. They never got them right. It was crazy how off they were. But hey, we tried. At the end of the class, when we said thank you and goodbye, they came to us with blank pieces of paper, wanting our autographs. Sooo cute. I love seeing the cute Thai kids "wai" us when we leave.

In the afternoon, we went to Namlad School to teach the 6th graders for an hour and then the 5th graders for an hour. Our topic was "favorite things." Try getting Thai kids to pronounce "favorite." It comes out "favohwiss." It's great. The kids were pretty into the games, but on the whole, much better behaved than the 4th graders. After teaching them, we got some delicious, icy chocolate milk drinks plus donuts. So great. I watched as two little Thai students came to talk to the gym teacher. They kneeled down on a mat while talking to her, out of respect. Thai culture is so cool.

Another cool thing...the amazing caterpillar I found at Namlad School. Right out of the bug books I looked at growing up. 

All the Asians and South Americans I know are super grossed out by caterpillars. They thought it was absolutely insane of me to be holding a caterpillar, even on a napkin. But I was too excited to resist. Anyway, on the whole, a good day teaching. I'm exhausted though. Janella and I are leaving Mirror tomorrow night so that we can be in town to do a border run on Saturday morning. Crazy that we're leaving!