Greetings,

Last night I had the displeasure of hanging out in a somewhat slummy and definitely seedy town called Chumphon, Thailand. All part of a roughly 24 hour trip from Koh Tao to Krabi.

We had hours and hours to kill so we chilled and chilled and chilled. Finally at 2am our “old but still working” train arrived. This thing didn’t smell so hot or look that clean. That said, it only cost me $12 or so, so who cares, right?

I had the top bunk which I highly recommend, funny how I was all freaked of bed bugs ~2 weeks ago and now I’m sleeping on trains that have had the same cushions since the mid 1940′s, when they were built. (Note: my friend who has traveled extensively says the train we were on was 5 star compared to India.)

I got into the top bunk, used my “valuables” backpack as a pillow and put my legs over my other one. So many people just leave their stuff in luggage tow, so many people have horror stories of getting ripped off. I’m a nice guy, I just don’t trust strangers, makes sense, yes?

We get into Trang and it’s POURING rain, I mean just really coming down, I mean coming down like “Zeus” himself was crying over his morbidly obese girlfriend leaving him, or something of that nature. I digress.

We had a crew of 10 now as we met some french travelers going to the same destination. Turns out we get a bus for 200 baht each for the ~2.5 hour ride, not bad, yes? When I say “Crew”, I mean cool people traveling to the same place as yourself. When you will go your own way is uncertain but definitely in the cards. Kinda like cars driving on a high way, eventually everyone has their own “exit ramp”.

Got to Krabi and I was feeling tired and crabby, ok just tired. We got rooms for 300 baht a night, since I’ve been traveling with this guy from Canada for a while now, and I trust he won’t take my stuff, we split a room. 2 single beds, hot shower, fan, tv for 150 baht each. Deal, yes?

It’s weird how when I first got here, I “NEEDED AC!”. Now, I couldn’t care less. When I had AC I’d find myself waking up absolutely and positively freezing, I kinda like the fan actually.

We’re just killing time here until the weather passes, then I’ll go to some island or something. Supposedly there is a tour of where they filmed a James Bond movie. Seems cool so I may check that out.

Ran into a British lass at breakfast who is heading to Singapore today. Weird how stuff works out as I plan on going to Singapore having chosen to move south and vowing that “back tracking is for losers”. She filled me in some great information I didn’t have previously. The flight is ~30 or 60 pounds, not sure. I am thinking of flying to Kuala Lumpur and then taking what is supposed to be an incredibly scenic train to Singapore.  In Singapore I know a guy from school taking his MBA. Will be cool to say what’s up and hang for a bit before going through to Indonesia, I mean Bali is there and who doesn’t want to go Bali?

That said, I have no plans and whenever I make plans, I regret making plans. On that note, it’s freaking weird how many guys my age are married with kids, really? Your whole life planned out, written in stone. If I was in that situation, I’d probably have a nervous breakdown, then again if many of them were in my situation they’d probably have a nervous break down.

Good day,

P.S: I am enjoying antibiotics for a demon that has colonized in my stomach. Started a day before Full Moon Party with some dodgy curry. Antibiotics for 5 days cost me $6, we are getting seriously ripped off in North America. If you do have a horrid stomach and you have to travel, don’t eat anything, I didn’t and I’m glad. If you’re going to “Push the Envelop” wait until you’re stabilized, the toilets you find on the road are those of nightmares.

Phi Phi island near Krabi

When we arrive in Trang ~8:30am, we need to find a bus to Krabi. Considering I already had to pay a cancellation fee on my trip to Bangkok, never book full trips unless you are 100% sure, going leg by leg is arguably more fun and the flexibility is priceless.

Looks to be a night market near here which is cool as we have time to kill until 1:30 am when our train leaves. It’s ~7pm now.

I am with a group of 7 from Canada, Germany and Denmark. Traveling with a group has it’s pros and cons, when you are with cool people though, the pros far out weigh the cons and numbers are always good when traveling.

The ferry today was a walk in the park compared to the other day, leaving beautiful Koh Tao was tough, being back on the road makes me happy however. It’s a huge world and you’ll never get there unless you “get going and get to it”, so to speak.

On a side note, I saw my first golf course since Vegas, it was bitter sweet as I can’t play it. That said, I do plan on playing some golf, very soon and hopefully for very cheap.

Chumphon @ Dawn

Leaving today to catch the 2:45 ferry from Koh Tao to Chumphon.

I have a confession to make with you, the internet in general. When I was in Las Vegas, I had no clue where I was going to go. Gary let me know he was going to LA and I was welcome to join him. At that exact moment I made an executive decision and looked online for a cheap flight, for some reason “Bangkok” was always in my mind.

Ok, back to the confession, yesterday, after booking my ticket to Bangkok, I looked at a map of Thailand, for the first time. I had no clue where I was or really even how Asia was laid out. I never bothered, I just wanted out of Canada for the Winter.

Anyways, after looking at the map, I realized going back to Bangkok would be ridiculous, I’m touring the world, why back track? As a result, I woke up early today and canceled my ticket. I got charged 30% fee of my 950baht ticket.

The morning boat is canceled, as a result I’m on the afternoon. The afternoon is cheaper so with my refunded money I bought the afternoon ticket for a ferry from Koh Tao to Chumphon, Thailand. From there we’re going to Krabi, from there I will check out some other islands or just work my way south to Malaysia then Indonesia or something like that.

Koh Tao was awesome and I had a great time here. I spent ~10 days and have grown a lot. Had I stayed at home, nothing would of changed. Change is great, it means you’re out of your comfort zone and you’re growing. Humans are really no different from a plant regarding, all life is either growing or wilting. It feels good to be “growing again”.

Anyways, I’m outta here, Koh Tao was awesome and I highly recommend you visit it sometime. I’m also tempted to catch a flight from somewhere maybe Malaysia to Tanzania to visit a friend. He could move anytime so … Why am I visiting places I know no one when I have other great places with great friends? The places you know no one, they will always be there, waiting.

Good day,

P.S: Had I looked at a map, I would of realized Koh Tao was one of the most isolated islands of the lot, I would of brought all my stuff to Koh Phangan, then Koh Samui and then back to the mainland. Oh well, you live you learn.