Island hopping

SO I thought to myself as I sat at the bus changing area in Surat Thani at 6am: "If I'm meeting Josh in Phuket Wednesday, why don't I go to Krabi for two days and then ferry to PHuket?" So I asked, and the fellows that I thought were swindlers let me change for free! So I spent yesterday in Au Nang, a nice beach near Krabi town. It is much more expensive here because it is more of a tourist vacation spot. I had to pay 700 baht for a room, but it had American TV (sweet, watch A-team this morning) hot water (took three showers in the last 20 hours) and is a block from the ocean.

I took a long-tail boat (you'll see pictures) to Rai Lea, an amazing beach about 1 mile away. I took so many pictures of the ride there, and the place. The west side was beautiful, but I negotiated the jungle to get to the east side. The east was totally suffering from Tsunami damage. The Tsunami came from the west, but the Thais seem to be rebuilding in stages in order to get tourism up quickly. The east had beautiful trees IN the ocean, which is something I'd never seen. Great rock-climbing, but that feels too American to me for this trip.

I've noticed TONS of scandinavians here, and learned that the Swedish lost the most lives in the Tsunami, and have memorials in Sweden for it. They seem unapproachable, but are possibly the most welcoming, helpful people I've met.

After taking a nap I went to dinner and then went to a small Irish pub full of Thais, Swedes and a Norwegian (about 10 of us). The four Thai waitresses were very flirty and kept trying to get me to drink more! This young guy came in from Garden HOme, OR (those who don't know, its a mile from my high school) and went to Beaverton HS. Funny thing is, he seemed like the "cocky American" everyone hates so I just kept talking to the swedes. So this 23 year old couple invited me to stay with them in Sweden this summer. I said only if they'll find me a nice swedish girl, possibly Tiger Woods' wife's twin sister. They said okay and gave me their emails. SO now if I go to Sweden or Budapest, I'm set! Haha, I love meeting travelers. Oh, and once again I was quizzed on what the capital of Sweden was. THis fun older couple asked me and I got it right...he said he watches "Jay walking" on Jay LEno and is amazed how stupid Americans are. DON'T WORRY AMERICANS, I'm getting all these questions right, so some people in the world now think we're not all ignorant! I also informed him that the West coast is the best coast and Jay walking is a bad example.

In another unusual thing that wouldn't happen in America, the main bartender closed the place down at about 1 (closing time's like midnight here), and gave me a right back to my hotel. How often would that happen in the states (and how often would you feel safe going)? She was very sweet and tried to talk me into staying and coming to her bar the next night...BUT I"m off to Koh Phi Phi in two hours! Yah!

Sorry this one was so long everyone. Oh, and GO Seahawks!