Scorpions and Spiders

So, I finally saw a familiar face walking down the streets of Bangkok. It was on a Friday afternoon and I was supposed to meet up with my friend, Chad, at the nearby McDonalds. He wasn't there when I arrived, so I was headed back to my hostel lonely and depressed. Then, I recognized a guy who was in my International Business class this past semester. It turns out that he was travelling with Chad and a number of other friends and within a couple hours we had all met and were running around Bangkok having fun, but mostly shopping. I wasn't so thrilled with all the shopping, but I was glad to have some other Americans that I could talk with. The company was fantastic.

Unfortunately the company was short-lived. Everyone in the group besides Chad, headed back to America on Sunday morning. Chad and I found a church in Bangkok and enjoyed a branch conference before making preparations for the rest of our travels.

We left that evening on a 14 hour sleeper bus to southern Thailand. We got dumped off at 5AM in some town on the eastern shore before catching another 2 and a half our bus to the town of Krabi Paddie. Actually, it is just Krabi. From there we trekked across a beach and through the surf to climb onto a longboat headed to a remote island about a half hour from the coast of Thailand. The view approaching the island was breath-taking, huge foliage-covered mountains and cliffs rose straight from the turqiouse blue ocean. The boat stopped about 100 yards from the shore and we had to carry our luggage through the water to the island. We then hiked across another beach and began the ascent of the jungle mountain.

On the other side of the mountain was our bungaloo, but reaching was easier said than done. After lots of sweat, a few slips, and plenty of sore muscles we finally reached our destination.

The bunagloo is great! The walls are covered with geckos, who are quite friendly and eat many of the mosquitoes and beetles. However you must go to bed at night praying that the scoprions don't sting your toes and when you are in the shower you must watch out for the hairy 3-inch- long black spiders. We don't know if they are poisonous and we don't plan on finding out.




The beaches here are great, and the scenery is spectacular. The only downside is that it rains a lot and the sand, when it dries in your sandles, cuts your feet and they bleed. Overall, however, I would give the island a 7 of 10.