Land of Smiles

Dear Mom and Dad,
Happy birthday to dad! Congrats to Marc, who has landed a stellar job in London at a bank - you've earned it. Now, pack my things, yes everything on the 3rd floor, my old room, maybe the drumset in the basement... I've found what can only be appropriately called nirvana here in Thailand. The concept may have originated in India, and I'm no buddhisavta, but I believe it may only be found on a small number of islands on the Andaman Coast of southern Thailand...

For those of you who check up on me, thank you, and sorry for the lack of posts. Despite the earthquake, three bombs in the city of Had Yai where we were 2 days before, and the death of the Pope, things have been just peachy! We've been hanging out on islands basically only accessible by longtail boat (engine powered canoes) where there are no docks and they just sort of drop you in the shallow part of a beach and say "see you later." Taratao National Marine Park and Railay Beach in Krabi Province were our paradises for the past week or so.
Getting to Taratao from Penang after the earthquake was a hike, and we missed the 3 hour boat, but found solace in a sweet bungalow near the pier. Passing through Had Yai meant our first rides on the back of motorcycles driven by non-english speaking Thais, winding around the maze of city streets with our huge backpacks on. We must have taken 4 different forms of transportation that day.
In Taratao we camped on the beach in Ko Adang for $1.50 each - literally 10 feet from the water, and I would have slept right there out of the tent if it weren't for those pesky little sand-colored crabs biting my toes. Then we hopped to Ko Lipe where there are a few resorts and some bars. Let me try and present the scene for you: white sand beaches, hour and a half full body Thai massage on the beach, 6 dollar resort beach-front bungalow split between two people, fresh fruit and fish, island children, kittens and puppies, sunrise, swimming, snorkling trip to 4 locations for 6 bucks, sunset, etc. You do nothing or everthing, and you love it. Basically it is possible to find this straight-out-of-a-movie sort of thing. The Thai government has now created over 100 national parks that keep much of the islands less developed. Taratau is actually where they filmed survivor a few years back.
In Ko Lipe we got some Thai nicknames from our favorite bartender, Pooh. Basically to help Thais pronounce our names correctly, they call us Peter Pan and Scotch Whiskey. Scott's name is cooler than mine, I know.
Because of our tight schedule, we somehow dragged ourselves away from Taratau and headed for Krabi. Along the way we travelled by boat and minibus with 5 lovely Argentinian girls a couple years older than ourselves. I've talked for hours with one girl, Sophia, mostly about our countries' (I visited Erica there recently) differences and similarities and cultural overlaps, and also learned some new Spanish phrases. These chicks had been to maybe just as many places in the States as me! Actually, they made a point of making me say "the States" instead of America because they are Americans too. We ended up hanging out with these ladies for 3-4 days en route to Au Nang and on the beaches of Railay. I was surprised to find myself actually completely surrounded by Catholics upon hearing of the death of the Pope. We watched an hour documentary on his life in the hotel.
Railay was on our list because of a previous acquaintance, Elissa. She had found her nirvana there, and we needed to check it out. To be honest, if we had to choose we would go back to Taratao National Park. But over the next few days we settled in and started to see why Elissa's 2 days turned into 2-3 weeks. First of all, the rockclimbing is just plain badass. We took a "beginner" course for a day with a great instructor, Rampung, and she had us scaling vertical cliffs 30 meters high in no time. I am still sore in the weirdest places, but what a rush man, seriously. Great photos. It is so hard, so so hard, but so rewarding. Railay has a west and east side - two beaches on a penninsula not accesible by land. It is therefore still small enough and hard enough to get to to be perfect. Sunsets there are unforgettable. From 5-6pm the whole community (2-3 hundred maybe) is on the beach drinking, smoking, playing soccer and volleyball, and just taking it easy. The western beach is flanked by mountains - one called "The Sleeping Indian" because it looks like an Indian lying down. The locals have climbed them all. Perhaps the most fun we had in Railay was an all-night party with a locally famous band at a chill bar. They played Raggae and Thai music, and everyone mingled or danced or just chilled. We met a very interesting woman from the UK who lives in Spain now, and I met a couple very sweet girls from Bangkok on vacation, Lisa and Pen.
The next day at sunset a guy bought me and Scott beers and then told us all about how he moved to Railay a few years back, opened a climbing shop, and how happy he is now. You just don't get that sort of friendliness at home, where people think you're sketchy if you do something like that. I love how we meet people almost without trying, ending up at lunch or dinner with a new friend every day. There really is this ridiculous unspoken bond between travellers - the nice ones at least.
People also told us about how the community dealt with the 10 meter high tsunami waves that they are still struggling to forget. There is wreckage remaining, but most of the west side has been rebuilt. The collection of stories is overwhelming; people scared to enter the water now and unable to truly convey what they saw. If you weren't there, you just don't know - the ocean went way out, disappearing for a time, and then crashed in, devastating the island while people fled to higher ground. I hadn't realized it wasn't just one wave, it just kept repeating.
So we are now on to Bangkok, where we handled some administrative tasks after a hellish bus ride from Krabi-Surat Thani-Bangkok with crazy loud Israelis, a Dutchman sleeping to Metallica, aisle lights and a bathroom lights that didn't work, and freezing cold air conditioning that kept us awake until our 6am arrival. Today we called our parents, dropped off our passports at the Vietnamese Embassy, bought bus tickets for Chiang Mai where we will celebrate the Thai New Year (getting soaked by marauding gangs of children with water) and do an elephant trek, got shaves and haircuts, got our laundry done, and used the internet! Bangkok is gigantic, perhaps the biggest city I've ever seen. I'm more excited to go north and then into Laos, where people say it is the slow life, like Thailand 20 years ago.
Last night we were hanging out with Nell, a 21 year old girl from Melbourne. I said I couldn't wait to get to BKK and get my haircut - she said she could'nt wait to get home to Australia to get hair extensions (she cut off her 5 year dreadlock after getting lice!, eww). She's got a 36 hour flight time to get home, something I'll end up doing at the end of my trip - not looking forward to it.
That's all for now - paradise beaches, Argentinian and Thai girls, sun tans and cheap eats. More pictures soon, I hope.