We took advantage of our morning at Katathani (and the incredible breakfast buffet)... i think we spent about two hours at the breakfast table playing hearts and returning to the buffet to get more of the cereal with delicious carmelized bananas on top (i seriously miss basic breakfast cereal more than any other food at home.... Lo and I wake up in the morning and just start listing off cereals: cherrios, cinnimon life, raisin nut bran, quaker oat squares, I'm eating cereal for every meal the first week I'm back). We had been woken up that morning to a tropical rainstorm... I thought it was the onset of a monsoon, Kor said it was just the start of the rainy season. thank goodness! the rain brings down the heat to a bearable temperature. We enjoyed our rainy morning in the open-air restaurant, which was conveniently located right next to the street, enabling me to toss Lo's uneaten bacon to the stray dogs wandering around the resort - I thought it was great, so did the dogs :)
The stray dogs here are adorable (many of the cats and dogs are scruffy and look like strays by the American "pet standard", but they have makeshift collars of ribbon or string and you know someone is feeding them - quite a change from the Philippines with countless emaciated and sickly looking animals), and I generally beg Kor about once a day to let me take home one of the homeless dogs I encounter. Unfortunately, i dont think customs would be too happy with me if I tried to smuggle a Thai dog home, so I guess I'll settle with getting my dog from a shelter in the U.S. - that is. when I find the time to actually care for one.
Stuffed from breakfast we went to the pool to digest, and play a little volleyball with a huge foreign man who had mad skills but was luckily nice enough not to slam the ball in our faces. After a little doubles we said our goodbyes and reluctantly left phuket (much to the rejoicing of the katathani resort employees). Our next destination was phang-nga where lonely planet recommended we stay at the Gold Digger Inn, "as long as we can get past the name" the tour book had advised. we decided we could overlook the name since the hotel was conveniently close to the airport and we were leaving so early the next morning for Chiang-Mai (the majority of hotels here have no water pressure and rock-hard beds anyway, so there's no real difference hotel to hotel except price)... We dropped off our stuff and began our search for Phang-nga bay. we ended up at a shady dock where we "chartered" a boat (one of the rikity old long boats that are a common form of water transportation here), and hired a "driver" - an old man who was supposed to be an english speaking tour guide but turned out to be a strictly-Thai speaking, toothless, shoeless old man who refused to let us swim in the water.
we set off to appreciate the natural rock formations of the area. despite the gloomy day, they where truly incredible. Reminiscent of the Railay area, there are huge rocks jutting hundreds of feet into the air. The best way I can think to describe the area is that it is like Yosemite, only with mangrove forests and waterways for the valley floor, and limestone covered in jungle instead of bare granite rock cliffs. Having studied the Yosemite Valley (John Muir is my hero), and having climbed half dome the past two years, that description creates a very accurate image for me. For those of you still a little unclear what I am describing, the best I can do is tell you to wait for pictures :) We were driven through huge caves, and past a muslim village built entirely on stilts. We also got to go to the beach where "nail rock" is - the site where they filmed James Bond and the Golden Finger. I didn't realize our trip would entail visiting so many famous movie locations, who knew? We also saw a crocodile!! (ok fine, it turned out to be a huge lizard) - we thought it was cool regardless. We made it back just as the sun was setting and headed back to the good 'ole Gold Digger Inn for dinner and sleep before our departure for Chaing-Mai early the next morning.
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