With about 14 days left on my visa, some inexplicable urge possessed me to get out of Thailand.

I am trying to remember where my last article left off. I vaguely recall writing about the Similans and how gorgeous they were? If thats the case, then my story picks up in Phang-Nga (I think its pronounced PANG GA).

The guidebooks say that the town itself has little to offer except cheaper tour services (than in Phuket or Krabi) of the neighby national park in Phang-Nga Bay. The services were cheaper... mostly b/c they were quite obviously "budget" tours. But from my meandering motorbike tour I found it to be pretty cool. First, motorcycling is a LOT easier on actual rodes and I am pleased to report that there were no crashes this time around. Phang-Nga turned out to be what I call the "exercise capital of Thailand". Tons of people were out exercising and as a life-long jock this really appealled to me.

There were 2 large parks. The first was prettier with caves and fountains. It had a running path and a playground/exercise circuit that reminded me of the infamous Big M "obstacle course" before it became overgrown. I tried to complete the circuit as best as possible in my flip-flops. The second park was just a big field swarming with walkers, runners, soccer players, volleyball players, petanque (bocci ball) players, a thai football match (the cross between vball and soccer), a few girls trying to hoop it up and a whole troup of women aerobecising.

In between my visits to the 2 separate parks I also visited the Elephant Cave and the Heaven and Hell cave. The elephant cave is atleast a mile long cave through this big mountain that vaguely resembles an elephant. The legend is that the cave is the stomach wound of an elephant who was killed by a farmer who mistook it for one of the wild elephants who ate his crops. I wanted to explore a bit of this cave, but as a quickly found out... its pretty dark in a cave and penlight from Walmart just dont cut it. So I motored on the heaven and hell cave. This place was a trip. The heaven side was pretty dull... funny statues of happy animals and people meditating. The hell side was a riot. Grusome statues of people who had clearly been terrible people in a past life being brutally tortured by demons. No I am not totally macabre.. there was just something about the statues that I found really funny.

So the next day I get picked up by a songthaeu from Mr Kean's tour to go off on my whole day tour of Phang-Nga bay. This mostly involved sitting in an uncomfortable and noisy long-tail boat for many hours. The lunch was a cold seafood rice gruel on a small strip of beach on one of the many islands in the park. The bay was quite beautiful, to be sure (and Koh Tapu {with me and without me}of James Bond notoriaty still standing) but my back could have lived with a half day tour. We then got dropped off on Koh Panyi, which is a Muslim fishing village that is precariously perched on stilts. I walked around a bit and was pretty unimpressed and a little wary at the thought of overnighting. Half of the village has been turned into a "disney-land" tourist trap that has giant restaurants that close at 5 (when the last big boat returns to Phuket), stalls that try to sell you trinkets you could get in Bangers for less, and children who want to sell you postcards. My guidebooks lauded the village as one of the "unexpected highlights" of Thailand and recommended an overnight stay. This just goes to show you that guidebooks are out of date and mostly useless anyway. But on its recommendation I opted for the overnight stay in Mr Kean's home... which didn't look so much like a person's home to me, but more like 3 little hotel rooms set up distinctly for the purpose of housing tourists who pay attention to their guidebooks. The other half of the village still looks like it might still be a fishing village. I found it quite sad that my presence was destroying the very thing we had come to see. In a few years people will prolly come to see what "used to be" a Muslim fishing village.

It didn't turn out all bad though. From the western pier the sunset was spectacular. Sleep was elusive since I couldnt shake the feeling that I was intruding... and also b/c I didnt know there were 2 windows, so was really hot w/ only one open. The sunrise wasn't bad either, except there was a Muterea Sea Canoe Boat (big boat that rents out canoes for people to paddle into the rooms/caves in the islands) in the way... Besides the sunset the best thing was the interesting people who had also made the (IMO) mistake of staying overnight. 3 cameramen and 2 Italians. The cameramen have been all over and so had lots of interesting stories. Check out 1 of their websites. Sorry its in Portugese... I really don't recommend the overnight stay (or even the whole day tour). You aren't really staying and eating w/ Mr Kean... you are staying in an ok room, getting an ok dinner and a laughably unidentifiable breakfast of yellow bread.

Back in Phang-Nga I caught the next bus to Krabi. At the Krabi busstation I got set up for 2 nights in a hotel in Ao-Nang. 600B per night and not even aircon! The room was really large, but really hot... and the bathroom had the faint smell of sewage. This was the most expensive place I have stayed so far... but thats due to the fact that Krabi is now a resort-town. I spent that first half day just walking the main street.. eating roti and chicken on a stick from street stalls.... oh and also freshly baked bread. That was prolly the best part. Damn, I miss bread. The next day I took a long-tail boat over to Rai-ley beach... but that was equally overdone. The whole place really reminded me of Rehoboth Beach and something about that just made me want to get out as fast as possible, so it was back to the bus station for Trang. The nice look of Krabi... and the not so nice.

In Trang for a night... there are several islands off the coast, and the Taratao National Marine park a bit further south... but I blitzed through there for Malaysia. The good things about Trang was all the money I spent correcting mistakes I made when I left the US. I bought a CD player to go w/ the pirated CDs I bought in Krabi. Stupidly I didnt bring this item w/ me and have been really, really, really missing some good English language rock tunes! Then I mailed my evil Chaco sandals back to the US!!! Hurray! I've been lugging them all over Thailand. They hurt my feet to wear them and take up space to carry them. To replace them I bought sneakers! A pair by D-Maq. Never heard of them, but they fit surprisingly well. Now I can run and jump and play! Or trek through the jungle... whichever. Mostly I plan to still spend most of my time in my flip-flops, but when I have to walk alot or carry my bag, my feet can now go in comfort.

The night in Trang was a disaster. The room was ok, but the other guests on the 4th floor were making a veritable racket. Banging on my door and on everyone else's door at all hours. I did manage a few hours. The next day I was on the road again (but not before a final foot massage in Thailand). A shared taxi to Hat-Yai and then a minibus to Georgetown, Penang... Malaysia! Eeek! They don't use bahts there! We got in at about 7pm-ish and I walked around with some British guy looking for a place to stay. Chinese New Year is tomorrow so most of the places were full. We found rooms in the dodgy "New China Motel"... which I am not sure doesn't double as a brothel. We then hiked around for an hour to get food. Not b/c food wasnt available, but b/c neither of us had any ringgit. Despite being tired I didn't sleep all that well there, so today am pretty tired, but fortunately installed in a dorm in a clean-looking place called Lovers Lane Inn... on Lovers Lane.

So far, Malaysia is really different. Georgetown is a huge mixture of Malay Muslims, Indians, and more Chinese than China! I have been asked twice today if I am married, have a boyfriend etc. I am considering getting a ring and fabricating a huge story about my latin-lover Antonio who is meeting me in Singapore. Well, tonight I am going to Kek Long Si Temple for the New Year Festivities which supposedly involve lots of lamps... so am off to catch to catch the bus. And maybe also shower? Its reallllllllly humid here. It even rained yesterday. Rain? Apparently it can rain all year here... and on the east coast its the monsoon season. Yuck. Guess I am not going there...