After an awesome couple of days in North Central Thailand, it was time for us to leave again. Once we stepped outside of the Litthai Guest House in Philok, we were instantly approached by a man in a taxi barking at us to give us a ride. Shaunna didn't feel like walking to the train station (just a couple of blocks over), so we hopped in the back. I told him to take us to the train station... but my Thai stinks. My Texan accent and fat tongue really butcher the language. For all I know I was saying, "Take us home!"

Anyhow, it was apparent he didn't understand because he headed away from the train station and out to the bus station (located just outside of town). At a red light, I hopped out and ran to his window. I told him "train station" in English, hoping he might know what I was saying. I showed him my ticket (which has Thai script all over it), but he stared at it blankly. Obviously, he couldn't read Thai, either.

I pointed back towards the train station (about four blocks away), and he motioned for me to get back in. He did a hasty U-turn and blazed back towards town. About a block past the train station he pulled over and yelled at a stranger on the street.

The guy came over and asked us in English, "Where do you want to go?"

I said, "Tell him to take us to the train station."

Shaunna showed him her ticket, and he quickly plucked it from her hands. Both of our hearts sank. We were already shook up and paranoid from our driver, so we were freaking out... maybe he would run with the ticket?

He scoped it out and shouted at the taxi driver. The guy did another U-turn and dumped us in front of the train station. We rushed over to our loading dock and dropped our bags on the ground. I was having some bad flashbacks from our last train trip (which was delayed for four hours), so I checked with the information desk.

"It's on time," the guy said in clear, proper English.

"Thank God," I laughed. He laughed, too.

Sure enough, the train promptly arrived at 9am.

We spent the next six hours staring out the window at the gorgeous scenery and sipping on a Beer Chang (my lifeblood on this trip). When we reached Lopburi (the site of some famous temples - and a few rogue troops of monkeys) we anxiously stared out the window. We saw the monkeys hanging around the temples, and both of us were elated. Cheap thrills, I know.

Once we arrived at the Bangkok airport, we strapped on our packs and trotted to the transfer bus terminal. Once in the domestic bus terminal, we ate some Burger King food, and it was sooooo heavenly. Too many days of rice and shrimp has us fiending for American food again... even if it's deep fried, battered and half-baked under a heat lamp.

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Since the tsunami in December, the Andaman Coast has seen tourism drop to a standstill. The peak season for Thailand beaches is from December to February. Immediately after the tidal wave, everyone changed their plans and either headed north (to Chiang Mai) or opted for an entirely different destination.

We had no idea where we were going to stay. I was so busy taking care of our arrangements in Philok, booking flights & trains, and riding around staring at temples; I forgot to arrange for a hotel on the beach.

I jumped on the pay phone and called to a couple of guest houses in Ao Nang - a cool little beach town just outside of Krabi. The first place we called, Peace Laguna Resort, was closed due to slow tourism. This sounded like a terrific place, although far from the beach.... so no worries.

For those that don't know, Ao Nang is a tiny little beach town that is snuggled in between cliffs, limestone peaks, and craggy peninsulas. Like Austin, the entire area is hilly and rocky. Ao Nang only has a few guesthouses that are close to the beach... the rest are up the road a bit.

I found another guesthouse listed in the Lonely Planet called Southland House. It is about 200 feet from the sand, and the book says it has comfortable rooms, "the nicest one is large and has sea views". The listed price is 1200 baht (about $34 US).

I called the place and got through to a really pleasant Thai lady who quoted us 800 baht for the aforementioned room. We were stoked! She even offered to pick us up at the airport for 500 baht, which normally costs about 500 baht a person!

Feeling ecstatic, we wandered to our gate and caught a flight from Bangkok to the tiny little airport at Krabi. We arrived just after dark, met our driver, and arrived at the hotel around 8:30pm last night.

As described, our room was massive. Two king size beds, a large bathroom (with bidet!), a color TV and a large enough patio to fit a table and two chairs. We hopped in the shower and scrubbed the travel funk from our bodies.

Afterwards, we wandered to the beach area and marvelled in the plethora of quality restaurants in the area. Even more shocking was the lack of tourists on the streets. Normally, this place would be crawling with Euro's and Japanese tourists. Instead, there were little packs of Germans and Swiss tourists enjoying some brews and having a jolly time.

We stopped off at an Italian restaurant with an outdoor pavillion. We treated ourselves to Beer Chang, wine and a wood-fire, brick oven pizza that was made on a light, thin crust and covered with shrimp, squid and chunks of garlic. The man tending to the oven was an Italian ex-pat who had the best attitude. We returned to our hotel feeling elated.

When we woke up this morning, we were greeted to this view:

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We were thrilled! We finally made it to the beach with more than three weeks left in our itenerary! We quickly dressed and wandered downstairs. 200 feet from our room we were treated to the following views:

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