Tuesday, December 22nd

OMG! I just got my first Thai massage and it was AWESOME!!!! The table is really big and this one happened to be right off the beach and she gets up on the table with you. They use their whole body weight to work pressure points and also contort you in all sorts of ways to get good stretching in. And only $8! I want one every day!

We are now in Koh Lanta, which was 1.5 hour boat ride from Koh Phi Phi. Our last night in Ko Phi Phi was just a multitude of unideal situations. Nothing major, but when you just have one annoying thing after another, it gets frustrating. We we were glad it was time to leave. I actually had the thought that it was bad karma from staying in a fancy hotel on a really poor island. Who knows.




Before we took the boat to Koh Lanta, we decided to book a hotel with a tourist center. A Thai guy came in and suggested we stay at Emerald and said we'd love it. And love it, we do! It's not nearly as nice (or expensive) as our last place, but it feels much more real and close to the locals. It's a family-owned place and had individual cottages you can rent. They are very simple without amenities but are comfortable. I took a Dramamine before getting on the boatover here and it definitely prevented any seasickness, but also prevented me from being awake and with it for the rest of the day.

We had lunch at the restaurant attached to the hotel and talked to a few locals hanging out there. It has a very relaxed feeling and it's nice to actually get to interact with people without their being overly polite.

We walked down to the beach that evening and had dinner at another great place on the beach. This is a kind of town I could spend a lot of time in.

Today, we rented motorbikes and drove all around the island here. There were some really beautiful areas with just really lush foliage. There were also some really nice houses, along with some not so nice ones. We passed some cows in a field, the old town, which is 100 years old and all sorts of other stuff. It made me nervous on the bike for the first hour, but afterI got used to it, it was much etter. We stopped at a pizza place because although the Thai food here is amazing, it's a bit much for us to have it lunch and dinner everyday.

Oh, the guy who told us about this plae on Koh Phi Phi and brought us here is in a Thai boxing tournament tonight that we're going to see. He's friends with all the people who hand out at this hotel (and maybe related) - owner, bartended, band members, etc. So everyone will be going. It should be fun!