Whoa, time flies. I left Phuket about a week ago. I went and stayed at Patong beach for a few days before I left. Patong beach sucks, don't go there.

After Phuket, I went to Krabi (pronounced "Gra-bee", or "Craby" if you're American), where I stayed one night before moving 20 km's north to Ao Phra Nang (Phra Nang Bay). Before I went to Ao Phra Nang, I went to a national park thats about 40 kilometres north up the highway back towards Phang Nga. This national park has a long series of waterfalls that spill into broad lakes, all under an unbroken canopy of different types of trees. The water that feeds the whole system flows from a cave in the limestone wall that surrounds the area. I took lots of pictures, but one of my compact flash cards has died (possibly related to me taking it swimming when I was in Koh Samui) so I lost all of those pics.

Ao Nang is ok. There's an average beach there, and lots of not-so-cheap guesthouse accomodation, And expensive restaurants. Around Ao Phra Nang are heaps of islands, and other beaches that are much better than the one at Ao Phra Nang.

On my first full day in Ao Nang, I took a longtail boat to Poda Island. From the road that runs along the beach at Ao Nang, you can see a tantalizing stretch of white sand on the south side of Poda island. The longtail boat ride takes about 20 minutes. On the island is a restaurant of some sort, but I didn't go there. The beach was great. It's one of those white sand / turqouise water deals you see in travel brochures. The boat ride back made a stop at Hat Railay (Railay Beach) to pick up some other people, and so I got to look around for half-an-hour. It is such a nice place that a couple of days later I decided to move over there.

In the evening, after I got back from Poda island, I took a songthaew to Hat Nopparatara, which is a little further north than Ao Nang. Late in the day (at low tide) the water recedes completely from part of the bay there, and you can walk from the beach to one of the nearby islans. Along the way you have to be careful not to stand on little hermit crabs.

The next day, I checked out of my crappy 400 baht per night room at Ao Nang, an checked into a crappy 500 baht per night bungalow in the Hat Railay Village Resort. To get to Hat Railay from Ao Nang involves a 15 minute longtail boat ride, and the drivers around here have collectively fixed the price at 50 baht. It is not possible to negotiate because they know you can't get a lower price from any of their "competitors". I spent the first couple of days swimming at the beach, and studying Thai. I also had to make a trip back to Ao Nang to get some cash, and make use of the Internet.