Motorbikes, smoothies, sand, and more good Thai food.

We spent two more days in Krabi. The first was filled with a "Five Island Tour" by long boat (a big wooden boat) that took us to some absolutely incredible beach destinations with snorkeling, sea kayaking, and huge (like five feet) monitor lizards (see photos of all of this stuff...pretty cool!).

We rented a motorbike for our final day in Krabi. Although driving around on the left side of the road amidst sometimes crazy and unpredictable motorists would usually seem like a bad idea at home, a rented motorbike is possibly the safest mode of transportation here, given that renting allows one to wear a helmet and drive reasonably, both of which are usually not provided when hiring a private motorbike taxi. So, we went for it and it was pretty awesome! I enjoyed "cruisin on my hog with a hot babe" (as we referred to the situation throughout the day), and we ended up at a great national park with some amazing waterfalls.

A run on the trails there - "the whole loop is 5k," according to the guy at the gate--turned into a bit of a full-on jungle adventure for Trav, complete with army ants, more monitor lizards, falling in the mud, and route-finding (which often took me through some huge spider webs). It's definitely a jungle here.

Two hours by bus and ferry got us from Krabi to Kantiang Bay on Koh Lanta Island. This place is a tropical island paradise: great beach, cute bungalow connected to the great beach, gorgeous sunsets, etc. Most days have consisted of reading, eating, reading, eating, and strolling as the sun sets, which has been quite nice.

We've been here for five nights, and are finally ready for a bit more of the real cultural Thailand, so we'll board a plane tomorrow headed north to Chaing Mai (via Bangkok). Chaing Mai is a cultural stronghold, and we're excited for more temples, hopefully some good trekking, a Thai cooking class, and, at the very least, a room with no ants in it (the one downside to living on the beach is the tiny ants that infiltrate just about everything...don't let this discourage your next Koh Lanta vacation though, because it's awesome here!).

Trav and Amy
Travis Macy grew up in Evergreen, graduated from CU and is an adventure racer on the Spyder Team. Amy is his girlfriend. To read his personal blog go to http://www.travisandamy.blogspot.com/