Change of plans

So, we got to the train station in Tanah Merah to take the Jungle Train down to the National Forest, Teman Negara. We walk up to the station 4 hours early only to get stared at, laughed at, pointed at, swore at, yelled at, and flicked off. So, after a few hours of that torture and finding out that it we would have to take the train all the way back to where we started to get into Thailand, we decided to f*ck it (excuse the language!) and go to Thailand instead. We got half our money back and hopped into a taxi to take us to the Thai-Malay border where it was craziness. After a really easy immigration check (scary!), we hopped on some motorbikes to the bus station only to find out that the last bus was full. So, we walked and found a hotel and we got a sweet room that we were oh so pleased with. We actually had air-con and a TV. We only had Thai TV, but it still was a TV. Oh...the luxuries of life. So, we got some much needed beer and sat in our airconditioned room all night. It was great! We took a really long and uncomfortable bus for 9 hours today to get to Krabi (Yes, it's pronounced, Craby). Then we took a "bus" (actually a covered truck with benches in the back) to Ao Nang, where we will reside until we feel like getting on another bus again...which will be a few days at least.

Krabi and Ao Nang are on the south-western part of Thailand near Phuket where the tsunami hit. Ao Nang wasn't hit very hard and I read in a flyer today that it was cleaned up the next day. Krabi is the gateway to the devasted Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi is on it's way to being cleaned up and reconstructed. They think in a year it will hopefully be back to semi-normal. They are still offering day trips to Phi Phi, which is where "The Beach" was filmed. People also can stay on the island, but it is not recommended at the moment. Tanya and I will most likely go for a day trip to spread our money around as much as possible. At least we will be helping them directly instead of going through an organization that doesn't guarantee how much money they will get.

There is so much more to see and hopefully I will be more awake tomorrow to experience it. I'm so exhausted after almost 2 days of travel. It's almost 8pm and I'm looking forward to bed. We have a nice room with a clean bed, so I'm very excited to sleep today. You never know what's roaming around on some of those beds I've slept in!