Location: Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

Annie and I went for Thai breakfast (of course) and chatted about where to go and what to do next over a hand of crib. My Thai visa was going to expire soon and I was feeling a bit of pressure to sort that out before I could really make any plans. I originally had thought I would border hop to Singapore to renew my visa, but also didn’t really want to leave Thailand for what would essentially be three days with all the travelling. Giuliano mentioned a couple of nights ago that I might be able to pay for an extension at the immigration office so I hopped in a cab over there… only to realize I forgot my passport at the hostel. Back to the hostel and then back to the office on the other side of the island we go…

The good news is that they did extend my visa, but the bad news is the language barrier got in the way with my cabbie who left me at the immigration office instead of waiting. I was in the middle of nowhere, with no clear way back. Better get walking! I was basically walking through back road Krabi, a little confused why the immigration office was like a stand-alone building in the jungle but it’s fine. Maps exist.

It’s not like I have direction issues or anything.

Let’s just not talk about me walking by the same derelict little food stall four times, which resulted in the small wrinkly old lady sitting there laughing at me. The sun was finally out and I did make it to Krabi town eventually after a few kilometres. It was nice to see a more rural area of the island and I never felt unsafe, but I have also never been so pleased to sit down in a chilly little 7/11 before.

I explored Krabi town a bit and found a coffee shop where I could sit and read my book for awhile. Krabi town seemed a lot more deserted and shut down than Ao Nang, which I wasn’t expecting for the main village on the island. I thought it would be a bustling little centre but I barely ran into another human, let alone an open shop. The coffee shop was a straight up stroke of good luck I think.

The cab ride home was a bit longer and resulted in me being carsick again, which I’m getting a little annoyed about! It feels like I’ve never had to deal with carsickness so frequently before but the twisty roads and general lack of driving speed consistency makes it almost impossible not to get carsick.

I had a little nap to clear that right up, and then walked down to Ao Nang beach for sunset and was pleasantly surprised to see they were setting up for a fire show! I hadn’t planned to stay more than a few minutes for sunset but an impromptu fire show seems as good a place as any to spend my time. I was very surprised when the first performers to jump up were two children! Like 10 year olds. Throwing fire around. Where are your parents. There were adults in the troupe too of course but still.

I met up with Annie, Stuart and Giuliano at the hostel and we were joined by Sarah and Katie from the states. We all went out for dinner at a random restaurant by the water… that had literally 600 menu items. I’m not joking. Six. Zero. Zero. This wasn’t even a gimmick! I’ve been joking with people the whole time I’ve been in Thailand that restaurant menus are either 25 pages long, or one page with like maybe three things on it.

We spent the entire rest of the evening at the hostel chatting and relaxing with beers and snacks. Almost everyone is splitting up in the morning so none of us really wanted to go out to a party. I think I’m the only one with no real plan for tomorrow and I was hoping to sort it out this evening… but we stayed up chatting until 3 am!

Guess it’ll be a game time decision tomorrow…

Sav