The itinerary

We fly into San Jose on Dec. 24th and spend the night.  Christmas morning we have a shuttle booked to take us from San Jose to La Fortuna.  We spend a few day exploring an active volcano, canyonering (this is a downward repel over a 200ft waterfall into a canyon), soaking in the hot pools and shopping.  Then we take a jeep-boat-jeep transport to Monteverde.  This is home to Costa Rica's Ziplining.  Bill thought this was such a rush in Thailand that it would be fun to do it again with the girls. There are also cloud forest tours and night jungle tours.  Then we are off to the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula to Montezuma.  We have rented a beach house for the week and our main adventure will be to learn to surf!  There is lots to explore in this area but I've decided to leave most of the itinerary open and we will decide when we get there.  Then we make our way back to San Jose and fly home.

Chapter Three - Costa Rica

Well our original plan was to go on a trip every two years, so much for the plan.  We have decided to take Serena and Alex and discover Central America.  Costa Rica was an obvious choice.  It is a short flight compared to South East Asia as we can only go for two weeks this time.  So we are off December 23rd.  Traveling at Christmas could prove to be interesting but that was the only time the girls had time off together.

We researched, planned and booked everything including the flights this time using the Internet.  It is a wonderful tool.  Because there are four of us this time I decided to try Hosteling for one of the two weeks.  However I do have standards so we have private rooms with our own bathroom in both of the Hostels I found.  According to my research this is quite a popular form of accommodation for budget travelers in Costa Rica.  Trip Advisor rates one as a 5 star hostel!!!  Can't wait to see what that means. Stay tuned for the Itinerary!

Our last day on Railay Beach

Well we were down to our last day before we flew back to Bangkok!  Wow time flys when you are having a blast.  No we were not doing the hike to the lagoon again.  We decided to spend the day on our favorite beach.  It was partly cloudy which is a good thing other wise it's too hot to be on the beach.  We found our favorite spot, read books, people watched, had our last fruit shake, swam in the sea and had a natural shower when a sudden rain cloud burst open without warning.  We had just enough time to put the books away so they didn't get soaked.  It was a pleasant rinse and then the sun came back out.  After about four hours we had had enough sun so headed back to the hotel to have our last cold beers, finish our sang som (Thai whiskey) and get packed.  Our flight was out of Krabi to Bangkok which meant one last long tail taxi over to the mainland and a regular taxi to the airport.

We have seen and done so much and enjoyed every minute of it.

I am so glad we purchased backpacks as they worked very well when getting to our remote destinations over rough roads and water and up a 125 steps.  Bill laughed when he saw a young fellow with his pack on his back and his girlfriends suitcase on his shoulder.  He gave me a look that said,  "in your dreams princess"!
 
In Summary, Thailand is the land of smiles, great food, a shoppers dream, fantastic scenery, history and culture.  Some places are very touristy but others are very tranquil and for the most part everything is beautiful. 

To our girls, thank you very much for being responsible young adults and looking after one another and your dog.  You handled a furnace breaking down, getting your own groceries, cooking your food, working and going to school.  What a team you make!

To everyone reading along, we hope you enjoyed our adventure and stories.  It's been a lot of fun learning how to blog and will be a great record of everything we did.

Stay tuned for our future plans!

Our last tour to the hot pools and emerald lake

We decided to take one more tour before we left as the forecast for the day was cloudy and cool. (not really beach weather).  So we choose a tour on the fly without doing much research or asking very many questions.  Big mistake.  It was very touristy and instead of being 1/2 day like we were told it ended up being a full day mostly of travelling between locations.  Oh well you win some, you loose some.  However we did get home in time to go for a swim in the pool.  After dinner we decided to see what our neighborhood bar was like.  It was located right at the base of our stairs and had very good music playing.  We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender watching all the tropical drinks he was making.  The two sets of live music were very entertaining and it was interesting watching the people smoke dried fruit & tobacco from Shisha (Hookah) water pipes. We had never seen this before so asked the bartender what they were.  He said the pipes made the tobacco tastes sweet.  After the music ended the fire throwers took to the outdoor stage.  These guys were even better than the guys on Ko Phi Phi.  We stayed until the show ended and then let the young crowed dance the night away. 

                                                        

Kyaking the caverns

We booked a tour to go kayaking through the mangroves and into the caves and caverns on the mainland.  Off we were in the longboat over to   We jumped into another truck taxi and found out we had to travel for 55 minutes to our designation in the heat and humidity.  Oh well what the hell here we go again.  When we arrived we were loaded into double kayaks and given a few instructions on what to do.  Good thing we had idea of what we were suppose to do.  The couple from Bangkok were not so skilled.  About half way through the trip they tripped and landed in some awful looking canal water.  I threatened Bill with an inch of his life, there was to be no kayak tipping.  It was a little cloudy so the temperature was great for kayaking.  We traveled down the main canal looking down various different side canals wondering how in the world you would be able to find your way around.  They all looked the same and there were definitely no signage. We came up upon a series of bamboo on the water and the guide stopped to pull up a small canister.  Inside was a crab.  Apparently it was a crab farm.  They catch the crabs when they are small and they let them grow in the small cage until they were a certain size and then they were taken to market.  Our guide travelled with ease along the canals and then brought us to an amazing cave. It was very dark as we entered, but I didn't see any bats.  The stalagmites were amazing, we were back out on the canal heading to another cave.  This time we parked our kayaks and entered a national park where there were ancient tribal paintings and carvings along the cave walls.  There wasn't much history available but they were at least 1000 years old.  At the top of the cave there was a beautiful view point over the mangrove forest.  We were back in our boats and decided to continue past the start point to our third cave before lunch.  To enter this cave we almost had to duck to get through the entrance.  Once through the cave we entered a open cavern that was incredible.  The guide told us it was called xxx xxxx xxxx , which meant round, enclosed cave.  It was quite a paddle back as we were going against the tide. We arrived back to find our fellow paddlers safe and sound and dried off. We were served a very nice lunch   and then we headed off to another national park to have a fresh water swim in the river.  The fresh water felt wonderfully refreshing after being splashed with salt water all day.

Bill's hiking like he was 15 again

We decided to check out Phra Nang Beach and see if we could find the view point and lagoon.  As we headed out we noticed a bunch of rock climbers along the face of the cliff.  So we walked over to take a look.  Some of them were just learning and others were scaling huge rock faces.  They were all part of a climbing class.  It was very fascinating to watch them maneuver their bodies up the face of the rock.  After about an hour we headed over to the west side to check out the beach.  Along the path there was huge caverns, stalagmites, caves and monkeys and then we came through an opening onto a fabulous white beach surrounded by rock faces.  It was early so there were not too many people there yet.  We found a lovely spot in the shade on the sand and spent the next 4 hours people watching.  Around noon we decided to walk down the beach as we had seen people coming back with food and drinks.  As we got down the beach we realized the food vendors were set up in their long boats selling all kinds of food and drink.  We had an iced coffee and mango and sticky rice.  It was great, right on the beach.

 The tide was coming in and so were the the tour boats so the beach was getting smaller and smaller which meant it was getting rather crowded so we decided to pack up and see if we could find the path to the look out point.  It was described as a steep incline to the right.  OMG, they were not kidding.  When we had passed in on the way in I had seen the danger slippery when wet sign and thought it was a notice to keep people off.  When we returned this ended up being the path we were looking for.  There was a little hut with  benches opposite the steep incline.  We stopped and chatted with a group of three girls that were covered from head to toe in mud.  They had just returned from the lagoon.  I thought there is no way we are doing this so started to walk away.  Then Bill insisted that we give it a go, we changed our footwear and took some photos.  By this time there were people descending down the cliff.  Once they got down they were describing what is was like.  Well I guess this was pay back for the Zip lining as Bill was already on his way  thinking if these girls can do it, so can we.  I thought OMG, he is seriously going to do this.  As I listened and looked I realized that you had to climb a rock face with only a rope and your nerves to get you there.  Well you guessed it we were going.

Going up wasn’t too bad as long as you had a death grip on the rope and used it to haul your ass from one foot hold to another in between huge roots and jagged rocks.  We climbed and climbed and climbed until I was completely soaked in sweat and covered in red dirt.  Once we reached the top we followed a narrow path for about 10 minutes out to a fantastic view point over looking East and West Railay.  It was incredible.  And the next thing I knew my crazy husband had decided to go to the lagoon.  This meant repelling down three major drops into a sea cavern.  I thought he had lost his mind.  But off we went.  We made it down the first one and past this massive tree into the fist level of the cavern.  As we approached the second descent we stopped to chat with a few of the YOUNG people waiting with us.  They had just come up.  They said the next drop was very steep and tricky but it was worth it.  I seriously had my doubts.  We had been following this hippy type couple who were climbing in bare feet at a pace that far exceeded ours and they were just ahead waiting to go down.  Up to this point these two appeared to have no fear.  However when they reached the top of the second drop it took them quite a while to start and then they just seem to drop into thin air.  We cautiously peered over the edge and watched the guy from Australia go down hanging from the rope.  Well that was enough for me, I thought I might be able to make it down but there was a huge chance I may not be able to haul my ass back out.  Alex’s little voice kept popping into my head as the last thing she said to me was be careful there are no hospitals in Railay.  It was at this point I called it quits and told Bill he could take a picture of the lagoon from where we were I was NOT going down any further.

   Thank God he agreed and we headed back up to the top of the cavern and then back down the rock face.  We made it back safely, drenched in sweat and dirt, but glad we made the effort.  It was an adventure, full of adrenaline, hard work stories to tell your kids about.  Hopefully the pictures turn out.  Afterwards we had to go back to the beach to rinse off.  I told that crazy husband of mine I was having two cold beer when we got back.  He told me I could have as many as I liked.  On our way back we booked a couple of tours, a Canoeing trip through the mangroves and caves and then a ½ day to the natural hot spring and pool.  Never a dull moment, there is so much to see and do.  I guess I will rest when I get home.  Good thing we are doing this before we are 50 and our bodies are still able. After relaxing for a bit, Bill starts telling me that we are going back on our last day to try the lagoon again. My comment, drop freaking dead!     

Travel to Railay Beach

We decided to take the early ferry out of Ko Phi Phi so we would arrive in plenty of time to explore our new location.  Our Hotel offered a free transfer via long tail at 8:30 am which allowed us about 20 minutes to purchase our ticket and jump aboard the ferry.  Our long boat operator assisted us in getting our ferry tickets and we were able to find a place on the upper deck floor against the railing on the side of the boat that was in the shade.  What a bonus we could dangle our feet overboard and gaze out to sea for 1.5 hours on our way to Krabi.  It was a beautiful sunny morning so it was quite enjoyable.  Once we arrived in Krabi, we went inside the pier and were greeted with many tour operators.  We purchased our long boat transfer to Railay Beach and walked back down to the water.  (note to self next time shop around for a ticket as I think we paid about double what we should have, oh well live and learn.)  All in all we traveled 1.5 hours by ferry and about 45 min by long boat for about $25 each.  We were dropped off on the beach and told our hotel was about a 15 min walk.  Now I was kicking myself for shopping too much as we each had 2 packs for a combined weight of 60-70 pounds for each of us.  We loaded up our packs and headed down the beach.  Thank God we had backpacks as wheeling luggage on the sand with all kinds of debris would not be fun.  By this time it was about 12 noon so I stopped at the first bar I saw and had a cold beer.  I don’t believe them when they tell you it’s a 15 min walk.  After our beer we headed down the beach.  The walk wasn’t too bad but then we saw the sign to the hotel and realized we had to climb at least 70 wooden stairs of all sizes straight up the rock.  Again thank God we had backpacks!!  So up we went, by the time we hit reception we were both dripping wet.  We checked in and started another climb up to our Villa.  When we finally arrive and turned around we had the most amazing view of the sea from our balcony.  I guess the climb was worth it.  It’s much easier without my 70 pound,pack, but once we leave we try not to make too many trips back. 

We set out to explore the area.  Railay Beach is actually a peninsula, with boat only access.  It has huge rock formations and is a favorite for the rock climbers.  It has three different beaches separated by mountains that protrude straight up from the sea.  Our hotel is located on Railay East which has  mangrove trees on the beach so it isn’t very nice.  However within about a 15 minute walk you can be on either of the two main beaches.  Today we went to Ton Sai Bay on the west side of the peninsula.  The beach was very large with beautiful flour like white sand.  However it was very busy and there was no shade to be had which meant it was smoking hot.  We walked down a ways and found a walking street back to the east side.  We did a bit of shopping on the way back to our hotel and then decided to check out our pool.  It was very nice and the deck overlooking the sea was in the shade.  We had picked up some brochures for tours in the area so spent some time looking them over.  It had been a long hot day so we went for dinner and had one of the best dinners we have had yet.  They do seafood BBQ’s, and this one was a huge kabob of veggies and seafood.  As well you had a salad bar before dinner.  Bill had red snapper and I had tuna.  They were both very yummy.  With full bellies we were not too long before we crashed for the night.