Finally some beach!

Hello from the sandy beaches of southern Thailand. At the moment I am writing you from Railay beach in the Krabi province and let me tell you it is pretty wonderful. The cliffs risings straight out of the sea and the super warm water for swimming makes for a very welcome break from the city. It hasn't been a sun and surf though as it has rained pretty much everyday we have been here. The trend has been sun in the morning till about lunch and then rain for the rest of the day. "Rain" is a bit of an interesting descriptor. There is the more drizzle rain that we are used to out on the west coast and then there are monsoon storms. These are just crazy downpours of water that with the wind has the rain going almost fully horizontal and makes it sting. We've had one or two of these a day. Still, playing in the rain when it's like this is kind of fun. I love swimming in the water in the rain, and of course here the water is actually warmer than the rain so you get the double bonus. Plus the rain storms clear everyone else off the beach which is kind of nice. I wouldn't say it has been super busy, but less people is always better.

Two days ago we were in Krabi town in Krabi. This was a great sleepy little town that had probably the best guest house we had stayed at for the cheapest price. It also had by far the best food. We ate at this one restaurant just by our hotel and it might have been some of the most flavorful food I've ever tasted. It would be a great town if there was more to do but as there isn't really we only stayed the night.

Last night was also interesting as we had our first experience with the drink buckets. You can get different kinds but we went with a whisky, coke and red bull mix. I must say I have never experienced the effects of this drink. There was so much caffeine (or perhaps something else?) in it we were all bouncing off the wall and giddy. Sadly despite lots of fun dancing and what was an overall excellent evening everything it did not end all that well for me. I'm not sure if it was the bucket or if it was the food, but I had my first really good stint of traveler’s diarrhea. I have never before experienced both ends of my body working at the same time for a couple hours. Let’s just say it is an experience that I hope I don't have to repeat later in the trip. I mean clearly I've built up immunity now right? Either way I'll take being sick on beach in Thailand over being sick at home any day. I do think tonight will be an easier night though.

I think that's about all I have to write today. It has been a lovely couple days here thus far but a full day of sun would be nice. Still, being from the wet coast I think we have a bit of an advantage. If it is raining we don't go and hide like most people, we just shrug and do whatever we want to do anyway.