The Swiss couple that Eveline and I met a couple of nights ago recommended a tour of the mangroves. It was something that wasn’t mentioned in any of the guidebooks, and the Swiss guy claimed it really let you ‘feel the spirit of the place’. Before we undertook that, we met Robin and Jolina for breakfast, and tried to convince them to tag along, since the trip price was for the boat, not per person. They agreed and headed to their guesthouse to check out. As Eveline and I were heading down to the Krabi pier to find a boatman, we ran into the Swiss guy who told us about the plan originally, and he hooked us up with his boatman.
We waited about ten minutes for Robin and Jolina to arrive, then hopped on the longtail. We started by passing near the mangrove trees on the opposite side of the pier, and spotted two large lizards (over a metre each) swimming in the water and climbing ashore, plus a few monkeys in the trees that were interested in what we were up to.
After that we headed ashore, and got to explore a big cave that was completely devoid of tourists (save for us). We explored another, smaller cave, too. The smaller cave was used by some monks for praying, but it was deserted now. There was a small monkey outside the cave watching us curiously, but escaped before I could take a photo.
After the second cave we headed back to the boat and and went through some really shallow and narrow waterways. We were surrounded by mangroves, but didn’t see much wildlife. I thought for sure we’d end up getting grounded, but the longboat driver was an expert and got us through. He cheered when he succeeded, and we all applauded.
Back in deeper water, we passed a few small houses, and fishing stations, then came to an area with quite a few houses on stilts, and docked at a house where a woman was shelling mussels. It was a fish farm, and we spent a bit of time watching the young teen boy there grab fish and display them for us. There were a few puffer fish, which were fun to watch expand and contract when under a little stress. He seemed quite happy to show them off.
We headed back to the pier after that and each paid our 100 baht, which amounted to a little over $3 Canadian each. Not bad for a private 1 and a half hour tour.
We explored Krabi after that, splitting up on occasion, but always finding each other again. We headed to the market for one last banana milk shake, then Eveline and I said goodbye to Robin and Jolina. The four of us were all going to Bangkok on a night train, but Robin and Jolina were going through another company.
The bus picked Eveline and I up at the guesthouse just after 3:30 (finally a guesthouse pickup that was more or less on time, and actually showed up) and we headed to the Krabi bus terminal and had to wait about an hour to get on the big bus to Bangkok.
The bus was not as nice as I was hoping for, and the roof leaked when it rained. When we got to Surat Thani (at least I think that’s where we were), we all got off the bus, and had to wait about two hours for yet another bus.
We got on that bus, which was much nicer, and started to watch Borat on the bus tv screen. We drove about 5 minutes down the road, and the bus stopped, and someone came on and told us we were switching buses. Very odd, but we followed along, and waited as they moved our luggage to the next bus.
The next bus was even better, though. Eveline and I ended up with two seats apiece, which made sleep a little roomier. One of the passengers implored the driver to make sure he played Borat on the new bus, and he was happy to comply. I ended up falling asleep before it was over, but woke up a few times to catch a part or two.