Krabi, Thailand Day 2

On Day 2 we headed into town to check out the shopping options. We took a speedboat from our hotel into the town of An Nong, which is the main town where the resort was located. Once reaching the town we hailed a "cab" a moped with an attachment where we could all sit. While there were cars, there were many of these cabs as a way to navigate through the town. There were shops upon shops of stuff - clothing, trinkets, candles, place mats. Once you walked into a store, they were immediately on you and ready to bargain. Bargaining is big in these places and is a game that you get progressively more efficient at the longer you do it. As our stay went on we would realize the poor deals we got and the good ones. You always leave thinking you could have done better and the shop owner always believes he gave away!

Realizing that shopping in town wasn't going to be a full day activity we looked into renting a private boat for the day to take us snorkeling. We weighed the options - long boat vs speed boat. The girls were very against the long boat option. Long boats are the taxi cabs of the water and operated by a single motor and steered with a long pole off the back of the boat. The inside is similar to a canoe. In the end we went on the speedboat and had a great driver who had lived in Phi Phi when the Tsunami hit and now lived on Krabi. One of the best parts of any boat outing was the fruit they cut up for you - fresh pineapple and watermelon. Very ripe and tender.

The girls continue to love snorkeling and we saw some amazing fish and sea urchins. The waters are so clear and the fish so abundant. We saw so many colorful fish - it was really a great day.

In the evening at the resort they had a woman there who did soap carvings in the shapes of flowers. The Thai people are so kind and she invited Kristin to sit down with her and teach her to carve the soaps. The soaps were carved in a variety of flowers and colors and then placed into a hand carved shell.

By the end the day, we were exhausted in the best way and fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the shoreline.