I've been in Krabi a week now .. and what a great week! I finished my Open Water SCUBA diving ... very much enjoyed it. We went out to two little islands about an hour off shore, and did three dives the first day, and two the next. The area I was diving in was hit directly by the Tsunami, and while the coral was damaged a bit, it's recovering .... the water was not terribly clear, we have been having rough seas and thunderstorms in the late afternoon for the last five days .. but the coral was wonderful .. lot's of fish, including lot's that looked just like Nemo. Saw a nice stingray and a moray eel.

I've moved to another hotel .. a little cheaper .. but still great .. love the name .. the Goodream Guesthouse ... very friendly with a good restaurant and email.

The company I took my SCUBA course from, offer liveaboard trips to the Tarantoa (sp?) National Marine Park south of here ... giving some thought to coming back here in April to do one.

I've rented a small motorbike ... a Honda Wave .. four gears .. no clutch, 125 cc of raw power. $4.50 a day. Just about everyone rides a small bike here ... kids to grandmothers, and they outnumber the cars by far. It's not uncommon to see a whole family ... Mum Dad and one or two kids on them ... You are supposed to wear a helmet in town ... not many do ... and when they do .. it's just the driver who wears one ... Gas works out to about .80cents a litre - cost me $2.50 to fill the tank for over 200 km of riding fun!

Yesterday I took it on a 60km or so trip to the Emerald or Crystal pool ... a swimming hole in the jungle fed by a hot spring ... very refreshing .... refeshment that continued all the way home as the heavans opened for the afternoon thunderstorm. When I hit Krabi, the cops were diverting traffic from the main drag into town because of flooding!

This morning it was off early in the morning (to escape the heat) to Tiger Cave Temple .... which has a shrine on top of a limestone karst that you climb up to ... exhausting .. 1227 steps ... and we are talking really steep ones to the top ... there's a huge buddha, a stupa ... and an incedible view .... was worth it however ...

Tomorrow it's off to Singapore for the weekend .... sounds glamorous huh? Tiger Airways has just started serving Krabi on it's Singapore run, and has a special, I also got a cheapie from Singapore up to Chiang Mai, where I will connect with a friend from Edmonton, Halley, and his Thai partner. Tenzin from Saskatoon is also there visiting with his brother, and I just heard from Kayliah McKinnon, Uncle Niel's daughter that she plans on taking a massage course in Chaing Mai at the ned of the month ... looks like a Saskatoon convergence may be in the offing!

Well that's all for now ... still working on a way to get pictures up on this thing some easy way ...