It has been a busy couple of days!
First off, let me just say that Ao Nang is HOT. Most of our time seems to be spent hiding in our "air-con" room, which we upgraded to after our first night. The little rustic cottage was nice, but being woken up by Ciccadas and branches/leaves rubbing/falling on/sliding down the corrugated metal roof after we finally mamanged to forget how hot we were and drift off to sleep was less than great.
On Tuesday, we had no plans, so we slept in. Then, we went downtown, which is basically half blackmarket bags/DVDs/gameboys and half Indian/Nepalese guys tryign to sell you custom-tailored suits. Here's how they do it:
"I'll make you nice suit."
Now, at first, I was polite, with a "No thanks, comrade!"
Then, they switched to "Hi there! Where are you from?"
I can't resist bragging, so I'd say "Canada! Where are you from?"
"India! I'll make you nice suit."
No thanks.
Now, I just avoid eye contact, or say "not interested"
They seem to have caught on, so now they say "Hello, nice to meet you!", and they hold out their hand for a handshake.
I'm not going to be rude (that is to say, I can't ignore the hand, it literally KILLS me) so I shake it, and then I get roped into a conversation that lasts way too long considering that I know it will end with "I'll make you nice suit", and then a five minute debate in which I will have to defend my decisions not to buy any suits/jackets/pants/coats/shirts/ties/socks/underwear/garters/tie pins.
On the way home on Tuesday, we wound up renting a DVD player, and buying half a dozen blackmarket DVDs. It's a great way to get through the hottest part of the day without wanting to kill yourself. Well, except for this one movie, called "Palindromes" (Jessie's pick), that, while it was good, was so horribly disturbing I almost didn't sleep that night.

At least it wasn't as bad as Hustle and Flow... which we didn't even get through twenty minutes of.

So anyways, yesterday we had a horseback riding tour booked. It seemed like kind of a neat/unusual way to see some country side that otherwise we probably would not experience.
We got picked up at 9 am, and shuttled for half an hour by two Thai Bob Marleys, including one who had travelled to Canada to, as he put it, "follow his destiny" (read: spread some seed with Canadians chicks, I think). They were pretty funny though, and nice. They tried pretty hard to speak english to us, even though we had just woke up, and I didn't have my usual english as a second language filter up yet.
When we got there, we were introduced to our trusty steeds for the day. Jessie got a small horse, that was a little agitated. I got an even smaller horse, that could really only be described as "mangy".
Since we have no riding experience, we were led for the majority of the walk. It was actually a very very beautiful walk. There were some young foals on the beach loose who followed us, including one named "Happy", who stayed with us the entire walk , and routinely nipped at my horse (Smile) or my hat/shoulder. We saw some huge spiders, which were really cool, and our "stable hands", for lack of better word, were more than happy to grab them and hold them up for us to get a good look. We rode through pineapple and rubber plantations, which were really neat to see. We also rode through palm oil farms. The countryside was beautiful, the guys leading us were pretty funny and nice, and we even got to venture into a giant cave full of bats in the side of one of the many tall limestone cliffs that surround us.
The downside is, my ass is killing me.
Today, we went kayaking through mangrove forests. Our guide was hilarious, and he reminded me of my old housemate Sarib a lot. We started with a morning trip to two caves. The first was a cave that is only accessible at high tide. At low tide, there is not enough water to get through the passage, which was an amazing cave full of stalactites (stalagmites?) that was long enough to be dark in the middle. The name meant "sea room cave", which was fitting, because on all sides there were very high and steep limestone walls.
The other two caves were more of the same, but they opened into what appeared to only be more river, not a cut off area. Unfortunately, it was not an exploring tour, so we'll never know.
The last cave was one with prehistoric painting. It was really neat! They are very well preserved, because the paintings were done on areas of wall that are now too high to reach, so they were never destroyed or vandalized. I took a lot of pictures, so there will be some documentation appearing within a few days.
The neatest thing though, I think, was the number of crabs and mudskippers there were everywhere around on the banks. There were so many different kinds of crabs, even. There were fluorescent blue ones, ones with a huge claw and a small claw, hermit crabs, crabs with colourful back designs... and mud skippers, running and swimming all around with equal ease. It was very very interesting to see.
After the kayaking was over, we were taken to another national park for a swim. It was the nicest place! The water was cool (for Thailand), very fast flowing, and full of jagged rocks. But, it still managed to be the greatest place on earth. The water was crystal clear, and you could see fish swimming all around your feet. There were mangrove roots hanging over the banks to help you navigate your way up or downstream, and even a place where you could swim under the roots rather than stepping over rocks. It was really beautiful.
Well, I think I should call it a night. Have a good one folks!
(Tomorrow: five island tour and snorkelling)