In terms of seaside villages, it really doesn't get much more charming than Cadaques, which is near the Spanish border with France.  It's a whitewashed town that has built a reputation for art and bohemian culture. Indeed, it is one of Spain's locations that attracts rock stars, artists and anyone seeking to get away from it all.  I'll let the photos say a little more...

 One of my all-time favorite passtimes... skipping rocks.

Since Cambodia became an imminent part of our itinerary, I have had the Dead Kennedy’s song “Holiday in Cambodia” playing a soundtrack in the back of mind.

It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear

It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife

The song was published in 1980, just a year after the failure of the Khmer Rouge regime and reflects some of Cambodia’s reputation from the time (full song lyrics). I think it is safe to say that Cambodia has come a long way since 1980, which was the nadir of its backward progress. 

A holiday in Cambodia can now be taken with no irony whatsoever. Sihanoukville is a southern town with miles of beaches, friendly people, a laid back vibe and good food.  Beaches in Cambodia?  Yes- and they are quite nice.  Below is where we stayed and a place we recommend for Sihanoukville: Coaster’s on Serendipity Beach.  Don’t stay in the town- head for Serendipity Beach.

Don’t get me wrong though, Cambodia has a way to go, and that is part of the allure.  The roads off the main strips are pretty horrid, the majority of buildings in town are run down and it isn’t as clean as Thailand.  Luckily, these things can all be remedied with time and investment.

The feeling we get is that Sihanoukville is on the verge of an explosion.  People who have grown tired of the scene in Thailand are discovering the coast of Cambodia and you can’t go anywhere without seeing construction in Sihanoukville.  One day, today may be the good ole days before it became crowded and lost its small town charm.  Of course, we are here in the low season, so our perceptions may be one-sided.  Either way, Sihanoukville is better than we expected- enough to cause us too add a little time to our trip here…

If someone were to visit the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi with no knowledge of the tsunami in 2004, they might not ever notice that it was the scene of real devastation. The natural beauty, the wonderful people and the island atomosphere are well intact. Though the final toll may never be known, 75% of the buildings were destroyed and about 2000 people were killed in the tsunami, including about 1200 that are listed as missing. Wikipedia has more info.

Ko Phi Phi has a rather vulnerable geographic position that caused both sides of the most populated area to be hit by the wave.  This video simulation shows how the wave hit.  The biggest concentration of people was in the tiny isthmus (150 meters wide) between the two islands at the  top. 

Just as you get off the pier at Ton Sai beach, you notice some fields to the left with no buildings.  Before the tsunami, these fields had high end bungalows, all of which were destroyed and/or swept away. This photo is looking aross the isthmus looking between Ton Sai Beach towards Loh Dalam Bay where resorts and bungalows used to be.

 As you might imagine, there are signs and warning systems everywhere now.

 Apparently the relief effort was centered at Carlito's Bar, which is down the beach a few hundred meters and spared.  We heard a story that Carlito himself perished while trying to save others. We met an American that owns a group of used book stores (D's Books) and he showed us the level where the water came into his store (though he didn't own it then). 

Despite some controversy, reconstruction is well underway.  We found the island to be clean and mostly debris free.  

There are sure signs of quick recovery, though, as visitors, we can only know so much. Last night we walked by the small school grounds and there was some sort of festival going on.  About 75 kids were all dancing in the courtyard under lights and corporate sponsored tents, surely donated for relief.  The kids were having such fun, dancing and horsing around- smiles everywhere.  I couldn't help but wonder what mark the tsunami might have left on these kids and how they are coping.  Like everyone that lives here, I'm sure the scars will take a while to heal, but for last night and for our whole time here, people seem to be more focused on the future than the past. Seeing those kids so happy gave me a good feeling that recovery, in a number of forms, is well underway.

If you're thinking of going to Phi Phi, we highly recommend it.  Your tourist dollars do a lot for the local economy and it is an incredibly beautiful place.  This is a panorama of Loh Dalam Bay:

I think we overdosed on the Internet access in Japan, as we always had a connection in our room.  I could revert to my habitual surfing.  Once we landed in Thailand, I had an Internet hangover and I haven't shared pictures in a while, so this is a chance to catch up a bit. 

It's rather strange to return to a place like Thailand or Phuket.  My camera doesn't seem to be drawn to the same things.  The world is not uniquely new to me, like it is for the first visit. Nevertheless, it is still a wonderful place to be. 

 We spent a few days in Bangkok, at our old home at the Asia Hotel. If anyone wants to see some Thai quirk, go there any night for dinner (MRT Stop: Ratchatewi).  The Elvis impersonator is there nightly and is fun to watch.

 You can see from the sweat the he's working hard.  Speaking of sweat, the traffic police must have the hottest job in Bangkok, complete with face mask:

 Even the dogs can hardly stay awake.

 Next was Phuket, where we met Kris and Robert (and tried to get certified for diving). We went to a Thai boxing match with them and here is Robert with "the champ", who is actually only there for pictures.

Since Phuket doesn't really do it for us, we decided to replace the days that I would have been learning to dive with a few days on Phi Phi Island (Known for beautiful scenery, the movie "The Beach" and tsunami devastation).  Kris and Robert are hopefully going to come meet us here after Kris is certified.  We really hope they do, as Phi Phi is another world compared to Phuket.

 Being a secluded island, we thought Phi Phi might be too expensive, too crowded and not what we want, but we've found it to be very cool and a good value.  It has the laid-back island vibe and it is an amazingly beautiful place.

 I plan to write more about the tsunami's effect on Phi Phi soon.  It really seems that the island has fully recovered.  In fact, this little guy makes me wonder if tiny aliens have not invaded recently.

We're super-excited to be hooking up with a couple of good friends from Canada tomorrow. Kris Krug and Robert Scales have been in China for a few days on business and have come to Thailand to unplug for a while.  As luck would have it, we have no plans, so we're heading back to the beach (Ko Lanta even) with them.  Life sucks these days.

Along with being good friends, they happen to both work for or run companies that make this web site possible.  Robert runs Rain City Studios, who did the design of this site and Kris works for Bryght, who hosts the technology (Drupal) that runs the site.  Both companies are TwinF sponsors and have been beyond-the-call-of-duty people to work with. Here we are expressing our love on the night before we left on the trip.

I must profess too that hanging out with these guys is going to be, um, interesting.  Case in point... Kris is trying to start a movement where travelers take pictures of themselves naked on top of the wonders of the world.  Here he is on the Great Wall of China (PG-13). Yikes.  Don't plan on seeing me participating, dear reader.  Really though, it's going to be a blast to hang out with these guys.

Laid back- I don't think there is any better way to describe the environment of Ko Lanta. It is one of the lesser visited Thai destinations compared to Ko Samet/Samui, Phuket, etc. and the pace of life is a bit like slow motion. It's like you get off the boat here and things get heavier.  You move more slowly, as do the people around you.  Sleep sounds good- anytime.  Hours pass. It seems like it takes a long time to do everything, but it doesn't matter. It's Ko Lanta time and it feels really nice.

Here's how we've been taking our time:

We hung out on Ba Katiang Beach, which is the the home of a few small resorts/restaurants/bars and a big 5-star one called Pimalai (more on that soon). This is the bay from our bungalow.

 Down at the end is a place that was wiped out by the tsunami, but has been rebuilt and is the best place on the beach for dinner.  It's called "Same Same, But Different".

 Closer ot our resort is the "Why Not?" bar.  Yes, the Thai are creative with names. This is a place run by "Chaba" (on the right). He calls Sachi "Pepsi", because it helps him remember. We left the crowded bar one night and he came out calling my name and said "Lee, Lee, I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to talk to you tonight, we've been very busy." He then gave us a lantern to help us home, as the power had gone out. Good guy that Chaba- and a lover of Bob Marley too.

On the beach, there is a flexible pier that reaches out to deeper water, where people can board large boats.  This pier eventually broke in the crashing surf, but not before we had some fun on it.

 While we were, it became low season, as evidenced by crashing surf that suddenly took away the beach.

 The beach was also the site of nightly fire twirling, or whatever it's called.  Most sessions are done to the music of Metallica or Linkin Park.

 We made some new friends, in fact more than any single week of the trip.  This is Luke (Aussie) and Christine (French Canadian).  We spent a couple of long night with these folks. This is from a hilltop bar than no one knows about.

 We also met an great Aussie couple who got married on the beach and staying in the 5-star Pimalai resort. Clayton and Lisa- congrats!

 This picture above is from the pool at Pimalai, which is one of the best ever.  They were kind enough to invite us up for a swim.  Ahhhh.

 Time really does have a different feel here.  Lately, it's been feeling like there isn't enough of it- enough of it here.

We had just stopped the moped at a food cart to get some phad thai before heading home when we sat by a friendly Frenchman for a bit.  He was on the tail end of a six month journey and had been in Thailand for a few weeks.  In fact he had been to Phuket and a beach in Krabi, much like us.  He said something simple that really struck me.  He said, with a slight French accent, “You know, I have been to some of zee other places in Thailand, but sometimes zey feel like Southern Europe. In zhose places, I don’t feel like I’m in Thailand at all. Ahh but Ko Lanta, Ko Lanta feels like Thailand”

Looking back on our experience in Southern Thailand, I know what he means.  We’ve had a wonderful time and each place we go teaches us about what we’re really looking for in Thailand.  Like the Frenchman, we feel like we’ve reached a pinnacle in Ko Lanta and all the places before it were a sort of rite of passage for us. In fact, I honestly do not believe that we could appreciate Ko Lanta as we do without having gone to Phuket and Krabi first.

Don’t get me wrong, Phuket and Krabi are both absolutely beautiful places and there are gems to be found everywhere, like Baan Krating. However, what we’ve found is that we’d prefer a place that is not so developed with resorts and shopping malls. Railay Beach West was a good example.  It was a stretch of beach that had one resort on top of another.  It was almost impossible to get a feel for Railey Beach outside of how the resorts think you want to be treated.  As it turns out, we don’t need the high-end resort treatment.  It was busy, with kids running around, competition for beach chairs and higher-than-needed room rates.  We thought it was great at the time, and it was superb, but we now have the advantage of hindsight and can feel confident that we will not go back. As the Frenchman said, “I don’t feel like I’m in Thailand at all.” (Note: Railay does have an east side that is more laid back and popular among rock-climbers, but lacks a beach)

And so our rite of passage continues. Ko Lanta is not efficient, but efficiency isn’t the goal, it’s not spotless, but clean where it matters (like the water), the service isn’t great, but always comes with a smile, some of the roads are unpaved, but they go no where. You might feel like a stranger in a strange but endearing land in Ko Lanta, but it is, if nothing else, Thailand- and we’ll be back for more.

 The reason to go to Railay Beach is the scenery and the nice beach.  The locale itself is built up with resorts that are nice, but make for a busy environment.  Ton Sai is just a kilometer away and is more of a low-key backpacker place- called "the peasant beach" by one resident we met. The same is true for the east side of Railay Beach, which has a mud beach.  Lots of people come for the excellent rock climbing too.

Now that we're in Ko Lanta, here's a look back at some of the scenes from Railay Beach...

 Most unforgettable were the sunsets.  The sky would seem to be on fire sometimes.

These clounds aren't exactly on fire, but look pretty magestic, I think.

The longtail boat is the only way to get to Railay Beach.

 Once you're there, though, you can explore on foot and by sea kayak, which is highly recommended. No cave for Sachi.

 I think we're both happy that we went to Railay beach, but I don't think it would make it onto the agenda the next time around.  We'd prefer the more traditional, laid back, Ko Lanta style of Thailand.

A while back, our friend in Seattle, Steve Manning told us about Railay Beach and then added a travel experience about it too. Since then, we've been hoping to make it.

It took us 3 cabs, a bus and finally a long tail boat to get here, but we made it at a cost of about $25US for both of us from Phuket. When we first got to Railay, we were impressed by the scenery- high limestone cliffs or "carsts" are everywhere,making for a truly other-worldly feel.

We're staying at a place called Railay Bay Resort, which is one of the better places here. We have a bungalow that isn't Baan Krating, but it's nice. It has A/C, which I need these days.  I have needs you know. It costs about $50US per night, which is a lot for Thailand and backpacker standards, but we're OK with it. Breakfast is included and it has all the niceties... location on the beach, restaurant and bar, nice grounds.  Interstestingly, the resort has one of the few bars at Railay that serves alcohol. 

Plus, you get views like this...

Just around the big rock on the left of the beach is another beach called Pranang, which has floating kitchens, where we got lunch for about $3US. 

 I haven't yet jumped off this rock, but I will...

 We are still in love with Thailand.

Baan Krating and Ao Nai Han, originally uploaded by LeeLeFever_TwinF.

This is a shot of the area around the place we stayed at the southern end of Phuket, called Ao Nai Han. We've moved on to Railay Beach now and it's great, but we miss Baan Krating already.