So much to say...

I am sure that you have all been anxiously awaiting the next update on our travels, and we have much to tell about.  When we last left you (our faithful audience), we were about to embark on a dive to see Manta Rays in Hin Duang and Hin Muang and I was trying to avoid reading children's literature.  Long story short, we did not and I did not. We did however see giant schools of fish eating other slightly smaller giant schools of fish and the visibility underwater was 200+ feet.  Also, the ocean was glassy and calm.  The dive leaders commented that they never saw anything like it.  It was the best dive we have ever taken. Awesome.  Also, I read Matilda by Roald Dahl.  It was time to leave Koh Muk and head back to the mainland. We took a boat, a mini van, and a taxi to arrive in Krabi town. We spent the night searching for books and food for the remainder of our Journey. The next day we headed to the beaches of Railay and watched the Rock Climbers thrive in natures playground. We also booked a sunset/night snorkel trip around the limestone cliffs and monolithic islands. The highlight was watching the sunset from a remote island that was an acre at most while eating spicy Thai food and then snorkeling with the fluorescentt phytoplankton, or "Sparkles" as Christina refers to it. This was easily one of Christina's favorite things we have done on this trip.  In short, your movement in the water makes the pankton light up.  The result is you are surrounded by a million glowing specks in the water.  Neat. We also meet a wonderful Norwegian couple and failed to get their contact info. Poor choice on our part, they were delightful. 
The next day we were picked up at 6am and headed out to the Jungle for a fishing adventure. The destination was Cheow Lan Reservoir.  The lake was HUGE.  We took a 1.5 hour longboat ride to get to the floating cabins where we were going to sleep.  There we no roads within 30 miles of our location and the only way to arrive was by boat. We ate lunch and immediately started fishing. First we traveled to a river (I never got the name) that feed the lake and started hiking and fishing.  Although the fishing was very hard we still managed to catch fish.  The jungle prevented clean casts much of the time, and the defensive nature of the fish coupled with the crystal clear water made the fish spook long before you
were close enough to make a decent cast.  Each cast was upstream and the guide demanded only a 3-4' drift. Once you made a cast, all the fish spooked. This meant many long casts to fish and only one chance to get them.  Together we caught 23 fish over two days the biggest was 16".  Christina caught the first fish and the most fish (13).  We also fished the lake for Snakehead but were unsuccessfull.  The guide was a complete ass and by far the worst I have ever had.  He was a great fisherman, but a poor communicator, often walking far ahead and leaving us in the jungle, he also kept all the flys and equipment to himself. In short, we left him no tip. 
The jungle is very loud at night, birds, bugs, and monkeys kept the nighttime loud and made it difficult to sleep.  Also, we hiked one day 8-10 miles while fishing for 10+ hours and my body ached enough to keep me up half the night. The nature was awesome. We saw 5' monitor lizard, warthogs, deer, toucans, and many other foreign animals.  Also, I had my first experience with leeches. I hate them. Christina kept asking me not to remove them until she took a picture. Her pictures are proof of our true love. Those things are gross.
We then made our way to Koh Phangan.  It is best known for its crazy "Full Moon Parties" at the Hat Rin Beach.  Although our itinerary called for us to make our way to Bottle Beach (a secluded paradise in the Northern side of the island), we wanted to see the Hat Rin area for one night.  It was insane.  We booked one night in a bungalow for $40 and went out at night on the beach to watch the debauchery.  It reminded me of Vang Viene.  It was a high octane party fueled by loud music, red bull / vodka poured into plastic sand pails called buckets, and college aged tourists looking for a party. They have a large jump rope that is lit on fire and people take turns trying to jump it (some successfully).  We also attended a "Pool Party" at one resort that consisted of all the items mentioned above (minus the jump rope), just in and around a pool.  It was one of the better parties I had seen, but as we are far too old for this sort of thing, we watched from the sidelines and went to bed at a respectable 1:30am just when things were getting good.
The next morning we made our way to Bottle Beach (our current residence).  It is another perfect place. It reminds me of a better Koh Muk, but there is nothing to do here but sit on the beach and enjoy yourself.   We plan to stay here until the 21st, when we will travel back to Bangkok and fly home on the 23rd (we actual arrive on the 22nd, weird).  See you all soon enough.
James